Ten must see marrakech jardins

Jacques Majorelle

French artist Jacques Majorelle (1886–1962) came to Marrakech in 1919 to recuperate from his heart problems and immediately saw the painterly potential of southern Morocco.

Louis Majorelle

Louis Majorelle was the painter’s equally famous father. A French decorator and furniture designer, he was one of the leading exponents of the Art Nouveau style. His work is displayed in celebrated museums, such as the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

The plants

A beautiful bamboo “forest” and an arid cactus garden with species from around the world share garden space (below). Most stunning of all are the flowering masses of red and purple bougainvillea. 

Bassins and fountains

The garden has a fountain and two large bassins or pools (left), the smaller fed by a sloping channel. Next to the museum, a third pool is filled with golden carp.

Boutique

In the northeast corner, a small boutique sells an interesting array of quality local handicrafts including clothing, jewellery and miscellaneous leather products such as bags, sandals and beautifully bound notebooks. However, there is a notable paucity of information concerning Majorelle and his garden.

Islamic Art Museum

The painter’s former studio now houses a small but well-presented collection that includes Berber jewellery, fine embroidery and carved wooden items.

Majorelle’s paintings

The museum’s first room has a series of lithographs depicting various Atlas kasbahs. Some of Majorelle’s most acclaimed works were the tourism posters that he created for Morocco.

Majorelle blue

The name Majorelle lives on in an electrifying shade of cobalt blue inspired by the Berber homes of southern Morocco. His former studio is strikingly painted in this colour.

Bassins and fountains

The garden has a fountain and two large bassins or pools (left), the smaller fed by a sloping channel. Next to the museum, a third pool is filled with golden carp. Petrol station

At the corner of Boulevard de Safi, this petrol station was designed by Jean-François Zevaco and is possibly the city’s most striking modernist building.

Doors and ceilings

Arguably the highlight of the museum is its collection of wooden doors and ceilings (below), all beautifully carved. Some of the ceiling panels are painted but most impressive are the huge double doors dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries.

Yves Saint- Laurent French designer Yves Saint-Laurent first visited the city in 1962. By the end of the ’60s, he’d bought his first house here, a palatial place in the medina known as the “House of the Serpent”. Later, he moved into a villa next to Majorelle Gardens, which he purchased and saved from being destroyed to make way for an apartment complex. Saint- Laurent still spends part of each year in the city.

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10 Marrakech Souvenis you can´t miss

Babouches 

Babouches are Moroccanslippers, handmade from local leather, although increasingly the babouches found in the souks are made of a synthetic plastic that only looks like leather. In their most basic form they are pointy-toed and come in a variety of colours – canary yellow being the most common – but are otherwise plain. However, lots of boutiques and shops customize their babouches with silk trim, or even carving the leather with exquisite designs.

Argan oil

Argan oil is an almost mystical substance to which all kinds of properties are attributed . Part of its mystique can be credited to the rarity of argan trees, which only grow in southwestern Morocco. The oil is sold all over the souks but much of it is low grade. For quality oil, it’s best to buy from a reputable dealer.

Carpets

Marrakech is famed for its carpets, made by the tribes of the south. Each tribe has its own patterns. Beware the salesmen’s patter. Some carpets are very old and made of genuine cactus silk but these are rare. Most sold today, though beautiful, are quite modern and made from non-natural fibres. Buy a carpet if you like it, and not because you have been told that it’s a good investment.

Pottery

 Each region of Morocco produces its own distinctive pottery. The local style is plain terracotta finished with colourful glazes. Ceramics from the Akkal factory would not look out of place in a cutting edge design shop. Or visit the big pottery souk outside Bab Ghemat which is to the southeast of the medina.

  

Lanterns

There are two types of lanterns: those that hang from the ceiling and those that sit on the floor. The former (known as fanous) are typically fashioned from metal and come in elaborate shapes with intricate decoration. The latter are made of skin and goats’ hair and are usually colourful. Look for them in the northern part of the souk or down at the Place des Ferblantiers.

Leather bags 

Marrakech is known for its leather. It is made by treating animal hides by hand in the tanneries  in the east of the medina which are then dyed. Unsurprisingly, the shops of the souk are filled with leather goods from purses to handbags to book bindings. Do plenty of window shopping before settling on an item. 

Candles  

Candles are used to great effect in local restaurants. They are sold in all shapes, colours and sizes in the souk, and some of the designs can be highly inventive. Some of the best are made by a small company called Amira (www. amirabougies.com) and you can buy them in various boutiques.

Jewellery 

The local Berber jewellery is silver, chunky and heavy. However, a number of artisans in Marrakech, both local and foreign, produce more modern designs. Look out for Joanna Bristow’s brilliant designs in select hotel boutiques such as La Maison Arabe .

Fashion 

Marrakech may have inspired countless foreign couturiers from Yves Saint-Laurent to Tom Ford. However, it’s only recently that the city has begun to develop a fashion of its own. There are some young Moroccan designers producing beautiful clothing, like the high profile brothers behind the boutique Beldi , whose collections made from local fabric are tailored to Western sensibilities.

