After breakfast we set off again to Jemma al Fna and from there we tried to suss out how to get to the Saadian Tombs, used for members of the royal family. It was a large oblong courtyard with much of the space dedicated to graves of lesser mortals. The courtyard is surrounded by very high walls. It shares one wall with the mosque next door. The tombs (two of them) are large - 10m x 10m with high vaulted ceiling and ornate stonework on the arches and other surfaces. Quite attractive, but not my cup of tea. I wasn't that impressed by the interior of the Taj Mahal either.
An unexpected form of entertainment while queuing were the attempts by a turtle to scale the stone borders of the graves in the open. Some passages were so narrow that it had to do it with one side in the air. Eventually it got to the grassy bits and a woman was happy to feed it succulent leaves. Later on we saw it pass by a gaggle of cats at the entrance before an attendant scooped it up and took it back.
Once outside again, we looked for a taxi to take us to the Majorelle Garden, but while there were taxis about, there was no driver. The Moroccan people are ever helpful though, and the driver was soon located. Despite the fact that it was warm - perhaps 25C+ degrees, he was wearing a sheepskin jacket. I guess they are acclimatised to much warmer weather. We (i.e. he) struck up a conversation and like all drivers so far in this town (city of 2M+ people) he was keen to describe all the services he could provide, i.e. tours into the country. He insisted on giving us a guided tour along the way and on giving us his card. Good thing, too, as it turned out.
The garden was laid out by a Frenchman that on his death was acquired by Yves St Laurent, the fashion designer who died in 2008. He (YSL) had set up a trust to maintain the gardens in perpetuity (one presumes). They consist chiefly of many many species of cacti and other succulents as well as some fountains and ponds and a small museum (closed) and a café, set in what was presumably the house.
The cacti were just fabulous (I have a minor fetish about cacti) - many were of an enormous size - some were like balls ¾ of a metre in diameter. There was lots of shade, something that we appreciated, it being midday. Very peaceful and most enjoyable. There was a memorial to YSL in one corner of the garden. Silence was requested.
Despite the prices, we elected to eat at the café in the grounds because it was just so delightful there. As we were leaving, I noticed that I could not find my thin Kathmandu hat. It wasn't in the rucksacks or in a pocket. I feared the worst - no laughing matter as the sun was still high in the sky. Enquiries were made, but the hat had not been found in the café or the garden grounds, leaving me to conclude that I had left it in the taxi. The first item lost and it was my fault - this was going to ruin my day because you can't forgive yourself for such carelessness. On first considering it, the prospect of catching up with the driver seemed unlikely so we decided to write it off. Later we reconsidered.
We took another taxi back to Jemma el Fna and had a coffee/tea in comfortable chairs in the shade while we observed the world going by - this was a major pedestrian thoroughfare. Unlike the first taxi, when we had just got in, this time I was going to negotiate a fare, as there are no meters. A man approached me with an opening gambit of 100 Dh, at which I laughed, something you are not supposed to do. In the end I could not budge him off 40 Dh (same as earlier one). It turns out he wasn't even the driver. Perhaps he just takes on the foreigners for sport. It was all done in good humour though, with laughter and backslapping, so it was actually a fun experience.
Our next stop was an Internet café, where I hoped at last to check the Wizard balance to see if they had finally moved my deposit into the account. Unfortunately it would not let me login, using same credentials as on previous occasions. It locks you out after three attempts, so I only did it twice. Just had a horrible thought! What if I have been compromised and a hacker changed the password? We'll have to ring.
No problems on the Visa card, thank goodness. Got to send emails though, so not a total loss.
On the way back to the Riad, we wanted to buy some laundry detergent liquid but the first place we walked into we could not get the proprietor's attention as he was on the phone. After a few minutes examining products labeled in arabic, we left. Further along on the route back we tried another place off a little square, a hole-in-the-wall place of a type so common here. I was able to communicate our desire to buy a large bottle of water but struggled with the laundry detergent. Much gesticulation ensued until an ever helpful local appeared, explaining that the shop keeper was a Berber who did not (and by implication could not) speak English. He translated our wishes into French that the shopkeeper understood. They like to take over these people. The water and soap came to 8 Dh and then the motive for the helpfulness manifested itself - he wanted something, money perhaps, so we gave him the change from the 10 Dh coin, but he was not satisfied with that. Something not quite right with him. He then thought he had interested us in having him take us somewhere, probably the tannery, as a number of others had tried to do. We weren't going to have it, but he lead on anyway, of necessity along our by now "normal" route. When it came time for us to peel off down our street, we disappeared quickly.
It had been a lovely afternoon and despite the hat incident, our mood had lifted due to the gorgeous sunshine and low 20s temperature.
On returning to our room, it occurred to me that texting the taxi driver (who had given us his card) might be a good idea, at least to establish if he had the hat. If so, we could get him to pick us up tomorrow at a nearby rendezvous and take us to our next destination. He responded very quickly to say he had the hat. Oh joy! I was in the process of composing a reply stating our proposition when he rang, so we made the arrangement then. A hopefully satisfactory resolution to the problem.
We had chosen to have dinner at the Riad so we'll see if that is better than the fare so far. It was a tajine and was very good.
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