Magical Marrakech: Souks and the city in Morocco's most mesmerising metropolis

By Wendy Driver for The Mail on Sunday
Updated: 11:00 BST, 1 February 2011

It was 5am and still dark when I awoke with a start to the sound of hypnotic wailing. It was more than 30 years since I had last visited Morocco as a young backpacker and I had forgotten about the muezzin's call to 祈り that rouses you from sleep every morning. 支援する in the Seven 関係 there were few hotels within the old 塀で囲むd city of Marrakech, but now I was staying in the heart of the medina.

La Maison Arabe is 据えるd opposite the Bab Doukkala イスラム教寺院. From the outside it seems a 公正に／かなり nondescript building, but step inside and you'll find yourself in a beautifully 変えるd 伝統的な home.

Hypnotic Djemma el Fna square in the heart of old Marrakech continues to be the city's shopping and foodie 中心

The rooms surround a small, open-空気／公表する 中庭 where rose petals float in a fountain and crimson bougainvillea 粘着するs to the ornate balcony.

Filigree lanterns cast a glow over the wonderfully carved 支持を得ようと努めるd-panelled 回廊（地帯）s and rooms are decorated with 手渡す-（手先の）技術d furnishings and woven rugs.

My room had a 私的な rooftop terrace with its own Jacuzzi where I could やめる happily have spent the day relaxing, but after breakfast beside the pool I joined my guide, Rasheed, to 調査する the city.

It is 平易な to see why Marrakech has long attracted writers, artists and designers. French couturier Pierre Balmain lived here in the Thirties and his pink Art Deco riad has been 変えるd into one of the city's 最高の，を越す fusion restaurants, Dar Moha.

The Majorelle Gardens, which fashion designer Yves St Laurent bought in the Eighties, are 十分な of vibrant colours. Yellow and orange マリファナs line the tiled walkways and his cobalt-blue vi lla overlooks lily ponds where tiny 海がめs bask in the sun.

One of my favourite places is the El Badi Palace, once the glittering centrepiece of the Saadian 王朝 in the 16th Century. All that remains today are the 大規模な ramparts which still tower over the city. I climbed the 法外な steps to the parapet, where storks guarded their nests, looking out over the flat roofs to the 煙霧のかかった mountains beyond.

Arabian delight: The El Badi Palace in Marrakech (left) is a slice of 16th century wonder. 準備する to step 支援する in time and immerse yourself in Morocco's 伝統的な arts and music

A visit to the Palace dungeons sent a shiver 負かす／撃墜する my spine as I つまずくd through the claustrophobic 独房s with 塀で囲むs several yards 厚い. T he only 微光 of light （機の）カム from a 穴を開ける in the 丸天井d 天井 high above my 長，率いる.

The famous Djemaa El Fna Square has changed little since my last visit. Admittedly, it is now far more （人が）群がるd with tourists and you have to dodge スピード違反 motorbikes rather than donkeys and carts as I did in the Seventies, but go at dusk and you can still soak up its magical atmosphere.

Smoke from the food 立ち往生させるs wafted across the marketplace as the throbbing sound of drumming competed with musicians, 物語を話す人／作家s and snake-charmers.

The nearby souks are a maze of covered alleyways where I was soon lost の中で the hundreds of 立ち往生させるs selling leatherware, ceramics, rugs and jewellery. Brilliantly coloured skeins of freshly dyed wool hung from the rafters, 甘い pastries and sticky dates were piled high on 木造の racks, and herbalists 約束d cures for every imaginable 病気.

That evening, I arrived 支援する at the riad dusty and footsore so, after a glass of 造幣局 tea, I 扱う／治療するd myself to a massage in the candlelit hammam.

A big souk-cess: Marrakech's souks 持つ／拘留する endless wonders for shopaholics

After 存在 scrubbed all over with 黒人／ボイコット soap until my 肌 peeled off like a chameleon's, I was pummelled with argan e oil, which purportedly nourishes your 肌 and hair.

