Marrakesh - (Fall 2025) - Day 3
Breakfast at the riad
The items would vary slightly every day which was nice
Walking through the medina to the first destination of the day
Madrasa Ben Youssef
One of the sites to see in Marrakesh is the the 16th century school in the medina. The restored school does have a beautifully decorated interior. One of the upsides of travel is that you get to see a lot of things, but that is maybe one of the downsides as well. Having seen the Alhambra in Granada, this place is pretty valuable for its history but on a far different scale.
Almoravid Koubba
Small 12th century monument located by the Madrasa Ben Youssef
Walked by a leather maker treating his hides on the street
Bahia Palace
Our next stop was the Bahia Palace. This former palace is now a museum and is over a hundred years old. So it is not as ancient as other parts of the medina but gives you a good idea of royal life at that time.
Zeitoun Cafe
This is a popular cafe in the kasbah area of the medina. The rooftop seating gives you a good view of the busy area by the mosque below. Upon leaving the waiter gave us a splash of rose water on our hands on the way out.
Saadian Tombs
This was one of the more disappointing visits of the trip. The royal burial tombs from several hundred years ago are in the central part of the kasbah. It is about $10 a head to enter but the way it is organized only a few people can see the actual chamber at a time and there is no time limit. So a long line forms outside in the hot sun to get a peak at the chambers. You can’t tell how long the line may be from where you pay at the entrance.
We eventually left after standing in line for a bit. In the last photo you can see a little bit of what it looks like inside from a side chamber (or you can just look it up on the internet). Definitely not worth the line and don’t come here unless you are sure there is no line.
After the morning sightseeing in the medina, we decided to walk over to the French Quarter or the Gueliz area. This is the medina gate we left from (looking back from the outside).
The guide told us that the Moroccans called it Gueliz (pronounced like “gillies”) which is a bastardization of “Eglise” - French for church
Gueliz - French Quarter
As you leave the medina, you time warp several hundred years forward in time. No more donkey carts or ancient dwellings. Instead you can find Louis Vuitton and Nobu.
Being the French Quarter, this was also the place to buy bottles of alcohol if you looking for some. There was a Carrefour in this area that the tourists would flock to where you could buy bottles of wine, beer, and liquor.
Extrablatt
We stopped for a little coffee break in the shade as it was still pretty warm outside especially in the sun on this fall day. This place felt very European (except that they had no alcohol). Everything else about it felt like an upscale cafe in Paris.
Typical street in the Gueliz
O’Mulligan Resto Pub
Having had the coffee, it was time for a proper cold beer on a hot afternoon. This “Irish” pub is run by a French guy from Toulouse, France. We originally took the beers to drink onto the outside patio but the owner shooed us back inside. I guess you are not allowed to drink alcohol on the sidewalk.
You can still find drinks in Marrakesh despite being a Muslim country but it was not as prevalent as I thought and they seem to be a bit stricter than I had imagined.
Chesterfield Pub
This English style pub was on the second floor of a hotel. It had a small bar and a salon seating area inside and then a nice outside patio which was by the hotel pool where you could bring your drink.
On the way back to the medina. Just outside the walls the buildings looked more working class and less glamorous than the Gueliz district.
Restaurant Mohammed Salama De Palestine
We went to try another kebab shop on our street but realized when we got the menu that it was the same shop from the first night we were here. They just operate a door front a few doors down as well. I think they roast their meat for both places at this one on this sidewalk spit.