 |
 |
 |
| Yes, the sun really was that hot. It was cooler to wear long sleeves and pants than get fried by the mid-day sun. Over 40 deg C during a lot of the summer (that's 98 deg F). I was only in Marrakech one afternoon, so I didn't see a lot of the sights. The best site is the next page of pictures, Bahia Palace. The two photos on the left are of the world famous Jamaa el-Fna square, where you see the people on The Travel Channel tasting all the food. |
 |
 |
 |
| You can see that on a weekday afternoon, the Jamaa el-Fna isn't quite so crazy as on TV. There is more activity at night (when it cools down), although there were still a few dancers, snake charmers, food carts, etc. out during the day. In the background of the square, and in the center picture above, you can see the Koutoubia Mosque, originally completed in 1199. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| After seeing Bahia Palace, we got to see a lot of different parts of the city by taking a horse and carriage tour. It was very relaxed, and the horses seem to have the right-of-way everywhere. |
 |
 |
 |
| One of the stops we made was at the "pool" in the photo above to the left. It is a popular place for Moroccans and tourists called the Menara gardens, just outside of the downtown area (20 mins by horse?). The protected souk (suuq, or market) is shown below. It is like a small museum of its own at times and the probably the biggest one in Morocco. |
 |
 |
 |
| Although Marrakesh sees many tourists, I'm told it remains traditionally Moroccan in many ways. An older part of the city, called "Medina" has very large walls and it is best viewed on foot. |
 |
 |
 |
