Emmelinesplace: December 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

last but not least Marakech

old door to the Mosque at the Saadi tombs, this entrance has long gone.

I had a wonderful time in Marrakech

Museum of Marakech

Next to the Medersa is the Museum. Where a highly decorated traditional palace is the setting for modern art. Absolutely mind blowingly amazing

The last two can be clicked to see the detail

medersa ben youssef

I love historical buildings, ya didn't know that? If you google images for medersa ben youssef you will see for yourself why it took my breath away. Pattern and colour and doors and .....

You wouldn't believe how long I had to wait for there to be no-one in this photo. You enter the Medersa through that door and the colour and pattern hit you right between the eyes, so everyone coming through stood, mouths open in amazement. Sometimes my patience surprises even me :)

There were many many doorways to drool over

You can click on this one to enlarge and see the wonderful angels wings on the wooden panel over this doorway.

Some of the students room overlooked the courtyard, this was the view from inside of one of those rooms. Other rooms were smaller and had no windows.

the carvings around the walls and doors were intricate and amazing

Marakech Jardin Majorelle

Jacques Majorelle built the garden, it was bought by Yves Saint Laurent and restored, later left to the Foundation Pierre Berge with the intention of being open to the public for ever.

Wow. and again WOW! There was lots of water, fountains and orange and yellow pots, with bright blue and aqua buildings.

Even with lots of tourists visiting, it was tranquil and peaceful and it was easy to relax and just enjoy the setting.

I loved the patterns on the windows, especially the play of light and shadows.

There is a quiet little cafe where I drank my first real cup of tea in Morrocco whilst Tina tried mint tea for the first time.

some of the plants were interesting too :)

Within the garden there is a small but very interesting Berber Museum, the jewelry shown was incredibly creative but sadly no photographs were allowed inside.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

people in Marakech

This water man was the most cheerful and charming man, would you look at his smile. The watermen ring their bells to announce their arrival. I guess they make their living these days from tourist taking photos, but who could resist...

I am not sure the 'tooth puller' still earns his living pulling teeth, but he had a huge pile of teeth and dentures. His own teeth were perfect and I have no doubt he sees a standard dentist regularly. He was another perfectly charming character.

I don't like the way animals are used to entertain humans, but couldn't resist sneaking a pic of this baby monkey wearing his nappy. This city is incredibly clean.

I hope you are not bored yet as I haven't even started sorting the photos of the art and architecture, maybe tomorrow

more Marakech

We spent a lot of time in Jemaa el Fna sitting people watching whilst eating a tajine
or drinking mint tea (and coke!)

I love these tables, and the rooftop view gave us loads of oportunites to watch the huge diversity of people crossing the square.

If there are 1million bicylces in Bejing, then there must be 1million mopeds in Marakech. We saw some amazing balancing acts but the most surprising was a woman wearing a full burqa - I wondered how she could see properly to drive and how she kept her dress from catching on the chain of the moped. She clearly could and managed very well. The man with the 20 or so trays of eggs balanced on his knee (he had one hand on top of the stack of eggs and the other on the steering wheel) was entertaining too.

Taxis, mopeds, donkeys, and white vans alongside Mercedes and four wheel drives all passed through the square. Occasionally it seemed all in the same square metre at the same time.

Marakech

I went to Marakech and had a ride on a cart with two of these..
Check out the bag to catch the stinky, Marakech has to be one of the cleanest cities I have ever visited.