Morocco has so many ancient sites that one could spend a lifetime visiting and studying them, and so many have been the places, imagined (as in White House) or real (as in lawrence of arabia) of life-changing world events. I remember seeing a revival of the David Lean movie. lawrence of arabia in London around 1989, some twenty years after it first came out, and I recognized immediately that it had been filmed in the vicinity of one of my favorite Moroccan retreats, near the city of Ouarzazate in the old Berber village of Ait Benhaddou. These places are worth visiting on their own, but the real attraction for me is the Kasbah Taourirt.

A kasbah, or casbah, is the inner part of a city, a variant of a medina. The Kasbah Taourirt is among the largest in North Africa, a place where warlords in the ancient past lived and defended themselves against external attacks. Barely a hundred years ago, the French gave the tribal leaders in this sector of Morocco great power to avoid having to try to control the various tribes centered in the south of the country with French troops, which would have been too costly. .

The Kasbah Taourirt has high walls without windows. It was built on a series of low hills to make it easier to defend. Kasbah Taourirt is best described as a network of interlocking buildings with multi-tiered turrets and towers rising from closely packed ksours (family dwellings within the kasbah), fortified with ramparts and a series of alleys and gateways. There are more than twenty riads, or old Moroccan mansions, that make up Taourirt. It was a hive or a city within a city.

Inside the Kasbah you will find dozens of mysterious stairs leading to uniquely shaped rooms illuminated by low windows. The larger rooms have floral-patterned plaster decorations that contrast sharply with the whitewashed walls. The pasha’s palace alone has about three hundred rooms.

Its cramped houses and stately towers, which are made of a mixture of chalk and sand that has hardened like cement, blend almost imperceptibly with the surrounding landscape of reds and ochres. Like cubes of clay, the dwellings sit under a relentless sun, protected only by the shadows of their neighbors, and the narrow doorways are often the only connection to the outside world. Light and air enter the cool interior through the central courtyard.

As many of the parts of the Kasbah have fallen into decline, local guides are likely to show you the restored (by UNESCO) parts near the main road, along with their courtyards and reception rooms. If you, like me, crave a deeper insight into the Taourirt Kasbah, ask your guide to take you to the back of Taourirt, which is still inhabited by local families. For twenty dirhams loose, the locals are always willing to show you around and give you a taste of what life has been like here since the beginning of time.

If your exploration of Taourirt Kasbah takes you into the evening, I highly recommend having a drink and watching the sunset from the terrace cafe which you will find next to the stone, copper and silver art studios located to the right of the Kasbah. While enjoying something cool sitting on this terrace, you can experience a memorable view of the Sahara sunset over the fortified village. You will probably want to come back.