Chellah Picture Post

"The mind has so many pictures

Why can't I sleep with my eyes open?" 

Rufus Wainwright, The One You Love, Want Two

As part of Orientation, we went to see the Ancient Ruins of Chellah, which is something of a misnomer. Chellah is and was actually two cities, to my understanding: the ruins we saw were mostly the remnants of a medieval Moroccan city built on top of ancient Roman ruins, leftover from when they conquered the area.  The oldest parts of the Moroccan ruins date back to the twelfth century.

We walked through the gate, and everyone's first reaction to this remarkable piece of history is...

KITTY!
Isn't it cute? This isn't the first cat we saw, but they were all equally cute. Thirteen of the fourteen people in the program are girls and I swear, the collective "awww" was sweet enough to rot teeth. After you realize how many strays there are in Morocco, though, it becomes more sad than adorable. I asked one of the Moroccan girls I'd met if they had animal shelters and she seemed surprised by the concept, so I'm guessing not.

As far as the actual history of the site goes, I have to say I didn't catch as much as I'd have liked to. The guide's English wasn't great and I was too busy with my shiny, shiny new orange camera. So instead of a story, you get pictures. Vicki took all of the ones with the file name Chellah_by_Vicki, and I'm using them on my blog because my camera died during this excursion. The photo on the right is of the entrance to the mosque that was attached to a school.  There's a fountain in front where the students washed up before prayer. Take a look at the things off to the side (there's a close up on the left) and guess what they are. Just guess.                        

A doorway. I'm not sure if the door that's attached is original or not. I don't think they'd alter a historical site, but I also don't know how one would have survived. The formatting is being really screwy, but I think the photos of the minaret are below this text. There are storks and hawks nesting on top of it now, but it was part of a mosque. Every mosque has a minaret from which the Call to Prayer is announced five times every day. They used to have someone climb to the top and do it, but now they use electronic soundsystems. 

 

The next two pictures are of the eel pools. Barren women come to the pool and toss in bits of hard boiled egg. Legend has it that if an eel eats the egg, she'll be blessed with a child. Apparently some women still try it, kind of like tossing pennies into a fountain. 

This is a burial of some kind, I think. I can't remember exactly whose it is, or if they even know.


Ok, I've been messing with this formatting for over two hours now and it's driving me nuts. I'll fix it later, and finish describing what's going on. And post the garden photos, and finally get around to the ninja story.