April 21, 2014 Day 3 Marakech tour of Yves Saint Laurent Garden and Bahia Palace

April 21, 2014 Day 3 Marakech tour of Yves Saint Laurent Garden and Bahia Palace

We woke up and ate yogurt with fig preserves on bread that Suzette made last night and the last pan au chocolate.  Since Suzette broke our bottle of apricot preserves last night I then made more fig preserves.  I cut into fourths about 1 ½ cup of dried figs after removing their stems.  I then put the fig pieces into a sauce pan with 1 cup of water, ½ cup of dry Madeira, 4 Tsp. of sugar and 1 cup of fresh orange juice and cooked the mixture at as low a heat as I could to simmer it.  I turned off the heat when Naiore picked us up at around 10:00 to drive us around Marakech.  He first drove us to the Yves Saint Laurent Garden where we toured the extensive collection of succulents, cacti and palms from all over the world, plus a bunch of other stuff. 

Then we went through the Museum which had a collection of Berber art, costumes, and artifacts.  We were pleased to see several weaving tolls of the type we had bought the day before.  Maybe we did get something special.

After the Museum, Naiore drove us to the Bahia Palace and walked us through the palace.  He told us it was built in the 17^th century by a king for his favorite wife, Bahia.  It was one of the most elaborate palaces I have ever seen with painted wood ceilings and doors, carved plaster on the walls, marble mosaic floors, and fountains in many patios.  Its architecture consisted of high ceilings to let the heat rise and thick walls to create the mass to keep the palace cool in the summer plus lots of plants and pools of water and fountain to circulate moisture.

After the palace Suzette said she wanted to buy dresses, so we drove to the Medina and Naiore walked us toward the Maroc Caftan store again, but before Suzette said we needed to get some lunch.  It was around 2:00 so Naiore turned in a different direction in the Medina and took us through another area to a row of big restaurants with large terraces at the end of the Place Jemaa el Fna.  He told us that the Restaurant Chez Ghegrouni was the best restaurant he knew and suggested we eat there and he would meet us in an hour. We hiked up to the third floor terrace, which was filled and waited about fifteen minutes for a table to clear.   There is little formality in Marakech and when a table cleared the waiter waved another couple to a table by the window with a view of the Place and Suzette had to jump in to say that that was our table.  The couple gave way grudgingly, since we were at the head of the line.  The amazing thing was the menu was no more expensive than any of the other restaurants we have been eating at but the food was markedly better. The waiter gave us menus and a piece of paper on which to write our order.  We ordered a bowl of Moroccan soup and a plate of olives and I order a tagine with chicken almonds and raisins.  Suzette order a tagine with beef with plums and Willy ordered a beef couscous.  We also ordered water and mint tea.  Bread was brought and then the soup and olives which we ate while our order was being prepared I felt sorry for the French family sitting next to us with their two small children who had nothing to eat while we were eating soup and olives with Arab bread.  We discovered that the reddened olives were mature and much softer and more flavorful with requiring any vinegar or salt to soften them.

Moroccan Soup

Couscous with beef and vegetables 

Tagine with almonds and raisins

Finally our food was served.  As it turned out there were two different tagines with beef and we were sent the one with mixed vegetables instead of plums.  Suzette being the trouper she is, ate what she got.  We all agreed the food was excellent for no more money than the lesser restaurants we had eaten at and my dish with the toasted almonds and raisins in a thickened turmeric and fenugreek sauce was exceptional.   I loved Willy’s couscous.  It had all the vegetables I associate with Marrakech couscous from 1968, including zucchini and butternut squash.  It also had mature red olives, which was super.  This was the cheapest big meal we have had and the best at 222 Dirham.

Naiore came to get us and walked us over to the Caftan shop.  Suzette tried on several dresses and I tried on a Moroccan cashmere vest and Willy tried on several shirts also.  When it became time to discuss price it turned out that my vest was the most expensive, so I gave up my vest.  Suzette finally made a deal at $650.00 (5,200 Dirham) for her two dresses and two shirts for Willy.   Willy seemed apologetic about getting two shirts that cost over $125.00, but we reminded him that we had never bought him any great clothes and we wanted to and if his brother Luke had been here the bill might have been much higher, because Luke really loves fine clothes.  Willy said that perhaps he could share the clothes with Luke someday.  Three of the items had to be altered a bit, so we left them to be altered and walked back to the apartment.

The weather turned against us and it started to rain and then it started to hail.  Luckily we were in front of Naiore’s shop, so we ran in and got under his huge wooden entry way.  Naiore said he had not seen hail in Marakech in 14 years, so this is unusual weather.  It rained for about half an hour and then it subsided so we started to walk home but the rain started again as we neared the house and we ducked into a fancy hotel near the entrance of the medina where our apartment was located and had drinks and waited for the storm to subside in its lovely bar.

   

When we returned to the apartment I cooked the fig mixture down to a thickened preserve and put it in a cup to cool in the fridge.

We then got ready to go to dinner at the Clock, which is a hip young person’s restaurant on the other side of the medina that T.R. had said he loved because they had a man who told interesting stories about Morocco.  Naiore picked us up at 6:30 and drove us to the Clock restaurant.  When we arrived at 7:00 we were the only persons at the restaurant and we soon found out that the story teller only appears on Thursdays.  There is a band on Saturdays and on Wednesdays there is samba dancing, but nothing on Monday evenings.  So we ate an expensive meal of 260 dirham of delicious vegetarian food.   I ordered a tasting platter of Moroccan appetizers, Suzette ordered a vegetable pasilla wrapped in phyllo dough garnished with a vegetable medley and with a green sauce on the side; very lovely.  Willy ordered a plate with falafels, hummus and Tabouli made with quinoa.  We drank mint tea that was very strong and a bottle of water.

When we got ready to leave the rain started pouring again, so we caught a cab back to the apartment. I felt sorry for the folks who could not afford the $7.50 (60 dirham) to take a cab and had to walk through the wet streets in the night with motor bikes and cars whizzing by.

We were happy to be back in our warm dry apartment, as the rain continued for about an hour more.

Tomorrow we go to Essourria. 

Bon Appétit