Le jardin secret 

My experience

It was a cultural day I have decided to have, after shopping in souks I needed to discover Marrakech and its numerous monuments.  After doing back and forth in those little streets of Medina because it was not easy to find this ancient Riad, I have finally found it.  I paid for a visit of garden + tower in order to have a view of Marrakech and its roofs. It is true that paying for more view, it is a little bit shame even if this one was beautiful but this is a personnal opinion. When I visited Secret Garden (Jardin Secret in French) there was not crowded which was perfect for taking pictures and, thus, showing garden’s beauty. 

Le jardin secret  

Not easy to find this wonderful ancient riad towards streets in the Medina of Marrakech very well hidden. You think that is on the left side but it was on the right side. That is the magic of Medina with all those little streets. You have no idea where you are going but you keep walking by hoping you will find this Secret Garden (Le Jardin secret). It was my experience before my visit but I think it would be yours as well such you can be easily lost in this Medina.

After finding my final destination I visited this magnificent ancient riad.

Riad is a traditional Moroccan house where there is always a garden in the middle protected by high walls. Those gardens are not built for any reason. Indeed, Arab gardens with fountains are the symbol of Paradise as it is written in the Koran. As you can notice, Le Jardin secret has two gardens; the first one is an exotic garden where there are exotic plants and trees from all around the world whose climate is similar to Marrakech. The second one is the Islamic garden that represents Paradise with its four borders. Water is an integral part of riads and fountains are the architectural element that makes water important.

You are going to start your visit the exotic garden with a water path starting from the red house in front of you when you are coming in. If you are interested in this water path it could be interesting to understand which way water came from the Atlas Mountains and how was distributed inside of riad.

On the terrace you may drink a good coffee and enjoying the view over the Islamic garden. What is interesting to keep in mind is that fountains are situated in direction of Mecca.

This is a charming riad that have bee rebuilt for one year by Italian architects with a Moroccan artisans’ team. At the time, the riad had a stunned architecture with colourful tiles full of Arab drawings and the aim is showing to visitors how was this riad.

Why I recommend it? 

I recommend visiting this place in Marrakech for its beauty and recognize the great job that have been done by a large team who have been reborn this Riad and for its authentic tower from which you can have a fantastic view of Marrakech and its roofs, thus Koutoubia Mosque. And especially for its History which is not insignificant.