Marrakech June 14-22

Jun 26, 2025

June 14th I flew into Marrakech to spend two weeks with my friend Amanda. I got in pretty late so the only thing I did that day was have dinner at one of the many roof top restaurants. We were staying in the Medina, where the streets are too narrow for cars and everywhere is very walkable. You do need to look out for carts and motorcycles but most of the drivers did a good job of looking out for pedestrians as well.

The first full day we went to the spice market which is also the historically Jewish neighborhood. We saw the Lazama Synagogue which was established in 1492 and is still active today.

Next we went to the Bahia Palace which was built in the 1860s and had a lot of impressive architecture.

Most days followed the pattern of seeing a couple tourist sights in the morning, going back to my hostel to swim in the afternoon, and going out again for dinner. It was a nice way to spend the very hot days.

This cat lived on the street leading to my hostel

Some of the other sights that we saw were the Secret Garden, the Ibn Yusuf Madrasa (Islamic college), and the Women’s Museum.

Current exhibition at the Women’s Museum

One day I went by myself to see the Marjorelle Garden. It was designed by a French artist in the 1920s and was purchased in the 1980s by the designer Yves Saint-Laurent. YSL and his partner Pierre Bergé (business partner and romantic partner) spent two weeks at this residence every June and December.

Courtyard and house in Marjorelle Garden

After YSL died in 2008, Pierre created a foundation that managed the garden as a tourist destination and reinvested much of the revenue in local Moroccan artists. There is also a museum of Berber culture (that did not allow pictures) as well as an exhibition of YSL’s love themed posters.

Amanda and I took two side trips outside of Marrakech as well in this first week. The first was an overnight to the Agafay Desert where we had great views, wonderful food, and lots of entertainment. There was drumming and Sintir (a stringed instrument) music, fire eating, and belly dancing. More than once our hosts got us all to get up and dance with them. The evening finished with a more mellow acoustic guitar session.

The other trip we took was a day trip to see the Atlas Mountains and the Ourika Valley. We also stopped at a women’s cooperative that processed argan oil and a historic Berber house. The term Berber was most commonly used across Morocco though these people are also known as the Amazigh.