Essential Gibraltar March 2014

COMPLIMENTARY EDITION

N º07 -MARCH/APRIL 2014

essential essential magazine® gibraltar ISSUE 07 • MARCH/APRIL 2014

ESSENTIAL FOR LUXURIOUS LIVING

i

GIBRALTAR

MOROCCAN

MEDLEY

Lexus RC F COUPÉ Tony Lombard’s

NEW OFFICE

Miss GIBRALTAR

Spring Sp ring spirit

MAROUA KHARBOUCH

MARTIN SCORSESE’S

MOVIE MAGIC PATRICIA DARCH

DESIGN

DAZZLE

N E W S I C U LT U R E I P E O P L E I T R E N D I S T Y L E I S P A I P R O I L E I S U R E I G O U R M E T & M O R E

pa n e r a i . c o m

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CALLE ZACATIN 23, 18001 GRANADA. Tel: 958 071 237

design a n d technology.

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Issue 07 • March/April 2014

S T A F F

THE PRO

PUBLISHER AND DIRECTOR

Have you organised a corporate or cultural event recently? Launched a new product or opened a new office and you want Gibraltar to know?

Send us information and we will consider it for placement in the Pro section.

GENERAL MANAGER

ANDREA BÖJTI sales@essentialmagazine.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

MARISA CUTILLAS editorial@essentialmagazine.com

GIBRALTAR EDITORIAL PRODUCTION MANAGER ACCOUNTS EXECUTIVE

GOURMET

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

For new openings, dining events and new products, our popular Food News page is the place to be seen.

Our restaurant listing section will become a reference when you consider dining out, so if your favourite place is not included, please let us know!

CREATIVE DIRECTOR DESIGN & LAYOUT STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

WHAT’S ON

GIBRALTAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Our What’s On section is designed to keep readers up-to-date on forthcoming events including shows, clubs and meetings, either a specific or a reccuring event. If you are an organiser, let us help you get your message across to the whole of Gibraltar!

Do you have a special company or product that our readers should know more about? Send us details and we’ll consider it for a profile feature in one of our upcoming editions.

BELINDA BECKETT belinda@essentialmagazine-gibraltar.com SUSANNE WHITAKER design@essentialmagazine.com MARIANO JEVA cuentas@essentialmagazine.com MONIKA BÖJTI info@essentialmagazine.com

ANDREA BÖJTI INMA AURIOLES MELINDA SZARVAS KEVIN HORN JON SEGUI

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

KRISTY BARRATT, IAIN BLACKWELL, ROCIO CORRALES, MICHEL CRUZ, RIK FOXX, AJ LINN, TONY WHITNEY

COVER MODEL COVER PHOTOGRAPHY HAIR MAKEUP ART DIRECTION

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Marbella Magazine. © Publicaciones Independientes Costa del Sol S.L. for No part of this magazine, including texts, photographs, illustrations, maps or any other graphics may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of Publicaciones Independientes Costa del Sol S.L. Printed on recyclable paper, produced without wood and bleached without chlorine.

3/3/14 12:41 PM

SOCIETE GENERALE PRIVATE BANKING HAMBROS

WE MANAGE YOUR WEALTH

SO YOU CAN ENJOY IT Y O U R P R I VAT E B A N KE R W O RKS C LO SE LY W I T H A D E D I C AT E D T E A M O F I N D U S T R Y E X PE R T S. SO C I E T E G E N E RA LE P RI VAT E BA N KI N G O F F E RS Y O U H I G H Q U A L I T Y SO LU T I O N S T O M A N A G E Y O U R WE A LT H I N A C O M P L E X E N V I R O N M E N T. SO Y O U H AV E T I M E F O R T H E I M P O RTA N T T H I N G S I N L I F E . privatebanking.societegenerale.com/hambros

P a s t p e r f o r m a n c e s h o u l d n o t b e s e e n a s a n i n d i c a t i o n o f f u t u r e p e r f o r m a n c e. P l e a s e n o t e t h a t investments may be subject to market fluctuations and the price and value of investments and the i n c o m e d e r i v e d f r o m t h e m c a n g o d o w n a s w e l l a s u p. A S S U C H Y O U R C A P I TA L M AY B E AT R I S K .

Issued by SG Hambros Bank (Gibraltar) Limited, which is regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Commission, Gibraltar. © 2014 Societe Generale Group and its affiliates. © Hugo Stenson - FRED & FARID

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contents g The People Martin Scorsese 10

The Trend Cinema 14 Home Viewing 16 Books 18 Music 20 Cars: The Lexus RC F CoupĂŠ 22 Gadgets 24

The Local F1 Pre-season Tests in Jerez 26 Tony Lombard 28 Maroua Kharbouch 32 Design Project by Patricia Darch 34

The Style 42 Moroccan Art & DĂŠcor 46 Moroccan Architecture 52 Beauty: Make-up Must-Haves for the Season 54 Argan Oil 55 The Rasul Mud Treatment 56 How to Battle Hayfever the Natural Way

The Pro 58 Enterprise 62 The Gibraltar and Morocco Business Association 64 Business Profile: Your Flight

The Leisure 66 Moody Morocco 72 Chefchaouen

The Gourmet 78 Restaurant Review: Le Bateau 80 Wine: Malleolus from Emilio Moro 82 Restaurant Listings

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3/3/14 12:22 PM

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AA’s highest rated hotel in Gibraltar

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3/1/13 12:37 PM

publisher’s letter words BY IAIN BLACKWELL

W

hile Spain continues to harass those crossing the border, it makes perfect sense for Gibraltar to promote relations and communications with its southerly neighbour, Morocco, just across the straits. The new Gibraltar and Morocco Business Association aims to do just that as will new flights direct to Marrakech, beginning next month. , we focus In this spring edition of on this fascinating land, steeped in history and tradition, which became a veritable melting pot of cultures. Anyone who has ever visited Morocco will testify to its vibrancy, with maze-like souks and bazaars teeming with life and colour, stunning architecture, impressive arts and décor, and memorable cuisine. We bring you all of this and more in an issue that is truly evocative of north Africa.

Elsewhere in these pages, experience an adrenalin-charged rush with this year’s recent first F1 tests in Jerez, check out the sleek lines of the 2015 Lexus RC F Sports Coupé and, hot on the heels of the Oscar’s, don’t miss our profile of iconic movie maker Martin Scorsese.

Locally, we talk with Tony Lombard as he is poised to take up his 2nd term in office as Mayor, and with current Miss Gibraltar, Maroua Kharbouch who is of Moroccan descent. We also go through the keyhole in Admiral’s Place to witness a shining example of a heritage property given new life by Patricia Darch and, last but not least, we sample fine French dining at Le Bateau in Queensway Quay.

Enjoy!

Magical

Morocco

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THE PEOPLE scorsese

MARTIN

SCORSESE An Unswerving Belief in the Power of the Cinema

“I got to fucking be in a Martin Scorsese movie and I just got nominated for an Oscar!” shouted actor, Jonah Hill. “They gave me the lowest amount of money possible. I said, ‘I will sign the paper tonight…

I want to sign them before I go to sleep tonight so they can’t legally can’t change their mind’”. Hill was talking, of course, about The Wolf of Wall Street, one of Scorsese’s best films to date, groundbreaking and unforgettable, beautifully paced yet peppered with repugnant characters who shock because they are real. If you have seen this film, then there can be no doubt in your mind why Jonah Hill, one of Hollywood’s ‘it’ actors, would accept such a ‘meagre’ amount for seven months of work. For most actors, young and old alike in Hollywood, there is one aim in life: to work with Scorsese.

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

M

artin Scorsese has delighted the savvy movie-going public for over three decades, with such eclectic releases as Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Goodfellas (1990). He thrilled us in Cape Fear (1991), romanced us in The Age of Innocence (1993) and dragged us to the pits of despair in Shutter Island (2010). Those who have only seen Taxi Driver or Goodfellas may fall into the trap of associating the Director with actionpacked flicks populated by rough gangster types. The antidote?

Hugo: a visual masterpiece which reveals the origins and the great importance of film making.

The Wolf of Wall Street has drawn rave reviews from critics

worldwide, many of whom acknowledge that despite having felt a severe revulsion towards the film’s protagonists (real-life stockbroker, Jordan Belfort and his merry crew), they were besotted by the film’s rhythm, the quality of the acting and above all by Scorsese’s relentless pursuit of truth. The Wolf of Wall Street reveals the highs and lows of Belfort, who lived a life fuelled by money, cocaine and sex. Private jets, luxury yachts and all the ‘friends’ that money could buy were nothing to a man who made $23 million in just two hours. Scorsese invites the audience to a party they would never have attended in their real lifetime. The film portrays Belfort as both charismatic and vile; there is no attempt to chastise or subject characters to a moral code, rather, we are shown their world exactly as it was.

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The Wolf of Wall Street, Shutter Island, Raging Bull, Hugo and Taxi Driver

The Wolf of Wall Street is, perhaps, a wake-up call to those who label Scorsese as excessively violent.

For Scorsese, “violence is not pleasant”. It makes its way into films like Raging Bull, as part of the necessity of representing life itself: “That is the human condition and it’s tragic; it will do us in as a species if we don’t learn about it. I don’t put violence out there to enjoy it; my characters pay for it – (in films like) Raging Bull and The Departed”.

For Scorsese, violence is sometimes no more than a crucial part of showing who a character is. In an excellent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, he spoke of growing up in downtown New York, in an Italian-American area: “There were a lot of good people whom I saw do some not very good things because they had no choice. You can say, ‘Well, they have a choice… they can have an education…’ They couldn’t. Simple. It’s easy for us to talk… I’m interested in that world because I grew up in it. I’m also interested in style.”

Scorsese is famed for working with the rare kind of actor that can add a whole new dimension to any script; indeed, he is best known for his films featuring the best actor of all time, Robert DeNiro.

Scorsese has often told the press that DeNiro “knows where I come from, who I really am”; the actor and director used to hang out together in the Lower East Side when DeNiro was just an adolescent. Scorsese defines DeNiro as “a friend; a generous, good man who did not take advantage of his power with me.” Scorsese would once again meet his match in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio, whose curious, intellectual nature and willingness to take risks, would strike a chord with the Director.

Of course, it helps that DiCaprio is strikingly cultivated – the Director often mentions the actor’s profound knowledge of cinematic history.

When asked what attracts him to specific projects, Scorsese claims that “every film has to count… I’m 71 now, there isn’t much time.” He claims that there were only a handful of films in his life that he felt that he had to make. These include Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

His process in selecting films, he says, is asking himself what he can bring to a potential project that is new and exciting, whether he can bring a new style to it or work on a style he has already used in a new way. In his older years, Scorsese is showing no signs of slowing down; he is simply seeking more meaning through film.

One of the things that most preoccupy him is the youth and their relative lack of cinematic culture.

In a lecture given in 2013 at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, he made a case for teaching visual literacy in schools: “Young people need to understand that not all images are out there to be consumed like fast food and then forgotten. We need to educate them to understand the difference between moving images that engage their humanity and their intelligence, and moving images that are just selling something”.

Important aspects of visual literacy include the study of how ideas and emotions are expressed with the camera using techniques like panning, tracking in and out, booming up and down, closeup, medium and long shots, and how different types of lighting can express a different emotional and psychological viewpoint to the audience. Says Scorsese: “Images are very powerful, so we should

teach the youth how to use or at least interpret them. Just think of the role played by films made in Germany during World War II – just think of how some of these films helped shape the policy of the Third Reich and what that led to… we need to train the eyes and the hearts of students to look at films in a different way to ask questions and be able to point to different ideas, concepts and suggestions.”

Scorsese is as much a perfectionist as he is prolific; perhaps this is why some of his films have taken so long to make. His latest project, Silence, took “20 years just to even think about.”

Silence is an adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence, a drama about a young Portuguese Jesuit missionary sent to 17th century Japan, only to endure cruel torture for refusing to renounce his faith. He is also working on what promises to be a fascinating documentary on former President Bill Clinton, whom he referred to as “a towering figure who remains a major voice in world issues…

Through intimate conversations, I hope to provide greater insight into this transcendent figure.”

Martin Scorsese has received more honours and awards than we can mention. He ranked second in Total Film Magazine’s list of Greatest Directors of All Time (he lost out to no less than Alfred Hitchcock!), has been listed as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and his films boast a total of 40 Oscar wins thus far. Scorsese may feel that “there is very little time left” but his millions of fans around the world hope, pray and believe that this seasoned Director with an incredibly contemporary outlook on life, will continue to break new ground in the world of cinema. We simply cannot get enough of Scorsese. e

ESSENTIALMAGAZINE.COM MARCH/APRIL 2014 / 11

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2/25/14 2:16 PM

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Bringing Music to Your Ears & Gibraltar to your Screen

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2/25/14 11:50 AM

trend READING / MUSIC / FILMS / GADGETS / MOTORING / TRENDS

This month, we invite you to savour the magic of Morocco, suggesting top reads on the life and cuisine of this inspiring country. Music, film and gadget lovers will love browsing through our collection of latest releases, while car buffs will race through our report on the brand new Lexus RC F Coupé.

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Cinema

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Home Viewing

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Books

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Music

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Cars: The Lexus RC F Coupé

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trend CINEMA

WORDS MARISA CUTILL

AS

OF THE MONTH

e BLOCKBUSTER

The Monuments Men » GENRE Action/

Biography

» DIRECTOR George

Clooney (Siriana)

» ACTORS George

Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon

ry of a Based on the true sto nt, The hu re asu tre ng ati fascin ion film act an is n Monuments Me War II rld Wo a on s tre cen which arduous the h wit d platoon entruste sterpieces ma c isti art ng cui res of task g in Germany. from Nazi thieves residin g Museum The platoon, comprisin Art Historians, d an ors Curators, Direct determined were unlikely yet highly allow 1,000 to d use heroes who ref the wrong in up d en to art of years hands.

» GENRE Drama/ Comedy » DIRECTOR Spike Jonze » ACTORS Joaquin Phoenix,

Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams

Her

Her is a quirky romantic comedy set in a future in which bookish intellectual, Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with an artificially intelligent computer system known as ‘Samantha’.

As he begins to realise that he has found a soul mate in one he can never have, he begins to question what went wrong between him and his ex-wife, and why what began so well ended up so bitterly. Her is quite a profound reflection on the nature of urban isolation and the as yet untold effect technology can have on humans in the future. It is also one of the most engaging films you are likely to see this year.

» GENRE Thriller » DIRECTOR Kenneth

» GENRE Drama » DIRECTOR Scott McGehee,

» ACTORS Chris Pine, Kevin

» ACTORS Julianne Moore,

Branagh (Thor)

Costner, Keira Knightley

David Siegel (The Deep End)

Alexander Skarsgård, Steve Coogan

» GENRE Fantasy/Drama » DIRECTOR Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind)

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Chris Pine plays Tom Clancy’s famous character Jack Ryan – a young CIA recruit who discovers an insidious plan to sabotage the US economy through a massive terrorist attack. Pine is joined by Keira Knightley (who plays his girlfriend, Cathy), Kevin Costner (playing his supervisor) and Kenneth Branagh himself (who plays Russian oligarch, Viktor Cherevin).

» ACTORS Colin Farrell, Jessica

What Maisie Knew

This film is based on the novel of the same name, by Henry James. Maisie is a six-year-old girl who is caught in the middle of a bitter custody dispute between her mother, Susanna (an ageing rock star) and her father, Beale (an art curator). In an effort to win the decisive battle, Beale marries Maisie’s nanny and Susanna marries her friend, Lincoln. As the battle grows in intensity, Maisie begins to grow fond of the new persons in her life.

Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe

Winter’s Tale

Colin Farrell plays Peter, a young thief who falls madly in love with an heiress whose home he breaks into. When Peter loses his love and later discovers he has the power of reincarnation, he grows determined to unite body and soul with his soulmate, in another life…

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trend HOME VIEWING

Marisa Cutillas brings us a few of the season’s top DVD releases.

» GENRE Adventure » DIRECTOR Harald Zwart (Agent Cody Banks)

» ACTORS Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan » IMDB RATING 6.1/10

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Lily Collins channels her adventurous spirit in The Mortal Instruments, in which she plays Clary, a young teenager who discovers that she descends from a line of warriors entrusted with protecting the Planet from otherworldly forces. Clary discovers that other youngsters share her gift and, together, they delve into an alternate version of New York called Downworld, to battle against the demons that aim to eradicate humanity.

ASE OF THE MONTH

Prisoners

D RELE e FEATURED DV » GENRE Crime/ Drama

» DIRECTOR

Denis Villeneuve (Maelstrom) » ACTORS Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis

» IMDB

RATING 8.1/10

loving family man who Hugh Jackman plays a s imaginable when suffers the greatest los napped. Caught in kid is er his little daught he grows determined the throes of despair, ric young man is ent ecc to prove that an ond the bounds of the kidnapper, going bey lenhaal, meanwhile, Gyl e Jak legality to do so. ive whose every is a keen young detect confined bounds the action moves within ich moves along at of reason. The film, wh features a surprising breakneck speed and ns, begs one crucial tur and sts series of twi should our instincts ce: question of its audien less of the fact that always be trusted, regard lation of others’ basic this may entail the vio human rights?

The Trip

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reprise their roles from Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story in this deliciously dry, witty film, which highlights the misfortunes of the rather odd yet dynamic duo as they journey through the English countryside. The madness begins when Steve Coogan accepts a commission from The Observer to review some of the finest restaurants in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. When Steve’s girlfriend decides not to accompany him at the last minute, he invites his old friend Rob to join him, only to discover that the tension between them has intensified, rather than abated, over the years. On the upside, they also reignite the inimitable chemistry that they shared in the past, as they wine, dine and imitate Liam Neeson and Woody Allen to no end.

Epic » GENRE Animation » DIRECTOR Chris Wedge (Robots) » VOICES Amanda Seyfried, Josh

Hutcherson, Beyoncé Knowles » IMDB RATING 6.7/10

A teenager is whizzed away from the comfort of her home to the heart of an epic forest battle between the forces of good and evil. She teams up with a gang of do-gooders in an attempt to save the Planet from the biggest environmental threats.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

» GENRE Comedy » DIRECTOR Michael Winterbottom (Code 46) » ACTORS Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Paul Popplewell, Margo Stilley

» IMDB RATING 7/10

Young Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and a demigod in his own right, has recently saved the world but, soon, he begins to wonder if his powers are a blessing or a curse. When he learns that a hoard of mythological monsters (including the fearful Charybdis) are threatening to destroy the sanctuary of the Gods, Percy and his friends head for the Sea of Monsters – more commonly known as the Bermuda Triangle – to save the Olympians from extinction.

