Jardin Agdal

You might not have thought about it, but Venice in Italy and Marrakech have something in common – the best time to be there is spring or autumn. Fewer tourists, not that hot and incredibly beautiful light.

While many people told me how dangerous Marrakech is, especially for women on their own – I was lucky. On the first day I found a taxi driver who helped me, he brought me to the right places and made sure I was safe, sometimes he explained me „you are safe here call me when you want to be picked up“ and sometimes he said – „I wait for you here just make sure I can see you.“

One of the very beautiful places he showed me was the Jardin Agdal. Maybe not as famous as Jardin Majorelle but a very exotic place, almost strange for a European soul. A big pool and no one swimming in it, but many people standing around being happy having picnics and meeting friends and family. „My“ Taxi driver told me I would be safe there but a bit exotic as a woman on my own – and because of that I should not leave the main path.

The gardens are irrigated using a number of pools and ditches. A network of underground channels and ditches, known as khettera, bring water down from the High Atlas mountains many kilometres away, via Aghmat in the Ourika Valley to the south.
The Dar El Hana, a small pavilion or minzah, stands beside the largest pool, the Sahraj el-Hana (Tank of Health), which was used to train troops to swim. Sultan Mohammed IV died in the pool when his steam launch capsized there in 1873.^[1] His successor, Sultan Moulay Hassan, housed his harem in another pavilion in the gardens, the Dar al Baida. – Wikipedia

You can’t imagine the amazing smell of the garden – the smell of the different trees like orange, lemon and pomegranate. The garden itself from the entrance looks like a dry red sand olive tree garden, you have to go in to find the hidden treasures for your senses.