OUARZAZATE

THINGS TO DO IN OUARZAZATE

CATCH SUNRISE OR SUNSET AT AIT BEN HADDOU

Speak to many planning a trip to Morocco, and the only thing they know about Ourzazate is the impressive Ait Ben Haddou. Game of thrones it seems has done a good job of the city’s PR!

And yet unlike some TV-famous sites, this one is definitely worth a visit.

But if you’re only here for a short while, how do you decide whether it’s a sunset or or sunrise view that you’d enjoy the most?

Well, due to some spectacularly bad time management on our side (we got distracted by 101 different views and didn’t get as long there in the evening as we would have liked), we actually chose to venture there for both.

And whilst sunset was undoubtedly spectacular, if we only had to pick one, sunrise would be it.

Heading up into the ancient kasbah at first light, there are no stall owners lining the narrow passageways, the tour groups are yet to arrive and the entire place is unbelievably peaceful, bar the call to prayer that echoes across the valley.

It may have been many years since Ait Ben Haddou was a place to live, but to visit as the sun rises, it’s easy to imagine how incredible this place must have once been.

AN AFTERNOON AT FINT OASIS

Located approximately an hour outside Ouarzazate, along roads that become progressively more dusty, those willing to go that extra mile for a travel experience will discover Fint Oasis.

This collection of four small villages, home to basic dwellings and dozens of children, is a real palm tree lined oasis in the middle of the desert, a place where save for the odd satellite dish, life appears to continue very much like it must have done many years ago.

TAKE A STEP BACK IN TIME AT TELOUET KASBAH

Valley of the Kasbahs.

That was the nickname given to this once incredibly wealthy region of Morocco. With a prime position on the trans-Saharan trading route, beautifully ornate and phenomenally expensive palaces (kasbahs) filled the valley, the most famous of which is the stunning Ait Ben Haddou.

source: alongdustyroads