A taste of the high life by royal appointment
KATIE STOREY takes a magical mystery tour of Marrakech from her riad; a traditional Moroccan house
I’VE heard Marrakech described as the nearest faraway place – because visiting is like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia.
You can barely finish watching the first episode of Lord of the Rings in three hours, but in the same amount of time you could be starting an adventure of your own on the coast of North Africa.
Stepping into the sunshine at the airport you’re cuddled by the 25°C degree heat, while surrounded by snowcapped mountains.
Marrakech and the surrounding area have much to offer, from the bustling city to camel trekking across the desert, to hiking through the Atlas Mountains.
And for my short break we were guests of King Mohammed VI (well kind of, we were staying in his hotel, The Royal Mansour).
The hotel complex was designed to be a medina within the medina – a series of riads surrounded by terracotta walls and palms trees creating a maze of shady paths.
A riad is a traditional Moroccan house, normally with at least two storeys.
These are not any ordinary houses, though, and offer very much a taste of the high life. Previous guests have included Bill and Hillary Clinton.
All the riads have large mint-painted wooden doors, which you half expect to open to reveal a drawbridge.
Inside are mosaic floors, water features, beautifully carved wooden furniture, marble bathrooms and luxurious settees strewn with cushions.
The corridors are lit by lanterns and each riad has its own private sun terrace and plunge pool.
This is a place where you can relax and catch some rays without having to worry about those embarrassing strap lines.
Staff access the guest’s riads through a series of tunnels behind the scenes – a bit like The Borrowers. The hotel complex is similar to Portmeirion, in that each pretty garden path is confused with the next and you begin to think you might never find the hotel lobby.
But with the vast amount of indulgent, experimental and authentic food on offer your primitive instinct will kick in and you’ll find the path to food.
The restaurant menu is overseen by Parisian Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alleno, whose menus include beef harira, turnip jelly and, of course, snails.
All the food was cooked to perfection, naturally.
Travelling into the town, guests can continue the fairytale holiday with a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. Snake charmers and monkeys on leashes can be seen in the square which, while slightly surreal, can strike a nerve for animal-lovers.
Inside the souk there are market stalls selling everything from jewellery and leather goods to metal work and spices; and visitors can witness souvenirs being made from scratch in the open workshops.
It’s customary to haggle, so pretend you’re Del Boy trying to cut a deal down Peckham Market and you’ll be fine.
Returning to the hotel after the hustle and bustle of the souk, guests can relax and recuperate with a treatment at their award-winning spa. The Hammam in Morocco is something of a ritual, scrubbing away dead skin cells and restoring the body.
It feels a bit less than glamorous to be lying on marble slabs wearing just a paper thong getting scrubbed with an exfoliating mit and warm buckets of water thrown over you – especially when your legs start getting pulled around like a stress doll in various stretches.
It feels like when you were a child and your mum puts you in the bath and scrubs you before school on Monday morning. Once the scrubbing is finished, you’ll be asked to submerge yourself in an ice-cold pool. (I believe this is to help circulation).
But luckily, what goes on in the treatment room stays in the treatment room, so you can finish off with a shower and go and get yourself a large glass of vintage wine. The spa also offers a variety of other luxury treatments including massages, manicures or a Pedicure de Bastien by Kevin Raji, who is also a trained chiropodist and can give your feet a full MOT, spruce and natural shine.
And despite my initial awkwardness the following morning I woke up feeling rejuvenated – my skin was softer, shinier and smoother.
The Royal Mansour is definitely where your favourite Premier League footballer and his WAG would holiday.
Don’t let them have all the fun...