Marra-Kitsch  

A recent trend amongst local designers involves taking the iconography of Marrakech and giving it a Pop-ish twist. Florence Tarrane of Kulchi does shoulder bags that feature the khamsa (five-fingered hand), the good-luck symbol of the Arab world. Hassan Hajjaj makes fanous from sheets of tin printed with advertising logos, sold at his riad (see www.riadyima.com).

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JEMAA EL FNA for food Connaisseurs

As day gives way to night, this famous square is decked out in inviting, make-shift tables, where you can sample grilled meats and traditional dishes.

"I couldn't believe the flawless organisation of the night restaurants in this fantastic square! Long tables are laid out in a flash, while the coals glow red and kebabs flash before your eyes accompanied by bread and tomato sauce. The sellers appeal to passers-by, inviting them to sit at their tables. Under the lights and the fumes, young and old find themselves sitting at the same benches partaking of timeless, unchanging dishes that include couscous with seven vegetables,

tagines, hot steaming snails, all types of kebabs and Moroccan salads to name but a few. It's a celebration of eastern flavours in a good-natured atmosphere all at tiny price. You could come back every night to Aicha's no. 27 stand or to Hassan's sandwiches at no. 78, before sinking back into the energetic colours of Jemaa el Fna."

Jack Rogers, chef at a London restaurant.

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The Fantasia of Morocco

We arrived in Tissa in the early morning. Festivities and competition was not due to start until around 9.30 am, so we spent time chatting with locals and checking out the magnificent horses as they were prepared for the big event - The Fantasia.

In the hours before the competition began, the contestants and their mounts were extremely busy. Every last detail of equipment was checked, saddles made ready and the rifles, that play such a dramatic part in the event, were loaded and discharged.

There was also a fair bit of horse-trading, with good horses selling for between 4000 and 9000 Euro.

The Tissa Horse Festival re-lives Morocco's rich and often war-like history. It's still extremely daunting to see a line of warriors dressed in white charging straight towards you on their spirited Arab stallions. Stopping within centimetres of the wooden fence at the finish, they fire muzzle loaded rifles in a deafening volley. On occasion a horse can't be restrained and breaks through.

While the Tissa Horse Festival is held in honour of a local patron saint, a fifteenth century Holy man, called Sidi Muhammad ben Lahcen, the displays of skilled horsemanship are primarily about speed, team work, discipline and manoeuvrability.

Teams are judged by officials who watch from in front and on both sides. The criteria involved includes the neatness of the formation as it charges, the ability to charge right up to the fence at the end of the field and the discharging of the rifles in unison.  It was an extraordinary event that thrilled the more than four thousand spectators.

There is no doubting the skills involved in this "sport" - and no way of avoiding the fact that is also dangerous. There were several minor spills, cuts and bruises during the morning events, but, thankfully, only one serious incident in which a horse fell and crushed the rider beneath him. What was so impressive was the speed in which first aid was available. It was no more than five seconds after the accident before the ambulance officer sprinted assist. The injured man was transported to hospital and his condition was not serious.

By the middle of the day, the competition was over and the teams paraded in front of the official tents. It was good news for the local team, who took out the first prize, closely followed by the horsemen of Fez.

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Marrakech Museum of Art

In the calendar of its temporary exhibitions, the Museum of Art de Vivre in Marrakech opens its new cultural season with an exhibition devoted to the art of the garden in Morocco. Being a great lover of gardens, cacti in the first place, with great pleasure I write on this topic, more and more present in Morocco. The man, from his sedentary worked and modified landscapes. And it has created others. On the thread of time, farming techniques and diversification of cultures and the creation of new plant varieties with biotechnology and breeding techniques have changed and enriched prondamente flora around the world.

The Gardens

If the creation of a garden depends on the sun and weather, owes much to the cultural terrain on which it develops and historical era to which they belong. It can be said that a garden is a synthesis of physicality, of natural pictures, geography, history and culture. The gardens are a reflection of the civilization that saw them born, is not important in this example the names of territories and cultures that created them: Islamic gardens, Andalusian, Japanese, English, French, Italian. So fragile, the gardens have already known by ancient civilizations in different times, are sometimes able to cross time and witness the genes that have created these masterpieces. Dell'Agdal Gardens, Majorelle, Versailles, Doctors, and many others are excellent illustrations the size of their creators. Morocco, the crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, is characterized by diversity dali landscape and its different climates.

The Sahara

Ref in dense forests, dunes in the Sahara, the Middle Atlas cedraie, visitors discover the Moroccan different situations, both natural and cultivated by man. Due to these differences, primarily the climate, the gardener is always plenty of opportunity to give free rein to his imagination by creating gardens to dream, to relate and love. It reaches the point of view two types of gardens coexist mixandosi in a unique fusion, creating a new form of movement. The photographers participating in the exhibition, Nourddine Tilsaghani Hassan Nadim, Abdellah Mahmoud and Abderrazzak Benchaâmane, have traveled all over the realm Moroccan photographing both the public and private gardens. Their goal is to claim the garden as an ecological and natural heritage, enhancing an art of living in harmony with the nature of Morocco. The exhibition will be visible until 30 November 2011.

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