Leaving Ouarzazate, a quiet city just being developed. Usually just passed through on the way to Marrakech.
However, apparently, it is also the site of a movie studio! Atlas Corporation. Filming parts of various movies throughout the ages. Cleopatra, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Alexander, the upcoming King Tut, and some scenes from The Game of Thrones too. Who knew. Unfortunately, because there was filming going on, we weren’t allowed to see most of the studio. Entering the parking lot, we saw a lot of random guys just sitting around hoping to be an extra.
On our way to our next stop, we stopped to take pictures of the scenery in the Atlas mountain range. At this stop in particular there was a random old man without teeth… and he pulled a snake out of a bag he was holding. Just a water snake, nothing fancy. Kinda creepy with the noises he was making though…
Just down the road, Ait Ben Haddou. Lined with souvenir shops, we walk up the pathway to a small stream. Not too sure where to enter from… So eventually we cross over a bridge made of bags of rocks and follow some random guy towards a gate. At the gate, locals, possibly residents of the qazbah, asks for 10dh for entry and we are on our way. Again, we shoo away a random person who wants to be our guide and we venture into the ancient neighborhood alone… We checked out one of the watch towers then up and around the qazbah all the way to the peak. Offered a nice view of the city and the new city across the stream. A life I could not imagine living…
Driving through the mountain side of the Atlas range provided an interesting view, a bumpy ride, and views of real, traditional Berber villages. So many sharp turns and narrow lanes. We drove up to the peak and stopped to take a picture of a sign to tell us our altitude and to avoid the shopkeepers shouting out random Asian countries. One of them saw Sameer, INDIAN! and he got dragged in to his shop by a handshake that he wouldn’t let go of. Suckered into a purchase, and we’re on our way.
Making our lunch stop, I ordered Lamb Tajine while the rest had couscous. Next door there was a shop that sold Argan oil, which is used for food as well as beauty products. The Argan nut is famously known as the but that grows on the trees that goats climb. Goats on trees. On trees. They are only in a specific region in Morocco that we did not have on our itinerary. The nut has an outer shell that the goats eat, then an inner shell that looks like a pistachio with a nut inside. This inner shell and nut are then grinded into the Argan oil. Interestingly, the Argan oil industry was given, by the government, to the female cooperative, allowing only females to be employed, which helps provide income to single mothers and such.
Although Abdul is familiar with this route, where the speed traps are, he got a speeding ticket :P. Not me this time! The driving in Morocco is very aggressive and kind of… Fend for yourself, so it’s no surprise that his driving is very fast as well. Anyways, we drove back to Marrakech, hoping to see a couple of sites before they closed in order to cross them off the list.
Gardens of Majorelle, or Yves Saint Laurent. We got there at around 5:15, they would close the garden at 6 so we opted to come back another day.
Another item on the list was oldest mosque in Marrakech, since we can’t go on anyways, we just walked around and took some pictures.
Aaaaand… back to Riad Princese du Désert to drop off our stuff and settle in before going back out into the market. Cheap food and drink. Avoid the salad in the square. The juice is good though, orange and/or grapefruit. Cart 44!
Knowing we would be coming back to the square for food we asked both Abdul and Abdil (our Riad host) about where to go and eat. Both suggested Chez Hassan, which we easily found by the mass amount of smoke they were producing. They greeted us warmly, just like every other vendor as we passed by, but their selling line was “Guaranteed no diarrhea!”. Sold. We were still being cautious because it is Morocco, an open marketplace, and there was so much smoke, so we bought one skewer plate to go and decided to eat elsewhere where we could sit down and get a cool view of the square from above.
Settling on trying something different from the tajine and skewers we’ve been having, we found pizza. But the pizza was crappy. 🙁 oh well.
By the time we left, and started walking back to the Riad, the souks and random shops were all closed. An eerie sight when during the day it’s incredible busy and loud.
Ait Ben Haddou, Ait Ben Haddou, Lamb Tajine, Juice, Marketplace
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