Posts Tagged ‘Marrakech Private Tours’

Marrakech Guided Tours, Private Site seeing Adventures

Monday, December 7th, 2015
Marrakech,Snowcapped Atlas Mountains

Marrakech,Snowcapped Atlas Mountains

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marrakech, a Berber city, located just outside the snow capped Atlas Mountains, has become one of the leading destinations for Morocco travelers during the past decade. Travelers from the USA, Europe, Russia and Brazil continue to place Marrakech on their bucket list. Marrakech is leading a style revolution for Moroccan travelers with it’s fabulous mix of of old world souks, monuments, mosques, Jewish Heritage Sites, Art Deco architecture, evening Food tours and upmarket Moroccan cuisine. The best way to discover Marrakech’s hidden jewels is to take  a private Marrakech Guided Tour.

A Marrakech Guided Day Tour will give you the opportunity to discover the main sites of Marrakech along with off the beat places. On a Guided Marrakech Site seeing Tour travelers will discover the interiors of the souks that are filled with bustling and delightful food markets, the local bread oven, artisan workshops, majestic gardens along with the glorious Ben Youssef Medersa. All sites are well appointed within Marrakech medina with the famous Majorelle Gardens just footsteps outside.

A Guided Site seeing Tour of Marrakech also includes an in depth visit to Marrakech’s historical Jewish quarters which consists of the Jewish Mellah, the Jewish Cemetery and the Marrakech Lazema Synagogue. On special request dinner with the Rabbi or Shabbat catered dinner can be arranged.

Djemaa El Fna at night

Djemaa El Fna at night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guided Marrakech Day Tours all end with a visit to Djemma el Fna square just before sunset. Djemaa el Fna Square is best described as an L-shaped square that is a labyrinth of mazes. There are souks sprawling off the sides of crowed alleys that sell carpets, spices, metal and wood works and tourist trinkets. Locals also frequent the square where the evenings deliver storytellers, Gnaoua musicians and drummers, snake charmers, jugglers, acrobats and the evening food market. A typical Moroccan experience includes a visit to the evening food stalls grilling meat on braziers, smoking fish, and selling exotic Moroccan foods. If you want a quick treat you can try Morocco’s popular stewed snails. Grab a tooth pick and dig in. Feeling especially brave? Try some stuffed spleen or a sheep’s head showing the eyes. Wash it down with Khendenjal, a spicy nut-based aphrodisiac. With its wild and colorful characters, Djemaa el Fna will stop at nothing short of bedazzling and astounding you. At night, the air fills with aromatic smoke fumes lingering off the delicious delicacies sold in the streets and the sounds of Moroccan music.

Marrakech Guided Tour, Ben Youssef Medersa

Marrakech Guided Tour, Ben Youssef Medersa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marrakech Guided Tour City Highlights: Site seeing with a Marrakech Guide
The Yves Saint Laurent, Majorelle Gardens & Berber Museum
Koutoubia Mosque and Gardens
El Bahia Palace
Saadian Tombs
Ben Youssef Medersa
El Badi Palace
Museum of Photographie
Marrakech Museum
Djemaa el Fna Square
Marrakech Souks – Bread Oven, Local Hammam, Neighborhoods, Artisan Workshops, Spice Souks, Olive Market, Local Bucher and Fruit and Vegetable Sellers, Date Market, Main Kisseria
Jewish Mellah, Jewish Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery

For more information about A Private Cooking Vacation to Morocco

Morocco’s Imperial CitiesSeaside Resorts,Sahara Desert,Berber villagesA Taste of MoroccoMagical Kasbahs, Ruins & WaterfallsAbsolute Morocco, The Best of MarrakechFes, and Ouarzazate

Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel. We offer Private Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.

The Maison de la Photographie Marrakech, Your Morocco Tour Guide

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

Maison de la Photographie Marrakech Medina

No visit to Marrakech is complete without a visit to La Maison de la Photographie which is close to the Medersa Ben Youssef. Just pass by the door of the Medersa and through the  arch across the street and follow the road round passing on your way restaurant Foundak  (an excellent place for lunch or dinner) on your left, a school on your right and shortly afterwards you will find La Maison de la Photographie on your left. It is truly one of the wonders of Marrakech.

Housed in a converted three storey Foundak (the old inns and storage houses for camel trains coming to sell their wares in the souks) which Patrick Man’ach and his Moroccan business colleague Hamid Megrani  converted in to a photographic gallery in 2009. There are photographs of Morocco from the 1860’s at the very dawn of photography when intrepid adventurers had to carry heavy equipment into what was still a largely closed country up until the 1950’s and Morocco’s independence in 1956. Early photographers such as Scotsmen George Washington Wilson and James Valentine, took posed pictures for what became the first postcards from Morocco. the Spanish Carvilla and many others like the images of Gabriel Veyre, partner of the brothers “Lumière” – inventors of photography in 1839. During his Moroccan period, the photographer immortalized Sultan Moulay Abdel Aziz, taught him photography, and created a coluorful photographic record portraying three decades.

