Shop Windows in Gueliz

Wonderful rich fabric.
What curtains or cushions of our dreams would it make?



A rather meagre selection of articles in the electrician's window.



A thousand splendid magazines for every taste. Note the inflatable Santa in the doorway..........

Stairs and a Field Trip

A decorative gold staircase in an art gallery.
Who would have thought?


Pink marble stairs. It would be rather lovely to have something exciting to look at every time one went up and down.
These are in Gueliz at our notaire's office.


Yellow and black is rather chic and New Yorkish.
Also in Gueliz.


I like the metal stars on the security gate.


I was up in the new town to visit the kindergartners I looked after in September.
They were having a field trip to a playground with spectacularly bright rides.


Here the boys clamber off the little toy train.

Open Doors

We are heading back to Marrakech via London.
I hope doors are open to greet us -
like this unusual blue one in the medina.



Or the door to the beer garden in Gueliz - no women allowed.
My friend J. as an 'honorary man' gets to go in.
I never tried since I hate the taste of beer.



This doorway is mysterious and rather sad somehow.



A photo of the inside of the cool (literally rather than metaphorically) cafe that is part of the beer garden.
Drinking beer is done rather privately in Marrakech.

Ice Cream Parlor that is no More

This ice cream parlor in Gueliz has been closed ever since we have lived in Marrakech.
It looks like the sort of place I would have gone too often.
There is something very traditional about the color scheme.



I am also a sucker for handpainted signs on shops.
The things that were once in offer here include ice cream cake and napoleons.
It also says it was a salon du the.
What more could one ask for?

Cafes

After all the excitement of rushing through all the doors in the world, we are sorely in need of refreshment.
The possibilities are endless.
This first pictures is of Cafe Negociant in Gueliz.
The man on the right is there every morning for several hours reading his news paper.



Some times I go to visit friends in the medina who put on an English tea in my honor.
However, if you look very carefully at the little pastries, you can tell we are still in Morocco.



We spend way too much time at Cafe France in Place Djemma ElFna.
The orange juice is wonderfully fresh and we can watch the world go by.



The Cafe at the Musee de Marrakech is a little more peaceful and out of the way.
The hot chocolate there is very good.



This cafe is exactly opposite Cafe Negociants on the corner of Boulevard Mohammed V and Boulevard Zerktouni.
I like the woman relaxing with her face turned to the sun.



Cafe Solaris is Gueliz has very good croissants
and orange juice
and coffee.
A friend of ours uses it as his 'office' and keeps office hours there every morning from 9:30 -11:30.
You can spend huge amounts of time hanging out in cafes and no one seems in the least bit of a rush.
Sometimes we are dying to escape to do vital errands and all the waiters vanish.
We try to bring pretty exact change with us because finding change in Morocco seems to be an insuperable problem.
If you hand in anything larger than a 20 dihram note, someone is sent round the universe to look for change and often doesn't reappear for a very long time.
It used to be like this years ago in Italy when they would insist on giving you little squares of chocolate instead of coins.

Doors of Marrakech

I'm spoiled for choice - Marrakech offers a wealth of fascinating doors in all sorts of different styles.
These doors are in the new cafe at the Jardin Majorelle.



In the Bahia Palace, these are the doors to an almost magical cupboard.
Since all the furnishing have vanished, one wonders what was once hidden inside.



A very stately and imposing door in the old medina.
Someone very important must live inside.



This door leads from the walled garden out into the olive grove at my friend J's house in the country.
From her veranda, you can look up at the Atlas Mountains.



These doors are in Gueliz. I don't think yellow is a very popular color for doors.
But I like them anyway.