Rock the Kasbah

Monday, we left Todra Gorge for Ait Benhaddou, known for it's Kasbah town that has appeared in Gladiator & Kingdom of Heaven. On our way there we stopped in Ouarzazate, which is the movie capital of Morocco, for lunch. It's definitely a tourist place and was my least favourite place on this trip.

 
We stayed at Maison d'Hote La Fibule in Ait Benhaddou, owned by Mr Action Houssain and his family. They call him Action because he's been an extra in 11 movies. Action and his sister demonstrated a couscous and tagine cooking class. The couscous here is much different than back home. The Moroccan way takes 2 hours and 40 minutes versus the 5 minutes out of a box back in Canada.

Mr Action Houssain:

The next morning (Tuesday) before we left for Aremd, we walked to the top of the Kasbah and saw beautiful views of the valley. Tuesday was our longest drive of the trip (6 hours) across the High Atlas Mountains. The views of the mountains were spectacular and some of the peaks were lightly dusted with snow. Along the way we crossed the highest pass in Morocco, named the Tizi 'n Tichka pass.

We spent Tuesday night in the village of Aremd, which is situated in the mountains. It was very cold that night and the fire in the common eating room did not throw off any heat. Really, it had to be the most pathetic fire I have ever seen or felt. However, the blankets were situated in a way that we were toasty while we slept.

Before we left Aremd, Vicki and Pam went for a 3 hour hike to the temple. They said it wasn't very picturesque but it was a good hike and they saw mountain men. We left Aremd for Essaouira, a town next to the ocean. The girls went to a street vendor for yummy sharwarma followed by drinks at Casa Vera. Vicki and I shared a pitcher of so-so sangria. I hope the sangria is better in Spain.

This morning our group went on a 3 hour tour to the port, through the medina and shown where to eat seafood and have coffee or gelato. Next our local guide took us to a the spice section, wood place and the workmanship is exquisite with mother of pearl inlay, lemon tree, etc. Lastly, our guide took us to a silver place where we all bought stuff.

After lunch we went to section 5 and order fish and seafood for the five of us. We ordered crab, shrimp, prawns, sole, sea bass, and red snapper. The crab and prawns were my least favourite as they barely had any meat.

This afternoon Alanna, Nina, Pam and I went to a local hammam. This one woman worked on the four of us at a time and she scrubbed, rinsed, exfoliated, rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed, washed our hair, rinsed, and massaged us. We were there for three hours and I don't think we could get any cleaner as every inch of us as she was thorough. It cost 150 MAD each, but we each decided to give her 200 MAD, which is $24 CAD.

We ate sharwarmas again tonight but at a different place and they were just as good. Some of us ordered a Moroccan salad, which is a favourite of mine and it consists of tomatoes, red onion, coriander, olives, and a bit of olive oil. It's so light and tasty.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave Essaouira for Marrakech, which is our last Moroccan destination. Not only will we spend the next two nights there, but we will also ring in the New Year there.

View of Jebel Toubkal, Morocco's highest mountain.