The Sharif Don’t Like It

Today was mostly about transiting the rest of the way to Todra Gorge, but we couldn’t sleep within walking distance of a world heritage site and not visit. So, we spent the morning exploring the historic city of Aït Benhaddou. The thousand-plus year old city was on one of the main trans-Saharan trading routes. Because it’s mostly made of mud and straw and other short-lived materials, it requires constant upkeep. The current site was restored extensively in part so that it could be used in movies like Lawrence of Arabia or Gladiator.

It’s an interesting space – people still live in the city, and the narrow streets are lined with merchants. There’s no interpretive material anywhere, and you can enter and exit as you please. We wandered (but did not rock) the casbah, then went up to the “castle” area which was a fortified site dating from the 11th century. A few houses charge for admission, but the site itself is free to anyone. It’s hard to imagine that people would cross from Sudan and end up at this place in the 8th century – what a journey! And all of that without a Fiat Doblo!

After visiting the historic site, we grabbed coffees at a lovely cafe just across the river, and enjoyed lounging in the sun. Then we hit the road. Our first stop was about half an hour up the road, so we could participate in a scam. The other car had stopped to help a “hitchhiker” yesterday, who made them promise to come by his place today so that he could repay them with tea. This all seemed a bit fishy, but that’s how you make connections right? Inevitably, the “hitchhiker” wasn’t there, but his “cousin” was, who dutifully made us tea, and then offered to show us all of the showrooms full of crafts and carpets he coincidentally had. No harm done.

The rest of the afternoon was the long drive to Todra. The drive was far less exciting than yesterday – mostly longer, sweeping roads in plains between mountains. We stopped for a lovely tagine lunch at a roadside cafe, and made it to our accommodation around 6:30. Our housing is across a small stream, inaccessible by car, and up a series of winding paths. It’s a classic mud and straw structure, with a lovely host.

After getting settled, we walked up to the gorge to get a sense of the climbing. It’s .. tall. Very tall. Also, I got a donut. Score.

I’m really looking forward to being settled in here for a few days – it’s nice to be unpacked and to know that we can just focus on climbing and exploring.