Chateau de Val

A few weeks ago, when Pan's sister was visiting, we decided to talk a little road trip.  We wanted to see the Chateau de Val, and on the way we stopped to take some pictures of the landscape.  Isn't it just gorgeous?

In the picture above, you can see the view of the castle from the road.  Can you see it?  

Some history:

The last family to live in the castle were evicted by EDF, the French Electric company, in 1946.  EDF decided to flood the valley to make a dam, and in the process also evicted a few towns that were located in the valley.  EDF had assumed that the dam would drown the castle, but after the flooding, the castle stayed unharmed and was not touched by the water level.  EDF asked the family if they wanted to return to the castle, but they said no because the farm and gardens had disappeared.  So when you look at the pictures, you can imagine that where the water is now, 60 years ago, there were villages and farmland.  EDF didn't want the responsibility of maintaining the castle, so they sold it to the nearby town of Bort-les-Orgues.

A perfect view of what was the valley, before the dam.

The beams in the tower roof.

spice it up

I've had a few comments form people saying that I've been slacking off, and I want to apologize.  I've just been so busy lately.  Anyhows, I've been having fun with some of the goodies I brought back from Morocco...  one of my favorite things that we brought back from our trip...

paprika, hot pepper, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, curry, harissa, cumin...  can you tell which is which?  I had a hard time identifying the contents of the plastic baggies they gave me.  But in the end I figured it out.  Although I do wish I had brought back more curry and harissa...  Oh well, next time!  Let's just hope they last me a long time.  At this rate, however...

The countryside of Morocco

After a few days in Marrakech, we decided to rent a car to visit the countryside.  We really wanted to visit the desert, but that trip would have needed an overnight stay somewhere along the way... so that was out of the question.  We took off at 9am, after a delicious breakfast at our Riad.  Once we left the city walls, the scenery changed drastically.

Some pretty poppies and a little village house on the hill...

Another house on a hill...

We hah lunch at a little restaurant across from the "Cascades d'Ouzoud" and monkeys kept coming to steal our bread.  One monkey even jumped on our table and took two pieces right out of the bread basket!

That's the fellow that stole our bread.  He was the biggest one of all the monkeys we saw.

Little boats you could take to cross the river at the bottom of the waterfall.

The waterfall from the bottom.  I think they are at a height of about 110 meters.

The weather wasn't great, but you could still see some of the mountains.

A cool place we passed, looks like an ancient castle.

A shepherd and his flock along the side of the road, as the sun is trying to peek through!  You see shepherds almost every 500 feet in the countryside.

Some gardens of Marrakech

During our trip to Marrakech, we visited a few different gardens.  We visited the old Bahia Palace and it's gardens.  We visited the Majorelle Garden and the Palmeraie, a garden of palm trees, as well as the Agdal Gardens, the royal plantation.

Here is a window in the Bahia Palace.

One of the doors leading out of the Majorelle garden.  

The Majorelle Garden is a botanical garden that was designed by Jacques Majorelle in 1924.  The garden was owned by Yves Saint Laurent, until his death.  There is a memorial dedicated to him, and his ashes are scattered throughout the garden as well.

A banana tree.  Can you see the bananas?

The outside of one of the buildings.

A fountain surrounded by cacti and palm trees.

Huge, huge bamboos.

Some impressive cacti.

A camel in the Palmeraie.  Notice the "forest" of palm trees?

Here is the Sahraj el-Hana (Tank of Health) and an ancient Dar in the Agdal Garden.  

The plantation covers about 400 hectares, approximately 4 square kilometers.   The tank is now used to irrigate all the crops: orange trees, olive trees, fig trees etc.  The tank is filled with carp, that they use for food.  Some weigh 5 kg.  Back in the day the tank was used to train troops to swim.

A small building in the midst of orange trees and olive trees.

The streets of Marrakech

Marrakech was a total change of scenery from my little life in France.

The "door" to enter the city.  The city is surrounded by ramparts that are a gorgeous brick red color.

An old Fiat Uno taxi.  All the taxis are either Fiat Unos or Peugeot 205s.  They are old, and they are tanks.  Pan's dad has an old Uno '92, so we were very proud to see them everywhere.  One even had 885,000 kilometers.

The rug shop where we bought our rug.  Rugs are for sale EVERYWHERE in Morocco.  They are mostly made by hand and each one is unique.

One of the town squares where there is always an open air market.

A "herborist" where they sell herbs, lotions, oils, and other concoctions.  Similar to a pharmacy, but a little more earthy.

Baskets outside a shop.  The dried flowers are used as shampoo, potpourri, or for tea.

Avocado juice.  Weird.

The view from a cafe we went to near the Riad we stayed at.

Most of the vendors use donkeys to move their things.  They are EVERYWHERE.  Seriously.  Loads of tired, hot donkeys pulling wagons of stuff (herbs, cinder blocks, rice etc...)

The flower market.

An orange juice vendor.  They are all over the main square in Marrakech.  The best orange juice I've ever had.  And freshly squeezed in front of you.

Nuts and dried fruit.

Herbs, dried or fresh.

The view from a restaurant we ate at, a view of the orange juice vendors and further, you can see the roofs of the "souks."  The souks is a huge labyrinth jam packed with vendors selling you everything and anything.