capn_n_pye (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
capn_n_pye) wrote2013-12-08 10:05 am
capn_n_pye) wrote2013-12-08 10:05 am
Rock the Kasbah
And yea did it come to pass that Stinky and Pye did farewell to their Tour Family and travel unto the desert. We had initial misgivings about the new group, especially since the only other people from the first group who were continuing with us were Captain Obvious and his Snippy Wife. Imagine our judgemental horror when the first two new group members we met turned out to be a clone of those two! Seriously, it's like an evil scientist lives on the Sunshine Coast, replicating men who don't listen and women who don't think there's anything in life to laugh about. We also traded two young Australian women for one young Canadian woman, and the family of four for one of three, this time with a fourteen year old girl and a seventeen year old boy. Our new guide is Moroccan, named Issam (it's pronounced Aye-some, which feels like saying Aye-tal-yan for Italian). Jack, the young lad, admitted that he was worried about the makeup of the group but was relieved to find we were the two most immature teachers in Victoria. Pye was offended - we are not in Victoria right now.
So the new merry band left Marrakech for the village of Aremd, in the High Atlas Mountains.
The relatively green area around Marrakech gives way very quickly to desert, though Aremd hangs out on the top of a hill in a quite fertile area. We declined the offer of a mule to take us to the village, although the Queensland contingent was quite grateful.
Unless we wanted to become farmers or marry and raise farmers’ children, the main thing to do in that area is hiking, so off we went. It's about 2500 metres high and very rocky, which made us miss sea-level oxygen levels and proper hiking boots, but it was pretty spectacular.
We were marched to a side of the hill in the middle of nowhere to visit the Shrine of Sidi Chamarouch, some holy guy from a while back.
Our guide wasn't very forthcoming, so we think it is now a mosque (that we weren't allowed into). Whatever, we'll just hang out with Roof Goat instead.
There was snow on the top of the mountains and it got very cold very quickly when the sun sank behind the mountain. Our guide seemed to be in a hurry to get home (we think he was in a rush because he didn't want to miss Game of Thrones) and he was pretty used to the scenery, so we probably frustrated him by stopping every twenty metres to take photos. He could understand most of the photos we were taking, but others were just odd.
The next day we hiked back down the mountain to rejoin our minibus to head further south and across the High Atlas mountains. It didn’t feel that cold, but young Gabbie’s freshly washed hair got some rather nice ice crystals in it. We stopped briefly to wander through a weekly market that had anything and everything anyone could possibly want.
It was early, so the parking lot had only just started to fill up...
... and the RACM was helping a couple of folks out with a flat.
Judy was unwittingly blocking the path at one stage, when a guy with a hand cart was trying to get through.
"Judy! Judy!" one of us called out, helpfully trying to get her attention - however, she was so engrossed in watching people empty onions out of a truck that she didn't notice.
"Judy! JUDY!" three more of us joined in, but again to no avail. In fact, it wasn't until the chap with the cart chimed in that she noticed (we actually had to stop calling out when he joined in, because we were laughing too much at Moroccan stranger calling, "JUDY!" with the rest.
We continued to climb up and up and up though the mountains to take the Tizi n'Tichka pass out of the High Atlas Mountains (it's the highest pass in Morocco, at 2260 metres). It was okay, we suppose.
They're planning to build a thirty kilometre long tunnel so people can go under instead of over (cutting the trip time between major cities down to one and a half hours from four) which will be nice for people who have to do it often or when it snows. We'll keep the view, though!
On the other side of the mountains we came to Benhaddou, a Kasbah town. The edifice requiring rocking is a fortified house and this particular one dates back to the twelfth century. It had had its heyday in the sixteenth and seventeenth century with being in the caravan route between the Sahara (Timbuktu!) and Marrakech, but then everyone moved out when Casablanca took pole position as Awesome Port of Morocco. It was re-inhabited in the early twentieth century, particularly after UNESCO listed it and then movie makers discovered it was photogenic and versatile.
Movies including Gladiator, Prince of Persia, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel and The Mummy have been filmed in and around the area, as well as bits of Game of Thrones and classic films include Time Bandits, Jewel of the Nile, Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun. Admittedly, the recent movies have tended to be fairly shit, but this not the location's fault.
We congregated with other tourists at the old granary at the top of the village to watch the sunset. This was actually a fairly cruel thing to do to people who like to take photos of the same spot in changing light.
Moose missed the sun sinking gently behind the mountains, because he was busy showing off in his fez.
Just as the last rays of sunlight slipped away, Gabbie, the fourteen year old, let out a little toot. "Oops!" she said.
"You ruined the sunset!" shouted Issam.
