A long day of driving today, over eight hours including breaks. We retraced our route through the M’Gouna Valley to Kalaat M’Gouna then headed west to Marrakech stopping at a women’s collective to see their hand made rugs before heading through the High Atlas Mountains again and down into Marrakesh, “the red city” or “Alhambra”. The scenery for much of the day was fantastic.
After dropping our luggage at our hotel it was off to meet a local guide, Jalil, who took us through the medina for a tasting tour and, for some of us, a bit of shopping, supposedly with professional support… there wasn’t any.
In late October a Moroccan media report stated that “Morocco’s commitment to renewable energy began with its 2009 National Energy Strategy, which aimed to expand renewables to 52% of the energy mix by 2030. The country later raised its ambitions in its 2021 NDC, targeting 70% renewable power by 2050, and committed to no new coal at COP26 that same year.”
At 510 MW, the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station is the world’s largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. With an additional 72 MW photovoltauc system the entire project was planned to produce 582 MW. The total project’s estimated cost is around $9 billion.(Wiki)
The film industry in Morocco is a growth area of the economy, attractive because its relatively close to the US and Europe, has varied landscapes, is politically stable and its cheap. Lots of big name productions including for example Spectre, Inception and Captain Philips were filmed here.
Back onto the road… and up through the High Atlas Mountains again
Into Marrakech past some large houses and one of the eleven golf courses
Aziz, our driver, dropped some of us at the Royal Mansour… we said goodbye to him tonight as he finished his tour of duty.
Morocco Food Tour 