If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you might have some clue to my fascination with ancient irrigation systems (favourite contemporary interpretation is at Babylonstoren). I was thrilled to visit the Agdar (or Aguedal) Gardens just outside the walls of Marrakech, where you can still see the large holding pond where water collects from the Atlas mountains, and is then distributed by a series of rills and ditches throughout the vast orchards of olives, citrus and fruit trees. It’s all in a state of neglect, but open two days a week, and we were delighted to see so many families picnicking in pools of shade created by the ancient groves of trees.
A quick search has just indicated that the name of these gardens is derived from the Berber language, meaning ‘walled meadow’. Much of the countryside is divided with walls: many dry-stone, others rendered & painted in that delightful salmon-pink, or divided by hedges of prickly pear (see previous post). I’m as enchanted with walls as I am with paths (see earlier posts….); so combined with big untamed country, I was pretty much in heaven!