Today we left Marrakech for our five-day private tour with Under the Morrocan Sun Tours. Our guide Mohamid arrived right on time at 9:00am, just as we were finishing our breakfast.
As we left the Riad in our comfortable SUV, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and it was a nice 14 degrees outside. For today we have arranged a full day of driving over the High Atlas Mountains and visiting some local sights.
Day 1. Marrakesh - High Atlas Mountains - Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou - Ouarzazate
Enjoy one of Morocco's best scenic drives with Berber dwellings tucked away in the mountains, visit the photogenic Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, and lunch here before continueing to Ouarzazate.
Our drive out of Marrakech allowed us to see some of the surrounding area which included lots of development. We learned today from Mohamid that the people who live in the medina of Marrakech are Berber, and those outside are typically Arib, as well as Europeans. Speaking of the medina, we also found out that the reason we could not find the large spice market was because they don't set up in the rain...so glad no one told us this yesterday!!
Not far outside the city the terrain changed from lush and green, to less vegetation, with the beautiful Atlas Mountains snow covered in the background.
Further along we stopped to take photos of a Berber village on the side of the mountain and watched as women were washing their clothes in the river...all while enjoying the spectacular scenery on this beautiful day.
As we travelled up the mountain along Tizi N'Tichka Pass, the temperature started to drop...and drop it did...to 6 degrees by the time we reached the highest elevation of the pass at 2260m. The wind was blowing and it was cold...I was also wearing shoes and no socks of course!
It felt almost like we were transported back home for a brief moment..."Welcome to Quebec", as our driver would say.
Now that we made it to the top of the mountain it was time to make our decent along the very twisty highway...100km to our final destination. Lisa and I were well prepared with our motion sickness medication....you need it here with the roads and the fact that drivers like to pass in the most unusual places and then slow down to pullback in. Sometimes you just need to look away and trust they know what they are doing.
Half way down the mountain we stopped at a shop that demonstrated how to make Moroccan argan oil. The oil is made from a nut whose fruit is eaten by goats in the trees...yes goats can climb trees in Morocco!! The nut is then collected and the outer shell is removed. The inner seed is roasted if being used for cooking oils, otherwise it is left raw for cosmetics. Then the seeds are crushed using a special grinding tool, the paste that is made from this is put into small patties and you then squeeze out the oil.
Quite the process...and of course we had to get our photos taken trying our hand at grinding seeds.
The shop was full of soaps, massage oils, creams, cooking oils, honey and spreads for sale. The process to make argan oil is labour intensive so it can be pretty expensive...lots of fantastic health qualities though!
Next stop was Ait Ben Haddou, World UNESCO site. Mohamid told us the word Ait is used in the Berber language to mean "family"...you see all kinds of places that start with this in their name.
It was almost 2:00pm so we decided to have lunch and then tour around...this time we had couscous and vegetables...yum! As we were having our lunch we noticed the sky getting darker...no longer did it feel or look like our sunny, 17 degree day. We quickly headed out to the site with Mohamid, only to make it to the entrance when a large crack of thunder rang out.
Being the eager tourists we are, we kept going anyway...come on, when will we be back here again!
After we crossed the bridge, we entered the site where King Haddou's family once lived over 10 centuries ago. The structures are made of a mud and straw base, and very rich in colour....much of this area has been restored. At the enterance there were many vendors selling all kinds of things, however most were taking in their goods due to the ominous storm approaching.
As we moved further in, the rain gradually started to come down and the pathway started to become a wet mess of red mud...great for walking in nice shoes and long flowing pants dragging close to the ground! Mohamid toured us around until we decided to take cover for a bit and try to stay dry. That is when the hail started...yes you heard me, HAIL!!
It lasted about 5-10 minutes and eventually changed over to rain. Once again we decided to venture out, this time heading higher and higher for more spectacular views.
Once at the top, the weather shifted again and the clouds parted, the sun came out and the winds started to dry things up...just in time for our decent.
We gradually made our way down and met up with our driver who whisked us off to our next stop... a Berber shop in the city of Ouarzazate. This city is known as the Hollywood of Morocco and the site of two major movie studies. Movies such as Gladiator, Bable, Black Hawk Down and Lawrence of Arabia have all been filmed here with the Moroccan backdrop.
At the Berber house we learned about the different household tools, jewelry and the different types of Berber rugs, their meaning and how they are made. After deciding we were exhausted and it was time to head to our hotel, we ventured out to meet our guide and driver...just in time to hear more thunder and dark skies rolling in...once again!!!
Only a few meters down the road we finally arrived at our hotel, the Dar Chamaa. We unloaded our luggage, filled out the necessary paperwork, met our cheeky front desk staff...more than once he convinced us of things that were not true...and finally made it to our room after a traditional glass of mint tea.
Riads are completely open in the center, with the rooms around the outside, so it is absolutely freezing here during a cold rain storm when it comes pouring inside...thinking the beautiful pool outside is a no go this evening. How ironic we booked a trip with a tour company called Under the Moroccan Sun "customized tours"...we obviously forgot to include the sun in our itinerary!!!
Tonight we enjoyed a meal at the hotel restaurant and spent the rest of the evening curled up in our room with the heat jacked up. Looking forward to doing some more exploring and hopefully hiking in warmer weather through the Todra Gorge.
Until then...
L & L
No comments:
Post a Comment