It was to the chaotic town of Antsirabe, 170km south of Antananarivo in Madagascar, that Mohamed V of Morocco was exiled from 1953-56. The View from Fez Africa correspondent reports.
Hotel des Thermes, Antsirabe
Antsirabe, dominated by the large cathedral Notre Dame de la Salette, was a favourite spa town in the early twentieth century, renowned for its beneficial thermal waters. The Sultan and his entourage stayed at the enormous Hotel des Thermes, overlooking the baths and lake.
Today the hotel is run down and has a vaguely sinister air about it, but you can still stay in the Sultan's rooms. Formerly the Mohamed V suite, it has now been renamed the suite Mont Ibity and will set you back 214 000 Ariary, the equivalent of 86 Euros, per night.
Sadly in need of a coat of paint, and with its restaurant closed, the hotel still attracts foreign tourists, perhaps just for its novelty value. It probably hasn't since a Moroccan visitor since the 1950s.
You can still take the waters, too, at the health centre at the baths. There's a naturally heated pool, Jacuzzi and various therapies housed in an atmospheric turn-of-the-century building.
One wonders if Mohamed V and his family took advantage of these facilities and how he enjoyed the town. Did he venture further afield? Antsirabe is the first of the high plateau towns on the journey from Madagascar's capital of Antananarivo (known as Tana) to the rainforest national parks and the southern coast.
Mohamed V returns from exile in 1956 to become King of newly independent Morocco
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