The Garden OF STARS
Riad between Agadir and Taroudant, in southern Morocco
Holiday rental with a resident of Swiss nationality
Cedar Valley: magical discovery
The Anti-Atlas has many magnificent surprises in store, if you know how to explore it. One of the most beautiful discoveries that can be made there is the Valley of Cedars, a magical canyon which can be accessed from Tamguinsift, douar of the wadi Assadss, one hour from our riad. You then have to walk 3 km to access the marvels... Count a day : the walk lasts about 1 hour and a half one way, because it goes up, especially in the last part, and a short hour on the way back. Plan to picnic along the way. A moment when time will suspend its flight...
A Adouar, sur la route express, prendre la direction d'Assadss.
Une construction imposante, en pisé.
Votre véhicule ne peut pas aller plus loin. Il faut le garer à proximité de la mosquée qu'on distingue en blanc.
Localité berbère par excellence. Les noms berbères commencent en général par la lettre "t "et finissent par la lettre "t".
L'eau qui subsiste dans l'oued descend jusqu'à Tamguinsift.
Lorsque l'eau s'écoule dans la canalisation, il faut enjamber celle-ci avec précaution. Chemin faisant, on rencontre de très aimables Berbères.
L'Asadds est la plupart du temps asséché dans la partie inférieure de son cours.
Le gravier est un cadeau de l'oued.
Des palmiers s'élancent d'un trait vers l'azur du ciel.
Des rochers avant d'arriver aux cédrats
C'est celui des cédrats
C'est celui des cédrats.
From the Jardin aux Etoiles to Tamguinsift, then to the Citrons
From our riad, take the express road to Adouar. At the roundabout, take the direction of Assadss. You can leave your vehicle on the side of the road in Amagour. The track is however safe enough to continue to Tamguinsift. The walk will be shorter. It is advisable to park your vehicle in this last locality, then to start a fairly long and... magnificent walk.
It takes three kilometers in difficult terrain. Indispensable: take plenty of water with you, especially if it's hot, which is often the case! As you go up the bed of the Assadss wadi, the vegetation becomes greener. Palm trees shoot straight up into the azure sky. The walk is not always easy. Unmarked paths have been laid out halfway up the hill, on both sides of the wadi. For a first, we advise you to be accompanied by a guide. We recommend David, tel. 00212 693 817 830.
Photo Patrick Mayne
Le paradis des cédrats est aussi celui d'une végétation luxuriante, qui bénéficie d'un arrosage permanent.
Les Berbères prennent un soin extrême à les faire croître dans de bonnes conditions.
Ceux qui poussent au bord de l'oued Asadss sont francs. Cela signifie qu'ils ne sont pas greffés.
Les cédrats ne portent qu'un nombre limité de fruits.
Des habitats peu habités s'égrènent le long de la canalisation qui alimente les cédratiers.
Elles se plaisent et se reproduisent dans cet univers humide.
Des ouvrages en pierre facilitent le confort de la marche.
L'eau du ruisseau est ingénieusement répartie en direction des cédratiers par un système de petites écluses.
Les fruits poussent parfois entre des branchages.
S'ils poussent sans donner l'impression d'avoir été plantés à des endroits précis, les cédratiers sont néanmoins protégés par des filets.
L'oeil se régale.
The paradise where the citrons grow
Suddenly, paradise appears: the luxuriant vegetation where the citrons grow: a sloping land watered in all seasons by the wadi, channeled in an ingenious way, so that the humidity is omnipresent. It sometimes feels like being in the Amazon! The Berbers of the place have been for centuries, and perhaps millennia, the guardians of the traditional culture of the cedrats of Asadss. Also called etrogs or אתרוג, citrons are citrus fruits from the family of orange trees and lemons, very popular with Jews, insofar as they are used during the festival of the Huts.
If we believe in the Hebrew scholars, they are cultivated according to the criteria of tradition in a unique place: the Citron Valley of the Anti-Atlas. The trees there are free, that is to say not grafted. Sold at the time to the Jews of Morocco, who today are not very numerous, these fruits are therefore exported to Jewish communities around the world, particularly New York, sometimes at exorbitant prices for the most beautiful pieces.
Le canyon se fait sauvage.
Chemin faisant, on passe devant des maison traditionnelles en pisé qui ont gardé leur âme.
La marche n'en est pas forcément facilitée.
Pique-nique sous un arganier.
C'est la source de l'oued Assadss
Photo Patrick Mayne
Elle abrite une piscine naturelle merveileuse.
Concrétions spectaculaires.
Des montages magiques.
Derniers regards sur la végétation luxuriante.
On peut emprunter soit les sentiers aménagés à mi-coteau, soit le lit de l'oued dans la dernière partie. On côtoie alors des rochers colorés.
Départ pour le Jardin aux Etoiles !
Citrons to the origin of the source
The Assadss wadi has not delivered all its happiness. Going up the river, other surprises await walkers. The valley becomes a canyon. But suddenly a cave appears. This is where the wadi originates.
The place is absolutely beautiful and untouched. The water that wells up from the cave turns out to be as transparent as possible. It forms a swimming pool which constitutes an urgent invitation to refresh oneself there, in the form of a foot bath that could not be more natural.
The return to the starting point can be done on the other bank of the wadi, just to discover other plants, other verdant symphonies. The beginning of the descent is made by taking one of the paths. Watch where you put your foot, because the slope is steep!
For the last part, favor the bed of the wadi. However, it is necessary to go up from the Assadss to find Tamguinsift and your vehicle. The day will have been busy and will remain memorable!
Two citron trees in the Jardin aux Etoiles!
Deux des cédratiers se trouvent tout proches de l'entrée du Jardin aux Etoiles.
Les cédrats poussent de préférence dans la dernière partie des branches.
Le fruit prend d'abord une couleur verte, avant de virer au jaune.
Amazing ! Two of the citrus trees that were sold to us in nurseries in the Souss for orange trees turn out to be citron trees! No doubt, the branches are adorned with thorns and the fruits that grow there completely look like the citrons found in the Assadss valley!
To top it off, our citron trees flower in June, while continuing to bear fruit. They are right next to our cactus corner.
The very mild climate of the Jardin aux Etoiles region is suitable for citron. Temperatures never drop below 8 to 10 degrees at night, at the height of the Souss winter. The latter is very fleeting, to the point that it only lasts a few days and that, in some years, we don't even see it... Finally, we let's generously water our citrons.
The conditions therefore seem to be in place for the Jardin aux Etoiles to produce a few citrons each year...
According to the Moroccan directorIzza Genini, author of the documentary "La route du citron" of which here is an extract on the right, the etrog is the source of all citrus fruits. It would have appeared in the Himalayas before spreading across continents and millennia. Symbol of fertility among the Buddhists, of immortality among the Greeks, it is for the Hebrews the fruit of splendor prescribed in Leviticus.
If it is cultivated in Israel today, it would have been growing for 2000 years in the hollow of the Citron Valley. The Berbers of Souss respect the standards required by tradition. Jewish scholars attest to its original authenticity and unbroken tradition for centuries.