It was our final day in Marrakech. Exhausted from all our harrowing street-crossings and unwilling to face the eager merchants and guides crowding the narrow streets, Dan wanted only to relax somewhere. Do something different. Go someplace quiet and uncrowded. One of the many gardens or parks in the city, perhaps. So we consulted our knowledgeable host Laurent. “Where should we go? The gardens around La Koutoubia look nice on the map. Would that be enjoyable?”

Laurent advised that it being the Moslem Sabbath (Friday), the Koutoubia Gardens, while very nice, were likely to be very crowded. He suggested that instead, we might consider going to the Jardin Majorelle. It was smaller, he told us, but a real jewel, with an unusual modern house that use to be the home of Yves St. Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge and is now a museum of Berber life. Too far to walk, it was nevertheless only a short ride by petit taxi.

A word about taxis in Morocco. There are grands taxis and petits taxis. Grands taxis are larger and more expensive, and they are generally used for longer trips. Petits taxis are small, often hatchbacks, but are required by law to stay within the city in which they are licensed. They therefore take only shorter fares, and they charge less than grands taxis. That is, they charge less if you agree on the fare before you get in. And you can negotiate.

“Do not,” Laurent warned, “pay more than twenty dirhams. Be firm.”

The first taxi we hailed was, it turned out, a grand taxi. He wouldn’t take us. The second one was definitely a petit taxi, but he wanted thirty dirhams.

“Twenty,” Dan said.

“Twenty-five,” replied the driver.

“Twenty,” Dan insisted, and held out the exact amount.

The driver hesitated, then took it. And we were off!

Judging from the line at the ticket counter and the crowds in the garden, we found that the Friday/Sabbath crowds had already discovered the Majorelle Gardens.

Still, the garden was beautiful. The cactus collection was particularly photogenic.

 A fountain seen through the cacti adds a graceful touch.

Soon we reached the house where Yves St. Laurent and his partner lived. Legend has it that St. Laurent invented the blue color especially for this house.

The details are beautiful.

Dan and I went inside to the Museum of Berber life. We loved the examples of Berber dress from different parts of the country, but ultimately the crowds were too much for us. We returned outside, viewing the non-cactus part of the garden.

This was a lovely ending to our stay in Marrakech, and we got to see a part of the city outside the walls of the medina.

The next day we had to return to Casablanca. Our plan was to take the train. But wait! Dan had an idea! What if we could hire a driver and go to Casablanca via Essaouira…?