kasbah | Clune Gap Years

08/10/24: Sandals and Doctor

Stunning drive. Pix no way do it justice. Rather than do the same route back north, we added 2.5 hrs to the trip to visit. Knob, oops N’kob.

*Dust to dust. So many Kasbahs, unless supported by UNESCO, will not be around for future tourists.*

*We had checked the route with our host in Zagora. He’d said check locally in N’kob, where a chap keen to practice his English told us it was fine*

N’kob felt like a rural hill town. I spotted the shoe shop I’d read about in a guide book. Leather and rope with tyre soles. €32 for 2 pairs. Justified as my waking sandals have broken.

Also popped into see the doctor. Thought I’d sinusitis post a cold. No, an allergic reaction to dust causing inflammation of chest, throat and sinuses. J and I had both had this mildly at home in Crete when the Sahara dust blows over. 3 lots of meds and dr – €29. In

Back tonight up at UNESCO Ait Haddou for 2 nights. Wanted to see it without all the Marrakesh day trippers. Lovely hotel … towels were swans on the bed! Dinner ordered and it was good.

09/10/24: More Scenery and Salt

*We didn’t beat the hoards of tourists by walking through the palm oasis to the UNESCO town from our hotel. So we admired from afar with a coffee*

We seem to be doing a lot of drives to see scenery. I know walking in it would be much better. But there are great distances. Lack of paths. It’s hot. We’re lazy and I’m milking the poorly bit.

Another ruined kasbah, Tamdoukte. Also owned by an elite family who chose to side with the French. Oops, come independence, a picture was circulated of him grovelling to the reinstated king. When Glouini died, all his massive wealth was seized by the State.

*Sadly, the only inhabitants were 8 pups and their mother. Sorry Corrie, but your dwindling food stocks were needed elsewhere.*

*If trucks can do this pass, we certainly can in a car!*

*New electricity poles all the way up the valley*

*Mud houses top and bottom. Troglodyte, unused, houses in the middle. A chap on a motorbike passed us just before we got to this bend in the road. Panorama, he had shouted. For sure*

The Mathias Salt mines made the day. A cave where salt is still mined. €2 pp visit. Thank goodness for my French. Lakes which are drained. Salt stalactites. Blasting a couple of times a month. 3 grades of salt. Rock salt in orange sacks goes to snow areas, including Canada. Rock is broken up to release salt for industry. And the lumps are culinary quality. I came away with a large bag for €2.
Hardly mentioned in guide books and only a tiny road sign.

*A tiny sign, which tourists could so easily miss*

Back to our hotel for another bloody tagine! Starting to think UK pub menu food is varied!

02/10/24 – Ooh Are Mrs Ouarzazate

Drove from Tinghir to Ouarzazate (try pronouncing that with a mouthful of crushed ice)… just south of the High Atlas, gateway to the desert – no sign of Charles Atlas – some might remember – if a manly bloke didn’t send Chas Atlas money for bodybuilding, he got sand kicked in his face on the beach! The town was built by the French Foreign Legion in 1928 to quell the troublesome south. Didn’t you go to the Foreign Legion to disappear? The town was on major trade routes. There are telltale signs as we arrived – wide roads, lack of rubbish and sense of prosperity – the lack of rubbish is unfortunately not common in Morocco, sadly.

*We passed through a major rose growing area. We only saw a tiny strip of roses but lots of distillation and cooperative shops*

Arriving at Ouarzazate, we called into a good Carrefour, which was full of USA students all cluttering the crisps and cakes aisles. Which, of course, was fortunate as not where I wanted to go!

Brian had preceded us to the campsite – a good size with plenty of room for our tented villa! We took Zoa and Corrie for a walk but had to change route due to wild dogs – another feature of Morocco and they don’t look or sound friendly! Supped and retired for the night…..quiet until some unruly (drunk) behaviour – and the local airport launched an aircraft at 1:00 am!

03/10/24 – Kasbah and in search of the resevoir

Today, we didn’t go far – Dropped the laundry off at the local ‘pressing’ … Two loads c.€7. Straight into breakfast … K went for the tagine cooked Eggs Berbere … again I had a cheese omelette – managed a little Arabic language with Abdou – Salaam a Lekum…

*Omelette berbere served with chips this time! More scrambled than poached but still 😋*

we succumbed to a guide to visit the only historic monument… the Kasbah. Only built since the 1780s. 50 families used to live here. Our guide had very good English but slightly difficult to understand.

All the houses had secure store rooms for the treasure brought on the caravan routes. Hundreds would kip down on any square in of floor. They did have wash before entering each kasbak, thankfully. A Unesco site, but some floors were not accessible as unsafe.

Back to the tent for a bit. Then we attempted to walk to the reservoir, but the path became a mud bath. We found paths to the river.

04/10/24

What a commercial, touristy day! What – us?
The Atlas Film Studios was €8 pp, and the compulsory guide told his he had no wage, just tips. A 45 min tour, which told us not a lot about the film set industry. Just looked at a few sets and were told which films have been partially shot here. Definitely not MGM! Didn’t look like much had happened for a while. One of our tour group acted as Cleopatra for the guide’s video film… There was another studio down the road with high fences and security gate which looked a lot more in business.

We drove up to Ait Benhaddou. We had lunch overlooking the Unesco mud village on a hill. Stunning. Except for all the bus loads of tourists from Marrakesh. And well restored.

*Another typical dish … chicken pastilla. Spicy shredded chicken coated with icing sugar and cinnamon. Actually delicious*

05/10/24

Easy day. Early farewell to Brian and Zoa. They’re off in search of the sea. They are here less than us. Found a replacement SIM for the next month. Brunch … not a proper omelette berbere – basically scrambled with tomatoes and not a tagine or hint of spice.

A bit of tent cleaning … first floor wash shock / horror. New area tomorrow.

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

Tag Archives: kasbah

Scenery, Sandals and Salt

Ouarzazate