Like I have said before, there is so much to see and do in Marrakech! You can’t leave El Badi Palace off your list, this place is so beautiful! The name actually means ‘Palace of Wonder’ when translated from Arabic. It is located just south of the Medina and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it costs70 dirham (about $10).
Just like Saaddien’s Tombs, the Palace was commissioned by Sultan Ahmad el Mansour around 1580 (shortly after he took the throne in 1578). It took 25 years to be completed and supposedly had 360 rooms. It was built using many of the most expensive materials at the time including gold and marble!
Not only does it have an expansive courtyard with an enormous central pool and four sunken gardens (and residents) with orange trees; it also has dungeons and ramparts with huge nests! Can you imagine the pool back when the Palace was in its glory days?! It would have been so refreshing in the heat!
There are even some dungeons underneath the palace! You don’t want to miss those.
Just like with the tombs, El Badi was stripped of everything when the new Sultan Moulay Ismail ascended the throne. Supposedly it took 10 years for El Badi to be stripped! He then used the looted goods to build and furnish his own palace (Meknes).
El Badi is now just a shell but make plans to explore all the ruins and climb up the ramparts. Make sure you also get a look at the nests nestled on the ramparts and maybe you will even get a glance at one of the resident storks!
Have you visited El Badi Palace? Let me know!
Buffy x