» GENRE Fantasy » DIRECTOR Thor Freudenthal

(Hotel for Dogs) » ACTORS Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson » IMDB RATING 6/10

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26-02-2014 10:25:35

trend BOOKS

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

This month, we suggest top reads about a country which has fascinated us for as far back as we can remember:

Morocco

ARABESQUE: A TASTE OF MOROCCO, TURKEY AND LEBANON BY CLAUDIA RODEN

The cuisines of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon are known for their rich flavours, complex combinations and harmonious equilibrium. For thousands of years, these countries were points of transits on the spice routes between the Far East, Central Africa, the Spice Islands and Europe.

These days, they are peppered with colourful spice shops, brimming over with spices favoured by locals and tourists alike. In this fabulous book, Claudia Roden introduces budding Chefs to traditional recipes which reflect the changes brought about by modern tastes and technology. Rice, bulgur and couscous are but a few ingredients you will learn to cook to Arabesque perfection.

NEW MOROCCAN STYLE: THE ART OF SENSUAL LIVING BY

SUSAN SULLY

If you’ve always been inspired by Moroccan art and architecture and you would love to bestow your home with a bit of Moroccan charm, this book will make it happen. Featuring a myriad of photographs of homes, resorts and private guesthouses, it reveals how particular fabrics, lighting and textures can make a modern home look invitingly traditional.

A HOUSE IN FEZ: BUILDING A LIFE IN THE ANCIENT HEART OF MOROCCO

BY SUZANNA CLARKE

A YEAR IN MARRAKESH

BY PETER MAYNE

Few books are said to portray life among Muslims in such an endearing light, as A Year in Marrakesh by Peter Mayne. Monty Python star, Michael Palin, once deemed this book one of the ten best he has read in his life, largely owing to the author’s clear passion for his subject and for his ability to dig beneath the surface. This is definitely not a guide to typical tourist sights or a superficial account of habits and customs; rather, it is a profound and sensitive portrayal of life in Morocco – with all its turmoil, traditions and undeniable magic.

When Suzanna Clarke and her husband bought a run-down house in the ancient town of Fez, their friends and family feared for their sanity. Ensconced within a labyrinth of winding, narrow alleyways, the house was a traditional riad which required extensive repairs.

Neither Suzanna nor her husband spoke a word of Arabic, but they were determined to return the home to its original glory using only handmade materials and traditional building methods. However, restoring this mansion was only one part of their adventure; even more enriching were their encounters with the Moroccan people – their customs, festivals and rituals; the tales of djinns and spirits; the aromatic, colourful marketplaces that opened their tastebuds, and their souls, to a rich culture and tradition.

VILLAS AND COURTYARD HOUSES OF MOROCCO

BY CORINNE VERNER AND CÉCILE TRÉAL

From the riads of Marrakesh to the palace of Fez, from the Kasbahs of the south to the trading posts of Essaouira, this book is a lavish display of some of the most stunning abodes in Morocco, a country graced with some of the most beautiful displays of architecture in North Africa. Over 200 photographs are accompanied by fascinating essays on the symbolism of various constructions, the tradition of decorative arts and the idea of gardens being metaphors for Paradise. The book delves into modern living spaces as well, whose originality and futuristic leaning surprise.

A HANDFUL OF HONEY: AWAY TO THE PALM GROVES OF MOROCCO AND ALGERIA

BY ANNIE HAWES

At the tender age of 16, author Annie Hawes was deported from Portugal and sent home to England.

On the way home, she was taken in by a family hailing from Timimoun in Algeria, a date-farming town deep in the heart of the Sahara. Many years later, when a couple of friends suggested that Annie join them on a trip to Morocco and Algeria, she thought it would be the perfect opportunity to reconnect with her old friends from Timimoun; this book is the result. Annie Hawes writes in the vivid, refreshingly honest style her fans first encountered in her first book Extra Virgin and her knowledge of politics, history and Islamic tradition is related with liberal doses of humour as well as her infectious fascination for some of the most exotic lands in the world.

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trend MUSIC

¿QUÉ PASA?

WORDS RIK FOXX

It might only be March but already there are a few names scheduled to appear on the Coast during the summer. If you didn’t already know, this year’s Starlite Festival (July 23 – August 23) in Marbella has so far named KOOL AND THE GANG, JULIO IGLESIAS, GLORIA GAYNOR and Spanish superstar ROSARIO. And the initial Sun 101 Festival in Málaga finds FRANZ FERDINAND headlining with support from UK alternative dance band the CRYSTAL FIGHTERS, French rockers RINOCEROSE and Spanish indie outfit LORI MEYERS. ROBERT PLANT keeps turning down a tour with his old LED ZEPP pals but that doesn’t stop him mixing it up with other musicians and on July 27 he is bringing his SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS to Málaga’s Plaza de Toros (info: www.ticketmaster.es).

Meanwhile, this month Málaga’s Teatro de Cervantes hosts blues legend JOHN MAYALL on the 5th and if you like 1940s big band swing, the GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA play on the 10th (ticket info for both: www. teatrocervantes.com).

One of the worst kept secrets in the biz was finally made official recently when FLEETWOOD MAC announced that CHRISTINE MCVIE had rejoined the band. She was responsible for some of their biggest hits but left them in 1988. This reunites the line-up that recorded such classic LP’s as Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979) and Tango In The Night (1987) and they will now write then record a new album.

Not long to go to the World Cup finals now and according to her management, JENNIFER LOPEZ will record the official anthem. We Are One will be sung in English, Spanish and Portuguese featuring CLAUDIA LEITTE and PITBULL, who also is on the new ENRIQUE IGLESIAS single I’m A Freak (out March 16).

SNR. IGLESIAS has also teamed up with KYLIE MINOGUE for the track, Beautiful. It’s not known when this will see the light of day as both artists record for different companies who both want sole rights to the song. In the meantime the Aussie pocket rocket releases her first album in four years on March 17, Into The Blue will feature the single Kiss Me Once, which will land a week earlier.

n the all clear on his cancer Now BRIAN MAY has been give EN with a world tour on the QUE for scare it’s all systems go M LAMBERT possibly on vocals. cards later this year with ADA tracks featuring FREDDIE r-old yea Also three unknown 30 N along with the MICHAEL JACKSO have recently sur faced to go r. And yea last ut abo told e wer s collaborations which fan ut rmed you in past issues abo talking of JACKO, we have info l it’s alleged wel IRS, n rica Ame the owe how his estate is said to e now been officially ser ved that the JACKSON family hav and in back taxes and penalties bill notice for a $700 million Uncle Sam wants his money.

US m Salute is selling well in the LITTLE MIX, whose second albu 1986 CAMEO the of er cov a with 16) rch return this month (Ma ef. For single for the BBC’s Sport Reli classic Word Up, the official rity weekend cha the t, rne inte the via TV those who can get UK runs from March 21 – 23.

SHAKIRA has just put the finishing touches to her self-titled new album and has also re-recorded Can't Remember To Forget You, the hit she recently released with RIHANNA, on her own in Spanish. The album is set for a March 25 release.

PHARRELL WILLIAMS had an excellent 2013 and is in demand (ELTON JOHN wants to team up with him) but he has set his sights on working with NOEL and LIAM GALLAGHER… together. And rock legend ROGER DALTREY, who recently announced that THE WHO will make a new album soon, is also trying to reunite the estranged OASIS brothers to appear at one of this month’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows in London as he is the curator for the event.

And while we’re on family feuds – last summer some of you may have enjoyed the original UB40 (at Starlite), or the former lead singer ALI CAMPBELL’S UB40 (in Fuengirola), or both. Well the two parties are at loggerheads again after original co-singer ASTRA left the former last November under a cloud of controversy – then in January he joined the latter. ALI and ASTRA, who were the recognisable voices on all the big hits, are currently recording along with the original keyboardist MICKEY VIRTUE – and they want to call themselves UB40 – which of course isn’t going down too well with ROBIN CAMPBELL, the brother of ALI and now head honcho of the line-up which features the other five original members. An insider said, “This will likely cause major friction and legal action”. Suggestion: how about a good ole fashioned UB40 night out and the last man standing keeps the name of the band?

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trend MOTORING

2015 LEXUS WORDS TONY WHITNEY PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LEXUS

RC F Sports Coupé

The car had been eagerly anticipated, but the elegant new Lexus still created a buzz of excitement when it made its global debut at the big Detroit auto show earlier this year. Quite apart from its appealing and satisfyingly aggressive looks, the RC F promises to be a very quick and agile performer, as room was made under the bonnet for a seriously powerful V-8 engine. For buyers who want something that looks much the same but is a little less exotic, Lexus will offer a base RC (non-F) variant of the car in some markets, powered by a 3.5 litre V-6.

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exus says it wants to give owners a ‘back to the track’ feeling, even when they’re just tackling their daily commute in the new car.

In other words, Lexus wants to make the RC F great fun to drive and, as a bonus, be guaranteed to draw admiring glances wherever it goes.

As far as sporty cars go, Lexus has been offering its SC hardtop convertible for many years, but sales of this rather ungainly-looking car have tailed off and right now it looks as though it will slip into history. For the immediate future, the sports car centerpiece at Lexus will be the RC F coupé and the talk is that the SC, which sits in a higher price class, will

be replaced at some stage by a soft top roadster, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.

The RC F is definitely a stunning piece of automotive styling and clearly picks up cues from the LFA supercar, which was produced in very limited numbers not long ago. It is certainly knocking on the door of the supercoupé class, but we won’t really know how good it is until it’s thoroughly tested. This new Lexus should also grant more status to the company’s ‘F’ performance branding, aimed at competing with rivals in the BMW M range, Audi’s S-cars and with the Mercedes-Benz AMGs. Lexus is very highly regarded in the various luxury saloon and SUV classes in which it competes, but still has to carve a serious niche in the world of sports cars. With products like the RC F

coming along, the Lexus image is sure to become a lot sportier.

The bodywork includes the usual roster of air scoops and cooling ducts associated with cars like this and the rear spoiler is ‘active.’ which means that it’s movable, popping up at 80 km/h and retracting at 40 km/h. Lexus will offer various carbon fibre bodywork and interior options to enable buyers to ‘customise’ their RC F. Naturally, the car has the huge bonnet-to-spoiler black honeycomb air intake that Lexus calls its ‘spindle grille.’ Not everyone will like this rather brash approach, but you’ll certainly know what’s coming by when you see one of these in your rear-view mirror. The predatory look of the car is finished off with ultra-wide tyres and huge 19-inch alloy wheels (in various styles), which are handpolished for some trim versions.

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Power for the RC F comes from a 460-horsepower, 5.0 litre V-8, which delivers an appropriate amount of torque, making it the most powerful full-production Lexus ever.

This mighty engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels in classic fashion. Lexus has taken all kinds of steps to make this road-going racer a very safe car, but enthusiasts will find that the best safety feature of all are the four-wheel ABS disc brakes manufactured by Brembo of Italy – the company that supplies brakes for Formula One and other major race series.

They’re bound to be real ‘stoppers’ and if the efforts of the driver aren’t quite enough in a panic stop, electronic brake force distribution (EBD) lends some help.

The cockpit again pays homage to the fabled LFA, though few will complain about that. It’s very driveroriented and should please owners who really like to feel ‘part of the car’ when they’re out and about. The elliptical cross-section steering wheel is of small diameter and nicely thick-rimmed, again hinting at competition car origins. The hip-hugging seats keep the occupants in place if the driver is exploiting the car’s nimble handling on a winding road.

Lexus will offer five leather trim choices, all with contrasting stitching, pointing out that the seats are “designed to resemble the look of tight-fitting athletic sportswear,” which

is an interesting comparison. As with all Lexus products, exceptionally high quality and fastidious attention to detail come with the admission price. Some very lofty luxury carmakers use Lexus as a quality benchmark, as some will grudgingly admit.

The RC F instrument panel is arranged around one huge dial which changes according to which of four driving modes is selected. Modes include Eco, Normal, Sport and Sport Plus. When these changes are made, information on the dial changes along with text size and colour. Pilots familiar with today’s ‘glass cockpit’ aircraft will know all about screens with information options. The standard (non-F) RC uses a more conventional instrument array based on two large dials.

Other than the widely praised LFA, of which only 500 were ever built, the RC and RC F are the most exciting cars we’ve seen from Lexus for quite some time. They should create some serious competition for other new performance coupés like the new BMW M4 and recently introduced Jaguar F-Type Coupé.

No pricing has been announced as yet and it may be a few months before this car arrives at Lexus dealers. Since it’s based on the 350 IS F four-door sports saloon in many ways, the price should not be that steep – perhaps 20 per cent to 30 per cent above a well equipped IS F. e

Z ENGINE 5.0 litre, 460-horsepower V-8.

Z TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic with steering wheel paddles for manual gear selection.

Z ACCELERATION Zero to 100 km/h in well under 5.0-seconds (estimated using data supplied by Lexus).

Z TOP SPEED Estimated at 270 km/h.

Z I LIKED Great-looking sports car with groundhugging lines, attractive body sculpturing and superbly executed interior. Lots of power on tap and handling to match. Great driver-focused interior with outstanding fit and finish. Impressive treatment of instrumentation and controls. This should be a superlative grand touring car.

Z I DIDN’T LIKE So far, everything seems fine, but that huge grille may be a little overpowering to some, even if it is becoming a Lexus brand signature.

Z MARKET ALTERNATIVES BMW M4, Jaguar F-Type Coupé, Audi S5 and probably several more, depending on the final price of the RC F. Z WHO DRIVES ONE? Lexus lovers who yearn for a car that borrows some styling cues from the legendary LFA, but doesn’t cost a fortune. Drivers who want all the best features of a potent, taut handling, sports coupé, but would like some Lexus comfort to go along with it.

Z PRICE AND AVAILABILITY The RC F will appear during 2014 as a 2015 model. Prices to be announced.

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trend ELECTRONICS

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1 – PEBBLE STEEL: Marketed as ‘the premium smartwatch for iOS

and Android’, Pebble Steel is an iconic, colourful, sporty smartwatch with downloadable watch faces and a host of handy Internetconnected apps. See who is calling or receive important emails, without having to pull out your phone in the middle of a meeting! i www.getpebble.com 2 – METAWATCH: This gorgeous piece of eye candy blurs the lines between fashion and technology, mixing stainless steel and leather in an elegant and sophisticated design. Metawatch is a 3ATM water-resistant smartwatch which supports a dual-mode Bluetooth connection to your Android smartphone or iPhone. Check messages, control your playlist, check out the weather, all with a glance at your wrist. i www.metawatch.com 3 – I’M WATCH: One of the outstanding features of this new watch is the array of colours it comes in, and its stunning aluminum chassis which is also available in titanium or gold. The Androidcompatible watch employs Blutooth technology to access your e-mail, Facebook messages, texts, etc. from your phone. i www.imsmart.com

4 – QUALCOMM TOQ SMARTWATCH FOR ANDROID:

This new smartwatch boasts a coloured touchscreen display that leverages surrounding light so your screen is visible even in the brightest of sunlight. i www.toq.qualcomm.com 5 – GARMIN VIVOFIT: This trendy fitness band takes you to new heights, tracking your activity level, helping you set goals and marking milestones achieved. i www.garmin.com/vivo 6 – FILIP: A smartwatch for kids? Why not? Filip is a watch/tracker and phone all-in-one, and its colourful, sturdy design makes it an ideal accessory for cool kids of all ages. i www.myfilip.com

GADGETS TO WEAR Marisa Cutillas brings us some new, wearable gadgets, presented at the Consumer Electronics Show 2014, held with much fanfare in Las Vegas recently.

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local

CULTURE / HISTORY / FEATURES / FAMOUS PEOPLE / INTERVIEWS / HUMOUR

Our preview of the Formula One season is sure to get your motor running. We also speak with Tony Lombard, former Mayor and with Maroua Kharbouch, the first Gibraltarian of Moroccan descent to wear the Miss Gibraltar crown. Finally, we invite you to take a look at a heritage property, given new life by Patricia Darch.

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F1 Pre-season Tests in Jerez

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Tony Lombard

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Maroua Kharbouch

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Design Project by Patricia Darch

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Rear of the Torro Rosso Car

THE LOCAL sports

THE DAWNING OF ) t e ANOTHER NEW ERA y ( WORDS MIGUEL REYNOLDO PHOTOGRAPHY JON SEGUI

Formula 1 is introducing arguably the biggest set of rule changes in its history. New sounding engines and unusual car numbers are just two reasons that the sport will be different in 2014 and Andalucía’s very own Jerez was the first to witness the new ‘green’ F1 generation.

Kamui Kobayashi – Team Caterham

Felipe Massa – Team Williams

Pirelli Tyres

Red Bull Team Photo Christian Horner, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo & Adrian Newey

Felipe Massa

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t approximately 7am (CET) on March 16, a full rev rush for the first bend of the formula one season in Melbourne, Australia will be watched by those not sleeping. As mentioned in the forward this is arguably the biggest set of rule changes in the sport’s history. The ear drum busting banshee wail of the 2.4-litre V8 is no more and is replaced by the lower pitched growl of the turbo fitted 1.6-litre V6.

The changes In a nutshell, apart from new engines we have the introduction of ERS: the energy recovery system is made up of the KERS system (that has been around for a few years) and a second electric motor fitted to the turbo. There’s a 100kg fuel limit (last year, there was no race fuel limit and cars used around 160kg per race). Eight-speed, fixed ratio gearboxes instead of seven, plus the annual aerodynamic and tyre tweaks. The new double finishing points for the last race and, last but not least, the cars: the new designs make most of them look like anteaters (or vacuum cleaners) with a phallic appendage at the front – and they are not a pretty sight!

JEREZ SUMMARY The Circuito de Jerez played host for the first preseason test between February 4 and 7. Ten of the 11 constructors were present, only Lotus were missing. Of the 22 drivers present, rookie Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) was the fastest over the four days followed by Felipe Massa (Williams) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) made it a Mercedes-powered 1-2-3. But most noticeable was the inconsistency

Kimi Raikkonen – Team Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton – Team Mercedes

of the teams with Renault engines, especially Red Bull who over the whole week completed a mere 21 laps. World champion Sebastian Vettel posted 11 of those and only finished 17th on the overall time sheets. Red Bull supremo Adrian Newey pulled down the garage shutters early on the last day and has literally ‘gone back to the drawing board’ hoping to concoct a more competitive car for the final two tests in Bahrain which were scheduled to take place from February 19 to 22 and February 27 to March 2.

