Morocco Storybook Tour – Day 3 can be found here.
Another early start, as we had a long drive ahead of us – more than 6 hours to Zagora, and we’d need to pack and (hopefully) get breakfast prior to our departure at 9 am.
Thankfully, Kasbah Bab Ourika made life easy for us by setting out a lovely breakfast buffet.
And by having several staff members fetch our bags from our room roughly 15 minutes before we were due to depart.
I went to settle our bill and was pleasantly surprised to find that dinner was included – this apparently is what was meant by “half board”, which is something of a foreign concept to me (and me alone, apparently – I should have just asked my wife, who immediately knew what it meant).
Ali, replete in desert garb, showed up promptly at 9 am.
A magic carpet would be nice – but impractical considering we can scarcely fit our luggage in a Land Cruiser…
Once underway, he casually mentioned that he’d had a dream last night that someone – an Uncle Edmund? – wanted him to help us find a certain artifact.
And where did our children think we should start looking? A dusty tomb, perhaps? Hmmm… very interesting, indeed.
Ali did a tremendous job of building some mystery around our quest – and we’re very excited to see where this adventure leads us.
We then set off through the Atlas mountains toward Zagora, stopping occasionally to snap a few photos as we went:
Leaving Bab Ourika and doubling back through a different section of the Atlas Mountains
A Royal Forest belonging to the Moroccan Monarchy
The day begins in a Moroccan town
The quality of the roadways is impressive – even more so when you consider how much rock and earth they’ve had to blast through in order to carve this sort of path along the mountains.
And what mountains they are:
We were surprised to find that some people were making the journey over the mountain on foot. Apparently, some of the nomadic people of the region will make the trek to Marrakech – a journey that can take more than two weeks.
This all provided a fantastic distraction from the urge to continually check our phones to see if Carla had any news regarding a request we’d made late the previous evening. We’d asked for an upgrade for our stay at Azalai Desert Lodge after realizing that we’d previously been booked to share a single room. Now fingers were firmly crossed…
Scarce though food may be, these hills still sustain a great deal of life…
…Helped in part by terracing and irrigation
But the further you are from water, the tougher it gets
Roughly three hours into our journey, we stopped in the city of Ouarzazate for lunch and to visit Atlas Studios. We also paused briefly so – I’m ashamed to say – I could finally pick up some Moroccan dirhams. Yes, I’d somehow managed to make it three full days in Morocco without any of the local currency. But that would not be an option going forward, so instead we stopped at a bank machine.
The first attempt was not successful. It asked if I would like to make a withdrawal from my “Current account” or my “Savings account”. I presumed they meant chequing account, but the request did not go through. So we tried a different bank and… success! Though the largest withdrawal I could make was 2,000 Dirham – or roughly USD$200.
I asked Ali whether that was going to be enough to purchase a few lunches, and he gave me a bit of an odd look before saying he though we’d probably be okay.
This look was explained when we sat down to lunch at La Terrasse. We ordered 3 milkshakes, a cappuccino, a bottle of sparkling water, and two large margherita pizzas… which came in at the princely sum of USD$27 with tip included. So yes, I agree with Ali – I should have more than enough to last us the next couple of lunches.
Obligatory milkshake photo
Artistically-shot pizza pic – hiding the fact that we’d already tucked in before I could get a photo
A lovely and inexpensive restaurant halfway between Marrakech and the edge of the Sahara
Then off to Atlas Studios. We were initially hesitant to visit here at all as we’d wanted to make the journey as quickly as possible, but Black Tomato strongly suggested we stop in. We compromised on starting the tour with the Atlas guide and then splitting off as quicky as possible – and that offered us the best of all worlds.
Plus we got to see the set from the Mummy, starring Brendan Frasier!
Our very patient guide, who claims he does not personally know Brendand Fraser nor how to get in touch with him
A wide range of desert settings…
…And some from other parts of the world, too.
There were also sets and props from a wide range of films and television shows including Game of Thrones, Gladiator, Prison Break, Black Hawk Down and many more.
But after aobut 30 minutes of tromping through sets was enough for us, so we ducked out and met Ali in the parking lot where we made a Prison Break-worthy exit.
Off then through the Anti-Atlas mountain range – somewhat smaller than the Atlas Mountains themselves, but nevertheless reaching heights of close to 10,000 feet (2,700 metres).
It was somewhere around here – through intermittent cell signal – that we received the good news. Azalai Desert Lodge had upgraded us to a 2 bedroom suite!
We managed to get there shortly after 4 pm, which was impressive given the distance and stops involved. We then began a dance that was becoming familiar to us – our bags were shuffled out, we bid goodbye to Ali, we handed over our passports and waited dutifully with our welcome drinks as the paperwork was completed.
Familiar, but no less appreciated.
Azalai Desert Lodge is a beautiful spot that is somehow rated only 3 stars – apparently due to a somewhat complex and convoluted ratings system. It’s surprising, because it’s an absolutely beautiful hotel at the edge of the Draa valley – the largest palm grove in the world.
There’s also a lovely (though cold) pool:
And stunning gardens:
Not to mention an inexplicable airplane:
Our suite was no less impressive:
Like many Moroccan hotels, some elements are a little rough-around-the-edges – like the absence of a toilet paper holder and the bare bulb that lights the front porch.
But there’s also a private terrace:
So on the whole, pretty amazing.
We rested back at our bungalow for a little bit, and then headed off for dinner. They seated us in our own private room and brought out three delicious courses – a vegetable cream soup with freshly-baked bread, crispy chicken and whipped potatoes, and a pear tart resting on a thin bed of caramel.
It was all exceptional – the kids demolished their meals.
Midway through dinner, our host appeared and asked for our keys so he could start a fire.
We came back to a roaring fire, a pot of hot verbena tea, and… no hot water.
Back to the lodge, back out to the bungalow. Fixed in a few minutes.
Then – right when we were getting ready for bed – I happened to turn on exactly the wrong lamp. The power went out.
Back to the lodge, back out to the bungalow. Fixed in a few seconds.
No hard feelings whatsoever against Azalai on this – these things happen, and I’m just glad to know that they’re able to immediately step up and deal with it.
And it’s hardly a hassle to walk back to the lodge when your path looks like this…
Continue reading Morocco Storybook Tour – Day 5.
Fabulous blog and photos!!!