A driver picked us up at 8 this morning, from our Riad in Marrakech, and drove four hours east, through the High Atlas Mountains, to Ait Benhaddou. Ait Benhaddou is an historic fortified village along the caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. It is considered a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The site of the village has been fortified since the 11th century. Most of the current structures date to the 17th century. They sustained some damage from the earthquake of September 2023. We ate lunch in the ancient village and explored a couple of hours.
The drive through the Atlas Mountains reminded us of northern Arizona with painted desert hills, big dry rocky mountains, and vegetation much the same, with pine trees, juniper, live oak, and palo verde trees. The mountains were punctuated by small mud constructed villages. It was really interesting for us.
