After a good night's sleep, we woke to another wonderful day weatherwise. Today was going to be a long day for Khalid, driving us to the gorges, but was likely to be quite a relaxed day for us.
We went down for breakfast by the pool, and savoured the morning freshness in the garden.
A quick grab of the day pack and we were off. Our first stop was at a vantage point to get a good view of the Ait ben Haddou ksar in the morning light.
There were just a few of us tourists there that morning, but that was enough for this old snake charmer who came up and started busking.
The guy was hilarious as he worked his act with a couple of snakes and an iguana. He could speak no English, so all he would do is grin and say "Ah ! ha ha ha" over and over again in a tone of awe at his own shenanigans. His teeth were all gone, except for two fangs. Such an endearing character.
We drove to the town of Ouarzazate, stopping to see the Taourirt kasbah. This was created by the Glaoui family who were the lords of Southern Morocco at the beginning of the 20th century, and housed the family and their servants.
There are craft and carpet shops nearby, as well as the Artisan Co-operative in the building opposite the kasbah.
Our next stop was a Berber pharmacy, to pick up some spices. Aside from spices, these pharmacies claim to have natural remedies for just about anything. There were all kinds of lotions and potions, and jars filled with innocuous looking powders, as well as baskets of dried flowers for pot pourrie. We bought some more of the lovely cumin, some Spanish saffron, and some traditional Moroccan spices.
Pretty soon we were on the way, and a while reached the El Kelaa M'Gouna valley, the valley of roses. In just a couple of months, the entire valley would be suffused with the scent of blossoming roses, with the average harvest being nearly 4000 tons of petals. The rose festival takes place after the harvest and is attended by all the inhabitants of the valley. This place, for some reason, is also where you find the finest daggers in Morocco.
We met some little boys trying to peddle some early buds. They were most taken with the Bollywood videos that Khalid had downloaded on his cellphone.
We stopped at the Skoura palm groves for some pictures of the Amerhidil kasbah, another Glaoui palace. We were now firmly on the "Road of a Thousand Kasbahs"
Lunch was at a lovely little cafe in one of the villages. They served me a really nice spaghetti, which made for a good change from the usual tagine and couscous. The cafe had an absolutely gorgeous grey cat who seemed to like our company.
One of the most amazing kasbahs we saw along the way was this one, which looked like something out of Picasso's Cubist period.
We started to climb, and all along there were little villages, and many more kasbahs, some reasonably maintained, others in ruins.
One of the key kasbahs was the Tamnalt kasbah whose towers seem to rise up against what looks like monkeys paws.
We stopped at a viewpoint to see the Dades gorge. After a couple of pics, we got back in and started down the road into the gorge.
We loved this kasbah, which looks like it is precariously clinging on to the rock face above the gorge.
As we entered the gorge, the road narrowed, and the temperature fell. All around us were tall, sheer cliffs that almost blocked the sunlight from reaching the bottom of the gorge in some places.
We walked along the final tarred portion of the road that goes into the gorge. It was a very relaxed afternoon and there was no rush, which felt great.
Onward to Todra gorge, passing more kasbahs. The cliff faces at the Todra rise an impressive 300 metres.
Time to head back, and we retraced the journey from the morning.
It was evening by the time we returned to Ouarzazate. Khalid wanted us to take a look at the lobby of the five star Berber Palace Hotel, where film crews tend to stay. The lobby has many props and sets that were used in some of these films.
After a fairly relaxed day, we returned to Ksar Ighnda. Hot showers awaited us, while Khalid returned to Ouarzazate for a date with the hammam.
Dinner in the restaurant surpassed expectations again, especially for Gordon, who had another round of a gourmet Moroccan fusion meal. It had been a very chilled out day, and we retired to bed looking forward to our foray into the High Atlas the next day.
