marrakech magique

Marrakech - 2nd of April - 32 degrees celsius - 22843 steps

Sunday morning walk in Gueliz, very early Sunday morning walk even.

We walked to Gare de Marrakech and there was hardly anyone in the street yet. We spotted many beautiful decorated steel doors, street art and palmtrees.

On our way back to the Majorelle area, we had a delicious breakfast at our neighbors in Villa Majorelle.

In the afternoon we walked to the fruit market in the medina and had lunch with an insane view of the snowy Altas mountains. On the highest roof terrace of Cafe Atay we shared a small lunch, with the song Beautiful Tango by my favorite Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra in the background. Magical moment...

In the shade through the (carpet) souks we walked to Riad Dar Timtam, a super authentic restaurant, where we had another drink on the patio.

At the end of the afternoon it was too hot to walk back all the way to Gueliz, so we took a petit taxi to our hotel at the Djemaa El Fna.

Chilling out by the pool, it's vacation after all.

In the evening we invited some friends to join us for a swim in the pool and later in the evening the four of us took a tuk-tuk to restaurant Le Foundouk in the Medina. Great night!

marrakech - all about yves and +61

Marrakech - 1st of April - 34 degrees celsius - 17982 steps

Early breakfast at My Kawa around the corner at Jardin Majorelle. As we planned to buy a ticket at the entrance as soon as the garden opens, but nowadays you can only book online, so we booked a combined ticket for the afternoon, also for the YSL Museum. After breakfast we went to Villa Oasis (a private residence of Yves Saint Laurent) next to our hotel, every Saturday there's a farmer's market; Souk Fermier and we bought some lovely organic products, such as argan oil, Tulsi Basilic Sacre, harissa, vegetarian pasties and an olive bread.

We walked to the atmospheric center of Gueliz and tried to seek shady and new places, because even though it's just April, it's high summer in Marrakech. Beautiful street art and faded glory everywhere in Gueliz.

We had a lovely lunch in the backyard at Some, a hidden surprise with delicious authentic Moroccan food and a superb concept store.

After a dip in the pool, we changed for a visit to Jardin Majorelle and Musee Yves Saint Laurent, where I hadn't been for a few years now. The new visitor system in time blocks is a great improvement, because it is no longer so bizarrely busy. As a souvenir we bought a famous YSL LOVE poster from 1986, because that's the year we first met!

Next we went to the adjacent Musee Yves Saint Laurent, where the exhibition Line And Expression takes place this year. We had to buy the beautiful exhibition poster, which we had already seen several times in the city. For Liam we bought a YSL drawing of a smartly dressed elephant, which also hangs in the museum. We framed it at home for his bedroom, because it's his favorite animal. He can already say 'olifant' and imitate the elephant sound.

Time to chill under the olive tree on the terrace in front of the hotel room.

And another walk to Guelia center. We booked a table at restaurant +61. They don't open until after 8pm during ramadan, so the staff can enjoy their iftar first. This hotspot serves Australian fare, with flavours from the Mediterranen and Asia. The interior is anything but Moroccan, beautifully sober and super atmospheric. All handsome waiters are dressed in Japanese aprons, just like at Villa Augustus. After eight the restaurant was packed in no time. The good cocktails ensures that those served here are the very best you will find in town. After a delicious dinner and some cocktails we took a petit taxi to our hotel.
PS: The name is Australia's dialing code.

Such a wonderful day again!