Having spent around four decades in Marrakech, and as the previous owner of the building that now houses IZZA, Willis’s own black and white photographs dot the walls of the hotel providing a snapshot of his time there, alongside contemporary works of art from the likes of African artists Hicham Benohoud, Hassan Hajjaj and many more.
Certain that this time around, Morocco's imperial city was going to utterly capture my heart, I jumped into an airport taxi and made my way back into the Red City.
And while I usually adore watching local daily life unfold from unassuming cafes, Marrakech’s non-tourist cafes are predominantly packed full of men since they serve as social spaces for male interaction.
There are a few ways to remedy this; pick a hotel in a busy, easy-to-get-to part of town, take dinner at your hotel, or go out for early dinners so that you can be back safely in your room before it gets too late.
Me and my boyfriend at the time stumbled into the main square as baby-faced travellers and took a room for the night with straw-filled pillows and a communal bathroom, hardly sleeping due to the riotous drumming booming in from the square below.
