Aït Benhaddou is a UNESCO World Heritage site recognizing this amazing example of southern Moroccan earthen architecture. Since the ancient times of the caravans between Sudan and Marrakech, there has been a “ksar” here, a close group of dwellings surrounded by walls and towers for protection. The structures are made of stone and baked mud/straw walls, with wood-reinforced earthen roofs. Some structures here date in some form to the 17th century, but with this kind of structure, it is constantly being patched and rebuilt. A few families still live inside the ksar, while most have moved across the river to a newer town where they can get electricity and modern conveniences. If this place looks familiar to you, it’s because you’ve seen it in Gladiator, The Mummy, Game of Thrones, or dozens of other films. Inside the town, we met a musician playing a traditional Moroccan instrument, and a watercolor artist who practiced the Berber technique of fire painting or "pyro aquarelle". He paints in what looks like water, totally invisible, but then holds his canvas over a flame and what he has painted becomes visible, sort of like a spy's invisible ink. (Of course we bought one.)
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