The GCW Tour, Spain & Morocco: Palais Calipau

Our hotel in Marrakech is pretty interesting. Morocco is largely constructed on the principles of what our guide in Tangier called "blind architecture": from the outside the building looks like a penitentiary, but inside it looks like a set from the Arabian Nights. 

Our hotel definitely fits the description. What's more, the penitentiary vibe was augmented by a group of teenagers we found playing three card monty just outside the door when we arrived. 

On the Arabian Nights side, the place is lovely and exotic, though the shower required something more of a cultural adjustment than I would've preferred to make, but that requires photos to be able to explain. 

Sadly, the one thing I don't have photos of is the lunch we had. The hotel is small, so it doesn't have a restaurant, though they do provide breakfast and will make lunch or dinner for their guests if requested in advance. After the long night on the train, we decided to hang out, have lunch at the hotel, and then head out. 

I wasn't expecting much from lunch, so I left the camera in the room. Big mistake. This was one of the best meals of the trip so far involving: a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and mint in an incredible dressing (the niece doesn't do tomatoes, and I don't do cucumbers but both salads were gone); a lemon chicken tangine that was simply amazing; the best rice I've ever had, cooked in saffron and other herbs (they brought out a huge plate of it and I felt bad thinking it would go to waste, but not a grain was left when we were done); and last, but definitely not least, tiny crepes in alternating layers with pastry cream, drizzled with chocolate. 

It would  be worth a stay at the hotel just to get lunch. 

The hotel entrance. That little brass plaque
is the only thing that identifies this as the hotel.

This angle shows the corner where, if you don't scare
the locals off, you can catch a game of Three Card Monty.

"Lobby" just doesn't seem to describe this.

"Inside" doesn't really work either.

The place is big on curtains; and
this is still the lobby.

The view from our room. 

The door to the room.

Note to self: Take picture, then unpack.

This would be the shower. No curtain; no mount for
shower handle more than six inches above the tub.

Make that no mount for the shower handle at all.

Rooftop patio -- a reasonable candidate for
the hottest place on the planet (but pretty).

Looking from the patio down into the lobby.

Even nicer in the evening.