Now back to our last evening in Fes.
After resting up ( the high 43+ heat really zaps it out of you), we had a phenomenal meal at our raid. It was our best meal here so far. So moist and tasty. We ended the evening with Moroccan mint tea on our roof terrace.idir ((our hotelier) chatted with us for awhile as we looked at the ancient medina from our high vantage point.
After another delicious breakfast at our riad, the guy dragged our bags down the steep stairs, loaded it onto the cart and heaved it through the sometimes hilly and narrow alleyways until we reached the car park just outside of the medina walls.
Our driver, Abdul is dressed today in desert garb, galabaya and head scarf.
Leaving Fes, the landscape changed as we drove into the Middle Atlas. Kind of like the foothills except we pass lots of donkeys and herds of sheep.
We stopped in the beautiful Swiss inspired town of Ifrane. Ifrane is a ski resort in the winter. Like Switzerland, it has chalet type buildings and is very clean, orderly and expensive. It has a very exclusive university. This is obviously a very expensive area. We took our picture with the lion limestone statue which was placed their to commemorate the last lion that was shot in Ifrane in the 1920s.
Continuing on we next stopped in Azrou where we hung out with the wild Barbary Apes/monkeys. I use the term wild loosely. They show no fear of humans, coming very close in order to be fed nuts, fruit and chocolate bars. I wonder if they even know how to get their own food anymore. It was quite fun to watch their antics.
The rolling hills are slowly turning to a more desert-like terrains. We pass Barbary nomad huts from time to time. There are still some plants and trees because this area gets some snow in the winter and some rain in the spring.
We have now just stopped for lunch at a lovely kasbah resort in Medilt.