Date Market on the way to the Todra Gorge!
Today we leave the desert and head towards the Todra Gorge. After only a few minutes of driving from our desert hotel, we stumble upon a roadside market where they almost exclusively sell dates! Siad decides to stop and we end up walking through to check it out. Along the side of the road are numerous vendors with boxes and boxes of dates on display. It’s kind of wild how many different kinds of dates are available and how busy it is given its only one product!
Cafe Sud-Est
After an hour or two of driving we stop at a very small town halfway to the Todra Gorge called Mellab for lunch. The restaurant is Cafe Sud-Est. If I am planning this trip, there’s no way I ever find this place in my research! Nonetheless, we are led to a lovely backyard seating area. It’s a set menu because shortly after we sit down the food starts to arrive. While we are growing comfortable with tagine and bread, we are also treated to new things too. Firstly there are turkey kebabs which is new and very good! Then they serve something they call a “berber pizza” or locally known as Khobza medfouna. It’s not really a pizza but almost more like a meat filled pot pie. It’s all very tasty and well worth the visit!
Todra Gorge
After lunch we make our way to the Todra Gorge we get there in the afternoon and spend a little time exploring it. Upon getting out of our van, it immediately feels a few degrees cooler due to the river and the shade from the walls of the Gorge. We spend some time walking through the gorge and it really feels like a popular spot for locals and tourists alike to hang out and get out of the heat. There are people hanging out along the water and even some rock climbing up the cliffs! There is a calm to walking through it and I can see why its something to check out!
Tinghir Oasis
From the Gorge it’s a short drive to our hotel where we check in and spend a little time getting settled. Afterwards, we reconvene so that Said can take us on an afternoon stroll through the Tinghir Oasis. From the outside you can see that its this patch of lush greenery in the middle of an otherwise barren landscape.
However once inside, it’s like being in another world. The dry heat of Morocco is replaced with a cool fresh climate. It literally feels ten degrees cooler as we walk through. It’s actually quite amazing the amount of thought that goes into how the locals make use of the oasis. The entire area is split into small parcels of land used for different purposes. There is an intricate irrigation system that takes water to all the different parcels! We walk along the water ways and stop in different places to check out all the things growing in the area. It is so well designed and so very lush. It truly is an oasis in the middle of desert and incredibly impressive!
Dinner at the Hotel
After our walk we make our way back to our hotel. While we did order beforehand they are still preparing it by the time we return. So we make our way to the roof of our hotel for a unique view of the gorge from within town. Eventually dinner is ready. My order includes Moroccan soup and chicken skewers. Oddly enough I think this is my first time with rice on this trip and I can’t say I’m too disappointed. Both the soup and the skewers are very tasty and makes for a great dinner! Afterwards a few of our group break out a pack of cards and end up playing some “Go Fish” for an hour or two. I think throughout our trip so far there hasn’t been many opportunities for down time. Being able to play some games and get to your tour mates is just what the doctor ordered! Eventually we all turn in ready for another day exploring Morocco!
Roadside Market
In the morning we pick up a little breakfast at the hotel and then head back out on the road. We aren’t driving long until we see a market and decide to stop off and have a walk through. This is much larger than the date market from yesterday. Not only does it have dates but it also sells everything else, spices, meat, fruit, clothing and even shoes. It’s incredibly busy and you can tell its mainly for locals as our entire group sticks out like a sore thumb. However, it’s still such a unique experience to wander through the different shops and see what’s on offer. Said even bought us some pomegranate to try from a local vendor!
La Terrasse Cafe
Our next stop is lunch at La Terrasse Cafe. While most of our stops for food have felt more local and authentic. This place feels hipper and more modern. It’s in a larger city and the food presentation is a bit more upscale. While I’d like to say I enjoyed my meal, I did find my tagine a little underwhelming. There was also a little mix up with how they charged a few of our tour mates so overall I may suggest you find somewhere else to visit if you ever find yourself in the area.
Ait Ben Haddou
The main intention for our travel today is to reach Ait Ben Haddou. It’s an old fortified village that shows off historical Moroccan architecture. To be honest its also a place that is high on both of Gimpy and I’s lists. However, due to an earthquake a week before our visit there is some damage to the structures. Due to this we are told that while we will not be visiting inside the village for safety reasons. So before driving closer to it we do stop off at a viewpoint to get a sense of how large the village is.
Siad explains that in the evening we’ll try to walk up closer to the village so we can get some closer in shorts of it. But for now we head to our hotel to check in.
Tagine Cooking Class
One of the things that we opted in for at the hotel is a tagine cooking class. So for the next hour or two we are guided through a step on how to prepare a traditional tagine. Conceptually it’s not that difficult to make one. However, preparing the ingredients and getting all the right spices is probably where most of the hard work stems from and we didn’t need to do that for this class! We all put together our tagines and then set them on the burners to slowly stew. Later on in the evening, on our hotel’s rooftop dinning area. We each revealed our tagines and I’m happy to report mine turned out pretty good! I have no complaints!
Ait Ben Haddou (Part 2)
After putting our tagines together and wait for them to cook, we head out in the early evening towards Ait Ben Haddou. While we won’t be entering the village, we do get to see it fairly up close. I’m also happy to say that in the early evening light, the village looks especially charming. It is a bit of a regret that we aren’t going to be able to enter it, so perhaps it a reason to return sometime in the future!
As the sun sets, we return to our hotel and have the tagines we made earlier. There was talk of playing cards again, however I started feeling a little under the weather and so I opted to return to my room to get some sleep and hope to get some rest. Tomorrow we will be entering Marrakech and also it will be the last day Gimpy and I will be with our tour group.
Todra Gorge is amazing!