Day 124 of our European Tour

It was slowly getting too hot for us in Marrakech. It was just March and the temperatures were rising and rising inexorably towards the 40 degree mark. It was time to escape and head for the mountains. We headed east on the well-maintained N9. The snow-covered peaks of the High Atlas gradually shimmered out of the haze of the plain and steadily, metre by metre, our Dexter began the arduous climb. From the plain of Marrakech, with about 700 metres of altitude, we now had to climb up to the Tizi n'Tichka Pass at 2260 metres. The N9 is quite well developed, but construction work was still going on during our trip. So we had to negotiate kilometres of dusty gravel roads at walking pace. All very tedious and contrary to our assumption that our Dexter was the slowest truck ever, he was even allowed to start an overtaking manoeuvre at 20 km/h once or twice. The Moroccan trucks were slow, very slow and mostly heavily loaded.

With every metre of altitude, the sky became bluer and the air fresher and more pleasant. The closer we got to the pass, the more street vendors offered their wares right at the roadside. Minerals an. However, one should not let oneself be taken to the cleaners. The specimens shown may be genuine in substance, but for the colourings in deep purple, bright red, or purest white, they are often sold with Chemicals and therefore look extremely unnatural. We were told that the chemicals used to dye carpets are often used for the colouring. So we had no desire for artificial stones and thankfully waved them off.

After a long agony uphill, we finally crossed the Tizi n'Tichka, one of the highest and most famous passes in Morocco. Now the landscape changed again. While the west side of the High Atlas was almost spring-like and green, on the other side, towards the east of the country, a fascinating Stone desert in the most diverse shades from sand-coloured to dark red to black. We could hardly get enough of it and had the feeling of being on another planet. In the afternoon we reached Telouet with its Kasbah, our stopover for the day.

The Kasbah of Telouet lies at an altitude of around 1800 metres on the former route of the caravans from the Sahara across the Atlas Mountains to Marrakech. Kasbahs are Moroccan fortresses and the one at Telouet was the seat of power of the Glaoui clans in which Thami El Glaoui, the head of the Glaoua-Berber, resided. The Berber tribe of Glaoua was one of the most influential clans in southern Morocco. El Glaoui himself was Pasha of Marrakech from 1918 to 1955. A pasha had been the title of the highest civilian officials and military officers since the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. He supported France's then protectorate over Morocco with his pro-French policy from the small town of Telouet. In return, the French gave him almost independent rule over large parts of southern and south-eastern Morocco. Thus he eventually ruled about 1/8 of Morocco. During this time, he had several kasbahs built or expanded, including that of Telouet, whose construction, however, began before his time around 1860.

Picture gallery Kasbah of Telouet

The passage of the Trade caravansThe road network connecting the desert with the large cities on the other side of the Atlas, and the proximity to the salt mines, helped the pashas and the Kasbah of Telout to achieve their outstanding importance at the time. The kasbah was expanded over the decades. At the height of the clan's power in the 1950s, up to 1000 people lived in the kasbah. Of the total of three complexes of the Kasbah, the one that is still best preserved is open for visits today. The walls are clad with beautiful blue and white tiles, the so-called ZellijesMoorish style and carved stucco. The ceilings of carved Cedar wood have colourful motifs and they have been adapted to the local Amazigh style the Berber also added elements of the classical Andalusian-Moroccan style.

Against the background of the interesting history of this Kasbah, we took a short tour and had a guide show us around the Kasbah. The tour did not take long, just half an hour, but it offered a nice insight with lots of background information. The entrance fee was 20 dirhams, which goes towards the maintenance of the Kasbah. The nice guide was of course happy to receive a tip for his work.

Advanced carpet buying

So we had finished our sightseeing and were about to move on, but we were still offered to visit the small shop of the local Cooperative recommended. Actually, we were already too tired and wanted to do the remaining kilometres of the day, but then we couldn't say no and stopped by. The area is famous for its beautiful, hand-woven Carpets with Berber patternsThey are made either from sheep's wool or especially from the fibres of cacti. We looked around and found one carpet more beautiful than the other. Cautiously we asked for the price and were suddenly astonished when we were told a price of 300 Dirham for a large carpet. We were puzzled and asked the price a few more times to make sure there was no misunderstanding. Again the seller, his name was Lahcen, told us the price of 300 Dirham (27€). We looked around and were also offered a second carpet at a similarly good price of 500 Dirham (45€). Mind you, we knew that these were hand-woven carpets and continued to be amazed at the price, but as I said, we asked several times. Our carpets were carefully packed and we were served the obligatory sugar shock in the form of Moroccan mint tea. It was very familiar. Lahcen's mother, at the proud age of 100, stopped by briefly and his son was also present in the meantime. As it had become quite late, we were offered to spend the night in our camper in front of the shop and were invited to dinner with the whole family. We were very happy about the offer, didn't think twice and agreed.

Now we wanted to pay and handed Lahcen the sum of 700 dirhams as a matter of course. There was a brief moment of stupefaction and we looked at each other a little incredulously and confused. Was there a big misunderstanding here? Yes, that was indeed the case. We were able to talk to Lahcen more or less in French the whole time, but it quickly became clear that he had probably always quoted us euro prices instead of the dirham prices, which had always been the norm for us. So the previously relaxed atmosphere collapsed and everyone involved was deeply saddened. We ourselves, as well as Lahcen and his son. We all tried to find a way out of this unfortunate situation. Lahcen offered us a discount on the carpets, but despite everything we could not buy the carpets for that price. Finally, we decided to buy only one carpet, which was a whole size smaller, and in the end everyone was somehow happy.

Breaking the fast with Lahcen and his family

The invitation to dinner remained, of course. But now our dogs urgently needed to go for their evening walk. We asked where we could go for a short walk. Lahcen signalled that it was no problem. He would just come along and show us the way. We assumed he would just walk with us around the corner and then point us in the right direction. We got our dogs ready and then he was standing there with his two primary school-aged grandchildren. They each grabbed a dog and off we went. But not just around the next corner. They took all the time in the world and we naturally all went for a long walk together out of the village. This showed us again the ambivalent relationship of the Moroccans to Dogs in general. In larger cities, one occasionally sees young Moroccan women or Moroccans taking dogs for a walk on a leash, but this remains rather the exception. Dogs in general are considered unclean in Islam, but are often tolerated and live their lives on the fringes of society. Many have respect, or even fear, and it is not uncommon for stones to be thrown at them. But in our experience so far, many street dogs are also fed by the locals. So we were surprised that Lahcen took the time to go for a walk with us and the dogs.

The Dinner with Lahcen and his entire family to break the fast every evening during Ramadan was a very special and beautiful experience. There was a lot of food, luckily all of it vegetarian. We learned for the first time the Culture of the Moroccans, especially the Berbers. Eventually, Lahcen's daughter even made the effort and Marion got a Henna tattoo from her. The next morning we were invited again for a small breakfast of tea, bread, olives and the most delicious olive oil. We wanted to hear on the spot about the Olive oil buy and run a few errands, but instead of laboriously explaining to us where Lahcen buys his oil, he unceremoniously drove with us to the village and showed us everything. We were simply overwhelmed by the friendliness and helpfulness of the Berbers. Now we finally continued on our journey towards Aït-Ben-Haddou. More about this in our next article.

Our driving route in this article

With pictures and locations (zoom in and click points, red dot = pictures, green dot = overnight stays).