Breeze o to Morocco - Sidi...
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The Guardian | Saturday 2 May 2015 7 Short break A donkey brayed outside our window and I woke, fumbling for a light switch before I remembered where we were. There are no light switches at Résidence Le Kaouki – in the village of Sidi Kaouki, 25km from Essaouira on Morocco’s Atlantic coast – because there’s no electricity: just candles and lighters by each bed. It also has no en suite facilities – just three shower rooms downstairs and a loo on the ground and first floors. So I used my smartphone torch to light my trip down the hall, to where a last inch of candle was guttering over the washbasin. I couldn’t remember when I’d last stayed somewhere without an en suite – and I couldn’t believe how little this, or the lack of electricity, bothered me. It had felt gloriously romantic the night before to blow out our candles after kissing goodnight. (Paloma Picasso is a regular visitor from her home in Marrakech, and she chooses the room on the roof – further from the loo but nearer the stars, she says.) I might have felt moved to tweet a picture of the beautiful shadows cast by a lantern in the first-floor sitting area – but of course there’s no Wi-Fi either. When my husband had asked RoRo, the dynamic Austrian-born owner of Le Kaouki, what time breakfast was, she’d replied, “Oh, any time between 8am and 5pm.” While I doubted whether many people staying in her 10 simple white-and-blue bedrooms would wait until late afternoon for coffee, juice, pancakes, toast and homemade jam, her breezy, laid-back attitude summed the place up. As did the huge help- yourself bunch of bananas hanging in the courtyard. Some beach resorts are about designer bikinis, strappy tops and smooth, tanned limbs. The Essaouira coast is not like that. It’s all windblown hair, pink noses, and sweatshirts over board shorts. Unlike Agadir to the south, where all-inclusive resorts line a sheltered beach, Essaouira sits in the path of the vents alizés, or trade winds – strong north-easterlies that blow steadily through spring and summer. These mean that as well as winter surfing, the area offers near-perfect conditions from April to August for windsurfing and kite-surfing. The combination of adrenaline activities on the water, Unesco-listed town and blue skies makes Essaouira an alluring destination, but getting there from the UK used to involve a three-hour drive from Marrakech or Agadir. However, from this month, easyJet’s twice-weekly flights from Luton to Essaouira start at £83 return. Also this month, the town is gearing up to host one of world music’s biggest events, the annual Gnaoua festival (festival-gnaoua.net, 14-17 May) with jazz, pop and rock artists as well as traditional sub-Saharan Gnaoua music. It’s different from many festivals in that concerts on two main stages are free (tickets for smaller venues cost about £15) and people don’t tend to camp (tricky in that wind). There’s a huge amount of accommodation in Essaouira town (see right, some still available for the festival), from intimate riads to sea- view apartments, but I figured the new flights might bring other corners of this rugged, mostly rural province within reach. At the suggestion of operator Lawrence of Morocco, we’d picked Sidi Kaouki, which is just 15 minutes’ drive from the airport. Strung along the 5km- long sands of one of Morocco’s best beaches, it’s a slightly scruffy village of low white and biscuit-coloured buildings, small hotels and a mad- looking German-owned surf cafe. (In Sex and the City II, amazingly, this low- key beach stood in for Abu Dhabi.) We walked a mile or two down the sand, meeting no one but a few men offering camel rides, then found a sheltered spot to watch the surfers and – later as the tide receded and the wind stiffened – kite-surfers soaring metres into the air from the tip of a wave. Stays at Le Kaouki include a three- course set dinner (by candlelight), but for lunch RoRo suggested we walk north to La Mouette et les Dromédaires, a basic-looking cafe-restaurant on a lonely beach, run by Frenchwoman Patricia Finel. The food is anything but basic, though: Patricia, who buys fish from the local pêcheurs every day, lived in the south Pacific for years and her menu includes, as well as grilled seafood, a choice of raw Polynesian dishes, similar to ceviche. Having blown the cobwebs, and the 21st century, away on the coast for a couple of days, we headed inland for a touch more luxury. Le Jardin des Douars, on a hillside south-east of Essaouira, was never meant to be a hotel. It was started as a botanical garden by a French couple, who added a house amid the riot of palm trees, cacti, flowers and ponds. Now Belgian- owned and run as a family-friendly hotel since 2005, it has 14 bedrooms, two pools, a spa – and much less wind than the coast 15km away. With accommodation in domed adobe-coloured buildings, it is boho- chic rather than luxury: the air smells of fragrant shrubs, and there are views of (in April) green hills and the Ksob valley. Our room, the most basic at under £80 a night, had an enclosed terrace as well as a great bathroom (yay!) with rain shower. Taking the hotel shuttle to Essaouira town next day, we admired honey- coloured ramparts and the untouristy souk, ate just-caught fish at a shack restaurant by the port – and battled up the beach in the teeth of the alizés. But this is the point of Essaouira for many. Outside Ocean Vagabond cafe, at the beach’s southern end, windsurfing coach Phil Richards was having lunch with a crop of students. “Essaouira is the best place you can get to on a short flight for this sort of sea and wind,” he said. “Flying direct will be much better.” We’d seen two contrasting sides of Essaouira, and by the pool next morning, the breeze barely ruffling the pages of my paperback, I decided that, like rain after a drought, calm after a storm, some things are best appreciated that way. And I still like the idea of a candle to light me to bed. The trip was provided by Lawrence of Morocco (01672 500 555, lawrenceofmorocco.com) which offers four nights in Essaouira from £485pp, including direct flights from the UK, two nights half-board at Residence Le Kaouki, two nights B&B at Le Jardin des Douars, and all transfers Breeze o ff to Morocco The Moroccan town of Essaouira is well-known to watersports fans, but new direct flights from the UK bring more of the rugged coastal province within reach for a romantic break, writes Liz Boulter PHOTOGRAPH: LIZ BOULTER When we asked what time breakfast was, owner RoRo replied, ‘Oh, any time between 8am and 5pm’ Three of the best B&Bs in Essaouira Riad du Figuier This 18th-century blue-shuttered riad has been turned into a relaxed B&B with a lovely courtyard garden. The five rooms have tiled floors, beamed ceilings and splashes of colour from blankets, rugs and local art. Doubles from €41, riadfiguier.com Riad Dar Afram Moroccan- Australian owners have kept the classic style of this six-room home, with stained-glass windows, painted wooden ceilings and colourful kilims. Musicians gravitate to this riad, and it’s not unusual for impromptu jam sessions to break out in the candlelit salon or on the roof terrace, post- barbecue. Doubles from €27, darafram.com Dar Adul, Essaouira This diminutive guesthouse has larger-than- life decor, by artist and owner Didier Spindler, whose vibrant oil paintings adorn the walls. There are four doubles and two suites, and a roof terrace perfect for sundowners. Doubles from €55,daradul.ma Sarah Gilbert More online See the full list of 10 Essaouira B&Bs on our website theguardian.com/ travel You’ll need real Dutch courage for … A new ‘steampunk’ style rollercoaster opening in the Efteling theme park in the Netherlands this summer. The Baron 1989 dive coaster represents a mine shaft, with a 37½-metre freefall, a Zero-G roll, and speeds of 90kmph. efteling.co.uk/EN/attractions-Baron-1898 ▲ Into the blue … the sunny courtyard at Résidence Le Kaouki, on the coast south of Essaouira and (below) one of the pools at Le Jardin des Douars, a few kilometres inland Marrakech Essaouira Agadir Rabat Casablanca
Transcript of Breeze o to Morocco - Sidi...
The Guardian | Saturday 2 May 2015
7Short break
A donkey brayed outside our window and I woke, fumbling for a light switch before I remembered where we were. There are no light switches at
Résidence Le Kaouki – in the village of Sidi Kaouki, 25km from Essaouira on Morocco’s Atlantic coast – because there’s no electricity: just candles and lighters by each bed. It also has no en suite facilities – just three shower rooms downstairs and a loo on the ground and first floors. So I used my smartphone torch to light my trip down the hall, to where a last inch of candle was guttering over the washbasin.
I couldn’t remember when I’d last stayed somewhere without an en suite – and I couldn’t believe how little this, or the lack of electricity, bothered me. It had felt gloriously romantic the night before to blow out our candles after kissing goodnight. (Paloma Picasso is a regular visitor from her home in Marrakech, and she chooses the room on the roof – further from the loo but nearer the stars, she says.) I might have felt moved to tweet a picture of the beautiful shadows cast by a lantern in the first-floor sitting area – but of course there’s no Wi-Fi either.
When my husband had asked RoRo, the dynamic Austrian-born owner of Le Kaouki, what time breakfast was, she’d replied, “Oh, any time between 8am and 5pm.” While I doubted whether many people staying in her 10 simple white-and-blue bedrooms would wait until late afternoon for coffee, juice, pancakes, toast and homemade jam, her breezy, laid-back attitude summed the place up. As did the huge help-yourself bunch of bananas hanging in the courtyard.
Some beach resorts are about designer bikinis, strappy tops and smooth, tanned limbs. The Essaouira coast is not like that. It’s all windblown
hair, pink noses, and sweatshirts over board shorts. Unlike Agadir to the south, where all-inclusive resorts line a sheltered beach, Essaouira sits in the path of the vents alizés, or trade winds – strong north-easterlies that blow steadily through spring and summer. These mean that as well as winter surfing, the area offers near-perfect conditions from April to August for windsurfing and kite-surfing.
The combination of adrenaline activities on the water, Unesco-listed town and blue skies makes Essaouira an alluring destination, but getting there from the UK used to involve a three-hour drive from Marrakech or Agadir. However, from this month, easyJet’s twice-weekly flights from Luton to Essaouira start at £83 return.
Also this month, the town is gearing up to host one of world music’s biggest events, the annual Gnaoua festival (festival-gnaoua.net, 14-17 May) with jazz, pop and rock artists as well as traditional sub-Saharan Gnaoua music. It’s different from many festivals in that concerts on two main stages are free (tickets for smaller venues cost about £15) and people don’t tend to camp (tricky in that wind).
