Fez and Azrou

This email describes our short excursions around Ifrane mainly to the cities of Azrou and Fez. These two cities are extremely different from one another, however, both favorite destinations of the exchange students.

Remember to copy and paste the links to see the pictures.


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Hello from Morocco!

As promised, here’s another update! Life here has been pretty crazy, it’s midterms week and I think we’ve all had a few mental breakdowns, but, it’s almost over and we’ll be heading to the desert this weekend to ride camels and watch the sunrise over the dunes. If you want to see what adventure we’re going on here’s the link!

http://www.cameltrekking.com/Desert-Tours/erg-chebbi.html

A few weeks ago we went to a Berber city about 20 minutes away called Azrou. Azrou is the berber word for rock, coincidently, in the center of the city there’s a large rock for which the city was named after. We ended up climbing up to the crown that was on the top, where we met 4 forestry students studying in Rabat, they were from Sengal, somewhere in the Sahara, Rabat and Casablanca.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2800/4018106768_07e964c0d8_b.jpg

In the Crown:

http://i37.tinypic.com/mts07t.jpg

After climbing up the rock, we went to a local café and had mint tea and wandered around the city.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3533/4017316686_b2d99d92f3_b.jpg

We ordered sandwiches from a local shop; they had sautéed vegetables and a weird fried corn thing in it. The sandwiches were amazing and cost about 38 cents.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2503/4017316434_369f05086e.jpg

And then we visited a juice shop and drank some of the best Banana Juice (Jus D’Banane) in the world. I should also mention, that in Morocco they also make Avocado juice (which we have seen translated as Lawyer Juice…) and mixed fruit juice, the color of the juice depends on the season, sometimes it’s brown…sometimes it’s red…..

Banana Juice:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2461/4022046146_6940080309.jpg

After Banana Juice, we watched the sunset from the overlook in the city….

Incredible Sunset:

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Sunset on the Mosque:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2532/4016551159_f04452292f_b.jpg

And….Here’s a short video from our trip to Azrou, it’s right at sunset and you can hear the call to prayer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajRPvJkAGbU

The Following weekend we went to Fez and visited the Jazz Festival.

We visited the Tanneries again:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2781/4017316006_d5991be9f8_b.jpg

Man working in the Tanneries:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/4017316320_3dc8b515e5_b.jpg

We went back to the Pottery shop to visit the owner and look at the pottery:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/4017316144_a6acfebb9d_b.jpg

After that, we wandered around the Medina and visited our “friend” who sells jewelry, he remembered us from our numerous times in Fez. He specifically remembered me because of my smile and because I apparently look like a Spice Girl. We bought some things from him and he gave us free keychains (yay!). I should probably also add, when you go to big cities, it’s inevitable that young males will say things to you (usually they don’t if we take our male friends with us…) such as “Spice Girl” or “Pretty pretty” or other ridiculous things.

We also walked by a very beautiful Mosque:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2593/4031207565_963123cbe3_b.jpg

Anyway, The Jazz Fest was awesome. While walking there we met a band from Paris, Zephyrologie, they insisted that we see them and so we did along with 2 other groups.

The Jazz Festival took place in a huge Riad in Fez (Here’s just one side of it):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/4031960340_609eed7774_b.jpg

Zephrologie:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3523/4031207465_72c5b570d4_b.jpg

Interactive performance:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2691/4017316802_56e2778411_b.jpg

Here’s a video of their “interactive” performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEBQQfCdKeI

After that another group played….Kader Fahem Hispanica Jazz Trio

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2717/4031966950_3849b16eb8_b.jpg

And here’s a video from that beautiful performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzAR5DxNH8


The performance was excellent and then afterwards we had a lovely dinner at Café Clock, which in my opinion is one of the best restaurants in Fez (it even serves camel burgers!).

I hope everyone is doing well! Stay tuned next week for a recap of our desert excursion!!!