Editor Pick
Hotel Figuig
- February 22, 2002
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Marianne from Eindhoven, Netherlands
I am sitting on the terrace of the Figuig Hotel. Under me are 200,000 palm trees. I look over their crowns and see in the distance a village. It’s about 2 km away, it’s in Algeria. Figuig was the last stop in Morocco for pilgrims setting out on their long journey to Mecca. These days not many people travel this route, also Mecca pilgrims have discovered air travel.
Figuig consists of seven communities, in the past there was fighting over water resources and grazing right.
The blood feuds are over now, and Figuig looks very modern. New houses have been built. Houses which look modern, are modern and made of concrete. Probably not the best material to use in a hot climate, but who wants to live in the old kasbah. Certainly not the migration workers. Every year they come back to Figuig during the holidays. They bring back new ideas, and money to realise these ideas. And so they build houses, houses as they are used to live in, in France, where they work. The kasbah is for old people. It’s crumbling away, as it is no longer maintained.
Hotel Figuig is one of these concrete buildings. It has six double rooms, no airconditioning. We were here in January and it was cold, but in summer .... Anyway it’s the only decent place to stay. The rooms look very pretty, newly painted and lovely glass curtains, which make the place very attractive.
It’s best to order meals in advance to avoid a long wait preparing it. We had breakfast outside: the usual, cafe au lait, croissants and French bread and jam.
There is a pool table which is used by the soldiers who are stationed here.
From journal Winter in Figuig: Kasbahs, Palm Trees and O