The Riad

Stepping through the high wooden gateway of our Paradise Garden into the outside world really is like passing into another realm. Crossing the threshold of Rebali’s inner sanctum feels curiously intrepid, as though her walls are releasing me from their safe haven to embark upon a lone adventure out in the Big Wide World.

Returning conjures the same conceit in reverse; a sense of returning to the fold, of being received into a private sanctuary, sheltered physically and spiritually from the wilderness beyond. Even the wind seems reticent to intrude! What wondrous fuel for my vigorous imagination!

This feeling of having been accepted into an enchanted cloister, with the unspoken promise that, so long as I am inside its walls, it will safeguard me from all harm. The stuff of fairy-tale, indeed!

How fascinated I am, then, to learn on investigation that this very semblance of an inner sanctuary, the almost religious aura of peace and harmony, is not purely the creation of my over-exciteable imagination(!) but has been the deliberate contrivance of Moroccan architects (specifically Berber) for millennia!

In designing their beautiful hideaway, the Ribali Riads team have drawn upon a style of architecture which, though distinctly Moroccan, has its origins in ancient Rome. 

Traditionally, a simple but geometrically precise floor-plan of rooms surround a central courtyard or garden, the latter providing a contemplative, private space, insulated from the bustle and commerce of the world without. The word ‘riad’, indeed, comes from the Arabic word for garden, so much is this area integral to the architectural style. Traditional design incorporates high arches around a rectangular garden, with all rooms opening onto this central atrium. These elegant archways deliberately echo the ‘mihrab’, the prayer alcove in a Mosque’s ‘quibla’ wall, a wall orientated towards Mecca.

Similarly traditionalis the concept of a plain, unostentatious exterior, blending seamlessly with its environment, giving way to a richly decorated interior, often characterised by mathematically precise geometric patterns and exotic floral designs. Highly developed craftsmanship and glorious colour combine to create an interior style that is at once eclectically traditional and stunningly contemporary. Behind the aesthetic beauty, though, lies a profound spiritual inspiration. An integral part of the creation of this private, internal world, is, as Islamic law teaches, a celebration of the family as at the heart of all.


So the Riad offers more than simply shade and shelter from the African heat and dust. It proffers beauty and elegance, harmony and peace, and most of all, I can’t help but feel, as I step once more through the enchanted gateway to be embraced by our garden walls, a wondrous sense of coming home...