LE BERBERE PALACE
Movie stars and executives stay at this luxury retreat in Ouarzazate, the only five-star hotel in the area. “Le Berbere is a gorgeous building,” says Murphy, who stayed here while filming Atlantis – the town is also home to a celebrated film studio. “It’s a famous film hotel and is full of memorabilia from the past 30 or 40 years. It has lots of props and a lovely pool.” If guests are lucky, they can book the suites Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt occupied while filming Babel, or where Russell Crowe bedded down during the shoot of Gladiator.
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THE MUD FORTS
“Just 20 minutes down the road from the Le Berbere Palace is Ait Benhaddou, in an area full of big mud forts and fortified towns,” explains Murphy. “Ait Benhaddou is the most famous town of its kind and also featured in Gladiator. We filmed Atlantis there last year, and it forms the outside of the town Helios. There are probably five or six other mud forts worth exploring in the area, too.”
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MARRAKECH
“Although we didn’t film in Marrakech itself, we got a lot of props from there,” says Murphy. “A lot of stuff you see in Atlantis is handmade, which is very important to us. We took a lot design influences from Moroccan wares, and a lot of costumes from Marrakech. It’s much more than just a place, you get a feeling there that you simply wouldn’t get from Western European markets. The city has had a big influence on the series.”
MOROCCO’S GRAND CANYON
“The wonderful Todra Gorge is like the Grand Canyon. It’s a spectacular deep, narrow gorge that goes on for five or six miles. It’s very, very remote.” That said, keen hikers and travellers can find it 15 minutes north of the town of Tinerhir, east of Marrakech. “We did a recce there but decided that it was just too remote for filming, but this is true Atlantis territory and if you’re travelling you can drive there and be back in a day from Ouarzazate.”
A CLASSIC OASIS
Finte is an oasis south of Ouarzazate, surrounded by huge towering cliffs, with a beautiful river and lovely palm trees. “We used this huge cliff filming Atlantis last year, and this year you see it during the approach to Atlantis in episode one. This spot also features in episode four, when some new characters are crossing the desert. It’s also recognisable from Game of Thrones [Daenerys meets Unsullied commander Grey Worm here] and is an oasis in the classic sense of the word. Everywhere around it is barren, but there’s this patch of green, and clear, fresh water you can swim in.”
Watch Atlantis series 2 at 8.15pm, every Saturday, on BBC1
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