Where and when: Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco, 31 January 2025
0900: Leave Tingher and head east, continuing our return journey back to Marrakech.
1015: Photo stop at town of Boumalne Dades. The surrounding area is filled with canyons and mountains and is great for hiking.
1130: Stop for a walk and lunch at the valley of roses. This area has an economy centred around roses. Roses are grown at industrial scale and various rose products manufactured using rose oil.
1300: Lunch at a local house. This was a really interesting experience as we got to see the inside of a traditional house. We’d seen many houses on the way but you could only see the walls outside and a few windows. Inside it is a different story – there are several internal courtyards, with doors to different rooms and stairs to upstairs rooms.
Lunch was laid out for us in a beautifully decorated room. On the menu was meat/vegetarian tagine and cous cous. I was suprised to learn that in Morocco, cous cous is only eaten on Fridays. This is because Friday is a religious day and families share a traditional meal of cous cous, chicken and vegetables served on a large platter.
Mint tea and coffee are the main drinks here in Morocco. Black tea with milk is firmly confined to the tourists. Other flavour teas (e.g. thyme, vebena) is also available. Coffee is very good here.
1515: Stop at rose oil production facilty, where we get a quick demo of how rose oil is distilled. 150kg roses are put into vats and steamed and this extracts the oil. 5 tonnes of roses make 1 litre of oil, which is used in various products; hand and face creams, soaps, lip balms and rose water.
1600: We drive through the city of Ouarazette, which is Morocco’s hollywood. Many films are produced in and around this town. There are several large film studios on the outskirts of town.
1700: Our destination is Ait Ben Haddou, which is a UNESCO World Hertigate site along the former caravan route from Timbuktu and Marrakech.
Dating back to the 11th century, it is a fortified settlement or Ksar, built around a mountain.
It is considered a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture.
We climb to the top of the ksar and the views are magnificent. You can see across the entire valley and the Asif Ounila River.
Ait Ben Haddou has been used in a number of films; Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, The Mummy, Prince of Persia, to name a few. When we visited, there was a set on one side of the ksar, which was apparently used for the recent film, Gladiator II.
We were staying at hotel La Kasbah, within walking distance to Ait Ben Haddou. The rooms are comfortable and the restaurant has a great view over Ait Ben Haddou.
Diary of a Tourist 
Really interesting. I think I’d really like the tour of the rose oil production facility – it’s always interesting to see how things are made.
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