Ait Benhaddou

Throughout our drive today, we were expecting to have stops at many Kasbahs and Ksars. Kasbahs are fortified quarters within cities that home a specific family. Also known as an alcazabar in Spain. They are basically tiny, ancient towns that are dominated by a family and a central structure, with 4 pillars on each corner to observe the enemy approach. This family can range from 40 to 200 people, with an equally sized number of staff and slaves. As such, the building has to be capable of holding many inhabitants during an invasion. Outside of the massive, central structure is a small town in which the rest of the inhabitants, from outside the family, live. Although sometimes surrounded by a wall, it is significantly less protected compared to the main Kasbah. These also tend to not be preserved as well, but the remnants do remain. After our first visit to one of these, we headed toward Air Benhaddou. This is an example of a much larger version of the Ksabah, the Ksar. A Ksar is a combination of many Ksabahs within a well fortified city. The Gates are world famous and have been used in many movie and TV shows. The most famous is Game of Thrones. After wandering through this really cool town, through markets, tea shops, and restaurants, we made it to the top of the hill that the city is situated. This was an ancient watch house for the rest of the city, but it has since been degraded by the recent earthquake. Nonetheless, it was really cool to see the ancient city below us and the newer city across the riverbed. On our way down, we stopped off for a tea and a rug demonstration. I have seen many by now, but it is still cool to observe how rugs are made in different countries in Africa. After this, we drove about 5 minutes to our hotel near Ait Benhaddou and relaxed until dinner.Read more