Morocco Travel Notes 5: Marrakech, the Symbol of Kosmos in Chaos
Morocco is called Morocco in the West because it is a corruption of Marrakech. It is also called Kech in the local language. The old and the new city, two opposites in one, as it happens. Here cities are known by their colors, blue is Shafsavan, this one is decorated with red buildings.
We spent two days in Marrakech on our trip, (2-3 FEBRUARY). It has already been 6 days, and the signs of fatigue appeared. I told you before that the reason why it is called Morocco in the West is the corrupted form of Marrakech. It is also called Kech in the local language. The old and the new city, two opposites in one, as it happens. Here cities are known by their colors, blue is Shafsavan, this one is decorated with red buildings.
- Jami al-Fanaa
In the morning, they wrote the square of the apocalypse, jemaa el-fina in Latin, which is on the world intangible cultural heritage list. But Câmiu'l-Fenâ is more accurate, camiu means gathering place square, so it is a bit strange to say Câmiu'l-Fenâ square. Shopkeepers say "field".
The locals translate it as "the square of the apocalypse", it really is like that, it's like a mad rush, but in a strange way it also gives you a sense of serenity. This place comes alive in the afternoon, I had the chance to see it both day and night.
We came to the nearby mosque, which was once called Kutubiye because there was a bazaar of sahafs (booksellers) next to it. It will be time for prayers, but it is important to start the day here. It was not possible for non-Muslims to enter.
- Bahia Palace
Since we were coming here for Friday prayers, we went to the nearby Behaiyye (Behiyye or The Palace of Bahia) pavilion, a magnificent complex built for Sidi Musa, the Grand Vizier of Melik (Moolay Abdullah and Mollay Hassan according to the guide) and his family. Completed in stages between 1859-1873 and 1894-1900, the Bahia Palace has jasmine, orange, banana and myrtle trees in its courtyard. They call such mansions riyad. They are actually large mansions with gardens, pools and trees around them.
I got annoyed with the local guide Mr. Malik found for us here, he presented the palace as a beautiful love story, here is the room of the woman he named after, here is the room of the others. I mean, if you ask me if this annoyed me, no, I got moist here, then I got annoyed with his discourse on how principled Moroccans are in the Manara gardens (of course I couldn't say how it looks in the West, in Spain, in France), the difference between colonization and patronage and his praise of France, and then his arrogance after the Friday prayers.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azw8NWH68NU&ab_channel=MevlutUyanik
I told Mr. Malik, who was in charge of the Morocco leg of our trip, that I was looking for this, and he laughed.
- Manara Garden
The place called Manara is reached by a long road surrounded by olive trees, leading to a large irrigation pool. It was built in 1147 by Caliph Abdülmümin for irrigation and teaching soldiers how to swim. It is 200 meters long and 3 meters deep. There are fish in it. Then we went to the "assaadi mausoleum" where the tombs of Ahmed b.mansur and his family who fought with the Ottomans against the Portuguese, but we didn't go inside because it was Friday.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnEACMoa2wU&ab_channel=MevlutUyanik
- Friday Prayer at Qutubiyya Mosque
We immediately reached the Kutubiye Mosque, which is actually called al-Masjid al-Muwahhidî. We stood at the foot of the 70-meter minaret, which also stands out with its diagonal architecture. The guide told me this, and when I was writing the trip notes, I looked it up and it was 69 meters. You can see that there are different ornaments on each side, when you zoom in the camera.
It is one of the three surviving monuments from the Muvahhid Period (1147-1238), and watching it turn from pink to red in the evening is a cause for gratitude, and we have already seen that. This place is considered a reference point for international architecture. The 12th century minaret was a source of inspiration for buildings in Spain and Rabat in particular because of its characteristic arched and hard-lined architecture.
We couldn't enter this mosque in the morning, it is 90 × 60 meters long. I wandered from the back row, went to the courtyard and then sat where I could see the imam. It is a very simple mosque, as the Muvahhidis were careful about this. But there is nothing to say about the roof/dome decorations. The imam gave a very long sermon in two stages in fluent Arabic. In the Hamdele section he mentioned the lineage of Malik Muhammad Sadis (VI) and Abi Hasan Ali. As you know, this dynasty is called aleviyyun. The prayer was two rak'ahs, then the funeral prayer was offered. When one of the group said, "Why do we pray 16 rak'ahs in Turkey?" I asked Mr. Ismail from Kayseri how many rak'ahs do you pray, and he said, "Twelve rak'ahs there.
There are stalls selling fruit juices and sweets at the exit, an attendant warned me not to take photos, I said okay and apologized, but the guide started talking back and forth, there is a law here, you can't do that. I said okay, I apologized, but he was still talking, he got more tense when I told him that you are proud of Jamaa al-Fina and everyone is taking photos of Moroccan citizens there, tourism is also an important income in your country. Afterwards, when we left the car, he tried to be cute, no, the ladies stayed here, they were imprisoned etc. I told him that the ladies are free in our country, you know that most Moroccan girls want to marry in Turkey, and this time he got annoyed with me. I think we got annoyed with each other, probably so. And we went to the marcelle garden which is an important tourist place for the city, a few friends went inside, we had fruit juice and ice cream with Maryam and walked around. And we went to the Gueliz district of Marrakech, which resembles a European city, to eat. There was a group of young people playing music outside, and we left the food, which was beautifully presented, and went out to watch them.
And as it was getting dark, we went back to the Doomsday Square (camiu'l-fena) which was the first place to be included in the UNESCO intangible world heritage list.
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jlb50MRKciI
I would say it's chaos, but it's chaos in a positive sense. Performers, call it the meddah tradition, people playing music, people stopping to burn henna, people playing monkeys, all kinds of fruit juices and local food and smells.
- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JJX1flq-ThA
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QOkyTeQwtho
We returned to the hotel, and like an extended family, we reached midnight with tea, seeds and other snacks brought from Turkey.
