In the Glaoui Kasbah at Telouet

To make good use of our time in Morocco, Helen had arranged a guided tour that set off from Marrakech first thing in the morning and headed out through the High Atlas mountains (lots snow on the mountain passes) before descending into more rocky areas. We have a fellow traveller, an American geologist named Nancy who is good company and full of interesting information about the rock formations, etc.

We stopped off to visit the Glaoui Kasbah at Telouet, once home to the most powerful man in Morocco when it was a French protectorate (our local guide there had an uncanny resemblence to Barack Obama). The castle has since fallen into disrepair but some of the interior mosaics and tiles have been refurbished and give a flavour of what it once must have looked like (main photo and extras taken there).

We had lunch at Ait Ben Haddou (an area much used in filming Hollywood films), and stopped off in Ouarzazate before overnighting in Dades.