Date of visit: May 3, 2015
We’re going to the wide-open fields of Morocco!
Kasbah Road Drive
2日お世話になったアイトベンハッドゥを出発、この日はカスバ街道をドライブ。まず南に20キロほど南下しワルザザードの街へ。そこから進路を西へ向かいます。目指すはサハラ砂漠の入り口「メルズーガ」ですが、ここからはかなり遠いので、その間にある街「ティンジル（Tinghir）」の郊外で1泊する予定です。宿は前日にBooking.comで手配しておきました。
ワルザザート（ポイントW）からは東に長く伸びるN10号線に合流してひたすら東を目指します。本日の最初の目的地は「ダデス渓谷」。はじめに起点となる「ブメーヌ・ダデス（Boumaine Dades）」（ポイントB）を目指し、その街から北上、ここから渓谷が始まります。そして、この日の宿泊地地として選んだ「ティンジル（Tinghir）」（ポイントT）は、N10号線をさらに東に向かった先にあります。ここはもう一つの有名な渓谷「トドラ渓谷」の入り口。ここは翌日観光する予定、その後、砂漠の町メルズーガに向かいます。
The N10 through the vast wilderness
The scenery on the way to Ouarzazate was also wilderness-like, but after passing Ouarzazate and entering the N10, the wilderness was even more vast.
このあたりは結構標高はあるものの道自体は平坦でまっすぐ、道路の質もしっかりしているのでとても走りやすかったです。そのせいもあり、[highlight]制限速度は結構早めの100km/h or 120km/h[/highlight]でした。
I wanted to stop my car to take pictures of the scenery from this road, but I had a hard time finding a shoulder with adequate space. It was very difficult to find a shoulder with adequate space, because cars were passing at a very high speed in each lane and there was more traffic than I expected.
Although the road is flat, there are still ups and downs in places, so you have to choose a place with pretty good visibility. Still, we managed to find a good spot.
Change your Maps app to Apple
ところで、本日よりメインナビを[highlight]Appleマップ[/highlight]に変更しました。
Google Map、確かに見やすいのですが、ここモロッコではなぜか音声ガイドしてくれなかったんです。一方、Appleは地図こそしょぼいのですが、音声ガイド付きでかつAppleWatchと連携するので、今回の旅行ではこちらをメインに使うことにしました。
Sometimes Google Maps doesn’t have voice support in some areas, even Apple does, so I hope they do something about it.
The city along the Kasbah Road
このあたりは「カスバ」という呼ばれるモロッコ特有の建築様式の街が点在しています。広大な荒野を走り続けていると、時折、川に沿ったオアシス的な街があり、このカスバを見ることができます。
それが故にこのN10号線は別名「カスバ街道」と呼ばれています。
You can also find many carpet shops along the street, which are a staple in this area.
To the Dades Valley
We then arrived at our starting point, Boumene Dades, about two hours after leaving Ait Ben Haddou. From here, we leave the Kasbah Road N10 and head north to the Dades Valley. How is the pavement condition of the road?
This area still looks okay. The road is not so steep yet.
But gradually the road gets steeper and steeper. And the powerful scenery spreads out in front of you.
We went inside for about an hour, and just around here, we found a building on some kind of amazing cliff for lunch, so we decided to take a little lunch break here.
The twisty road leading to this hotel is amazing! I love these curves, though.
Arriving at the top of the cliff, we found a parking lot, so we parked there and headed to the restaurant on the terrace of the cliff hotel.
After a classic Moroccan meal (that’s all there is to it) at a cliff-top café, we drove again further into the valley.
The scenery gets even steeper. It’s a spectacular view but the road conditions are gradually getting worse.
時には岩はむき出し、そして道は崩れかけ、そんなところを運転することに。十分クルマが通る幅はあるのですが、一歩間違えば谷底に落ちてしまうような道を進んでいきます。
However, about an hour north of the cliff café, we came to a place where there was no pavement at all, as if they were building a road from scratch.
Because it intersects with the road which runs in the Todorah valley when it goes up north for about 20 km more if it is possible, I wanted to go to there and aim at the hotel of today by going south, but I thought that it was reckless to proceed on the road without a road indeed and gave up.
About an hour and a half after we turned back, we were able to come back to Boumene Dades, the town at the entrance to the Dades Valley.
Go to Tinjil direction and arrive at the hotel.
We join the N10 road again. From here, if you drive east for about an hour, you will reach the town of Tinjil, which is the entrance to another canyon, Todra. Then, after passing through the town of Tinjil, turn north and after a while you will reach the entrance of the valley.
We drove the car for a few minutes while looking at the scenery, and arrived at the area where today’s hotel was located. However, I couldn’t find the hotel although there was a sign of the hotel.
However, when I parked my car on the shoulder of the road and wandered around, a person who seemed to be from the hotel approached me. He said it was OK if we parked the car on the shoulder of the road. The hotel was located in a valley down a steep slope from the road, and he carried our luggage there by donkey.
Now you are safely checked in.
Dinner at hotel, bedtime
Take a rest and have dinner at the hotel. Dinner is also available at this hotel. Or rather, there are no shops around at all (laugh).
Before dinner, I had a little chat with the manager of this hotel (a woman). Her English was very good, but she seemed to be an American and used to be a school teacher. She also showed me the hotel’s accommodation book, and it seemed that some Japanese people had stayed there in the past.
Well, we decided to have our meal in this riad-like space.
We could only choose Moroccan salad and tajine, as usual, with little variation, but both were very tasty.
The tajine in particular may have been the best of the trip.
After dinner, I took a quick shower and went to sleep immediately. It was a long drive and a steep canyon drive, so I must have been very tired.
いよいよ翌日はメルズーガ。初の砂漠。楽しみです。（続く）
