Ait Ben Haddou sat at the top of my list for a trip to Morocco. This nearly 1,000-year-old village is iconic in its North African style. It evokes a sense of time and place like few other places can. As a backdrop to major Hollywood productions including Gladiator, Jewel of the Nile, The Mummy, and scenes in Game of Thrones, Ait Ben Haddou is recognizable the world over, even if people don’t know what or where it is.
Road of a Thousand Kasbahs
Our journey to Ait Ben Haddou took us over the Atlas Mountains on part of the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. What is a kasbah, you might ask? In Morocco, a kasbah is a large building of importance in a walled city or compound. In the communities along this route, the kasbahs were the homes or outposts of the wealthy traders. They usually built them in small valleys that could then be cultivated to provide supplies and protection to caravans that followed the road. In American history vernacular, these kasbahs were like the forts of the Old West.
However, a big difference would have to be the look. These kasbahs were built beautifully and imposingly. Made of rammed earth, clay bricks, and timber, the kasbahs typically have one or more towers, which were used as watchtowers. These towers are also decorated with lovely geometric patterns made with mud bricks or cut out of the earthen walls. As buildings of defense, if needed, and following traditional Islamic architecture, the buildings contain few windows, especially toward the bottom. Most of the light comes in through skylights or high windows.
Our drive through the Atlas Mountains allowed us to stop and see many beautiful valleys with kasbahs. Some were well maintained or reconstructed. Others crumbled to the ground. Their walls returning from whence they came.
Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou
Ait Ben Haddou is a ksar or walled village. Lying at the feet of the Atlas Mountains, caravans traveling from across the Sahara came to this impressive village just before attempting to cross the mountains. Its location on a lovely river and surrounded by flat plains made it an ideal place for the travelers to stop and refuel or wait for the mountain pass to clear.
The village itself is built on a mound rising by the river. Nearly the whole village faces east away from the mountains. The buildings climb the hill with little pathways, stairs, and ramps winding through them and zig-zagging up the hill. Another wall at the top of the hill fortified the summit where today only one building remains, a granary. Evidence of watch towers and other structures remains within these upper walls. From the summit, grand views sweep across the horizon in all directions.
Down, closer to the river, ornate kasbahs and other important structures like caravansaries and a mosque can be found. Few people live full-time in the ksar today. Most locals live across the river in more modern buildings, but they rely on tourism and agriculture for survival.
Caution
A word of caution, don’t believe everything your guide tells you. Ironic, right? Our guide on this excursion was young and had less experience with the route. He was not able to answer some questions we asked, or he made things up. Some of the things he said just didn’t make sense. For example, we passed a vendor on our way into the village that had a selection of beautiful antique doors or shutters. Many had very obvious Jewish imagery on them, so I asked about Ait Ben Haddou’s Jewish history. Our guide said there wasn’t any and wasn’t really interested in trying to learn more. He wasn’t doing this in a discriminatory way, but in an apathetic way.
My own simple research points out that there was a Jewish community there at some point because the UNESCO World Heritage designation notes two cemeteries, one Muslim and one Jewish. I enjoy guides and find them to be invaluable at times to the experience of a place. However, when a company uses them as merely people herders or babysitters and does not expect or prepare the guides with proper information and skills, it bugs me. Anyway, off my high horse.
The Kasbah
We got to go into one of the kasbahs at Ait Ben Haddou. To me, this was completely worth the extra time and very small expense. It offered a glimpse into life in one of these grand structures. Even though most of this kasbah was set up as a museum, parts of it were in use. They had clearly been cooking in the traditional ovens earlier that day. I also loved experiencing the building lit as it had been for centuries by candle or ethereal light coming from high windows. One room, we were told, was like a smoking room or lounge with places for men to gather and talk when they drank and smoked. In the center was a place for dancers and musicians to entertain.
Now, this building is not 900 years old. Being made of rammed earth and clay bricks, the buildings have been rebuilt and repaired many times over the centuries. Historians believe that the most recent builds come from 17th century or later.
If time had been with us, we would have planned another day on this side of the mountains to visit the sand dunes of the Sahara or the movie sets in the nearby city of Ouarzazate. However, a camel ride to camp in the desert appealed to neither of us. We’ve both been there and done that, so the Sahara will have to wait. Instead, we got one more full day to explore Marrakesh, something that was well worth it.
