Our first stop was Jardin Majorelle which is also known as the Majorelle Garden or the Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Garden. The Jardin Majorelle, which extends over 9,000 meters, is one of the most enchanting and mysterious gardens in Morocco. Created over the course of forty years, it is enclosed by outer walls, and consists of a labyrinth of crisscrossing alleyways on different levels and boldly-coloured buildings that blend both Art Deco and Moorish influences. The French painter Jacques Majorelle conceived of this large and luxuriant garden as a sanctuary and botanical ‘laboratory’. In 1922, he began planting it with exotic botanical specimens from the far corners of the world.
In 1980, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, who first arrived in Morocco in 1966, purchased the Jardin Majorelle to save it from destruction at the hands of hotel developers. The new owners decided to live in Jacques Majorelle’s villa, which they renamed the Villa Oasis. Yves Saint-Laurent said “For many years, the Jardin Majorelle has provided me with an endless source of inspiration, and I have often dreamt of its unique colors.”
Jardin Majorelle has special shade of bold cobalt blue, inspired by the colored tiles he had seen around Marrakech and in Berber burn-houses, was used extensively in the garden and its buildings and is named after him, bleu Majorelle—Majorelle Blue. Prior to his death, Majorelle patented the colour which carries his name. We had wonderful free time here to take many photos.
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| Jardin Majorelle |
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| Jardin Majorelle |
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| Jardin Majorelle |
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| Jardin Majorelle |
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| Jardin Majorelle |
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| Cactus in Jardin Majorelle |
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| Cactus in Jardin Majorelle |
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| Cactus in Jardin Majorelle |
Then, we rode horse carriages to the Tinsmiths Square for visiting the Bahia Palace and the El Base Palace.
Bahia Palace is built by Grand Vizier Si Moussa in the 1860s, the palace was later expanded and embellished from 1894 to 1900 by his son and successor Abu Bou Ahmed. The Cour d'Honneur (courtyard) was converted into a harem by Bou Ahmed after he became Grand Vizier in 1894. Indeed, the expansion and beautification of Bahia Palace was driven by Bou Ahmed's desire to accommodate his four wives and 24 concubines. When Morocco gained independence from France in 1956, the palace was used as a royal residence, until King Hassan II transferred it to the custody of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture, so the building could serve as a cultural icon and tourist attraction. Despite the vast area on show, only a portion of the palace’s eight hectares and 150 rooms is open to the public.
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| Hallway in Bahia Palace |
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| Courtyard in Bahia Palace |
El Badi Palace was commissioned by the Saadian Sultan Ahmad el Mansour towards the end of the 16th century. Its Arabic name roughly translates as “the incomparable palace”. The palace took 25 years to complete and is thought to have included no fewer than 360 rooms. In addition, the complex included stables, dungeons and a courtyard with several pavilions and a vast central pool.
El Badi Palace was once a showcase of exquisite craftsmanship adorned with the most expensive materials of the era. From Sudanese gold to Italian Carrara marble, the palace was so spectacular that when the Saadi Dynasty eventually fell to the Alaouites, it took Moulay Ismail over a decade to strip El Badi of its treasures. Unwilling to allow el Mansour’s legacy to survive, the Alaouite Sultan reduced the palace to a ruin and used the looted goods to decorate his own palace at Meknes.
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| The ruins of El Badi Palace |
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| The ruins of El Badi Palace |
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| The ruins of El Badi Palace |
Visiting El Badi Palace today will need to use some imagination to recreate the complex’s former splendor. Instead of snowy marble columns and walls inlaid with onyx and ivory, the palace is now a sandstone shell. The pool is often empty, and the guards that would once have patrolled the ramparts have been replaced by the haphazard nests of European white storks.
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| The courtyard of El Badi Palace |
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| The courtyard of El Badi Palace |
It is still possible to feel the grandeur of the palace’s past in the courtyard, where four sunken orange orchards flank the central pool and ruins spread out in all directions. In one corner of the courtyard, it is possible to climb up on to the ramparts.
Then, we drove back to Casablanca and checked into Hyatt again. We had dinner at Cabestan Restaurant with ocean view through the windows next to our table. This was the last dinner in Morocco and we all had a great time.
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| Dinner at Cabestan Restaurant |
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