“藍(lán)房子”的前身是個(gè)Riyad,在阿語(yǔ)里是指帶庭院或天井的房子,也就是別墅的意思。這座別墅建于1910年,房東是現(xiàn)在旅館老板雷達(dá)·阿巴迪(Reda Mehdi El Abbadi)的祖父默罕默德·阿巴迪(Mohammed El Abbadi)。后來(lái),隨著老房東和三位夫人的相繼過(guò)世,房子空置下來(lái),兒孫們皆因麥地那的生活不便而搬去了新城。
房子一旦沒(méi)人居住就破損得很快。1997年,為了保全這份家業(yè),同時(shí)注意到來(lái)自世界各地的游客漸漸增多,老房東的四兒子阿卜杜·阿巴迪(Abdou Samam El Abbadi)動(dòng)意在這里開(kāi)家餐館。于是,全家人開(kāi)始籌備,添置了桌椅和餐具,但老房子的布局和裝修卻絲毫未動(dòng)。
要說(shuō)餐館的生意開(kāi)始紅火,還得益于開(kāi)業(yè)一個(gè)月后來(lái)此的一批美國(guó)雜志記者,他們被這座老房子古樸、精致的裝飾和布局以及伴餐的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)傳統(tǒng)樂(lè)器演奏所吸引,回去后刊登了相關(guān)文章。自此,大批游客紛至沓來(lái),絡(luò)繹不絕。此后,弟兄幾個(gè)開(kāi)始置辦客房必需品,使這間老房成為麥地那第一家家庭旅館。在麥地那,這樣的家庭旅館有幾十家,但據(jù)老板講,他們家仍然是最好的。
\"Blue House\" is the predecessor of a \"Riyad,\" which, in Arabic, refers to the house with a courtyard or patio, and also means villa. This villa was built in 1910, the landlord, Mohammed El Abbadi, is the grandfather of the current owner of the hotel, Reda Mehdi El Abbadi. Later, after the death of the old landlord and his three ladies, the house became vacant, and the children and grandchildren moved to the new city due to the inconvenience of living in the Medina.
Once the house is not in use, it quickly deteriorated. In 1997, in order to preserve this family legacy, while noticing the increasing tourists from all over the world, the old landlord's fourth son Abdou Samam El Abbadi intended to open a restaurant here. So the whole family began the preparations by purchasing furniture and tableware, leaving the layout and decorations of the old house untouched.
As to how the restaurant business started to flourish, the family need to thank a group of visiting American magazine reporters one month after it opened. Completely enamored by the primitive simplicity, elegant decorations and layout of the old house, as well as the performance of musicians playing traditional instruments during the meal, the reporters published an article about this place after they returned to the US. Since then, a large number of tourists started swarming in, and the brothers started setting up the room necessities to make this old house the first family hotel in the Medina. There are dozens of family hotels here now, but according to the boss their hotel remains the best.