 MOUNTAIN TRACKS
OVERNIGHT TRIP
(MARRAKECH – OUARZAZATE – MARRAKECH)
Day 1: Marrakech to Ouarzazate
(200 km or 125 miles)
Meet your driver at your hotel at 8:00am and travel through the High Atlas Mountains via the Tizi-n-Tischka Pass to the city of Ouarzazate. On your way, you will visit the "seat" of Glaoui tribal power, Telouet Kasbah, now mostly in ruins except for the magnificent state rooms of this once great kasbah which can still be visited. British author Gavin Maxwell accomplished the twofold task of detailing the daily life, customs, and rituals in pre-independence Morocco and of recounting the rise and fall of El Hadj T'hani El Glaoui, the legendary tribal warlord through whom the French ruled one of their prize colonies in North Africa in his famous book, Lords of the Atlas. Maxwell, who died in 1969, considered himself an explorer and wrote of faraway places; in Lords of the Atlas he introduces readers to the harshness and beauty of Morocco. He shows how the blend of Berber, Arab, and black African races created an extraordinary cultural mosaic and explains how the French colonialists recruited the Atlas Mountain tribal warlords to subdue the other tribes. As the chief beneficiary of this policy, El Glaoui was able to rule most of southern Morocco in an absolute fashion, until Morocco's independence from France in 1956 brought an end to the rule of a very colorful warlord. The book contains many superb color photographs that enhance Maxwell's lively narrative. From Telouet Kasbah we will take the piste (dirt) road along mountainous cliffs high above the valley floor and then stop at another Glaoui Kasbah, Aït Benhaddou, which is the oldest continuously inhabited kasbah in Morocco (500+ years) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)
Night at Hotel Riad Salam (4-star hotel), Ouarzazate. (Lunch, Dinner included) (Hotel Riad Salam is not a "guest house.")
Day 2: Ouarzazate to Marrakech (200 km or 125 miles)
Ouarzazate, the capital of the south, sits astride the Draa River, at the end of the Tichka road, dominated by the Atlas range that fills its northern horizon. It is a crossroads through which everyone must pass, and was originally a base of the French Foreign Legion. It is now increasingly important to Morocco's film location industry, and is served by a plethora of hotels.
The Legionnaires have left their mark in the church, which is still maintained by Catholic nuns, and Chez Dimitri restaurant. Once a wild drinking hole, Dimitri's is now famous as one of the best restaurants south of the Atlas, thanks to its colorful founder. Dimitri was an energetic Greek, who jumped ship in Casablanca as a 14-year-old in 1928 on his way to the United States. He eventually made his way to the Legionnaire post of Ouarzazate, where he set up his soon to be celebrated restaurant. His son, who now runs the place, grew up rubbing shoulders with the likes of Orson Welles, and had his own moment of film fame playing the son of Anthony Quinn in Lawrence of Arabia.
Overlooked by the Club Med is the Kasbah Taourirt, whose Glaoui palace, empty and partially open to the public, has some fine painted wooden ceilings. Much of the rest of the Kasbah village is still occupied and worth a visit.
Return to Marrakech. (Breakfast, Lunch included)
COST: Overnight Trip from Marrakech: 2 people, dbl. occ. w/1 room - $450.00 USD; 4 people, dbl. occ. w/2 rooms - $850.00 USD; 6 people, dbl. occ. w/3 rooms - $1,000.00 USD (Includes: 4x4 rental, fuel, driver, normal entrance fees and meals as indicated). Leave your hotel at 8:00am and return the next day at 6:00 – 7:00pm (400 km or 250 miles round-trip).
|
