الحديقة السرية

The site is late Saadian, rebuilt in the nineteenth century by a powerful caid, then left in ruin for most of the twentieth. It reopened in 2016 with the khettara irrigation restored, so water still arrives by gravity from the Atlas and fills the four quarters of the Islamic garden on a schedule.

An exotic garden runs alongside it, and there is a tower you climb for the roofline: Koutoubia to the west, the Atlas behind it on a clear morning.

Ninety minutes, unhurried, with tea in the café at the end. It is the quietest green space inside the walls, which is the reason to come.