This morning was one of those clear blue sky mornings which makes you want to be out and about. We got up early and had breakfast at Riad Damia, the usual crepes, yogurt, coffee etc. Nothing too fancy. We finished packing and said good bye to our host. He let us out the door of the Riad and it was like closing a little chapter of the trip. We rescued our car and packed in the baggage and the kids. Then like Fassis, we rolled out of te medina and found the road to Ifrane. Quickly we moved beyond Fes and started up to Immouzer. More climbing under the bright sun and we arrived in an hour in Ifrane, a picture postcard village looking like a Swiss transplant to Morocco. Little houses and hotels with sidewalk cafes and super clean streets and trees that looked like a Swiss or French mountain resort, minus the skiers or the snow.The weather was pleasant and we snacked on some pastry, snapped a few photos and headed out. We saw the Royal Estate with a chateau on a hilltop (the King has residences in all major areas). Then the road became more interesting outside of Ifrane.
For kilometres we climbed through first alpine terrain,with cedars and the usual herds of sheep and shepherds on the side of the road. After a while we reached a more bare landscape, rocky hillsides and bare vistas. We clibed and descended numerous switchbacks to reach Azrou. Then we headed south on N13 with the vista of the snow peaked Middle Atlas mountains. The scenery changed to more dry lunar landscape, sheep always visible and streams and lakes appearing where dry river beds had been. For hours we went up and down finally reaching Midelt (roughly halfway from Fes) where we stopped at a clean little restaurant. The waiter put a table out in the courtyard for us to eat lunch in the sunshine. We enjoyed some omelets and chicken witholives and vegetables. It was very pleasant to feel the sun shining on us. Then after an hour, back in the car. The second half of the trip was even more breathtaking with high roads on the cliffsides, towering cliffs and deep gorges. The scenery looked a lot like the Grand Canyon and the American Southwest, but with homes and villages looking more and more like desert casbahs. The satellite dishes were ever present as were the cell phone towers, reminders that you are never out of touch, even as you approach the desert. Then we came out of the mountains to reach a man made lake shining in the barren landscape with a dam at its southern end. We reached the desert city of Er Rachiddia, which was more than your one mosque towns that we had passed through, and we thought that we were most of the way there. But again we started climbing and descending until we realised we were following a gorge that was filled with settlements and greenery from the river flowing through it. or the last 30 kilometres, the sun was setting and changing the colour of the sky and mountains to shades of pink, purple and finally dusk. \guittel became nervous that we were driving across desert floor with no town in site. Finally we reached the hotel resort that we had reserved, the Xaluca Maadid. It is a luxurious resort with decor and staff from the south, earth-toned wallls and buildings with a spa, indoor and out door pools, jacuzzi, two restaurants, a salon de the, and entertainment. At the supper buffet, which had moroccan and "international" foods, they brought in a camel, a Gnawa rhythmic band chanting and drumming and then a trio of dancers doing belly dancing and head tossing routines. The kids liked and loved the rooms with their earthy decor, platform beds, fossilised marble sinks and shower. All beautiful. Toss in the moon and a sky full of stars at the end of a long but spectacular day and we have the makings of a great trip into the dunes tomorrow.
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