Sunday, November, 24, 2019:
Maneuvering Around Marrakech:
We had the most amazing day! It was packed to capacity, but if I
had to pick the highlights, I would say it was The Majorelle Gardens, The Yves
Saint Laurent Museum and the Bahia Palace. So here’s the low down on
where we went and what we did.
We were required to assemble in the lobby of our Adam Park Hotel
at 9.00 am—accordingly, Llew and I awoke at 7.00 (after setting our phone
alarms) and went down for breakfast to Carpe Diem dining room. There were
vaster crowds today as we were much later than yesterday. We had eggs
with a variety of meats (cold cuts), some cheese, grilled tomatoes, a bit of
hummus and babaganoush with freshly squeezed OJ—a very good breakfast
indeed!
As required, we were at the lobby at 9.00 where we met Aziz (who
was leading the other group) and Jamaal (who had met us at the airport, picked
up our tickets for Essaouira) and would lead us to the Majorelle Gardens. We
met the other travelers who would be our companions for the next ten days—there
was a couple from Florida (two colleagues, Didi and Evelyn) and there was a
couple from Chennai, India—Vijay and Rakhi). The six of us got into the van and
left for the Majorelle Gardens. It was a good thing we left early. We were
fresh, excited and ready to begin our plunge into the culture of Morocco.
The Magnificent Majorelle Gardens:
To get to the Majorelle Gardens, we drove to Gueliz, the affluent,
modern part of the city of Marrakech that came up after the arrival of French
colonialism. It is characterized by broad boulevards lined with palm trees. The
Majorelle Gardens are Morocco’s biggest attraction. Each year, they attract
850,000 visitors. Entrance costs 70 DM (about $7)—our tickets were booked by
our guide and were part of our package tour. At the entrance, a line had
already formed with visitors waiting to buy their tickets.
So what’s the story of these gardens? They are named for Jacques
Majorelle, a French Art Deco artist, who arrived in Morocco in the early years
of the 20th century and fell in love with the country. He decided to settle
down in Marrakech and create gardens that would reflect the special flora of
this part of the world. He purchased the acreage necessary to set up such a
project and began the construction and landscaping of the gardens. However,
after he passed away, there was no one to continue his vision or his legacy and
the gardens fell into ruin.
Enter YSL—yes, I mean the haute couturier par excellence,
Yves Saint-Laurent, the Algerian-born pied noir (white
European) who had been raised in the aesthetic of the Maghreb and, as an adult,
adopted Morocco as his own homeland. As an adult, he joined forces with his gay
partner Pierre Berge and on making Marrakech their home, they discovered the
decrepit former gardens. Thus began the joint task of restoring the gardens to
their original glory. Being the quintessential designer he was, YSL worked
around the color wheel bringing in massive terra-cotta pots that he painted in
vivid matte colors—cobalt blue dominates but there is sunshine yellow and coral
too. The pair sourced a mighty quantity and variety of cacti and succulents
that are planted with the kind of artistry that beggars description. They tower
above you, they sit like giant pin cushions in astonishing shapes and colors.
There are lotus flowers in ponds and koi fish in ponds, Islamic-style
fountains, marble pavilions and the lavish use of tiles in blues and greens
that shout exuberance. It was all quite enchanting indeed and our cameras
worked overtime as we tried to capture it all.
Eventually, after working our way around the many winding paths
through acreage lined with tall, lush and very shady bamboo plantations, we
arrived at Bab Saf-Saf, which was the house that YSL and Berge
constructed and used as their own home. It is simply unique—once again, bright
primary colors blend perfectly with the colors of the landscape. It is a
private space today and visitors are not allowed inside except by special
permission and after paying a hefty price. We contented ourselves taking
pictures of a most distinctive place. I honesty could have stayed there for
ages as I took in the twittering of the birds, the beautiful tiled gateways and
pavilions, the splashes of color in bougainvillea that tumbled down
orchre-colored walls. I have to say that this is one of the most unique gardens
in the world and in its conception and design it is truly beguiling.
The Berber Museum is attached to the gardens and we could have
gone in there for 30 DM; but I was more interested in going to see the
adjoining Yves Saint Lauren Museum which I was very fortunate to read about in
my guide book as there is not much publicity done for this place.
Exploring the Yves Saint Lauren Museum:
After having seen this Museum, I guess I could write
volumes about this place; but I am going to restrict myself to just a few
thoughts. Photography was not allowed in the museum, which is why I have to
rely entirely on my memory to reproduce the stunning creations we saw
within.
