This is an excerpt from Billy’s Travel Diaries
Why Marrakech?
Well direct flights are always alluring and Aer Lingus have just recently started direct flights from Dublin to Marrakech. Despite my extensive travelling around the world, I have only once before been to the continent of Africa, and that was to South Africa and Mozambique almost 20 years ago. So this was an opportune time to improve that appalling record. I had recently met up with some of the lads in Dublin and Brian D. drew the short straw to join me. Last time I was on a trip with Brian was a CUS school rugby trip to Galway back in 1979, after a brief 45 years it was time to give him another chance!
The Medina (Medieval Walled City) is the only place to stay, in one of the many riads (traditional Moroccan houses with an indoor garden and courtyard), where you can enjoy the hustle and bustle of the souks with a million and one things on offer from a myriad of stalls. However, initially within the Medina, one cannot fail to suspect one is being presented with a highly curated experience, chosen to appeal to the tourist’s sensibility of a Moroccan bazaar. Morocco’s resilient economy is so highly dependent on tourism.
The epicentre of the Medina is Jemaa el-Fnaa, the square that buzzes at night with numerous food stalls, amazing fruit juice and nuts stalls. Emanating from the square are the souks, Morocco’s largest, where handmade crafts, spices, and cheap souvenirs are on offer. The one problem in the Medina were the motorcycles, which are numerous on the busy and narrow alleys of the Medina, and they are not in mood for stopping!
On our first evening after arriving we headed to the busy square to experience the local food. The food is so good, consistently good with robust flavours to arouse even the most jaded palette. Tajines, a clay pot in which the most colourful of flavours combining meat, herb and vegetable is slowly cooked, never disappoints but then one should not expect much variety from one restaurant to another.
Being a Muslim country alcohol is not freely available in most food establishments. However Brian was not to be denied and after he consulted with a police officer on the square he found a very nice hotel where we had a cocktail and a coffee to complete our most enjoyable evening.
And what of the gardens, the greenery, my fern-loving friends?
They are a serene oasis and they hold a significant cultural and spiritual importance in a manner that perhaps (disappointingly) your beloved Kells Bay does not… yet. Yes, they are more than just green spaces; they seem more earthly reflections of the paradise described in the Quran, a connection to the Divine. Moroccan gardens, especially the traditional riad gardens, are designed to evoke a sense of tranquillity and spiritual connection. The structured geometric patterns, water features, and lush greenery symbolize the heavenly gardens described in Islamic literature. Gardens provide shade and promote cooling breezes, making them a veritable retreat from the hot, arid climate. The green canopy, along with the intricate water systems, the fountains and channels, are designed not just to irrigate and conserve water, a precious resource in a dry climate, but to cool. Truly, the harmoniously curated blend of colours, textures, and scents creates a stunning experience for all the senses.
Our first garden to visit was Le Jardin Secret, a classic riad with its formal garden layout, featuring water with the obligatory fountains with gravity fed water channels. On show in these gardens are various Citrus and Olive trees, Rosemary, Lavender, Aloes, Palms especially the Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera, Yuccas, Opuntia, other Cacti, Furcraea (macdougalii) and the very interesting South American Ceiba tree, Ceiba pentandra with its distinctive thorns lining the trunk.
A coffee break was followed by once again getting a local haircut from Younis, a great way to chat to the locals, and I did. We traded stories, before I left feeling like a younger man!
We then headed towards Marrakech’s very impressive Kutubiyya Mosque with its striking Minaret (77 metres high) towering over the city. Here there are formal gardens and also nearby the impressive Cyber Park Arsat Moulay Abdesalam, both of which are very pleasant with the expected formality.
The following morning it was to Jardin Majorelle, a 1 hectare garden originally created by French Orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, from 1923. It is better known as the property of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé from the 1980s. They restored the gardens as they had fallen into disrepair over the next 25 years until the death of Yves Saint Laurent in 2008. The gardens are quite spectacular with lots of formality and various fountains and water features, many of which feature the special shade of bold cobalt blue. It is used extensively throughout the gardens and buildings, and is now called after the original owner, ‘Majorelle Blue’.
With a very dry climate, mild winters and hot summers, here is the perfect location for a large range of spectacular Cacti plants, such as Trichocereus species, Echinocactus grusonii (Golden Barrel Cactus), Carnegiea gigantea (GiantSaguaro) and Beaucarnea recurvata which is palm like tree (but actually is from the Asparagus family) along with various Agave and Yuccas and palm trees in abundance.
This is definitely a garden worth visiting, tickets must be purchased in advance and for a fixed time to arrive by. Numbers are controlled and therefore you can enjoy your visit.
The lines of people awaiting entry to the select gardens were longer than anything else I saw in Marrakech. They are held in reverence, and often integrated into the architecture of buildings, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor spaces, heaven and earth.
To see even more images from this trip, check out my Facebook post here.
– Billy