On Day 6, we left Erfoud, but not the desert, traveling through more desert and Atlas Mountains. During the trek, we stopped at the Moulay Ali Cherif Mausoleum inside the
Mosque of Rissani, a town near Erfoud. Then we arrived in the city of Tineghir, and the gorgeous Todra Gorge, where a 300m-deep fault splits the limestone into a deep ravine.
We continued on through the Dades Valley to the city of Ouarzazate, where we stayed for the night, and then toured the next day.
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Above: Sunrise over the Sahara Desert and our Belere Hotel pool.
1 to 4 show the desert leaving Erfoud.
5 and 6 show us entering the city of Rissani.
7 to 10 show the front of the Moulay Ali Cherif Mausoleum in Rissani. It was then called Sijilmassa as the ancient capital of the Berber's Tafilalet Kingdom, founded in 757 AD,
once rivalling Marrakech in power. An oasis on the Ziz River, Sijilmassa was a gold-trade-route city strategically located on the Trans-Saharan caravan trade route,
which extended from the Niger River in the Sudan to Tangier in northern Morocco. The Mausoleum contains the tomb of Moulay Ali Sharif (1589-1659), founder of the
Alaouite (Alawite) dynasty in 1631. He was a Sharif whose family claimed descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson Hasan.
He is considered the founder of the Alaouite Dynasty, of whom the past three Moroccan kings Mohammed V, Hassan II and Mohammed VI are descendents.
11 shows the interior courtyard of the Mausoleum.
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