This Moroccan City Is Testament to Older Days

Direction signs here once said “Ouarzazate-Timbuctu 58 Days,” but that was when transportation was by camel and this village south of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains was a caravan crossroad for trans-Saharan merchants moving across the North African desert.

Driving southeast from Marrakech through the High Atlas’ 7,400-foot Tizi N’Tichka Pass takes you into a biblical landscape, where the dress, architecture and many ways of life go back to the Old Testament. The bright lights of Casablanca and Marrakech seem far behind.

This region of southern Morocco is called the Gateway to the Sahara, as well as the Land of 1,000 Casbahs (fortified castles). At least that many ksour (fortified villages) also dot the arid landscape. Both were built to protect villagers and their stock from marauding desert tribes in days gone by.

The Atlas Mountains and land to the south were and still are regions dominated by Berber tribes, people descended from Asians who arrived here 10 centuries before Christ. Arabs moved west with the Muslim religion in the 7th Century, shortly before they invaded Spain.

While Ouarzazate (Wah-za-zat) was a French military garrison during the time of their protectorate (1912-1956), the Berber influence on the town and region is still strong: Women wear facial tattoos to identify their tribes and villages, purdah veils cover many feminine faces and the bold colors and geometric designs of Ouzguita Berber carpets are unlike any others in the Muslim world.

Ouarzazate means “without noise” in Berber language. The silent land around it also is so beautiful that the movie version of Paul Bowles’ Moroccan novel, “The Sheltering Sky,” is being shot here.

Getting here: Fly KLM, Air France, Lufthansa or Iberia to Casablanca, Royal Air Maroc on to Ouarzazate. Advance-purchase, round-trip economy flights from Los Angeles to Casablanca cost $999 to $1,106. The Casablanca-Ouarzazate leg is $41.

How long/how much? Give the town two days. Visit the spectacular gorge of the Dades Valley and Todra Gorge near Tinerhir, both within driving distance of Ouarzazate. We found lodging and dining moderate.

A few fast facts: Morocco’s dirham recently traded at 7.32 to the dollar. Any time of year is good to visit, but winter brings plenty of snow to the High Atlas, and water runoff can flood roads at lower levels. You’ll also need to cover up on cool desert evenings, something heavier for the mountains. No visas are required.

Getting settled in: Hotel Belere ($57 double) is a year old. Built in Moroccan style around a large pool and terrace, it also has a dining room with a magnificent carved ceiling, brilliant carpets and deep couches for relaxed dining. Bedrooms are generous, and all have balconies with desert or mountain views.

Hotel Le Zat ($45 double) is a motel-like place on the outskirts of town, and captures the desert feeling in architecture and decor. Pool and gardens overlook a lake, and bedrooms are simple, attractive and small. A bright dining room is decorated with gigantic brass trays on walls. Vases and bowls of roses everywhere.

Karam Palace ($82 double) is a spread-out affair, with bedrooms in separate Moroccan-style buildings away from the reception desk, the dining room and the bar. It has a strong feeling of an oasis village, with palm trees, cactus, flowers and green lawns within the compound. The staff is friendly and attentive. Karam Palace also has a sports complex across the street, with clay tennis courts and horses for desert riding.

Regional food and drink: The tajine is Morocco’s national dish. The cooking vessel is of ceramic or earthenware. Lamb, mutton, beef, chicken or fish is slow-cooked over charcoal in a tajine, usually with a melange of vegetables and a bouquet of herbs. The results are superb.

Add semolina steamed over vegetables to a tajine and you have couscous, a staple here and in most Moroccan restaurants around the world. The rich and thick hirara soup of chick peas and other vegetables leads off the meal.

Morocco’s wines go well with the food. Try the white Chambellon from the Casablanca area or the red Cabernets.

Good dining: Chez Dimitri (22 Avenue Mohammed V) has been turning out the town’s best food since 1928. Dine in a simple, bistro-like room or outdoors beneath the arcades. A three-course menu for $7.50 offers soup, salad or hors d’oeuvres for starters. Then a tajine or braised rabbit, followed by dessert or fruit, coffee or mint tea, the national drink. And because Dimitri’s home country is Greece, he serves moussaka.

La Kasbah de Tifoultoute (three miles out on Marrakech Road) is a fortress on a hill that looks as if it just popped out of the Arabian Nights. The older part is four centuries old and is run by a Moroccan and his French wife. The site was used in the filming of “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Abdou and Dominique serve lunch and dinner, with lemon chicken, a lamb tajine with prunes or couscous costing about $10, and including a first course of salads, plus desserts. On some evenings, Berber dances and music are presented in the central courtyard.

Karam Palace’s dining room serves lunch and dinner. Evening menus are split between continental and Moroccan dishes. Dine in the main room, or outdoors beneath flowery arbors.

On your own: While the souks (markets) of Ouarzazate are smaller and offer fewer wares than those of Marrakech and Fez, they have a couple of things going for them. They are the low-key sales tactics of tradesmen and the distinctive carpets of bold geometric design made by Ouzguita Berbers.

If the carpets look appealing, we recommend making a purchase at the Carpet Cooperative by the town’s tourist office, where prices are fixed and there is no bargaining.

Although a drive to Ouarzazate through the High Atlas Mountains is spectacular, another of equal beauty awaits on a day-trip to Tinerhir, about two hours by car. The landscape is one of remote casbahs, almond trees, palmeraies (palm groves) and small villages with their roadside souks, all with snowcapped mountains as a back-drop.

Along that road, near the town of Boulmane, take a side trip leading into Dades Valley Gorge, a torturous road above a riverbed that has its share of casbahs and almond and olive groves. Another road about eight miles from Tinerhir leads to one of Morocco’s best scenic attractions, Todra Gorge, which rises 985 feet.

For more information: Call the Moroccan National Tourist Office at (213) 271-8945, or write to 421 N. Rodeo Drive, 2nd Floor, Beverly Hills 90210, for its “Road to the Kasbahs” brochure, which describes and maps many of the towns and sights of southern Morocco. A map of the country highlights major towns, festivals, transportation and scenic spots.