From Matisse in Marrakech to Dali in the Desert – Tours of Morocco in January 2024.

©Aussies In Morocco Tours™

We are pleased to offer the following 8 day/7 night Art tour in early January 2024, and again in mid-January 2024, starting in Marrakech and finishing in the desert.

Cara will accompany you on these group tours. If you however prefer to do it as a private tour at this or another time, we are all ears!

For both January tours – bookings close
September 30, 2023

The pricing table appears at the conclusion of this itinerary.

Please also read our blog posts here, for example about traditional accommodation to have some idea of what you are in for, so that your expectations equate with reality.

Pre-tour you will be sent digital books of the works of Matisse and Dali for you to access during the tour. We recommend you bring an ipad with you on tour, with the books uploaded to it.

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Matisse @ Marrakech

Matisse: Marrakech

December 31-January 2 or January 14-16

December 31: Marrakech (Sunday) or January 14 (Sun)

Meals: Dinner (D)

Arrive Riad Houdou (or equivalent) for New Year’s Eve in Marrakech. Another option is Riad Chocolat with its vibrant Provencal vibe, very reminiscent of Matisse. Dinner at the riad to bring in the new year.

January 1: Marrakech – Ourika – Marrakech (Monday) or January 15 (Mon)

Meals: Breakfast (B) & Lunch (L)

To Ourika in the Mountains, 30 minutes outside Marrakech, for a lunch prepared for us by a personal chef in the Garden of the Soul (Anima Gardens) which includes various artworks including sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Pablo Picasso. (Not available on a private tour except as an extra.)

If you are interested in purchasing a carpet that reminds you of a Matisse, let us know the night before and we can arrange for a visit to a lady with loads of integrity and brains who sells them for local women. Yes, you could buy it from her online too, but that wouldn’t resonate with the same memories would it? Matisse was profoundly influenced by the decorative elements of Morocco especially in his efforts to use colour as pure expression. One only need compare his painting to traditional Moroccan carpets to see this.

Otherwise, we can enjoy a glass of Moroccan tea with our feet in the river, and anything else that our Ourika guide recommends and that you would like to experience, such as visiting an ochre-coloured Berber village, before returning to base in Marrakech. Your evening is your own. There are various excellent restaurants in Marrakech if you want to go out for dinner. Alternatively, a quiet night in, with something cold and light for dinner in your room and a chance to catch up on any personal tasks, might be just the ticket.

Whatever you decide to do, please leave the night food markets for tomorrow night, for what we hope to be a special experience.

January 2: Marrakech (Tuesday) or January 16 (Tues)

Meals: B & D

Today a professional guide will take us to the garden and palace at Le Jardin Secret, the Chichaoua Tea Room for a tea and Riad Yima for art work of Hassan Hajjaj. (We have written about him in our blog post “Colours, Naturellement”.) Hopefully we will also have time to visit Dar El Bacha, a former palace now art gallery with a highly recommended coffee house, for a light lunch (not included). We will talk about the options with our guide before confirming what is best to include and the route to take. Afternoon we can take you back to the riad, perhaps for a hammam and massage (probably the last opportunity to do so and not included as part of this tour fee), or you can continue with the guide to the famous Majorelle Gardens.
For our final night in Marrakech we go on a guided food tour of the night markets. With acrobats, snake charmers, musicians, water sellers, storytellers, henna tattoo charlatans, be prepared to have your senses blasted. From high up at one of the cafes facing the square, where once they beheaded people and sold slaves, it looks like a galaxy of twinkling stars has come to earth to do its shopping and the sounds are unforgettable.

Dali @ the desert

Matisse: Valley of the Roses

January 3 (Wednesday) or January 17 (Wed)

January 3: Valley of the Roses (Wednesday) or January 17 (Wed)

Meals: B L & D

Journey to the Valley of the Roses.

We wouldn’t say that either of the artists whose footsteps we are following were particularly well known for painting roses specifically. All painted flowers, in Matisse’s case in vases often adjacent to an open window and often overlooking the sea. However, as we discuss in the blog post “Colours Naturellement“, Matisse seems to have come under the influence of the muted yellows, oranges and greens of the south of Morocco as his art evolved towards use of those colours and away from the bright colours of the Fauvism of his earlier period.
Whilst in or near the Valley of the Roses we will be staying at one of a thousand ochre coloured Kasbahs that dot the landscape in the south. On the way we will visit Ait Ben Haddou, famous ancient village on a hillside and UNESCO world heritage site. We will have a picnic close by of food prepared for us by the Riad at which we stayed in Marrakech. We will probably buy bottled water or stop for a tea with the locals along the way, so we can use their western restrooms.

