0233. The Smallest Island in the World (Mor 081--new)

After a couple more hours of zigging and zagging down the mountains, suddenly far below appeared the stunning blue waters of the Mediterranean.  Although it's still a couple more miles to Al Hoceima--and Ait Youssef is little more than a couple of empty vacation homes, I decide to get out, stretch my legs and have a look around.

Good choice.

I follow the highway to Al Hoceima on foot a little ways until I reach side road going to the beach... I follow it up the ridge... and there she stand in all her splendor: "The Smallest Inhabited Island in the World" (well, I don't have any proof of that--but she's got to be close).  It's a cluster of sparkling white houses with a beautiful little mosque perched on a tiny rocky islet a few hundred yards from the shore.  An absolute beauty.

I take a clip with her from the hilltop--and hurry down to the beach to take another. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any boatmen around offering rides to the island, so I'm only able to enjoy her from a distance... imagining what it would be like to live perched on a rock...

To the north there's a massive sheer cliff--so it looks like I'll have to do some backtracking to get to Al Hoceima...

Ait Youssef was definitely worth the little side trip though...