Visit Date: May 2, 2015
Enjoy the synonyms of Morocco.
View of ‘Ait Ben Haddou’ from the hotel terrace
This day was a day to visit a unique Moroccan town called “Kasbah” near Ait Ben Haddou. Since we don’t have much time to travel by car, it’s a good way to recover from yesterday’s fatigue.
Well, it’s very hot, so be careful of the sun. Hydrate and take lots of breaks.
By the way, Ouarzazate is the biggest city in this area, about 10km away from Ait Ben Haddad.
First of all, we had breakfast at the hotel. Before that, I took a picture of the whole view of Ait Ben Haddou just after dawn from the terrace of the hotel.
Yes, we are staying so close to it. Yesterday it was so dark that we couldn’t see Ait Ben Haddou at all. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be so close. I’m impressed. By the way, the terrace where we have breakfast is like this.
And here is the breakfast. The orange juice is properly squeezed and prepared for you. And the yogurt seems to be homemade. By the way, yogurt is also homemade in Marrakech. This yogurt is so delicious!
The most famous kasbah “Ait Ben Haddu”
After breakfast, we got ready and headed straight into “Ait Ben Haddu”. It is on the other side of the river, so of course you need to cross the river.
There are two ways to cross the river. The first is the “direct crossing route”. Although athletic shoes are required, the sandbags are firm and secure. However, sometimes the sandbags are too long, so it might be a little difficult for children.
Next is the “bridge crossing route”. This is the easiest and most reliable. However, this bridge was only built in the 21st century, so it seems to be relatively new.
We chose to take the route across the bridge on the way there and the direct route on the way back. It takes about 5 minutes from the hotel to the bridge on foot. The road is not paved. But the road from the national highway to Ait Ben Haddou was also not paved enough. It will be introduced later.
According to what I heard (information from Globe-Trotter), the Arabs invaded around the 7th century, and the Berbers, who were indigenous people at that time, escaped from the area to the south over the Atlas Mountains. And for the purpose of defense, they built a fortress city “Kasbah”, which consisted of buildings made of hardened brown earth.
Later, the city seems to have prospered as a transit point for trade (taisho trading).
By the way, Ait Ben Haddou has been used as a location for many movies. Is it the influence that this scenery is familiar somehow?
Now, it is time to cross the bridge and enter the interior.
Ait Ben Haddou is one of Morocco’s most popular tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.
Go through the alleyway where many souvenir shops are lined up, and go up for now.
It was about 10 o’clock, but it was already over 30 degrees Celsius, so it was very hot. We aimed at the top with sweat.
And after 15 minutes of slow walking, we finally reached the top.
I don’t have to tell you, the view from here was fantastic.
This is a view of the new town where the hotel is located.
This is a view of the north side of Ait Ben Haddou. You can see another Kasbah in the distance.
It was too hot so we took a break at this top. Then we moved down again to the new city river. This time we took the sandbag route.
This time I took a picture of Ait Ben Haddou from the other side of the river. The carpet in the foreground seemed to be a product of a nearby souvenir shop.
The souvenir shops are also very rustic.
I was able to enjoy one of the highlights of my trip to Morocco to the fullest. (To be continued)
