Walking Around In Marrakech

[cars passing]

Hello, everyone.

This is Hamza from Marrakesh.

Today, We're going to do a food tour of the city

in order to see how things are going on

during the COVID-19.

Let's go.

[soft music]

So we are in our private transfer on our way

to our first stop, Majorelle Gardens.

Many things have changed in Marrakesh,

since the beginning of the pandemic.

We have a glass between the driver and the clients,

as well as the classic hydra-alcoholic gel,

and masks available in case the clients need some.

We're at the entrance of the Majorelle gardens,

and the museum, usually the street is very crowded.

We are lucky today to be here.

We are on a private visit.

We are going to be welcomed by the team led by Madison Cox

and will be traveling exclusive and

private visit, to see all the improvements that

are going on in both museums, and Majorelle Gardens.

[birds chirping]

Here we are at the Berber museum building,

which was originally the studio of Mr. Majorelle.

Major construction work has not been taken

since the 1930's.

Look at all the walls, all the structure.

The structure is usually done, the facade.

The red carpet.

[Laughter]

We've given you the red carpet treatment.

These walkways we've redone all the,

the tinted concrete walkways around here.

What we've also done is we've removed

all the bamboo where people have scratched their

names.

[Hamza] I bet a lot of people are going to

be disappointed. They're not going to come back.

[Madison] They're not going to find their name.

We have now just finished a visit of the Majorelle.

Now we're going to see the Museum of Yves Saint

Laurent.

It's preparing a very new collection, that's

going to open up very soon.

[soft music]

[Woman] We have been working on wood, on the

clothe, on the ceiling, and on the lighting.

This triangle in fact little [Arabic word], little hat

for boys.

And those bags are made by ladies,

for the doctors. Including this bag for the wedding.

We are currently at Museum Des Compliences,

my favorite museum in Marrakesh.

The house of the former governor of

Marrakesh.

Unfortunately, has gone from more than

a 1,000 visitors in 2019, up to 10 or 20

maximum today when they reopened.

They fully closed during lockdown,

but now they're just reopening

and waiting for the public to come.

Mostly local public they're expecting.

Okay. So tell us a bit more about the, about the

history of this place.

[Samira] The place was first established in the

first half of the 20th century.

The garden. The idea behind,

behind this is to be able to receive guests.

But there's also like a private space

where the family use to, use to live and

this is right now the temporary finishes,

of the space.

The building is both inspired

by

our local

techniques,

but there is also like

accidental or European inspiration,

especially from Italy and Spain.

Now we're going to my favorite coffee,

Marrakesh Basha coffee.

I'm very surprised to see that they're open;

they reopened after the lockdown.

So I'm very happy to share

with you and show you my favorite coffee Marrakesh.

[soft music]

This place offers coffees from all around the world.

There are original coffee factories

preparing their own coffee coming from Asia,

from Latin America, as well as Africa.

And then, mixing them with Moroccan spices sometimes

in order to give them a very local flavor.

Now we're going to move

to our next place, which is the secret garden.

And in the meantime, we're going to walk

in the Medina, which is going to give you a sense

of how the Medina is evolving during this time

of pandemic.

[car honking]

They're very calm and quite empty.

We're very lucky actually, to be able to experience

that in Marrakesh.

Usually city is quiet, and the Medina is

very very active with a lot of people walking around.

So we're very privileged to have this time here

alone in the Medina.

Now we're going to get inside

of the secret garden, a smaller ways just

inside the Medina, with an amazing garden

and amazing museum.

They have been closed, unfortunately,

since the start of the pandemic.

So now we're going to get a private visit

in order to take a look at it from the inside by

some team members.

So we are here with my friend Mohamad.

Who is one of the team members of the secret garden.

You've been closed since the 16th of March, yeah?

Yes. It's true. 16th of March.

16th of March, so you haven't opened yet, yes?

Yes

And how many visitors at peak per day here?

In peak 2,000, but a village in the middle,

It's maybe only 1,000 - 1,500.

Now

we're trying to

keep the garden.

To be

able to open in the good conditions.

[bicycle passing]

The space square, It's one of the most lively places

usually in Marrakesh. Where people

sell spices, some shops have spices,

they have very nice restaurants, as well.

As well as some stores with rugs and

many Moroccan artifacts.

We have reached our final destination

for the lunch restaurant of,

Cafe des Ipices.

We are on Friday currently, and on Friday,

there is a big tradition in Morocco with couscous.

So we're going to have the Friday couscous here

at Cafe des Ipices with our guests.

[busy street]

Hello, our friends.

So this is the end of our day.

And we end up with the best, with the square

of German fella, where locals usually make

the choice for street food, street performance,

and a very lively ambience.

So we're going to see today,

that it's actually very quiet, only

with locals and the limited activity around here.

[people talking]

Of course, the mint tea is always here.

As you can see we respect space

between each other, as a COVID measure.

So we'll have some tea and here we are going

to have some Moroccan food.

[city sounds]

The dish that you can see here is,

prepared with the upper hand of the couscous maker.

So it gets heated by steam, and it gives you

a very tender part of the lamb.

So, here in this stall,

its a very popular local dish, its mostly the locals

that eat it.

It's from Spanish influence actually.

It's the same dish that you can find also

in Spain.

A sandwich, including eggs, including potatoes,

and including a bit of olives,

and just a bit of hot sauce.

So as you have seen, the city is quite calm

and offers the perfect context for a change of scenery.

It's been very relaxing

to rediscover.

Marrakesh in these exceptional times.

Outside the usual hustle and bustle of Moroccan city.