MOROCCO
Made in Marrakech T
HE city of the souk, with its dramatic backdrop of silvery jagged peaks and its dynamic and colour-crazed
heart, Marrakech slipped off the top- end traveller’s radar after the 2008 crash and the ensuing dark spotlight on events in north Africa. Where it was once the obvious second-home choice for those with an eye on the exotic and a sense of adventure, the events of the past few years hit Marrakech hard, bringing five-star hotel deve- lopments to a halt and stalling growth in the property market. But that’s all about to change. Last
month, the British Polo Day organis- ation hosted a four-day party for more than 500 of the bold and the beautiful. The venue was a newly levelled polo pitch at Jnan Amar, a site just 20 min- utes to the south of the city, with its dramatic backdrop of the Atlas mountains.
Jets of all sizes, ranging from ones
with familiar orange livery (EasyJet has regular flights from a number of UK airports) to the private variety, delivered guests from as far afield as Los Angeles to join the string of events, including a black-tie charity dinner hosted by Eve Branson, mother of Sir Richard, and another cocktail party held at El Fenn, Vanessa Bran- son’s boutique riad hotel in the city centre (the Bransons have something of a hold on this area, with a further hotel in the Atlas mountains). Thanks in part to its French-col-
onial past and to the vision of the much-loved king, Mohammed VI, Marrakech manages to feel colourfully exotic and reassuringly continental at the same time. The souk, which was once a no-go zone for lone female tourists, is now patrolled by police- men in plain clothes, who clamp
42 Country Life International, Summer 2015
Authentic, accessible Africa laced with some alternative French chic: after a few years off-radar, this city in the sand is once more on the up. Arabella Youens sees what’s in store for potential buyers
down on over-attentive shopkeepers. Menus in the restaurants range from hearty tagines to the Riviera-esque salade de fruits de mer and, per- haps surprisingly for a Muslim country, cocktail hour is observed with relish and wine is very accessible and deli- cious (especially the pale rosé known as vin gris). It might be a more sanitised version
of the Marrakech that the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Jimi Hendrix were intrigued by, but, in its quest to attract high-end tourists and second- home owners, it’s a sensible approach. Property buyers have two main
choices when it comes to Marrakech: be in the thick of the action—the Medina—or head out of the city. The former is a bold option: the
walled Medina (which simply means city in Arabic) is a busy, lively throng of people, smells, colour and donkeys.
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www.countrylife.co.uk/international
Above: Sunrise over the lovely Jardins de la Menara Facing page: Just seeing the smoke rising from the colourful food stalls in Djemma El Fna Square makes your mouth water, with the Koutoubla mosque minaret rising majestically in the back- ground
Michel Teuler; Massimo Ripani/SIME/4Corners
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