Morocco Storybook Tour – Day 11

Morocco Storybook Tour – Day 10 can be found here.

Our last full day in Morocco…

Where has the time gone? It feels as though we landed here a moment and a lifetime ago.

We woke early this morning, which gave us a bit of time to explore the ground of the Villas des Orangers before breakfast:

A second Riad-style courtyard

The stunning – and well-heated! – main swimming pool

Poolside dining area

The rooftop pool – even warmer than the lower level pool, thanks to its continuous exposure to the sun

This property is relentlessly photogenic – but also luxurious and comfortable. But it is very easy to get lost.

One of many luxurious reception areas…

Yet another luxurious reception area – now how do I get back to our suite? Was it three left turns and two rights, or two rights and three lefts?

There was a slight chill to the air this morning, so we elected to take breakfast indoors.

Yoghurt and muesli, fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemon loaf…

… And some fluffy, flaky croissant and pain-au-chocolate

And then it was time for our tour. This one had been scheduled for 7 hours (!!!) but instead we asked that it be kept to 2.5 hours so that we could have some time to relax and enjoy the hotel.

Our first stop was the Saadian Tombs:

Sprawling as they are, the tombs were “rediscovered” in the early 20^th century when a French pilot spotted them from the air. They had been walled off entirely centuries earlier to prevent their destruction from subsequent rulers.

The smaller headstones are the graves of lesser family members and royal advisors. Most are pointing toward Mecca – those that are not had belonged to Jewish advisors, again underscoring the close relationship between Muslims and Jews in this period of history.

Inside the grounds is a mosque, where the bodies were blessed before their interment:

The tomb of the Sultan’s Mother, who had initially come up with the concept of the tombs. She cleverly had her final resting place put directly behind a major public mosque so that 5 times a day, every day all the worshippers would pray towards her body:

And the tomb of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur himself, who had died from the bubonic plague in 1603.

The tombs are considered to be a spectacular example of Moroccan architecture – and they are truly exquisite. The intricacy of all the carvings… it’s difficult to put into words, and the photos don’t do it justice.

Though unfortunately there’s still damage from last summer’s earthquake:

Also – and perhaps most excitingly to our children – we saw a tortoise!

After, we headed off deep into the Medina in search of some souvenirs for the kids.

There are esoteric souks in the Medina – this one specializes in mechanical and metalwork

An ancient set of scales inside a foundouk – a kind of urban hotel set aside for merchants and caravans within the Medina, a few of which have been retained for their historical value and to provide more space for merchants

We’d wondered if the Medina might be a bit quieter on a Monday, but this week – immediately before and during Ramadan – was a holiday. So not exactly a fair comparison. Regardless, it’s safe to say that you should always keep your wits about you when the Medina, and keep an ear out for oncoming motorbikes.

Despite the crowds, our expedition was a success! Our daughter acquired a camel, and our son picked up a puzzle box.

While the camel is certainly special in its own right – pictures are forthcoming, but imagine an all-white camel that’s been Bedazzled – the puzzle box is really something else. You need to remove sections of it in order to find the key and other sections still before you can find the keyhole.

From here, we went to Le Jardin Secret.

Our guide asked us if we knew what the secret was – which of course we didn’t, as our brains were already full to the point of leaking from all of our earlier tours. We guessed that it was because this garden too had been walled off at one point or another.

Close, but not quite.

In reality, the compound – which also dates back to the Saadian dynasty – was purchased by an Italian developer who had initially intended to turn the property into a guest house.

However, while excavating the grounds, he discovered an intricate system of irrigation known as “khettara” dating back to the 11^th century. This system was used as the basis to restore these truly stunning gardens.

Difficulgt to see in the photo, but water is flowing from the large square conduit into the smaller holes

I use the plural, as there actually two gardens here – an exotic garden, as well as an Islamic garden. The Moroccan Islamic garden contains olives, pomegranates, oranges, which represent the foods founds in Paradise. It also boasts intricate decoration, and is laid out along strict geometric lines.

We then returned to Villas des Orangers – at 11:55 am on the dot. We thanked our guide, and settled ourselves for a delicious lunch of curried chicken burgers, mushroom risotto, and lamb with saffron mashed potatoes.

I then retired for a brief nap, while my wife and the kids went off to the pool for a while.

Villas des Orangers take on a Do Not Disturb system – if the fez is rocking, don’t come a knockin’

We had a brief round of Dungeons & Dragons, and then met up with Carla for a bit to give our thoughts on the trip.

Apart from proposing they use a different restaurant on the way out of the Sahara, we didn’t have much in the way of feedback – it was an exceptional tour, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking to explore Morocco and bring a bit of magic to their kids.

The genie then returned, and delivered some lovely gifts to our children – a copy of 1,001 Arabian Nights for our son, and a bracelet for our daughter. We’d also arranged to give our son a multi-tool, and our daughter a compass to help them on their next adventures.

We then settled in for our final storytelling dinner.

As I’ve said before – and will say again – our Moroccan storyteller was such a highlight of our trip, and we would strongly recommend this kind of experience for anyone staying in Morocco for any amount of time. Even if you had just one night, I would suggest making this happen.

The dinner was also exceptional. We had beef tenderloin with mushrooms from the Atlas Mountains:

Which was followed by a chocolate sphere with chocolate mouse and a raspberry heart:

My son and I then retired for the night, only to be chased down by our daughter who bore some surprising news – there was another cake.

“Why did they let us order dessert?” we wondered. But a trip to Morocco is like a trip to your grandmother’s house – there is always way more food than there should be. And so we shrugged and went back downstairs for second dessert.

In a rather hilarious case of broken telephone, the staff of Villas des Orangers knew that we were celebrating – but they didn’t quite know what we were celebrating. They settled on a birthday, though they didn’t know whose birthday it was.

So they burst into our private dining room with a cake and massive sparklers singing happy birthday. It was the perfect, ridiculous end to a ridiculously good trip.

And end it must – as we must leave the hotel at 4 am tomorrow to catch our early morning flight to Paris. But first, a quick spin by the ridiculousy photogenic bar:

And then another fire in the fireplace and a nice, hot bath in our suite’s oversized bathtub.

To sleep, perchance to dream – of the scent of orange blossoms and stories without end.

Continue reading Morocco Storybook Tour – Day 12.