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Day 68, 10 September 2012, Les Jardins Majorelle - We decided to venture outside the city walls today, in itself a death defying act as we hug the edges of the alleys and ducked and weaved alongside the donkeys, mopeds and motorbikes. With our map hidden from prying eyes desperate to "help" us find our way, we set off. Intrepid explorers that we were, we also managed to find an ATM - 'twas the dance of the different accounts and on the third attempt we finally convinced it to cough up some dirhams. Yippee. Cashed up and laughing we continued through one of the massive gates in the city wall and headed out into real, taxi-type, traffic. AAARGH! We have discovered the only reason the Marrakechis get excited about Les Jardins Majorelle is because they've lived to see it! No seriously, it is a lovely garden with a huge collection of exotic plants, particularly succulents/cacti from the Americas. The land upon which the garden is set was purchased by the French painter Jacque Majorelle in 1924. He opened the garden to the public in 1947. The garden contains specimens from 5 continents and is considered (particularly in Morocco.... ) to be a stunning plant collection. It was acquired and restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge after the death of Majorelle in the early sixties. We enjoyed the tranquility and shady spots and the beauty of the lapis blue colours throughout the garden. We even saw a fabulous little tortoise struggling mightily to climb out of one of the water lily ponds - the only downside was having to leave and once more into the breach to make it back to the Riad! The afternoon was whiled away by the pool and in the evening we splurged on a bottle of Casablancan Rose and had dinner on the roof terrace - our first official Moroccan tagine with lamb, apricots and almonds. C'est parfait! Bonsoir mes amis....et Bonne Nuit!
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