Kasbah de Taourirt - Ouarzazarte, Morocco

Ouarzazarte is home to Morocco's film industry. Aside from that, there didn't appear to be a lot to see or do in Ouarzazate. It was more like a convenient place to stop over on the way to Marrakesh from Erfoud. We did take some time, first thing in the morning, to visit the old Kasbah de Taourirt.

The old Kasbah is in fairly decent condition, although it is too small to house a medina or major market like many of the other towns we visited in Morocco. The site is a bit more modern than some of the old kasbah medinas we visited, like Fez. This one seems to have seen its heydey in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The kasbah is a structure composed of maze-like hallways and stairwells leading into plain rooms with ornate engravings or common areas where local artists display their wares. The main item for sale in this kasbah is art. I regret that I did not buy anything yet, opting to wait until we arrived in Marrakesh. The prices were great.

The best way to share the kasbah is in picture. So that is what I will do. I loved the art and took plenty of photos of it.

As you can see by the paintings, there was artwork as cheap as 200 dirham (about twenty US dollars) hanging on the walls. I was intrigued by the yellow painting of the lady. It was a very large painting being offered at 1000 dirham. It may have been bartered down a bit, even. I paid twice that for the art I ended up purchasing. And it was of equal quality in my mind. I would be proud to have displayed either painting in my home.

Some of the rooms had ornate ceilings, while others had verses from the Koran inscribed in the walls. They offered a nice contrast to the otherwise faded, mildly neglected walls of the kasbah.

We had a local guide to tour the kasbah. He was able to wind us through the maze of hallways and explain the history of the kasbah in about one hour. That was plenty of time. There were low quality restrooms located near the entrance to the kasbah. Before setting out on another lengthy bus trip, we made use of them. Low quality is better than no quality.

The kasbah is a nice way to kill an hour. More if you are also hunting for a nice piece of art.