On our way to a camel riding excursion, we passed gardens made in the 12th century. Once we arrived, we were given traditional Berber garbs and turbans. We rode our camels through a palm tree farm, some of us even gave our camels names!
Next we walked through the Jewish quarter of Marrakech and went to the Saadian Tombs, a mausoleum from the 16th century. We learned that decorated tombstones are against Islamic traditions, but the tombs there were embellished with mosaics because they were kings. We also learned that in the Muslim religion, after death, the bodies are washed like before prayer, placed on their right side and are facing Mecca.
After the mausoleum, we walked to the Bahia Palace, which was built in the 19th century by a minister who was looking after the young king. Like many palaces, this palace had gardens situated throughout. Some examples of things growing there are mulberry trees, banana plants, ginger plants, orange trees, and flowers. The palace was heavily influenced by Spanish Moorish architecture.
After this, we went to the Hassan II mosque in the marketplace where we had previously shopped the day before. It was built in the 12th century, and it is the oldest and largest in Marrakech. It can fit 5,000 people inside of it. It’s defining feature is the five balls on top of the minaret which symbolize the Five Pillars of Islam.
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After this we finally had lunch in a riad, and boy were we hungry! We were served salad and bread and then had very large tagines with chicken and lemon. After we went to lunch we went to the Menara gardens. It was very hot in the gardens. It was filled with many locals who were walking around , sitting, or playing frisbee or soccer. We went and looked at an area filled with water that had many fish in it including catfish. In the background there were mountains and it was beautiful. Then we laid out some towels and laid under the trees in the shade and played some games, relaxed, and bought some goodies.