Au20Jasmins (riad, fez, morocco) restored in the medina of Fez

It's a tiny street just like so many others in the Medina of Fez.  Use the knocker to ask to come in and you will immediately find yourself in the riad Au20Jasmins (riad, fez, morocco) , Batha square. The house hostess receives visitors in a huge patio bathed in light softened by the extensive glass canopy above. Inside, everything is hushed, the color of the ceramic tiles, of the velvet covering the divans, the shapes of the coffee tables and seats. Each piece of furniture, each object has been designed by the owner, Aycha Benmakhlouf, a professional architect who has spent many years overlooking the painstaking restoration of her dwelling in Fez.

The result of this determination: a magnificent guesthouse consisting of seven rooms, or better said, seven huge spaces akin to living rooms. Each one is different: red curtains in one, and ochre-colored shutters next door. A vast living room with comfortable armchairs or office for the studious visitor. The rooms are heated or air-conditioned according to the season.

Six of the rooms are upstairs and one downstairs with its high doors opening up onto the patio. To get to the seventh room, one has to move up one floor onto the terrace where the entire city of Fez unfolds before the eyes. Just one more door, and you come to the last room provided with a chimney were the logs already put in place appear to be awaiting winter.

Downstairs, in the dining room next to the patio, breakfast is served in the morning in orange colored recipients taking inspiration from Moroccan design. Breakfast includes extra thin pancakes and doughnuts for anyone looking for a foretaste of local gastronomy, much more in evidence when dining at Aycha's. It's worth the experience, as right here one can taste one of the best cuisines in Fez. A genuine expert for all kinds of appetizers and tagines, couscous and pastries, the chef belongs to an old family who has always known what good cooking really means. If the weather is not too cool, one can revel in the fragrance of the jasmine flowers that have lent their name of the Riad, in addition of verbena and roses, while settling into the garden where a large table is set up. Aycha often likes to dine there with her visitors to whom she reveals the splendors of her city while discreetly watching over the slightest detail.