YSL was born in the 1920s and by the 1930s, he was designing haute
couture for the major house of Christian Dior in Paris where he got his
start and his early training. From there, he never looked back. As we entered
the space, we were introduced to the artist Cassandra who designed the
logo—based only on the brief that he wanted three intertwining initials. She
created the logo of the iconic three initials that run vertically down. Just
next to it, is the iconic dress called the ‘Mondrian’ dress which was based on
the painting by Piet Mondrian called Broadway Boogi-Woogie. Designed
in 1965, this dress became such an international icon that I can remember my
Mum telling her dress-maker to make her a Mondrian dress for my youngest
brother’s Christening—I was seven years old and I can clearly remember my Mum
asking for a Mondrian dress! It was only in later years that I realized what
the reference meant.
There is a long corridor and you walked by it taking in a picture
gallery on the right that points out landmark moments in a dazzling career that
included an opportunity to dress some of the most beautiful women of the 20th
century from Catherine Deneuve (his Muse) to Verouschka and other famed models
of that era. YSL was the first couturier to have his own individual
retrospective exhibition in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York in 1983 which was slightly before my time. He was much
influenced by contemporary artists—apart from Mondrian, we saw clothes inspired
by Matisse (his famous leaves), Braque (his famous doves). Andy Warhol and
Picasso.
Of course, all of us know that Morocco inspired him deeply and in
his rampant use of shapes and of the brightly colored jewelry of the Berbers,
he brought the country to the world stage of fashion. YSL was also famous for
bending or breaking the rules—he got away from black and white as the two-toned
shades for formal evening wear and introduced startling colors in the rich
textures of raw silk and slippery satin. He piled jewelry on women—impossibly
long ear-rings in jeweled tones, huge chunky necklaces set with uncut
semi-precious stones, breast plates and torso plates. I was thrilled to
recognize the signature style of block-heeled shoe with the large square gold
decoration in the front which I have always associated with the French
shoe-maker Roger Vivier—again Catherine Deneuve popularized this style of shoe.
Turns out Vivier was making these shoes based on a design by YSL! Who
knew????They were in a large showcase that exhibited his signature
pieces.
And now I should talk abut the outfits themselves—there were about
50 of them, stunningly curated and beautifully draped over black mannequins.
There was the famous tuxedo for women that YSL introduced for the first
time—called ‘Le Smoking’, it has revolutionized women’s fashion. Just imagine:
the blazer that has become our standard work or professional wear was the invention
of Saint-Laurent! His fashion was fantastic because it is entirely wearable—not
like some of the contemporary designers like Steve McQueen (who also had a
retrospective at the Met) and whose creations are so outlandish that they
cannot be seen anywhere other than on a runway. YSL was also keen on
bringing haute couture out of the elite halls of the wealthy
and into the hands of the ordinary woman of style and substance. Hence, he
started pret-a-porter—ready-to-wear outfits that could be picked
off a wrack in a shop. Soon YSL shops sprouted around the world and he left the
rarified world of the salon and entered the world of everyday fashion. What a
meteoric rise to stardom! Having learned all this from a Museum that took my
breath away I am now going to cherish, all the more, my YSL handbag with its
iconic silver tassel embellishment.
After admiring all these creations, we entered the auditorium
where there was a film playing on a continuous loop. It introduced us to the
various stages of his career, through which Picasso-like, he changed and
evolved constantly. Indeed his designs have stood the test of time and he will
always remain a storied figure in the history of modern fashion.
I should finish this account of a stirring visit by saying that I
was allowed free entry into the Museum on the basis of my Met docent ID
card—there is always a sense of respect when I present this card around the
world. Llew and I were very pleased that he was the only one to have paid 100
DM (about $10) to enter. For me, it was one of the most exciting places to have
been. There is little wonder that the place was simply packed, many with
European female tourists who could not get enough of the grand designs and
absolute passion of a man for whom fashion was pure art.
After having spent one hour in this museum, we piled back into our
van after rejoining the rest of our group and returned to our hotel. We had a
rest in the lobby of about one hour as we awaited the arrival of the group
coming from Casablanca who had just reached after three and a half hours on the
road.
A Walking Tour of Marrakech:
Back in the van, after making acquaintance of the newcomers in our
group—a couple from Maryland named Chintan and Jennifer (he was of Indian
parentage and she of Korean) and a young Australian couple from Perth named
Astrid and Meliz who also work together, we met Abdul who was going to be our
guide for the next ten days. Fortunately, he spoke very good English with
hardly an accent which made it very easy to understand him. He introduced
himself and took us into a small room for the initial briefing and told us
about safety rules, use of drinking water, etc. all of which was very
informative. He also took cash from us for local tips and entry into various
monuments. With that bit of housekeeping done, we were able to set out on our
tour of the city of Marrakech.
Back in the van we drove to the Medina where we alighted and were
led to a small place for lunch. It was filled with white tourists. Abdul told
us that the food was good and very reasonably priced. Llew and I had eaten a
huge breakfast and did not feel very hungry—so we shared a plate of lamb kebabs
and a Moroccan salad with a bottle of water. Bread comes freely to the table.
