Marrakech Riad Old Town, Morocco
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We have carefully renovated Riad Naila using traditional Moroccan construction methods. Examples of Moroccan handicraft such as tadelakt (Moroccan wall painting technique with colors), sculpted plaster and wooden ceilings are displayed in every room. All decoration items (lamps, furniture, mirrors, bedspreads, curtains, etc.) have been crafted by Moroccan artisans, some of them living next door.
We are currently renovating a second riad in the Jewish quarter (the Mellah) of the Medina in Marrakech. We were lucky to find a riad with its foundation still intact since many riads are decaying and cannot be renovated. We were also very fortunate that the house had still an intact roof with marvelous wooden paintings. The problem in the Medina of Marrakech is that many beautiful old houses are destroyed because people removed everything that could be sold as artwork in second hand shops as far as the US. The most damaging effect was the removal of the wooden roofs. As a result of rain, sun and further neglect, there are hundreds of ruins all over Marrakech.
To our biggest positive surprise, we found some old Jewish artwork during the renovation. We are now carefully restoring it. The artwork goes possibly back to the 17 century. For the entire renovation we again use traditional Moroccan construction methods and employ local artisans. We plan to also offer it as a vacation house from March 2012 on.
Community
We employ a local couple (Abdel and Najoua) who are responsible for Riad Naila (e.g. they hand over the keys when our guests arrive and clean the Riad). We pay them a monthly salary which is above average. In addition, we let them run their own business by letting them offer breakfast and dinner or babysitting services to our guests. All money earned so stays with them. In our guest book on our website you can find many comments by our guests which are very happy about their services. Moreover, they find it a great opportunity to get to know and talk to Moroccans.
We organize day trips and sometimes longer ones to the Atlas Mountain, Sahara or Essaouira. A very exiting tour is also to visit the old “Sultan”-cities; i.e., Fez, Rabat and Meknes beside Marrakech. Kamal is our preferred driver and again we do not take any cut from this. All money stays with Kamal. He knows many secret places and let you experience Morocco in a way that large tour operators cannot do.
It is a fact that 1/3 of Moroccan GDP comes from tourism. In Marrakech the fraction might be even larger. For Millions of Moroccans it is the only way to make a living.
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