Marrakech is a city unlike any other I have known. It is both modern and ancient, peaceful and chaotic. The main plaza, as I shared last week, is a surreal experience straight out of a storybook. It was marvelous to sip mint tea and cafe au lait from the rooftop terraces and gaze down at the scene below, watching the cats trot between food stalls trying to get scraps, the tourists gliding around wide-eyed and open-mouthed in awe, and the vendors aggressively trying to lure anyone with a money to spend into their shops.
The people-watching in that plaza is first-rate. Sometimes, though, you need to withdraw from the constant motion and find somewhere quiet to take a stroll and recharge your mind. When the hubs and I read about the gardens of Yves Saint Laurent, we knew we had to find it. So one morning after breakfast, we dodged in between the donkeys, horses, and motorbikes and visited Jardin Majorelle.
As soon as we stepped through the gates to the garden, we were transported from the Marrakech of unceasing motion and sound to a space much calmer than we could have guessed existed within the city. The richly painted planters, the trickling of water in a pond.... they were vibrant and full of life, but in a way that was subtle and modest. Here we found a different piece of Marrakech, a piece that gently reminded us that amidst chaos there must also be calm.
