We decided to move on from Fez. On the way over the mountains we had passed thru a town that caught our attention. It had another Royal Palace, but what struck us were the tree lined streets and Alpine buildings. While we were driving Ton discovered the town was Ifrane.
Since it was not that far we decided to double back and check it out. There were no campgrounds in the town but about 20 kilometers further there were a couple of campgrounds near a town called Azrou so after a stop at a grocery to restock our depleted pantries were off.
Ifrane was originally founded during the French occupation of Morocco as a place that the Europeans could flee to during the hot Moroccan summers. They brought in trees from France and built buildings that reminded them of home.
We arrived to a very pretty, but also very quiet Ifrane about noon. We parked François in an empty parking lot near the city center and headed in. The streets are wide and beautiful but also empty. Ifrane is now a resort for the rich and beautiful people in Morocco and even has a ski resort in the winter. But after taking picture of the famous sculpture near the center of town we were bored, as none of the rich and beautiful were around, just a few other foreign tourists.
So we headed towards our campground. As we were driving Ton read up about Azrou. What she read peaked our interest so before we set up we headed into Azrou.
The campground told us that there was a place we could park by the big Mosque, and that we could not miss it. We were also lucky because today was market day so there was a lot of stuff to see.
As we pulled up to the Mosque we were caught up in a traffic jam as a funeral procession was just leaving. The hearse was driving away at walking pace as the friends and family walked beside it touching the side of the hearse.
As we were waiting for the traffic to clear from the funeral Ton spotted a couple of restaurants she wanted to go back and check out. So after parking François and paying the guardian of the parking lot, (almost every parking lot has a guardian who you pay to watch your car) we headed into the market.
We headed to the restaurants across from the Mosque and selected one. Ton had grilled fish, and I had skewers of beef. They were both excellent, Ton was delighted and proclaimed it the best meal in Morocco, and one of the cheapest.
She was so happy that she ordered a rotissery chicken meal to go for a later meal. When we checked into the campground we were the only ones, but when we returned the French couple who parked next to us in Fez had turned up, and a German couple we have chatted with in Mohammedia and Marrakech were also there. As far as camping goes Morocco is a small world.
How fun! You will now be traveling with 3 new cat companions. LOL. Good job, Ton, I would have done the same. Meow.
We are both soft touches for cats. Now it looks like the cat telegraph is on to us, the last two campgrounds we arrived at we had cats sitting at our door within 10 minutes of arrival. I think we are going to have to buy some cat food to keep in François.