Our Kasbah

Kasbah means castle. Sort of. A kasbah is kind of like a largish old style building with lots of rooms. These days, kasbahs are used as charming hotels or inns.

We stayed at the Kasbah Panorama just outside of Merzouga, Morocco. For the full effect of this picture, click on it to view full size.

There were several cool features that persuaded us to choose the Kasbah Panorama as our desert abode. One was the fact that it was made out of mud and straw. Seriously. Do you remember your world history classes where you learned that ancient civilizations used to mix mud and straw to form bricks. They still do that in Morocco. It's amazing. As you can tell from the above picture, the Kasbah Panorama owners even sculpted a balcony from the mud-straw mixture.

Our bathroom was separated from the rest of the room by a mud-straw wall.

Another cool feature was the groovy ceiling. I have no idea if this is authentically Desert Moroccan, but it felt authentic.

The kasbah was graced by wicker lamps, a nice touch that added to the rustic desert ambience.

This picture is kind of poorly composed (okay, EXTREMELY poorly composed), but it will kind of give you an idea of what the place looked like inside. The rooms without bathrooms use the one at the end of the hallway.

One of the most exciting- at least for me- features of our kasbah was the camels in the backyard!!!! Given my newfound affection for dromedaries, I was quite satisfied by their proximity.

However, the best part of Kasbah Panorama was, hands down, the view. Panoramic indeed.