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Morocco
On
the Southern Royal Golf Road
What to see
- Marrakech
The imperial awakens just as it has done every morning for
more than 800 years with the call of the muezzin going out
from the 70 metre high Koutoubia, the spiritual beacon of
Marrakech. A multicoloured crowd invades the winding streets
of the medina. Groups of men jostle towards the Ben Youssef
mosque, nestling against the Medersa, the vast and superb
Koranic school founded by the Mérinide sultan Abou
el-Hassan (1331 - 1349).
And the large place Jamal el Fna is crowded at any time. All
sorts of street traders, acrobats, fire blowers, fortune-tellers,
musicians, etc attract groups of onlookers and … pickpockets.
Each year, the ruins of the el Badii palace provide a grandiose
setting for the national festival of popular art. This is
the showplace for music, dance, songs and costumes as well
as jewellery and ornaments for family or religious celebrations.
At Dar Si Said Museum, jewellery in finely worked silver,
oil lamps, embroidered leather, rustic pottery, marble, magnificent
pots, chests, exceptionally beautiful collection of carpets.
Nothing has changed in the souk's tanneries for many hundreds
of years. Among the skins stretched out on the straw to dry
in the sun, close to the vats, craftsmen are still using saffron
to obtain yellow, poppies for red, indigo for blue and antimony
for black. A look into the past!
Last but nor
least, the Palmeraie with its more than 100.000 trees is a
place to visit in atilbury.
- Ouarzazate.
From Marrakech to Ouarzazate, one must go through the Tizi'n
Tishka pass at over 2.000 meters wherthe viex over the plain
of Marrakech is extraordinary. On the other side it is the
Atlas plateau which goes to Ouarzazatz.
Door of the desert where the
roads between the Drâa, Dadés and Ziz valleys
cross, Ourzazate has also one of the most remarkable kasbah.
The beautiful Taourirt was the former residence of the Glaoui.
A series of towers rising out of a mass of closely packed
houses, thrusting their turrets into the blue of the sky,
jostling to be first in fine to receive the sun. Every Sunday,
in the souk, can be found an abundance of henna, roses, cumin
and distilled wormwood together with Berber pottery, carved
stone objects, blankets and the blue and golden yellow motifs
of the famous Ouzguita carpets.
Form Ouarzazte, one can go inside the Atlas mountains through
the famous Dades canyon or on the other side to the South
through the paramount Drâa valley which drives to Zagora
(at 52 camel days from Tombouctou as says an old road panel
at the exit of this last city before the Sahara desert).
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Place Jama el Fna
The remparts and Atlas moutains
P atio in a Ryad
Ouarzazte city
Beautiful Draa valley
At the exit of Zagora
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