A pair of stridently coloured slippers, so loud they should have come with earplugs, is proffered by a man in a flapping robe. ‘You want? You buy? Verigood, sir! Very, vairree cheap!’ I didn’t want, I replied, I wouldn’t buy. I shook my head and walked on quickly. However, in this part of the world, refusal to buy is interpreted as a cunning bargaining device. Obviously I must have wanted a colourful pair of slippers – and my speedy departure simply meant I was hoping to bring down the price. A vendor poses with a pair of slippers inside a casbah in Morocco (library photo) He hastened after me, slippers outstretched. ‘No, really,’ I insisted, ‘I actually already have a nice pair of slippers.’ But he wouldn’t be denied. ‘How much you pay, sir? Best price. You say.’ A circuit of Marrakech’s souks, the crowded warren of retailers in the medina to the north of the famous Djemaa El Fna Square, is an exhausting and sometimes worrying experience. If there is a Moroccan office of fair trading – unlikely, I’m guessing – its writ fails to extend to the souks, and don’t even think about going back for an M&S-style no-nonsense refund. The nearest soul-crushing British equivalent to the souks that I can think of is that moment of existential despair in Ikea where you lose your bearings in light fittings and begin to think that you may never find the road out. A circuit of Marrakech’s souks is an exhausting and sometimes worrying experience . Mind you, the mysteries of the souk have always been over-romanticised. ‘Come with me to the casbah and let’s make sweet music’ is generally supposed to be the killer line from the 1938 movie Algiers. In it, Charles Boyer plays jewel thief Pepe Le Moko, who uses the city’s market as a hiding place and becomes entranced by the ravishing beauty of co-star Hedy Lamarr. In fact the line is actually used by French cartoon skunk Pepe Le Pew in the later Looney Tunes send-up of Algiers. Where else but Hollywood could a cartoon skunk manage to prove more memorable than Charles Boyer? Yet it was the success of Algiers that inspired Warner Brothers four years later to make the Humphrey Bogart movie Casablanca, the first Hollywood film to weigh in against the Nazis (one supposes the big studios were hedging their bets on this). The Royal Palm resort is huge, with much of the 570 acres devoted to an 18-hole golf course . I went to Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, about 15 years ago to see how closely the modern-day place resembled the movie version. Any similarity, of course, was purely coincidental as the 1942 film was shot wholly within the confines of the Burbank studio. During the film’s production, it was generally assumed that Casablanca would be a turkey. Despite the lengthy written introduction at the beginning of the film intended to offer some explanatory historical context, few American viewers had the remotest idea where Casablanca was and had little grasp of its complicated place in a sprawling global conflict. The film focuses on Ingrid Bergman’s attempts to get the necessary exit visas to fly to Lisbon with her husband. If this sounds daft, it’s because it was a made-up device to drive the plot. A VIP experience awaits passengers who fly into Marrakech and head to resorts such as the Royal Palm . Casablanca’s director was handed the script on a day-by-day basis. Nobody – not even the scriptwriters – were entirely certain what would happen in the end. The film struck a chord, however, and regularly tops the list of favourite movies. Some lines, such as ‘We’ll always have Paris’, are unforgettable. Some are execrable: Bogart’s Rick recalling with Bergman’s Ilsa the day the Nazis marched into the French capital: ‘The Germans wore grey. You wore blue.’ There is little in the real Casablanca to summon up Bogart and Bergman – it’s a pretty bleak port: think Tilbury with palm trees. It’s only when I visit Marrakech that I feel like crying: ‘Play it again, Sam!’ Here is to be discovered all the mystery of the casbah along with the exotic heat of the desert and the intriguing mingling of French and Arabic cultures – with the croissant set beside the tagine. If I had time, I’m sure I’d find Rick’s American Cafe with Sam at the piano still burbling: ‘You must remember this…’ While it would be curious to enjoy a holiday in Marrakech without being taken to the souk, these days the city centre has become something of an optional extra for a new breed of visitors. In the past five years, there has been a substantial building boom in the outer reaches of the city with the construction of several extremely plush stand-alone resort hotels which offer everything you need in one self-contained holiday place. The hotel has 135 suites and villas all built in a style that manages to combine the modern and