Oh our sides almost split because of the guffaws!
Crossing back across the 'river' [read: sand bed], the palm trees beckoned us to take even more photos. They were really bossy. So we ignored them and sedately and maturely made our way out of the Kasbah.
The next day we made for the Anti Atlas Mountains. A very important stop was the Atlas Studios for a tour of the sets. Issam said it was cheesy but fun and he was right - one might almost think he's been this way before. Moose showed off again and got himself a boyfriend. People around this part of the world are really into him, he is becoming a bit unbearable at times.
There are lots of sets from films new and old and they don't mind if you crawl all over them. The visitor is greeted by the plane from Jewel of the Nile and some chariots from Gladiator...
... and then tours many places, from Jerusalem and Egypt, to Tangier and Ancient Rome.
A big part of the set from The Mummy Returns is still there and it is disconcerting to gallop up what looks like stone steps to the sound of feet on plaster and plywood.
The Egyptian sets are pretty cool, even if no one ever uses them in a film again...
... like the Tibetan temple from Kundun, which has been there since the mid-1990s.
Moose was a bit shy to ask a group of extras in various costumes for a photo and didn't want to cheat on his new friend anyway, so we thanked the studios for a glimpse of Mollywood and continued on our way.
A brief stop later to check out the Intrepid Foundation workshop that supports people with disabilities and it was time to have lunch. Despite being delicious, lunch isn't usually worth commenting on, but we were told that this one came with an unusual addition - a camel who loves to drink Fanta. Pye immediately purchased a bottle the bright orange fizzy drink in question, even though we suspected Issam was pulling our legs, and the team approached the beast warily. This is how it went down:
This country has something for everyone!! It was hard to see how an old sign in Zagora commemorating the trans-Saharan caravan route could live up to a greedy, diabetic camel, but we were pretty impressed.
Zagora is pretty much an oasis for travellers to gird their loins before venturing further. In summer it's 50+ pretty much every day, so again we blessed the season. It’s a really long, green valley, filled with date palms.
The Riad in which we were staying is next to a palmery, which looked like a pretty place to go for a walk. It was also nice to be able to look at palms that aren't rainforest-destroying palm oil plantations.
We'd got about twenty metres before we noticed a young man approaching from a behind at a steady trot. He turned out to be very helpful, suggesting the most interesting 'streets' to take, asking us questions about our holiday, shooing away urchins offering to sell us puppies, making gazelles out of palm leaves. Imagine our surprise when we completed the circuit and he invited us to have a look in his shop! Still, we have to give credit to someone willing to put in that sort of effort and we had actually intended to investigate that shop anyway, so we didn't mind playing the game. After all, how many shopping opportunities would we have in the next couple of days?
So the new merry band left Marrakech for the village of Aremd, in the High Atlas Mountains.
The relatively green area around Marrakech gives way very quickly to desert, though Aremd hangs out on the top of a hill in a quite fertile area. We declined the offer of a mule to take us to the village, although the Queensland contingent was quite grateful.
Unless we wanted to become farmers or marry and raise farmers’ children, the main thing to do in that area is hiking, so off we went. It's about 2500 metres high and very rocky, which made us miss sea-level oxygen levels and proper hiking boots, but it was pretty spectacular.
We were marched to a side of the hill in the middle of nowhere to visit the Shrine of Sidi Chamarouch, some holy guy from a while back.
Our guide wasn't very forthcoming, so we think it is now a mosque (that we weren't allowed into). Whatever, we'll just hang out with Roof Goat instead.
There was snow on the top of the mountains and it got very cold very quickly when the sun sank behind the mountain. Our guide seemed to be in a hurry to get home (we think he was in a rush because he didn't want to miss Game of Thrones) and he was pretty used to the scenery, so we probably frustrated him by stopping every twenty metres to take photos. He could understand most of the photos we were taking, but others were just odd.
The next day we hiked back down the mountain to rejoin our minibus to head further south and across the High Atlas mountains. It didn’t feel that cold, but young Gabbie’s freshly washed hair got some rather nice ice crystals in it. We stopped briefly to wander through a weekly market that had anything and everything anyone could possibly want.
It was early, so the parking lot had only just started to fill up...
... and the RACM was helping a couple of folks out with a flat.
Judy was unwittingly blocking the path at one stage, when a guy with a hand cart was trying to get through.
"Judy! Judy!" one of us called out, helpfully trying to get her attention - however, she was so engrossed in watching people empty onions out of a truck that she didn't notice.
"Judy! JUDY!" three more of us joined in, but again to no avail. In fact, it wasn't until the chap with the cart chimed in that she noticed (we actually had to stop calling out when he joined in, because we were laughing too much at Moroccan stranger calling, "JUDY!" with the rest.
