Showing posts with label Marrakech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marrakech. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Exploring the Souk/Marrakech & Fes


A walk through the souks is an amazing journey. You will see anything and everything for sale.
Here our guide Idriss was showing us what made the best quality of rosebuds, which are used to make rosewater. Rosewater is often used in Moroccan and North African cuisine.
Dried rosebuds are sold by the kilo.
Here is a shop selling fancy caftans. Moroccan women wear caftans at home and when they leave the house, they put on a djellaba, or long robe, to cover their caftans. These caftans must be for parties or festivals, as they are very special.
This is a shop that rents out fancy lanterns, and other decorations used for parties and weddings. Just like in the States, you can go to the "party rental" shop and pick out what you might need to host a large gathering and then rent it instead of having to purchase it.
These very large cooking and/or serving vessels would also be rented for your function.
Because the streets are so very narrow in the souks, donkeys and sometimes mules, are used to transport goods and construction materials. In some places you might come across six or eight donkeys and their owners all congregated in one spot. This is the place you would go to hire them for transporting whatever you needed brought into the Medina or taken out.
This shop sold many kinds of olives. Some were simply brined but others were spiced or mixed with vegetables and made into delicious salads.
Here we have snails for sale. I was told that the Moroccans make a delicious soup from snails. I'm sorry I didn't get to try it for myself. (I love escargot!)
A tray of sheep heads for sale.... Don't ask. I don't know.
Here we have more items you might rent for a large function. There are incense burners, and I believe, rosewater dispensers shown here. There are some very fancy things for rent in the souks!
Traditional clay tajines are in the foreground and a silver something in the back. It might be one of the transport devices for brides, who are carried into the wedding in very fancy palanquins such as these.
A very impressive door. The leaf shaped hinge is actually a free-form interpretation of the Hand of Fatima (a good luck symbol seen all over the Maghreb).
Look closely and you'll see a silver bathtub. Man, would I love to have that in my house! It would have been tricky to pack, though, so I had to leave it there.
Kitty napping on the seat of a motor bike in one of the alleys in the souk.
The lantern and light shop. Nonie and I used this shop as a sort of marker on our walks through the Marrakech souk. When we got to this shop we knew exactly where we were and which way we had to go to get back to Dar Seven. And, finally, the Tassel Shop. You can buy tassels in all colors and all sizes, in silk and less luxe materials. There are fat tassels and skinny tassels, tassels for the hood of your djellaba, tassels for the handles of your cabinets, tassels for menus in restaurants, tassels for decoration and tassels for a hundred other uses. I have never seen so many tassels in my life. I only wish I had been able to think of a good use for a tassel so I could have bought one!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Bahia Palace, Marrakech


The Bahia Palace was built at the end of the 19th century for the son of the grand vizier of Moulay el Hassan I. It is said that the palace was named for his favorite wife (and means "glorious" or "beautiful"---which it certainly is!) and it housed his harem, and the man had many, many wives and concubines, judging by the number of private rooms. There are beautiful gardens, tiled courtyards, tadlak (shiny marble) finishes, glazed ceramic tile work (zellij), cedar ceilings, and amazing painted woodwork. The rooms are sized and decorated according to importance of the user. The first wife's room is very large and very impressive and the rooms diminish in size as does the standing of the user. The public reception rooms are very grand!















Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Dar Seven in Marrakech

I am, Dear Reader, giving you the last stop of our trip first. Why, you ask? Because that's the way the photos are getting edited! And, besides, Dar Seven was the most amazing place to end a spectacular trip. We had three nights here, in royal luxury, pampered and fluffed by the most attentive staff (led by Ahmed). It was truly heaven.

Above is the last little bit of lane leading to the door of the Dar. (Dar means large house) It was in the Sidi Ben Slimane area of the medina (old walled town) and we felt rather clever that we could go out and come back again---without help!

This is the view looking down from our bedroom, The White Room, into the interior courtyard. You never know what sort of lovely, amazing spaces lurk behind the anonymous, blank doors in the lanes and alleys of the medina.


A seating area off the main courtyard.

The White Room

Inlaid chest in our room

The amazing bathroom....you should have seen the tub all decked out in candles in the evening....unfortunately all my photos of that decadent scene were fuzzy and out-of-focus.

The neighbor's cat, lounging in the sun, taken from our rooftop terrace.

Ahmed serves Nonie a fabulous dinner on our second night at the dar.

All the food we enjoyed in North Africa was delicious. I became very enamoured with Moroccan salads. You would be offered six or seven different salads to start each meal. We often had carrot, beet, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, olive and lettuce salads, and each and every one was delicious. And, OMG, the BREAD. How I miss the bread....

And here is a sampling of our breakfast at Dar Seven.
should you ever find yourself in Marrakech, I can't recommend Dar Seven highly enough---the beauty of the building and all the rooms, the quiet calm retreat n the midst of the medina and the birdsong! Dar Seven was everything it was billed to be---and much more!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Taking a Break & Self-Portrait Friday


I am off to North Africa today and so am taking a break from blogging. (Not that I have been that dedicated of late anyway, as you, Dear Reader, are already well aware!) I will be on a trip with Caravan-Serai Tours at the start and then will do a little independent travel in Morocco at the end of my trip. I promise to post lots photos and a full report when I return, mid May.

I am posting my Friday self-portrait, however. Please note, I am actually posting it on FRIDAY!



Until then, take good care of yourselves and please, wish my husband and cat well....they will have to fend for themselves!