0223. High up in the Mountains... (Mor 071--new)

After El Hajib, I headed even higher up into the mountains... Sadly a lot of the landscape looked seriously deforested...

Reached Azrou in the late afternoon--looks like a fun town to explore as well... Even more of an "Alpine" feel than El Hajib.  Very European looking apartments line Main Street and lush pine forests beckon in the distance.  At the end of the street there's a beautiful mosque with a great mountain backdrop and a couple of picturesque neighborhoods clustered on the steep hillsides, surrounded by trees...

Found a hotel right next to the bus station--very clean rooms with hot showers, sandals, and toilet paper (yes, I said TOILET PAPER)--a great value at 70 Dh.  After a very scratchy night in Meknes, I this felt like paradise.

Quickly headed out to explore the town before it got dark... A lot of these apartments look like vacation homes for rich people--but the city still has a fairly lively market sector in the narrow, alleys the crawl up the hillside... not a lot of eating options at Ramadan break fast time--but I did finally find one which served harira, eggs, chbakia, and msimen for a very about 12 Dhs...

Afterwards I played my set in a little dark plaza and headed up to explore the neighborhoods higher up in the hills... ran across a couple of foreign tourists... found another bustling market area... wore myself up wandering up and down the steep alleys... got rained out again...

After a great nights sleep, went out to take my clip--found an idyllic open air market in the shade of tall pine trees... felt so Moroccan and un-Moroccan at the same time...

...Loving these mountain towns...