We continued to climb up and up and up though the mountains to take the Tizi n'Tichka pass out of the High Atlas Mountains (it's the highest pass in Morocco, at 2260 metres). It was okay, we suppose.
They're planning to build a thirty kilometre long tunnel so people can go under instead of over (cutting the trip time between major cities down to one and a half hours from four) which will be nice for people who have to do it often or when it snows. We'll keep the view, though!
On the other side of the mountains we came to Benhaddou, a Kasbah town. The edifice requiring rocking is a fortified house and this particular one dates back to the twelfth century. It had had its heyday in the sixteenth and seventeenth century with being in the caravan route between the Sahara (Timbuktu!) and Marrakech, but then everyone moved out when Casablanca took pole position as Awesome Port of Morocco. It was re-inhabited in the early twentieth century, particularly after UNESCO listed it and then movie makers discovered it was photogenic and versatile.
Movies including Gladiator, Prince of Persia, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel and The Mummy have been filmed in and around the area, as well as bits of Game of Thrones and classic films include Time Bandits, Jewel of the Nile, Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun. Admittedly, the recent movies have tended to be fairly shit, but this not the location's fault.
We congregated with other tourists at the old granary at the top of the village to watch the sunset. This was actually a fairly cruel thing to do to people who like to take photos of the same spot in changing light.
Moose missed the sun sinking gently behind the mountains, because he was busy showing off in his fez.
Just as the last rays of sunlight slipped away, Gabbie, the fourteen year old, let out a little toot. "Oops!" she said.
"You ruined the sunset!" shouted Issam.
Oh our sides almost split because of the guffaws!
Crossing back across the 'river' [read: sand bed], the palm trees beckoned us to take even more photos. They were really bossy. So we ignored them and sedately and maturely made our way out of the Kasbah.
The next day we made for the Anti Atlas Mountains. A very important stop was the Atlas Studios for a tour of the sets. Issam said it was cheesy but fun and he was right - one might almost think he's been this way before. Moose showed off again and got himself a boyfriend. People around this part of the world are really into him, he is becoming a bit unbearable at times.
There are lots of sets from films new and old and they don't mind if you crawl all over them. The visitor is greeted by the plane from Jewel of the Nile and some chariots from Gladiator...
... and then tours many places, from Jerusalem and Egypt, to Tangier and Ancient Rome.
A big part of the set from The Mummy Returns is still there and it is disconcerting to gallop up what looks like stone steps to the sound of feet on plaster and plywood.
The Egyptian sets are pretty cool, even if no one ever uses them in a film again...
... like the Tibetan temple from Kundun, which has been there since the mid-1990s.
Moose was a bit shy to ask a group of extras in various costumes for a photo and didn't want to cheat on his new friend anyway, so we thanked the studios for a glimpse of Mollywood and continued on our way.
A brief stop later to check out the Intrepid Foundation workshop that supports people with disabilities and it was time to have lunch. Despite being delicious, lunch isn't usually worth commenting on, but we were told that this one came with an unusual addition - a camel who loves to drink Fanta. Pye immediately purchased a bottle the bright orange fizzy drink in question, even though we suspected Issam was pulling our legs, and the team approached the beast warily. This is how it went down:
This country has something for everyone!! It was hard to see how an old sign in Zagora commemorating the trans-Saharan caravan route could live up to a greedy, diabetic camel, but we were pretty impressed.
Zagora is pretty much an oasis for travellers to gird their loins before venturing further. In summer it's 50+ pretty much every day, so again we blessed the season. It’s a really long, green valley, filled with date palms.
The Riad in which we were staying is next to a palmery, which looked like a pretty place to go for a walk. It was also nice to be able to look at palms that aren't rainforest-destroying palm oil plantations.
We'd got about twenty metres before we noticed a young man approaching from a behind at a steady trot. He turned out to be very helpful, suggesting the most interesting 'streets' to take, asking us questions about our holiday, shooing away urchins offering to sell us puppies, making gazelles out of palm leaves. Imagine our surprise when we completed the circuit and he invited us to have a look in his shop! Still, we have to give credit to someone willing to put in that sort of effort and we had actually intended to investigate that shop anyway, so we didn't mind playing the game. After all, how many shopping opportunities would we have in the next couple of days?
Update!
"waw thank you very much for the time spent together waw you so cool. and I thank you for the photo that you send me i like them very much thins a lot. I'm sorry to disturb you but my heart told me tike a photo with Mr Moose by the way and passed him my dear greetings from the heart"
Priceless!