MOROCCO: GARDENS AND MORE Part I, Guest Post by Susan Kean

In the Medina of Chefchaouen, Morocco.

My friend Susan Kean recently returned from a trip to Morocco which focused on the variety of Moroccan gardens. I thank her for sharing her wonderful photos and descriptions. I have never been to Morocco, but I am fascinated by how each person experiences the country in their own way.

Inside Le Jardin Secret

Our trip to Morocco with the Mediterranean Garden Society started in Marrakech. Our accommodation was in the Medina (old Town) and there is no access by car or bus. Lots of walking!The tour started with a reception for the whole group of about 60 of us at Le Jardin Secret. Lots of French spoken here since the French were over Morocco from 1912 to 1956.

This garden was made of lots of formal rectangles of familiar plants such as Rosemary, box, roses. Lots of cactus too.

Next two days we visited a whole variety of Moroccan Gardens and the Water Museum. 

Mohammed V1 Museum of Water Civilization opened in 2017
Covers everything about water including describing court that decides how the precious water resources should be distributed.

Moroccans believe that water is a gift from God. Like us, they are challenged by drought, so everything is about access to water. Though water plays a big part in Marrakech, gardens there have their own wells. 

Our guide pointed out how the cacti are all pointing to the sun.

Looked almost artificial! The only cactus in flower in the whole garden.

Resident camel.

Next garden was called the Anima garden. After that was the Cactus farm. Even though cactus are not native to North Africa. They are everywhere.

This was the Berber museum within the YSL garden. Berbers were the original Moroccan people.

The third day we visited the beautiful Yves Saint Laurent Museum and Gardens

View of the old town ( Medina)of Fez.

The next stage of our Moroccan trip was heading North toward Tangier stopping for two nights in Fez and a trip to Chefchaouen.

Outside the Royal Palace.

Fez is very multicultural, combining Moorish, Jewish, Berber, and Arab cultures.

Our bedroom window in Fez.

We stayed in another hotel on the edge of the Medina so the buses could get quite close.

Tanning leather. I did buy a purse!

We had a tour visiting the outside of one of the Royal Palaces, a pottery making factory, a tannery, a former school and a public garden.

Chefchaouen. Everywhere is painted blue.

Chefchaouen was an a really pretty city in the mountains. Culture includes Berbers, Muslims, and Jews from Spain. A lot of Spanish influence in the architecture.

Part II, a visit to Tangier, will post next week.

Check out these other posts for more about Morocco at The Intrepid Tourist:

Marrakech, Fes and Rabat, By Kathryn Mohrmn  

16 Days in Morocco Part 1, By Tom and Susan Weisner  

16  Days in Morocco, Part 2, By Tom and Susan Weisner 

16 DAYS IN MOROCCO, Part 2: Guest Post by Tom and Susan Weisner

Fez, Morocco.

Our friends Tom and Susan Weisner went on a tour of Morocco last year and have kindly agreed to share a few of their wonderful photos and memories of the trip. Part 1 posted last week. This is Part 2.

Our guide.

Our trip to Morocco was  part of a group tour organized by Reed College, where Tom was a student in the 1960s. There were 15 in our group, including Paul Silverstein, an anthropologist who teaches at Reed and who does fieldwork in Morocco. We had a great Moroccan guide too!

Fes

Rug merchants, Fes.

Susan dressed up inside a weaving store somewhere in the souk.

Fes is the second largest city in Morocco, 1.4 million, historic cultural center, former capital until 1912. Souk (market) and Medina (old quarter) of Fez is a World Heritage site –a huge, endless twisting world inside!
Want some rugs, slippers, shoes, jewelry, DATES, weaving and cloth - or about any other thing you could think of? It’s in some alley somewhere. But just  try and find your way back out!

Berber Villages (Meknes-Tafilalet)

Our group had lunch in a Berber village.

Two friends in our small tour group playing dress-up inside the Berber village.

Paul Silverstein, Reed anthropologist, did field research in this Berber area in the South near the Atlas Mountains. This led to side events such as Paul taking Tom to meet Moroccan informants of his, journalists, etc. He took our group into enclosed walled villages (Meknes-Tafilalet) and we had lunch inside – tea in a field basically. Awesome. There was a small “museum" inside as well.

 Ouarzazate

Ouarzazate, nicknamed the "door of the desert"

Our “rock” hotel was like a fort!

Ouarzazate is a historic city in the Southern Berber area in Morocco, in the High Atlas Mountains. Gateway to the Sahara desert to the South. Famous “Kasbah” there. It was also turned into a location site for making movies with an exotic, middle east/desert setting (Gladiator; Game of Thrones, etc.).

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou outside Ouarzazate in the walled Berber communities of the South of Morocco.

Then driving over the Atlas Mountains – steep, curvy. Susan loved it. (Not really.)

Marrakech

Marrakech market square

The VAST main market square famous in Marrakech; we spent several hours there. There is a huge souk (bazaar or marketplace) surrounding it.

Susan bought some green plates here.

Susan and Tom with camel.

Yes; there are camels but this is just at a tourist rest stop where you could take a picture with one. We never got near any actual desert oasis with camels. There are stray cats EVERYWHERE.
We all got various stomach problems in Morocco. There was a Burger King near our hotel in Marrakech. An exotic one, of course, but just what we needed. We got dinner there. Mmmmmmm.

Essaouira
Essaouira is on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. It is a beautiful city – historic French and colonial. 

One of the many shops in the Essaouira medina. (Medina is an old Arab word for the non-European part of a North African city.)

Viagra for men and women available in the Medina..

Susan sees a totally torn up violin in a case at a museum in Essaouira.

And yes, there are goats that climb in the trees and eat stuff along the roads….

 For Part 1 of 16 DAYS IN MOROCCO, see the post for 9/14/20..