Life and Death - Palace and Tombs

This time around, both Derek and I opted for the fried stuffed crepe from the short old woman who creates them for the US equivalent of 50 cents for breakfast. We had some time before our train to Fez, so we headed in the direction of the Saadian Tombs, which you can enter for 20 dh. 

We found the tombs once again flooded with people, and a line quickly formed (it seemed to me, with my impatience, half a mile long if it was a foot), and we got in it to wait for what we assumed was the fancy central chamber that held the remains of Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour, who commissioned the building of the grand cemetery, and his family. But we were able to peek into other less elaborate chambers and take pictures of the tombs in the gardens while we waited.

A stray cat resting on a tomb in the first chamber.

 The graves contain the remains of 166 Saadians from the 16th century and are decorated with blue, green, gold and white zellij (tiles). 

The Hall of Twelve Columns contain the remains of the Sultan (The "Golden One") and his family. It is dark and very lavishly decorated.

Outside of the tombs you can see the iconic Koutoubia Minaret, which indicates the presence of one of the largest mosques in the world, and with its 300 feet of carved stone and green tile is the work of the Almohad dynasty.

We came back to the Djmaa el-Fna center and had Tajine and couscous at Toubkal (with sweet mint tea, naturally...just assume we always have the tea with meals, because we'd be crazy not to). Then, it was a quick 5 minute walk to the Royal Palace.

The sandstone ruins of the 16th century El Badi ("the marvel") palace is a shadow of its former self. Built by Saadian sultans for entertaining, only tiny hints remain of what used to be tiled floors, walkways rooms. 

Now, nesting storks are the reigning inhabitants. Inside one of the chambers was a really cool art exhibit with the war and travel pictures of a British photographer that helped to pass the time as the rain poured outside.

At the market, we picked up water, bread and mystery jam for dinner (turned out to be fig), and haggled over a few more scarves and spices. Then we camped out at our hotel in an outdoor alcove and read while the rain fell until the time came to grab a taxi to the train station. 

This time, settled in our first class cabin, we enjoyed our jam and bread until I had an allergic reaction (guessing it had almond flour or something), so I watched the pretty landscape while waiting to see if Derek would need to stab me with my epi pen...it subsided, thank goodness.