MARRAKECH
Marrakech - Luxury Travel Magazine
 | |||||
Marrakech for Your Inner Sensualist | |||||
| By: Timothy Morrell, Issue 41 – Summer 2010 | |||||
| (Marrakech, Morocco) | |||||
| LAST CENTURY MARRAKECH WAS A MAGNET FOR HIPPIES AND HEIRESSES. TO UNDERSTAND THE CITY FULLY, WRITES TIMOTHY MORRELL, YOU NEED TO EXPERIENCE BOTH ITS EXOTIC STREET LIFE AND THE PRIVATE REALM OF GLAMOUR THAT DELIGHTED THESE TWO RATHER DIFFERENT SETS OF TASTES. | |||||
| The hippies and heiresses who famously travelled to Marrakech in the 1960s and 70s were perhaps discovering their inner sensualist: they would have been delighted by the fabled dusky pink walls of the city as they tangled into narrow market alleys in the souk and complemented the deep greens of palm groves and avenues of citrus trees. They would have been fascinated by the jewel-like stalls of produce and kaleidoscopic displays outside rug shops in the old city. And if the piles of spices, racks of sweet pastries, dazzling ceramics, snake charmers and clip-clopping donkeys were too much, they would have escaped by venturing deeper into the old city’s cobbled laneways and passing through one of the heavily studded arched doors, and entered another world altogether. Marrakech is a city of hidden treasures, and the most astonishing are the superb houses or riads built around courtyards (‘riad’ is Arabic for ‘garden’). Their exterior gives no hint of the cool sanctuary and opulent surroundings within. Nearly everything in the medina, the old city, seems to be three storeys high – tall enough to keep these courtyards so quiet that all you hear are the trickling fountains. With no taller buildings nearby, the view from the rooftop terrace of a riad stretches out over the city all the way to the Atlas Mountains. It’s easy for a visitor to the city today to get a glimpse into this fantastic facet of Marrakech. Just ask your hotel concierge to recommend a bar or restaurant that’s housed in a riad. Or you could choose to stay at Hotel La Mamounia and experience secluded splendour 24 hours a day. To describe La Mamounia as palatial is simply stating facts (the king’s palace is next door). Set in a magnificent garden enclosed by high walls, the hotel opened in 1923 as an art deco pleasure pavilion much favoured by royalty, heads of state and movie stars. Reopened in September 2009 after an extravagant refurbishment by architect and interior designer Jacques Garcia the celebrated outpost of Parisian luxe has been transformed into a place where guests can absorb Moroccan culture at its most refined level. As a royal city, Marrakech has a heritage of courtly style that nurtured the country’s finest architects and artists. Garcia has drawn on this rich local tradition. Hand-painted ceiling decoration, elaborately engraved plasterwork, inlaid marble, mosaic and timber marquetry all testify to the principle that living well can be elevated to an art form. It’s a short walk to the touristy main square, Djamma el-Fna where you’ll need to pick your way through musicians with swaying cobras, fortune-tellers and the deposits made by carriage horses. After that colourful but hectic adventure, returning to your private refuge is a delicious sensation. The lobby is dark, sumptuous, and delicately scented with a special concoction of floral essences, cedar and dates. Custom-blended fragrances are also used for the large bottles of guest toiletries, and in the extensive range of treatments offered by the Mamounia Spa. The bigger suites are like apartments in a harem. A continuous crimson divan runs around two sides of your private drawing room, where you can languidly enjoy the different treats discreetly provided every night (by the hotel’s patissier). Slabs of marble surround you in the hammam-domed bathroom. Dressing rooms are panelled with wood and deep tangerine leather. Billowing draperies on the balcony and heavy silk curtains in the bedroom control daylight. An electronically controlled steel shutter seals out all sound if you don’t want to hear the early morning call to prayer from the mosques. The cloud of Porthault bedding in which you sleep is saved from total decadence only by virtue of being all white. Some of the hotel’s public spaces are dream-like. There are tranquil courtyards enclosed by Moorish arched colonnades, one of which contains an indoor swimming pool. The ornately panelled cigar room is pure belle époque Turkish fantasy. The hotel furniture, also designed by Garcia, combines lavish Edwardian comfort with whimsical Ottoman Empire details. La Mamounia has three main bars, of which the Churchill is most likely to make a quiet drink seem like an intimate assignation. Of the three principal restaurants, L’Italien provides the grandest dining experience. Buffet breakfasts and lunches are served in the sparkling light of the garden, beside the vast square outdoor swimming pool. General manager Didier Picqot speaks about the hotel’s aim to pamper all five senses. His staff adds the gentle warmth of Moroccan hospitality to his exacting standards of French finesse. If the state of your senses is subject to the activities of children travelling with you, staying at the Hotel Naoura Barrière is another luxurious option in Marrakech. The hotel is only a year old, and extremely well adapted to the practicalities of modern life. All rooms have large balconies overlooking the swimming pool, so parents can keep watch from above. Tiny tots can be cared for at the big, bright kids’ club. For guests too young to appreciate the elegantly expansive, slightly Japanese-influenced style of their parents’ room, the hotel also offers more basic, substantially cheaper children’s accommodation. For business travellers, the Naoura, designed in the age of digital technology, allows work to continue in your room without a glitch. (Transplanting high-tech wizardry into the venerable La Mamounia has been less successful.) Both hotels offer private riads. These self-contained houses with swimming pools within the hotel compound are the ultimate Marrakech luxury. The Naoura has more of them, and they contain more bedrooms. For a group of friends travelling together, they’re a bargain. The Naoura doesn’t aspire to the serene grandeur of La Mamounia. Yet it too provides the magical Marrakech experience of escaping to a secret garden. It’s located right in the medina, but inside the hotel compound, the picturesque mayhem on the other side of the wall is invisible and inaudible. You can also leave the city far behind and head for the hills to stay at Sir Richard Branson’s retreat, Kasbah Tamadot. Here the style is calmingly Mediterranean with a richness of Moroccan detail. Airy terracotta-coloured rooms with Arabesque ceiling decoration and antique furniture are linked through arches to wide balconies and the spectacular view. The climate of the Atlas foothills isn’t as hot as Marrakech, so if it gets a bit chilly to contemplate the panorama from the infinity pool, there’s also a heated indoor swimming pool. There are two tennis courts, a gym and a sauna, as well as trail bikes for exploring the countryside on your own. You can join the local Berber people (instead of a horde of tourists) and shop at the nearby market, or simply relax in the terraced gardens. Guests can feel they’re in a private palace, yet it operates like a hotel. An hour out of Marrakech, Kasbah Tamadot is a Moroccan castle (which is what ‘Kasbah’ means), splendidly modernised in a manner befitting an extremely rich hippy who wants everything. Double rooms start at 360 Euros per night. Your chance to live like Moroccan royalty. | |||||
|
