Bye, Marrakesh. Hello, Aït Ben Haddou

This morning we visited the ornate 12th-century Majorelle Gardens, once owned by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. It was a zen way to end our visit to bustling Marrakesh.

Next, we drove to Aït Ben Haddou, an ancient mud-brick settlement and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains.

It was a four hour drive so we stopped for lunch along the way. We got back into our van and were settling in. I was sitting right at the back getting organized and had not yet put on my seat belt. Our leader had told us that gendarmes often randomly stop vehicles for seat belt checks.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, within a few minutes of driving away from the restaurant we’re stopped and I’m asked to get out of the van, provide my passport and pay 300 Moroccan dirham on the spot. That’s about $45 Canadian. Our tour leader tried to explain that we had just pulled out of the restaurant parking lot but they’d have none of it. Fair enough. So I paid the fine.

We arrived at our hotel which is an incredible mud-brick riad. From there, we explored the ksar, or fortified village where scenes from the Game of Thrones series, Lawrence of Arabia, Babel, Gladiator and the soon-to-be-released Christopher Nolan film The Odyssey were shot. The kasbah still houses a few families, but many now live in the adjacent
village. The pictures tell the story of the landscape.

It was sunset as we returned to the riad and we joined our group on the rooftop for sundowners before our group dinner.Read more