Tours – Marrakech

Also called the red city, the south pearl


Marrakech Tour

The city of Marrakech is one of the historical and traditional cities of Morocco, which has the privilege of being an imperial city, a title that was disputed with the other city that was its great rival, which is the city of Fez.

But Marrakesh has another privilege, that the other imperial cities have not been able to have. It has given the name to the country, Morocco, that before was known with the name of “Kingdom of Marrakech”.

Marrakesh also has the privilege of having been the capital of a great empire, this prestige that it has achieved with these Berber kingdoms, of the Almoravids, XI Century and of the « Almohades » XII Century, who reigned between the XII centuries; these last, who had come to control a very large empire, stretching from the confines of the desert to the south, had reached the River Ebro to the north; and from the Atlantic coast to the west, they reached Tunisia to the east…

Marrakesh is an ancient city, full of history, it is above all under the reign of the kings of these two dynasties of Berber origin, that the city had reached its peak, that the city will be endowed with beautiful monumental works; like the Kutubia mosque and embellished with beautiful gardens.

Capital of The Present:
It was a great capital in the past, but it seems to be still seen as a capital in the present, capital not only of a region, but is seen as the great metropolis of all of southern Morocco.

Tourist Capital, unless we reserve this title for the other city, which was its great rival. But we are talking about two styles that are totally different. Different in the way of being and in the style, each has its own style, when Fez appears as an old, cultured and legal City, because it is the cultural and spiritual capital of the country…

Marrakech, offers another aspect, totally different, it appears as the great metropolis of the south, the great Berber capital. It is a mestizo city, very mixed in races and in miscegenation populated by Berbers Chluh, descendants of Moorish Arabs, Blacks, Saharans, also has a minority of Jews. Today, to this cocktail of races and colors come to be added tourists, those with light skin, European and American blondes, but also asiaticus like Chinese, Japanese or South Korean. Marrackech is the imperial city they prefer, a city steeped in magic.

The visit of Marrakech

The Kutubia Mosque:
Also called the mosque of the booksellers. It is the most emblematic monument of Marrakech. The tower with its 70 meters high is a symbol for the red city, is a masterpiece of Moroccan architecture…
The same architecture that is repeated in the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan tower of Rabat, that is why the three towers are treated like twin sisters.
All made by two great Almohad sovereigns of the 12th century, first started by King Abdelmoumen and then finished by his grandson the famous Almohad sovereign YAKUB AL MANSUR.
It is a jewel of architecture that marks the Almohad stage of Hispano-Arab art, or Hispano-Moroccan.

The Majorelle Garden

It is one of the main attractions of the red city.
Created by the French painter JAQUES MAJORELLE, is a botanical garden, which gathers a variety of plants, exotic trees, and rare species, which the painter brought from his multiple travels around the world, banana bougainvilleas, bamboos, and palm trees. Completely abandoned after the painter’s death in 1962. The garden was revived in 1966, after having been acquired by the French dressmaker Yves Saint Laurent.

In 1980 Yves Saint Laurent decided to settle in the painter’s villa and renamed it VILLA OASIS. And the workshop is transformed into a museum of Berber art.
In 1937, the artist creates the blue Majorelle, is a navy blue and cobalt which he uses to paint the walls of the villa and then uses it for the whole garden.


Day trip to Atlas Mountains

In the morning we can organize an excursion to this beautiful valley near Marrakech, which is called the Ourika valley.
The valley is spectacular, very rich in very picturesque natural landscapes and this one is dominated by the presence of the Ourika River. It’s a river that flows in the mountains of the high atlas.

It is a cool and pleasant place by the streams of water, with small waterfalls and abundant vegetation; It is a refuge for the Marrakechi, the cool of the river helps them to better handle the heat of summer.
On the way and about forty kilometers, the natives install all kinds of local pottery, carved objects of mineral stones, crystals and fossils.

On the way many typical Berber villages are crossed. At the beginning of the valley already appear the first villages installed on the bank of the river, with their adobe houses, made with natural material, the adobe brick, is a mixture of clay pebbles and straw. The riverbed landscape is lush, where the natives have their crops, cereals and vegetables for local consumption; and where they also plant all kinds of fruit trees and olive groves. On the way there are stops to admire the beautiful landscapes of the high atlas.

We will have the opportunity to visit a house of a local Berber family, to be with them. the stop allows us to visit the facilities of the house, is a typical house made of mud, with adobe bricks; (which is a mixture between mud, pebbles and straw). The family welcomes us in their home and according to the known custom they welcome us with a welcome tea, as a sign of Moroccan hospitality, so we attend the ceremony of the preparation of tea, which is prepared following an ancestral ritual, which is all an art and a show, a pleasure for the eyes.

Then we can enjoy a two-hour walk through the surroundings, to continue enjoying the charm of the place.


Desert

Desert Agafay, Atlas Mountains & Camel ride Day Trip From Marrakech

You don’t have to journey to the Sahara for a Moroccan desert experience. The Agafay Desert is a desert oasis located just outside of Marrakech. On this full-day tour, soak up the scenery as you travel through the High Atlas Mountains, stop to explore the local villages and visit a Berber souk, then mount up for a thrilling camel ride through the rocky desert of Agafay.