Marrakech places

Jardin Majorelle

A beautiful and amazing garden and house that will soon be hosting the Museum of Art Berber made up from the collection of  Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent who were the last owners of this beautiful place designed by the French painter Jacques Majorelle in 1924.

The amazing Gallery I Ministero del Gusto in the heart of the Medina by Italian architect Fabrizio Bizarri

a good article about the house and the duo that created in design for life (in english

In the Medina

This flickr member from Spain took my photo sketching Abdullah while he showed us how he made chess pieces out of olive tree green wood using this manual system.

and the detail.

Marrakech people

Jema'a el Fna, the famous square in Marrakech where you'll find thousands of people drifting around and checking the performances or having dinner at all the many food stalls that are put up and taken down each evening.

Hicham asked to be drawn. In his hand he held two wooden boxes that as you open a wooden snake pops out, he's trying to sell them. When I finish he gets his mp3 from his pocket and asks if I can added it to the sketch. -And don't forget to add the pink into my sport suit he says as he leaves! 

 Odds and bits from my bedroom window.

The monkey man and a quite corner inside the Medina.

 The friends of Hicham that also wanted to be sketched and the drummer boy that got himself and myself into trouble when one of his companions caught me sketching on his request. The man thought I would be making money from my sketch and started screaming his head off. When the drummer said he had asked for it the other started pushing him around and told me he was going to fire him... all ended well. I didn't pay for my sketch and the drummer didn't get fired.

Casablanca airport waiting to board our flight,.
My paper is coming off so weird in my scans that I did a bit of playing with photoshop in the previous images.

from Nouakchott to Portimão in 9 days

The bus I got a lift from in Mauritania with Patrick and Sophie and their children Lena and Max and a young friend of theirs Hugo.

They come twice a year to Nouakchott as they've created a NGO that helps a village in Senegal.

We crossed all of Western Sahara fast, the distances from town to town are enormeous the whole area is heavily patrolled by the Moroccan army and you see more Moroccans than Saharawis.

The first town in Morocco we really stop in Morocco is Safi.

First night we don´t sleep in the bus but stay at Mokhtar home, a friend from the family.

In the morning we visit the potters neighbourhood.

And the old "medina".

Selling fried fish sandwishes.

Lena loves horses so anywhere Patrick sees any horses he stops even if only for 5 minutes.

Second real stop was in Fez and there you really wish you can stay for long and on your own so much to see and draw.

The famous smelly tanks where the animals skins becomes workable leather.

We sleep outside Fez at El Ouafi house where he lives with his mum and two sisters.

We were spoiled there with good food and a beautiful wood close by.

El Ouafi works as a guide but he took a day off to show as Meknes the Imperial city.

And we parted in Fez as they were going to the mountains and I had to get to Portugal.

Waiting to board the boat to Algeciras.

Lunch at Sevilla before getting the bus.

And the last bit one hour by train from Faro to Portimão.

To find out more about the Saharawis and Western Sahara situaton visit my blog

http://sahara.uniterre.com