Morocco and, in particular, Marrakech, have long been top of my seafaring wish list. India melted me with its colour, Thailand with its flavours and much of Europe with its sunsets, but something about this North African nation seemed to offer a blend of all the above: exuberant cuisine, eclectic old-world architecture and a sensory explosion, a veritable whirlwind of colours, and smells, and sights that mist over many unfamiliar sounds.
I may be a lady with a taste for the finer things in life, but I challenge even the happiest of happy-campers to resist the opulence, grace and subtle decadence that is hotel La Mamounia. A friend recently told me that an auction of Mamounia furniture took place in Marrakech just prior to my visit. What a shame that I missed it; I would have parted with quite a few hard earned notes to bring home just a little taster of what I found inside.
Antiques-hunter Jacques Garcia is credited with giving the hotel its perfect blend of “Arabo-Andalusian” old-world charm. This, and his eye for other one-off objets d’art is what makes La Mamounia so unique, and so unlike any other hotel I’ve been to. Gilded, gold and beautifully ornate hallways carry the eyes before they are caught by gigantic lanterns which swing seductively outside. The bedrooms are full of such hedonistic bliss that I wanted to move in, and I was particularly taken with the views from my terrace across those perfectly manicured gardens, bursting with century old olive trees and the Bougainvillea that sprayed a fragrant perfume across the elegant walls. Since the 1700s, when the Alaouite sultan, Sidi Mohamed ben Abdellah, offered each of his sons a domain as a wedding present, the gardens have been filled with festive music and sighs of romance. A stroll here is all it takes to transport the imagination back to those hot, heady days when lilac wine flowed here like water.
The health benefits makes the stay worth it alone. Most spas in Morocco offer the traditional “Hammam” treatment, and La Mamounia is no exception. A sort of Moroccan steam bath/massage, one is exfoliated from head to toe, and the skin bursts with that clear, clean sensation before the other effects kick in and your mind relaxes and casts-off any unwanted excess. The Hammam experience is only heightened by the pureness outside, and if you follow it with a full body massage, you are left quite a different person. One day, two day and weekly spa passes are available here, and there are wellness treatments and a beauty parlour so you don’t miss a trick.
A breakfast of fresh fruit by the large outdoor pool is a wonderful way to start the day, and it is here that you spend those tranquil and peaceful few moments before stepping out into the chaos of Marrakech’s inner city; and chaos is good when you can escape it, and even better when the chaos is fun and enlivening, and the escape is full of tranquility and me-time, at the start and end of the day, when the rising sun and the moon give pause for thought.
La Mamounia was a winner in the 2010 travel awards. The renovations may have been costly but they were well worth it. This is Bedouin chic at its best. If only I’d made it to that furniture auction…
La Mamounia
Avenue Bab Jdid, Marrakech
www.mamounia.com
