Page 66 Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 11, 2015 travelmail

Look out for Barbary apes, grins our guide: We often get raided, especially in the harvest. Ahmad, aged 72, finds most things funny. He owns a donkey called easyJet and tells us that most of his neighbours will live to 105.

our week in the Rif, a mountainous region of Northern Morocco, follows this pattern it is full of surprises. The tops of the mountains are dusted with snow, and yet, around the bottom, you can buy oranges as big as a babys head.

on Ahmads country walks we see mountain women wearing wide-brimmed hats festooned with pom-poms. one minute were clambering through gorgeous terraces of onions and fruit, the next were in a paddock of cannabis (or kif). Just for the farmers, says Ahmad airily, the long-haired ones dont come any more. But strangest

Beguiling bazaars, Barbary apes, wild mountain views the Rifis enchanting

Captivating: The medina in Tangier. Inset: A Rif mountain woman in traditional dress

by John Gimlette

magicaL morocco

of all is our first town, Chefchaouen. The old parts are all a bluey-purple, as if the entire medina has been flushed with ink.

To my daughter Lucy, aged ten, this is enchanting, and we tour every alley and knobbly passage, poking our heads into all the old caravanserais. There are no cars in this beautiful labyrinth of mauve, and in the mornings everyone rushes out to the public taps.

We stay at the Lina Ryad, a little bit of the 21st century dropped in among these dreamy scenes. It even has a modest swimming pool, in a town where most people think a traffic jam has hooves.

This is not a place for ordinary shopping. We somehow end up with an old pair of slaves manacles (7), a large flag (6) and a very battered silver headdress (30).

Most of the time it is enough just to wander. From the kasbah (or cit-adel) we can peer down into peo-ples lives. As the day warms, house-wives head out to the stream to rinse out their carpets. After a few days, we head north. The Rif may

not be Moroccos tallest range, but its thrillingly wild. Great rivers burst through the boulders, and we can just make out tiny villages perched high up in the valley walls.

THeN, suddenly, we tumble out into Tangier. This fabu-lous antique city feels only half-African. For a long time, it was The Interna-tional Zone (1923-1956), and euro-peans appeared in droves. They left cafes, cannon, art deco, a long cor-niche and a whole cemetery of kind hearts and baronets.

Some came for the view, and we tour the celebrity roosts.

Theres still a piano bar at The el-Minzah (Churchill and Rex Harrison), although the Hotel Cecil (Tennessee Williams) now has palm trees growing through the roof. Meanwhile, at Grand Hotel Villa de France, you can visit Mat-isses bedroom (Number 35) and

gaze out at the scenes he painted. others came to misbehave, particularly the Beat poets.

Its fun trying to find their old haunts around the medina. Although Deans Bar was wreathed in dust and padlocks, you can still get a whiff of the Fifties at Cafe Baba.

However, for Lucy, the best moments are when we head for the souk. one stall sells huge blocks of nougat (which have to be chopped with a cleaver); another has only magic charms and musket balls.

Deep in the medina, little alleyways turn into grand Arabian palaces (like Al-Makhzen), or perhaps the house of Barbara Hutton, once the richest woman in the world. My favourite is the old American legation of 1821. From the outside, it looks typically dusty and medieval, but step inside and a glorious Georgian residence appears.

Such excitement requires a cosy bolthole, and we have La Tange-rina. Hidden in the ramparts, this

tiny hotel has been lovingly restored. There are log fires and almond cake for tea, and time seems to have paused at 1956.

enjoy this mad city, walk everywhere, do everything and then retreat to the hotels roof.

In one direction lies Spain (only eight miles away, across the Med) and in the other lies the Rif, now looking pink and mys-terious and deceptively tame.

TRAVEL FACTSAudley Travel (01993 838 420, audleytravel.com) offers a tennight private tour of Fes, Chefchaouen, Tangier, Rabat, Asilah and Casablanca, from 1,850 pp (two sharing) including flights.nJohnGimletteisthewinneroftheDolmantravelBookPrize2012,withWildCoast:travelsonSouthAmericasUntamededge(Profile8.99)

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an arty home from home... and a night in the FieldAT the end of the hall by our bedroom is a painting of a young man standing outside what looks like a villa in rural Italy. Beau-tiful and mysterious, it catches the eye and has presence.

The same can be said of our host Wallace Shaw, in whose Arthouse B&B in the rather more industrial surroundings of Leith we find ourselves. A friend painted that for me, he says, as we are ushered into the rather splendid living room for a glass of Prosecco.

It transpires that Wallace has just returned from a break in Italy, where he owned another B&B in Spoleto before coming to Leith and opening his current establishment in the former Assembly Rooms a few years ago.

He was born in Glasgow and studied at the citys School of Art before embarking on a career in fashion, working for Pringle before being headhunted by Donna Karan. Based in New York and

London, he would travel as far afield as South America and South-East Asia.

He mentions that he has met Barbra Streisand, although not in a boastful fash-ion, and one could almost imagine her draping herself over the chaise longue in one of the two bedrooms, glass of bubbly in hand (if she fancied a trip to Leith, of course). Pieces of art, presumably col-lected on his travels, adorn the place.

A stroll into Edinburgh provides plenti-ful options in terms of where to eat and drink, including gems such as the Field restaurant in West Nicholson Street.

Menu ingredients are seasonal, wintery and seriously tempting. The bread, which is light and packed with flavour, is baked on the premises and served warm.

Starters are comfort food with a deluxe twist oxtail ravioli, celeriac pure and pickled shimeji (5.95) and seared Scot-tish scallops, cinnamon satay sauce, black pudding, peanut tuile and pomegranate

(8.50) make for a decadent start to the meal. Mains follow, with a maple glazed duck breast, duck fat savoy with pancetta, duck sausage roll and sweet potato fon-dant (14.50) and the duo of game: grilled venison, pheasant, tarragon croquette, creamed Brussels sprouts and a venison jus (19). The meat is meltingly tender and

perfectly cooked. The main course leaves you with the question: how is it possible to make the humble Brussels sprout taste so good?

Maitre D Richard Conway expertly matches wine to each course.

The walk back down to Leith and the warm embrace of the Arthouse after dining is both pleasurable and pretty much required. The sun is coming down and it is easy to see why, after a lifetime of fashion and travel, Wallace chose to come here.

TRAVEL FACTSWallaces Arthouse Scotland: 120 double occupancy, 90 single occupancy (includes continental breakfast. Minimum stay two days) www.wallacesarthousescotland.com

Field restaurant: 41 West Nicholson Street, edinburgh. lunch and pretheatre menu, two courses for 11.95, three for 14.95, plus la carte. www.fieldrestaurant.co.uk

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