Marrakesh, Morocco, Tuesday January 13th

When I woke up, I felt really tired. My cold was still hanging on and so I lazed about in bed typing and trying to restore myself to perfect health. Keith read the guide book and we made plans. At lunch time we set out for the museum. To set out for a destination here is a little hit and miss, even with the map. The medina is completely different to Fez; made up of wider lanes with galleries and smaller lanes leading off them. The souks are somewhere in there, with each craft having its own, but there are so many other stalls selling craft goods all the way along that you can have a visual or shopping feast wherever you go. We were not so interested in shopping, but had a couple of little items that we wanted to pick up. We decided to ignore the stalls for now or we would never make it to the museum.

At the entry to the museum there is a display to show how the building was restored, and also a sweet translation into English of the welcome to visitors to the museum. The museum is in the most beautiful nineteenth century palace. It has a breathtakingly beautiful internal courtyard and because music was playing and there were chairs around and people sitting about relaxing, you could imagine life in it in former times. In those days the courtyard, now covered with a skylight, was planted with fruit trees. Part of the palace is an art gallery and paintings, textiles and a sculpture by Morrocan artist, Nafaa Mezouar, were on display. Keith liked one called ‘Moyen Atlas’, which combined paint with a textured, almost wrinkled surface.

The rooms leading from the courtyard featured different areas of artisanship, and photos showed traditional use of each type. The embroidery photo showed little girls of about five years of age concentrating on their samplers. The different regions specialised in different forms of embroidery, and even now the continuation of the traditional skills has kept the differences alive. The jewellery was large and chunky and, from the photos, it was clear that more was the way to go. I don’t know how brides could walk with all the heavy jewellery that they would wear. A silver ‘hand of Fatima’, used to ward off the evil eye, had a scarab beetle on it; an Egyptian symbol of good luck, so it was really a powerful aid to happiness. It was interesting to see a photo of a groom with his face covered.

The hammam rooms still had their decorations in them, which was a change after seeing all the Roman baths in ruins. The hammams served an ablutionary purpose prior to praying and so were regularly built as part of mosque complexes, but could be in rich people’s homes or just set up as private businesses. The lady who ran the women’s hammam knew everyone and oversaw the running of the place and the scheduling of visits. Bathing was a social event as well. There was a reception room so, if there were too many people already there, or if your favourite masseuse was busy, you could wait and chat with others. Women allowed half a day for the outing, and organised easy to make meals so that they could spend time away from home. They also went at the same time as their friends, taking all the young children as well. Another room featured tea pots and sets, with tea drinking apparently being introduced from England in the 17^th Century. I was amazed to see exactly the cloak that the Imam had been wearing on our donkey ride in the textiles section, and learnt that it is called an akhnif.

Just across the square from the museum there is an archeological site with a beautiful ablutions kiosk in it. It originally served the Ben Youssef Mosque, but was buried under rubble over the years and it was only in 1952 that it was found again. The ground level at that time was two storeys lower than it is now. We walked down steps made of ancient bricks, which we guess were salvaged from the rubble during the excavations. This kiosk is one of the very few Almoravid buildings still intact. The Almoravid dynasty were in power from about 1060 – 1147. The building is remarkable because the architect must have given his all to this kiosk and it has all sorts of features and decorations that were to be taken up as signatures for Moroccan architecture in later eras. When it was built it must have been a most innovative design. Even to our uneducated eyes it was a miniature masterpiece.The neighbouring cistern and fountains have also been excavated, as well as the latrines. I can never work out ancient latrines, which always look as if people in the past were a very communal lot. Cats seemed to be in control of this site, with a very lazy one sleeping off the night before, on duty at the gate. Others resisted having their photos taken by Keith, perhaps having learnt that they should be paid to pose. A very dirty cat with a bent tail was seen off the premises by the reigning feline dynasty’s junior members.

