For our last day in the desert, we started bright and early and hit the road. Our first stop (after a couple bouts of napping on both sides of the backseat) was to see the famous fortified village (ksar) of Ait Benhaddou where scenes from movies like Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and many others were filmed.
Speaking of ‘ksar’, earlier in our journey we learned about the tiny differences between ‘kasbahs’ which are fortified palaces, and ‘ksars’ which are walled villages. Many villages were both — they had kasbahs surrounded by other homes and a wall, which also made the ksars!
From there, we wound through the high Atlas Mountains and were treated to many roadside views of the magnificent Moroccan countryside.
That road? Yep, we drove that
Soon enough, we were back in Marrakech, and literally got dropped off at the same point that we began our Marrakech adventures just a few days earlier. Since we were checking into the riad we had previously stayed with at only mid-afternoon, we inquired about the potential for a nearby hamman (Turkish bath) visit. Luckily enough, the stars aligned, as long as we were up to head over in 15 minutes, which of course, was met with a resounding “YES! Of course!” from us. In short, the experience was amazing. This was Grant’s first hamman, and Jess’ second (after previously experiencing the vigorous scrubbing in Turkey). The scrub and relaxing massage really helped us transition back from our time in the desert.
OOOOoooOOO, Rose petals!
After the hamman, we again went back to the riad and asked the couple young gents who staff the riad if they had any advice for how and where Grant could break his fast. Turns out, once again, we stumbled upon super nice people, and they invited us to break the fast (called “iftar” with them on the room later that night around 8:45pm. We were treated to a smorgasbord of drinks (milk, juice, smoothie) along with the traditional harrira soup and a half a dozen different sweat, fried things. Needless to say, our hosts were more than generous, particularly after Jess cemented our bonds over some futbol banter.
Before long, we realized this was our last few hours in Marrakech, so thanked them profusely, then bolted for a quick run to the square to pick up some post cards, fresh squeezed juice, and some legit Moroccan dates for the road.
We almost had to buy 4 kg. Fortunately our haggling had much improved
To end the night, we milked the half decent wifi at the riad and had Father’s Day video chats with our families to 1) Check-in, and 2) Prove we were still alive.
After that, can you guess what happened?
Goodnight, world!
-G & J