Palais el Badi, Marrakesh

This site was a wonderful mix of old and new the day we were there.  The palace took twenty five years to build, with construction finally completed around 1593 and was a lavish display of the best craftmanship of the Saadian period, but at this point it is almost in ruins.  There are hints at it's former splendor, but that is what they are--hints.

El-Badia Palace is hidden behind its red coloured pisé walls and apparently it can be a bit tricky to find. After entering through the so called Green Pavilion we came in the enormous courtyard with four sunken gardens with orange trees and a swimming pool. Going to the left we reached a staircase - just behind a nice fountain with zellij tile work - to a viewing point with views of the courtyard and the remains of the of the palace (to the other side is a view over the roofs of Marrakech to the Koutoubia Mosque, with some stork nests nearby on the ramparts).  Don't miss the dungeon and the restored minbar (in the only renovated part of the palace).  But the real point is the scale of the place, which reflects the scale that the sultans lived on.