Musée de la Palmeraie was a treasure! We were fortunate to have it all to ourselves one peaceful Saturday morning. The owner — Abderrazzak Benchaâbane — was entrusted by Yves Saint Laurent in 1998 with rescuing and returning the Marjorelle Gardens to its former glory.The botanist’s residence houses his Moroccan modern art collection — this striking untitled piece spoke ‘Marrakech’ to us. Musée de la PalmeraieA pergola in the serene water garden — looking back at the Andalusian style home. The gardens clearly reflect his passion for creating beautiful spaces. Musée de la PalmeraieBenchaâbane is also known for creating perfumes that are lavish and entirely unique. One exhibit was on the complexity of perfumes — like explaining how some of the fragrants were distilled. Musée de la PalmeraieThis is not a painting! The entry to the cactus garden……A fabulous density of cacti. We appreciated seeing a lesser known but fabulous garden — that was an inspiration for YSL and revitalizing Majorelle Gardens. A great article on the owner.An oasis of tranquility. We enjoyed our visit to Musée de la Palmeraie.Marrakech also has the Musée Mohammed VI Civilization of Water in Morrocco. This is a comprehensive explanation of the country’s water resource — how it was distributed in ancient times as well as today. The displays and scale models were amazingly educational and fascinating — we discovered so much about water usage in the dry desert climate of Northern Africa.We learned all about how Morocco conserves water during drought and how it is moving into the future — making sure water is available to all. It is a leading nation setting new precedents.
