But for now, back to the land of mint tea and tagines. After the ruins, it was time for another of our cook's spectacular picnic lunches and this time, some yummy lentils accompanied the salad. After lunch, it was off to yet another historic site, but this one was definitely not in ruins.
Our destination was the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ait-Ben-Haddou. This is a 'fortified city', or ksar, which grew up as a stopping point for the caravan trains travelling between the Sahara and Marrakech.
If it looks familiar, many films have been shot at Ait-Ben-Haddou including Jesus of Nazareth and Gladiator.
The buildings are largely made of mud, and they do tend to sustain damage when it rains, so lots of restoration work is required. Given the tendency to erode, it's very impressive that some of the buildings may date back to the seventeenth century.
After the view from the wadi outside the town, it was time for a climb through the narrow streets to take in the view from the top.
Only a handful of families still live in these buildings. We were lucky enough to take tea (mint of course) with one of them, and even luckier when we found out that the 'cave' inside the house where we were drinking our tea turned out to have been Russell Crowe's prison in the film Gladiator.
We rather like our next picture as it shows us in the cave with our new Moroccan friend Khaled and Russell Crowe's sword, which was a bit heavy for us to manage on our own.
Our lady hostess was kind enough to let us look round her house which was typical of these old mud houses.
Believe it or not, the animals, which we went to say hello to, were kept upstairs, not down ...
... and there were lots of fascinating rooms, mostly quite small and very traditional. We were particularly impressed by the old kitchen with oven, although we didn't fancy waiting for a meal, as it might have been quite a long time coming.
It's quite a few years since we saw the film Gladiator so we were very pleased to note it in the T.V. schedules the other day. We recorded it and look forward to watching it soon and seeing how much we recognise.
Lots of love, George and Yorkie xxx
2 comments:
HOW DO THE ANIMALS GET UPSTAIRS? DO THEY HAVE THEIR OWN RAMP?
Thanks for the comment, we didn't see any ramp for the Sheep and Goats, and presumed that they were carried up to their roof top stable on the shoulders of their owners.
Love George and Yorkie
Post a Comment