Luxury Morocco palace fit for a king
Once upon a time, a young King of Morocco, who was said to be the seventh richest monarch in the world, decided to build a hotel. But this hotel was different because there was no budget and no cap on expenses. Only a royal edict to make it the most beautiful of Moroccan architecture in the world.
“It was handmade by 1,200 artisans using the best stones, marbles, tiles, silks, satins, beads, feathers and cedar. No one, to this day, knows how much it cost,” said a Dow Jones reporter.
The Royal Mansour is now open. And Scheherazade would have found enough cozy corners in which to tell a different tale on a different divan every night.
It doesn’t advertise and it’s a word-of-mouth hotel. And it is not cheap: Prices run from US$1,928 a night for a one-bedroom riad (a traditional, three-story, Moroccan-style house), to $5,397 for a two-bedroom, or $38,552 for the almost 20,000-square-foot Riad d’Honneur.
“The experience begins on the tarmac at the Marrakech airport when an arriving guest is whisked out of the line of weary travelers, led to a quiet room and offered sustenance while passports and baggage tags are collected. Within minutes one is escorted out of the airport into a discreet shiny black Mercedes. Well, fairly discreet. The bags are in the trunk and passports are returned inside the car. All this is done in reverse upon departure, bringing home the notion of what it really means to be staying, as it were, with a king. “
Arriving at the airport, visitors find a massive entry gate — a four-ton marvel of wood sculpted and covered in bronze.
During construction the king showed up one day at this gate, said "It’s not big enough," and departed without entering. The gate is now about one-third bigger, and the hotel staff are still awaiting a first visit from the king. His extended family, however, have been frequent guests and are said to report to him daily by phone.
“The hotel is designed like an old Moroccan city with winding paths lined with lily ponds and fountains that open suddenly into sunny squares of palm trees, brilliant bougainvillea and aromatic olive and lemon trees. The public spaces—lounges, bars, library, and restaurants—are built, as are the 53 accommodations, as riads with all rooms on all levels opening inwardly onto a courtyard and upwardly to an array of carved arches,” the reporter found.
The rugs are woven suede and leather, the couches and chairs silk and velvet brocades, the crystal Lalique, Baccarat and Venetian, the swathed silk curtains harnessed by mother-of-pearl inlaid tiebacks.
And yes, there is a spa, a 27,000-square-foot airy white lacework frame that is a kind of pale marble temple to the human body. “Don’t, under any circumstances, leave Marrakech without having a hamam—a classic Turkish bath—here with Abdelkader al Ibtikar,” says the author.
Scheherazade? It’s here.
By David Wilkening
David
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