From Fez to Merzouga

The city of Ifrane
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26 December 2006. After breakfast in Fez, we paid the bill of the hotel (500 MAD for hammam & massage that Barbara did and a bottle of wine we had during Christmas dinner) and we departed towards Merzouga at about 10:45. First we met the city of Ifrane. At an altitude of 1650m, it is built in the Swiss-alpine style. It looks like a very rich city and the royal palace covers a large area. At the time, the royal family was there and we could see soldiers and police all over the place. We kept driving straight and we realised that instead of going to Azrou (as we planned) we were actually going to the ski pistes. Everything was there (cable car, chalet, parking, etc.) but only traces of snow. Then we passed through a large plateau with interesting geological formations and after a long trip we arrived in Midelt. There, we had lunch in restaurant Fez (170 MAD - a bit expensive for the food offered) and bought a Berber carpet after about one hour of bargaining. Starting price 2900 MAD, we bought it for 120 EUR + 300 MAD. We later realised that the price was just about right (neither cheap nor expensive).

Bargaining for the Berber carpet
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We left Midelt at about 16:30 and at about 18:00 we were outside Er-Rachidia watching the artificial lake with the sunset. We had passed from very nice sceneries offered to us by the Ziz Gorge and the series of fortresses (built and abandoned by the legionnaires) surrounded by palm groves.

Our road trip from Fez to Merzouga - places, landscapes

In Er-Rachidia, it was too dark already to see anything or take any pictures. The road towards south was full of Kasbahs and palm groves. We arrived at Rissani and tried to follow the directions of the Kasbah we were heading to. A rogue tried to "help" us. We kindly refused his help. He then tried to send us to a different direction but fortunately we didn't follow his advice. We found the Kasbah after some search at about 20:30. The dinner was delicious. The room was cold and dim. We were too tired to bother. We were offered options for excursions for the next morning. We kindly denied and chose to wonder around alone.