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Skoura

Half Day Tour Skoura & Amerhidl Kasbah
Duration: 9:00am - 3:00pm 
Inclusion: Luxury Toyota 4x4
English, French Speaking Driver, Guide
Starting & Finishing Point: Your Hotel In Ouarzazate

ITINERARY

MORNING DEPARTURE:

After breakfast at your hotel, we will journey an hour away from Ouarzazate to visit Skoura. Skoura is a fertile oasis lined with immense palm groves that provide great views of the Atlas Mountains alongside deserted landscapes. It is renowned for the cultivation of roses. The palm groves were laid out in the 12^th century by the Almohad sultan Yacoub el-Mansour and named after its original inhabitants, the Berbers of the Haskourene tribe.  The most beautiful kasbahs in southern Morocco can be found here. Many of them are still partially inhabited.

The entrances to the palm groves in Skoura can be explored on foot, bicycle or mule-back. Ask your driver if you’re interested in stepping out of the 4x4 to see more of the area.

The small, sleepy town of Skoura has a big market Souk every Monday and a small group of administrative buildings. Most impressive in Skoura are the many kasbahs that ripple through its dry rocky oasis. Skoura is referred to as the “Valley of One Thousand Kasbahs.”

The Ben Morro Kasbah stands on the left of the road above Skoura. It was built in the 17^th Century and now completely restores, has been converted into a guest house.

The most imposing of the kasbahs in this area that you will tour is 17th Century Amerhidil Kasbah. This fortified residence once belonged to the most powerful family responsible for protecting the village and its lands called the Glaoui. Today it is owned by the Sheikh of Amerhidil.

Touring the kasbah is a most charming opportunity as its interior is now restored. The Amerhidil Kasbah is featured on a 50.00 note of Moroccan Dirhams and on an Orange Juice box branded, Marrakesh.

The Kasbahs of Aït Abou, built in the 1800’s and the oldest Kasbah in the palm grove, is six storeys and walls 25 m high. Its outside buildings have been turned into a garden filled with pomegranate, apple, pear, fig, quince and olive trees that provide the necessary shading for growing crops.

MID-DAY:

On the return to Ouarzazate the option is to have lunch in a dusty outdoor local Berber café that boasts mouth watering tajines made with the olive oil of Skoura or have lunch in local café in the town of Skoura.

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Half Day Tour Skoura & Kasbah Taourirt

Duration: 9:00am - 3:00pm 
Inclusion: Luxury Toyota 4x4
English, French Speaking Driver, Guide
Starting & Finishing Point: Your Hotel In Ouarzazate

ITINERARY

MORNING DEPARTURE:

After breakfast at your hotel, we will journey an hour away from Ouarzazate to visit Skoura. Skoura is a fertile oasis lined with immense palm groves that provide great views of the Atlas Mountains alongside deserted landscapes. It is renowned for the cultivation of roses. The palm groves were laid out in the 12^th century by the Almohad sultan Yacoub el-Mansour and named after its original inhabitants, the Berbers of the Haskourene tribe.  The most beautiful kasbahs in southern Morocco can be found here. Many of them are still partially inhabited.

The entrances to the palm groves in Skoura can be explored on foot, bicycle or mule-back. Ask your driver if you’re interested in stepping out of the 4x4 to see more of the area.

The small, sleepy town of Skoura has a big market Souk every Monday and a small group of administrative buildings. Most impressive in Skoura are the many Kasbahs that ripple through its dry rocky oasis. Skoura is referred to as the “Valley of One Thousand Kasbahs.”

The Ben Morro Kasbah stands on the left of the road above Skoura. It was built in the 17^th Century and now completely restores, has been converted into a guest house.

The most imposing of the kasbahs in this area that you will tour is 17th Century Amerhidil Kasbah. This fortified residence once belonged to the most powerful family responsible for protecting the village and its lands called the Glaoui. Today it is owned by the Sheikh of Amerhidil.

Touring the Kasbah is a most charming opportunity as its interior is now restored. The Amerhidil Kasbah is featured on a 50.00 note of Moroccan Dirham’s and on an Orange Juice box branded, Marrakesh.

The Kasbahs of Aït Abou was built in the 1800’s and is the oldest Kasbah in the palm grove, with six storeys and walls 25 m high. Its outside buildings have been turned into a garden filled with pomegranate, apple, pear, fig, quince and olive trees that provide the necessary shading for growing crops.

MID-DAY:

On the return to Ouarzazate the option is to have lunch in a dusty outdoor local Berber café that boasts mouth watering tajines made with the olive oil of Skoura or have lunch in local café in the town of Skoura. After lunch we will visit Kasbah Taourirt. Kasbah Taourirt was also built by the Glaoui and is one of the most impressive of its kind in Morocco. Its location was strategic for trading routes and in the 1930’s when the Glaoui ruled the South. At that time it was then one of Morocco’s largest Kasbahs. Explore its nooks and crannies and discover some local female painters who sell their art inside as well as the many quality silver shops just steps outside the kasbah.

Kasbah Taourirt’s tightly packed houses and stately towers, made of a mixture of chalk and sand, melt almost imperceptibly into the surrounding red and ochre-colored landscape. Like cubes of clay, the dwellings hide away from the unrelenting sun-a narrow doorway being the only connection with the outside world. Light and air come in through the central courtyard. Yet the harsh desert can also be generous; at the oases of Skoura an annual harvest of 4000 tons of roses is grown on the fringes of immeasurable expanses of sand.