Despite their testing teething problems in Jerez, would you write off Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel’s chances of making it five in a row? The champ, like the other 21 drivers, will have to adapt to all the changes (plus a new wing (mirror) man in Daniel Ricciardo) and they are all in the same boat. Lewis Hamilton will lead the Mercedes charge with team mate Nico Rosberg no doubt on his tail. The Mercpowered McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen will be thereabouts with the rookie looking to make his mark. Kimi Raikkonen’s return to Ferrari should be interesting and Fernando Alonso will not want to play second fiddle there.

Williams might be worth keeping an eye on having switched from Renault to Mercedes power and both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas might make a few sit up and take note. As for the rest – only time will tell.

Bookmakers are offering odds that no driver will complete all 19 races and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has gone as far as saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if half of the field retired in Australia.

New Numbers

Gone are the standard 1 to 23 (number 13 was never used) and personal numbers are introduced yet the always considered unlucky number 13 will be on the livery of Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus. The car numbers for 2014 are: ZZ RED BULL: 1. Sebastian Vettel;

3. Daniel Ricciardo ZZ MERCEDES: 6. Nico Rosberg;

44. Lewis Hamilton ZZ FERRARI: 14. Fernando Alonso;

7. Kimi Raikkonen ZZ LOTUS: 13. Pastor Maldonado;

8. Romain Grosjean ZZ MCLAREN: 22. Jenson Button;

20. Kevin Magnussen ZZ FORCE INDIA: 27. Nico

Hulkenberg; 11. Sergio Pérez ZZ SAUBER: 99. Adrian Sutil; 21.

Esteban Gutiérrez ZZ TORO ROSSO: 26. Daniil Kvyat;

25. Jean-Éric Vergne ZZ WILLIAMS 19. Felipe Massa; 77.

Valtteri Bottas ZZ MARUSSIA: 4. Max Chilton; 17.

Jules Bianchi ZZ CATERHAM: 9. Marcus

Ericsson; 10. Kamui Kobayashi

Team Force India – Driver Nico Hulkenberg

Fernando Alonso – Team Ferrari

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THE LOCAL people

A Tonic for Gibraltar

TONY LOMBARD WORDS BELINDA BECKETT PHOTOGRAPHY JON SEGUI AND COURTESY OF TONY LOMBARD

W hen Tony Lombard was elected Mayor of Gibraltar in 2010, it was a homecoming, and not only because his 3rd great aunt once owned City Hall. He may have hung up his chain of office for good but this busy barrister and Public Notary holds umpteen civic offices and takes a paternal interest in the affairs of his beloved Rock.

Belinda Beckett discovers what the ‘the politest man in Gibraltar’ is up to these days.

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here were only two slight snags when Tony Lombard was elected Mayor, following his term as Deputy Mayor. It meant another year of curtailing his forthright letters to The Chronicle and drinking only tonic water.

His days of eschewing wine and prose are long over, but there’s no doubt that Tony Lombard remains a tonic for Gibraltar. In these difficult political times, if any man could be considered tailor-made for the role of Gibraltar cheerleader it is this witty, erudite, extrovert who brought a smile to all during his 2011 closing Mayoral address with the comment: “As Ann Widdecombe said about her experiences on Come Dancing, it has been ‘undiluted fun’.” As he says himself, with Tony, “What you see is what you get.”

“The Mayoralty is, perhaps, Gibraltar’s most historic Office and it sung to my soul,” he says.

The Rock and its people are like family to him – indeed, coming from six generations of Lombards in Gibraltar, they are practically blood relatives!

He praises it, occasionally admonishes it in those

Municipal jewel: detail of the Mayoral chain

letters to The Chronicle (penned in his delightfully Dickensian prose) and, short of dangling over London from a zip-wire waving union jacks like Boris Johnson during the 2012 Olympics, he will go to any lengths to promote it.

Not that you will ever see this dapper gent sporting a union jack T-shirt, heaven forbid! Always the picture of sartorial elegance, on National Day he wears his civic pride in the breast pocket of his tailored jacket, in the form of a discreet red silk handkerchief.

I was first directed to Tony’s door (with no prior appointment) by the Garrison Library, when I was researching Mr Henderson’s Railway. I was worried about landing, unannounced, at the Chambers of a busy barrister who is also a Public Notary, a part-time judicial officer chairing the Industrial Tribunal, the Employment Injuries Appeals Board, the Closed Long Term Benefits Appeals Board and the Social Insurance Appeals Board. He’s also Honorary Consul of Poland!

He graciously welcomed me in, plying me with enough historical documentation to fill a Morrisons shopping trolley about his 3rd great uncle, Captain Louis Lombard, who was pivotal in promoting the British railroad to Algeciras and, subsequently, connecting it to Gibraltar by steamship. Tony throws nothing away. The cuttings for his Mayoral scrap-book filled 10 box files!

Afterwards he took me to lunch, holding open doors, taking my coat, pulling out my chair, insisting on paying, exhibiting a chivalry unknown in this day and age. Not for nothing is he known as ‘the politest man in Gibraltar’. His own family Coat of Arms, listed in Burke’s Peerage as of chevalresque (1350) origin, could explain it, although his father had the greater hand in it.

On many occasions since, Tony has filled my glass with wine and my notebook with anecdotes.

Ask him about the time he wore the Mayoral chain to La Linea Fair – a risky first in the regalia’s history but a coup for cross-border relations! Tony is “a hoot-and-a-half,” to use one of his own favourite adjectives. With his gift for bringing chalk and cheese together (handy in the current climate) he leaves everyone with a feel-good factor.

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Flying the flag: National Day 2010

Sir Joshua Hassan, who presented Tony to the Bar, is often described as the first Mayor of Gibraltar but the Office dates back to 1309, Tony will tell you.

He knows his history and is a regular contributor to the Gibraltar Heritage Journal. His passion for the past has fuelled his deep knowledge and he can quote events and dates off the cuff. “A planet for a brain” is a compliment he often pays his peers but his own mind is pretty galactic. “As a wise Eton Master once said: ‘If we do not know where we came from, we cannot know where we are going to’,” says Tony, who has traced his own family history back to 1004 and the Feudal Seigneurial House of de Lombard de Saint Cecile en Provence.

He has also discovered that Mayoralty runs in his blood. One 7th great grandfather held equivalent office on three occasions in 17th century France.

Another ancestor was Consul of Genoa, and later of France, in 18th century Gibraltar and the family tradition for diplomatic office continued into the 19th century.

In another life, he would have liked to have been a history lecturer, “spending my summers at some Italian piazza imbuing the glories of the Renaissance.” While Mayor, he revived tours of

City Hall in Gibraltar’s own Piazza. The magnificent Georgian town house built by Aaron Cardozo in 1815 (a Jewish merchant famous for victualling Admiral Lord Nelson’s fleet for the battle of Trafalgar), has played a leading role in his own family history. The building was owned throughout most of the 19th century by his maternal 3rd great aunt, Judith Abudarham, who married Cardozo’s nephew; later, a paternal umpteenth great uncle, John Ansaldo, converted it into the Club House Hotel. Every time he walks into City Hall he feels a close connection.

A man who aspires to excellence in everything and regrets the modern trend for dumbing-down, restoring the house to its pure Regency style is a deeply-cherished wish.

People still talk about the elegant Black Tie dinner Tony hosted at City Hall (at his own expense) to mark his Mayoral installation, when 29 family

members, friends and VIPs were regaled with operatic entertainment and catering by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. “The dining table was graced with my late parents’ silver centre piece and candelabra and, upon the chimney piece, silverframed photographs of my past near and dear.

Memories! In the end, that is all we are left with.”

Tony takes an almost paternal interest in his beloved Rock and one of his dearest wishes would be to see a monument erected to the citizens of Gibraltar in London, to mark this year’s 70th anniversary of the return of the WW11 evacuees.

“They were torn from their homeland to face greater peril during the Blitz,” says Tony who would be prepared to knock on doors himself, although it’s not now his place to do so, in pursuit of “a fitting tribute to the sacrifice that no other Overseas Territory was called upon to undertake.”

Although never frivolous with tax payers money while Mayor (he replaced costlier evening receptions for the few with more economic coffee mornings for the many during his last term of office), he would also like to see future incumbents in the Mayoral role do something for the Jewish community. “If not for the Jewish merchants of Tetouan who, from

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Framed: The official Mayoral portrait, City Hall

Court jest: Tony as a rookie lawyer, wittily captured by the late John Ballantine, MBE

OUT-QUOTES

the 1704 Conquest of Gibraltar and throughout most of the 18th century, provisioned Gibraltar, we would have starved”. A Council of Mayors Emeriti is another of his ideas. “It makes sense to harness the experience, contacts and contributions of past Mayors on an ongoing basis after retirement,” says Tony, who would be among them.

On a wider scale, he sees investment potential in forming relationships with similar jurisdictions: “Monaco, San Marino, the Gulf States and those territories with a shared British history, especially in the Middle East. Think what it might achieve! In one year of office, the Mayor of London will travel for 100 days and visit 22 countries to target attractive new markets and something similar, if on a smaller scale, might be considered appropriate for Gibraltar.

We are in a battle for our survival, never more apparent than when Spain becomes belligerent and all hands must be to the endeavour and all opportunities explored. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”

Whether at home or in his Chambers at Governor’s Parade, Tony is a man of simple tastes. “I live a frugal life, early to bed, early to rise, I don’t usually take holidays or rest, I drive a rudimentary vehicle and am too much of a dinosaur

ZZ ON HIS EDUCATION: “I was schooled in England but educated in Gibraltar – there’s a subtle difference.”

ZZ ON HIS TELEPHONE BEING CONSTANTLY ENGAGED: “Friends tell me my phone at home in the evenings is like Heathrow. If you miss your slot you’ve had it!”

ZZ ON HIS SARTORIAL ELEGANCE: “It’s said that for a man to be elegant he has to be at least 5 ft 8 inches, so at 5ft61/2 I don’t quite make it.”

ZZ ON HIS MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT AS MAYOR: “Being captured on You Tube at the Miss Gibraltar Pageant, dancing ‘the Lombarda’ to Jamie Archer’s Your Sex is on Fire. Mercifully, I was not wearing the Chain of Office at the time!”

to use a mobile phone.”

One onerous daily task is watching his weight. He enjoys his regular lunches at the Eliott Hotel, just across the road from his Chambers, but tries to stick to Caesar’s Salad and avoid the puddings. Nor is he a sporting man, recalling his cricketing efforts at school with a wry smile. “I used to try to catch the careering red ball with open arms, to the consternation of Brother Miller who would shout: ‘Master Lombard, you are not praying the ‘Our Father’!”

Tony never married but takes huge joy in his nephews, Andrew and James, and his beautiful niece Louise, who has acted as his official consort at public engagements. “To those the Almighty does not give children, he gives nephews and nieces and I am blessed to be in that happy category,” he says. “They are all scientificallyminded, unmoved by history, heritage and the arts, joking when I try to interest them in their genealogy that ‘everybody is entitled to Uncle Tony’s opinion’. But they possess that goodness, intelligence and freedom from baggage that’s so typical of their generation and which I find so inspiring. In short, I am convinced our future is assured.” e

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Maroua Kharbouch:

THE LOCAL people

Maroua Kharbouch: She is the first Gibraltarian of Moroccan descent to wear the Miss Gibraltar crown and represent her country at Miss World. In this month’s Morocco-themed issue, Maroua Kharbouch reflects on her year.

Miss Inspirational!

Report Belinda Beckett Photography jaYden fa

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t was an image that captured the imagination of social media sites worldwide – Miss Gibraltar holding hands with Miss Spain, watched by a global audience of millions at the 2013 Miss World contest.

It was fate that Spain’s Elena Ibarbia and Gibraltar’s Maroua Kharbouch found themselves next to each other on stage when the girls linked hands for the final line-up.

But at a time when tensions between the two countries were mounting, it was a PR’s dream!

Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, wasted no time in sharing the photograph on Twitter. ‘Moving to see Miss Gibraltar and Miss Spain holding hands on the world stage!

Beauty with a purpose!’, he Tweeted. Later he spoke of the

image being “worth a thousand words, reflecting the reality of the symbiotic relationship between the people of Gibraltar and the Spanish people of La Linea and the towns around us.”

Although she didn’t win the overall title, Maroua was the Queen of social media that night, winning the People’s Choice Award with most votes on the Miss World app. She also flew the flag for multiculturalism, as the first Gibraltarian of Moroccan descent to represent her country at the pageant.

During the contest, held in Jakarta, Muslim protestors forced a change of format to the swimsuit section, replaced with sarongs, and a relocation of the final to Bali. Maroua

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has always refused to be drawn on the politics, a model contestant! On her page on the Miss World website, she referred to the mix of ethnicities that makes Gibraltar “a true melting pot of cultural and religious backgrounds”, expressing pride at the “honour and opportunity to exhibit Gibraltar’s acceptance of all cultures for the world to see”. In a short video presentation she paid tribute to her parents for teaching her to be “respectful, kind and humble.” Showing an eloquence beyond her years, she added that she had not entered the contest “to get my hair done or feel glamorous”, but because “beauty from within and kindness are what change people’s lives and I truly believe that kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

In her daily life, 23-year-old Maroua works as a client relationship manager, also volunteering at a local cat shelter. She lives at home with her parents, three sisters and two cats, and has an American boyfriend.

In her free time she enjoys keeping fit and singing.

The Miss Gibraltar contest celebrates its 52nd year this June when Maroua’s last act will be crowning her asked her about her life and her successor. year: You are Gibraltarian British so do any Moroccan influences remain in your life?

Yes, many. One of my favourite foods is my mother’s homemade couscous!

You are trilingual, speaking English, Spanish and Arabic?

I speak Arabic fluently. I started learning it as early on as I did English. My parents always made it a point to speak to us in Arabic at home to ensure we grew up being able to communicate with our families in Morocco – aunties, cousins and grandparents. I am so grateful for this.

Do you visit Morocco much and where do you like to go?

I try to make it over there at least twice a year to visit my family in Tangier.

What opportunities do you have in Gibraltar that your parents didn’t when they chose to resettle there?

A very important opportunity that I have here is the right to an education. My mother and father met in Gibraltar at 18 and 23 years old. They married and decided to settle because their loved ones were only a one-hour boat ride away, and of course they felt

relaxed here, considering Gibraltar’s diverse population. They felt at home.

What do you love about Gibraltar?

There is so much to love about Gibraltar! It is such a unique place, with its huge multi-cultural community, its 30 degree weather, and its peaceful and harmonious environment.

Did you parents or the Moroccan community have any concerns about you entering a beauty pageant?

I don’t know about the rest of the Moroccan community as I don’t usually concern myself with the negatives that people have to say. My parents were very neutral; they would never stop me from doing something that I wanted to pursue.

During the Miss World Contest you held hands with Miss Spain. Did you arrange to make that lovely gesture?

It was not in my power to have arranged to hold hands with her; coincidently she was the 5th to be called into the top 5 and I was 6th as The People’s Choice. So it was an amazing, happy coincidence.

Maybe just fate teaching us a beautiful lesson.

Thousands of people voted for you in the People’s Choice award, how involved were you in the social networking?

I wasn’t involved at all, most of the time I did not have an internet connection over there so it was impossible to keep track of everything. My boyfriend would phone me up and tell me the position I was in and the beautiful work everyone was doing back home to make me number one. It was such an honour, I am forever grateful.

How has winning this and the Miss Gibraltar title changed your life?

It has just made me realise how many lives I have been able to touch in a positive way. That’s what I wanted to achieve and what I want to carry on achieving.

What are your stand-out memories?

My stand-out memories are all the times I have been able to make someone smile. Now I am honestly just looking forward to crowning my successor.

High-flying career and foreign travel or family and children close to home – where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

I am such a chilled, laid-back person. I definitely hope to see myself married with 2 kids by the time I’m 33! e

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THE LOCAL decor

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or a rock that’s almost vertical in places and could fit into Marbella 16 times, Gibraltar is full of surprises – not all of them on the beaten tourist track. Hidden among its limestone crags are fabulous mansions that could compete for grandeur with some of the finest on the Golden Mile, with seascapes normally only seen from the First Class cabin of an ocean liner.

Admiral’s Place is one such hidden gem, an aristocratic enclave of graceful colonial buildings with sweeping views over Rosia Bay from their wrought iron balconies and blue-shuttered windows.

If you’ve ever taken afternoon tea on the Wisteria Terrace at the Rock Hotel, due north of here, you’ll get the picture; an animated picture, because there’s always

something to see in the Strait: container ships the size of Manhattan, famous cruise ships like the Queen Elizabeth, Royal Navy vessels, police launches, spectacular sunsets over the Atlantic and Africa’s hazy Riff mountains stencilled on the horizon.

In contrast to the modern blue glass and chrome tower blocks that dominate the downtown skyline, most houses in Gibraltar come with a history; you would never guess from their wellmaintained salmon pink facades that Admiral’s Place, in the tranquil South District, had such a long one. Only a small brass plaque beside the imposing entrance gates gives away the true age and identity of this architectural grand dame, built in 1746 as a naval hospital.

Built to last, having survived the Seven Years War, The Great Siege of Gibraltar, The Battle of Trafalgar and every other conflict since!

For most of the last century the Old Naval Hospital, as it was hitherto known, entered a new era as one of Gibraltar’s most desirable addresses, providing stylish married quarters for high-ranking garrison officers. You can just imagine the glittering soirées that were held within these time-honoured walls! Fast forward to 1998 when the complex was demobbed, sensitively restored and rechristened Admiral’s Place. Today it is a private and prestigious gated community of 39 listed properties enclosing glorious gardens and a turquoise swimming pool at its heart.

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Take one quirky heritage property predating the Battle of Trafalgar and transform it into a contemporary family home while upping the elegance of its colonial past. That was the challenge facing the décor team at Patricia Darch Interiors and they rose to it in their typically inspirational style, as Belinda Beckett reports.

Modern Design with a Dash of Eau de Colonial

Photography jon segui

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“

Upstairs is luxurious attic living with an aristocratic twist; downstairs is pure eau de colonial”

The Essence of Elegance The brief for the team at Patrica Darch Interiors was to recapture an essence of bygone elegance in a contemporary home answering the needs of a three-generation family. The challenge is always greater in a listed building governed by strict planning rules, especially when the property doesn’t follow the traditional rules of proportion!

Formerly the gatehouse to the complex, the house in question was originally one storey. A mezzanine floor was added in the days when building regulations were less controlled, with the result that a house of opposites was created: on the ground floor, noble Regency-style rooms with high ceilings and tall, shuttered windows; upstairs, dormer windows and low headroom in places. In other words, idiosyncratic attic living on top of a stately mansion!

