Majorelle Gardens & House Marrakech.

One of the highlights of the trip to Marrakech was a visit to the Majorelle Gardens, a 25 minute walk north west from the main Medina. They were designed and built by French painter Jacques Majorelle who moved to Marrakech in 1919. Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent bought the gardens in 1980 and they restored them to their original splendour. Cobalt Blue is the predominant colour throughout with highlights of yellow, which blend amazingly well with the lush greens of the planting. After the craziness of the Souks and the Medina, this was a haven of peace and tranquility.

Colours of Marrakech

The street markets of Marrakech are a blaze of colour, mainly from all the fabrics and spices on sale there. The sun shines pretty much all the time, and gives all the colours on display a real lift :

One of the Spice stalls in the Square : 

We also found some beautiful embroideries : 

Doors in Marrakech

It might seem a strange post to do - on doors, but these are not your average front door, nor will you find them at your local B&Q or Homebase ( Lowes or Home Depot in the US :) ! They are one of the many delights of Marrakech, doors are things of beauty that they create and batter over a very long period of time,  as you can see from the photos :

Don't think Yale had much to with this door lock ! 

Wonder if this where they had the firing squad ! 

Okay we do have more photos, so we're leaving the door open for another door post ... in a day or so !

Moroccan Tiles in Marrakech

The buildings in Medina (the old part of Marrakech) are very plain and for the most part terracotta coloured. They line the narrow streets and alleyways, and are part of the reason it is so easy to get lost ! Inside these buildings they are anything but plain. They are usually entered through an old elaborate heavily carved door, and once inside the floors, walls and sometimes the ceilings, are covered in patterns of tiny coloured tiles. Here are a few of the patterns we came across in our stay in Morocco. In later posts we will show you some of the actual rooms these tiles came from and the dramatic effect that they have. 

Palais Sebban in Magical Marrakech

The Palais Sebban is a Riad Hotel in the Medina part of Marrakech. The meaning of a Riad in Morocco is a family home with an interior garden, and this one must have been owned by a very wealthy family! It actually takes your breath away when you see all the high arches, the open galleries that reach right up to the glass ceiling, and the amazing colours and craftmanship. It is really hard to describe the amazing interior, so we will let the pictures do the talking :

These are just a few photo's, the internet is so unreliable here we will not be posting anymore until we return on the 23rd of June. See you then  !