Discovering Moroccan Traditions in Marrakech

The same applies to Marrakech's identity as a high end destination. The city's attitude to luxury is flamboyant and unmeasured. Being pampered in Marrakech you can't help feel like the spectator in a piece of glittery theater. I spent a weekend there with a friend watching the show unfold.

Act one: the regal riad

The first installment in this Moroccan pageant was our arrival at the Riad Farnatchi in the old city, one of the most decadent of Marrakech's traditional Moroccan houses. Walking through the its towering wooden Moroccan door and into the lavish indoor courtyard was an almost mystical experience. A sumptuous pool, encrusted with painstaking mosaic aqua tiles and lined with slick box-shaped lamps, was the centerpiece. The soft tinkling of percolating water immediately soothed us after our frenzied journey to Riad Farnatchi through the medina. Elaborate mint green wrought iron balconies that would not look out of place on the set of a Romeo and Juliet movie encircled the vaulted space from above.



The riad was originally snapped up as a dream holiday home in 2002 by Catey winner Jonathan Wix, who has an impressive portfolio of hotels including The Scotsman in Edinburgh and Hôtel de la Trémoille in Paris. After spending two years working on Farnatchi he decided to make it a boutique hotel instead. As a result, Riad Farnatchi has the intimate feel of a palatial private house but with 20 staff to nine suites it also has the standards of service and comfort that a five star accommodation demands.

Wix is big on little touches. When we first walked into our room, two red Fez hats and two cream jalaabas- old-fashioned full-length robes that Moroccans wear around the house- had been carefully laid out on the bed. They were complimentary gifts from the hotel intended as mementos for our trip.The marble bathrooms featured dramatic rain showers and wafer-thin grapefruit and rose soap made exclusively for the riad. The hand-carved bed, adorned with covers of suede and colorful woven threads, also had Egyptian cotton sheets.

Luxurious comfort was clearly as much a priority as aesthetics: The classically-designed hand-made Moroccan furniture, lined with silks, velvets and leathers, were comfortable rather than creaky. "Visitors often fall in love with a particular piece of furniture in their room," said the current owner James Wix, Jonathan Wix's son, as we breezed from room to room during our arrival tour. "The hotel arranges for the artisan responsible to make another one and then we ship it off to them, even as far as the States."

Thoughtfulness clearly came through in the food too. Most riads offer the traditional Moroccan breakfast of pancakes. Riad Farnatchi's were served with the hotel's own home-made jams, including orange and ginger and strawberry and mint. Unusually for a riad, there was also choice beyond pancakes, so we followed ours with a boldly seasoned smoked salmon Eggs Benedict. The most dramatic thing about breakfast was the setting, however: we sat out on our room's private balcony with views of that resplendent inner courtyard.



Act two: the furious medina

The second act in our Marrakech drama unraveled in the medina where we targeted some of Marrakech's most luxurious stores. La Porte D'or (115 Souk Semmarine) is a family antique business that traces back three generations. It has a luminous history of celebrity clientele. Photographs of visiting celebrities, from Nicole Kidman to David Beckham, can be seen in the grainy photographs on the wall of fame by the counter. The store groans with history. Among the medieval Moroccan doors and elaborate antique lanterns I spotted a brass astrolabe- a large circular-shaped inclinometer that Middle Eastern astronomers have used since ancient times. Downstairs the basement is stuffed to the ceiling with hand-made carpets, from rustic Berber rugs to bright tapestry woven Kilims in hallucinatory patterns. Don't be afraid to ask the sales attendant to roll out those that catch your eye. They can be customised on request.

We stopped by in Kif Kif boutique (8 derb Laksour) too, which specialises in quirky, hand-made in Morocco products. The hand-threaded wrist cuffs splashed with color and storage boxes cleverly made out of reused items caught our eye. The one-off kaftans at La Maison du Kaftan (Rue Sidi el Yamani) also impressed us. There were velvet kaftans for winter and delicate silks for warmer weather. Designs ranged from slick modern cuts to the traditional and detail-heavy.

We moved on to Assouss Cooperative d'Argane (94 Rue el-Mouassine) for genuine argan oil. The product, which comes from the kernel of the argan tree endemic to south-western Morocco, softens the skin and is widely used by Moroccan women as part of their beauty regime. Assouss Cooperative d'Argane has argan oil infused with a large range of scents from amber to sandalwood. I opted for vanilla.

Our shopping trip had to end in the medina's centerpoint. Jemaa el Fna is a frenzied square beating in the hot heart of the old town. There were diapered monkeys on leashes available to be photographed for a fee. I also spied snake charmers keenly trying to catch the eyes of tourists for the same reason. Water sellers dressed in fluorescent orange robes and sporting large hats with turquoise and purple tastles roamed around. They had animal fur-lined water sacks and small brass cups tied around their torsos to quench the thirst of passers by for a few dirhams. We even passed by a clutch of men dressed in drag and acting out pantomime in Arabic to an ear-piercing crowd of locals.



