Morocco, part 5: Aït Benhaddou

"Take me to the kasbah." Who said that? Seems like a familiar movie phrase. Made us want to go to the well preserved and much filmed kasbah in Aït Benhaddou. You may have seen it in the films "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Gladiator."



Here's a closeup of one section with plenty of greenery.



We stayed in a hotel just across the river, visible in this photo. (The kasbah is in the foreground, and the hotel is in the distance.)



An unofficial guide showed us around. He said animals live in the straw-roof section pictured below while their keepers lived in the rooms above. Having invented his own guide spiel, he pointed out such designs as the crescent moon and said, "That's the moon." So informative.



The whole place is made of earth mixed with straw. It features many towers decorated with tall, narrow, window-like designs, sometimes surrounded by a trellis-looking design. Our pseudo-guide told us that the geometric shapes all had meanings. Then again, he also just made stuff up. He told us the small, narrow building at the top of the hill was the queen's house, whereas our guidebook described it as a granary.



In any case, the place has lots of atmosphere, and we enjoyed the visit.

Morocco, part four: Ouarzazate

Continuing on our Moroccan drive, we headed west toward Ouarzazate. We stopped for lunch outside of the oasis town of Skoura, at Chez Talout. The tasty food may have given us mild intestinal issues later.



Ouarzazate is the center of the Moroccan film industry. Many films you've probably seen were filmed there, including Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Gladiator, The Mummy (1, 2 and 3), and Kundun. We visited Atlas film studios, one of the most prominent studios in the country. Here we saw the plane from Jewel of the Nile. It doesn't actually fly; it only drives.



These arches were used in Gladiator and reused in other films.



This huge complex was built for Kundun, a film about the Dalai Lama.



These columns were seen in Gladiator as well as The Mummy.



Here's a miniature version of Abu Simbel temple, used in The Mummy. (We went to the real Abu Simbel in Egypt back in 2008.)



This shot shows how flimsy some of the set decorations are. It looks like these pieces on the capitals are made of thin paper. I believe this was a reuse of either a Gladiator or Mummy set for the French film Asterix and Obelisk.



We're posing on the Kundun set with the camera dolly, which allows for smooth shooting when the camera is in motion.

Morocco, part three: the gorges

Some of the highlights of central Morocco are the beautiful Todra and Dades Gorges, next to the Atlas mountains. Driving west from Hassi Labied, we headed toward Todra Gorge.



This area is popular among rock-climbers. We saw a group of young (12- to 14-year-old) French climbers. Here's a shot of a narrow part of the gorge with the road between the rocks.



On the way to the Dades gorge, we passed some camels. No humans visible. Notice the snowy mountains in the background? That's the Atlas range.



Also on the way to Dades, there are some unusual rock formations.



Kasbah-style buildings abound in this part of Morocco.



That night we stayed in a hotel that left something to be desired (i.e. heat). It was nice to get going in the morning. We continued up the Dades Gorge.



The road wound up and up, and we could see geology at work all around us.



We stopped to take some photos, and out of nowhere this guy appeared. He was selling fossils. The price? "As you like." He meant it, too.



This old tower is decorated with a greenish spray-painted symbol (sort of a pitchfork shape). It's the Berber symbol for freedom and is seen all around.



On our way back down through the gorge, the sun illuminated the hairpin turns.



This building, impressively perched on a bit of rock, is a hotel. We should've stayed there.

Morocco, part two: near Merzouga

We rented a car and drove from Fes southwest to Hassi Labied, near Merzouga. Along the way, we passed through a cedar forest, snowy mountains, a town that resembled Switzerland, and the expected desert landscape.

We arrived in the dark at our kasbah-style hotel. The next morning, we went for a walk in the desert. (This is the northern part of the Sahara.)



You can't tell from the photos, but it was incredibly windy. Sand was flying into our faces and we had to lean against the wind while walking.



I had to hold my hands near my face to keep the sand away from my eyes, nose and mouth.



When we emerged from the dunes after our walk, we were greeted by this guy, who was selling fossils, jewelry, and knick-knacks. He hit us up at the beginning of the walk, but we told him "maybe later," and he actually waited for us. For around two hours.



The hotel next to ours had camels. Here's the obligatory camel shot.

Morocco part one: Fes

Long time no blogging. Been doing lots of stuff, and hopefully we can catch you up here eventually.



In March we went to Morocco for 10 days. Our first stop was the imperial city of Fes.



The old part of the city, the medina, is enclosed within walls and contains lots of tiny alleyways that take circuitous routes, sometimes to dead ends. Lots of people do their daily shopping there.



This is one of the doorways to the medina. It's called a bab.



Women knead their bread dough at home, let it rise, and then bring it to the communal bread oven to have it baked. Here are some loaves that have been baked and are ready for pickup.



The bees seem to be enjoying these sweets.



There is a Jewish section or mellah in Fes. Although most of the Jewish community has emigrated, 56 Jewish families still live here.



The synagogue is still in use.



This man is bicycling through the Jewish cemetery.



Here you can see a contrast of architectural styles, with modern high rises in the background behind the Moroccan archways.



In the medina, there is a leather tannery. It smells ghastly, but they give you a sprig of mint to hold up to your nose. That helps.



Each of these vats is filled with a dye, supposedly all natural, in which to soak the leather for a week or more.



The skins are hung up to dry before being dyed.



Wool is spread out on a rooftop. In the background you can see some dyed skins hanging up to dry.



Back at our small hotel, here is the view from the rooftop terrace in late afternoon.



Our hotel was in the traditional style, with rooms opening onto a central courtyard featuring a fountain, elaborate plasterwork, mosaic tile and wood carvings. This type of hotel is called a riad.



This turtle was in the courtyard and didn't seem to mind having his picture taken.

Return to Siena

We went to Siena during September of 2009 but didn't blog about it. We went back in December 2010 during S's visit. It was a bit chilly and rainy, but we had fun anyway. The city was festively lit up for the holidays. Here's the main square, Piazza del Campo:



That structure is the municipal building, or Palazzo Communale in Italian. Here's what the same place looked like in Sept. 2009:



The other side of Piazza del Campo:



This well-lit tree is in front of Palazzo Salimbeni, headquarters of the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The statue is of Sallustio Bandini, champion of economic freedom.



Siena is known for its horse race or palio, held twice each summer in the Piazza del Campo. The city's neighborhoods, called contrade, compete against each other in the race. Each contrada has its own symbol, flag and colors.

Back in September, the palio was long over, but the flags were still flying.



S identified with the Contrada della Selva, whose symbol is a rhinoceros, a creature which once charged her. (She escaped.)



A symbol of one of the other contrade is the turtle.



Siena is also famous for its cathedral, one of the largest in Italy. It was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the September sunlight:



A December detail of the creatures emerging from the facade:



S examines the marble floor design outside the cathedral.



Siena is an interesting and pleasant town for walking. There are lots of pretty little streets and alleys.



Lots of shops have appealing displays.



I'm not so sure about this ham display. It doesn't look so nice with the skin on.



We saw some posters about "the great and magnanimous." Featured luminaries include Roman emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold the Second, and Nelson Mandela.