Essaouira: The Teahouse (Guesthouse)

0.3 business

Address: 74 derb laalouj, La kasbah , Essaouira , Morocco

Email	teahouse@iam.net.ma
Website	www.theteahouse.net

Lonely Planet review

The Teahouse is a classic Souiri town house. Once owned by a wealthy trader in fabrics and spices, he spent his money well on stylish living in a grand house. The current owner, Alison, has retained that link with the past with her own brand of sensitive restoration and style.

The antique furnishings have accummulated from Alison's years of travelling Morocco - antique Fassi beds, Venetian mirrors, French colonial crockery, painted doors and wonky kitchen stools. The details reveal layers of Alison's life: she's a fascinating hostess, speaks fluent Arabic and is immersed up to her elbows in Souiri life. Not least because her husband, Jandal, is a local tadelakt master who executed the silky smooth plaster throughout the house. The rooms are rented as two separate apartments, each with two ensuite bedrooms, a sitting room with an open fire and a kitchen. It's a peaceful, thoughtful place, popular with intellectuals, writers and film-makers who obviously enjoy Alison's razor-sharp observations about local life, politics and, of course, shopping!