Highlights
- Three en-suite bedrooms on separate half-levels
- Roof terrace larger than any room
- Vine pergola and open fire
- Fountain courtyard, no pool
- Lantern and candlelight throughout
The roof
Three bedrooms and a roof terrace that is bigger than any room under it. A pergola runs down one side with vines over it, there is an open fire at the far end for the cold half of the year, and low seating in between. Dinner tends to be served up here rather than downstairs. On a clear winter morning you can see the Atlas over the rooftops; by June the terrace is unusable until about six and then very good until midnight.
Downstairs
The house is small and deliberately dim. Its courtyard is narrow, more a light well than a garden, with a single fig tree and a fountain, and there is no pool: at this size the courtyard takes water for the sound of it and nothing more. Walls are pale lime plaster and milky tadelakt, the woodwork is dark and waxed, and most of the lighting is brass lanterns and candles, so the ground floor reads warm and low even at noon. Each of the three bedrooms has its own bathroom, and they sit on separate half-levels, which matters when six people share a house this compact.
Amenities
- Three en-suite bathrooms
- Rooftop pergola with open fire
- Courtyard fountain and fig tree
- Air conditioning, and heating for the winter months
- Lantern and candle lighting throughout
- Wi-Fi throughout the house
Ideal for
Available on request
- Dinner served on the roof
- Airport transfers
- Massage at the house
- Evening photographer
- Cookery lesson
Charged separately from the stay and confirmed case by case.
Gallery
The area
The lanes here are narrower than they look on a map and quieter at night than most people expect. Sound carries oddly: the call to prayer, a scooter two streets away, then nothing. Everything worth walking to is within twenty minutes on foot, though you will get lost first, and the walk back after dinner is part of what people remember.
What the photos won't tell you
Every listing in the world photographs the pool from its best corner, and no photograph answers the questions that decide a stay. So before you commit, we put the following in writing for your dates:
- How far the car gets, and how many metres and steps remain with the luggage.
- Who the neighbours are, and what you will hear at five in the morning.
- Whether the pool is heated, and in which months that decides whether you swim.
- What “staffed” covers — who is there, at what hours, and who cooks.
- Where the wifi actually reaches, not just where the router is.
- Which of the property’s own photographs were taken with a wide-angle lens, and what a room looks like from the doorway.
Common questions
Does it work for two couples rather than one?
Usually, yes. Bedrooms in a house arranged like this normally sit on separate half-levels with their own bathrooms, so no two of them share a landing or a wall. Six is the ceiling, and the house feels right at four or six rather than stretched to fit.
Is the roof usable in winter?
Most evenings, with the fire lit. December and January nights drop to single figures, so after dark it is a warm-clothes-and-blankets proposition rather than a summer one. Daytime in winter is often the best time of all up there.
How noisy is it?
Quieter than the setting suggests. Riads face inwards, so street noise mostly stays outside. What you hear instead is the fountain, the call to prayer five times a day, and neighbours on their own roofs in the evening.
Can dinner be served at the house?
Usually. A cook can normally be arranged, and dinner on the roof is what most people do at least once. The table is set under the pergola and the kitchen is two flights down, so the meal comes up slowly and is better for it.
Request this stay
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are. A person reads it and answers.