As-Salaam-Alaikum

Hi, i'm writing this blog page to share information with all you wanderlust souls out there. Living in Morocco comes with lots of bizarre and unexpected events, which i thought you may enjoy reading about and sharing in the laughter.

My family and I moved to Marrakech 11 years ago from London. The beginning of a huge adventure for us. Choosing which country was right for us to live in had been an extremely long and tiring process. Having made a choice to move to Marrakesh, was in itself a big box ticked. We had two criteria lists, one for our business (opening and running a guesthouse) and one for personal.

Phase two of our journey then began. Setting up home in Morocco, also a non English speaking country with a very different culture to ours. Marrakech is a real melting pot of; languages, tribes, rich, poor, city slickers, country peasants. It sometimes reminds me of that place Luke Skywalker went to, to buy that space ship, with all those different intergalactic aliens. (Any one know what it was called?) After months of beauroctratic paperwork, rendez vous with people who don't turn up and renting from an unpleasant woman for a large amount of money, we bought ourselves a villa. This was not in the plan as we didn't want to tie up our capital in a home. I now realise it is one of the best things we could have done. When you've had a really difficult day here to be able to close the door and relax in your own place really balances you.

Zamzam Riad & Spa was eventually created out of love and we hope you will come and stay and be pampered in our luxury boutique riad.



Monday, March 10, 2008

Stunning handmade tiles of Morocco

Well as you already know i love these tiles, but even more so since Saturday. I went to my supplier's yard to pick tiles for the upstairs corridors. We wanted an interesting pattern but not so bold that it took over the riad. That's the problem with these tiles they are so gorgeous because of their striking bold colour variations but they do tend to take over as they make such a statement. So you have to work really hard at making them blend. These tiles are design leaders!

Anyone who knows me can imagine what happened, i ended up making my own tiles. I tell you it's fantastic I'd love to work there for a week, the variations of colour and design make these tiles very addictive. Marcus and I were there all morning, but have designed a tile for upstairs that we are very happy with.


Posted by PicasaSo the process: You select a metal mold or have one made to your design.
You choose your colours and squirt them into the mold with these funnel cups.
You then pack on top of the tile with concrete, sand and marble dust.
Then the tile is pressed in this heavy clamp. It is left for a day, then it is placed in a water tray to soak before allowing to dry in the sun
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Creating the Guest House

We had decided to buy land and build a country guesthouse as per our business plan, about 10 double rooms and suites. The dream was to create a holistic retreat and build our house on the same plot. We were going to have an organic vegetable garden and provide a Moroccan Spa.

Land in Marrakech at that time, went mad. Prices going up daily, lots of people fishing but not really wanting to sell. There is also a problem here of title. ie not much land is titled and to buy land without a title is very difficult, unless you have a lot of time on your hands and like a gamble. We looked at more land than you can shake a stick at, drank more mint tea than you can imagine and got totally no where. It can take weeks to even get a price. You may be being shown a piece of land that isn't for sale or has already been sold. After a year of this we said 'that is it!, we are buying a riad!'

I had a total nervous breakdown and couldn't talk to anyone for three days. He then said this doesn't have to be the end....... It wasn't I have now built an Ecological Camp Adounia in the Sahara Desert!