Trip to the gates of the Desert

Departure from your hotel at 07h30, destination to the pass of Tizi N’ Tichka (2260m altitude). Just after the pass, our Ouarzazate day trip from Marrakech turns left and we find ourselves on the ancient route caravans used to bring the much sought after goods at the court of the Sultan.

We soon reach Telouet and its former pasha’s palace dominating the village, a fortified citadel that is both a microcosm of an empire and its demise in the afternoon then is the time to visit Ait Ben Haddou, the postcardlike UNESCO adobe citadel.

A fat, red sun, only underlines the beige tones of the mud and straws mixture and through the covered passages and stone walls, the past filters itself into the present. In spite of the local ‘guides’, the best is to just lose yourselves in its alleyways.

There is always a new way to reach its peak, from where the snowcapped Atlas Mountains framed by the denim blue sky will steal your breath away, If the climb up hadn’t already. Half hour later, our trip crosses Ouarzazate, made Famous by its film studios where scenes of ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Gladiator’ were shot.

Finally you will visit the Famous Kasbah of Taourirte that was built in the 18th by the powerful Glaoui Family. We will then start our way back crossing the High Atlas, this time on the tarmac road that used to be the route first laid out by the French Foreign Legion over the Atlas Mountains.

The excursion serpents it’s way past abrupt valleys and mountain peaks to reach Marrakech later in the evening.