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.

unexpected

So, last weekend when Pan got home from Paris, we had an interesting conversation.  It went a little like this:

Pan: I have a surprise for you!

me:  You do?  What is it?

Pan: I can't tell you now...  (building up the moment...)

me:  Please!!!!  Tell me, tell me!! 

Pan: We're going on a trip to the sun for a week!

me:  Yay!!  Where are we going?  When do we leave?

Pan: I don't know yet, have fun planning the trip.  =)

Now you can just imagine how that made my day!  So, I spent the next 5 days trying to organize a last minute trip to the sun.  My choices were: Tunisia, a Cruise on the Nile, Turkey, or Morocco.  And after spending hours looking for the best options, I settled on Morocco, where at the moment it's about 90 degrees...  Instead of going for an all inclusive trip to a beach resort, I found a cute like riad in the heart of Marrakech that looks so charming and authentic.  I just couldn't resist!  It has a pool, and a spa (hammam, jacuzzi, sauna, scrubs, massages...)  And the best part is, we leave tomorrow!

welcome s p r i n g =)

Spring is finally here!  Or, at least, almost here.  This weekend we spent much time in the garden with the family preparing for the warm weather.

The Hyacinths I planted 3 years ago...  still going strong. 

Some pretty flowers peeking through in the flower beds.

Pretty.

Lots of sprouts!

A minefield of bulb sprouts.

The soon to be vegetable garden...  With a soon to be fence all around.

A fancy tree Pan planted.  Don't ask me what it is.

More sprouts...

A cherry tree we planted near the vegetable garden.  One of two.  We also planted an American maple tree, an apricot tree, a plum tree...  and another cherry tree, and two rosebushes, among others...

My iris sprouts.

Some daisies...

More sprouts.  =)

Some fresh branches...

Chateau de Villandry

yes, i have a passion for castles, so not only did we visit the chateau de st germain, but we also visited the chateau de villandry.  the chateau de villandry is a castle in the loire valley.  there are castles at almost every street corner in that area but we only had time to visit one! 

From wiki:

     The Château de Villandry is a castle-palace located in Villandry.   The lands where an ancient fortress once stood were known as Colombier until the 17th century. Acquired in the early 16th century by Jean Le Breton, France's Controller-General for War under King Francis I, a new chateau was constructed around the original 14th-century keep.   The château remained in the Le Breton family for more than two centuries until it was acquired by the Marquis de Castellane. During the French Revolution the property was confiscated and in the early 19th century Emperor Napoleon acquired it for his brother.

     In 1906, Joachim Carvallo purchased the property and poured an enormous amount of time, money and devotion into repairing it and creating what many consider to be the most beautiful gardens anywhere. Its famous Renaissance gardens include a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens. The gardens are laid out in formal patterns created with low box hedges.
     Still owned by the Carvallo family, the Château de Villandry is open to the public and is one of the most visited châteaux in France.

As we noticed, the family doesn't actually live in the castle itself, but in some buildings that were once for farming or servants.  We only visited the main castle.

 Le Chateau de Villandry

 

the castle facade

some "outbuildings" to the right of the castle where we think the family now lives.

a view of the right wing of the castle and the 14th century keep (in the back) and the moat surrounding the castle.

 

the kitchen, my favorite room.  the wonderful collection of copper pots and the gorgeous wooden furniture and old fashioned tiled floor.

the fireplace in the kitchen, which was the primary stove and oven.  i would love to have that in my kitchen to let simmer my soups!

 

the view from the top of the keep!

a view of the gardens from the masters bedroom.  what wonderful detail...  in the summer it is filled with color!

some other châteaux i would love to visit:

• Château de Chenonceau (we were supposed to go saturday, but we ran out of time...)
• Château de Val
• Château de Cordes (we actually went once, but it was closed...)
• Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
• Château d'Amboise
• Château de Sully-sur-Loire
• Château Royal de Blois
• Château d'Anet
• Château de Fontainebleau
• Château de Vaux le Vicomte
• many others...