As we were seated at a long table, we shared some of the appetizers including
olives which were very tasty. We had also found a vendor selling roasted
peanuts from a cart on the road and Llew bought an abundance of them--half a
kilo which would se us through the trip.
After lunch, we walked to Djama el Fina, the main square where we
were met by our guide for the afternoon named Mustafa who led us on our walking
tour of Marrakech. We began at 2.15 pm and we would continue walking or staying
on our feet for at least 4 hours—it was fantastic but it was also very very
fatiguing.
A Visit to Koutoubia Mosque:
As we are not allowed to enter mosques in Morocco if we are
non-Muslim, we could only really appreciate these amazing Islamic structures
from the outside but they were breathtaking. The Koutoubia Mosque is named for
the Booksellers who once congregated in the area. It was built in the 11th
century (just imagine 1027!) and has stood there over the huge bastion of Islam
that is Morocco. We learned that the pulley at the top of the minaret that is
topped by four bronze balls points to Mecca so that the faithful know where to
face when in prayer. There are six stories in this structure (in the rest of
Marrakech, you are not allowed to build higher than five stories). Build
entirely of stone, there is a spiral walkway inside that carried the horses
that carried the muezzin to the top of the tower to call out Azan or prayer,
five times a day. It is one of the largest mosques in the world and can
accommodate 20,000 people in prayer at the same time. There are 400-odd mosques
in Marrakech alone—so it is never ever full.
Walking Through the Mellah:
Every large Moroccan city has its mellah—its former Jewish quarter
as this was once a thriving country in terms of Jewish presence. As in other
parts of the world, they cornered the jewelers business. But after 1962, there
was a mass exodus of the community to Israel and today there are only 300 Jews
living in the long street that is characterized by a distinct architecture.
There was once a synagogue here but that is now defunct. Apparently, the
balconies of the Jewish homes face outwards (on to the street) while Islamic
homes of Moroccan Muslims face inwards towards a courtyard. I found this aspect
very interesting to know.
I have to say that the mellah reminded us very much of the Indian
subcontinent. It was dirty (piles of garbage could be seen on the sides of the
streets) and full of awful smells—horse dung as there are a number of
horse-drawn carriages called caleches—and also urine as any spot on the street
turns into a urinal! The horses wear a poop bag behind them so that the dung
falls into a bag and not on the roads. We thought this was very interesting to
see.
At the end of the long road, we reached a big square that Mustafa
told us was the heart of the metal and tin-smithing area which was once
dominated by Jews. They passed on their skills to the local Muslims.
Visiting the Incredible Bahia Palace:
This place is a real stunner. I did not know too much about it and
was absolutely blown away by the detail of the interior decoration of this
palace that went on and on and reminded us of the never-ending pavilions of the
Buddhist temples in Japan. It also reminded us so much of the Al-Hambra Palace
in Granada in Spain and we were soon told that we were not wrong in seeing the
similarity as the entire design and construction is Andalusian, ie.e from
Southern Spain.
So, who built the palace and why? It means Palace of the Favorite
and refers to Bahia who was the favorite wife of the vizier (Prime Minister) of
the Caliph. In fact, two succeeding viziers built this place—Si Moussa, son of
Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abder-Rahman and his son, Ba Ahmed, vizier of Moulay
Abdelaziz at the end of the 19th century. The place is in a remarkable state of
preservation which, I suppose, is natural, as it was simply packed with
visitors. Once inside, you walk through open courtyards surrounded on four
sides by pavilions that combine the most exquisite decoration—stucco is evident
everywhere in designs so fine as to resemble delicate lace. There is
calligraphy with inscriptions from the Koran also worked in stucco. Mustafa
explained that stucco is made with three ingredients—plaster (of Paris), marble
dust and egg white (tempura). This thick mixture is applied to the walls as a
second layer/level of decoration. The carving must be done at lightning speed
as the mixture dries quickly and really hard making it impossible for the
chisel to penetrate it after a while. Knowing this made an appreciation of the
decoration even more intense. I put my fingers into the carving and found it to
be at least half an inch deep—incredible!
Mustafa also explained that the interior decoration is based on
three layers—at the top is the ceiling which is created of cedar wood from the
Atlas Mountains inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory and other such
embellishments. Most early visitors to the palace lounged on the floor or sat
on heavy cushions (before the arrival of the Western colonials) and the
decoration at the top was what they saw first. The second layer was the stucco
that so fascinated me and the third layer was found on the flooring—the tile
design is called Azuelo in Spanish and known as zeliij here in Morocco. Made up
of bright colors, these tile designs form geometric mosaics all over the
palace.
