Marrakech: The Desert's Edge

Once a haven for hippies, Marrakech has outgrown that phase along with its visitors. Today, it's a showcase of high design, mixing Euro cool with the medina's rich colors. The "new Marrakech" look is keeping local craftsmen busy: if you spy a piece of furniture you like during your stay, most places will sell it to you and ship it back home.

A Face-Lift for Marrakech's La Mamounia Hotel

La Mamounia, or at least its eight hectares of gardens, began life in the 18th century as a wedding gift to Morocco's Prince Moulay Mamoun from his father, King Mohammed Ben Abdellah (the hotel didn't follow until 1923). Today, those gardens, with their centuries-old olive trees, still retain their historic splendor. And the rest of La Mamounia has never felt fresher.

A Place In The Sun

Ean Vassort, dressed comfortably in jeans and blue cotton shirt, stands on the terrace of his whitewashed house, taking in the view of long golden beaches and a broad estuary snaking eastward into a hot, rocky valley. Retired since selling his restaurant near Avignon, France in 2002, Vassort, 74, now lives year-round in this sun-washed setting where he once took his holidays. But unlike earlier generations of French pensioners, Vassort's retirement idyll isn't tucked away along the villa-studded expanses of the Côte d'Azur, or in one of the popular resort towns of Spain's Costa Brava. Instead, Vassort is one of a growing number of European pensioners jumping the Mediterranean to Morocco — and getting much more bang for their euro.