Villa Vanille

This felt more like the Pirate Villa than the Vanilla Villa. The pirate leader, IMAN, gave us an icy welcome, with none of the tea or oriental pastries promised in the description. We were offered the Sun Suite, but it was horrible. The bed, which looked at least 10 years old, had no box spring and sat on a cement platform. The bedspread was stained all over. There were missing tiles everywhere, mold in the bathroom, and the whole place felt like a neglected 3-star hotel in Morocco. The listing said there would be a TV, hairdryer, shampoo, and soap, but none were there. When we asked IMAN, she said suites didn’t have hairdryers because guests stole them. She also said the TV wasn’t in the description, so I showed her a copy and marked all the missing items in pen. We asked about renting a car, but there was no brochure or price list. The customer apparently set the price, and we realized this was how it worked for everyone. There were screams around the pool. We thought we were dreaming until we saw about ten goats and a horse. It felt like a farm in Marrakech. IMAN also cooks. After eating a potato tagine with tomato puree, I had a stomach ache and diarrhea, so we decided to eat every day at a small restaurant outside the villa instead. It was a real treat. We also had things stolen from our room, makeup and clothes. There’s a hostess bar about fifty meters from the villa, with music going late. We chose somewhere 10 km from the city center hoping for peace and quiet, but that wasn’t the case. The neighbors leave their trash cans out in the open, then burn the rubbish when they’re done. The smell is amazing! AVOIDED.