Marrakech taught me color. “Yves Saint Laurent”
Mar 13, 2017
Today, we saw Marrakech, in all its living color traversing from one side of town to the other through its endless honeycomb of intricately connected alleyways, this fundamental section of the old city is a micro-medina in itself, comprising the dizzying number of stalls and shops that range from itsy kiosks no bigger than an elf’s wardrobe to scruffy store-fronts that morph into glittering Aladdin’s Caves once you’re inside.
The souks of Marrakesh are divided into retail areas for particular goods but with significant overlaps of goods such as leather, carpets, metalwork, rugs, traditional Muslim attire, leather bags, lanterns, bejeweled sandals and slippers, leather ottomans, jewelry, and kaftans. Other stalls specialize in lemons, chilis, capers, pickles, green, red, and black olives, and mint, a common ingredient of Moroccan cuisine, and dried fruit and nuts, including dates, figs, walnuts, cashews, and apricots. You can also find hand-woven baskets, natural perfumes, knitted hats, scarves, tee shirts, Ramadan tea, ginseng, and alligator and iguana skins.
Haggling is still a very important part of the trade-in the souks’ so whatever price you are quoted take 75% off and start negotiating from there to a happy medium.
We visited;
Bab Agnaou or the ramparts of Marrakesh, which stretch for some 12 miles around the city and were built in the 12th century as protective fortifications The walls are made of a distinct orange-red clay and chalk, giving the city its nickname as the “red city”; they stand up to 19 feet high and have 20 gates and 200 towers along with them. Honestly, we walked so much that I think we went in and out 25 gates, maybe taking liberties with the truth, but it sure felt like the.
The Majorelle Garden, at one time the home of the landscape painter Jacques Majorelle. Famed designer Yves Saint Laurent bought and restored the property, which features a stele erected in his memory, and the Museum of Islamic and Berber Art, which is housed in a dark blue building contains part of Yves Saint Laurent collection of Berber jewelry and costumes. The garden, open to the public since 1947, has a large collection of plants from five continents including cacti, palms, and bamboo. The new museum of Yves Saint Laurent close to the gardens is scheduled to be opened later this year.
The Bahia Palace, set in extensive gardens, was built in the late 19th century by the Grand Vizier of Marrakesh, he resided here with his four wives, 24 concubines, and many children. With a name meaning “brilliance”, it was intended to be the greatest palace of its time, designed to capture the essence of Islamic and Moroccan architectural styles. Special attention was paid to the privacy of the palace in its construction and employed architectural features such as multiple doors which prevented passers-by from seeing into the interior. The palace took seven years to build, with hundreds of craftsmen from Fes working on its wood, carved stucco, and zellij.
Minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque is the largest mosque in the city, located in the southwest medina quarter of Marrakesh alongside the square. Completed between (1184–1199), and has inspired other buildings such as the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan Tower of Rabat. The mosque is made of red stone and brick. The minaret was designed to prevent a person at the top of the tower from viewing activity within the king’s harems. Since the Koutoubia mosque was where all legal documents were signed and recorded is believe that the word from the Jewish marriage contract called the Ketubah the word was originated here.
Ben Youssef Mosque, distinguished by its green tiled roof and minaret, is located in the medina and is Marrakesh’s oldest mosque. It was originally built in the 12th century. When built it was the city’s largest mosque but today it is half its original size. It was rebuilt in the 1560s. We visited the ordinal dormitories of the Koran students, not bigger than monk cells.
The Saadian Tombs were built in the 16th century as a mausoleum to bury numerous Saadian rulers and entertainers. It was lost for many years until the French rediscovered it in 1917 using aerial photographs. The mausoleum comprises the corpses of about sixty members of the Saadi Dynasty that originated in the valley of the Draa River.
The Marrakech Museum, housed in the Dar Menebhi Palace in the old city center, was built at the end of the 19th century by Mehdi Menebhi. The palace was carefully restored by the Omar Benjelloun Foundation and converted into a museum in 1997. The house itself represents an example of classical Andalusian architecture, with fountains in the central courtyard, traditional seating areas, a hammam, and intricate tilework and carvings. the museum space houses modern and rotating exhibitions.
The old Jewish Quarter is situated in the kasbah area of the city’s medina, It was created in 1558 by the Saadians at the site where the sultan’s stables were previously located. At the time, the Jewish community consisted of a large portion of the city’s bankers, jewelers, metalworkers, tailors, and sugar traders. During the 16th century, the Mellah had its own fountains, gardens, synagogues, and souks.
Until the arrival of the French in 1912, Jews could not own property outside of the Mellah; all growth was consequently contained within the limits of the neighborhood, resulting in narrow streets, small shops, and higher residential buildings. Today reconfigured as a mainly residential zone renamed Hay Essalam, occupies an area smaller than its historic limits and has an almost entirely Muslim population.
The Alzama Synagogue, built around a central courtyard, is located in the Mellah. The Jewish cemetery here is the largest of its kind in Morocco the cemetery is located within the Medina on land adjacent to the Mellah.
Back to our Riad, too exhausted about think to walk again through the labyrinths of shops to reach a restaurant, we asked the chef, to fix us some soup, eggplant or that delicious cucumber salad with rose water and mint we had last night, some cheese dry fruits and bread.
What we got;
Bowls of marinated black and greens olives A basket of warm bread A selection of cheeses Eggplant, miniature romaine leaves, and grape tomatoes Everything that grows in garden soup in a light fragrantly seasoned tomato broth Poached pears in honey and saffron sauce surrounded by gumdrops shape strawberries and kiwi.
We are experience he luxury of having a private chef.
You can say…….. we are “Rockin’ the Kasbah”
Tomorrow Berber Country