Wedding Blankets by Emma in Marrakech.

Look at this…..

 

Its a gift from my Friend Emma, its one of the most beautiful hand woven Moroccan wedding blankets I have ever seen. Look at those handfuls of silver sequins, aren’t they to die for.

She gave it to me as  present, she has been selling so many on her site “The Goodlife in Morocco” .

 Her wedding blankets are now residing in some of the coolest homes around, famous magazine editors, Interior designers, and dozens of others, are all the proud owners of these beautiful home accessories.

Emma has her secret sources deep inside the Marrakech Medina where these magical blankets are found, shes always discovering fantastic vintage blankets for all her fabulous clientle.

Thank you Emma and I hope the sales continue.

You will find more of these blankets on her site.

The Good LIfe In Morocco 

OMG I’m Thirsty! August in Marrakech.

OMG I’m thirsty all the time. Its my first August in Marrakech for a long time. It appears I had forgotten how hot it can get. 

What can I have?  What can help me?  in this dry dessert heat. I feel like I need an IV in my arm to keep me hydrated. Plus all the drinking glasses in the house keep breaking, so I popped to Bab Foutah yesterday to browse for some new ones.

As I crossed the D’Jemal Fna  I thought my flip flops were gonna melt. Once back inside the covered streets of the Medina It was lovely and cool. In the old days the riads were built with super thick stone walls that keeps the heat in, in winter and the heat out, in summer. Those ancient architects were so clever. The Medina it seems is the best place to hang out on those hot summer days.

I am usually a plain kind of person keeping things simple, but when I saw the sunlight beaming of these coloured, painted drinking glasses and tea glasses, I had to have them…..

 

 

Morocco And The Movie Industry, Should We Be Called Mollywood?

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Do you know how many movies have been made here in Morocco? (around 200) Did you know that we have our own film festival held in Marrakech every year at the beginning of November? And our own movie studio down in Ouzarzate? I decided to read up a bit more on Moroccos Movie History. 

After a bit of research, I was surprised to find that movies had been being made here from as long ago as 1897 ??? ( The Moroccan Knight by French Director Louis Luminere) admittedly a second isn’t noted for about 20 years, but after this there is a steady, almost yearly film being made by French, Spanish and German directors traveling down here to make all kinds of exotic sounding productions.

Of course there aren’t many people who haven’t heard of the Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman movie Casablanca. Strangely enough this film was made entirely in the Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood.

Hollywood doesn’t start to work here until 1949 and the great epic of Othello by Orson Wells is partly made in the city of Essaouria, with all those magnificent Portuguese ramparts as a back drop.

1955 brings the next American blockbuster, Alfred Hitchcocks thriller ” The Man Who Knew to Much” with James Stewart and Doris Day where that old classic and Accademy Award winning song “Kay Sera Sera,” comes from.

Umm… Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean shot parts of this down in Ouzarzate. From 1960-1970 16 films are made all over morocco by directors from all over Europe and America.

The 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s Moroccos good movie making reputation seems to spread and over 69 different films are made, The Pink Panther, James Bond and  Jackie Chan all come here to film. The late 80’s bring big directors like Martin Scorcese with the “Last Temptation of Christ and Bernard Bertolucci filming the Paul Bowles classic “The Sheltering Skies”.  In 1999  8 films are made and in 2002 12 more productions are filmed. Since then we have had Oliver stone, (Alexandra)  Ridley Scott visiting us twice in the recent past (Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven), Syriana, Sahara, Babel and Rendition the list  is enormous. And still continuing with movies like The Prince of Persia being filmed now.

But what is it about Morocco…. Is it the diverse countryside the fact that we have mountains, dessert, staggering coastlines, fantastic historic architecture or the beautiful light and sunny climate that draws these film makers and artists here. Should we start using the title MollyWood. Are we becoming the new tinsel town of North Africa?

The Venise Cadre Book of Artists, Casablanca.

One last thing we did in Casablanca was to visit our old friends a Venice Cadre, I have mentioned them before on my blog, in the post about Mehdi Qotbi. This is one of the very best and very oldest art galleries in the whole of Morocco. I had seen their fascinating book while there and wanted to go back to buy it.

If you are in any way curious about Moroccan art, Moroccan artists or artists that have resided in Morocco this is a must have purchase as it records over 60 years of exhibitions held by Venise Cadre. 

For all art lovers out there this is a fascinating insight into the history of art in Morocco.

For more information on where to get this book contact.

Galerie Venise Cadre

25 Boulevard Moulay Rachid-Cassablanca

+212 (0) 22 36 60 78

venise_cadre@menara.ma

The Golden Tulip Farah, Casablanca.

Mummy insisted Daddy came to pick up the boys from horse camp, as she had heard the sales had started in the shops in Casablanca. And to give Daddy something in return she let him chose the hotel. So we went to stay in what the boys renamed the “Daddy Hotel”, which to the rest of the world would be known as the Golden Tulip Farah in Casablanca. I could kind of see what they were talking about as this  newly refurbished, super modern, multiroomed, multistory hotel was a little on the masculine side.

Its great venue to stay at if your in Casablanca on a business trip. Central location, view of the port and beyond the sea and for us Marrackchis a taste of being back in the big city. Beautiful modern design with comfortable rooms, pool, spa and great room service which works very well if you have tired and smelly children who have just spent two weeks in the company of horses. So it was hot baths and super sized hamburgers and a good night sleep before we hit the shops and then went on to Marrrakech……..

The Zorro Boys, Go Riding in Casablanca

The little boys in our family where growing restless. They wanted something to do. They had, been watching  Zorro on a loop on the DVD player for weeks. One day a friend told us about a cure for this addiction…. A farm in Casablanca, a place that takes little boys and teaches them how to ride just like Zorro.

They begged to be able to learn how to ride like Zorro. I patiently explained that no swords were involved but they didn’t care… It was the horses they wanted.
So we booked them in for a week. We were worried. After all some of our little boys had barely spent a night away from home.
We set off for Casablanca to check it out. We arrived to see the camp, with its little dorms and swimming pool and mountain bike trails and tennis courts and regular football matches every night.

We were greeted by the children and looked into their happy little faces and asked them some questions. Everyone told us in loud and excited voices what a fantastic time they were having. Some of them had travelled from foreign far away lands just to learn to ride here, and spoke in many languages. Umm… This could also help the Zorro boys I thought.

Next we went to see Mr El Yassini, the owner of hacienda. We asked him what he could teach the Zorro wannabes. He told us that they would start riding slowly, inside the paddock, and then, if all went well he would take them out, into the beautiful Casablancan countryside, up into the hills and along the beach… but of course he would expect some help with looking after his horses. The Zorro juniors would have to clean the stables and feed the horses. Umm… I wasn’t sure they were up to this… After all I had seen their bedrooms. Surprisingly enough, they agreed.

 

So we decided to leave, we decided to give them a week and surely they would be begging us tearfully to come home.

We laughed all the way back to Marrakech about our boys cleaning horsey poo, they’ll be back in days we assured ourselves. 

But no, after their week was up, they begged us to stay. They had made so many friends they just didn’t want to leave.

So we tearfully let them stay for one more week.

 

For more info on this fantastic camp for kids.

http://www.lafermeequestre.com