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HIDDEN AWAY IN THE MEDINAS OF MOROCCO'S OLDEST CITIES ARE TRADITIONAL HOMES OF SERENE BEAUTY BUILT AROUND INTERNAL
COURTYARDS. KNOWN AS 'RIADS" THESE ARE
NOW INCREASINGLY BEING CONVERTED TO PROVIDE B&B ACCOMMODATION FOR DiSCERNING TRAVELLERS _ NOT ITJST IN MARRAKECH, BUT ALSO IN FES AND ESSAOUIRA. EXPLORED THE ALLEYWAYS OF THE THREE CITIES, ENTERING A WORLD
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OF SWEET SMELLS, SUBTLE COLOURS AND
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SEDUCTIVE CUPOLAS AN D ARCHES. THIS
IS
HER GUIDE TO 20 OF THE BEST, SOME OF
WHICH CHARGE AS LITTLE AS f2O a,Bn+.ir
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PER
NIGHT 119
RIAD
KATSS, MARRAKECH
Unlike many of the converted riads, this new maison d'hรถte follows an intelligent design that maximises guest privacy with-
out compromising.the building's original layout (it also makes the most of the roof
linen-sheeted beds to the little painted armoires. More significantly, it is clean and
efficient, run as professionally as any French gile - something that is often ignored by other riads, which tend to rely too much on'character.'
terrace space and spectacular views out towards the Atlas mountains). Riad Kaiss is owned by a French hotel architect, and it shows.There are eight rooms, all with bathrooms, built around two interconnected courtyards. The best suites are on the top floor of the shared wall (light comes in from both sides and what breeze there is
65 Derb Jdid, Riad Zitoune Kedim (tellfax: @ 212 /U m141; book through Simply Winter Sun, 020 8541 277, or Earth, ON 7793 9Eo3). Doubles 950-f98, including
blows through). The style is traditional Moroccan - earth-red walls, fountains in the courtyard, stained-glass windows executed with impeccable attention to detail (the jade mosaic zellige tiling ard painted beamed ceilings are exquisite). But there is also something quaintly French about the place, from the neat,
Opened in spring 2000 as a B&8, it dates back tolhe 14th century (the stone found-
breakfast
- Le Grand Patio, La Douiriya, Le Riad de l'Oranger (good for couples who like their privacy) and Riad du ing houses
Palmier, which has a small swimming pool. There is also a scarlet hammam, a huge roof terrace, and a conJerence room for 22 people. With three doubles and one single. Le Grand Patio is the main house, and the prettiest of the four. At the centre of its courtyard lies a 16th-century basin surrounded by orange, lemon and grapefruit
Off this is a blushed-pink dining room decorated h tadelakt style, a traditional technique combining pigment and trees.
RIAD EL CADI, MARRAKECH Riad El Cadi is like a small palace. ations now sit below street level). But it has been well protected by its location point where three narrow alleys end, and by its discreet appearance: the high, at the
windowless walls are unprepossessing, and the front door anonymous. Inside, however,
it is a veritable musenm
(and much of
what is displayed does in fact go on loan to
lime, polished to give walls a marble sheen. There is also a grand salon flanked by a pair of tall ochre, gold and green wooden doors. It is decorated with some of the best pieces in the collection, including a stunning eighth-century Jordanian carving and fifth-century Byzantine mosaic. These artefacts are teamed with simple furniture - an old teak table, a well-used cream sofa. Indeed, for all the priceless detail, it is the
major exhibitions), curated by owner Herwig Bartels, former German ambassador to Rabat and an avid collector of early Islamic and Byzantine art. On the
deliberate understatement, uncluttered spaces, white walls and museum-quality
walls hang 1Sth-century carpet fragments,
heavily bedecked in stucco and tiles. 59 Derb El Cadi, Azbezt. (@ 212 /U 37865; fax: 37478; book through Western & Oriental,020 7313 6@, or Earth,020 7793 99o3} Doubles 97H133, including breaHast. Minimum stay three nights
early Ottoman kilims and SO0-year-old Berber doors; 16th-century Iznik pottery lurks in a corner; an early Roman capitol poses as a bedside tatrle. There are lZ rooms spread out over four interconnect-
lighting that ยงive this house a refinement somehow lost in those riads that come too
RI,AD NOGA.
MARRAKECH The thing about Riad Noga is that you could stay here twice and have a very different experience each time, since it is made up of two interconnected houses. The original house,built around a verdant courtyard, is the prettier, with pale-pink, sun-
bleached walls, climbing vines, orange and olive trees,
and wooden birdcages hang-
ing in the branches. Its two bedrooms, which are surprisingly cool, are furnished with antiques, painted wardrobes and bowls of rose petals. It is a sleepy spot, serene and
slightly peeling at the edges - in deliberate contrast to the second house, done up in much bolder colours, which opened last May. Here, the style is modern Moroccan:the
five rooms are painted and
r::. I
122
-
tiled in yellow, white and red, and come with modem ports,
MAISüN
\r.
satellite TVs and hi-fi systems. But it is the communal areas are the best part: a threetiered roof terrace and capacious jade-green swimming pool. With this much space, Riad Noga is an excellent choice for guests who like to keep themselves to themselves. 78 Derb Jdid, Douar Graoua (00 212 4 /U!ß86; fax: 2141941; book through Best of Morocco, 01380 82{3533, or Western & Oriental,02O 7313 66@). Doubles 873-8106, including breakfast
j
in burnt-red
cotton
hammam, sun loungers and a rattan woven tent - pretty enough as long as the riad
isn't full, but too small to serve
NAR KAWA, MARRAKECH
as
stark, grey-and-white,
contemporary affair, utterly at odds with its old, roughwalled exterior. While retaining the original central courtyard of the classic riad design, Dar Kawa manages to be refresh-
@ 212 /U 429977). Doubles 851-895,
including breakfast
white Egyptian cotton.
Opened last May, Dar El Hanaa is hidden away down the far end of a winding alley
16 Derb Ouaihah, Sidi Abdelaziz
is fantastically quiet
including breakfast
ingly different, decorated as it is with brushed-steel furniture and dark woods, mauves and purples, and with brilliant
communal areas when it
It
and grandiose stained-glass archways. 32 Derb Mnabha, Kasbah (OO 212 44 381325; fax: 389993). Doubles from 855,
- Dar Kawa is completely unexpected, a
with a Moroccan-style snug bedecked in cushions. On the roof terrace there is a
DAR EL IjANAA, MARRAKECH deep in the souk.
Mnabha is much the best place to stay in Marrakech. with bed and breakfast starting at f35 a night for single occupancy. Located in the Kasbah, the city's 800-yearold imperial enclave, it is one half of an old riad - in other words, it has no courtyard run by two English brothers. The four rooms are comfortable without being fancy, but the main salon is magnificent, with a 17th-century painted wooden ceiling, intricately carved walls and pillars, tasselled curtains, delicate- silk cushions
apart from the call of the mrezzin from the nearby Ben Youssef Mosque. There are seven rooms, all with en-suite shdwers, built around a small courtyard of orange trees. The furnishings are simple - four
posters swathed
Jv{NABH,AL
MARRÄKECH In terms of value for money, Maison
is.
(tellfax:
It
only sleeps
10, 123