I visited Morocco with friends for the first time in late spring 2009. We stayed in a beautiful Riad in the middle of the Medina in Marrakesh, a few steps away from the soukh.

Enjoy my pictures on Flickr .

The fragrances and colours are overwhelming: old wooden chariots filled with freshly cut mint leaves (used for the famous Moroccan tea) and coriander, the strong perfume of tanned leather and the multitude of colours in carpets, pompons in combination with textile, metal and leather and the traditional craft of Tadelakt.

„The craft of “tadelakt” is a Moroccan tradition, using lime from The Marrakech Plateau, where the original tadelakt lime can be found. That’s where the word “tadelakt” comes from, it means “to rub in”, where olive soap is rubbed in resulting in a hydrophobic lime plaster used on both the interior and exteriors of buildings. It is the traditional coating of the palaces, hammams and bathrooms of the riads in Morocco. Traditional application includes polishing with river stone and treatment witholeic acid in the form of olive oil soap to acquire its final appearance and water resistance. Tadelakt has a luxurious, soft, undulating character, and has been employed for baths, showers, and basins.“

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadelakt

I could not resist and bought jars, plates and tagines. And when I next redesign a bathroom I want to use this material for the walls.

And in the end we had to use a local shipping agency to transport all the goods home!