Making the property work was a minor miracle achieved by a symbiosis of clever design and inspired joinery, which has provided some stunning but practical solutions. The unity achieved between two seemingly disparate spaces, while playing to their individual strengths, is all credit to the team: the master carpenters, project manager Gill Welland who manages the Patricia Darch showroom in Ocean Village, and her colleague, Lianne Pincho.

Upstairs is luxurious attic living with an aristocratic twist; downstairs is pure eau de

colonial. None of it is period-dated. The circle between historic charm and contemporary style is squared with one word: elegance. Make that Patricia Darch’s timeless elegance, which is often a synonym for Italian design, strongly featured in her collections; think lighting by Foscarini, mirrors

by Glas Italia, rich Casamance textiles and Manutti garden furniture.

Gill took me in by the side gate onto a long balcony to reveal the property’s first deception.

What appears to be a one-storey cottage from the road entrance becomes a grand, two-storey house at the back with a third, garden level. You look down on an Italian renaissance pool flanked by cypresses and a trio of lion’s head fountains, a covered terrace supported

by Roman columns and a sizeable lawn, again with dramatic sea views over the garden wall.

At 600m2, this property is almost palatial (for Gibraltar). The exterior balcony runs the full length of the house, extending the living room, kitchen and downstairs bedroom which all have access to it. With room for sun lounging and al fresco dining, it provides dress circle seats on dramatic Rosia Bay, the anchorage for HMS Victory after Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar.

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Regency Meets Roaring Twenties The long oak-floored living room is graciousness personified – made for dancing a cotillion with your own Mr Darcy! The eye is immediately drawn upwards to the high ceiling where a pair of exquisite chandeliers, dripping with Swarovski crystal pendants, provide a dazzling talking point. Light floods in through five sets of windows which are nearly as tall as the soaring, 3.20 metre ceiling. (Note the wood-framed sash windows, run to earth from the sole supplier of these anachronisms in Spain.)

The original marble fireplace has been given a new lease of life with a modern grate and glass front. A luxurious and comfortable Casadesus corner sofa wraps around a signature mahogany coffee table squatting on aluminium legs, a bespoke design by Benahavís artist David Marshall. The walls are finished in a buttery cream with cornices and skirting picked out in white to create a blank, reflective canvas. This theme replays throughout the house, accentuated by clever lighting, mirrors, glass and high-gloss lacquer paintwork.

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The long oak-floored living room is graciousness personified – made for dancing a cotillion with your own Mr Darcy!”

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In the separate dining room leading off this luminous space, a charming sepia-toned mural sets the tone. This delicately-painted fantasy scape – a collection of some of Gibraltar’s iconic landmarks represented in a style evocative of Regency times – was created especially for the house by Jessica Darch, whose beautiful art works grace many high end homes in Marbella and overseas. A stunning oval white lacquered dining table on a chrome base from the haute chic Italian furniture house of Malerba takes centre stage.

Above it dangles a coquettish Reflex Charleston chandelier, its glass filaments cascading down like the fringes on a flapper dress.

Nods to Art Deco, recalling the building’s Roaring Twenties heyday, can be found throughout the house. In the kitchen, the style is echoed in the curved lines of the bespoke housing for the double American fridge, painted in high-gloss mushroom-coloured lacquer. Sleek Wolf electrical appliances in smoked glass and steel are enclosed in hand-made units finished with matching steel trim, and treated with countless layers of the same mushroom lacquer to produce their eroticallysmooth finish.

This space-age interior has an unexpected, quasi-industrial feel, underscored by quarry stone flooring (continued throughout the rest of the house), black quartz worktops flecked with silver, and contemporary pendant LED lights in bubble glass and lacquered aluminium by Schuller.

Splashes of apple green picked out in the window blinds and chopping boards add spring freshness to this delightful room with views that will have everyone volunteering for the washing up!

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Dress circle seats on dramatic Rosia Bay, the anchorage for HMS Victory after the Battle of Trafalgar”

Attic Chic

Glassy and Classy Across the hall, where a magnificent Glas Italia mirror framed in handmade Murano glass will tempt every visitor into vanity, is the first of two master bedrooms. The succession of wow factors begins in the opulent en suite Porcelanosa bathroom, which showcases a stylish handmade double vanity unit with ambient lighting and two spectacular drop glass chandeliers by Italamp.

The long deep bath is encouragement to linger but, if time is more pressing, there’s a large walk-in power shower. Stencilled wallpaper by Guell Lamadrid, sumptuous soft furnishings by Casamance in clotted cream and duck egg blue and an open-plan dressing area with bespoke fitted wardrobes complete this regal boudoir.

No small detail is overlooked in a Patricia Darch project, even in the hall cloakroom where jewelled salamanders scamper over Osborne & Little wallpaper. Their gemstone brilliance looks rough to the touch but it’s just a clever trompe l’oeil effect.

I’m curious to see how upstairs will measure up to the ground floor but the opulence doesn’t let up. On the stairs, a glittering crystal glass drop wall lamp from VG New Trend’s Arabesque Collection is determined to show off. The upper level comprises a bright landing and a spacious master bedroom, together with a second bedroom, family bathroom and office – the perfect arrangement for extended family living. However, the roof space swoops so low to the floor in parts, there’s no standing room. Amazingly, none of this awkward space is wasted. It has been enclosed to provide storage: cupboards, wardrobes, drawers and shelving, beautifully crafted and well-lit with up-lighters – an homage to the lost art of joinery.

Lianne Pincho drew on her architectural training to come up with a design concept for the master bedroom that is nothing short of miraculous, working for months with a team of master carpenters to get the look just right. Here, previously ‘lost’ space is incorporated into the bed surround with its beautiful white leather headboard, and enclosed in a pair of symmetrical fitted wardrobes which follow the line of the sloping eaves on either side of the door. Their decorative chrome inlay and high gloss lacquer finish creates a luxurious, 1920s look. They’re smart wardrobes too, opening up to reveal automatic lighting, hanging space, shoe racks and soft-close drawers – the perfect solution to clutter! Perched on a smoked mirror consul table at the end of the bed is the ultimate in decadence, a bespoke hydraulic unit containing a flat screen TV that rises up like magic at the flick of a remote control!

Recessed spotlights in the ceiling back up the natural light from the dormer window and create the magical impression of a starlit sky at night.

A Porada dressing table and pouf add style and charm to this dreamy attic hideaway.

The decorators had fun in the family bathroom, adding playful shower tiles in grey and black raised ovals, a luxurious Jacuzzi bath and oversized white wall tiles with a fine caramel pinstripe, creating a clean, seamless look.

Seamless also describes the sleek white desk running along two walls of the home office, across the hall. Its clever design hides computer wires, provides ample surface space for monitors and printers, and secret drawers for files and paperwork. This cosy eyrie is the perfect workspace – providing those Rosia Bay views aren’t too much of a distraction! i www.partriciadarchinteriors.gi

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style

INTERIORS / ARCHITECTURE / ART / FASHION

In our Style section, we highlight the beauty of Moroccan Art and Décor, and present stunning examples of Moroccan Architecture. We also bring you the latest ‘must-have’ items for your Spring wardrobe.

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THE STYLE decor

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From its art to its décor, Moroccan aesthetics are a study in visual seduction

n Morocco, decoration and art aren’t perfected over centuries and handed WORDS Michel cruz rigidly distinct disciplines. Indeed, they down through generations, women from flow one into the other, overlapping to different regions developed their own create interior spaces that work with the ornate architecture and distinctive patterns and tribal identities. The fact that they were intricate craftsmanship of archways, stucco detailing and wooden derived from and continue to reflect their physical surroundings is ceilings to produce decors that are intimate, comfortable and evident, for the most traditional types include the thick rugs made by strangely seductive. the Beni Ourain in the cold heights of the Atlas Mountains and the From the beginning, art, architecture and decoration have been flat-woven carpets used by nomadic Bedouin who pitched tents in extensions of one another in this part of the world. Though ancient the dry wastes of the Sahara. cave paintings depicting man’s early accomplishments have been found in Morocco, the later introduction of Islam from Arabia limited From the desert to the town the development of painting as we know it in the West. In its stead Where the former was used to provide warmth and comfort in cold there arose a fascinating ability to create designs from complex mountain hovels the latter is typical of the nomad’s need to create geometric shapes that found its expression in tiles, wall hangings, a sense of home and comfort in tents that could be pitched in the soft furnishings, copperware and of course the intricately worked evening and taken down again in the morning. It is from this tradition carpets whose origins date back to the region’s original Berber that the languid element of Moroccan decors hails, as the more important tents would be covered with rugs, silk drapes, almost cultures.

These sturdy woven rugs are a starting point almost as old as the Roman-style chaises longues and a profusion of silk, leather and cave paintings themselves, for it is said that the indigenous people carpeted cushions strewn about to produce the luxuriant, soft-edged of Morocco have been weaving them for thousands of years. In skills interior that later found its way into luxury homes.

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Add the typical little copper tables on wooden legs, smoking pipes and terracotta earthenware scattered about the centre of the tent and you have the makings of a true Bedouintype feast. It’s no coincidence that this style of décor has been incorporated into fixed abodes as well, lending itself as it does to a convivial enjoyment of life’s comforts, and as elements from the desert migrated to the towns and capitals of the kingdom they were adapted to the new surroundings. In the process, places such as Rabat and Fez developed their own distinctive weaving styles, the old imperial city’s characterised by geometric patterns and today’s

royal capital evolving floral and diamond-shaped motifs that continue to be hand-woven to this day.

If the rugs were also used in personal adornment and on saddles, then the leather used in saddles, boots and cushions likewise made the transition from the desert to the town, where it became the centre of an important leatherworking craft for which especially the tanneries of Fez became famous. Prepared to ancient techniques and using natural dyes, goat and later also sheep and calf hide was used to create soft, pliable but also

durable leather products such as sandals, poufs and binding for books and ornaments.

With them came hand-beaten copperware that was equally intricate in its decorative detailing. Large yellow copper trays used as table tops, serving trays and purely decorative items became a speciality in urban centres, along with smoking pipes, decanters and other ornamental pieces that added lustre and status to interiors.

The latter was also achieved with sensuous silk furnishings and sheer drapes that were used inside and out, creating in

the process a slightly decadent and playful element that offset the heavier components of Moroccan décor, such as dark wooden furniture. Light sandalwood items such as incense stands and boxes have become another iconic part of the country’s decorative repertoire, which reached a peak with the exquisite wall hangings, or haiti. Made especially in Fez by specialised male needle workers from delicate silk velvet embroidered with gold thread, they were the preserve of the very rich, who used them to adorn the most important rooms or to decorate spaces for great events such as weddings, parties or important visits.

The art of Visual

Seduction

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As the transition from of Muslim craftsmen, the Bedouin tents to opulent humble tile came together Moroccan homes and to produce fantastic palaces was made, the mosaics of geometric elements of Moroccan perfection and detail. Used Art, décor and architecture merged into one décor changed accordingly, on floors, walls, ceilings, adding light metalwork fountains, pillars, baths tables and lanterns inlaid with tiles and coloured details that signified the wealth of the homeowner, and even in furniture pieces such as tables and glass. Suddenly, the ambience was more severe tiles became a more universally applied form cupboards, Moroccan tiles rose to dizzy heights of and formal, though many attempted to recreate of decoration that could be found in mosques, creative genius in which Meknes and once again the languid atmosphere of the tribal chief’s palaces, public spaces and normal homes. Known Fez stood out. It is perhaps in tiles that the link tent. Instead, Moroccan interiors evolved in an as zellige, they are perhaps the most visible part between Morocco and especially Southern Spain environment of marble floors, beautifully painted of Moroccan décor, and though Moroccan tile is most evident, as both have a strong tradition of and worked wooden ceilings, intricate archways making flowered into a true art that reached its tile making that plays a prominent and practical and recesses that recalled the Mihrabs of mosques. zenith during the Hispano-Moorish era, these part in typical décor.

This was a world of marble, plaster and stucco, enamel-glazed slices of terracotta were also of This ensemble, at once so exotic and typically where fountains trickled within earshot and immense practical value.

Moroccan, has gradually gone on and conquered cornices and pillars were adorned with detailed Naturally cold to the touch, they kept interiors the world. Where Moroccan décor was once zelij stucco plaster carved into delicate Arabic and courtyards cool, were easy to clean and associated with the Arabian Nights and as such calligraphy that detailed elements from the Koran. added colour and decoration without the need played to the fancy of wealthy Europeans and Where the stucco was one of those highly ornate for constant repainting. Moreover, in the hands Americans, who liked to create Moroccan rooms

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in this style, today Moroccan design is an established presence around the world and one of the leading inspirations for interior designers, fashion designers, artists and even architects.

Though few follow in the footsteps of 19th century dandies and decorate entire rooms in the Moroccan style, it has become highly fashionable to blend exotic elements of decoration into our own homes, regardless of the prevailing school of style.

By the 1970s leather poufs and stools had become de rigueur, and while they now look hopelessly dated they have been replaced by elements ranging from coloured stone ornaments, low Moroccan style chaises longues and terracotta earthenware to copper, leather and sandalwood ornaments, not to mention traditional rugs, cushions and those highly effective sheer drapes.

Moroccan style furniture is also a popular detail

Conquering the world to be mixed in to tastefully eclectic interiors, and even tiles have made their way into kitchens, bathrooms, outdoor areas and in some cases living rooms.

For most of its history, Morocco’s artists were its artisans and master craftsmen, rather than the painters and sculptors we know in the West, but in recent years a body of local artists has evolved that fits western descriptions of the term. And not without success, for they have found a receptive international market already enamoured of their country’s stylistic traditions. New painters and photographers are breaking with tradition and depicting the world around them or drawing on their

roots to venture into the world of modern abstract art. The large diaspora of Moroccans across Europe has no doubt aided in this process, and now the country is producing a new crop of modern contemporary artists alongside a still thriving industry of traditional crafts.

As the masses follow in the footsteps of sophisticated artists, world travellers and designers, they too will discover the seductive ambience of Moroccan interiors first hand and perhaps be inspired to create entire Moroccan decors back home – or renovate riads as the likes of Richard Branson and Yves Saint-Laurent have done – attempting to recreate a world of natural dyes, rich textures, handmade ornamentation and the lure of the exotic that is inherent in every Moroccan interior. e

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THE STYLE architecture

Moroccan The two faces of

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Morocco is a land of mysterious, exotic towns hewn out of stone and plaster, criss-crossed by alleyways, where a sea of flat rooftops is punctuated with tall minarets and lively Kasbahs that contrast with the peaceful serenity of private patios.

T

o foreign eyes, Morocco’s towns represent the essence of Arabian exoticism complete with medieval city walls and grand entrance gates, narrow cobbled streets that create an internal labyrinth and lively souks from which the quintessentially North African sounds and scents add to the visual impact. Add Arabian bath houses, tanning yards, grand riad houses with their opulence ensconced behind tall walls that separate peaceful colonnaded patios from dark alleyways, and the picture begins to take form. In this world of tightly packed flat-roofed structures the horizontal townscape is pierced by the minarets of mosques that with the exception of a few large squares provide the only open spaces in an otherwise congested pedestrian setting.

Homes are designed to keep the onslaught of the sun’s rays at bay, so windows are small and interior spaces dark – unless you have the good fortune of owning a riad – a grand Moroccan town residence. In the hot air all is still, but as the day fades and temperatures drop, life floods back into the streets, Kasbahs and large squares, whose open-air entertainment and al fresco eateries make them the evening hub of action.

architecture WORDS MICHEL CRUZ PHOTOGRAPHY JEAN-MARIE MONTHIERS (FOBE HOUSE)

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Moroccan towns have been designed around this daily ebb and flow of life for centuries, and yes, they are a North African representation of the Arabian town, but also touched by Phoenician, Roman, Mediterranean, French and, of course, indigenous Berber influences. The colonising Phoenicians and Romans brought the concept of the villa, a private and opulent space set behind high walls and built around an interior courtyard whose fountains provided cooling refreshment, further enhanced by the flowering blossom of fruit trees. The Romans also contributed the public baths that are still such an integral part of Moroccan life, as well as the large squares that provide the main civic spaces.

In classical times kings added splendid private gardens, but it was the colonial power, France, that introduced the concept of the public garden, as well as rationally planned zones dedicated to the business of governance or commerce. Essentially, though, the Moroccan town is still a pretty much intact example of a medieval town, and while it may seem so alien to our western perception it shares many features with European towns of old.

Moroccan classics Think of typical Moroccan townscapes and you picture the iconic blue-washed walls of Chefchaouen in the mountains near the country’s Mediterranean coast. Densely settled with Muslims expelled from Spain after the Reconquista, Chefchaouen’s natural blue hues cover a town whose plasterwork appears to have run like the hot wax of a candle, blurring the normally hard edges between wall and street. It’s a look that is unique enough to have turned this little town into a world heritage site and a firm favourite on the tourist map, but travel several hundred kilometres and the equally iconic terracotta city of Marrakech is a local adaptation of the same thing.

Constructed with the local smoky pink earth and stone, Marrakech has a uniformity of colour that even extends to the new ‘Westernised’ district, with its grand avenues and boulevards. Travel across the High Atlas range and you come to perhaps the most iconic of all of Morocco’s towns, Ouarzazate.

Though less important to Moroccans themselves than the royal town of Fez, much of whose splendour was built by hundreds of thousands of slaves imported from Europe and Africa, Ouarzazate is the place that has most captured the imagination of Westerners.

Looming up as it does out of an arid landscape, this terracotta town has all the mystery and exoticism that Moroccan architecture can conjure up. Though not an imperial town full of palaces like Fez, Ouarzazate’s splendour is an altogether more vernacular organic one built out of the red soil of the region. Its tall town walls, cool narrow streets and ornately decorated turreted houses give us a sense of what the classical cities of Babylonia and Egypt might have been like, and with the Sahara sprawling outwards from it there is little wonder that this location should have been chosen for the filming of epics ranging from Lawrence of Arabia,

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The Mummy and Gladiator to Legionnaire.

Beautifully carved, the soft-looking stone from which they are built gives the tight-packed houses of Ouarzazate a gently flowing architecture with a uniquely alluring, almost sensual geometry to it.

Here, right angles are chiselled by the wind, the malleable stone rounded to produce an interaction of forms and textures that is further enhanced by the ever-changing hues of terracotta. Sometimes light brown, sometimes glowing a bright red that changes to orange and golden yellow as the sun’s rays disappear on the horizon, the walls of Ouarzazate appear to be a living entity dotted with the small, dark window holes that attempt to keep the intense heat out.

