STOP 6 | Morocco: Atlas Film Studios + Marrakesh

Dedicated uniquely to Ale, who is my favorite "film director."

Day 10: Skoura + Aid Beinaiddu

It was another long drive today, however it was slit in different parts, we we didn't feel it at all. We departure Tamaloute around 8am and our first destination was Skoura. We didn't stop in this city directly but we went visit the Kasbah Amridil, which is one of the well preserved and best maintained kasbah around the entire Morocco. Kasbah is a "fortified family mansions". Upon King Hassan II's will, this kasbah is reproduced also on the 50 dirham note.

This building was in the oasis of Skoura, and was a destination of many carovans coming from the desert. Kasbah Amridil was impressive. It's made by mud and clay with hay, as basically all the village houses, which host about 40% of Morocco's population. Such buildings are pretty strong, but their walls need to be taken care every 2 years. Walls are even 1 meter thick, based on the location.

Mud and Hay

How they built the walls

The local guide - Reda - explained to us so many things that it would take me days to jot down. This system of building houses is still used today's in Morocco. Upon checking with our Intrepid guide, Brahim, he said that an average house in the village may costs about 80,000 MAD (which is about 800 EUR / 900 USD). This building had 4 kitchens + the stables, aimed at keeping the house warm during the winter (the 5 locations were used at the same time), while during summer only the main kitchen was used and the animals were kept outside.

Reda explained to us his interpretation on how the 3 most important monotheistic religions connect with each other: probably it's based on his own interpretation, but it was magical in a sense, also considering that this kasbah used to be a koranic school back in the days.

And eventually it wrote my name in Arabic, which I don't even know if it's fully correct or not.

I finished the visit asking a traveler to take a good picture of me, but this was not even the start of our day.

After this stop we went to Ouarzazate, and we took a chance to visit the Atlas Studios, which are the biggest studios worldwide, apparently. Many films were shot here, and apparently this location is preferred vs the real places, for the convenience of setting-up/dismantling scenographies, for the silence, and for the blue sky that can be easily tweaked with a computer.

In the area about 900 films got shot, while in such studios around 80, starting from when they were built in 1983. About 3-4 films per year were shot here, unless during the last couple of years, due to the pandemic. The guide Abdullah was really talented: he served as assistant cameraman in many movies, so he enjoyed taking great pics for us together with mini videos.

And we also played around with the set as well :D

But that was not it! We made our way to our next hotel before embarking on an afternoon walk.

The walk was in Aït Benhaddou, the little village, now UNESCO World Heritage, were many movies were shot, including Games of Thrones.

Being in a place that you have always seen on the cinema screen, touching such floors, breathing that air, it's beyond magic: it reaches the sublime.

And some painters also showed us a particular technique you only found here apparently,

And on the way back, a modern car ruined all the scenery of my pic, unfortunately.

Day 11: Arrival in Marrakesh

Before heading off to Marrakesh, we stopped by a textile shop. Thankfully (for me) I didn't buy anything but I got the chance to take a pic with Aït Benhaddou village on the background.

It was a 4h drive and on the way we stopped at the mountain pass Tizi n'Tichka, that links the south-east of Marrakesh to the city of Ouarzazate through the High Atlas mountains.

Time flew by while driving across the mountains and in the early afternoon we reached Marrakesh, the city with the 7 towers of Bab Doukkala which apparently do not show on Wikipedia, but do it on Pinterest.

The hotel was really red, also Marrakesh is known as the Red City for the color of the red walls of the city

In the afternoon I spent time wandering inside the medina, which is UNESCO World Heritage, not before booking dinner in the best restaurant of the city, according to the local guide, suggested by my friend Hanane: beyond the location, it was definitely the best meal I had in Morocco, even though in many other places the quality was as much good, but this was magic. The restaurant is called: Dar Zellij!

The only nasty thing of today was to avoid some locals that wanted to corner me in a narrow street probably to rob me. Such a guy told me that "the Mosque was closed and I couldn't walk there", pointing me to another side street, while I was trying, holding my phone, to reach the restaurant. I followed his advice the first time, as I thought it was coming with a good faith but then understood that something was off, so I told the gentleman to leave me alone. Thankfully nothing happened, but I was scared for a bit.

Day 12: Marrakesh

We had breakfast with the High Atlas looking at us on the rooftop, you can slightly see it behind the minaret, in the pic below.

We started this day visiting Marrakesh, starting from the Jewish quarter - Mellah - till reaching Palace Bahia.  

Palace Bahia was built in the 19th century and is one of the highlight of the city. It was also where the vizier Ba Ahmed used to have his harem, made by 24 women.

After the fresh shade of the Palace, we moved through the little streets of Marrakesh medina to see the different souqs. Only a few areas are preserved where you can find craftsmen working in the same field, like metals for instance.

After a freshly squeezed orange juice we made our way back to the the hotel, passing by the best landmark of Marrakesh: Kutubiyya Mosque

In the afternoon we had free time, that I spent partially organizing my following trips sitting in a bar, partially visiting Le Jardin Secret, trying to avoid the same locals who wanted to point me in the wrong directions the day earlier.

We had last dinner together in the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, the biggest worldwide apparently, where I enjoyed some chicken skewers. The plaza was really full at this time.

Last drinks from the rooftop, while hearing the last call for prayers. I also tried to spot the #bluemoon, that probably it's blue from Italy, but not from Morocco. Indeed it should be red, but what I saw was just white. Who knows...