From Marrakech to Ouarzazarte – Day 3

The third day was probably the one we start earlier since we had the longest day of the trip ahead - approx 90km. By this time, we had already mastered our unpacking and repacking skills and that also helped us in being early on the road.

Before leaving the guesthouse we thought we would need some extra layer for the first morning hours, but after the first minutes on the road, we understood right away that this would be a hot day in the saddle.

This segment of the trip was probably one of my favorites. We had the road mostly for ourselves and passed by beautiful remote villages where the clay houses blend perfectly with the landscape. Going mostly downhill, the route took us to some beautiful canyons where a tiny river could be spotted here and there.

The first stop we did was on the kilometer 37 when reaching the top of a canyon and starting a descent that would last almost 30 km. The view was incredible and the road was so steep downhill, that I felt relieved we were doing it that way and not the opposite.

Our second stop was at Aït Benhaddou.

A historic fortified village, that was along the former caravan route between the Sahara desert and Marrakesh. It is considered a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

In Wikipedia

The temperature was really high by this time and we felt like eating and drinking something light to get some more energy. Being a tourist point of interest, it was easy to choose between one of the many restaurants/cafes. After lunch, we did a quick tour around the village and left for our final kilometers of the day.

Back on the road, we face some headwinds that made our final kilometers more challenging. Also, after being for so long on a secondary road it felt a bit stressful going back to N9 road. We could clearly notice we were approaching a big city by the number of trucks and cars that were again passing a few inches away from our handlebars.

By this time and with such a hot day we were already dreaming about the swimming pool of our next guesthouse at Ouzazarte.

Felt great to finally arrive after such a long day and to enjoy this interesting city that is mostly known for its filmmaking studios. Movies like Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000) were shot here and you can find multiple references to these around the city.

Although the city doesn’t have many attractions we really enjoyed its authenticity and felt like locals there trying the different coffee shops, restaurants and sitting by the main square where at the sunset all the kids would go to drive their jeeps miniatures.

Coming next:
Day 4 - Riding into an Oasis and having our tires melting on the asphalt :)