Ouarzazate

Ouarzazate lies south of the High Atlas in Morocco, among dry valleys and oasis settlements built of earth. The fortified village of Taourirt grew beside the palm grove here, its walls and towers characteristic of the architecture of the region. Local tradition connects the old ksar with the family of the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur in the sixteenth century. Mountain routes linked this country with Marrakech and the lands beyond the Atlas.