Gladiator Kulisse Ait Ben Haddou

We've just got back on the usual tourist route, we've skipped the film studios and the film museum in Quartzazate, but there was one thing I couldn't quite shake off.

The Kasbah route has been exciting so far, but it didn't come close to what I knew as a backdrop from the film "Gladiator". So now we took a detour to Ait Ben Haddou, the place with the well-preserved Kasbah right on a rock.

When you think of Morocco, desert always comes to mind, at least that was the case for me. We have now seen that there is indeed greenery in this country, oases along the rivers, even forests and reservoirs. It is understandable that most villages or cities are located along the waterways. The Kasbah that we had seen so far on the so-called Route of the Kasbahs were all in the middle of an oasis.

Ait Ben Haddou is different, it is located on a rock and was built up there. Of course there is also an oasis down below with olive trees, almond trees, figs and palm trees. It is mostly grown for personal use and the water is probably rationed in a similar way to Erg Chebbi. It's gigantic when a Qued actually has water, which is actually the case here and inspired Loki to take a bath.

This Kasbah is still a popular film set. When we wanted to enter the village via the main entrance this morning, everything was closed off for a film crew. We then entered one of the private houses, the owner of which of course received a small fee for it.

A camper had already warned us a little, because in the 10 years she was here, a lot has happened in terms of tourism and marketing. However, we were still early enough, so many of the traders weren't there yet or had just set up their goods. That made our visit more relaxed, because otherwise our own shop would be constantly advertised and every tourist would be invited to come and have a look.

There's money to be made with Gladiator, so we had tea on a terrace with a "Gladiator View". The owner actually wanted to sell Christian a carpet, but people understand a NO THANK YOU. We climbed further, enjoyed the view of the oasis and the highest parts of the Atlas and were almost alone.

What can I say? It was gigantic! It is a kasbah that is probably 300 years old and was damaged in the last earthquake, but we also saw a bricklayer doing the clay work to repair the walls and roofs. It was exciting, because of course the clay buildings are a unique technique with building materials made from reeds and palm fronds, palm trunks and straw and clay. They will probably last forever in this climate if you take care of the walls. I hope that this world cultural heritage site will continue to be maintained and preserved, which will also be good for business. with the tourists. The side effect is that the place actually only consists of restaurants, hotels and shops, but you can make money with tourism, is it different in Florence? No.

It would be no different in the Valley of the Kings, where the traders were only really pushy in comparison.

I found it exciting and beautiful and declared it one of my highlights of the trip!