There’s a huge amount of accommodation in Essaouira town (see right, some still available for the festival), from intimate riads to sea-view apartments, but I figured the new flights might bring other corners of this rugged, mostly rural province within reach. At the suggestion of operator Lawrence of Morocco, we’d picked Sidi Kaouki, which is just 15 minutes’ drive from the airport. Strung along the 5km-long sands of one of Morocco’s best beaches, it’s a slightly scruffy village of low white and biscuit-coloured buildings, small hotels and a mad-looking German-owned surf cafe. (In Sex and the City II, amazingly, this low-key beach stood in for Abu Dhabi.)
We walked a mile or two down the sand, meeting no one but a few men offering camel rides, then found a
sheltered spot to watch the surfers and – later as the tide receded and the wind stiffened – kite-surfers soaring metres into the air from the tip of a wave.
Stays at Le Kaouki include a three-course set dinner (by candlelight), but for lunch RoRo suggested we walk north to La Mouette et les Dromédaires, a basic-looking cafe-restaurant on a lonely beach, run by Frenchwoman Patricia Finel. The food is anything but basic, though: Patricia, who buys fish from the local pêcheurs every day, lived in the south Pacific for years and her menu includes, as well as grilled seafood, a choice of raw Polynesian dishes, similar to ceviche.
Having blown the cobwebs, and the 21st century, away on the coast for a couple of days, we headed inland for a touch more luxury. Le Jardin des Douars, on a hillside south-east of Essaouira, was never meant to be a hotel. It was started as a botanical garden by a French couple, who added a house amid the riot of palm trees, cacti, flowers and ponds. Now Belgian-owned and run as a family-friendly hotel since 2005, it has 14 bedrooms, two pools, a spa – and much less wind than the coast 15km away.
With accommodation in domed adobe-coloured buildings, it is boho-chic rather than luxury: the air smells of fragrant shrubs, and there are views
of (in April) green hills and the Ksob valley. Our room, the most basic at under £80 a night, had an enclosed terrace as well as a great bathroom (yay!) with rain shower.
Taking the hotel shuttle to Essaouira town next day, we admired honey-coloured ramparts and the untouristy souk, ate just-caught fish at a shack restaurant by the port – and battled up the beach in the teeth of the alizés. But this is the point of Essaouira for many. Outside Ocean Vagabond cafe, at the beach’s southern end, windsurfing coach Phil Richards was having lunch with a crop of students. “Essaouira is the best place you can get to on a short flight for this sort of sea and wind,” he said. “Flying direct will be much better.”
We’d seen two contrasting sides of Essaouira, and by the pool next morning, the breeze barely ruffling the pages of my paperback, I decided that, like rain after a drought, calm after a storm, some things are best appreciated that way. And I still like the idea of a candle to light me to bed.
The trip was provided by Lawrence of Morocco (01672 500 555, lawrenceofmorocco.com) which offers four nights in Essaouira from £485pp, including direct flights from the UK, two nights half-board at Residence Le Kaouki, two nights B&B at Le Jardin des Douars, and all transfers
Breeze off to MoroccoThe Moroccan town of Essaouira is well-known to watersports fans, but new direct flights from the UK bring more of the rugged coastal province within reach for a romantic break, writes Liz Boulter
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: LIZ
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When we asked what time breakfast was, owner RoRo replied, ‘Oh, any time between 8am and 5pm’
Three of the best B&Bs in Essaouira
Riad du Figuier This 18th-century blue-shuttered riad has been turned into a relaxed B&B with a lovely courtyard garden. The five rooms have tiled floors, beamed ceilings and splashes of colour from blankets, rugs and local art.
Doubles from €41, riadfiguier.com
Riad Dar AframMoroccan-Australian owners have kept the classic style of this six-room home, with stained-glass windows, painted wooden ceilings and colourful kilims. Musicians gravitate to this riad, and it’s not unusual for impromptu jam sessions to break out in the candlelit salon or on the roof terrace, post-barbecue.
Doubles from €27, darafram.com
Dar Adul, EssaouiraThis diminutive guesthouse has larger-than-life decor, by artist and owner Didier Spindler, whose vibrant oil paintings adorn the walls. There are four doubles and two suites, and a roof terrace perfect for sundowners.
Doubles from €55,daradul.maSarah Gilbert
More online
See the full list of 10 Essaouira B&Bs on our website theguardian.com/travel
You’ll need real Dutch courage for …A new ‘steampunk’ style rollercoaster opening in the Efteling theme park in the Netherlands this summer. The Baron 1989 dive coaster represents a mine shaft, with a 37½-metre freefall, a Zero-G roll, and speeds of 90kmph.efteling.co.uk/EN/attractions-Baron-1898
▲ Into the blue … the sunny courtyard at Résidence Le Kaouki, on the coast south of Essaouira and (below) one of the pools at Le Jardin des Douars, a few kilometres inland
MarrakechEssaouira
Agadir
RabatCasablanca
