Ouarzazate & Ait Ben Haddou
- Tobias Heller
- 7. Juli 2017
- 4 Min. Lesezeit
Ouarzazate is said to be the portal to the desert, as he main road leads through the city. It is situated on a bare plateau south of the High Atlas Mountains, travellers who want to reach it from Marrakesh have to go on a ride through the mountains in order to arrive there. Nearby the fortified village Ait Ben Haddou is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has ben location for several movies and series, such as Gladiator or Game of Thrones. The film studios are also in Ouarzazate and offers visitors to have a look at the famous screen sets.
Arrival
The first walk in the city
Ranges of mountains swaying in like waves yet frozen in their movements reveal several small bunches of simple villages on which we look upon from the uplifted street that goes left and right in turns, making it it's long and curvy way through the Atlas Mountains. The small and shy chinese girl right next to me somehow manages to sleep despite the heavily shaking bus, her head frequently bumping against my shoulder when the bus slants into a right handed curve, though she doesn't seem to bother continuing her deep slumber. She is going to cover the whole distance to Merzouga today, a drive of more than ten hours, and I do not envy her and several others in the bus for being stuck so long in in this bus, which despite the length of the drive is quite comfortable though and equipped with air conditioning.
Once out of the mountains, with greening bushes and a moreover lively blooming surface, we enter into more and more deserted space until briefly before Ouarzazate the land to both sides is quite dried out, only a few plants are to be found though in main parts it is quite deserted. The way into the city once more is flanked with greenery to both sides, giving me the feeling of entering into a lagoon amidst this desertion, a welcoming harbour in the drought. A broad clean street is leading straight inwards, elegant gold and black street lamps building the guards while we rush past. The cinematic studios are impressively and omnipresently set to the left, two large egyptian statues observing the visitors passing into the entrance. It houses several movie requisites well known from several hollywood blockbusters.
I arrive at the bus station and start to walk, being in the firm believe I can cover the distance of about six kilometers in the dazzling heat, though a taxi stops soon and asks, though when he wants 100 Dirham I start laughing and tell him I prefer walking instead of taking his ridiculous prices. They always try, and surely there are many tourists who either don't care about money or who are not aware that this is trickery. He then offers to take me for my suggested ten dirham and I hop into the taxi, though I know five would have also been enough. This time escaping the heat and get rid of that heavy bag is my only goal.
Sightseeing
The Kasbah of Ouarzazate
In the hostel I get to know two spanish girls, Ana and Andrea, and together we go to the center in order to have a look at Ouarzazate, though the temperatures are extremely hot and humid. Together and without any specific plan we stroll over to the Kashbah, in those front sellers are offering the typical ceramic products, tajine pots and platters, which I have seen in so many places allover Morocco.
Once more there is a tour guide who offers to lead us around, because according to him we would miss all the important places and get lost in there. We enjoy ourselves though by getting lost and run around without any idea, getting stuck from time to time in a dead end. Altough we stroll further through the city we notice, that the city indeed does not offer many facilites and places to see for tourists despite the Kasbah and we return quite early to the hostel, where we try to find any restaurant that is open during Ramadan. Unfortunately we fail and end up with a package of cookies, bread and yoghurts which we find in a small shop. Again a very plain meal.
Sightseeing & UNESCO World Heritage
Ait Ben Haddou
From Ouarzazate I intend hitchhiking to Ait Ben Haddou, though I find a cheap local bus that goes to a village just a few kilometers on the way to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. From there I easily find a car going the right way that takes me with him the relatively short distance, which due to the hot weather and deserted landscape would anyways not be a pleasure to walk. The sight of Ait Ben Haddou indeed is impressive, though I imagined it to be bigger but it is quite small. The simple style in which the houses are built and the fortification in the front for the little village contribute to the impressive feeling I get here, and I am glad I made the way to go here.
I stroll upwards the slope of the mountain, where the houses are nestled and it offers a quite nice view over to all my surrounding, which seems despite several green spots already giving an impression of the landscape that is about to come: ripped of vegetation and bare, dry and cracked soil as well as waves of sandy dunes and hard, rugged rocks.
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