traditional . That means you can now enjoy chic Marrakech breaks in cool top-end resort hotels – and your stay doesn’t necessarily have to involve a visit to the centre of the city, avoiding slipper-buying jaunts altogether if you prefer. Marrakech is now also one of those places that you can enjoy on a cunning fly-cheap, stay-posh basis. From the UK, there are now easyJet and Ryanair flights with return fares from about £100 (often substantially less expensive than competing flights to the Canary Islands, for example). And flying into Marrakech – unlike flying into Tenerife – passengers heading for resorts such as the Royal Palm, one of the newest and most impressive, have a bit of a red-carpet experience awaiting them. A VIP services man meets us off the plane and takes us straight to a private lounge, where we are served a mint tea as we complete passport formalities. We are then fast-tracked through immigration – pushed in front of a sizeable queue – and into the baggage hall. Outside, we are met by the hotel driver who takes our bags to a brand-new Land Rover Discovery for a 15-minute drive to the hotel, which lies about eight miles from the centre of Marrakech. The Royal Palm's imaginative kids’ club features models of lifesize sheep, all woolly and very cuddly . On the flight back, the reverse process is so well managed that we go from kerbside to aircraft seat in less than 15 minutes – I’d go back to Marrakech just for this unwonted delight. We were fortunate enough to arrive at the Royal Palm just after dark when the resort theatrically dresses up in exotic style. Driving up to the main hotel building is pure Hollywood, with blazing fire pits and walkways illuminated by dozens of hand-lit lanterns – not so much Bogart, more Indiana Jones. The Royal Palm resort is huge, with much of the 570 acres devoted to an 18-hole golf course lined with bougainvillea, laurel, roses and hibiscus shrubs – and shaded by some 4,000 olive trees, many hundreds of years old. If you’re worried about the wisdom of having a water-hungry golf course sitting on the edge of the Sahara, the resort is at pains to explain that it has been designed with the utmost care for water resources and local vegetation. Guests can choose from a traditional restaurant or the main restaurant which offers a mixture of cuisines . In the daylight, views extend well beyond the golf course across to the Atlas Mountains, which provide a wonderful, shimmering backdrop. At night, with clear skies, you sit under a canopy of the brightest stars, a sight it is impossible to grow tired of. While it sits on a large site, the hotel itself is not big, with 135 suites and villas all built in a style that manages to combine the modern and traditional. And, unexpectedly for a hotel of this sort, the Royal Palm is keen to attract families with even very young children. There is much to do here. The hotel has three pools, with the biggest one vast and stretching the length of the main building – a complex, connected expanse of water that spreads beneath bridges and around curves of the manicured gardens. There’s always a quiet place to swim and sunbathe. The spa has an indoor pool, and the fitness centre has a heated outdoor pool perfect for laps. Perhaps the real tour de force at the Royal Palm is the extraordinarily imaginative kids’ club which would not look out of place at a chic London members’ club and features – this is the best bit – models of lifesize sheep, all woolly and very cuddly. The spa at the Royal Palm has an indoor pool, and the fitness centre has a heated outdoor pool . There is traditional local costume for dressing up, arts and crafts, mini tennis courts, stargazing telescopes, and a special children’s pool. During the day you lunch next to the main pool. In the evening, you can choose from a traditional Moroccan restaurant offering mouth-watering local cuisine, or you can opt for the main restaurant which offers a mixture of cuisines. Beachcomber Tours 01483 445 685) offers seven nights at the Royal Palm in a two bedroom Garden Suite (two adults and two children under 12), with breakfast, flights and transfers, from £3,868. Best of all are the rooms, which are all chic, stylish, luxurious and spacious. I was able to resist the urge to leave the hotel for a couple of days, but eventually had to answer the siren call of the casbah, where I had my encounter with the slipper-seller. As I climbed out of the taxi in Marrakech’s famously madcap main square, I found myself face to face with a baby goat. I had the perfect line ready. ‘Here’s looking at you, kid.’
Find an intriguing mingling of French and Arabic cultures in Marrakech . The souk near Djemaa El Fna Square is now an optional extra in the city . Now you can now enjoy chic Marrakech breaks in cool top-end resorts .