The colors of Marrakech, Part II

This is the second post from the recent trip I had in Marocco in the city of Marrakech (you can read the first part here).

In this post, I’ll continue the story with other photos taken around Marrakech.

A nice lunchtime at “La Famille”

“La Famille” is a cozy, beautiful place in the heart of Marrakech. I have to say we found this place by chance, just walking around!
I remember we were just looking for a small restaurant for lunch, and we found this beautiful place!

La Famille offers only vegetarian food with healthy drinks (I got a glass of water with mint and lemon in it, delicious!).
The place’s unique feature is the lovely garden inside the restaurant: trees aren’t so common in the center of Marrakech, so being here feels like an oasis!
I’ve also appreciated the store where they sell handcrafted objects.

On the streets of Marrakech

Here we are on the streets of Marrakech! I love the colors and lights of the city. Like in the first part of the story, I want to point out that locals aren’t always happy to be photographed. So remember this when you are in Morocco and want to take a close portrait of the people around you!

Marrakech by night

Marrakech by night is particular, but I have to say that some roads can get a bit too dark for my tastes: the shops of the Medina usually close around 9/10 pm (even if you can find someone working later than that time), so a lot of these old streets get quite dark. Honestly, I never felt that in danger walking around those streets at night; the locals are noisy with shopping and trying to make money by showing you the way, but I don’t feel it’s a dangerous place to walk at night.

One of the places we appreciated in the evening, at dinner time, was “Le Jardin“, a very nice restaurant in the center of Marrakech. There we found very good typical food and a beautiful environment where to spend the evening!

Jardin Majorelle and the Blue Majorelle

This garden is one of the most visited places in Marrakech. It is situated outside the old Medina, so you have to take a Taxi to arrive there.
The story of this place links two 19th-century artists: the French painter Louis Majorelle, who built the villa in Morocco’s style with architect Paul Sinière, and the architect who designed the garden with hundreds of different plants.
Louis Majorelle also created a distinctive blue he called “Majorelle blue,” which is the main color of the house and the decorative elements around the park.

The second artist linked to the villa was French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, who acquired the villa and saved it from abandonment. It’s worth noting that a new Yves Saint Laurent museum will be built near this garden. The opening is forecast for 2017.

Talking about the technical side of the photos

The pictures that I’ve published here and in the first part of the story were shot with the Fujifilm X100T and X-Pro2 with the 16mm f/1.4. This setup is very convenient, light to carry, and the quality is awesome. I always shoot in .raw, and I edit the files in Lightroom, mainly using the Classic Chrome color profile. The Classic Chrome tends to get a bit muted colors but editing a bit, you can get out some beautiful tones as the pictures shown above.