After our lunch and pool break, we gathered and returned to Marrakech city centre to first check out the Koutoubia Mosque, built in the 12th century.
After that we continued walking to the Marrakech Medina, another sprawling complex of shops and alleyways, but more modern and better organized than the one in Fes.
After a couple of hours there, we returned to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for the evening meal and show. The Diffa Fantasia at Chez Ali on the outskirts of the city
features a meal of soup, chicken tagine, vegetable couscous and fresh fruit for dessert. After that, Chez Ali presented a show of Moroccan music and costumes, parades, horse riding and acrobatics,
shooting guns, belly dancing, fireworks, and most importantly, lots of sheep roaming around.
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Above: These are called Arabian Camels, but more accurately each of these is a dromedary, a one-humped camel found around the Sahara desert and Middle East.
1 to 3 show the park grounds and the Koutoubia Mosque. Founded in 1147 by the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min right after he conquered Marrakesh, the first mosque was torn
down (notice in #3, the blocks are where the original mosque stood) reportedly because it didn't properly face Mecca. A second version of the mosque was entirely rebuilt
around 1158, with Ya'qub al-Mansur possibly finalizing construction of the minaret around 1195, the mosque which still stands today.
4 and 5 show the Koubba (shrine) of Lalla Zohra in front of the mosque. Fatima Zohra bint al-Kush (also called Lalla Zohra) was a female mystic who died in the early 17th century.
7 to 11 shows us walking to, and entering, the Marrakech Medina, including going past a pink motorcycle taxi.
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