Introduction to Tiznit

After the friends of iligh were officially welcomed by the governor we were shown around town. We saw the Mellah, the old Jewish artisan souk, now lovingly restored by Tiznit's architect Salima Nagji. Tiznit is an old oase with and ancient well and an historic mosque of which the minaret is unfortunately very tastelessly renovated. In the late nineteenth century it was walled and became a garrison town. Not in the last place because of the threatening power of Iligh. The French extended the barracks. By that time the power of Iligh was waning and the French used the garrison to suppress the Tazerwalt region. Tiznit also has a resident Sufi saint to whose brand new sanctuary and shrine we were taken. Our guide was Mohamed Ouhamou, the cultural officer of the city. His French wasn't great but the people who spoke Moroccan Arabic or Tashelhyt translated. For some unclear reason he attached himself to me. I suspected he thought I was going to desecrate the Sufi sanctuary, but I was only on the look out for a sketching opportunity. When you are with a group that is sort of aimlessly milling about it is very difficult to find a good moment. Anyway next we went to lunch. We drove a little way out of town in the direction of Guelmim till we came to a Afriquia petrol station. At the back was a great big resting area with an excellent traditional Moroccan family restaurant. I absolutely love those places, but when you are a non-Moroccan tourist, you rarely find them. No doubt we were taken there because of the female element in our group. As on cue the men gathered around one table and the women around the other. It was only remarked upon with the dessert and our guide gamely choose to switch to the women's table. Then I made this sketch of M Ouhamou.

Tiznit

Is Tiznit on the N1 or is the N1 there because of Tiznit? It must be the latter because the French occupiers made Tiznit into a garrison town. It's famous for its silver smiths. That means that in the past it had a Jewish population. But those thing don't make an attractive town. Better drive through quickly in search of better places to visit or stay. But for some strange reason I always got stuck even though the same old man on the same old moped is on the look out for any car with foreign or car hire license plate. He attaches himself to the car like a leach as soon as we enter the walled city by its main entrance. He will offer his assistance and when we decline he will annoy us till he's bought off. By then we are on the main square ready to park the car. But Tiznit also is the centre of a whole province or 'departement' and has a great covered food market and in the outskirts a real Supermarkt. It turned out, Tiznit isn't as bad as the first impression warrants. During our discovery trip to Iligh Tiznit became a very important link and even a fun place to come to. It also has a comfortable Riad with a roomy and leafy garden inside the city walls. What sold me was the kiosk on the main square that not only sold cigarettes, bottled water, biscuits, batteries and other important items, but also books in French and Arabic. There was a whole collection of fiction and non-fiction on the 'leaden years', the years of cruel oppression during the reign of Hassan II. There were also books in French on Feminism and books with a feminist intent. The books in French were published by Fennec Press a Moroccan publisher of quality paperbacks for a very good price.