Alas another disturbed night with the cold symptoms keeping me up this time; it seems to have settled in with a cough and head congestion again. The rooms as usual are a bit stuffy and airless so I turned on the split duct which worked well until it decided to disgorge water on the corner of the bed in a torrent. There were two single beds in the room so I swapped out. When I discussed it with staff in the morning they seemed to know all about it so I suspect this is ongoing – they took the key to ostensibly fix it but I doubt if anything will happen. Fortunately it’s a cooler few days due to the rain so although it would have been nice, it’s not essential.
sink in bathroom
Breakfast at 7:30 buffet style, as usual meh. Bread is a predominant part of every meal. Coffee undrinkable but at least there were regular teabags instead of the mint green tea that is the usual offering.
We walked over to Ait Benhaddou, a Unesco site from the 11th century and in the 20th century where many movies have been shot (Gladiators, Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia, The Man who Would be King, Indiana Jones etc etc). Construction of arenas will occur for a movie and it is all carefully taken apart afterwards… Yesterday going through Ourzazate we passed several large motion picture studios, very incongruous but a big part of the local economy now.
A bridge was built over the river in 2010 to access Ait Benhaddou; previously it was accessible only when the levels were low enough, by horse or donkey. There were a steady stream of tourists with guides heading that way – by the afternoon both the town and the site were mobbed with tourist bus traffic jams on the only road through town. Surprisingly, there was no admission fee – there are large scale renovations occurring to repair damage from the Moroccan earthquake of 2023.
not too busy when we were there but it was really busy after lunch.
lots of climbing but streets were well maintained
The location was superb – excellent vistas in all directions to see oncoming enemies. This was a major stop on the route to Europe from the Sahara with caravans of 200 camels arriving at once, and they would be stashed safely within the city walls (one of the attractions of coming here was safety). The passages twist and wind, and their labyrinthine qualities were part of the defence system as enemies penetrating the walls would get lost.
the river was relatively full again today due to thunderstorms and rain last night and during the day in the hills
our local guide Sayed takes us around with explanations. The pouch on the front of his robe is used for tips!
We were taken to see an old Berber tradition of burnt paintings, made with indigo, saffron and tea with sugar then burnt to fix the colours.
the finished product after burning to fix the pigments (and caramelize the sugar)
There were tourist stalls up and down the streets, of course, and in town but rarely aggressively selling. After exploring for an hour we climbed the hill across from the arena and got great pictures of the whole complex.
We wound our way through increasingly busy streets to get back to the riad, freshened up and I got an exceptionally good coffee next door at the coffee bar (15 dirham, or about 2.20 CAD) before heading out for a lunch rendezvous. It had rained on and off (short bursts) at Ait Benhaddou and thunder and dark clouds were rolling in so we were nervous about another lunch in the rain however the clouds held off and another excellent lunch was enjoyed by all.
lovely site
After lunch we walked over to a nearby deserted palace, owned by a previous dictator supported by the French regime – when the French pulled out of Morocco he fled and it was abandoned. Story has it that he executed anyone who disagreed with him and put their bones in the walls of the palace.
ruined old palace in front with modern palace behind (belonging to someone different).
another very basic soccer field
huge storks nest in the ruined palace
There were a number of sorry looking dogs lying in a stony field here, and a pack roaming around as well as the usual local cats, skinny and tiny.
Back to the riad for a free afternoon. I wandered around town after visiting the local pharmacy for cough lozenges – hot in the sun when it was out, but the clouds kept moving in and out. There is a huge new touristique quarter being developed, but traffic control and parking is going to need to be sorted out. Looking up at Ait Benhaddou it was just mobbed with people so becoming more known and popular, likely exacerbated by the movie productions there.
What was left of the afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool. The fountain was turned on so there was lots of white noise. Back home, the stork was at home. Their nests are enormous.
Dinner provided pasta with cheese sauce again, a nice break from hardboiled eggs as protein, and there was a brief celebration with a cake for Aziza and Meryam who are Moroccan friends of the trip leader, departing back home to Rebat tomorrow.
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