0287. The Sefrou Medina (Mor 120--new)

I have to be back in Casablanca tomorrow morning, so I'd better start heading in that direction. So it's back down the steep switchbacks, down through the Guigou plains... continue north... down some more switchbacks, and finally I reach Sefrou. 

I must visit Sefrou today for no other reason than that it's the old bold type city on my map in the region south of Fes-Meknes and I want to feel that I've "covered" this region...

That's it.  I don't know a single thing about this city. 

So I start out on the main boulevard in a relatively modern area of town.  Soon I find a nice little plaza to parkbench in... I continue on a bit...

A there it is!  Sure enough.  Sefrou has a medina.  I'd almost forgotten about medinas--the Cultural Treasurechests of Morocco.

One thing unique about the Sefrou medina is the stream runnin right through the middle in a deep gorge with stone bridges crossing it and an occasional pine tree--gives it a slightly of a Alpine fusion vibe...if you can overlook the trash problem...

I explore the medina for a bit... the sparkling jewelry lane... the back alley restaurants... in and out of the various gateways... Finally I head out through the northeast gate, through the market and head on to explore the rest of the city.

I follow a street that snakes its way on and on throught residential neighborhoods on to the very edge of the city... and head back in again.  Overall, feels quite urban compared to what I've been seeing for these last few days.  Sefrou would seem like a much more significant city if it weren't for the fact that it's so close to its much more sophisticated older brother, Fes...

I make my way back up the to downtown and up around to where I first started.  Up above the medina, the stream runs through one of the nicest little forested parks I've seen in Morocco...

A nice finish to a wonderful four days in the Middle Atlas mountains...

I catch a grand taxi up to Fes--and on home to Casablanca...