Marrakech to Boumalne Dades: Week 1 / Day 7 / Jan 17
Marrakech, Morocco: This morning we were picked up by our guide Ayoub and began our journey to the Sahara Desert. Ayoub met us at our riad and helped us get our bags to his van. The van for the ride was quite nice and appeared to be fairly new. Much of the day was spent driving, with stops at various places to take pictures, visit kasbahs, or get some snacks.
Heading out of Marrakech the landscape quickly turned rural and we could see the Atlas Mountains off in the distance. Going up and over the Atlas Mountains was a pretty steep climb and it made me rather glad that I was getting to watch the scenery instead of doing the driving.
Along the drive we saw a number of shepherds and goatherds tending their flock either close to the road or far off in the distance. We could also see a number of areas of greenery wherever there was a water source. In these locations were the towns that dotted the landscape. Other than these occasional areas of greenery, the countryside was desolate and rather forbidding.
Our first stop of the day was at the Kasbah de Taourirt located in Ouarzazate. A Kasbah is essentially a fortress or keep which houses several buildings behind defensive walls. This kasbah had numerous floors and rooms with views of the nearby buildings where the people of the town live.
Much as Marrakech, this kasbah also had cats everywhere!
Leaving the kasbah we strolled some of the backstreets of the town located nearby. Here we saw a number of riads and homes with people out enjoying the day.
Leaving Ouarzazate we headed off to Kasbah Amridil located outside Skoura. Throughout the days drive we covered a number of different geographies. We went from areas that looked like Rte 23 running from Thousand Oaks to Malibu in CA, to an area that looked like Sedona, AZ, to landscape that looked like the Badlands in SD, and even land that looked like you were outside of Arco, ID (odd comparisons, I realize – but these are places that they reminded me of).
Arriving at Kasbah Amridil, we headed in to explore. Built in the 17th century, this Kasbah was even more impressive than the one back in Ouarzazate.
The central courtyard of the Kasbah had many old tools in place. It is amazing to think that at the same time Plymouth Colony was being setup in Massachusetts, this kasbah was a bustling center of commerce for the surrounding area.
We continued to explore the various levels and rooms of the kasbah checking out the views and surroundings. Some of the rooms had various objects in them from the time period of the kasbah. Having played Skyrim long enough, I am pretty sure the box on the left has a scroll with spell instructions, some magic potions, and at least 20 gold coins in it. The one on the right should have at least one pair of pants and perhaps a metal plate in it. However, lacking the requisite lockpicking skill, I did not open either one.
After thoroughly exploring the kasbah we headed back out to meet our driver.
And then, as you can see, some dope forgot his sunglasses, ran back into the kasbah hitting his head on the staircase overhang shown, and came back out for one more photo post-cleanup.
After that bit of excitement we headed to our hotel in Boumalne Dades. The room was quite comfortable and the views pleasant.
Also, at this point we began to notice two things: you can never eat enough food to satisfy your Moroccan hosts and the desert really does get quite cold at night.
Finally, with all this talk of Kasbahs, I feel obligated to include:
