March 16. Marakech. The Long March Home

I woke up early so I could take pictures of the sunrise. It was anti-climactic. The terrain was mostly flat, but there was a tall mountain due east of us. The sun was hidden behind the mountain until it well up into the sky. As day broke the sky took a light pink tint for about twenty minutes, then it turned a clear blue that it kept all day. So much for a dramatic desert sunrise. I still managed to snap some good shots of the landscape. As always, my photos are at http://www.flickr.com/gringracho.

 

We'd driven for 9 hours to get to that desert camp. Now we had to drive 9 hours to get back. We took a brief stop at Ait Ben Haddou, an old walled city in the middle of the desert. It was once an important trading post for goods travelling between sub-Saharan Africa and Moroccan ports. Today it's more famous as a movie set. Parts of Lawrence of Arabia, Kingdom of Heaven, and Gladiator were filmed here. There are pictures of Russell Crowe all over the place.

 

We got back at 7:00 that night, completely exhausted from the long trip. We went to sleep pretty early. Kit had to get up early to fly back to Heidelberg, and I had to catch a train to Casablanca.