We start the morning as usual with a hearthy and healthy breakfast. The breakfast at the Riad is quite good and we enjoy the time on the terrace before it is getting hot during the day. While we are here in October it is still quite hot and sometimes we are a bit overwhelmed even when coming from Arizona. At least we see a beautiful House Bunting that is eyeing our food cautiously.
And then it is time to explore the medina again. The day before we went north and now we go south to see the attractions at the southern edge of the medina.
Most main alleys are quite hectic as usual but we find a few more interesting places like a water fountain which is still used by the people in the houses around it, quite interesting.
The first attraction we visit today is the Bahia Palace, built in the 19th century by Si Musa a grand vizier and his son who was grand vizier also. It then was looted by the sultan and then it become the residence of the French resident-general. And then again it became a Royal Residence before finally becoming a museum and being open for visitors.
It starts with the Small Riad and then leads to the Small Courtyard before ending at the Grand Courtyard which we are not able to enter today.
However the major attraction here are the decorations, they are really special and give us a new appreciation of the skill of the artisans in the area.
The ceilings are especially beautiful, we cannot get enough of them as well as the very detailed room separators.
From here we keep our heads up looking at the ceilings in every room we enter and they do not disappoint. We are surprised at their variety, the artisans really had a lot of imagination especially as they cannot make representations of living things.
A star shaped ceiling is the most impressive one, with the geometric patterns being quite interesting. And then we are done and have to return to the entrance to move to the next palace nearby, Badi Palace, which is in a more ruined state and we look forward to visiting.
