Went to Riad BE for a spa day with my lovely friend Anne!
It’s always an adventure finding your destination in the medina. I stumbled upon a wonderful art gallery pop-up along the way, where I bought a few small pieces and custom Arabic calligraphy from the artist’s daughter!
Google maps can only take you so far into the depths of the medina. I was actually very surprised with how well it navigated me inside the walls, but it seemed I could never find my riad without getting lost at the end, always coming so close. As I neared Riad BE my only indicators of its presence were these little arrows, which I assumed were pointing me in the right direction, but who could really know what they indicated?
Marrakech’s kids are smart. Their hustle is to hang around these narrow areas where riads are and find lost tourists, show them to where they’re going (they always know) and beg for money. This happened to me as I was so close but clearly lost, and I tried to pretend I knew where I was going as the kid pointed me towards “Riad Be! Riad Be!” Yes, the kid definitely helped me, but they don’t make it very easy for foreigners to find. They must do this for pure entertainment.
I was delighted to see Medhi, our storyteller from Mom’s dinner, when he answered the door! It all makes sense now-- Sara, our city team manager, signed me up for this spa day-- they all work together. We chatted and he welcomed me in, and when my jaw-dropped awe distracted from the ability to converse he left me alone in my newfound paradise. Riad BE is everything you want in a riad, in an instagram photo, in a Moroccan space. An indoor oasis.
Anne arrived and we had tea in complete tranquility. Mehdi escorted us to where our hammam and massages would take place on the newer side of the riad, where a photo shoot was taking place!
We changed into robes and entered a small room completely made of stone with two benches and a faucet in the middle. Hammam is a traditional Moroccan bath where you strip down naked and get scrubbed with an exfoliating glove. This was my first and only hammam, it was quite the experience! I was glad I had Anne there to laugh with at the strangeness of it all, but it did feel good and we felt like newly bathed babies afterwards. I then had the best massage of my life, seriously it was wondrous, then relaxed with mint tea and wandered the rest of the riad while Anne had her massage.
We left relaxed, rejuvenated, and with a post-hammam glow! Shoukran Riad BE and your incredible self-care ladies!
