Going to Ifrane for the Eid celebration was wonderful! We didn't experience the holiday; except through the testimonies of others and some interesting sights on the way up. But, it was a wonderful escape to a little town that felt nothing like Casablanca!
There were a lot of great parts to the weekend! Besides getting to know the other people on the trip, my favorite thing was the foliage. I finally saw fall! It was beautiful!!! I honestly felt like I was in a postcard.
There was a river that ran through the town and King's palace grounds.
The leaves were gorgeous! Yellows, reds, oranges! I loved it!!! Way better than shrubs and palm trees!
The King's Ifrane palace was up on one of the hill/mountains. We could see it from the balcony of our hotel room. It looked like something out of a fairy tale! Unfortunately, he wasn't home.
There were a lot of great things about the weekend, sadly the weather was not one of those things. It was very rainy and quite chilly. It didn't ruin the weekend though. We braved the rain and got soaked while exploring. I kind of enjoyed the cooler weather...it felt more like home!
Due to the weather, we spent most of the time inside. [Or we are just using that as an excuse!] We got a few TV stations in our hotel room, most of them in different languages. Our favorite was the Bollywood station because...well, it was Bollywood! Thankfully, since it was in various languages it included Arabic subtitles...those were helpful. We were able to catch a few English chick flicks throughout the weekend. One afternoon was spent reading (and sleeping!) wrapped up the biggest warmest blankets ever! We wanted to steal them, but it wouldn't have fit in my backpack...it was huge!
We weren't able to celebrate the Eid with any families but when Cherith and I were exploring around the market we stumbled upon these....
I think it was a leg bone.
And the other is part of the jaw.
Most people eat sheep during the Eid, but these were awfully large. Either way we found these bones chilling in the middle of a park downtown. Crazy.
One day, we did have beautiful weather and traveled to a town over near the high atlas mountains. The mountains look like they come up from no where, they were snow covered, and beautiful! We visited a monastery and were able to hear stories from a monk who used to live in Algeria before his brothers were all killed in an uprising. We didn't have a lot of time to explore, but what we did see was beautiful.
Ifrane has a rather famous landmark. The lion. We actually had to wait in a line to take this picture! People (largely tourist groups) come from all over the place to take their picture with the lion. Deborah (our 'tour guide' for the weekend and Ifane 'native') told us people will have tons of pictures- "this is me as a baby, as a high schooler, with my grandma... with the lion." So Cherith and I decided it was a necessary photo to take.
This is Cherith and I on our bike ride...with the lion!
*We weren't planning on taking a photo so please don't judge our fantastic appearance!
Other great highlights from the trip included the amazing food we ate- our hosts were fantastic chefs! We went to a Fancy hotel (Michifen) for drinks, we had a tour of the University in town that was founded by the Saudi king and former king of Maroc, we spent lots of time cuddled up in blankets watching Bollywood, we went to a home church with some of the university profs, and we went bowling! I was the best bowler there...which is saying a lot if you know my bowling abilities!
It was an amazing weekend! We all came back feeling rested and ready for our grueling 1 and half day week!
There were a lot of great parts to the weekend! Besides getting to know the other people on the trip, my favorite thing was the foliage. I finally saw fall! It was beautiful!!! I honestly felt like I was in a postcard.
There was a river that ran through the town and King's palace grounds.
The leaves were gorgeous! Yellows, reds, oranges! I loved it!!! Way better than shrubs and palm trees!
The King's Ifrane palace was up on one of the hill/mountains. We could see it from the balcony of our hotel room. It looked like something out of a fairy tale! Unfortunately, he wasn't home.
Due to the weather, we spent most of the time inside. [Or we are just using that as an excuse!] We got a few TV stations in our hotel room, most of them in different languages. Our favorite was the Bollywood station because...well, it was Bollywood! Thankfully, since it was in various languages it included Arabic subtitles...those were helpful. We were able to catch a few English chick flicks throughout the weekend. One afternoon was spent reading (and sleeping!) wrapped up the biggest warmest blankets ever! We wanted to steal them, but it wouldn't have fit in my backpack...it was huge!
We weren't able to celebrate the Eid with any families but when Cherith and I were exploring around the market we stumbled upon these....
I think it was a leg bone.
And the other is part of the jaw.
Most people eat sheep during the Eid, but these were awfully large. Either way we found these bones chilling in the middle of a park downtown. Crazy.
This is Cherith and I on our bike ride...with the lion!
*We weren't planning on taking a photo so please don't judge our fantastic appearance!
Other great highlights from the trip included the amazing food we ate- our hosts were fantastic chefs! We went to a Fancy hotel (Michifen) for drinks, we had a tour of the University in town that was founded by the Saudi king and former king of Maroc, we spent lots of time cuddled up in blankets watching Bollywood, we went to a home church with some of the university profs, and we went bowling! I was the best bowler there...which is saying a lot if you know my bowling abilities!
It was an amazing weekend! We all came back feeling rested and ready for our grueling 1 and half day week!
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