The El Badi Palace in Marrakesh was a magnificent palace built by a Saadian king, named Ahmad al-Mansur in 1578. The original building is thought to have 360 rooms and a pool of 90m by 20m in the middle of a huge courtyard. It was decorated with Italian marbles and large amounts of gold imported from Sudan.
The palace was ransacked by an Alaouite Sultan named Moulay Ismail in the 17th Century to help him complete his palace at Meknes. All that is left is a set of sandstone ruins.
As we entered the site, we noticed a lot of storks nesting along the thick walls. The storks are generally faithful to an established nesting site, so in the case of their storks, they are user partner for life.
The are a number of orange trees in the courtyard. Surprisingly, no one seems to be interested in the oranges. As we later found out, these oranges are very sour and it is for decoration only
Tall walls
There's a system of dark underground tunnels and dungeons, where the king kept his prisoners
The large pool in front of the guest hall
View from the top
SP and I
There is a great viewing platform on top of a two-storey building near the entrance/exit. From here, you get a good view of the city. There are a lot of satellite dishes around the city. As we later found out, many people get have installed a satellite for their home. The installation technician would usually, with a small charge, hack the system for you so that you can gain access to just over 7,000 channels! No wonder these people speak so many languages! :-)
The balcony of a Jewish home. To the west of the El Badi Palace, you will find the old Jewish quarter(Mellah). The mellah was created in 1558. It was an extensive quarter reflecting the Jewish community’s historic importance to the city, when they were involved in the sugar trade and banking, as well as providing most of the jewellers, metalworkers and tailors. However, there are few Jews remained here today.
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