Blogs from Marrakech, Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz, Morocco, Africa - page 37

If you're looking for a more tranquil place in Marrakesh, the botanical garden is definitely the place to go! If there aren't too many tourist of course.. The garden created in the 1920s and 1930s by the French painter Majorelle, was bought later by Yves Saint-Laurent. Here you'll find a mix of beautiful colors such as yellow, cobalt blue, green. The garden contains palms, cacti, olive trees, bamboo, and many other plants and shrubs. There is also a cafe inside a small courtyard where you can get a drink. Conclusion: very peaceful and beautiful place in the middle of a city full of life!... read more

Very strange that you can search such a long time for such a huge palace. I'm sure you understand by now, that it wasn't easy for us to find the entrance of the El Badi Palace... Nowadays, the El Badi Palace (which apparently means "The incomparable") is mostly in ruins. If you go upstairs, you can admire the stork nests from a closer view. The palace itself was built in the 16th century by Ahmed el Mansour. It is said that parts of it were paved in gold. In the central courtyard, you can see four sunken gardens and some pools. The Saadian dynasty ruled Morocco around the 16th century. At the tombs you can find -we haven't counted them, but they say- more than 170 tombs, not only family members of Ahmed el Mansour but ... read more

Finally, we were going to see Marrakesh, which has been for a long time on our to-see-list... We arranged flights and sleeping accommodation in a riad in advance. The expectations were high, not to say very high. After arriving at the Menara airport, we decided to take a "petit taxi". Despite the fact that we urged three taxi-drivers to use the meter, they all refused and proposed a fixed price (which was much higher than the price listed in our travel-guides). We weren't even able to negotiate a lower price with them. So after a little bit hesitating, we decided to go for the proposed price (which was the same for all three of them) and drove to the city centre. On the road, traffic was coming from all sides at all times. It was a ... read more

Yesterday, I came back to Hotel Ali and after having a much needed proper shower after two days, walked about did my emailing and went to bed around 1230am...it was good to see Nouri again who was going to leave the day before but as most relaxed slow traveller are, he was still there... I, woke up around 815am did the three S's had breakfast and called Aziz's friend in Marak, Hussain and he said he will meet me in 1.5hrs. I went to email and burn a dvd in the meantime. Its 3 days being in Morocco and I have already taken over 900 pics. I hope 300 a day won’t be my average. I first went to a Kodak shop and the guy tried to rip me off. He said that he doesn’t have ... read more

Just to make you all feel better about not being away from blighty, it is raining here in Marrakesh. I had a great time on Monday, climbing up at Todra gorge, then struggling down again afterwards... it was rather treacherous as we had no climbing ropes or anything but were making our way down vertical parts... all rather good fun once we had got back down - pretty damn scary at the time. One of the guys ended up stqying there the night as he couldnt get down in the day. I am really enjoying the camping, though cooking for 20 people means a lot of washing up!!! - we have cook groups so only have to do it once a week. We only have a few more days in Morrocco before heading South through Western ... read more