This is a long blog. One can ease into different sections, Skoura; Ouarzazate & the Atlas Studios (think Game of Thrones, GLADIIATOR [sic]…); the ancient town of Aït Ben Haddou; the N9 highway crossing the High Atlas & lunch at Café Restaurant Assanfou before entering Marrakech.
An old kasbah of K'sah El Kabbaba that built by the Berbers, with traditional mud brick architecture.
I know the banjo originated in Africa. I didn’t expect to see American style ones in Morocco. This one is a five string with an unusual placement of the fifth string tuner.
In a Marrakech music store I saw a Fender four string (tenor) banjo for sale & saw musicians playing them there. I’m getting ahead of myself here….
K'sah El Kabbaba, Skoura.
We took a guided walking tour of Skoura.
I liked this natural fence around a house’s backyard.
Pressed mud brick for rammed earth buildings.
Ruins of an ancient kasbah in Skoura.
“Dating back to ancient times, the Oasis of Skoura has been a vital part of Morocco’s history. It served as a crucial stop for caravans traversing the harsh desert, providing much-needed rest and resources.”
We encountered many cultivated fields owned & tended by community members.
“The oasis is home to a variety of plants, with date palms being the most prominent… Other plants include olive trees, almond trees, and a variety of shrubs and herbs that add to the oasis’s biodiversity.”
Our guide recently completed a masters degree in agriculture. He returned to Skoura to help increase their agricultural production plus he had some other entrepreneurial ideas.
Many locals had plots behind their houses. They shared & worked cooperatively.
The fellow with the hoe reminded me of…
A cemetery.
Corpses are wound in a shroud & buried on their right side with the head facing Mecca.
The three steps atop the entrance wall dates back to the custom of inviting travelers to stay for three days.
Walking tour of Skoura.
The open blue door on the right goes into a little bodega style store.
Our guide’s father was the contractor for this home. Proudly it is environmentally “correct.”
In an open area of Skoura, community ovens. A whole animal could be cooked in these ovens for the celebrations.
From the rooftop of Ksar El Kabbaba.
The muezzin had announced that morning about the death of someone in the community. In the center of the photo you can see folks gathered in the home of the deceased paying their respects.
And 1.5 hours later…
From the rooftop of Ksar El Kabbaba at sunrise.
As we were told, the view of the High Atlas Mountains would be excellent…
Off to work seen from the rooftop of Ksar El Kabbaba.
Outside of Ouarzazate, a fence around a new national park.
Heavy traffic as we come up to the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station, the world's largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant.
Atlas Studios, Ouarzazate.
A.K.A. "Ouarzawood."
We were out of the loop as we didn’t see any of these films, other than Marty seeing Gladiator.
Game of Thrones was filmed here.
Quite a number of scenes from GLADIIATOR, inclusing the opening battle scene were filmed here. I saw GLADIIATOR. That’s not a misspelling, it’s Gladiator II.
Atlas Studios, Ouarzazate.
A.K.A. "Ouarzawood."
Atlas Studios, Ouarzazate.
If you look beyond the props you’ll see a whole village built there to house employees.
Atlas Studios, Ouarzazate.
Our guide at Atlas Studios, Ouarzazate. He’s been an extra in many films.
His djellaba & those of the Berbers at our desert encampment have a breast pocket.
The origins of Ait Benhaddou can be traced back to at least the 11th century. It "… is a historic ighrem or ksar along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh... It is considered a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987."
At the top is an igoudar; a storehouse or early bank.
"Camel caravans arriving into the valleys after weeks crossing the Sahara would stay for respite and trade before arriving to the Atlantic Coast, taking with them the produce, jewellery and textiles of the tribes."
They would leave items here for storage & retrieve them on their return from the Atlantic Coast. They also left their camels in the village & changed to donkeys for the trek through the Atlas Mountains.
We had been heading north on P1506.
At Aït Benhaddou other guides & drivers told Youssef & Farid that the road ahead was closed. From the Google map, it looks like the sites along P1506 would have been fabulous…
…but we had to backtrack…
So much here.
Solar panels, graffiti (BOTOLA is a prof. Moroccan football team) & a herd of sheep crossing the newly paved road. Sheep shepherds are men & the women tend the cattle.
And then to our right, women doing the wash in the oued.
N 9 has recently been improved. Note the arrow pointing to the old road. Farid said he had driven on N9 during the construction. Sometimes he would be stopped for a while & then hear & feel a nearby dynamite explosion & then continue on…
This col …”is the highest major mountain pass in North Africa. The road was constructed along the old caravan trail by the French military in 1936..."
Milk seller going door to door.
One of many great photos on the walls of Café-restaurant Assanfou, Tizi N'Tichka.
Café-restaurant Assanfou, Tizi N'Tichka.
Café-restaurant Assanfou, Tizi N'Tichka.
I am not a fan of the taste of goat cheese. Our waiter brought out a plate of freshly made goat cheese. It was like nothing I’d ever tasted; so good!
I’d be worried about landslides living in that village.
