Journey J

I began my trip at a place I’ve been before (and enjoyed very much) – the Atlas Kasbah Ecolodge in Morocco, located in the Atlas Mountains within a UNESCO-protected argan forest. This sustainable Amazigh (Berber) accommodation is less than half an hour from Agadir, and a couple hours drive from Marrakech.

I discovered this fantastic place last year while on a painting retreat run by an artist whose work I really love, Elly Smallwood. Thanks, Elly, for introducing me! (And for teaching me how to paint <3)

You can stay as a visitor anytime, or you can book the whole Kasbah for your private event (which is what Elly did for the painting retreat).

Everyone on staff was wholly lovely both times I was there. Everyone, seriously. The service is excellent, the entire staff exudes warmth, generosity, and friendliness, and I always feel very much at home when I’m there.

The food is excellent overall – really great tangines! – but my favourite part of the Kasbah’s menu is definitely their selection of flavourful herbal teas, made with local organic ingredients. One of the best food pairings I had on my trip was one night at the Kasbah where a (lemongrass + rosemary?) herbal tea was paired perfectly with some traditional Moroccan pastries. Yum! I go through so many pots of tea whenever I stay here that the staff started to bring me a larger sized teapot every time I ordered, knowing I would inevitably order 2-4 pots per meal.

The Kasbah has several amenities: a lovely saltwater pool, hammam, salt room, yoga room, and massage treatment rooms.

They also have many delightful on-site workshops. I took a calligraphy class last year and learned how to write my name in both Amazigh (Berber) and Arabic, which was fun. There was a presentation and demonstration of Moroccan women’s beauty rituals where we learned all about traditional makeup and the local natural ingredients that are used. They also took us up to the roof for an astronomy lesson underneath the stars, and the view was beautiful! There is an area where you can take a pottery or tadelakt lesson, too. Last year we all took a pottery class and watched the instructor very impressively make a perfect tagine pot in about a minute – but it is quite a bit more challenging than he made it look, as it turned out. This year I learned tadelakt, which I was not very good at, but had an enjoyable time learning about. One of the things I really love about this place is that it’s an extremely relaxing place to be, but you also don’t seem to run out of things to do.