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We enjoyed an excellent breakfast in the garden of our hotel, the Palais Oumensour, then headed off into Taroudant to visit the huge city walls which are its main feature. They’re impressive, but we didn’t feel the need to walk the full 7km circuit, especially as Sara felt unexpectedly sick. So we retraced our steps back to the hotel, where Sara took to her bed for the rest of the day while David enjoyed the sun on a lounger by the pool. He made friends with a tortoise who came to visit him.
Next morning we drove to Tafraoute, a small town in the Anti Atlas. The drive took about 3 ½ hours and was stunning. Once we left the plain and climbed into the mountains there was virtually no traffic and very few settlements. Sometimes there would be crude tents pitched in the middle of this barrenness, presumably itinerants looking after their scrawny sheep and goat herds nearby. The road ascended up and swept down through sweeps of highly stratified rock often topped with short red sandstone cliffs, some with natural long deep vertical slashes as if they had been cleaved by natural forces. Sometimes there had been rockslides
of house size boulders. We saw several circular fortified granaries, built in times past to keep the grain, and their treasure, safe for the local community. They all sat atop small outcrops, and were shared by several villages, with each family having its own storage area. We tried to visit one, but it was closed. And always the wind was whipping around the mountains, it is cold up here.
Tafraoute sits in a valley surrounded by pink granite outcrops, which have weathered into boulders piled on top each other, some in spectacular formations. It’s very popular for rock climbing and canyoning, which didn’t seem like our kind of thing! A little distance beyond the town, we turned up a dirt track to visit the painted rocks. For some unknown reason, in 1984 a Belgian artist called Jean Verame decided to paint a set of rocks, mostly in blue and pink. The paint has faded rather, but they make a very surreal sight. But why did he bother?
Scroll down for more photos
Scroll down for more photos
Our hotel says it is the best in town, which it probably is, and its website says it strives
to provide a quality accommodation and catering service. It reminds us of a Chinese 3 star hotel – perfectly acceptable but not somewhere you’d want to stay for long. The corridors are unlit which makes opening the door a challenge, but we have a sitting room as well as a bedroom so it is pleasingly spacious. We had a short walk round town, but there is little to detain us as we don’t want to buy the local leather slippers, silver jewellery or Argan oil. The locals' efforts to lure us inside their shops are very desultory. The scenic local buildings featured in the guidebook seem in short supply, but it’s a pleasant enough little town for a one night stay.
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Farflung
Jason Briggs
Inspiring
Some very inspiring photos!