Maison de la Photographie Marrakech Medina

Starting in Tangier these photographers gradually began to visit Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains taking pictures of street scenes and then capturing the diversity of Morocco’s Arab, Jewish and Berber inhabitants . There are very few photographic collections as rich as that of Maison de la Photographie which houses 4,500 photographs and 800 of the original glass plates by early photographers. A full reference library is on site and researchers and students interested in Moroccan history are welcome.

The exhibitions are arranged on three floors, with large size portraits and scenes from the 1860’s and 70’s to the early20th Century and the late 1950’s. The third floor has a vido room showing the films of Daniel Chicault who took his cine camera to the Atlas Mountains to film in colour unique dance scenes  and  the village life of the Berber tribes in 1956 and 1957. These are of immense anthropological importance and  they give  us a unique chance to appreciate the wonderful berber tribal heritage much of which is sadly vanishing. By appreciating Morocco’s past we can understand and appreciate its rich cultural heritage.  To crown the visit you can climb the steps to the terrace which has one of the best panoramic views of the medina around as it is one of the highest buildings in the area.

The Maison de la Photographie is the most orignial concepts to have been created in Marrakech in the last few years. Many hotels have bought the photographs which now grace many hotel rooms and La Maison de la Photographie works on exhibitions with most of the leading  cultural institutions in Marrakech including the Institut Francais and the Riad Denise Masson to name but two.

The new exhibition in the Maison de la Photographie is called: ” Trésors Photographiques du Maroc ” (Photographic treasures of Morocco) : the exhibition of original prints which covers the period 1870-1950 and shows the diversity of the Moroccan population: Arabs,Berbers, Muslims and Jewish people and the splendor of the  Mediterranean, Atlantic and Saharian countrysides.

Most of the photographers came from Europe, and in the 1870’s, stayed in Tangier, an international city, where legations, soldiers, traders, adventurers, artists, located their activities. With the colonial period, called  the French Protectorate, photographers ventured further towards the South: Marrakesh became a winter resort, and many started to venture in the Atlas, like the painter Majorelle who owned the Majorelle and its gardens in Gueliz  on the Boulevard Zerktouni which houses a museum for Majorelle’s paintings and a museum created by Pierre Berget with the Haute Couture of Yves Saint Laurent.

In the Thirties, a group of photographers under the name of  Studio Souissi, recorded  all aspects of local life. Muller’s exceptional photographs, a donation of his daughter Ana Muller, are exhibited permanently.

Visitors can view documentaries by Daniel Chicault, from 1957, on the Berbers of the High Atlas and from the panoramic terrace, a view on the Atlas and the medina of Marrakesh.

The entrance charge of 40 dirhams includes a conducted tour and and details about the photographers . the staff are english speaking and  Patrick Man’ach is on hand to share information and advice. Visitors can buy prints of the photographs on view in the shop at the entrance.

Maison De La Photographie Marrakech Entrance Tiled Sign

Maison de la Photographie, Marrakech
Open everyday 9.30 am – 7pm
46 rue Ahal Fès
05-24 -38-57 21 or +212-5-24-38-57-21

Written by Colin Kilkelly

For more information about The Maison de la Photographie Marrakech or a Marrakech Tour

For More Information About Travel and Tours to Morocco plus highlights on Moroccan culture visit Morocco’s Imperial CitiesSeaside Resorts,Sahara DesertBerber villagesA Taste of MoroccoMagical Kasbahs, Ruins & WaterfallsAbsolute Morocco, The Best of MarrakechFes, and Ouarzazate
Discover The Best of Morocco - Travel Exploration
Travel Exploration specializes in Morocco Travel.We provide Tours and travel opportunities to Morocco for the independent traveler and tailor-made tours for families and groups with a distinctly unique flavor. From Morocco’s Seven Imperial Cities, to the Magical Sahara Travel Exploration offers a captivating experience that will inspire you. At Travel Exploration we guarantee that you will discover the best of Morocco! Call Travel Exploration at 1 (800) 787-8806 or + 1 (212) 618882681 and let’s book a tour to Morocco for you today.
The Maison de la Photographie Marrakech, Patrick Man’ach, Marrakech Museums, Marrakech Private Tours, Marrakech Tour, Morocco Travel, Casablanca Travel, Travel Exploration Morocco