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travelmail

Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 11, 2015

magical morocco

Beguiling bazaars,
Barbary apes,
wild mountain
views the Rif
is enchanting
by John Gimlette

ook out for Barbary apes,

grins our guide: We often get
raided, especially in the
harvest. Ahmad, aged 72,
finds most things funny. He
owns a donkey called easyJet
and tells us that most of his
neighbours will live to 105.

Our week in the Rif, a mountainous region

of Northern Morocco, follows this pattern
it is full of surprises. The tops of the
mountains are dusted with snow, and yet,
around the bottom, you can buy oranges as
big as a babys head.
On Ahmads country walks we see
mountain women wearing wide-brimmed
hats festooned with pom-poms. One minute
were clambering through gorgeous terraces
of onions and fruit, the next were in a
paddock of cannabis (or kif). Just for the
farmers, says Ahmad airily, the long-haired
Captivating: The medina in Tangier. Inset: A Rif mountain woman in traditional dress
ones dont come any more. But strangest
of all is our first town, Chefchaouen.
The old parts are all a bluey-purple,
not be Moroccos tallest range, but
gaze out at the scenes he painted.
tiny hotel has been lovingly
as if the entire medina has been
restored. There are log fires and
its thrillingly wild. Great rivers
Others came to misbehave,
flushed with ink.
almond cake for tea, and time
burst through the boulders, and we
particularly the Beat poets.
To my daughter Lucy, aged ten,
seems to have paused at 1956.
can just make out tiny villages
Its fun trying to find their old
this is enchanting, and we tour
Enjoy this mad city, walk
perched high up in the valley walls.
haunts around the medina. Although
every alley and knobbly passage,
everywhere, do everything and then
Deans Bar was wreathed in dust
poking our heads into all the old
retreat to the hotels roof.
and padlocks, you can still get a
caravanserais. There are no cars in
In one direction lies Spain (only
whiff of the Fifties at Cafe Baba.
this beautiful labyrinth of mauve,
eight miles away, across the
However, for Lucy, the best
and in the mornings everyone
hen, suddenly, we tumble
Med) and in the other lies the
moments are when we head for the
rushes out to the public taps.
out into Tangier. This fabuRif, now looking pink and myssouk. One stall sells huge blocks of
We stay at the Lina Ryad, a little
lous antique city feels only
terious and deceptively tame.
nougat (which have to be chopped
bit of the 21st century dropped in
half-African. For a long
with a cleaver); another has only
among these dreamy scenes. It even
time, it was The Internamagic charms and musket balls.
TRAVEL FACTS
has a modest swimming pool, in a
tional Zone (1923-1956), and EuroDeep in the medina, little
town where most people think a
Audley Travel (01993 838 420,
peans appeared in droves. They left
alleyways turn into grand Arabian
traffic jam has hooves.
cafes, cannon, art deco, a long coraudleytravel.com) offers a
palaces
(like
Al-Makhzen),
or
This is not a place for ordinary
niche and a whole cemetery of kind
tennight private tour of Fes,
p

erhaps
the
house
of
Barbara
shopping. We somehow end up with
hearts and baronets.
Chefchaouen, Tangier, Rabat,
Hutton,
once
the
richest
woman
an old pair of slaves manacles (7),
Some came for the view, and we
Asilah and Casablanca, from
in the world. My favourite is the
a large flag (6) and a very battered
tour the celebrity roosts.
1,850pp (two sharing)
old American legation of 1821.
silver headdress (30).
Theres still a piano bar at The
including flights.
From the outside, it looks typically
Most of the time it is enough just
El-Minzah (Churchill and Rex
dusty and medieval, but step
to wander. From the kasbah (or citHarrison), although the Hotel Cecil
nJohn Gimlette is the
inside and a glorious Georgian
adel) we can peer down into peo( Tennessee Williams) now has
winner of the Dolman
residence appears.
ples lives. As the day warms, housepalm trees growing through the
Travel Book Prize 2012,
Such excitement requires a cosy
wives head out to the stream to
roof. Meanwhile, at Grand Hotel
with Wild Coast: Travels On
bolthole, and we have La Tangerinse out their carpets. After a few
Villa de France, you can visit MatSouth Americas Untamed
isses bedroom (Number 35) and
days, we head north. The Rif may
rina. Hidden in the ramparts, this
Edge (Profile 8.99)

An arty home from home... and a night in the Field

AT the end of the hall by our bedroom is a
painting of a young man standing outside
what looks like a villa in rural Italy. Beautiful and mysterious, it catches the eye
and has presence.
The same can be said of our host Wallace
Shaw, in whose Arthouse B&B in the
rather more industrial surroundings of
Leith we find ourselves. A friend painted
that for me, he says, as we are ushered
into the rather splendid living room for a
glass of Prosecco.
It transpires that Wallace has just
returned from a break in Italy, where he
owned another B&B in Spoleto before
coming to Leith and opening his current
establishment in the former Assembly
Rooms a few years ago.
He was born in Glasgow and studied at
the citys School of Art before embarking
on a career in fashion, working for
Pringle before being headhunted by
Donna Karan. Based in New York and

London, he would travel as far afield as

South America and South-East Asia.
He mentions that he has met Barbra
Streisand, although not in a boastful fashion, and one could almost imagine her
draping herself over the chaise longue in
one of the two bedrooms, glass of bubbly
in hand (if she fancied a trip to Leith, of
course). Pieces of art, presumably collected on his travels, adorn the place.
A stroll into Edinburgh provides plentiful options in terms of where to eat and
drink, including gems such as the Field
restaurant in West Nicholson Street.
Menu ingredients are seasonal, wintery
and seriously tempting. The bread, which
is light and packed with flavour, is baked
on the premises and served warm.
Starters are comfort food with a deluxe
twist oxtail ravioli, celeriac pure and
pickled shimeji (5.95) and seared Scottish scallops, cinnamon satay sauce, black
pudding, peanut tuile and pomegranate

perfectly cooked. The main course leaves

you with the question: how is it possible
to make the humble Brussels sprout taste
so good?
Maitre D Richard Conway expertly
matches wine to each course.
The walk back down to Leith and the
warm embrace of the Arthouse after
dining is both pleasurable and pretty
much required. The sun is coming down
and it is easy to see why, after a lifetime of
fashion and travel, Wallace chose to come
here.
Arthouse lifestyle: Wallace Shaw
(8.50) make for a decadent start to the
meal. Mains follow, with a maple glazed
duck breast, duck fat savoy with pancetta,
duck sausage roll and sweet potato fondant (14.50) and the duo of game: grilled
venison, pheasant, tarragon croquette,
creamed Brussels sprouts and a venison
jus (19). The meat is meltingly tender and

TRAVEL FACTS

Wallaces Arthouse Scotland: 120 double

occupancy, 90 single occupancy (includes
continental breakfast. Minimum stay two
days) www.wallacesarthousescotland.com
Field restaurant: 41 West Nicholson Street,
Edinburgh. Lunch and pre-theatre menu,
two courses for 11.95, three for 14.95, plus
la carte. www.fieldrestaurant.co.uk

Pictures: alamy

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