Exotic Marrakech

by | May 22, 2014

Bahia Palace

Closer to town, the green belt sweeps around the city walls from north-west to south-east where the 12th century Aguedal Gardens stretch for two miles, planted with orchards, olive, apricot, pomegranate and more, beneath the walls of the privately-owned Royal Palace. It’s a place to ramble in near solitude and dream of richly-clad sultans or sword-brandishing Berbers riding out of the desert. The smaller Menara dates roughly from the same time, with a cool central pool, a romantic pavilion added by the Saadians and a vast olive grove where local families love to picnic. By clear weather, the snowy peaks of the Atlas hang like lace across the sky.

Not all gardens in Marrakech belong to the imperial past and among the most delightful is the Majorelle, named after the French artist who designed it in the early 1920s. Secluded but often busy, it unfolds like a series of paintings, one scene at a time, giant cacti, bamboo, palms, bougainvillaea, fountains and water channels and a lily pond with superb reflections. Bright terracotta pots mirror the artist’s undisguised passion for colour, further expressed in the house painted ‘Majorelle blue’. The gardens were restored by fashion-designer Yves St Laurent and a small museum displays his collection of Islamic arts.

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