A Week in Essaouira - 3: Doors 2

Many doorways have doors-within-doors, as above and below.

My husband told me that this was the door into the women's mosque but, as a non-moslem, entry was still forbidden to me.

Lovely carved plasterwork (gep) above blue and white tiles and studded blue door.

A door to a shop or a workshop, close to the ancient ramparts - matched by my son's t-shirt!

Another beautiful pair we stumbled upon in the maze of medina streets.

The entrance to the artisanal school and workshops by the Bab (Gate) Marrakesh.

And a lovely defunct doorway arch in an alleyway by the old (pink) medina walls, beside the Villa Maroc.

A Week in Essaouira - 2: Doors 1

Essaouira is a town of white and blue. Doorways often feature these colours, though not invariably....

A coastal town, it's buffeted by the Atlantic winds and this results in wonderfully weathered paintwork - although the door owners might not agree with the wonderful...

The streets are quite easy to navigate as Essaouira as we now know it was built on the European grid system, but the town maintains a certain mystery, secrets behind its doors.

There's something so organic about the colours. They echo the colour of sky and cloud, of sea and foam.




You never know what lies around the corner, let alone behind the doors.

The lovely zellige tiling is less commonly seen in Essaouira than in the Cinnamon City, Marrakesh, but still it exists here and there.

A Good Door Link

Worth clicking on for some more door interest is Susan Lenz's blog. She's putting together an amazing door-based installation which I so wish I could see in reality. Seeing it virtually is pretty amazing - great creativity!

Doors Part 4 - details

 

On our last day in Marrakesh we walked beyond the Post Office towards the Mellah, and passed this splendid door, above.

Even knockers, handles and bolts are interesting in Marrakesh. Those pictured below serve a second function in everyday life in the medina: one sees men twisting rayon floss and other threads to create great lengths of cord and braid, which are then used to embellish kaftans, djellebahs, and cloth bags. Wonderful low tech creativity, and the remnants remain to bear witness when the cords are cut off.

 

 

 

Doors Part 3

 

This gorgeous door above is in the Medina in Marrakesh, close to the Souk de Teinturiers, as is the one below. I think they may be entrances to mosques, but I'm not sure. The entrances are truly inspiring, anyway.

 

 

This is a doorway in a Berber house in the Ourika Valley in the Atlas Mountains, on the way to Setti Fatma. The colours of the paint on the door and the walls are quite stunning. The house stands by the river, shaded by trees and the water powers a small mill.

 

This glorious combination of terracotta walls and blue doors and shutters is at Setti Fatma.

Doors Part 2

 

I love this old door and wall by the Qubba Ba'adiyn and can imagine all sorts of dusty treasures hidden within - or not.

 

Above is an archway into the Qubba itself - a doorway if not a door.

 

I became fascinated by the Hand of Fatima, which is seen in many guises in Morocco. This particularly elegant version is a door knocker at the Stork House, close to the Musee de Marrakesh.

 

This last I have shown before, and I think it is a shutter rather than a door, but I think it is stunning so here it is:-

Doors Part 1

One of the Blogs I subscribe to is Down Under Dale,
and Dale has done me the great favour of telling me about the blogs of Elizabeth, who has the great good fortune to live in Marrakesh and New York

Elizabeth told me about a project to post images of doors today, and I could not but join in, because doors fascinate me and frequently tempt me to photograph them, so much so that I'm making at least four different postings of doors today, from my collection.

These doors are English doors:-

 

This first photograph shows a garden door at Hestercombe in Somerset. I wish my garden was big enough to contain walls and doors, with the sense of secrets beyond...

 

This door belongs to my friend Hilary. She lives in a wonderful Arts and Crafts house by the architect Voysey, who even designed the door furniture - gorgeous.

 

The door above leads into a studio in Cheddar - a farm outbuilding which is now an inspirational space - the gardens are also pretty inspirational.

 

This door is near Ironbridge, into a small pottery there.