Ouarzazate – Morocco’s Hollywood and one of Sam’s Exotic Travels 2011

Ouarzazate is home to Morocco's biggest firm studios. Movies including Lawrence of Arabia (one of my all-time favorities), The Living Daylights (1987), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Martin Scorsese's Kundun (1997) and Legionnaire (1998) were shot in the Ouarazate area. In case you have trouble, as I did, in pronouncing the city's name, think of the phrase "Where's It At", change the Wh to Ou - and it close enough so most Moroccans will understand you. Ouarzazate (lit. "noiselessly" called The door of the desert), is located in southern-central Morocco, on the edge of the Sahara. The large Berber population built many of the prominent kasbahs and building for which the area is known.