Morocco from Medina to Mountain

The author of Café Morocco and many other books is considered one of the great culinary minds of the Mediterranean and the Arab world. Born in Beirut to a Syrian father and Lebanese mother, she has been Sotheby’s representative for the Middle East, run an antique shop in Paris, served as art advisor to members of the Kuwaiti ruling family, and amassed a legendary private art collection that she then sold to launch a new life as an author. Her books on Middle Eastern food have won her countless accolades (the New Yorker called her 2018 book, “Feast: The Food of the Islamic World,” one of the 10 best cookbooks of the century so far). Our host for this trip, she will also lead a cooking masterclass together with friends.

With a 15-year career traveling throughout Morocco as a producer and location manager in the film industry, Abdel Issoukine knows the country as very few do. This epic weeklong journey was built upon Abdel’s deep connections, from the ctiy souks of his hometown of Marrakesh to the Amazigh villages of the High Atlas mountains where his parents grew up.

We met Asturias native Alejo Sabugo when he worked on the “Parts Unknown” Asturias episode. A producer and fixer for Bourdain, he quickly became an integral part of the Roads & Kingdoms family and is now a frequent League of Travelers host. Together with Anissa’s culinary connections and vision, Alejo’s years-long friendship with Abdel Issoukine forms the beating heart of this trip.

You could easily mistake this Moroccan city on the Atlantic for a fishing village in the Mediterranean. Same white walls with blue trim. Same pleasing sound of seagulls on the breeze. And no hotel in Essaouira captures this easy coastal charm as well as Madada Mogador. Located at the entrance to the Medina, and a short walk from the harbor, the gaze of its upscale rooms and wide terrace is firmly focused on the sea.

Sometimes it’s the place, sometimes it’s the people. At the Riad le Clos des Arts, it is both. The property—actually adjoining two riads brought together—is exactly what you would want from this style of luxurious walled oasis that finds its best expression in the Marrakesh Medina. And the hosts, well, they are fascinating and generous and kind. Giorgina and Massimo imbue the place with the warmth of feeling of the family home that all riads used to be.

When we go into the mountains, we go for real. Amazigh markets, tea breaks alongside rushing rivers, whole-animal butchery in Abderrahim’s ancestral village. But at night and in our downtime… there are few places we go on earth that are as sumptuous and refined as Olinto. From the Italian nobleman owner who lives in a chalet on the property, to the stunning landscaping from which we forage citrus and botanicals for our cocktails, it’s one of our favorite properties anywhere.