Souk-ing up the atmosphere

Fortunately, the overnight rain cleared away a bit by 10:30am, and so we decided to try and find our way to the Ben Youssef medrasa. A medrasa is an Islamic school, sort of the Muslim equivalent of a monastery as far as I can gather. It is named after the founder of Marrakech, and for those who like their trivia, he is also the man who gets trampled to death by Charlton Heston in the film El Cid (OK not literally, that was Herbert Lom, but you get the idea). So to fly in the face of Hollywood's version of history, he can't have been all bad!!

The medrasa money shot

....and another money shot.......

Close up of some of the intricate stone masonry

In order to get the medrasa we had to negotiate the edge of a souk, which are notorious for disorienting people, but with only a couple of minor detours (Sarah might disagree with me here ;) ), we got to it relatively unscathed and stress free. The medrasa is a wonderful example of Islamic art, with geometric patterns throughout the whole building, so naturally I was in my element wandering around the corridors investigating all the nooks and crannies. 

 

Geometric patterns designed 800 years before the spirograph was invented

The college apparently housed up to 900 scholars, but I have to admit seeing the size of the place I was sceptical of this fact. As there was, at most, 40 rooms for sleeping, so either they enjoyed playing sardines, or that is a slight exaggeration of the truth.

Sample of some of how one of the rooms would look in the olden days

That said, it was a nice way to spend an hour or so, and by fact of it being undercover it meant that should it rain we did not get drenched! We have actually been quite lucky with our trekking so far as every time we have ventured out the rain has held off and we have had some nice sunshine, and then when we get back to the riad, the heavens open.

For our walk back Sarah and I decided to go through the souks proper and get a real flavour of Marrakech. A souk is essentially an undercover market area, which is full of small, independent artisan shops. There are several souks all linked together in Marrakech, and they seem to specialise in different aspects of Moroccan life. There is a souk where they make lanterns, a souk that sells shoes. Sarah was most disappointed there were no Christian LauBoutin shoes and only traditional pointy Moroccan ones in ever colour imaginable, and quite a few colours which my imagination could not come up with.

There is also a souk that sells spices, and the array of colours and smells from the souk really does make it a joy to walk through. That said I can't imagine many tourists coming in there and buying a few kilos of cumin to take back with them, but maybe that is more an indictment on me as a traveller.

It is a labyrinthine network, which you could spend hours in trying to work out how to get back to the main square (El-Fna). Helpfully, the local government realised this might actually put tourists off of venturing in, and so have installed coloured signs which help guide you through. This worked up to a point where we hit a junction and it told us that the square was off to the right, but there was another sign next to it telling us the square was off to the left....I guess the route they guide tourists through is thorough so you visit every possible shop you can on the way out of the souks.

I have to admit that the souks are possibly less precarious than the main streets, as inside them the use of mopeds is discouraged, so you are not constantly being buzzed by some young Moroccan on his Vespa. Also, the haranguing you to buy things is less intense than on the square. Presumably because the shopkeepers can't wander too far away from their pitch so if you keep on walking they end up leaving you alone.

For the evening, we had the joy of being the only people in the riad as everyone else had left and for the occasion, Shareef, the hotel manager invited us to try a traditional Moroccan dish which was not on the menu, something he would male for us. We readily accepted and I have to admit it was sumptuous. I was beef slow cooked in an urn (which he had to send off to the local bakery to use their oven), with cumin, preserved lemons and garlic. The beef was so tender by the time it arrived at us that it practically dissolved in the mouth. We mixed this in with a vegetable tagine, and we were in heaven. I have not done this justice by any means, but this was as good as food can get for me.

Having gorged on this feast, we decided to retire for the evening, to the sound of rain hammering down on the plastic sheeting over the courtyard.

We have booked our big trip out for Wednesday, and I didn't realise it by the man who picked us up from the airport is Shareef's brother Aziz. That will be an early start (leaving at 7am) so I think today will be a bit more sedate with an early bedtime.