Jones

​​After yesterday’s brush with annoying guides, Jane warned me that today might be worse. We’re now in a part of Morocco that has Sights To See and day trips from Marrakesh. But first an early walk across the rock fields for Flynn. 

We went a bit further than we intended so it was late before we arrived at Tamegroute. Tamegroute is famous for a couple of things: green pottery and the Zaouia Naciria, a proto-university founded in the 11th century. Today the university is a refuge for the ill. It’s not clear if there is actual care for them or they’re just kicking around hoping for a miraculous cure from the tomb of the school’s founder Abou Abdallah Mohammed Ben Naceur. There is also still a small school – teaching kids preparing for university. The library still holds a subset of its original 40,000 volumes.

We swerved the guides by heading to a little restaurant on the square. We’re getting quite discerning about our Berber Omelettes and this was a very good one. 

Brunch complete, we swooped across the square and into the Zaouia Naciria and then the library.

No photos in the library but we did get a somewhat disinterested overview of the older books. They’re most proud of a C11 Quran but there are more interesting books: dictionaries predating Dr Johnson by hundreds of years, astronomical guides, an early translation of Pythagoras into Arabic and a city guide for C12 Alexandria (must see the library, lighthouse also worth a visit). Alamy has this early maths treatise to offer. I think it’s about magic squares but obviously can’t read Arabic to confirm.

After carefully avoiding the “guides” we then got suckered by one. Still, he took us on a fascinating – if speedy – tour of the old underground town to his “uncle’s pottery shop”. This underground town is very much still inhabited. We were moving so fast that we only got a few chances to snap photos. 

We were taken to the pottery workshop where they mix clay, throw, glaze and fire the pottery in a small courtyard. I don’t think we would have found this on our own and it was very interesting so maybe not actually a scam.

The whole factory was a very small scale affair with no automation. No electricity other than a few lights . The clay is ground by hand and mixed by foot. The wheel is pedal powered and the kilns are sealed with mud and then constantly fed with palm fronds.

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Then we were taken to our not a guide’s uncle’s co-operative pot shop (via Jones to rescue Flynn from the increasing heat). We bought a couple of pots in the local green glaze to hold olives. We paid stupid tourist prices but nothing like you’d pay for these pots in the UK. Well, maybe the same as you’d pay for them in the UK but, whatever.

Then over the mountains to stop at Tagounite for supplies.

Not much to say about Tagounite except it had a very border town feel, definitely no tourists despite being on the only real road round here. Also, the dust has started blowing again.

Tonight we’re actually in the Sahara although it’s not very Sahara like. The Draa river forms a huge oasis along this part of Morocco so we’re sitting amongst the palm tress getting very dusty. Aaron also has a last chance saloon feel to it – except of course, no saloon. What I had expected here was loads of tourists but as we went out for dinner, there were only locals milling around on their way home via a tea from evening prayer.