DAY TRIPS TO IFRANE AND AZROU
Day trips will start when you meet your driver, and pick you up from your Hotel or Riad. Travel through the new part of Fez including the new city. Then to the outskirts of the city where most of the universities are. Then our Day trips will travel across Saiss plain, which is one of the fertile country fields. As soon as you advance in the road. You will see the first slopes of the Middle Atlas mountains in the horizon. Then you will start going up the winding road after passing the village of Sidi Khair.
Our Day trips will take first stop at the small town of Imouzzer,which is known for its Apple Festival in September. This area is known as one of the major producers of Aples in Morocco, And also known for its lakes that were formed after some Volcanic activity in the region millions of years ago.
After driving through the Oak forest we will be in Ifrane. Developed by the French during the protectorate era for their administration due to its Alpine climate. This Moroccan town has a remarkable European style, as if it were an Alpine village. Because of its elevation, the town experiences snow during the winter months. And a cool climate during the summer. Among the local tree species are the native Atlas cedar, Scrub oak and the introduced London plane.
The first permanent settlement of the area dates to the 16th century. When a saintly sharîf by the name of Sîdî ‘Abd al-Salâm established his community in the Tizguit Valley. Seven km downstream from the present town. By the mid-17th century the zâwiyah was well enough established to receive an extensive iqtâ’ (land grant) from the ‘Alâwî sultan Mûlây Rashîd. While the founder’s lineage was ethnically Arab, the inhabitants of the village today mostly speak Tamazight.
Ifrane is a colonial “hill station,” and a “garden city.” It is also an “imperial city,” a mountain resort, a provincial administrative center, and a college town.
You will then cross the cedar forest to get to the national park. Where more than 70% of the Barbary apes ( Macaques) exist.
Lunch will be in the town of Azrou, which means rock in the indigenous Tamazight Berber language, is located in the heart of The Middle Atlas region of Morocco between Meknes, Fez, Ifrane, Midelt and Khenifra. The N13 road connects Azrou to Meknes in the north. It is one of the famous Berber cities in Morocco before going to do the circuit of lakes in the region.
Back to Fez by the mid-afternoon.
