Visit Date: May 2, 2015
Enjoy the synonyms of Morocco.
View of ‘Ait Ben Haddou’ from the hotel terrace
この日はアイト・ベン・ハッドゥ付近にある[highlight]「カスバ」[/highlight]と呼ばれるモロッコ特有の街並みを巡る日となりました。クルマでの移動はあまりないので、昨日の疲れを癒やすのにもちょうどよいです。
Well, it’s very hot, so be careful of the sun. Hydrate and take lots of breaks.
By the way, Ouarzazate is the biggest city in this area, about 10km away from Ait Ben Haddad.
First of all, we had breakfast at the hotel. Before that, I took a picture of the whole view of Ait Ben Haddou just after dawn from the terrace of the hotel.
Yes, we are staying so close to it. Yesterday it was so dark that we couldn’t see Ait Ben Haddou at all. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be so close. I’m impressed. By the way, the terrace where we have breakfast is like this.
そして朝食はこちら。オレンジジュースはきちんと絞って用意してくれます。そしてヨーグルトも自家製のようです。そういえばマラケシュでもヨーグルトは自家製でしたね。このヨーグルトがとても美味しい！
The most famous kasbah « Ait Ben Haddu »
After breakfast, we got ready and headed straight into « Ait Ben Haddu ». It is on the other side of the river, so of course you need to cross the river.
川の渡り方は2通り。まずは「直接渡るルート」。といってもところどころに土嚢がありますので、この上を歩くだけでOK。運動靴は必須とは思いますが、土嚢はしっかりとしていますので安心。ただたまに土嚢の間隔が長いところもあるので子供だとちょっと大変かもしれませんね。
続いては「橋を渡るルート」。これが一番楽で確実ですね。しかしこの橋ができたのは21世紀になってからなので比較的新しいようです。
We chose to take the route across the bridge on the way there and the direct route on the way back. It takes about 5 minutes from the hotel to the bridge on foot. The road is not paved. But the road from the national highway to Ait Ben Haddou was also not paved enough. It will be introduced later.
According to what I heard (information from Globe-Trotter), the Arabs invaded around the 7th century, and the Berbers, who were indigenous people at that time, escaped from the area to the south over the Atlas Mountains. And for the purpose of defense, they built a fortress city « Kasbah », which consisted of buildings made of hardened brown earth.
Later, the city seems to have prospered as a transit point for trade (taisho trading).
By the way, Ait Ben Haddou has been used as a location for many movies. Is it the influence that this scenery is familiar somehow?
Now, it is time to cross the bridge and enter the interior.
Ait Ben Haddou is one of Morocco’s most popular tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.
Go through the alleyway where many souvenir shops are lined up, and go up for now.
It was about 10 o’clock, but it was already over 30 degrees Celsius, so it was very hot. We aimed at the top with sweat.
And after 15 minutes of slow walking, we finally reached the top.
I don’t have to tell you, the view from here was fantastic.
This is a view of the new town where the hotel is located.
This is a view of the north side of Ait Ben Haddou. You can see another Kasbah in the distance.
It was too hot so we took a break at this top. Then we moved down again to the new city river. This time we took the sandbag route.
This time I took a picture of Ait Ben Haddou from the other side of the river. The carpet in the foreground seemed to be a product of a nearby souvenir shop.
The souvenir shops are also very rustic.
モロッコ旅行のハイライトの一つを、たっぷりと満喫できました。（続く）