Dali @ the Dunes

Dali: At the Dunes

January 4 & 5 or January 18 & 19

January 4: The Dunes (Thursday) or January 18 (Thur)

Meals: B & D

Drive towards the dunes. On the way go to the Rissani markets, visit the apothecary there and perhaps explore the mosaic-embellished Mausoleum. Then onto Khamlia, a village inhabited by the descendants of former slaves, and the café known as Chez les Artistes, with its strange and fantastic metal creatures reminiscent of Dali’s desert psychoscapes. Later, enjoy a camel ride into the dunes where in the late afternoon camel trains cast shadows like those long-legged elephantine creatures from a surrealistic Dali painting. Stay at a luxury camp. Further details to be provided upon request.

January 5: Erfoud (Friday) or January 19 (Fri)

Meals: B L & D (only at our accommodation)

There are a range of options for today. Firstly you could do a tour of the desert, where you might see abandoned villages, ancient animal engravings, an oasis, lonely graves, stones to show a solitary shepherd the direction of Mecca for praying and/or drink a tea (perhaps with acacia sap) with the nomads. For those travelling on the group tours in January 2024 you are in luck because as it is a Friday, that is the day families traditionally have couscous after attending prayers at the local mosque. Lunch today will be a meal of couscous with a local family. Please dress modestly as respect for the older members of the family. Also conversation is likely to be limited due to language, but the feeling will be hospitable.

At some time in the afternoon you will arrive at our accommodation at Erfoud, where either this day or the next you can learn how to cook a tagine with the cook, have some local ladies do henna tattoos on you for a small fee, play a game of petanque, perhaps try camel milk with dates or visit the local fossil museum with its strange fossils like the skull of a sabre-toothed tiger. Indiana Jones-type fossil hunting is a big deal in this part of Morocco.

Dinner (and breakfast the next morning) at the accommodation is covered.

Note that we will also gauge interest before determining if a stargazing session tonight via telescope, together with a recounting of ancient Berber stories associated with the stars, is doable. The boreal sky of the northern hemisphere is very different from the night sky we see in the southern hemisphere, so it is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many of you. There would be an additional cost for this, payable on the day and minimum numbers would be required. We won’t charge a fee on top; just cover the cost of the star guide. (Please note this is not available on any private tour unless you are able to make the arrangement directly via auberge management).

Dali: Erfoud

January 6 or January 20

January 6: Erfoud (Saturday) or January 20 (Sat)

Meals: B & L

Still in Erfoud. In the desert close by you will visit gigantic art installations which recall Chirico, in the morning. Lunch will be a BBQ back at the auberge, weather permitting, or lunch in the dining room, if not. (The BBQ is not available on the private tour.) This will in effect be our final meal together. Traditionally the last meal is supposed to be the highlight of any tour. Instead dinner tonight will be a quiet, low key affair as we absorb all that we have experienced and ready ourselves mind and body to conclude this full-on, albeit abbreviated, time together and take our next steps in life.  If you want dinner you can arrange to have it at the hotel restaurant. It is nice, simple food – just remember to give them enough forewarning to prepare as soon as possible, as we are still on Moroccan time for a short while longer. Best to settle all accounts with the Auberge this evening as we leave very early next morning.

January 7: Departure (Sunday) or January 21 (Sun)

Meals: B

Airport transfers to Errachidia – approximately one hour’s drive – from which flights only go to Casablanca .

Although our tour ends at Errachidia, if you are not intending to catch a connecting flight out of Casablanca, but would rather spend more time in Morocco (even if it’s only overnight in Casablanca for example), let us know and we are happy to help you with the arrangements. If you have extra time, as an optional add-on, you could be driven from Erfoud to the imperial city of Fez via Midelt, to spend a few days exploring its medieval medina and world renowned cuisine. Or you could fly to Casablanca with the rest of us and then be driven circa 3.5 hours to Fez. Just let us know if you would like to add a visit to Fez as a private tour to your Footsteps of Matisse & Dali tour with us.

If it is your first time in Morocco and you think it unlikely you will return, we advise that Fez (and Marrakech) are highlights not to miss.

Tour fee per person assumes you are sharing a room with one other (due to limits of traditional accommodation): $3,920.00 unless you catch the early bird price. Price is based on a party of 10-12 which includes Cara, a guide, and at least one driver.

Private tour prices on application as depends on the number of your touring party. If a couple, see the pricing table at the conclusion of this itinerary.

Et voila, the end of an adventure of a lifetime! Or maybe just the first instalment?

For more information about Matisse and Dali in Morocco please look at our blog posts here and here. Please remember that tips, entrance fees, alcohol and flights are not part of the Tour fees. If we don’t mention something is covered by the tour fee, best to assume that it isn’t. Sometimes for example we refer to a venue for lunch in this itinerary but do not cover the cost of lunch at that venue. You need to check each day of the itinerary to see precisely what meal costs we specify are covered.

April 2022

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