Monday, 13 October 2014

KOUTOUBIA MOSQUE & GARDENS



Today's wandering took us to the ancient Koutoubia Mosque.  Built in 1147 it was at that time one of the largest Mosques in the western world.  It was the inspiration for the Giralda Tower in Seville, Spain & even though it's walls are crumbling & pigeons occupy any little crevice they can get into...it is still a magnificent building. Being non-muslims we were not allowed to go in, so we happily walked around....


                                              
...then through an ancient horse-shoe gate & into an area of formal gardens.

                                         
One of the first things we spotted was this phone tower taken over by nesting storks!!
 
 
               
I was delighted to find another fake palm tree...these just make me chuckle. So clever to disguise mobile phone towers this way.  This one even has fake bunches of dates hanging off it! I wonder if they remove them during non-date harvesting season????????
 
 

 
I mentioned that the gardens were formal...they are so formal that large hedges surround the rose bushes & skilfully trimmed orange trees, & people are clearly not allowed in them!  Only the gardeners have that right!
It was a very pleasant place to start the day none-the-less!  We needed a little calm & tranquillity because the next stop was...the Souks!

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