Morocco Hospitality – Forget About Hotel Chains & Head for a Riad!

Lots of people don’t care too much about where they stay when on holiday, but for me the accommodation is an important part of the travelling experience. I generally love a good hotel room, but in some places a generic hotel chain isn’t going to cut it – and Morocco is such a destination.  In search of an authentic experience of this exotic destination we opted for the more personal and localised attention that is found in a riad.

An Arabic term, a riad is a traditional Moroccan house built around a central garden or courtyard. Designed with the privacy of the family in mind, these dwellings generally present a blank face to the outside world, with few or no outer windows. In the older parts of the cities they are accessed via plain wooden doors leading off the narrow and busy medina lanes, but once through those doors the guest enters a haven of cool and peaceful beauty. This housing style is still in use today and a lot of the older, more grand riads in Morocco have been converted to boutique hotels and guest houses.

In Fes we stayed in La Maison Bleue, which is located just three kilometres from the heart of the city and just opposite the entrance to the medina. The interior of this riad is as Moroccan as anyone could wish for with burbling fountains, citrus trees, ornate tiles, a rooftop terrace, a spa and lavish rooms. They are noted for their excellent restaurant and diligent and discreet service and I cannot argue with those observations.

We got to spend quite a lot of time getting to know the riad as our daughter (who was also my chief aid and photographer at the time, which was just days after the epic Pisa face-plant) became dreadfully ill just hours after we arrived. We were booked in for three nights there and spent the first one nursing her through the night and the subsequent two waiting for her to regain her (seriously depleted) strength.

Having said that, this is probably one of the nicest places in the world in which to be forced to loll around and rest. The rooms are beautiful and comfortable, the food in the restaurant is absolutely divine and the service here is among the best I have experienced anywhere in the world. It seemed that the staff couldn’t do enough for us. They were extraordinarily attentive , frequently anticipating our needs, and discreetly thoughtful.

When our daughter was well enough for us to leave her for a few hours they organised a guide to take us into the labyrinthine medina and, when we left to catch the train to Marrakech, they packed a wonderful lunch (including drinks) for us to eat on our long train journey. If you are headed to Fes, I doubt you’ll get better service than at this riad.

With our daughter much improved, we bundled off the train in Marrakech into the waiting car which had been sent to collect us from what was to become our Moroccan home-away-from-home, the Riad Dar Mo’da.

Another converted private dwelling, the Dar Mo’da is owned by an ex-patriot South Australian who now lives in Milan and is managed by the delightfully warm and friendly Elena and her assistant Sanjay.  Our hospitable greeting on arrival at Dar Mo’da was truly like coming to stay with old friends. Elena and Sanjay sat down with us for a chat over a cup of sweet, mint tea and offered suggestions for excursions and dining options in Marrakech before showing us our stunning rooms.

The chic and sophisticated Dar Mo’da contains four exclusive suites, each individually and tastefully styled, in the heart of Marrakech. With it’s comfortable sitting and dining rooms and two pools – one in the courtyard and another on the roof terrace – it offers a cool and restful retreat from the bustling streets of the medina on the other side of the front door.

It seemed that nothing was too much trouble for Elena, who is a rich source of local knowledge and suggestions for dining, shopping and sightseeing. She runs a tight ship and, while there was never a thing out of place or a request that was too tricky, we rarely saw her unobtrusively thorough staff.

Meals at Dar Mo’da are generous, with breakfast quite a family affair. Forget about the generic buffet  breakfast, at Dar Mo’da we were treated to a different selection of  delicious, traditional, home-made Moroccan dishes each of the five days we were there. Each morning Elena and Sanjay took the time at breakfast to ask after our plans and make suggestions of their own, helping us to make the most of our stay in this exciting city.

We took most of our evening meals in local restaurants (getting hopelessly lost in the dark on the way home one night), having dinner at the riad only once. This meal was an utter treat as plate after plate of carefully presented and traditionally prepared dishes appeared from the kitchen and was probably one of the best meals we ate during our time in Morocco. My biggest regret was that, with my arm in a plaster, I was unable to spend time picking up a few tricks from the resident cook.

Each time we returned to Dar Mo’da from a foray out into the hectic passageways of the Marrakech medina we were warmly greeted at the door – it really was like coming home.  Although a seriously more elegant and well-organised version of my home – and with more staff.

(Most of these images were taken one-handed on my mobile phone – hence the inconsistent quality.)

Of course, there was much more to our trip to Morocco than where we stayed and I’ll be sharing a few more of the highlights in posts to come, so stay tuned!

 

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