Still exerting a romantic pull on visitors today, the architecture of this singular region has inspired styles around the world – not least in Marbella, where influential architects such as Melvin Villaroël introduced it in developments that have since become local landmarks. Originally applying the soft-edged lines of Ouarzazate’s seductive architecture to Marbella, they later also included the distinctive red clay colour that grew and grew in popularity until it began to challenge the town’s traditional white-plastered hegemony – creating in the process luxurious, idealised versions of

Southern Morocco’s architecture within the green setting of the Costa del Sol.

A bridge between architectural traditions As influenced as Morocco has been by the styles, structures and town planning of both the Western and Arabian worlds, so this country has also had a remarkable influence on architectural development within these regions. First it gave its own interpretation to such classic Mediterranean architectural features as the patio, colonnaded courtyard, roof tiles, water features such as fountains and large rectangular pools. Linked to this were the high walls that sheltered private quarters from the world where especially the women of the household could lounge, wash or relax in privacy.

The classical arch was further developed into the archetypal horseshoe shape that somehow typifies Morocco. Not surprisingly, all these elements were also exported back and forth with Spain when it was under Muslim rule. From the countless arches of the grand mosque of Córdoba and the infinite detail of the stucco work seen in Granada’s Alhambra to the beautifully worked wooden ceilings of luxury homes both Spanish and Moroccan, the influences are clear to see.

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The sensual, easy flowing lines of early Moorish architecture fed back into Europe via Spain, where they later evolved into the Mudéjar style that remained popular long after Muslim influence had waned. French colonisation of the region in the 19th century brought renewed attention to Moroccan exoticism, and produced an Arabic romanticism that spread across Europe and North America and produced the flowering of the Neo-Mudéjar architectural movement in Spain. This Moorish revival produced notable buildings such as the Gran Teatro Falla in Cádiz, as well as the main bullrings of Madrid and Lisbon, but it is in Andalucía especially that the Hispano-Moorish connection remains the most evident in the appearance of villages and the architecture of homes.

Spanish and modern architects alike continue to draw inspiration from the fertile grounds of Moorish architecture, just as artists have long since been mesmerised by the

intricate glazing and patterns of Moroccan-style tiles, but as Morocco seeks to preserve its own historic heritage and overcome some less than successful ventures into modern internationalist architecture, it is forging a style that is at once avant-garde yet also reflective of its cultural and geographic environment.

FOBE House, Marrakech For too long modernising influences were mere copies of imported styles. Where the Portuguese influence on Essaouira is the product of centuries of interaction and the French left behind a curious but beautiful legacy of Art Deco buildings in some of its former administrative centres, post-independence experiments with the creation of modern urban centres coincided with an era in international architecture that was not reputed for its artistry.

Indeed, post-war construction was largely functional, engineering-driven and devoid of soul. In being so universal, it had short-lived

glamour appeal but was detached from its surroundings, quite apart from the fact that its scale tended to dwarf and alienate the humans it was meant to serve. As a result, cities such as Casablanca became known for their broad avenues, tall buildings and traffic jams. Perfect on paper, they suffered from the same problems that befell planned metropolises such as Brasilia, but were even more alien to a culture used to tight, intimate spaces and irregular patterns.

Marrakech went the other way and appears to be expanding through contemporised versions of its traditional architecture, complete with terracotta colouring, though the conversion from honeycomb pedestrian plan to a rigid street grid is not as easily camouflaged, as is the urban sprawl it engenders. New architects are therefore looking to integrate classic Moorish elements into stylistically modern designs in a desire to create an avant-garde style that feels at home within the Moroccan environment.

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An example of this is the FOBE House designed

by French architect Guilhem Eustache. Situated in the village of Tassoultante, just under ten kilometres from Marrakech, it was commissioned as a thoroughly modern villa that could blend into its 2.5 hectare estate of local scrub dotted with plantations of olive, palm, eucalyptus, mimosa and fruit trees.

Though Paris-based, Eustache was chosen not only for his credentials as a modern architect but also because he knows the Moroccan subject matter well. “Morocco bewitched me as soon as I began to absorb its intense sights, sounds and scents,” says Guilhem, “and the Moroccan projects I have worked on have certainly been fed by the rich impressions that are so freely available here.”

His visual references and inspirations are many and varied, both current and historical.

“All the impressions we carry with us – some of them for a very long time – eventually slip into our work. It’s a mysterious process.” So, instead of working from a severe conceptual basis he allows the setting and its cultural connotations to flow into his designs, working in an intuitive manner rather than to a checklist of ‘Moroccan elements to include’. The views of the Atlas Mountains were always going to play a part in this house, as was the flatness of the terrain, the orientation to the sun and how this affects temperature management and shadows cast. The latter was used to great effect in combination with the simple but powerful geometry of the structure, while it was decided to limit the size of the villa in order not to dominate its immediate surroundings but blend in with them.

“A site such as this fills in many of the blanks itself,” says Guilhem, “as it becomes clear where you should place it and orientate it to best protect the inhabitants from factors such as sun and wind.” He insists that the style, too, flowed out of its surroundings. “From a distance you see a white square, but as you move closer it becomes a cube, a white wall, a tube. Another rectangle turns out to be a white wall and a small triangle a pyramid.” By using space and angles, the architect has created an interaction of light and perspective that keeps changing as the day progresses.

Though its modern styling is universal, it contains cultural references that are both practical and aesthetic in nature. These include cool, highceilinged rooms with a narrow window surface that frames the view of a long, narrow pool, clean white walls and the contrasting shadows cast by the strong Moroccan sun. Set within its own grounds,

the villa catches cooling breezes as it contemplates the Atlas, using ancient Moorish principles of hot air cooling over water surfaces, double walls that moderate temperature and outer spaces that channel drafts.

In applying classic wisdom that harnesses naturally available resources, the need for air conditioning or heating has been greatly reduced, while an approach sensitive to both plot and setting shows that it is possible to create truly avant-garde architectural statements that are nonetheless connected to the physical and human landscape within which they find themselves. It is only by belonging to its setting in this way that modern architecture can escape the manner in which it has traditionally sought to impose itself on sensitive environments, and begin to add to their continued evolution. g www.guilhemeustache.com

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THE STYLE beauty

1

1 – CLINIQUE AGE DEFENCE BB CREAM This unique BB cream not only provides ultimate coverage for your complexion, it also contains a powerful blend of anti-ageing antioxidants.

2 – DIOR DIORSKIN NUDE COMPACT A light foundation containing mineralised water and light-reflecting pigments, which impart a youthful, dewy look to skin.

3 – GIORGIO ARMANI MAESTRO FUSION MAKEUP This lightweight foundation and corrector in one covers all blemishes with just a tiny amount. Made without water or powder, it is rich in pigmented oils, which provide flawless coverage.

4 – MAKE UP FOR EVER HD HIGH DEFINITION PRIMER For a truly flawless, polished look, a pre-foundation primer is necessary. Few glide on as smoothly, smell as luscious or last as long as this primer by Make Up For Ever.

5 – L’ORÉAL PARIS REVITALIFT LASER RENEW An anti-ageing cream which offers laser-style results at

a fraction of the cost. Featuring Pro-Xylane, a natural sugar than smoothens out fine lines and wrinkles.

6 – LA MER THE MOISTURIZING GEL CREAM This silky cream is non-greasy yet penetrating, making it an ideal choice to wear beneath your foundation.

7 – ESTÉE LAUDER REVITALIZING SUPREME GLOBAL ANTIAGING CRÈME A potent concoction which smoothens, revitalises and moisturises skin yet is surprisingly light and non-greasy in texture. Featuring sirtuin-3 anti-ageing technology and powerful antioxidant ingredients like bamboo.

8 – SHISEIDO WHITE LUCENT BRIGHTENING PROTECTIVE EMULSION WITH SPF 15 SUNSCREEN A brightening daytime moisturiser which was developed to fight environmental enemies such as UV light, harsh winds and severe weather conditions.

It contains Multi-Target Vitamin C, which helps reduce pigmentation, and a Super Hydro-Synergy Complex, which deeply moisturises the skin.

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PRODUCTS

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Products TO WATCH OUT

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FOR IN SPRING/ SUMMER 2014

Marisa Cutillas brings beauty buffs a select list of must-haves for beautiful skin this season.

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Available now in Gibraltar! Valmont Suite, Susan’s Aesthetic Service, Specialist Medical Clinic, 1st Floor, ICC Building, Casemates Square, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 49999 • info@smg.gi www.valmonteurope.com

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THE STYLE health

A

rgan oil is produced from the kernels of the argan tree (argania spinosa), which grows in the wild in Morocco and adapts wonderfully to harsh climactic conditions, weathering droughts and intense heat. It is also one of the rarest and most exclusive oils in the world, owing to the small area it occupies and the laborious process of extraction. The argan nut is dried and its fleshy pulp, discarded. The nut is then cracked open by hand to obtain the kernels, lightly roasted then ground and pressed, releasing the valuable oil which is then left to settle. Finally, the oil is filtered for a pure, sediment-free product. One of the reasons argan oil is so positively regarded by health and beauty experts alike is its rich essential fatty acid content. It contains about twice the amount of Vitamin E as olive oil, and is rich in saponins (which restores the skin’s water lipid layer). Best of all, since it is 100 per cent natural, it can be freely used by the whole family, even those with highly sensitive skin.

ADVICE

BEAUTY FROM HEAD TO TOE

What makes argan such a favoured product by health and beauty buffs is its ability to benefit the skin and hair.

Z LUSCIOUS LOCKS: A few drops added to your shampoo will moisturise hair, calm split ends and add lustre and shine. Another way to increase shine is by adding a few drops to your hand and applying to wet hair right after a wash.

Z ITCHY SCALPS: Argan oil is used to combat dryness and itching in the scalp; just dab a cotton ball in the oil

and dab it gently over affected areas. The product is also a popular complementary treatment for hair loss, since it promotes circulation when applied topically, reduces dandruff (which adds weight to hair and clogs pores, leading to hair loss) and fights the free radicals that attack the follicles on a daily basis.

Z GLOWING COMPLEXIONS: Argan oil is an ideal moisturiser for those with sensitive skin. Completely free of toxic preservatives and artificial fragrances, it is easily absorbed by skin, which avails of its hydrating properties without displaying an unattractive sheen. The oil is also used to

reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, in the face, eye and neck areas. Use it alone or beneath your favourite moisturiser, especially during the Winter season, when skin can appear more chapped and weathered.

Z ACNE-FREE SKIN: It may sound odd, but argan is one oil that is an excellent natural product to fight off acne. It keeps skin hydrated without clogging the pores, which is one of the leading causes of acne.

Z BEAUTIFUL HANDS: In Morocco, argan oil is often used during long, lazy manicures and pedicures; it is applied to the cuticle area, which is gently pushed back prior to the application of polish. In fact, if you regularly massage your hands with this product, you will find a reduction in the growth of rough, calloused skin around the nails and fingers. Argan oil is also used to combat brittleness in nails, preventing the need for expensive, toxic nail hardeners.

Z SMOOTH BODIES: Unlike baby oil, which contains mineral oil derived from petroleum, argan oil is 100 per cent plant-based, making it an ideal product to splash on after a bath or before bed time. In Morocco, it is often used to ease scarring, since it promotes elasticity and firmness.

Z HEALTHY SKIN: Conditions like eczema, neuro-dermatitis or psoriasis can be painful, itchy and unsightly. The high Vitamin E content of argan oil protects skin from environmental irritants and soothes uncomfortable itching.

Z HAPPY BABIES: Argan oil is one of the few oils you can feel confident about using on babies and young children. Since it is 100 per cent pure and paraben free, it is an excellent oil for the youngest members of the family at bath time, or when a massage is due. e

The Surprising Health Benefits of

ARGAN OIL WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

If your friends are heading for Morocco with striking regularity, it could be because of the beautiful landscapes, the exotic architecture, the aromatic food‌ then again, it could very well have something to do with the quest for pure, unadulterated argan oil, one of the most hotly solicited health and beauty products of late.

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health THE STYLE

THEMUDRASUL TREATMENT

Harnessing the Detoxifying Powers of the

Earth

If asked to identify the Arabian treatment par excellence, most spa goers would probably cite the Rasul treatment: a potent combination of mud, herbs, steam and (if you’re lucky) a long, luscious massage involving therapeutic grade essential oils that work on mind, body and soul, making you feel like a Sultan or Princess from 1001 Arabian Nights. It is not surprising that the Rasul Mud treatment, which takes place in a hammam or steam room, is often offered as a ‘couples treatment’: few other spa experiences are quite so sensual or relaxing.

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

ADVICE

What Does the Treatment Comprise?

A Rasul treatment alone (i.e. without a massage afterwards) will usually last for approximately 45 minutes. In some spas, the client applies both the mud and a deep cleansing sea salt scrub to their skin, though for a truly unforgettable experience, we recommend a spa where it is all done for you. In five-star spas, skilled therapists will usually begin by exfoliating your skin with a sea salt scrub, rubbing the latter vigorously onto your skin to eliminate any toxins that may be blocking your pores.

A deep cleansing also allows the mud and essential oils to penetrate your skin better, so they can bestow their maximum anti-oxidant and moisturising benefits.

After the salt is applied, the therapist will either apply jets to shower it off, or simply layer the mud over the salt. Once the mud has been applied (from face or neck to toe, usually), the therapist will turn up the steam, to open the pores to all the goodness they are receiving. The steam will normally be infused with herbs and spices like thyme and even curry-scented aromas, adding blissful sensations to the experience. For about 20 minutes, the therapist leaves you alone while the steam lulls you into a deep state of tranquility.

Afterwards, they shower off the mud, and the Rasul Mud treatment is technically

What Type of Mud is Used?

The mud used in a Rasul treatment is natural, yet it will have been dried, ground to a powder and sieved, to get rid of rough particles and insects. Sometimes, spas use up to three different varieties of mud – one for the face, one for the décolletage and one for the rest of the body.

over. Of course, most top spas will also offer you a soothing massage using essential oils, so you can truly feel renewed and benefit from the powerful properties bestowed by oils such as lavender (which relaxes), cloves (which are anti-microbial) or citrus oils (which lift the mood).

What are the Benefits of the treatment?

The immediate benefit of the salt, mud and essential oils will be immediately noticeable in the baby soft smoothness of your skin.

The mud, which itself contains moisturising oils, is especially effective on dry skin, since it has a deeply hydrating effect. The treatment detoxifies the skin and promotes the elimination of retained liquids, and is highly favoured by those suffering from joint and muscle conditions and rheumatism, since the heat is soothing and its pain

quelling effects are felt long after the treatment is completed.

Who Should Avoid this Treatment?

Those who are pregnant or suffering from conditions such as epilepsy or blood pressure problems should steer clear of the Rasul Mud treatment. If you are suffering from any chronic health condition at all, it is advisable to speak to your doctor about the suitability of various spa treatments. Certain essential oils should also be avoided by those suffering from particular illnesses or conditions. Those suffering from high blood pressure, for instance, should avoid oils like pine, sage, thyme and rosemary. Pregnant women, meanwhile, should steer clear of all these oils as well as jasmine, lemon, cedarwood, chamomile, cinnamon, clove and more. e ESSENTIALMAGAZINE.COM MARCH/APRIL 2014 / 55

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THE STYLE health

SAY GOODBYE to Hay Fever Do you find that every year, as the Spring season approaches, you begin to suffer from sneezing, watery eyes, a runny nose or an itchy throat or nose – despite not having a cold or flu?

I

f so you may have fallen prey to hay fever, the one downside to the loveliest season of the year. Hay fever symptoms can range from mild to severe; in its worse manifestations, it can cause everything from sweats to headaches, fatigue, insomnia, blotchy skin and even the loss of smell and taste. If you’ve been suffering in silence for too long, the good news is that there are a host of natural helpers available that can put an end to your discomfort. These are some of the most powerful supplements we can recommended:

IF YOU ARE ALREADY SUFFERING FROM HAY FEVER: Z NELSONS POLLENNA: Contains a potent 6c homeopathic blend of Allium cepa, Euphrasia officinalis and Sabadilla officinarum. If these names sound complicated, you may be surprised to learn that Allium cepa is none other than the humble onion, known to soothe various hay fever symptoms (including runny nose and headaches). Euphrasia officinalis, also known as ‘Eye bright’, is an oft-used herbs for headaches, colds and the compendium of hay fever symptoms. Sabadilla officinarum, meanwhile, a plant which grows naturally in Central America and Mexico, is excellent for alleviating the itchy sensation and sneezing caused by hay fever.

Z VITAMIN B5: Vitamin B5 (which should be taken alongside Vitamin C for maximum effect) regulates the immune system so that it is less likely to identify harmless substances as allergenic. Vitamin C is also hailed for its natural antihistamine activity and for quelling hay fever symptoms.

Z QUERCETIN: This flavonoid, which works excellently alongside Vitamin C, is ideal for general health as well as for hay fever, since it is a powerful antioxidant that scavenges the free radicals that damage cell membranes and interfere with the normal functioning of cells. Lab tests have also revealed that quercetin stops immune cells from releasing histamines (the chemicals that cause allergic reactions).

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If you are breastfeeding, pregnant, under medical supervision, taking medication or considering providing supplementation to children, consult your doctor or healthcare provider beforehand.

TO PREVENT THE ONSET OF HAY FEVER: Z VITAMIN A: This Vitamin is one of the most important when it comes to boosting the immune system. It promotes the health of mucous membranes in the sinuses, nose and mouth, keeping the latter moist and resistant to cell damage, bacteria and viruses.

Z ZINC: This powerful supplement helps the body metabolise Vitamin A in a more efficient manner. It is also known for being an independent anti-hay fever combatant, since it balances histamine levels and strengthens the immune system.

Z GARLIC: This sulphurous vegetable, a staple ingredient in so many of our favourite dishes, is a potent source of Vitamin B, which boosts the optimal functioning of our immune system. Start taking garlic a few weeks before the onset of Spring, to give your immune system all the time it needs to enter into its peak working condition. Garlic and/or garlic supplements are a worthwhile superfood to consume year-round, since a host of studies indicate that they may reduce the risk of several types of cancer, especially those of the gastrointestinal tract and breast. According to the National Cancer Institute in the US, seven different studies reveal that the higher the amount of garlic consumed, the lower the risk for stomach and colorectal cancers. Garlic is also known

for its powerful decongestant properties.

Z BEE POLLEN: One of pollen’s most unique attributes is its ability to eradicate hay fever symptoms, provided it is taken several weeks before the Spring season begins. By ingesting pollen, the body slowly builds up resistance to related allergens, thereby reducing annoying/painful symptoms.

