2 September 19, 2014
After Ait Ben Haddou the
terrain continued to flatten out.
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| Mountains pretty much all gone |
Morocco is several countries
in one – at the movie studios. Some things are always more
interesting than others on a tour and the stop at Atlas studios
wasn’t high on my ‘must do’ list … but it turned out to be
fascinating. If there’s a desert scene in a film, it’s likely to
have been shot in Morocco …. from one of my favourites, Lawrence of
Arabia, to Tandun, to any number of action movies whose titles I
can’t remember because they’re not my thing. We visited ancient
Egypt, ancient Rome and China too.
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| Ancient Egypt in the making |
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| China anyone? |
It was both interesting and
amusing to watch battle lessons (i.e. a dress rehearsal) for a
Phoenician (I think) battle: swords this way 1, that way 2, and back
again 3 – Action! And charge! All a bit of a schemozzle first time
around. There were more choreography lessons before Take 2! Good work for locals as extras, when needed – but nothing
to build a career on I suspect.
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| Charge! |
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| A bit of a shambles ... |
Everything looks totally,
totally fake when you see it. What is it with cameras? They don’t
do justice to most subjects, yet these poor film imitations come up
looking a million dollars.
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| The reality doesn't look this good! |
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| If only all war planes stayed on the ground like this one |
Then it was on to unreality
of a different kind – my accommodation at Ouarzazate for the next
two nights. Everywhere I stayed was lovely, really good, each place unique. But this – talk about decadence!
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| Ouarzazate |
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| That’s ‘two’ double beds |
I didn’t swim in the huge
pool or play petanque but both were catered for. That so much water
could be given over to a handful of tourists while the lake in the
background was well down was offensive, to be honest.
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| Pool, and lake in the background |
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Petanque terrain -
just right for my friends Chris & Brian |
Water is in short supply for
farmers and ultimately for food. Not that I wasn’t thankful for,
and I certainly made use of, the more modest sized pools elsewhere
that I stayed. That would make me some sort of hypocrite I guess 😦
