12 December, Tinerhir to Ouarzazate, 167 klm, 2.30 h

 

After a good night sleep we wake up and the sun is there. This is the morning view from our hotel and the restaurant where we had a really nice breakfast.

We are ready to hit the road again. Direction Ouarzazat, the city of the stars. Here there are 2 big film studios where films like Asterix have been created.

We are actually tired with all the kilometers we have done and we found a nice quiet hotel in the exit of Ouarzazat. I would like to sit and do nothing when we arrive.

The road.

Desert dry lanscapes, blue sky and temperature around 12-15 degrees. 

The moon is almost full and the mountains of Atlas have snow on their tops. 

Here are some photos from the road. 

L'escale de Ouarzazate is a hotel and a camping site. 

We are greeted by a nice lady with a baby in her arms as well as a smiling border colie. 

She tells us what we already know. Ouarzazate -  the Door of the Desert - is a modern city, known for it's film locations and big film studios. If you are a nature lover like us, we'd better see two things. The Fint Oasis, 10 minutes from the hotel and the city (Ksar) of Ait Ben Haddou. 

There is a charm when you don't really know what you are going to see next, let the flow take you where you need to be. 

We where really ignorant of all these places and we improvise. 

Today we can see the Oasis and tomorrow, on the way to Marrakesh, we can pass from Ait Ben Haddou.

Maps.me, the application, sends us somewhere, but not the oasis. 

By now I am comfortable getting lost, I don't need internet.

We ask for directions and we finally find the way. 

At the end of a desert ride - here the desert is black, black earth and black rocks, Here it is. The Oasis of Fint. Fint means hidden in the berber language. 

There are people on the toop of the hill and a man asks us to take him home in the Oasis. 

Throught our trip we did not take any hitchikers, we were too scared and we don't speak the language. This time we made an exeption. He speaks a little french and tels us he is a farmer, works for the collection of dates. Most of the palm trees in Morocco are date producing palm trees. He also works picking up olives. and any recolt he can find.

We are persuaded that his job is to take ignorant tourists from the top of the hill to the oasis and he is either going to ask for money or make us take him up again so he can pick up some other ignorant tourists.

Anyway, we follow him and he takes us in the Oasis. 

He wants to take us at his home but we politely decline and he leaves to our big surprise. The first time someone does not ask for something. The guy just wanted to get home! 

The Fint Oasis is really beautiful, palm trees surrounded by big rocks and water running in the middle.

We did not regret at all taking the time to come here. I made a small video in the oasis.

The rest of the day is spent doing what I wanted to do. Nothing. We sat at the campings' garden and read our books. The sunset was wonderful so I took some pictures in this nice quiet place. 

L'escale de Ouarzazate is owned by a French guy called Pascal and his wife who we saw when we arrived. She is a berber lady and you can see the kindness in her eyes. There are no other people in the resaturant, so we spend the night with Pascal. We have beer and wine after some days without alcohol. We have nice authentic Moroccan food and we share stories of this crazy country that is Morocco. It is a nice quiet night and tomorrow is our last big part on the road. We are heading off to Marrakesh, where we will leave the car and spend 2 days.