The Ben Youssef Mosque has been rebuilt and altered over the years, and attached to it is the Ben Youssef Medersa. It was a school where students learnt the Koran by heart and studied other ‘diverse sciences’, but really the lessons took place in the mosque and the medersa was an enormous students’ residence for revision, study and accommodation, complete with prayer hall. The 132 rooms are on two storeys, with some looking into the large central courtyard and others facing small courtyards around the perimeter of the building. Islamic architecture is inward facing and private, with blank walls presented to the street and windows facing an internal courtyard. The rooms were extremely basic, with four walls being all most students got, along with room mates, with each person bringing his own furnishings and cooking requirements. About 800 students lived in this medersa at a time. Some rooms were a little larger and had a shelf cut into the wall. Two rooms were set up as they would have been, and as parents of students who moved regularly, we think that a tiny desk, an ink well, a small carpet, a one burner cooking stove and pot and an ablutions bucket as belongings is sufficient for anyone studying. The rooms and corridors were a little like rabbit warrens, but each had access to a courtyard which let in light and fresh air.

For me, the highlight of our time in Marrakesh was the central courtyard of this medersa. Originally founded in the fourteenth century, it was rebuilt by the Saadians in the 1560s. The Saadians were a southern dynasty which was greatly influenced by the Spanish Andalusian art styles. They favoured intricate decorations on all surfaces. That means that this building is like the Alhambra in Granada and may have been built or designed by people from Muslim Spain. I was raving about it as we walked around, admiring the details and craftsmanship, but mainly the overall design that brings all the smaller touches together. The colours were different to those used in Spain, with the natural colours of Morocco forming the palette - coffee coloured plaster lacework, chocolate carved wood above the pillars, pinky apricot pillars and lower plaster work, cream on apricot inscriptions from the Koran, apricot, black and cream border tiles and blue, green, orange, tan, gold and cream mosaic tiles in geometric designs like flowers. There are many carving patterns that we had not seen before including pine cones and palm motifs, with some parts protruding out from the surface. Arcades along two sides are thought to have once provided extra teaching space. A marvellously decorated prayer hall at the end links to all the colours and details in the courtyard outside. It was food for the soul indeed.

By eavesdropping on a tour group, I learnt that people were supposed to give money for the building of new mosques and medersas. Poor people who couldn’t, would have been expected to donate ten to twenty days of labour. The tour guide also commented on early educational methods. Students learnt passages from the Koran by rote. They were pardoned for two mistakes but if they made a third they had to stay back an hour and study more. Parents would know that their child was late home, and would beat them to make them learn better. The Imam would be the teacher, and each week the parents had to pay according to how much of the Imam’s time a child had taken. Poor or disabled students were beaten a lot before it would be decided to keep them home and set them to work around the farm or workshop.

Like the cat at the Koubba, the attendant at the medersa was having forty winks and didn’t notice us go by.

We wandered around the medina soaking up the atmosphere and looking for a place to have a cup of tea. We found a tiny little café in an alley, and sat and watched the locals. There are so many beggars here - stationary ones who find a good spot with a lot of people passing and sit with their hand out, and mobile ones who work the crowd and anyone seated. We were approached many times, and in Marrakesh we have handed out coins more than anywhere else since Egypt. It is a bit of a dampener when you are relaxing over a cup of tea to have begging appeals, and also the noise and fumes of the many motorbikes that career through the narrow streets amongst the people is not so great. I was reading the guide book aloud to Keith and we chose a couple of places to visit tomorrow. We were happy to take it slowly and to just indulge in a little more of the entertainments in the Djemma el Fna this evening.

On our way home, we were intrigued by a fast food shop where a woman fried bread dough and added fillings. We watched for a while, and began chatting with a couple of New Zealand graphic designers who are working in the UK. They, and eventually we, ordered what turned out to be oily but delicious fried jaffles. They told us that with three years of experience in graphic design it is possible to get positions overseas, as they had done. They also mentioned inter-government projects that gave good experience, such as in working for developing countries setting up museums. They were enjoying their work experiences and catching a holiday in Morocco, saying that their wages easily allowed for travel.

Finally back at the hotel, I typed on until I was nearly up to date and Keith had some more dinner then went to the internet café to publish as many pages as he could. We are so close to the end of our trip, and have both sacrificed other activities to create this blog. We want to leave Morocco knowing that the record of our travels is virtually complete.