MOROCCO – Ouarzazate // The Living Daylights (1987)

Even tough Ouarzazate is dubbed as “Ouallywood” for its numerous blockbusters filmed here, making bondesque Memories is “mamnu‘a”.

Why Bond was here
James Bond (Timothy Dalton) travels to Tangier in Morocco to follow the trails of Russian renegade general Alexej Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé). Together with the help of arms dealer Brad Withaker (Joe Don Baker), Koskov tries to gain profits out of the war in Afghanistan. When Bond wants to thwart their plan, he gets captured and knocked out by a top well shaken Martini from Kara (Maryam d’Abo). Koskov puts him into an airplane at the airport of Tangier – and Bond awakens some time zones east, at a Sowjet base in Afghanistan.

How you gonna get there
To see that base, you don’t need to travel all the way to the Hindu Kush. It is enough to fly to Morocco, because the airport of Ouarzazate doubled as the base. You could either catch a direct flight or come over the Atlas Mountains (and make a stop at the “Afghan castle” from The Living Daylighs in Tamdakht).
Several buses serve the city from Marrakesh, a ride is roughly three hours. You can also rent your own car, highway N9 leads from Marrakesh across the Atlas. The airport of Ouarzazate is north of the town.

Good to know
Ouarzazate is dubbed “Ouallywood” by the locals – because the town gained some fame over the years as a Middle Eastern everything for the film industry. Be it Syria or Egypt, Beirut or Jerusalem, the Hindu Kush or even the Himalaya – the deserts and mountains around Ouallywood can be anything. Over the years, scenes from “Gladiator”, “Kingdom of Heavens”, “Game of Thrones” and “Lawrence of Arabia” had been filmed here.

Sets and props from the Atlas Film Studio and the Ouarzazate Cinema Museum:

For a day trip Ouarzazate is quite a ride so opt for at least one night over – maybe on the way to the Sahara desert and the Spectre crater.
Finding accommodation is quite hard. The little town has very few choices to offer – in their restaurants as well. But don’t worry, a street vendor will always fix you up with some nice freshly grilled Shish Taouk (chicken skewers).

The Oscar Hotel, right next to Atlas Film Studio, is a good midrange option. But if you are more on a budget, skip Ouarzazate and drive over the river to Tarmigte and take a room at the Riad Cinema. The rooms are simple but well furnished, the staff is very nice and the terrace offers a nice view over the adjoining Palmeraie.

Next to the tourist airport is a military one. That means, taking pictures at the airport area is forbidden. Tale that into account, when you want to make some Bond memories there – otherwise getting caught by the police will be the memory. We‘ve avoided that, but earned some “mamnu‘a” – forbidden – shouts from the local guards right away.

© 2015 Huntingbond (1,3), © 1977 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation (2)