City walk · Ouarzazate · Morocco
El Madani El Glaoui
1866–1918 · a real person
a proud, dry Atlas lord, used to being obeyed, amused and then quietly wounded by what became of his crossroads
Read what El Madani El Glaoui says
I am El Madani El Glaoui, of the Glaoua, and once no mule, no sack of dates and no soldier crossed the Tichka pass without my leave. The road you are standing on was mine; the walls behind you were my family’s house, our storehouse and our courtroom all at once. They tell me there is a town out here now — offices, a market, a library, a church, cameras — grown up on the dirt outside my gate while I was busy in Marrakesh. Walk it with me, west, in one straight line, and I will tell you what each thing sits on top of. I want to see with your eyes what the road did after I let go of it.
8 stops · 2.6 km
about 44 min walking, 32 min listening at the stops — going inside is extra · Tap a stop on the map for a preview.
Where it takes you
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Best time to walk: Early morning or after 5pm — Avenue Mohamed V is wide and shadeless at midday, the kasbah and film museum are best in the morning before the tour coaches, and the markets wind down in the late afternoon.
76 min · 2.6 km · 8 stops · medium
You’re walking this one before anyone at Walk & Tell has. If something looks wrong, tap Report at any stop — we’ll fix it for everyone after you.
Partly shadedBest time to walk: Early morning or after 5pm — Avenue Mohamed V is wide and shadeless at midday, the kasbah and film museum are best in the morning before the tour coaches, and the markets wind down in the late afternoon.
The walk
Ouarzazate began as a crossroads: the place where caravans coming down from the Tizi n’Tichka pass met the Draa valley. The Glaoui family held that crossing from the mud towers of Kasbah Taourirt, and the modern town — garrison, market, town hall, film studios — spread out along the avenue below it. This walk follows one straight line west from the kasbah to the edge of the old French quarter, told by a man who thought he owned the road. No puzzles, just a story and a lot to look at.
Start here
Avenue Mohamed V شارع الحسن الثاني, Ouarzazate ورزازات
Stand on Avenue Mohamed V at the foot of Kasbah Taourirt, facing the mud-brick walls and towers on the south side of the road, with the ticket entrance ahead of you.