Riad Cascades D'Ouzoud
Ouzoud, Morocco

The terrace on the roof of Riad Cascades D’Ouzoud is the perfect retreat from chaotic Marrakesh. Swallows grab their dinners from the Ouzoud River as it sprays off auburn cliffs and falls into churning pools below. Flowing down from the High Atlas Mountains, it waters groves of almonds and olives and fields of new spring-green fuzz becoming barley and wheat. Cactus and shrubby cedars fan out over undulating hills of red-to-khaki-colored earth. Silvery cottonwoods flutter along the riverbanks in a landscape reminiscent of southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Two women dressed in layers of black skirts wrapped with red and turquoise bands of cloth have settled in for a long chat as their cows munch the nearby bamboo. Ouzoud, a small Berber village, spreads up the hills. Its flat-roofed houses of pisé (a mixture of earth, straw and cement) look as if they might have grown here, each house colored by the earth upon which it sits. It is this feeling of belonging that Patrick Lamerie has so successfully incorporated into his Riad atop the falls—an upcountry Berber interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.

Patrick is French. His laugh is infectious. Even when he’s rattling too fast for my rudimentary French, I still laugh every time he does. Raised in Algeria, his family vacationed here when he was a boy. Several decades later, he came back and bought what was then the shambles of a one-story traditional house. Working only with local materials, he’s transformed it into a rustic yet inviting retreat. Two new floors built around the traditional open courtyard house the guest rooms, each with its own fireplace and bath. The walls are thick, the windows small and the surfaces rough like a traditional Berber home. The outside is an ocher color.  Berber rugs, blankets and beautifully woven old horse cinches hang on the white interior walls.

The interior courtyard smells of orange blossoms and smoke. Yet, on this chilly, wet spring evening, it is the warmth of the salon’s fireplace that has drawn all the guests. We lounge on the sofas that line the walls and nibble on rose, maroon, pale yellow, green and black olives mixed with hot peppers, carrots and preserved lemons. They are fit for the gods. An intense black olive tapenade arrives on triangles of country bread, a thinner more flavorful loaf than its urban cousin. A hearty tajine of chicken or lamb and vegetables fresh from nearby farms follows. Then we’ll linger over a French tart or Moroccan sweet with our mint tea or wine discussing Morocco, travel and life.

In the salon’s corner, there’s a old door of wide wooden planks with an old iron handle that has replaced an even earlier one. Patrick says the door would have lead to a part-underground peasant’s hut, but it looks like it might lead to the dark ages. It, in fact, leads to the "disco" as Patrick refers to his sound system. Patrick’s disco gravitates to world jazz rather than heavy metal.

"Bathrooms, beautiful bathrooms, but with no water…typical Moroccan bathrooms," says Patrick, although all of his had water during our stay. I’m getting a lesson on the sinuous tadelakt plaster work Patrick used for his bathrooms and fireplaces. He explains, "Tadelakt is a lime, earth, color and soap mixture, used usually for hammans (traditional Moroccan bath houses) and now the Europeans and Americans use it for chimneys and bathrooms." The process mixes color, lime and earth with soap the consistency of honey. It’s applied spread with a piece of marble. After it’s dried for a day or two, it’s rubbed with a wax polish. The results are curvaceously configured bathrooms and fire places with smooth, sensual, water-resistant finishes of mottled colors.

While I study building techniques, my companion treks with Patrick’s friend Maloud, an Ouzoud native and mountain guide. Each evening they return with tales of long hilly walks, beautiful water falls and serenades by sheep herders on homemade fiddles. They bring us bouquets of the wild spring flowers.

Our experiences were poles apart, yet we’ve both found a rural refuge. We’ve both taken a fancy to Riad Cascade D’Ouzoud.

By Kate Crawford        January  2003
Photos by Ruth Anne Kocour

LINKS WITH ATTITUDE

Riad Cascades D'Ouzoud one of Riads au Maroc rentals.  Riads au Maroc has a great web site, with lots of pictures and full descriptions of each of their properties. Below are the links to  other stories about Riads au Maroc.

A Prince of a Place, an article on Riads au Maroc 

Riad Laïla, Marrakech

Riad Habib, Marrakech