It certainly did the trick. By the time dinner was served, I felt 全く 生き返らせるd. The house speciality was a delicious lamb tagine with 蜜柑s and caramelised aubergine.

I learned more about Moroccan cuisine when I joined a group cookery course at the hotel. Chef Aya Dada showed me how to braise spices, chicken and vegetables in the same clay マリファナ before eating out of it. It definitely saves on the washing-up.

Next day, leaving behind the bustle of Marrakech, I 始める，決める off for a 退却／保養地 in the High Atlas mountains. The Kasbah du Toubkal is only a 90-minute 運動 from the city, but it's hard to imagine a more remote 場所. It was 初めは the 要塞 of a 封建的 lord and has been painstakingly 回復するd. Standing high above the village of Imlil, it is accessible only on foot, so we piled our luggage on to a mule and 引き上げ（る）d up through the walnut trees to the carved 木造の 入り口.

Kasbah du Toubkal is run by Berbers and 利益（をあげる）s are 投資するd in the 地元の community. Lahcen, the receptionist, dressed in the ubiquitous blue djellaba, was there to welcome us.

'We 扱う／治療する guests as personal friends,' he said as he ぱらぱら雨d our 手渡すs with rosewater and 申し込む／申し出d us dates dipped in goat's milk in 伝統的な 迎える／歓迎するing. No wonder Paul McCartney, Will Smith and Jude 法律 have all chosen to stay here.

激しく揺する the Kasbah: Kasbah Du Toukal is an elegant 退却／保養地 in the High Atlas mountains

The Berbers, though, are unfazed by celebrities. 'Everyone is a VIP here,' I was told.

予算-conscious travellers stay in the small 寄宿舎s with upstairs galleries. Other rooms have exposed beams and pretty 木造の balconies, while the garden house comes with a 私的な sitting room and 床に打ち倒す-to-天井 windows. There are no televisions here and 動きやすい phones are discouraged, although all rooms had hi-fi systems and laptops can be borrowed from 歓迎会.

At lunchtime, guests sit on rugs on the rooftop terrace with panoramic 見解（をとる）s. And at dinner, 訪問者s eat at low （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs beside a woodburning stove in the candlelit dining room.

Alcohol isn't served, but that didn't 阻止する Don, an American 登山者 who turned up every evening with 瓶／封じ込めるs of whisky and ワイン, generously 申し込む／申し出ing us all a glass. Don was one of the serious mountaineers who had come to climb 開始する Toubkal. His trip sounded too strenuous for me, so I 選ぶd instead for a short trek to the Tizi n'Tamatert pass.

My group passed goatherds and ひどく laden donkeys before 緊急発進するing up through Scots pines and across 深い moraines with 玉石s the size of houses. Stopping for a 残り／休憩（する） on the 首脳会議, we looked 負かす／撃墜する on the lush green terraces of barley far below.

On our last morning we woke to find snow had fallen during the night. The 大規模な 側面に位置するs of Toubkal had been transformed into 塀で囲むs of shimmering white ice.

As I said goodbye to Lahcen, I turned for a final glimpse, 約束ing myself I wouldn't wait so long before coming 支援する to Morocco.< /font>

And next time I'll remember to pack the ear plugs.

Travel Facts

Expedia (0871 226 0808, www.expedia.co.uk) 申し込む／申し出s return flights with easyJet from Gatwick to Marrakech from £175. Chauffeur-driven 移転s to London airports can be arranged through No 1 Traveller (08442 646440, www.No1Traveller.com). It also 申し込む／申し出s admission to airport lounges, 含むing Gatwick North from May 2011.

Nightly B&B 率s for 二塁打 rooms at La Maison Arabe start at £140 and at the Kasbah de Toubkal £135. To 調書をとる／予約する, visit www.morocco-gateway.com.

For 寄付s to the Kasbah du Toubkal charity, visit www.efamorocco.org.