Our second road trip across Morocco took 3 days, 2 nights, from our desert camp at Merzouga to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. The first night was spent in Boumalne-Dadès, and the second in Ouarzazate. This post covers the journey between these two points. See earlier posts about the road trip here and here.
This is the music for driving across desert country.
When we arrived at the Kasbah Tissarouine at Boumalne-Dadès, it was rather late. So we did not have a chance to look around the place. The Kasbah turned out to be a rather large family resort which was largely empty because we were there during the off-season.
By the way, the pool and white loungers in the photo above are visible from space via Google map if you know where to look. The sky above Morocco was blue and clear the entire time we were there.
The resort is built on top of a hill that looks across the River Dadès (Oued Dadès) towards the mountains to the northeast.
After breakfast, we walked around enjoying the view – the snow-covered High Atlas was visible in the northwest.
Getting back on the road again, our first stop was the Gorge du Dadès. We followed the Oued Dadès upstream on R704.
The mountainous terrain here was formed by two different kinds of rocks, one type intruding into another type and they were eroded to different extents over the years …
… and the intruding type yielded dramatic shapes on a large scale. The hillside looked like the back of a giant scaly animal.
The most dramatic part of the gorge is a set of hairpin turns on R704 as the gorge narrowed and the elevation increased.
We cannot imagine the traffic during peak tourist season here.
At the top of the hairpin turns is a viewpoint at the Cafe Timzzillite. It is also a hotel. What a location to spend a night – the sunrise and sunset colors on the rocks must be spectacular.
We turned around here to head back towards Boumalne-Dadès.
We passed by a number of villages, like Tamelatt, as well as a string of hotels and restaurants. Although this area is somewhat remote, it is a popular area for visitors who come here for hiking.
A market was taking place as we drove passed.
Whole lamb was sold with fresh herbs. Apologies if it is too graphic but it is just the market in that part of the world. The butcher was trying to call back a potential customer.
Our next destination is the Vallée des Roses which is situated near a tributary of Oued Dades further downstream. We passed some fields that looked like rose bushes and stopped by the town of Kalaat M’Gouna to do some shopping.
Damask roses (Rosa × damascena) are grown here and used to make rose water in the valley. The roses are also shipped to factories in Marrakech to make perfumes.
At one of the tourist shops, we saw the prices of the products and they were not what one would expect at the source of its main ingredient. The cosmetics appeared relatively crude (simple rose scents plus what sounded like industrial chemicals). Packaging and perception are so important in this business. But … at least the local taxis are pink.
Getting back on the arrow straight N10 westbound, we headed straight for Ouarzazate passing Skoura. The landscape was fairly boring on this stretch of the highway – just endless rocky desert on one side and emptiness with distant snowy mountains as a backdrop on the other side. … on a desert highway, cool wind in the air …
As planned, we stopped to look at the Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate before checking in at our lodging – Dar Chamaa – just outside Ouarzazate. The Atlas Studios will be the subject of a future post.
Around the corner from Dar Chamaa is an emporium of handicrafts and antiques – Labyrinthe de Sud – it was touristy but well stocked with unique and high-quality wares.
Two days, and about 400 kms we travelled so far.