Telouet Things to Do

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Before the 'modern' palace was built in the 1900's where the Glaoui pashas lived there was an even older palace built in the late 1700's - remains of which are still on the grounds and make for an interesting roam around.

Locals live, play and work right closeby - descendants of the slaves and workers that were bound up in the daily requirements of the palace Lords - which accounts for the number of very dark skinned peoples - brought up from the Sahara and Sub-sahara - who live in the Telouet area amongst the berber peoples. And of course more recent immigrants into the town and area.

Through the years Ive lived in and visited Telouet Ive noticed with the number of tourists - which is really probably not many - that come through Telouet theyve either come whizzing in as part of a huge agency entourage of 4x4 vehicles - stopped for lunch at Telouet Auberge and then taken for a fast tour of the inside of the palace and then whizzed off again - the lucky ones get to see the carpet shop and be taken for a walk through the ruins and around
the slave quarters on the way to the beautiful rooms that remain inside the 'modern' palace.

The even luckier ones with inside knowledge - eg the ones who come via Jackies House or know locals - stay and appreciate the area!

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As you wander about the ruins are the exciting little telltale signs of the beauty and grandeur that was here before us - going and gone - the huge cracks that seem to have appeared in the main entrance building of the remaining buildings that can still be entered of the newer palace bring home that 2 or 3 years ago my connections living in Telouet reckoned that only 4 years remained in which the public would be able to enter to see the last of the opulent rooms of the Glaoui - following the loss of the oldest palace which is in total ruins absorbing back into the earth that it was made from.

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The village off the main road that runs through Telouet is the original village of Telouet.

Its a fascinating old village with narrow streets and pathways making their ways in and around the mudbrick houses often closely linked or built on top of one another - with interesting doors and doors and windows placed to maintain privacy in the lives of the families living so closely together here - with their animals as well.

Being so close to the palace there are excellent views to the palace from all directions.

Ive several times enjoyed so wandering around the streets and pathways to see and capture what beholds! Especially on a day with glorious day in spring!

This is probably the most photographed view from the Kasbah! A shot of Telouet and its mosque framed by the ornate filigree metal window frame.

Surrounding the alcove are more examples of typical tiles, but I'm afraid that my photo is too dark to show these clearly.

The iron grille work is a common feature of the older palaces - from the days of the harem, when the women could look out, but not be seen by those (i.e men) looking from the outside.

The area of ground outside was probably equivalent to the mechouar, or Judgement Hall, of the older Royal Palaces - where parades and Fantasias would have been held by the Glaoui brothers to impress their guests and visitors.
Another purpose of the mechouar was for public executions - I would imagine that it was quite likely that these took place too.

Moving further into the Kasbah, we passed under this glass skylight Again, You get an idea of the deterioration of the place in the destruction of the walls, and the missing glass panels.

I quite liked the contrast of the blue sky and the teracotta mud walls

From my picture You can see how the Kasbah is deteriorating, with some idea of how it might have looked.
Above the arch are remnants of a green tiles, green being an important colour in Islam - Many of the important Mosques around the world have green tiles in their decoration.

You can also see how this structure is made - mud bricks, covered with more mud. The red colouring comes from the iron rich earth of this area. This is a typical way that buildings are constructed in Southern Morocco. The mud bricks are sometimes strengthened with straw.

While we were waiting for the Guardian of the Kasbah, Mohammed our guide told us about the history of the Kasbah and its dark past. (I'm getting around to writing this on my Intro page)*

To be continued....

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We visited this Kasbah after leaving Ait Benhaddou, on the way to our overnight destination of Tighza.

To be honest I was getting a bit 'kasbah-ed out'!

The previous night we'd stayed at Ait Benhaddou (although strictly speaking this is a ksar!), prior to this I'd visited a few kasbahs in the Valley of A Thousand Kasbahs, plus the Glaouis other well visited kasbah in Ouarzazate!

So slightly less enthusiastically, I joined our group, who were following our leader towards the entrance. We waited while the guardian of the kasbah hurried to collect his huge keys to let us inside.

From the outside the kasbah was quite ruined in parts, and I was very surprised to hear that this was quite a modern abode- The remaining part was built in the late 19th to mid 20th century- completed in 1945!

Well - I really enjoyed visiting this Kasbah - it was quite stunning inside, and it was quite shocking to hear that this might not be here for much longer - follow my tips and You'll find out why!