The Agdal Gardens are a vast orchard on the southern edge of Marrakesh, a rectangle of olive, orange, pomegranate and apricot trees that stretches for about three kilometres behind high red walls. They were laid out in the twelfth century by the Almohad sultans, and later rulers extended them, and the great reservoirs at their heart, one of which is large enough to have been used for swimming lessons and boating parties by the sultans, are still filled with water brought from the Atlas by underground channels. The scale of the whole thing is hard to grasp from outside, but from the top of the walls you see a green plain stretching away toward the mountains.
The water system is the real marvel. The channels, called khettaras, carry meltwater from the High Atlas to the city underground, protected from evaporation, and a network of basins, canals and sluices distributes it through the gardens. Without them, Marrakesh could not have grown, and the oasis would not exist. The gardens served as a source of fruit for the court, a place for royal picnics and a military training ground, and they still have the air of a place that belongs to a different scale of time.
The medina nearby is a very different world, a maze of covered lanes and workshops. The ride this stop belongs to heads out to the Menara gardens, another olive grove on the western side, with a large basin and a green-tiled pavilion with the Atlas peaks behind, a classic view of the city. Riding between them is easy, but the traffic around the old walls is dense and unpredictable, so choose your moment, and avoid midday heat.
There is fuel in every part of Marrakesh, so there is no worry. The gardens are not always open to the public, so check before you go, and bring water. Spring is the best time, when the orange blossom perfumes the air and the mountains are still capped with snow. In summer the heat is fierce, and the best hours are early morning and evening.