ROUTE BETWEEN THE TODRA GORGE AND THE MERZOUGA DESERT

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Today we have to travel the last part of the Route of the Thousand Kasbahs, which runs from Ourzazate to almost the beginning of the Merzouga desert. And it seemed to us that it was the section that runs true kasbash, or rather old ksour, inhabited to this day. This was ours tour between the Todra Gorge and the Merzouga desert, passing through small villages, palm groves and major road cities. We tell you the essential stops and other recommendations of this 258 km stage.

The idea in the morning was to wake up very early and walk the circuit for 3-4 hours around the Todra Gorge. But we prefer to stay a little longer in bed. So we hurriedly had breakfast on the terrace of our accommodation,Les Jardin des Gorges (which by the way is SUPER recommended and at a good price), we took another walk through the gorge, this time with fewer tourists, and began the trip to the southeast end of the country, where the other desert of Morocco was waiting for us: Erg Chebbi.

We retreated the 12 km until Tinerhir being careful not to get off the road, not because it was wrong, but because the views we have on our left continue to leave us with our eyes wide. We crossed the bridge and gave cane to the next destination: Tinejdad.

At this point we have two options: continue on the N10 towards Goulmina, or start the descent south on the R702. We read that Goulmina count with one ksar interesting, and there we went. And it really is interesting: but for whatever reason we are not at all comfortable. It was like entering a stranger's house, or going to a party where they haven't invited you. It is a ksar still inhabited by a few families, and surely they didn't feel like having two strangers hanging around. So when we had a few streets, we turned around and returned to the car. There we met a very majete man who was offering a guide for € 5, but we were already with the cosica inside and we preferred to leave.

Entrance to the Ksar of Goulmina

From the entrance of the Ksar of Goulmina there is an asphalted road that zigzags between palm grove very cool, dotted with little houses and local villages (where it does not look like tourists go by) and that we enjoy very much. It is only a few km to join the P7105 (which in turn takes us to the R702), but it will certainly be one of the moments of the whole trip.

R702 sometimes reminds us of the Nullarbor of Australia: a semi-desert wasteland, with extreme conditions, where living should be the closest thing to visiting hell (eye, without fail, in fact we deeply admire those who have their homes here).

After going through the Jorf palm grove you get to Erfoud, the fossil capital in Morocco. Triglodites, shark teeth, quartz rocks, granite desert rose, agate ... And even the life-size skeleton of several dinosaurs! This is the menu that awaits you in one of the fossil and mineral museums what's on this route (best of all the one of Tahiri, It's free).

Approaching the desert and with small dunes and giving us a cordial greeting (some too effusive, entering the road) we reach Risani. It is a town with enough charm and history for its strategic location at the foot of the desert. It was here that the holy city of Sijilmasa (capital of several Berber dynasties), which reached great power, even at the height of Timbuktu, thanks to the caravans of merchants who passed through here before entering the Sahara. It is said that Risani has the oldest market in Morocco, and in fact, while in other places it is only celebrated one day a week, here are three (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). If you agree on one of these days, it is certainly worth approaching and taking a look.

When the city of Sijilmasa was destroyed, the inhabitants began to populate small villages in the surrounding area. Today there is a routetour, a circuit about 21 km from Rissani, which runs through these ksour with its beautiful doors, and from where you can also see the ruins of the great city of Sijilmasa. You will see it indicated on the road, on a turnoff to the right, which starts at the ruins of Sijilmasa and ends next to Risani.

Of the Sijilmasa ruins do not expect much, they are seen from the road itself on the right side and, unless you have a great view or are an archaeologist, you will only see a few stories of scattered stones. It is more the historical importance of the site than what one can see today.

We now take the N13 that directs us towards Merzouga. The small dunes of the road become large mountains of pink sand on the horizon. In Merzouga, or rather, in Hassilabied, we finished the day, putting a sandwich of kefta (those meatballs that we like so much) in the Spartan restaurant Cafe Snack Hamid (delicious, by the way), and drinking the welcome tea in the Riad Kasbah Aiour, at the foot of the dunes.

We went to sleep early, because the next day we woke up to see sunrise from the dunes that is in front of the hotel, and in the afternoon we would do the excursion to the Erg Chebbi desert ... but that is another story.