We were also told about the harem that the viziers maintained and
which gave each female resident her own little room, each of which opened out
on to a marble courtyard or pavilions filled with marble fountains. So vast and
private is this place that it is not surprising that General Lyautray chose to
live in this building in the time of the French Protectorate of Morocco, i.e.
between 1912 and 1956 when the country finally received its Independence.
We spent an enormous amount of time in this venue as there was a
huge amount to see and take in. I truly think that this was a highlight of my
visit today as I simply could not get enough of a place that was stunning
inside and filled outside, in the courtyard garden pavilions with tropical
fruit trees—I recognized orange, pomelo and banana.
A Stroll Through The Souks:
I leaned that the word ‘souk’ (meaning ‘market’) is pronounced
‘suk’. To enter them is to enter the locality in which the local people
live and work and carry on their daily lives. Tourists have, of course,
discovered these areas and flock to them today so that they have developed into
tourist traps. But they are still interesting enough if one comes from the
West. For Llew and me, who have originated in the fabled East, these narrow
lanes that form a labyrinth are deeply reminiscent of the kinds of cities in
which we grew up, especially the Muslim Quarters. You definitely need a guide
to lead you through these areas because once you penetrate in, it is unlikely
you will find your way out without help.
With Mustafa leading a narrow crocodile of the ten of us through
streets that were narrow, smelly, filled with vendors and the occasional
hair-raising moped that was driven at autobahn speeds inches from us, we
surveyed the leather souk (where Llew found bargains in leather belts) and the
iron-smithing souk (where we saw an abundance of tin and other crafts), the
shoe souk where traditional shoes (similar to India’s mojaris) are turned out
in bright colors—each worker focusing on one aspect of the work. So in a
low-tech assembly line of manufacture, these traditional crafts survive through
the onslaught of modern life. But for Llew actually standing and bargaining for
the belts, we did not really have the chance to touch any of the goods or to
buy anything. This was a tad disappointing to our American friends who would
have preferred to linger there. Still, as an introduction to the manner in
which ancient craftsmanship continues to be feasible in Morocco, this was
superb.
A Visit to a Herbalist:
By this point in time, we were drooping with fatigue as we had
been on our feet for at least three hours and were ready to sink down somewhere
for a rest. So it was a welcome stop we made in the showroom of a Herbalist
where we were offered the spiel of a salesman who told us about the spice and
herb mixtures of Morocco. These included an education into the use of
ras-el-hanout which is used in making couscous, tajines, etc. as well as
chermoula used to stuff into whole fish. Of course, he spoke about Argan oil and
other essential oils. A lot of our group members bought while another went for
a massage. Llew and I will be buying before we leave but not from tourist traps
such as these—a supermarket, we realize, sells exactly the same things for only
a fraction of the price listed here.
Off to Djama El Fina:
The next destination on the cards was a return to Djama El Fina
which turned out to be far more crowded than it had been earlier in the
afternoon. There were tons of people milling about. Possibly because he did not
want to risk taking us through the crowd, we merely skirted the square.
Fortunately, Llew and I had taken a thorough tour of it yesterday and seen its
most interesting corners. This time we just strode through it as we made our
way through the covered corridors filled with vendors to get to our restaurant
for dinner. This was part of our package and was provided by our guide.
Dinner at Daar-E-Salaam Traditional Moroccan Restaurant:
Eventually, after we felt as if we had walked forever, we arrived
at the place where we would have dinner. We went through what seemed like an
underground cavern, past narrow corridors lined with zeliij tiles and into a
vast dancing hall that was decorated to the hilt with all of the Moroccan
facets of interior decoration--highly ornate ceiling, tiled floor, a massive
low-hung chandelier and a dais at one end where, during the evening,
traditional Gwana musicians played traditional stringed instruments to produce
a very distinctive, if unfamiliar, sound.
The meal was multi-coursed with appetizers in the form of a
variety of preserves and jams being served with the traditional flat bread
which we enjoyed with drinks—I had a beer while Llew and Chintan ordered a
bottle of Cabernet. While the entertainment kept us going, we had Tajine with
lamb and vegetables and couscous—really good. This was followed by ‘seasonal
fruit’ which was fresh oranges and this was followed by mint tea with Moroccan
pastries. It was a lot of food and it was all quite delicious. The belly
dancers were out in action, strutting their moves and urging guests to join
them. There was a lady balancing a tray with lit candles on her head—all quite
skillful indeed
Realizing that the shops outside would probably be closed by the
time we walked back to our hotel, Llew and I slipped out to buy our magnets of
Morocco and Marrakech.
A little away from the narrow souk, we found our van. We
piled in and made our way back to our hotel after what had been a really long
but deeply satisfying and very eventful day.
A bientot!
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