Morocco is a strange country. It is an unexpected mix of gorgeous mountains, sand dunes, numerous oases with palms, imperial cities with hectic life, colorful medinas and markets that literally blow your mind. On the tenth day of this adventure we had experienced all shades of the above experiences and not only, and we were heading for a two-day visit to the place where all guides pointed – Marrakech.
If you are curious about Morocco, take a walk with us through all the places we visited in this country in our Morocco category.
In a small lyrical deviation we will mention that while organizing our trip, we really wanted to experience and feel as many different things and feelings as possible. We wanted to live in both the traditional budget riads and the luxury hotels. To eat on the market, with the berbers in the mountain and in the modern restaurants in the cities. And somehow we ordered our plan in a way that the last couple of days we dedicated to the more contemporary and western-style experiences rather that the traditional Morocco.
So, after three very emotional days in the High Atlas Mountains, where we lived in small berber villages and walked over 20 km through the mountains at more than 2000 m above the sea level, we arrived for a lunch in Marrakech, or actually just outside Marrakech. We had arranged a lunch in Jnane Tamsna hotel in the Palmeraie district, a palm oasis with more than 100 000 palm trees, inhabited mostly with luxury hotels and villas but not lacking traditional neighbourhoods with local population as well.
What is Jnane Tamsna?
It took us an hour and half to drive the 60 km from the mountains to Marrakech. We passed through crazy Marrakech traffic and 10 minutes later the navigation took us to a small neighbourhood with walking children, adults, cats and chicken along the streets. Finally, just beneath it was the gate to Jnane Tamsna, surrounded by tall stone wall, as many similar places in Morocco. A few hundred metres later, behind the numerous palm trees and olive trees, we spotted the yellowish buildings of the hotel.
Jnana Tamsna is an estate with 5 villas, surrounded by 9 acres of greenery and gardens. Before our arrival in Morocco we tried to organize a night in the hotel but no rooms were available. The hotel complex is relatively small. They have a total of 27 rooms that can accommodate up to 60 people. One very nice thing is that the villas are separated from each other with a lot of greenery. So you can find privacy for yourself or your group of friends at any time.
There are 5 pools within the estate, two of which are heated in the colder seasons. A very nice particularity of Moroccan climate is that in November you can have two seasons. During the day it may be like summer, up to 30 degrees and wonderful for sunbaths. Then in the night the temperatures are low enough to enjoy the coziness of a lit fireplace.
The gardens of Jnane Tamsna
It was a pleasure to escape the deserted landscapes we had been seeing within the past days and immerse ourselves in gardens and greenery. The view was quite close to what we are imagining for a jungle, despite we have never been in a real jungle. Tall palm trees, lower bushes and numerous other plants all around. Only that everything in this jungle was neatly ordered in beautiful beds with various plants. In the gardens of Jnane Tamsna they grow literally everything that can be grown in the area – date palms, olive trees, more than 10 aloe species and numerous herbs. The production from the gardens is organic and goes straight to the restaurant of the hotel.
They also have natural fauna, mostly lizards, turtles and hedgehogs. They are very proud with their hedgehogs, because hedgehogs are a sign of a healthy garden.
Lunch at Jnane Tamsna
During our visit we learned that it was currently the olive picking season and they were producing large quantities of olive oil. We also tried natural fresh olives which we found hard to appreciate, probably because we are so used to marinated and processed olives that we cannot even recognize the taste of fresh olives. However, the olive oil we were served was outstanding.
We also have to mention that we had lunch in no actual restaurant but on a few cozy tables, neatly arranged by one of the pools. We had booked in advance so we found a table for 4 waiting for us. The atmosphere was very cozy and nice, almost like a picnic, under the natural music of bird songs.
The lunch menu at Jnane Tamsna was not long and is different every day, depending on the fresh production of the day. That day it was one salad (tabbouleh with chickpeas and mint, quite unusual but very delicious), a 4 different main courses (among them fish, lamb chops, lentils sausage) and crème Brulee for dessert.
We had a wonderful meal on the cozy glass tables and thought that the afternoon spent here was a really nice escape from the noise, colours and smells of Morocco.
The prices of the lunch menu in the restaurant are quite reasonable, regarding the quality of the food. While travelling through Morocco we witnessed quite more expensive restaurants lacking any of the qualities of this place. For what he had during our lunch, the prices were really good. In our following articles we will tell you how in Morocco you can eat for 15 dirhams and for 300 dirhams (10 dirhams are 1 euro), but the high price is not always proportional to the quality.
Jnane Tamsna – a little more history
Jnane Tamsna is a creation of some of those people who arrived in Morocco many years ago for some occasion and then refused to leave at all. Indeed there are quite many of these in Morocco, mostly from French and Spanish origin. So, the owners of Jnane Tamsna are Meryanne Loum-Martin, a Paris lawyer from French and Senegalese origin, and her husband Gary Martin, a well-known American cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist. The whole place was created by their designs and inspiration.
Meryanne, a passionate designer, moved from Paris to Marrakech in the 1980s and since then her life is almost entirely related to this country. She is responsible for the architecture and interior design of the whole complex. Moreover, she has an art workshop where she creates various pieces of art inspired by North Africa.
And despite she is busy with multiple things, she greets each guest at Jnane Tamsna, including us, despite we were only visiting for lunch.
Later we took a walk with her daughter Thais and their dog Smokie who they adopted 3 years ago.
And the had to pronounce name of the hotel means “Big Garden” – quite proper for what you will find there.
[info]If you are not heading to Morocco soon but wish to try Moroccan cuisine, we can recommend a very nice place in Sofia, Bulgaria – Annette Moroccan restaurant. we have previously shared our thoughts about it here. [/info]
If you are curious about Morocco, take a walk with us through all the places we visited in this country in our Morocco category.
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