Ouarzazate – a Moroccan Hollywood

Its name comes from a Berber phrase meaning ”without noise” or ”without confusion”. Ouarzazate is also nicknamed The door of the desert, and the city is capital of Ouarzazate Province of south-central Morocko. To the south of the town is only desert.

The area is well known for its many prominent kasbahs, and nowadays a noted film-making location, with Morocco’s biggest film studios.

Many famous movies have at least some scenes shot here,  such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962),  Gladiator (2000) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005), as was part of the TV series Game of Thrones.

The arena in the movie Gladiator was right here in this open space, behind the people and their banner.

Ait Benhaddou was originally an old karavan station between Marrakesh and the Sahara Desert. Astonishingly beautiful, traditionally built of clay, straw and dirt.

Today, we can admire the old kasbah in the movies – only four families still live here permanently. The rest of the great kasbah is left to fall apart – but a first class tourist attraction.

WPC: Earth

 

The challenge this week from WordPress is to “…share your vision of our glorious Mother Earth”.

I feel…we are a tiny, gloriously beautiful, island out in the great blue – surrounded by stars and the heavens. Who is at the wheel? I wish we had better control …I fear we have lost the sextant and with it, our ability of navigation.

Mother Earth

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Thursday Thoughts – Desert Inhabitants

Life in the desert – we all know there is life, but for me it was rather a shock to see how Much life.

Human beings might turn up – like in the header – but seldom without camels.

If you walk the dunes of the Sahara Desert an early morning, waiting for the sunrise, there are other creatures catching your attention…

…like this super fast moving gerbil, or desert rat. Puffs of sand coming up of this hole made me curious…

I waited for him to show himself properly…but swooosh, and he was up and back in his hole in less than a milli – second, digging along again. At least I got a glimpse of his fascinatingly big eyes!

After the sunrise, we walked over the dunes towards the camp. The grey light had shifted into pink, and was now turning more and more into a warm yellow. But who is making these patterns then? And, looking at the tiny footprints, there must be a multitude of these creatures…

And here he is – a scarab beetle scuttling the big sand waves. I guess a cousin to those scarabs highly revered in old Egypt. In the shadow of a dune I found this little one digging along.

We rode camels to the dunes and watched the sunset from one of them. A beautiful experience – beyond words. One of the Berber men told us we had been followed by a desert fox – I was sorry he did not tell us when the fox was still there.

Lastly – a picture of the scarab footprints…and something else…Who made these tunnels under the sand? I hope someone out there in the blogosphere has the answer!

CFFC: Happy

Totti is almost always happy, and many things make me happy as well – this is only a tiny selection…In fact, I like being happy, so I am constantly working on it…Thank you, Cee, for the reminder!

 

A summer table with a summer cake and fresh fruits…

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Sitting in my garden, looking at the fragrance of the summer flowers…

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Hiking alone, meeting good old friends…

Camellia Williamsii "Brigadoon"

Camellia Williamsii ”Brigadoon”

Beautiful flowers…vibrant colours…

Spelglädje

Music…

And most of all – travelling Life with my children!

This Is Not a Painting

…but the evening sun lingering on a red house standing by the river pond, giving reflections in the water.

Or…?

Have a great new week!

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