Act three: new wave cuisine

The third part of our own Moroccan curtain-raiser was gastronomy-themed. The country is known for its melt-in-the-mouth tagines and jeweled, fragrant couscous and Marrakech has world-class eating experiences. Perhaps the most decadent is at Royal Mansour. Fit for a king might be a cliché but Royal Mansour is actually a personal creation of His Royal Highness King Mohamed VI of Morocco. It is said that the palace had to approve every last aspect of the elaborate complex, which is comprised of 53 mini riads with their own patios, pools and lounges. Staff service guests by traveling through a labyrinthine network of underground tunnels.

We had dinner at Royal Mansour's Moroccan restaurant La Grande Table Marocaine. As we drove through the Royal Mansour's bronze gates, I peered out of the window at the imposing, painstakingly carved red-stone palace, peppered with palm trees, lanterns and gently bubbling water features. It was a truly royal arrival; bell boys led us into into a sparkling inner courtyard with a fountain and silver and white mosaic floors and walls, and then into the dining room. It was decorated with silver round tables, carved with artisanal precision, and luxurious sweeping gold curtains. Evidence of the highest standards was in the detail, from the baccarat crystal glasses on the tables to the white gloves of the waiting staff.

The menu at Royal Mansour is the brainchild of Yannick Alleno, the award-winning chef from Cheval Blanc Courchevel. He has created an avant garde menu defined by left field Moroccan cuisine. The ‘Moroccan Salad Delights' starter included a spinach salad with orange blossom foam. Our fish course featured delicately fried squid served in paper, which reminded me of being by the English seaside. It was served with red mullet and prawns sourced from the Moroccan coast. I also opted for a dish of broken vermicelli with quail and raisins. Dessert was a chocolate mousse cleverly fused with argan oil and a preserved lemon ganache.

Another night, we ate at Riad Kniza (34 Derb l'Hotel, Bab Doukala). A group of musicians were playing traditional music in the hall just outside the dining room and the sounds drifted in pleasantly as we ate. The meal was generous, delicious and resolutely faithful to Moroccan traditions. The starter salads included popular staples like aubergine, squash and beetroot. We in particular loved the pigeon pastilla starter. Pastillas, which are Moroccan filled pastries, can sometimes be underwhelming but Riad Kniza's were light and boldly flavored. It was followed by a beautifully executed lamb tagine.



Act four: a luxury cooking lesson

Cookery classes where tourists can learn how to cook a tagine, are popular in Marrakech. In between dining at some of the best restaurants in the city we learned to make traditional Moroccan dishes at a country club a short drive from the medina, which is owned by La Maison Arabe, another luxury riad in the old city (half-day classes start at around $73 per person). After a light Moroccan breakfast of mint tea and oven-baked bread in the garden of the country club, our host showed us around, pointing out some staple Moroccan food ingredients that were growing in patches, including rosemary and chocolate mint. In the kitchen's larder our host also introduced us to the spices that often go into Moroccan cooking such as tarragon and saffron, passing round jars of samples for us to sniff.

Our cooking workstations were already laid out with all the ingredients needed to make our menu- aubergine and tomato salad and chicken tagine. The head cook, which in Morocco is referred to as the dada, was positioned at the front of the room at her own table. There was a large screen so we could see the dada's demonstration of each stage in the cooking process easily. The recipes were straightforward and involved dicing, measuring and adding spices. Perhaps the most demanding in terms of skill was having to carve roses using the peel of a tomato. Friendly kitchen staff circled the class and were ready to lend a hand when we fell behind in the steps. In my case, they were ready to quickly replace my tomato when my initial attempts at carving a rose ended badly. Everyone in our group managed to cook fairly attractive looking dishes, which we then proceeded to eat outside in a shady corner of the garden. The host gave us each a certificate and a mini tagine as a leaving gift before we were driven back into the medina.



Finale: a sensuous hammam

The last installment of our Marrakech melodrama was the hammam. We chose Spa MK, which is part of the five star Maison MK riad in the medina. We experienced Spa MK's East West Combination package, which is around $95 per person and comprises a hammam experience and a massage. It was a traditional Moroccan hammam formula with some high end twists. The staff at Spa K greeted us with Moroccan mint tea and after we had changed into some fluffy white robes, I was taken into the steam room for a hammam while my companion went to a room next door for a massage.

As I lay down on a hot bench the hammam attendant gently threw buckets of warm water on me then lathered me in black olive soap, a staple ingredient in the Moroccan hammam. This was followed by a gommage- when the attendant uses a disposable glove to energetically exfoliate the skin. She was thorough and the process was far from rushed, as can so often be the case with hammams. After more buckets of warm water, the attendant exfoliated my skin with a scrub made out of sugar and green tea. This was followed by a clay mask, then after a rinse the attendant covered me in argan oil as it makes the skin softer.

The standards were high; the attendant who was very proficient in English took the time to explain every product she was using and talk through the various stages of the hammam as we went through them. It gave me a much better understanding of the ritual that I was experiencing. It was now my turn for a 45 minute massage. Beforehand, my masseuse presented me with a tray of scents to choose from as my massage oil. True to Moroccan traditions I went for the argan flavor.

Leaving the cool splendor of the spa and plunging ourselves back into the balmy, frenetic streets of the medina for the final time before leaving for the airport was a fitting climax. Marrakech is a bit like riding tinseled rollercoaster. The highs of the distilled luxury in its riads and boutiques are promptly followed by submersion in the hot, raw realness of its tangled streets. Once it's all over you can't help but feel a bit giddy.