DAR LOUSSIA

You who have come from so far to soak up the flavors and scents of the Orient, take the time before enjoying your meal to read the beautiful story of Dar L’Oussia…
This story begins like a tale…
“At that time, this room, welcoming, warm, with marble floors, tadelackt walls, sumptuously decorated with these portraits of Berbers who fit perfectly into the place, was quite different!
Close your eyes… Imagine the dirt floor, the cob walls… on the ground, lie huge shapeless bales from which catchy and heady odors emerge, these dust-covered bales have crossed the Sahara on camels, these vessels of the desert… We are here in a Foundouk, namely a caravanserai, it is dark there almost night, a diffuse light pierces through the leaves of the half-open door, there is a lot of bustle, outbursts of voices, the comings and goings are incessant.
The years have passed… the foundouk is changed into a warehouse which is used for import export.
The Indochinese and African Commercial Union stores spice seeds there…
It was at this time that my father, who had come to Morocco in 1946 to participate in the construction of the Bin el Ouidane dam, seeking a place of residence for his family, bought the “L.U.C.I.A” building from Mr. Honora. We were then in 1949.
My father set up a small public works company, he participated among other things in the construction of the post office and that of the buildings of the airport… Until 1954 Mogador was our adopted land and the L.U.C.I.A house, our house… But in 1954 we left Essaouira for Agadir, my father working for the Defense of Plants took part in the fight against locusts (against grasshoppers). In 1956, a return to France became inevitable…
Our L.U.C.I.A house was deserted… rented for a time to development workers (1977), then squatted, and it was only after 40 years that I, Yves Pélissier, the youngest of the siblings, born here, I was able to give a new birth to the house of our childhood, by making it the current hotel, which I renamed “Dar L’Oussia”, in memory of the Maison L.U.C.I.A.” .
This story was told to me by Yves Pélissier, owner of the hotel, to whom I served as scribe…