Z BEE PROPOLIS: This revered supplement, obtained straight from the beehive, has been found to have anti-viral, antiinflammatory and anti-fungal properties.

It also boasts a high concentration of flavonoids, which boost the immune system.

Finally, it helps regulate histamine levels, thereby providing relief for symptoms of allergies, hay fever and sinusitis.

Z ACIDOPHOLUS: This healthy bacteria, often found in probiotic supplements, has been found to lower the risk of hay fever by interacting with the immune system and modifying the natural course of allergic disease. Some find it useful to take an antacid to decrease the acidic content in the stomach, one hour before consuming acidopholus.

Z CHAMOMILE TEA: An antihistamine and antioxidant, chamomile tea is also a powerhouse of flavonoids and a recognised anti-inflammatory agent. Place used tea bags over your eyes to reduce redness and irritation during an episode of hay fever, and enjoy the relaxing effect of this uniquely flavoured tea. e

g All items are available at Holland & Barrett, 160 Main St., Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 49504.

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local

enterprise MEGASHIP AHOY!

Anthem’s identically-sized twin sister ship, Quantum of the Seas

The world’s newest and thirdlargest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas, will be a regular visitor to Gibraltar’s waters next summer, delivering a potential 34,000 tourists to the Rock. Currently under construction in Germany, she will call seven times between May and September during her inaugural 2015 season of Mediterranean cruises from Southampton. At 348 metres long, with a 4,905 passenger capacity, Anthem is the largest cruise ship ever to visit Gibraltar. She will be able to dock alongside the Western Arm, unlike the smaller Queen Mary 2 which has to anchor out in the bay. Commented Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo: “I am thrilled that Royal Caribbean has demonstrated its confidence in what Gibraltar has to offer as a cruise port, and that we are able to provide the necessary infrastructure to handle such a large vessel.” g www.royalcaribbean.com

FIVE-COURSE GOLF CHALLENGE More than 100 international golfers will compete over five courses in Cádiz and Málaga provinces in the 1st Lions European Golf Championship & Lions Nation Cup, from March 25-29. The ultimate golf test, each round will be hosted on different terrain: the seaside links and inland courses of Alcaidesa and San Roque, Marbella Club Resort’s mountain course, Atalaya’s parkland course, and the world championship course of Finca Cortesín, which will host the final round. The Championship, for individual players, and the Nation Cup for teams of two from the same country, is open to men and women with a handicap of 36 and better. The tournaments are part of a glittering week-long event to showcase golf tourism, based at Estepona’s Gran Hotel Elba Estepona & Thalasso Spa, with sponsored prizes, gala dinners, sightseeing and entertainment. Proceeds will go to Lions Clubs International’s fund for the global eradication of measles. g www. lionsgolf.info

STOP PRESS: The world’s top pro golfers will be heading for La Reserva de Sotogrande Golf Club next month for a new European Tour event. The NH Collection Open, a dual-ranking tournament made up of European Tour and Challenge Tour members, will be played from April 3-6 for a prize fund of €600.000. Spain has lost out on European Tour events since the financial crisis but with the new Open at Sotogrande and May’s Spanish Open at PGA Catalunya, it’s back in the swing.

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Ocean Village Gives Sunborn Gibraltar Yacht Hotel a Warm Welcome The Sunborn Gibraltar yacht hotel was recently escorted to its new home in the Ocean Villa Marina. Gregory Butcher, Chairman of Ocean Village, expressed his joy at the new arrival: “When we were contacted a year ago by a Finnish company hoping to bring a luxury yacht hotel to Gibraltar, despite a clear need for five star accommodation, I had my doubts it would actually happen. I am delighted to say that it did and, after extensive ground engineering works at the Marina, Sunborn Gibraltar has become a prestigious addition to our complement of high profile tenants at Ocean Village.” g www.oceanvillage.gi.

Switch Off for Earth Hour Gibraltar is joining more than 7,000 cities and towns in over 150 countries for the big Earth Hour electricity switch-off, set for 8.30pm local time on March 29, when citizens are being asked to turn off unnecessary power for one hour. The Rock is going the extra distance by dousing the illuminations on the North Face and at the Moorish Castle for the whole weekend, as last year. Iconic monuments worldwide including the Kremlin in Moscow, Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Buckingham Palace in London and the Empire State Building in New York will also go dark for 60 minutes. Now in its seventh year, the World Wide Fund for Nature’s global campaign to promote awareness of electricity consumption involved over two billion people in 2013. To get involved, see

www.earthhour.org

James Arthur’s Music Festival Debut James Arthur, the tearaway teenager-turned 2012 X Factor winner, will be rocking the crowds at the 2014 Gibraltar Music Festival. The soulful singer from Middlesbrough was the first act to be announced in the line-up for the one-day Glastonbury-style pop fest, to be held at Victoria Stadium on September 6. The 24-year-old is currently wowing audiences of over 10,000 a night in arenas around the UK as headline act on The X Factor Live Tour. Sales of his first single, Impossible, sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide and this month sees the release of his fourth single, Get Down. He follows in the footsteps of fellow X-Factor winner Olly Murs, who appeared at last year’s Festival.

Tickets are on sale now. g www.gibraltarmusicfestival.com

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Celebrate your Diamond Occasion For glamorous social events or your own ‘big day’, check out Diamond Occasion, Gibraltar’s newest retail experience, showcasing the latest designer collections of women’s, men’s and children’s formal wear. You’ll find names like Romantica, Phil Collins Bridal, Linzi Jay, Jean Yves, Heirloom and Paradox London adorning the rails, hot from the UK! Sip a glass of champagne in the stylish bridal suite while you select a sumptuous gown or enjoy the exclusive one-to-one dress-fitting service. The professional stylists can help you choose from a stunning collection of veils, headpieces, tiaras and shoes and wide selection of bridesmaid, flower girl and page boy attire. Guys can get suited, too, from the range of quality menswear hire in traditional and contemporary styles: morning wear, lounge, black tie and prom suits, as well as beautifully-tailored waistcoats, cravats and ties. g Unit F22 1st Floor, International Commercial Centre. Tel: (350) 540 30297.

© David Cussen

Tough Love for Monkey Feeders New fines for feeding Gibraltar’s Barbary macaques could be just the ticket to keep cheeky monkeys out of town. A Bill to amend the current Act will create fixed penalty fines which can be issued with a ticket by environmental officers, as well as the police: £500 for feeding monkeys outside the Nature Reserve and £250 within it. The penalty can still rise to £4,000 if a case goes to court. No one has been fined for feeding macaques since it became illegal 100 years ago because the law was too complicated to enforce. "Feeding of monkeys in built-up areas continues to be one of the major reasons why they spend time there,” said Environment Minister Dr John Cortes. “By increasing the officers able to police this, and making the fines more realistic, we hope the message will get through.”

A Wider View of History The last refuge of the Neanderthals is to be extended within wider boundaries to enhance the value of the proposed Gorham’s Cave Complex which is being put forward for UNESCO World Heritage status. Together with the caves, the enlarged site will better portray the unique remnants of the landscape 28,000 years ago, including raised beaches, caves, talus slopes and sand dunes. The site provides one of the most detailed sequences of events in southern Europe during the critical period leading to the last Ice Age, combining evidence of climate, sea-level and ecological change in what is believed to be the last surviving Neanderthal settlement. Meanwhile, the Gibraltar Museum is working as a founder partner of the Ice Age Europe Project to unite key sites across Europe via the internet. Visitors will be able to connect in real time through touch-screen stations at the museum. g www.ice-age-europe.eu

Wedding wow by Phil Collins Bridal

Local Firm Aids Mandela Fund A local firm has been helping the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund to raise money for a new children’s hospital. Europa Trust Company handed over a cheque for £1,270 raised by individual staff members and boosted by a contribution from the company. Europa made the NMCF its charity of the year for 2013, helping to raise awareness. At Christmas, staff team members chose to donate their Secret Santa gift money to the Fund. Brett Bridge, Business Development Consultant for the Europa Group, which provides bespoke company and fiduciary services, commented: “It’s comforting knowing that the team contributions for 2013 will help to build a hospital which will save the lives of many young and vulnerable children who, before, were unable to receive specialist medical support.” g www.europa.gi

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THE TWO MUST HAVE PRODUCTS FOR YOUR DAILY BEAUTY RITUAL Prime Renewing Pack and Just Time Perfection, represent Valmont’s scientific background in creating avant-garde anti-ageing facial treatments. A true innovation and symbol of Valmont expertise, Renewing Pack entered women’s daily lives in 1984. For 30 years this iconic product extolled as the “it-mask” by Valmont lovers and the international press. In 2014, Prime Renewing Pack comes with a renovated and more effective formula, which includes anti-ageing and anti-wrinkle ingredients: Liposomed RNA and the Peptide+ Cocktail. Just Time Perfection, a high-performance anti-ageing treatment, enhances cell renewal, anti-oxidation and UV protection while stimulating collagen production. With its Color Perfection pigments, this treatment blends into the skin for a radiant and incredibly natural complexion. g Available from the Valmont Spa, Specialist Medical Clinic, 1st

floor, ICC Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 49999.

BATTY NEW RESIDENT A new species of bat has been discovered enjoying the nightlife in Gibraltar, unbeknownst to scientists.

Isabelline Serotine, captured during a bat-netting session at the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens, is more usually found in areas north of the Sahara, from Morocco to Libya, and in the Canary Islands. Similar to its European cousin, Serotine, but with lightercoloured fur, ears and snout, it favours crevices and habitats with dense vegetation. Part of a collaborative study of these nocturnal creatures by the Gibraltar Museum, GONHS and a team of specialists from the UK, experts say the Rock is a prime site for bats and bat migration and believe there are other resident species in Gibraltar yet to be discovered.

ROCK CHEF TAKE 2 A second helping of the successful cookery show, Rock Chef, airs on GBCTV at the end of April. The first series of seven, 30-minute programmes saw 12 budding chefs cooking in various locations around the Rock for a prize of either £2,000 or the chance to attend a culinary course of their choice in the UK. Ainsley Andrews of Lloyds TSB Gibraltar won the popular first series. This year’s contest, produced in conjunction with the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses, promises a feast of fun with many surprises, including an additional round and new celebrity judges. “The competition is focused on the 'think local’ theme to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship, as well as showcasing local talent and the great produce available in Gibraltar,” said GFSB Chairperson, Gemma Vasquez.

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THE PRO business

T

he legendary Hercules moved mountains to create the Straits of Gibraltar single-handed in a day. The new Gibraltar and Morocco Business Association (GAMBA) may need a little more time and manpower to reverse the process.

But if their labours pay off, the Rock and North Africa will be more closely connected socially, educationally, culturally and commercially.

GAMBA has the full support of the Gibraltar government, which has eased visa restrictions for Moroccan nationals in line with its policy of developing North Africa links. Some 150 business people from Gibraltar and Morocco’s tourism, trade, construction and financial sectors are already poised to join the Association, which recently participated in a successful visit from a Moroccan delegation of businessmen headed up by the British Consulate in Tangiers.

Historically, there have always been ties between Gibraltar and North Africa, more crucially after the Spanish border was closed, when Morocco became a vital lifeline for supplies.

Today it is a growing market, and westernised in many ways. “The hotel and restaurant facilities are top class and the levels of hospitality we have received on our trips to Morocco have been second to none”, says GAMBA President, Clive Reed.

“I am delighted with the number of enquiries the Association has received from Moroccan companies seeking to establish links and organise events in Gibraltar.”

Clive first mooted the idea of a trade association some 15 years ago. Described as a ’non-profitmaking, results-oriented, transaction-focused institution’, GAMBA is also apolitical, although the current political and economic situation has been a catalyst to its rapid expansion.

Belinda Beckett meets a group of Gibraltar traders who are proposing to reunite the Pillars of Hercules, metaphorically speaking, through a new Business Association.

“The border problems are undoubtedly having a negative effect on tourism and the ability of local businesses to obtain the products and services they need to carry out their usual activities,” says Clive. “We’ve also noticed that the smaller, nonGibraltar-based companies are reluctant to make deliveries over the border, as they are worried about being stuck in the queues. Hopefully this situation could go back to normal and there is no reason that the three communities cannot benefit from working together in the long term.”

GAMBA Secretary Terry English, would like to see other sources of goods and materials, including those from Morocco, as an alternative to those from Spain which has already imposed an export ban on certain construction materials. “This in no way indicates a reluctance to use Spanish goods and materials if the situation at the border is eased,” he adds.

There are other benefits of a trans-national partnership for a tiny territory whose GDP is founded on tourism and finance and has to outsource most other goods and supplies.

“Morocco has factories, a relatively low-cost and skilled labour supply and land, which Gibraltar lacks. Morocco needs tourism, hard currency, social housing and a gateway into the EU, which we can provide,” says Clive. A symbiotic relationship!

Improved transport links are also high on the agenda. The new air service to Marrakech, scheduled for takeoff in April, is a welcome start but

at present there’s only one ferry service a week, leaving on Friday night and returning on Sunday.

“More ferries are absolutely essential,” says GAMBA Treasurer Paul Parody, recalling a time when Gibraltar had daily air and sea connections with Morocco. “We could have done with the Association a long time ago.”

Annual membership, starting from £60 a year for individuals or businesses with up to four employees, will include regular updated information on trading in Morocco and access to a network of business contacts. Like anywhere in the world, in Morocco it’s about who you know as well as what you know.

The next step is to set up a website and find premises so that networking can begin in earnest.

The Association aims to officially launch itself at a gala dinner in Gibraltar which it hopes to organise this month, with guest speakers from both countries, followed by a reciprocal event across the water. This will be followed up with a programme of seminars, workshops, trade missions and exchange programmes.

Clive Reed is excited about the Association’s huge, long-term potential. “As well as the potential links between the two Business communities, there are also many big American, British, French, German, Spanish, European and multinational firms set up or looking to do business in Morocco which may be very interested in taking advantage of Gibraltar’s favourable corporate tax rate and wellfounded business infrastructure.” g Further information from Clive Reed, Tel: 00 350 200 76204.

yourpersonalmanager@googlemail.com

Moves on

Morocco PHOTOGRAPHY JON SEGUI

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THE PRO business

E

xotic Marrakech with its colourful souks and snake charmers will feel a lot closer to home when a new direct flight linking Gibraltar with the enigmatic Moroccan city takes to the skies next month. Enjoy complimentary soft drinks and snacks as you skim over North Africa’s Rif and Atlas mountains and arrive in time for lunch or dinner in iconic Jemaa el-Fnaa square!

For those who believe it’s better to arrive than travel, the Royal Air Maroc Express two-class charter service is a no brainer, knocking hours off the journey time by rail or road. Flights aboard the latest generation turbo-prop ATR 72/600s will take one hour 40 minutes. Compare that with the six hour trip from Tangier by car, or upwards of eight-and-a-half hours by train, not including the 45-minute ferry crossing from Tarifa.

“It will be a lot quicker, more comfortable and far less hassle,” says Paul Lopez, MD of Your Flight, the new Gibraltar-based travel company behind the new service, which will be inaugurated on April 17.

“Until now you could only fly via Sevilla or on a more expensive service from Málaga, via Casablanca or Madrid.”

Seat prices start from £99 in economy, one way (£199 in first class), including taxes, in-flight refreshments, choice of seats and a generous 23kg baggage allowance. With no hidden extras, the service is tipped to be the hottest ticket in town for holiday-makers and business travellers on both sides of the Gibraltar Strait. Tickets can be booked on a flight-only basis or as part of a package organised by Your Flight’s General Sales Agents, M.H. Bland Travel Services in Gibraltar, Luxotours in Spain and Norazon Tours in Morocco.

The schedule of weekly flights on Sundays and

fortnightly on Thursdays allows for stays of three, four, seven nights and upwards. Flight times are convenient, taking off from Gibraltar at 13.00 on alternate Thursdays and 19.35 on Sundays.

“We’re confident the new service will be a success and an added boost for Gibraltar tourism and trade, as well as enhancing historic ties and business opportunities with Morocco,” says Paul, who has 25 years experience in the airline industry, working with British Airways and the former GB Airways. “The new service is the result of one year of intensive market research. We chose the most expensive and luxurious option in Royal Air Maroc, based on the airline’s strength as Morocco’s national flag carrier. The aircraft itself was also the clear winner.”

The latest generation ATR72/600 series turboprop is a leader in its class of short-haul, regional aircraft, ideally suited for take-offs and landings on Gibraltar’s short runway. It uses less fuel than a jet, has lower operating costs and features the latest avionics technology. Each flight will be configured to carry just 70 passengers – 58 in economy and 12 in first class. The luxurious twin cabin has more leg room than low-cost airlines, as well as leather seats in both classes!

“Flying in a new, modern turboprop is a fantastic experience,” says Paul. “It’s so silent, as well as super-comfortable and spacious but small

enough to feel as if you’re flying in your own private aircraft! And with this aircraft’s ability to fly at half the altitude of a jet, the views are fantastic.”

Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo is delighted about the new route. “It is a service that I will use in pursuit of the Government’s policy of developing links with Morocco,” he said. It will also be welcomed by the many Gibraltarians who have been deterred from spending weekends in Spain since the border queues began. Passengers travelling from Spain can also avoid the notorious tailbacks as the airport is a three-minute walk from the frontier.

Marrakech is Morocco’s fourth largest and most popular tourist city but the new service opens up a multitude of travel options. The city’s Ménara International Airport is close to Marrakech railway station with its connections to Casablanca and beyond. However, watch this space! Your Flight is set to introduce flights to Tangier at the end of 2014/ early 2015 and Casablanca, Rabat and Agadir may be added in the near future.

Direct flights from the Rock to Morocco began by flying boat in 1931, before Gibraltar even had a runway. The service was operated by Gibraltar Airways, an offshoot of Gibraltarian family shipping company MH Bland, whose history dates back to 1810. Later, GibAir provided a service with Douglas DC-3s. In more recent times, Spain’s continuing sovereignty dispute with Britain has severely limited the choice of direct air links from Gibraltar.

Currently, only three carriers – British Airways, Monarch and Easyjet – operate direct flights from Gibraltar to UK airports only. g For bookings and further information,

see www.yourflight.gi

All Aboard the Marrakech Express!

Fasten your seat belts for a new air service to Morocco, taxiing for take-off from The Rock this April.

WORDS BELINDA BECKETT PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF YOUR FLIGHT

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THE LEISURE travel

WORDS KRISTY BARRATT

It’s dusty out here in the desert. My Berber guide tugs on the reins of my camel as I awkwardly try to find some comfort in my position. It’s no use.

