First things first: Ouarzazate is pronounced “war-za-zat.”
And why did we spend 2 days/nights this Moroccan city? Well, one reason is because the landscape is absolutely stunning. In fact, several movies have been shot there. If you’ve seen the classic film Lawrence of Arabia, you’ve seen Ouarzazate. This location was also used in Jewel of the Nile, Indiana Jones, and Gladiator. More recently, it was featured as one of the Free Cities (Pentos) in Game of Thrones.
But that’s not the only reason OAT put Ouarzazate on our itinerary. It’s historically significant, as well. It served as an important stop on the caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. All around the city are fortified hilltop villages where traders would stop.
Ouarzazate is located a region called the pre-Sahara, which straddles the southern Atlas Mountains and stretches to the northern edge of the Sahara. For that reason, it’s sometimes called the Gateway to the Sahara.
Before I show you Ouarzazate, let me share with you some of the sights we encountered en route to the city. Traveling west from Erfoud, we weren’t in the desert for very long. The landscape was constantly changing as we drove through small Amazigh (Berber) towns. The monochromatic adobe buildings blended into natural surroundings except for the colorful elementary schools. Throughout Morocco, elementary schools are painted in bright colors.
We passed occasional oases where groves of date palms, standing in neat rows.
At an old well, we stopped so Abdou could give us an explanation of how water is supplied to farmers in the desert.
Further along our route, around midday, we made a stop in the town of Tinejdad, which is located near the Ferkla oasis with its many ksour (plural of ksar, which means a fortified hilltop village). For centuries, Tinejdad was a thriving commercial center. It also had a sizeable Jewish community. In the city’s restored Ksar El-Khorbat, we followed dark narrow passageways to visit the Musée de Oasis. In this excellent small museum, we were able to gain insight into traditional Amazigh life in the pre-Sahara. Exhibits included maps, pottery, clothing, and old photographs.
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| Minbar (pulpit for imam in a mosque) |
There was even a section devoted to the region’s Amazigh Jewish community, which dated back 2000 years. They were engaged in trade, money lending, silver work, and other handicrafts. Every village where they lived had a synagogue and a cemetery. After Israel’s 1967 war, Tinejdad’s remaining Jewish community disbanded, with most going to Israel.
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| This was labelled a torture yoke - ouch! |
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| Slate for learning Hebrew |
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| Photo of a Jewish Amazigh girl |
I would highly recommend a visit to the museum. If a trip to Morocco isn’t on your agenda, check out the museum’s website at https://elkhorbat.com/en.museum.htm
Before we left Tinejdad, we enjoyed a very tasty Berber omelette at lunchtime.
By mid-afternoon, we reached the scenic Dades Valley and stopped for a photo op in the town of Boumalne Dades. The snow-capped mountains of the High Atlas surround the valley. The winding road was built by the French during the protectorate. Many people live in the small towns strung along the road in this scenic area.
Abdou told us that this is the area where he grew up, and his mother and some of his siblings still live here. His mother is from a nomad family who lived behind the mountains, and she started working in the fields at age 7. Abdou was the first (and only) member of his family to go to the university.
The towns along road are famous for one thing – roses. In fact, one of the towns is named Kalaat M’Gouna, which means Valley of the Roses. From the bus, we could see signs advertising products made of roses and rose water. It was too early to see roses in bloom – we’d have to wait until late spring – but the delicate white blossoms of flowering almond trees fluttered in the breeze.
Roses were introduced from the Middle East in the 10th century. Originally, they were planted on the borders of fields because their thorns kept people out. They were also useful to farmers because insects would attack the roses instead of the crops. The French started the production of rose water, which is used as both a beauty product and as an ingredient in cooking. It’s quite expensive, since the petals are picked by hand and it takes tons of petals to produce a few liters of rose water.
After a few more hours of driving across dry rocky plains covered by scrub brush, the landscape became much more dramatic. In fact, it reminded me of the American West. By this time, we were nearly at our destination of Ouarzazate.
We had to drive right through the center of the city to reach our riad, which was located to the west in a sprawling neighborhood that seemed to be either falling apart or under construction. The neighborhood was directly across the road from Atlas Movie Studios, the world’s largest film studio complex.
The riad was quite comfortable although the décor was certainly much less ornate than the riad in Fez. The colors were more subdued and natural. In fact, the furnishings reminded me of the Amazigh art and handicrafts we’d seen in the museum in Tinejdad.
Looking out from the riad across the rugged landscape, I couldn’t help noticing an intensely bright light shining from the top of a tall slender tower. I learned that it was the Noor Power Station, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant.
We briefly explored downtown Ouarzazate, but the most interesting sights are actually located outside of the city proper. First, some photos of the city center:
Inside the walls were houses, towers, kasbahs, a mosque, squares, a fortress, a caravanserai (place where caravans could stop with their animals), and cemeteries (one Jewish, one Muslim). In earlier times, caravans often stopped here because of salt mines in the area. Only a handful of people still live within the walls today. Most of the residents abandoned the old city in mid-1940s and moved across the river where they had access to electricity, running water, hospitals, schools, etc.
When we visited Ait Benhaddou, we met an artist who used the traditional technique of painting with tea. The color from the tea was hardly noticeable when it was first applied but it deepened considerably when he held the paper over a flame. The blue and yellow colors came from indigo and saffron.
OAT gave us an opportunity to spend part of the day with a local Amazigh family living in a small village near Ait Benhaddou. About 80 families (approximately 600 people) live in the village. At any given time, many of the men are away doing work in larger towns or cities.
The family we visited has three sources of income. The father, Ahmed, operates a small store in the village. Most of his customers buy on credit. He showed us a cone of sugar and told us that the price of sugar (30 Dirhams, about $3) is set by the government. Abdou added that cones of sugar are typically given as gifts for weddings, births, deaths, and visits.
Ahmed also works as a mason, making bricks and doing construction. He demonstrated how to make adobe bricks from a mixture of mud, straw, and manure.
In addition, the whole family farms their small plot of land and raises animals. They grow figs, olives, almonds, and pomegranates. At this time of year, the trees were not in bloom. They buy vegetables at the market because it’s too cold to grow vegetables here.
It was a beautiful winter morning, still crisp and breezy but warm enough to sit outside comfortably in the sunshine. After a quick tour around the house, we all carried wooden stools out to the fields and joined Ahmed and one of his daughters for tea accompanied by bread and olive oil. This is a daily ritual that they call their second breakfast.
When we got back to the house shortly before noon, tantalizing aromas welcomed us. We sat down to a delicious lunch of couscous that had been cooking for three hours. The beef, eggplant, zucchini, turnip, pumpkin, tomato, and cabbage were tender and delicious.
Because it’s so time consuming to prepare, this typical Berber dish is usually made only on Fridays (the Muslim holy day) or when the family has guests. The ingredients can vary but the traditional seven vegetable couscous is served for the Amazigh New Year, which is celebrated in mid-January.
Later in the day, we visited a local women’s association which receives support from the Grand Circle Foundation. (OAT is part of Grand Circle.) The organization was established in 2012 by a small group of women hoping to increase their educational and economic opportunities. They conduct workshops and training programs for girls and women, and raise funds by making and selling bread, cookies, and couscous to local guesthouses in the area. It was very interesting to speak with some of the women, and to help them with their baking. After we had tea and cookies, they offered to give us henna tattoos.
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