Road of Tajines_5

2008.10.09

The wind was blowing strong. A mini dust storm was visible down at the river valley as we approached the ancient mud fortress of Ait Benhaddou. We stepped out the shared taxi and could barely walk against the gust. Although in the middle of nowhere, Ait Benhaddou is a popular tourist attraction in Central Morocco. David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, John Huston's The Man who would be King, Martin Scorsese's Kundun, and the more recent The Mummy, Gliadator and Alexander, and many other films have all been filmed at this well-preserved and renovated fortress (a).

We made our way to one of the entries of Ait Benhaddou after crossing an almost dried-up river on stepping stones. Since all entries into the fortress have to transpass private homes, we had no choice but to pay an "entry fee" to one of the local family. On the way up to the kasbah, we encountered a group of Hong Kong tourists. It was extremely windy when we reached the top. We didn't stay long, despite the arid landscape beyond the fortified walls are quite spectacular.

Our hired shared taxi brought us back to Ouarzazate. We had about 45 minutes before the CTM bus departed for Marrakech. We took our backpacks with us to the main town square and chose an outdoor cafe. Each of us ordered an egg omelette, three omelette Berber and one omelette fromage. The owner and his Berber cook did took their time to prepare the food, despite HC went to chase them after 10 minutes and we constantly stared at them from our table. We were left with merely two minutes to finish our fresh cooked omelettes on hot pans before we dashed to the bus station nearby.

The CTM bus turned up 40 minutes late. It was a great bus journey that winded through some spectacular mountain ranges of the High Atlas. The experienced driver seldom slowed down during sharp bends and descends. All we could do was to trust his driving skills and admire the sensational scenery outside the window. The route through the Ourika Valley was the highlight (b).

In early evening, we arrived at Marrakech. From our hotel, we headed towards Djemma el Fna. Filled with street eateries, snake charmers, vendors of all sorts, local shoppers and tourists, the gigantic square was noisy, smelly, smoky and crowded. Recommended by our guidebook, we headed to the third level, a dining balcony of a restaurant that faces the square. That night, we had the best tajines in our entire trip. I had one cooked with beef and plums. The cooked plums was sweet and the beef tender. The swirling ambience of the surrounding permeated our exhausted bodies and lightened our spirit. All of a sudden, bell tolls were heard and a flag was raised at a mosque across our dining balcony. We took our cameras out and peeked over the shoulders of other diners to examine the activities of Djemma el Fna. As our attention had been shifted from the food to the square, our magnificent Moroccan supper had finally come to an end.

Road of Tajines_1

2008.10.05

We said goodbye to AC and left my London's flat at 2:30am to catch the 6:00 flight at Luton. After 3.5 hours of flight time and a long and chaotic queuing at the passport control, we finally arrived at the lobby of Marrakech's Menara Airport (a). We immediately felt the heat as we left the plane. Compare to the wet and chilly night of London, the Moroccan sun warmed up our spirit despite we hardly got any sleep.

After all the practicalities of storing our backpacks, securing tickets for the night bus, payment for our desert tour and a quick lunch, we finally entered the old city of Marrakech. From Djemma el Fna, the main square at the heart of the medina, we lose ourselves into the labyrinth of the souk. In mid afternoon, we found ourselves at the door of Marrakech Museum. We stayed in the cafe at the entrance courtyard, purchased 4 bottles of coke and played some big2 and then dosed off and waked up one after another until we all felt it was time to leave. We left without entering the museum. We headed back to Djemma el Fna and found a dessert cafe (b). We ordered some cakes and drinks and allowed time to pass.

We ventured off into the busy and dusty streets of the old city (c), meandered through some markets and arrived at the bus station. Again we found ourselves having a bottle of coke at a small cafe/bar across the station, for the purpose of using their toilet. All people in the cafe had their eyes fixed on the TV showing the last 15 minutes of the La Liga game: Real Madrid vs Espanyol.

At last, we boarded the night bus for the town of Zagora, which situated right at the edge of the Sahara. In the middle of winding through the ranges of the High Atlas, our bus arrived at a stopping point along the mountain road, in the middle of nowhere, for toilet and food. Raw meat were hung at shop front at every eatery along the highway while smoke and smell of cooked meat filled the air(d). The local passengers gathered at their favorite shops and enjoyed their late dinner. This was our first time to see cooking tajine pots in the fire.