With every jagged step, I feel as if I’m about to lose my balance and topple off. My only solace is watching my friends struggle too. That and the fact we’re in Morocco.

R

iding a camel in the desert is one of those clichéd activities you have to put on your todo list when visiting a country like Morocco.

Although uncomfortable – and hot – it’s an amusing and memorable experience. Our camel trek begins in Zagora at the edge of the Sahara Desert, a 6.5-hour drive from chaotic Marrakech.

The sand dunes are smaller here than in the Sahara, providing the perfect introduction to the vast, barren nature of the far-flung Moroccan desert.

Cloaked in an aqua blue djellaba, the traditional garment worn by the Berber people, with a tangerine-coloured turban shielding his head and face from the harsh sun, my Berber guide leads the way. We are riding into the sunset, en route to a nomad-tented camp that we will call home for the evening.

On arrival I face yet another awkward moment

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with my camel – safely getting down off his large hump. Then, with sore buttocks, my friends and I find a sandy spot to perch and watch the sun sink behind the dunes in the distance. For dinner, we sit cross-legged on colourful cushions and feast on a hearty vegetable tajine jam-packed with spices.

The quintessential Moroccan dish is served in a clay pot, naturally. We sip fresh mint tea in preparation for bed and retreat to watch the stars.

Night-time in the desert is bewitching.

Darkness envelops you, save for the looming black sky that is dotted with tiny bright stars. The only sound I hear is my friends’ slow breathing, and the odd noise from our nearby camels. I feel worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech – from where we’ve just come – and yet we are a mere eight-hour drive away. I fall asleep under the silvery star-lit night sky, dreaming of Berbers, camels and dusty deserts.

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Moody

o rocco

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Moroccan Kasbah, Atlas Mountains

A RANGE ABOVE US Morocco is a country like no other and one that immediately assaults all of your senses.

There are several locations to witness, from the picturesque blue city of Chefchaouen in the north-east to surfing hotspot Taghazout in the country’s south. Then, of course, there are the arid Atlas Mountains – a 2,500-kilometre mountain range that stretches from Tunisia into Algeria and across to Morocco.

After our camel trek we drive west towards the imposing mountain range – called Idraren Draren (Mountain of Mountains) by the Berber people – in search of outdoorsy activities, highpowered mountain treks and deserted kasbahs.

We drive along rugged roads with the mountains looming large in the background.

There’s certainly no room for boredom on a journey to this enchanting country; the road trip itself is enough to entertain me for hours. Along the way I spot a shepherd hoarding his flock of goats and donkeys carrying haystacks atop their

Morocco Ouarzazate in the High Atlas Mountain

backs. Rickety trucks whizz past, creating a whirlwind of dust in their tracks. Every now and then, a Berber – the traditional inhabitants of the Atlas Mountains – wanders along the side of the road draped in a long, loose djellaba.

The Berber dwellings are small, mud-brick houses, yet somehow they manage to sleep a whole family in one room with animals in another – it’s a nod towards their simplistic lifestyle.

Small and dusty Berber villages are scattered throughout the High Atlas region. There’s Tin Mal, home to the 12th-century Tin Mal Mosque, one of Morocco’s most historic monuments; and Imlil, the perfect jumping off point for a trek up Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in Northern Africa.

Nature abounds in the region with gorges and riverbeds painting a pretty picture – perfect if you’re an outdoor lover like me. Lesser-known Amizmiz, just 55 kilometres south of Marrakech, has a weekly souk held on Tuesdays. It’s one of the largest Berber markets in the Atlas

Mountains and a great place to admire the local wares and produce of the region.

We stop in Ouarzazate, popularly called the ‘door of the desert’ and an essential destination for film buffs. A quick glance at our surroundings and we understand why: the landscape is reminiscent of many Hollywood blockbusters, from Lawrence of Arabia and Babel to modernday TV series such as Game of Thrones. Atlas Studios, one of the largest movie studios in the world, is based here.

I take several pictures of Kasbah Taourirt – the star of several Hollywood films and one of the best-preserved kasbahs in Morocco boasting a pinky-terracotta façade, beautiful painted stucco and wooden cedar ceilings inside its fortifications. It seems a contradiction that one minute I’m being led by a Berber man into the desert and being served dinner by nomads, and the next I’m standing outside one of Hollywood’s biggest money-makers. But that’s the beauty of Morocco – you never know what to expect.

Kasbah Taourirt in eastern Ouarzazate

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Red arches on Morocco’s Atlantic Ocean coast

THE MAZE OF MARRAKECH We leave the mountains behind and continue on the four-hour drive back to Marrakech. We pass more quaint villages, deserted kasbahs and humble corner-stores where brightly painted blue doors evoke Morocco’s love of colour. We stop off at one store to pick up fresh bottled water and immediately the soft, melodic Arabic music playing in the background catches my interest. Outside the shop, Morocco’s bright red national flag stands tall and proud – it’s a regular sighting in these rural parts.

Driving back into Marrakech is an exhilarating experience. Once again my eyes are glued to the window as I take in the colour and chaos on the streets outside. It’s dusk – a stunning time of day in this age-old city – and the pinky sky seems to blend in with the pink-walled, UNESCO World Heritage-listed medina. We hop out of our car at the entrance to the maze-like medina and thank

our driver with a generous tip.

We then begin the difficult task of finding our riad – you could say it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. We drift through back alleys and along narrow paths, passing women in floor-length black niqabs with only a tiny slit for their eyes. Young boys follow us, each asking the same question and following with the same response: “Where are you going, Miss? You’re going the wrong way.” It’s just one of their ploys to make a bit of extra cash by helping tourists to their riad. We refuse and follow our directions. Soon enough, we arrive at Dar Lalla F’ Dila.

The riad is located at the back of Dar Mnebhi, home to the Marrakech Museum. As soon as we step through the beautiful wooden doors and into the riad, we leave behind the liveliness of the medina in exchange for a peaceful oasis. It’s better suited to sleeping a Moroccan princess rather than a group of six dusty friends who’ve just come from

the desert, but we’re not complaining.

Aziz, the owner of the riad, leads us into the open courtyard, which boasts tall white pillars, lush pot plants, rustic lanterns and a stunning floor embellished with pretty mosaic tiles in blues and oranges. The riad is set over two floors, plus a rooftop terrace, with a selection of four individually designed small suites and a large suite. There’s even a mini hammam (steam room) and a small splash pool on the terrace.

Over our four-day stay in Marrakech – the perfect amount of time in such a humming city – we spend our days eating, shopping and wandering through the old town’s labyrinthine streets. Each morning, Aziz serves us a gourmet breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice, Moroccan mint tea, toast with jam and marmalade, sweet crumpets and fresh fruit. We then set off to explore the vibrant souks, selling everything from textiles and tea sets to leather goods and spices.

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Jemaa el Fnaa square and market place in Marrakesh’s medina quarter

OLD TOWN DELIGHTS Haggling in Morocco is commonplace and there’s no better place to get started than in Marrakech’s main bazaar. Don’t be put off by the occasional impassioned shop owner – in the next souk an artisan will make up for their compatriot’s brashness when they offer you a sweet, freshly brewed mint tea while you browse their wares.

In a single outing the shopaholic in me manages to buy some great bargains, including a handcrafted leather bag, intricate homewares, and a bright yellow belly-dancing outfit (I know!). There are also come great specialty shops and boutiques in Marrakech for when you tire of the souk. Ministero Del Gusto, a concept store created by a former style editor for Italian Vogue, sells stunning furniture; Atika has funky footwear; Akkal is heaven for lovers of ceramics and gorgeous fabrics; and Atelier Moro is an elegant boutique with hand-embroidered jewellery.

Post shopping, enjoying dinner in Jemaa el-Fnaa – the famous square and market place

Selection of very colourful Moroccan tajines

in the heart of the medina – is a must-do experience. Here, food stalls selling freshly made orange juice and sugared almonds compete for attention against an eclectic mix of entertainment, from snake charmers to magicians. It’s organised chaos at its best.

You can sample all sorts of local delicacies at the evening street food restaurants, such as chickpea soup, snails, spicy merguez sausages and shawarma (chicken kebab meat). We choose a bustling stall filled with diners and feast on small, tasty plates of lamb tagine, fluffy cous cous, fresh fish and Moroccan salad. The meal costs less than €10 per person.

Afterwards, we retreat to the rooftop café Terrasse Des Epices and order freshly made orange juice. We sink into the comfy booths, lolling on cushions and listening to chillout music – it’s a welcome respite from the madness of the square below. With the call to prayer echoing in the distance, it’s the perfect way to end an active day in Marrakech.

Colourful Moroccan faience pottery dishes on display

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Blue fishing boats on an ocean coast in Essaouira

Three o t must-se her TAROUDANT es… often called ‘Little wal

led city boas Marrakech’, this ancient ts a gorgeo for trekking us medina an in the Atlas d is a great M base o un ta for its brigh ins. CHEFCH t blue buildin AOUEN renow gs, this tow ned east is a ph n in Morocc otographer o’s north ’s dream. FE city, be sure Z If you visit th to put a trip is age-old to the Choua your to-do ra Tannery list. Here, yo on u’ ll see the pr washing, trea ocess of ting and co louring anim al skins into leather goods.

BOUND FOR THE BEACH After experiencing the bedlam of Marrakech in all its glory, my friends and I retreat to Essaouira, a once hippy haven on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. In the sixties the likes of Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix holidayed here and it’s no wonder why. With its colourful and chaotic old town, myriad activities from kite surfing to dune buggy riding, picturesque portside sunsets and charming restaurants serving French and Moroccan-inspired fare, the laidback town is the ideal place to chill out.

Our accommodation is at the five-star Sofitel Essaouira Mogador Golf and Spa directly opposite the beach. At first I’m reluctant to stay in a hotel chain when individually designed riads are so plentiful in this country, however the sleek design of the luxury resort more than makes up for it.

Each room blends a mix of contemporary French chic with traditional Moroccan elements, such as brightly painted walls, colourful cushions and intricate wood latticework. The pool itself and the exotic buffet breakfast are enough to immediately convince me I made the right decision to stay here.

Each morning, I take a walk along the

beachfront and enjoy the strong sea breeze – it’s an inviting change from the heat of Marrakech.

In the old town, another maze-like medina filled with souks awaits. Essaouira still retains much of its hippy charm, visible in its arty shops selling colourful trinkets, homeware, handmade silver rings, and ceramics.

Postcard-perfect shop fronts make for many snap-happy moments while charming vegan and vegetarian restaurants serve tasty light lunches.

Quaint French and Moroccan coffee shops abound and provide the perfect stop-off to indulge in a sweet mint tea while wandering the old town.

But there’s more to Essaouira than just shopping and wind surfing, particularly if you have an open mind. For example, one morning at breakfast my friend and I strike up a friendly conversation with our waiter. We chat about all sorts of things and discover his wife runs cooking classes at their home. I’m a self-confessed foodie, so the prospect of learning to cook an authentic tajine the real way, and in a local’s home, piques my interest immediately.

Fez general view

Riad, Fez, Morocco

Fast forward nine hours and my friends and I meet our waiter at the local food markets to buy fresh fish, sourced direct from Essaouira’s local fishermen, for our cooking lesson. An hour later we are squashed into a small, dimly lit kitchen, watching our waiter’s French-speaking wife show us (since she can’t speak English) how to make fish tajine.

While the tajine simmers to release its flavours, the couple leads us out onto their balcony and proudly shows off their caged pigeons. The practice of domesticating pigeons to use as livestock is a common tradition in Morocco. Squab – the meat of a young domestic pigeon – is considered a delicacy and is typically used to make Moroccan pastillas. It’s a strange concept for us Westerners, however it seems to add yet another dimension to the complex and beguiling puzzle that is Morocco.

I soon realise the best thing about this country is that it’s unpredictable: just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, something happens that makes you question yourself.

From the silence of the desert to the chaos of Marrakech, each town, village or city in Morocco boasts a sense of individuality – and that’s what makes a great holiday. e

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THE LEISURE chefchaouen

Mules, Mosques & Mostafa

W

© Shutterstock

e’re climbing into the Rif mountains of Morocco in Abdul’s ‘Gran Taxi’ – a seen-better-days Mercedes with no seat belts or air con – when the unmistakeable whiff of marijuana wafts in through the windows. Illegal crops are grown covertly, hiding between olive groves and melon fields around the outskirts of Chefchaouen.

The Rif is Morocco’s ‘capital of kif’ (slang for ‘hashish’, Arabic for ‘bliss’). The debate over whether to legalise cannabis for medicinal use and textile production to help out dirt-poor farming communities is a pipe still being smoked by the government. For now, there are stiff penalties for users as well as suppliers and in Chefchaouen, unlike Tangier, we weren’t hit on by pushers once.

The real ‘bliss’ of Chaouen, as the locals call it, is not to be found through a toke on a spliff although you’ll get that same sense of the surreal… like Dorothy entering the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz, except that Chaouen comes in blue – 50 shades of it, transitioning from palest ice to intense cobalt as dawn turns to dusk. The playwright Joe Orton found it “very Golden Bough-ish” when he visited in 1967 and little has changed, although there’s no mystique behind the Smurf-blue lime-wash: it’s to ward off flies!

The journey south, across the Gibraltar Strait, has been an education. Just 15 kilometres of water separates Spain from Morocco – a 35-minute crossing from Tarifa by fast FRS ferry – but the way of life in the two countries is a world apart. In Tangier we were handed over, like precious cargo, from our FRS hostess to Mostafa and from Mostafa, via another handling agent, to Abdul our driver, and our feet didn’t touch the ground again until we’d left the metropolis far behind. It was smarter than the down-at-heel city I remembered from a decade ago, with wide roads and roundabouts aflutter with crimson and gold-starred national flags in honour of a visit by King Mohammed VI. “People like the King, he’s done a lot for our prosperity,” Abdul told us, pointing out a Ferrari dealership, the modern train station and a site where Ritz is opening a hotel.

Beyond Tangier it’s another story. We pass itinerant traders selling strings of onions by the roadside, shepherds herding scraggy sheep, weary nomads thumbing lifts and Berber women in traditional red-and-white-striped fouta overskirts and conical straw hats with wool bobbles. Mules and donkeys are still the preferred agricultural beasts of burden, cheaper than machinery. To western eyes there are photo opportunities galore on the two-hour drive and Abdul stops frequently to oblige. He spends his life shuttling tourists between his native Chaouen and adopted Tangier so he knows his stuff, in Spanish, English, Arabic, French and a smattering of German.

Ascending towards the fir-topped peaks which are iced with snow in winter, we glimpse Chaouen (Berber for horns) locked in the embrace of twin, prong-shaped mountains. The smooth tarmac approach road and decorative lamp posts suggest that tourism arrived long before us. Although there are some 200 riads and hotels here, from Easter to summer’s end and during the festive season there’s little room at the inn. It’s quieter in late September and still swimming weather, although the Parador is one of the few hotels with a pool. Not a Parador by Spanish standards… but if you’ll excuse the 1970s kitsch plastic terrace furniture, the view of the rooftops below and the old ruined mosque on the hillside is cinematic and we pay 80 dirhams (around €6) for two Casablanca beers to enjoy it. Other than a dubious bar in the new town, this is the only place that serves alcohol. “Chin chin”, says the waiter, giving the scene a Casablanca – the-movie – flavour!

Abdul introduces us to another Mostafa, an official guide (many are not) but we take a rain check. “No problem, I will be around,” he tells us in very good English. (How true that turns out to be!) We want to discover for ourselves whether Chaoun’s is the cleanest, most tourist-friendly medina in Morocco and impossible to get lost in. It’s all those things. The air smells fresh and pine-scented, even in the sly, twisting streets – so unlike Tangier’s medina with its acrid stench of sewers. We find it around the corner from the Parador, across Plaza Outa-el-Hammam – the social hub of Chaouen, lined with shops and cafés and shaded by the spreading branches of a magnificent fir tree.

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50

Shades of Blue

Chefchaouen Belinda Beckett hops aboard an FRS ferry to discover the magic of Morocco’s Rif mountain town that’s a rhapsody in blue.

Photography David Cussen © Shutterstock

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Decorative doorways at Casa Hassan

Plaza Outa-el-Hammam – the social hub of Chaouen

Entrance to Casa Hassan

Berber chic

Mezzuins & Mint Tea Mojitos The café owners flag us down with menus as we pass.

“Más tarde,” we reply, in the preferred language.

Chaouen was under Spanish rule from 1920 until Morocco’s independence in 1956, when they gave it back (but hung on to neighbouring Ceuta). The old fortress town was originally founded in 1471 by the Emir Moulay Ali Ben Rachid, who modelled it on the Cádiz pueblo of Vejer to cheer up his homesick Spanish wife.

They were among thousands of Moslems and Jews expelled from Spain after the Reconquista who found sanctuary here. The impressive ramparts snake across the mountainside like a miniature Great Wall of China.

Casa Hassan is love at first sight – a spotlessly-clean traditional riad with a light-filled courtyard, hand-painted ceilings and doors, Berber rugs, earthy tadelakt walls cut out in magical moon and star-shapes and a roof terrace with cushions and lanterns oozing Eastern Promise. Our room (No. 23 – they’re all different) featured an alcove bed and a small Arabesque window hidden by vine leaves that became our spy-hole onto the medina. At 1pm we hear the plaintive chant of multiple mezzuins calling the locals to one of five daily prayer sessions. For us infidels, it’s a dinner gong, summoning us to lunch!

Casa Hassan’s restaurant is justifiably rated one of the best in town. We tucked into harira soup (a spicy minestrone), beef and vegetable tajine and salty-sweet pastilla, a chicken pie with knobs on. Regrettably these three dishes, and very little else, are staples on every menu in town. We ate them all again that night – climbing six flights of stairs to the lofty rooftop of the Casa Aladin, pitying the poor waiters who make the same journey from the ground floor kitchen, weighed down with dishes!

You can get a reasonable, three-course set menu anywhere for well under €10 but fine dining it’s not.

There’s definitely a gap in the market for a Moroccan Dani García to shake up the culinary scene. In the absence of wine, we became dab hands at turning mint tea into makeshift mojitos with ice and a sneaky dash of duty free brandy!

The medina is one experience that never palls, no matter how many times we dive into its snakesand-ladders streets, letting them take us wherever fate throws the dice. We watch men queuing up for their session in the unisex public baths, women baking dough in the community ovens, young girls embroidering kaftans with thread made from cactus plants and small boys kicking plastic footballs.

