Taroudant Day Trip, East of Agadir.

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Hello friends. In our previous blog we explored touristy and interesting Agadir.

Today we jump in the car and drive Eastwards from Agadir. The main goal is to visit Taroudant city, also known as Little Marrakesh. It’s a long drive and along the way we stop for lunch in Tiout a small oasis and rural commune in Taroudant Province. It turned out more interesting then expected.

When approaching the oasis of Tiout, the Kasbah perks prominent on the adjacent hill. The access road climbs up on the Eastern side to the renovated part of the Kasbah with hotel.

Tioute Kasbah was once used as a location for a 1954 French comedy production of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The title refers to one of the most popular stories from the book One Thousand and One Nights. This story has been retold and made into a movie in many parts of the world. The first English version from 1944 can be viewed on; https://ok.ru/video/3760091499232.

We were looking to have lunch in the hotel's restaurant but they only cater for tour groups, so we went to the village below.
Looking down from the kasbah to the oasis, the village and restaurant Igrane, inside the pink circle, where we had lunch.
The place had much more atmosphere than the kasbah. The food was delicious too.
The non renovated side of the Kasbah as seen from the oasis below.
The Tioute oasis is a maze of greenery at the foot of the Kasbah. Following the irrigation canals, you will find orange trees, pomegranate trees and more than 20,000 palm trees. The inhabitants of the oasis live mainly from the cultivation of cereals.
Plenty of water is routed through these irrigation channels, called aflaj (plural of falaj).
Upstream the water is used for bathing and at the source the water is potable.

At the heart of the oasis is Café and restaurant “Azerg”, the location for “Azerg Nouaman Ait Cherif” a restored and fully functioning horizontal water powered flour mill built in the 16th century during the Mamluk era. Mamluks were an elite military caste of slave soldiers and freed slaves, which at times paradoxically rose above their own masters. There used to be 14 watermills in the Tiout oasis to facilitate the grinding of wheat and other types of grains such as barley, corn and beans to supply the residents and soldiers in the area.

Click the above image for a short film of the water powered flour mill.

In a corner of restaurant "Azerg" we see a "faran", the traditional earth oven used to bake "khesra" or flatbread over a wood fire.
The inevitable souvenir stall.
On our way back to the car we spotted the mules, used to "take the tourists for a ride" through the oasis.

Finding a parking spot in Taroudant city when we finally arrived, proved to be very difficult. A friendly local on a motorbike saw (knew) this familiar tourist behaviour and offered to guide us to a spot where we could park for free and that would be easy to find back, next to an abandoned French movie theater. From there he offered to walk us towards the city center. He cleverly swayed through the narrow alleyways giving us a feeling that we never would have found it ourselves, whilst in fact it turned out that the drop-off point was only one block away from where the car was parked. He dropped us at a Women’s’ Corporation “Roudana Targanet“. Women’s’ Corporations are an initiative of King Mohammed VI to empower women and to enable them to work for an income if no longer supported by their husbands. Our guide didn’t ask for “Baksheesh” and yes, the parking was indeed free.

The products made by Roudana Targanet are based on Almond oil and Argan oil. The cakes to the richt are left over after grinding the nuts and squeezing out the oil and are eaten as a snack.
Skincare products, oral medicine and (not in photo) amlou, a mixture of almond, argan and honey also known as Moroccan Nutella.
The traditional grinding stones (for tourists to play with).
We think that the actual production is done on this type of "nut-grinder" that we regularly see in the souks.
Souk Jnan Jamaa, Taroudant city. It is this souk and surroundings that give the city its nickname "Little Marrakesh".
Liza drooling over the cookies and sugar coated roasted nuts.
Street scene around the souk.
Street scene around the souk.
After the long drive back to the boat and a much needed refreshing shower we enjoyed an excellent dinner in restaurant "Pure Passion" along the boulevard in the marina.

This concludes our day trip to Little Marrakesh. We hope that you get interested to visit Morocco after reading our stories. The country has a lot to offer to the adventurous traveler. 

In the next blog we go swimming in the desert and more.

Thank you for reading this far. Liza and Frits.