Vine leaves but no wine at Casa Hassan’s restaurant Ancient culture meets modern communication

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Cats, Cal & Congressmen We also chance upon the magnificent Lina Ryad, a stunningly-decorated spa hotel where Moroccon ethnicity meets Marbella chic. Lovingly restored from three ruined buildings by Amine Lahlou, who invited us in for mint tea and Moroccan pastries, the hotel has 17 sumptuous suites, a heated indoor pool and hammam and a chill-out roof terrace. Discerning visitors have included US senators and congressmen, and all are treated like personally-invited house guests, which indeed they are, as Amine and his family live under the same roof.

We inspect the medina’s dark little stores selling Berber carpets, hand-woven throws, silver jewellery, pottery, leather, and sacks of cal in rainbow hues, and stop to converse with alley cats. There are pussies galore! Coming from a three-cat household, we’re completely at home.

“There are no rats or snakes in town thanks to the cats,” says Mostafa, ‘materialising’ from a doorway although we haven’t arranged to meet him. No dogs? “They’re with the goatherds in the hills protecting the flock from wolves,” he says, taking charge while we meekly follow. We learn that: »» The houses don’t have numbers but the doors have colours: brown for Jewish households, blue for Andalus Arabs, grey for Berbers, black for Spanish. The black doors are increasing as more Spanish buy pied à terres here. »» Children are apprenticed as artesans in small cooperatives but this could die out now that education in Morocco is compulsory. »» There are nine mosques: six for men, three for women. Before the Arabs introduced the Islamic religion in the 15th century, the locals practised white magic!

So spa, so good – the Lina Ryad spa

Mostafa dematerialises

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Morocco’s Plain Sailing With FRS

Grand Mosque © Shutterstock

A Beautiful Launderette

Headless Chickens & Magic Pizza

Everyone needs a Mostafa and, although we never officially hire him, he materialises from doorways like white magic at unexpected moments: as we hover outside the Grand Mosque, to tell us that its octagonal minaret was inspired by the Torre de Oro in Seville; as we stroll in the gardens of the kasbah, to show us the dungeons and the miniscule marriage palanquins, made for diminutive young brides; to guide us to Ras el Maa river where the Riffian women do their laundry, using the stones as washboards and the trees as clothes lines (thwarted by ruffian lads diving into the water from the bridge)! He evaporates like mist while we lunch at the Molin ’Arte, where umbrella-shaded tables with privacy curtains overlook Chaouen’s beautiful alfresco launderette, and reappears on cue as we finish the last morsel of goat gratiné – a change from tajine, Allah be praised!

In Chaouen, you’re never alone. Wherever you set foot, half a dozen café owners will scurry out from under their awnings like trap door spiders.

And wherever you sit, you’ll meet the Cheech and Chong of Chefchaouen. One scrapes a violin, the other bashes a tambourine. Both sing, of sorts, though Simon Cowell would see no X Factor.

It’s Market Day and our last in Chaouen so we don’t go on a picnic with Mostafa to God’s Bridge at Akchour, one of many local beauty spots. This is trekking paradise for outdoor types, with hiking trails weaving through natural parkland. The northeast coast and the city of Tetouan are both an hour away, but you need more than a twonight stay to do it all.

The Monday and Thursday market in the new town is an eye opener! Goats with bloated udders and back legs tethered together are tugged up the street to be auctioned. In the poultry shops, when the living merchandise is not clucking around your ankles, it’s squawking in terror as an executioner armed with a cleaver pins its neck to the counter and guillotines its head at a stroke.

Kids shopping with their mothers don’t blink an eye at the carnage. As well as goats cheeses and fruits and jars of fragrant mountain honey there are cheap Chinese goods, trainers claiming to be Nikes and, everywhere, the scent of mint and marijuana.

Back at the plaza, we’ve promised ourselves pizza and beer (criminal, but we can’t face another tajine and mint tea). Ali Baba café sells neither but the determined waiter wants us to “Sit down pliz” because it’s “No problema.”

Within 10 minutes he has conjured up two bottles of Casablanca and a pizza Margarita. Magic?

Enterprise! He got them from his mate down the street…

Mostafa materialises once more, as we’re getting into Abdul’s taxi for the journey home.

He’s with a group of American tourists but he waves. We’ve given him 300 dirhams for his unsolicited services. He wouldn’t quote a price.

“Whatever you can afford, I am a simple man,” he told us. I hope he wasn’t disappointed.

“See you next time”, we call out, but he’s vanished – like white magic!

We mean it. We’ll be back. Chaouen has cast its spell. e

Trekking in the Rif, chilling on the beaches of Asilah, hopping over to Tangier for lunch at the historic El Minzah hotel – it’s all plain sailing with FRS. Great time-keeping, a state-of-the-art fleet and seamless transfers when you arrive in Morocco reflect the German efficiency of FRS’s parent company, which celebrates its 80th anniversary next year. Their sleek fast ferries carry 3,000 passengers and 800 cars across the Gibraltar Strait daily. And with 14 years experience in organising short breaks and family holidays to Morocco, FRS can fix it, whether you want to do your own back-packing thing or prefer a little TLC. Their travel experts can help you to build your own itinerary or choose an economic package, such as their 7-day complete Morocco tour, taking in Meknes, Fez, Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier, priced from €479.

This year, Chaouen can be combined with Fez, Asilah, hiking in Bouhachem Natural Park or in the mountainous Berber village of Mechkralaa. “We added Chaouen in 2006 and it’s very popular with the Spanish for the historical connections, but everyone who goes there falls in love with the place,” says Marketing Director Marcial Picó. “We’re also launching a new package to Tangier and Tetouan where the Antena 3 series, El Tiempo Entre Costuras, is partly set.”

We travelled in style aboard the flagship Dolphin Jet catamaran. The 35-minute crossing gives you just enough time to enjoy a coffee in the comfortable lounge, take a stroll up on deck to spot dolphins and whales, stock up at the Duty Free shop and fill out those all-important immigration forms (if you’re travelling with others, take turns to hold your place in the queue).

All FRS sailings to Tangier Ville start from Tarifa but there’s a shuttle bus service from Algeciras Port, from which FRS also sails to Ceuta and the industrial port of Tangier Med. g For tours, tickets and further information, see www.frs.es

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C’est si Bon!

LE BATEAU

THE GOURMET restaurant

L

WORDS BELINDA BECKETT PHOTOGRAPHY JON SEGUI

Queensway Quay has that Côte d’Azur cachet, even on a stormy day in January. This elegantly understated little marina with its bijou waterfront homes and chic super-yachts speaks of lazy mornings reading Le Figaro. OK, make that The Chronicle! It’s still the perfect setting for Gibraltar’s only sea-facing French restaurant.

e Bateau is something of a rare find as French cuisine no longer rules the gastronomic beau monde. When was the last time you tasted a fragrant bowl of authentic moules marinières?

But, as Michel Roux Jr. would concur, a true connoisseur requires a frequent fix of French classics. Frogs legs, foie gras, French onion soup, they’re all on the menu chez Le Bateau.

Personally, I’m up for a change from the current obsession with coriander, kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass. But if the thought of all that garlic sounds scary, don’t panic. “We describe our menu as funky French, because it’s very eclectic, to cater for the multicultural local market,” says Le Bateau’s skipper, Daniel Breeze.

Judging from the parade of plates coming out of the kitchen crowned with crisp Yorkshire puddings and sides of colourful fresh vegetables, funky French also embraces the Great British Sunday Roast, clearly a Gibraltarian family favourite. And here they really push Le Bateau out with a choice of pork, beef, lamb or chicken, freshly carved and

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served with real roasties!

Kent-born Daniel trained at the same Thanet catering college as the great Gary Rhodes, so he knows his stuff, although he spends more time out front these days. He and his wife Marianna are proper ‘gastro-preneurs’, having previously run The Tunnel in Casemates, Gauchos Argentinean restaurant and Ipanema Brazilian restaurant at Ocean Village.

Le Bateau presented other challenges. In its former incarnations as 14 On The Quay and Claus on the Rocks, it was just a big white tent that leaked rain, let in drafts and was in danger of taking off on blustery days. The problem was solved with a permanent glass pergola. Now everyone gets a waterproof window seat. Snug and dry, we watched the wind whip up the waves outside, enjoying the light-filled space and the red and blue gingham French bistro-style tablecloths that add a welcoming bonjour. The windowless rear of the restaurant has been cunningly transformed into a cool cocktail lounge, with sofas and bar stools, where you can enjoy aperitifs and nibbles.

Gastropods aren’t everyone’s idea of gastro heaven but, go on, try them once! The escargots at Le Bateau have French provenance and do not come from Daniel’s back garden!

Prising them out with forceps is part of the fun.

They were beautifully presented on a bed of leaves encircling a pool of garlic butter and their soft, oyster texture needed

very little chewing. Our party of four also enjoyed a fine lobster bisque, warm goats cheese salad drizzled with sticky honey and walnut dressing, and beetroot and goats cheese stacks, a celebration of this under-rated sweet, earthy root veg which is far superior when not pickled to death in vinegar.

Le Bateau’s cassoulet de poisson, a classic fish stew finessed with moules, will take you on a trip down those straight, tree-lined memory lanes of past motoring holidays in France, where versions of this hearty peasant dish were on offer wherever you stopped. The duck confit with white beans and chorizo reminded our photographer of his Nan’s stick-to-the-ribs cooking, in a good way! The smoked pork fillet from the new spring menu (as opposed to the classic favourites and daily specials) was sous vide soft, infused with a subtle, wood-smoke flavour. The buttery sea bass with fennel and fondant potatoes was declared as fresh as if it had been catapulted by the turbulent waves out of the marina waters and onto the plate!

Indeed, the restaurant really does buy some of its produce direct from fishermen on the quayside.

As you see, Le Bateau’s not all garlic and Gallic and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, although you can get French wine. We tried Daniel’s great value Spanish Wine of the Week which he buys by the barrel, bottles under his own label and decants at the table, a nice touch. It’s also good to see cheese and biscuits on a menu, which the French and I like to enjoy before dessert, to finish off our wine.

Except we had none left, it was so drinkable!

Daniel has a French pastry chef and you can tell. His desserts are performance art. Crème brulée with Grand Marnier, chocolate fondant, his version of a traditional Limousin clafoutis fruit tart, gooey tarte tatin with a twist… c’est tout si bon!

That’s French for ’It’s all so good’.

g Open daily, 12 noon-late. wvww.lebateaugibraltar.com Reservations, Tel: +350 200 66420 or email info@lebateaugibraltar.com 2/27/14 2:02 PM

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WORDS ROCIO CORRALES, ANGLO HISPANO PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF WINERY BODEGAS EMILIO MORO

Malleolus

THE GOURMET wine

The word ‘Malleolus’ translates from the Latin as majuelo meaning small vineyard, referring to the vineyards in Pesquera de Duero. To produce this wine, the grapes are selected from vines aged between 25 and 75 years old.

the old vine which still maintains the character inherited from past centuries, with personality, elegance and exclusivity. It is the essence of the oldest vineyards that is the key to understanding Malleolus, and the grapes are macerated with the skins for 18 days with the wine being aged for 18 months in Allier French oak barrels before bottling. It intensely expresses balsamic aromas, spices and tobacco contributed from the oak, naturally enriching the grand ensemble.

Z AWARDS: 92 points from Robert Many of the vineyards were Parker’s Wine Advocate for the rescued from the massive upMalleoulus 2009 and 93 points in rooting which occurred during the the Guía Peñin for the 2010 edition. last century in Pesquera, thanks t was after a wine tasting of Z Malleolus wine is available at to the family’s passion for wine.

Emilio Moro Wines at The Anglo Hispano shop for £27.95. It’s These vineyards conserve the Waterfront restaurant (in a perfect gift for special occasions essence of the ancient majuelos Queensway Quay) that we were or to share at home with your (small vineyards), a key word in invited to taste this wine for the loved ones. their way of approaching wine. first time. Nicely surprised and Understanding the concept of impressed, we were persuaded to ‘age’ is key to their viticulture, as import Malleolus to Gibraltar. all their vines are placed on nonThis top wine is from the irrigated land and it is precisely those oldest vines that premium range of Bodegas Emilio Moro, situated in are best adapted to these limiting conditions thanks to Pesquera de Duero. This is a village in the province of their well-developed root systems.

Valladolid, in the heart of the Ribera del Duero region The elaboration processes of the wines are oriented to within the zone known as the ‘Golden Mile’. develop the potential of their extraordinary raw material.

The Ribera del Duero appellation is nestled on the Throughout the process they implement both modern northern plateau at the juncture of four of the provinces control techniques and keep the traditions of the Moro of the Castilla y Leon Autonomous Region. It is worth family alive – such as the selection of toasted barrels and noting that it is the highest appellation in Spain situated ageing times, a key factor in the final personality of their at an altitude of between 750 and 1,000 metres above wines. sea level.

Tasting Notes: Ripe cherry colour, deep with a Emilio Moro taught his son, also called Emilio, all garnet rim. A wine with a very intense nose which is he knew about the world of wine and the latter, in turn, predominantly comprised of black, jammy fruits, balsamic taught his sons, Jose and Javier. It is this third generation notes and aromatic oak, with outstanding spicy aromas that currently runs the winery. Emilio planted all his land of clove and coffee and hints of clayey minerals. On the with vineyards grafted with the variety Tinta del País palate it is powerful, concentrated and well-balanced.

Centenaria, and currently the bodega counts with more Secondary aromas of spice, black fruit and aromatic oak than 200 hectares of vineyards. appear again. The texture in the mouth is velvety with Malleolus in Latin, or Majuelo in Spanish, is the excellent integration between fruit and wood. e fundamental word in the elaboration of this wine, from

I

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g Available at Anglo Hispano, 5/7 Main Street, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 77210, www.anglo.gi, www.emiliomoro.com 2/27/14 1:35 PM

NEW WINES JUST ARRIVED! SPECIAL LAUNCH OFFER • SPECIAL LAUNCH OFFER • SPECIAL LAUNCH OFFER

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@AngloGibShop Anglo Hispano Shop

5-7 Main Street Tel: +00350 200 77210 Email: shop@anglo.gi Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00am-6:30pm Sat:10:30am-2:00pm Anglo_Essential.indd 1

2/21/14 3:09 PM

restaurants All’s Well Bar & Restaurant

Gallo Nero

Maharaja Indian Restaurant

solo express

Unit 4, Casemates Square, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 72987

56/58 Irish Town, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 77832

5 Tuckey’s Lane, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 50733

Casemates Square, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 62828

BEAN & gone cafe

Gatsby’s

Mamma Mia

Taps Bar

20 Engineers Lane, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 65334

1 /3 Watergardens 1, Waterport Ave, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 76291

Unit C, Boyd Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 64444

5 Ocean Village Promenade, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 67575

Mons calpe suite

Gibraltar Arms

Top of The Rock, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 79478

Theatre Royal Bar & Restaurant

Bianca’s 6/7 Admiral’s Walk, Marina Bay, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 73379

Bistro Madeleine 256 Main Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 65696

Bridge Bar & Grill Leisure Island, Ocean Village, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 66446

Bruno’s Unit 3, Trade Winds, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 68444

Cafe Rojo 54 Irish Town, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 51738

Cafe Solo Grand Casemates Square 3, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 44449

Cannon Bar 27 Cannon Lane, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 77288

184 Main Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 72133

Ipanema Unit 11, Ocean Village Promenade, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 216 48888

Jumpers Wheel Restaurant 20 Rosia Road, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 40052

Jury’s Cafe & Wine Bar 275 Main Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 67898

Khan’s 7/8 Watergardens, Waterport, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 50015

Kowloon Restaurant 20 Watergardens III, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 42771

La Mamela

Mumbai curry house

60 Governor’s Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 51614

Ground floor, Block 1 Eurotowers, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 73711

The Chargrill Restaurant at Gala Casino

Nunos

Gala Casino, Ocean Village, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 76666

The Caleta Hotel, Catalan Bay, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 76501

O’Reilly’s Leisure Island, Ocean Village, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 67888

Piccadilly Garden Bar

The Clipper 78 Irish Town, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 79791

The Cuban

3B Rosia Rd, Gibraltar Tel. +350 200 75758

21B The Promenade, Ocean Village, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 67889

Pizza Express

the island

Unit 17, Ocean Village, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 50050

27 Leisure Island, Ocean Village, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 66666

Pizzaghetti

the ivy sports bar & grill

Sir Herbert Miles Road, Catalan Bay, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 72373

1008 Eurotowers, Europort Avenue, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 63868

Latino’s Diner

Restaurante Nunos Italiano

The Landings Restaurant

Casa Pepe

194/196 Main Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 46660

15 Ragged Staff Wharf, Queensway Quay, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 66100

Unit 18, Queensway Quay Marina, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 46967

Latinos Music Bar and Restaurant

Caleta Hotel, Sir Herbert Miles Road, Catalan Bay, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 76501

Champion’s Planet Bar & Grill

9 Casemates Square, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 47755

Rooftop Bistro, O’Callaghan Eliott Hotel

Europa Road, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 73000x The Royal Calpe, 176 Main Street.

Tel: +350 200 75890

Casa Brachetto 9 Chatham Counterguard, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 48200

Unit 2B, The Tower, Marina Bay, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 46668

Charlie’s Steakhouse & Grill 4/5 Britannia House, Marina Bay, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 69993

Corks Wine Bar 79 Irish Town, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 75566

El Patio Unit 11, Casemates Square, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 40713

El Pulpero Unit 12A Watergardens, Waterport, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 44786

La Parrilla 17/18 Watergardens, Block 6, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 66555

Laziz Sail 2.2, Ocean Village Marina, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 40971

Le Bateau 14 Ragged Staff Wharf, Queensway Quay, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 66420

Lek Bangkok Unit 50 1/3, Block 5, Eurotowers, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 48881

4 Stagioni

Little Rock Restaurant & Bar

16/18 Saluting Battery, Rosia Road, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 79153

Casemates Square, Gibraltar Tel +350 200 51977

Governor’s Parade, Gibraltar +350 200 70500

Roy’s Cod Place 2/2 Watergate House, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 76662

Sacarello’s Cafe-Restaurant 57 Irish Town, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 70625

Seawave Bar 60 Catalan Bay Village, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 78739

Solo Bar & Grill Unit 15, 4 Eurotowers, Europort Avenue, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 62828

13a Ocean Village, Gibraltar.

Tel: +350 200 68222

The Rock Hotel Restaurant

The Trafalgar Bar 1a Rosia Road, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 45370

The Waterfront 4/5 Ragged Staff Wharf, Queensway Quay, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 45666

Tunnel Bar Restaurant Casemates Square, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 44878

Verdi Verdi Unit G10, International Commercial Centre, Main Street, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 60733

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