Under the Shadow of North Africa's Tallest Mountain, Imlil, Atlas Mountains, Morocco

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Town of M'Zzick in the Atlas Mountains

Imlil is a cute little town at the foot of Mt Toukbal (Jebel Toubkal) - Northern Africa's highest mountain at 4167m. The town is situated at approx. 1700m, and is a base for climbing the mountain.  When we'd first arrived in Morocco in early March it was a little too soon to do the two-day climb up Toubkal. Unfortunately, we were so busy, that we didn't think to reconsider doing it as we drew nearer to the end of April when conditions are more favourable.
Getting there was an adventure in itself.  Most people said it wasn't possible or it would take ages, and most tourists get there on a pre-arranged tour, but we wanted to try and do it cheaply by public transport - a local bus and a couple of collective / public Grand Taxis. Of course, it was possible and it cost a fraction of the price of a day tour (though it took about twice the time to get there - about 3 hours - which was fine with us).

Martin below Jebel Toubkal, and town of Armed

It was definitely worth the overnight trip up into the hills as it was super scenic and we ended up staying in a Berber village in the Toubkal's foothills. Many of the locals had set up 'gites' or guesthouses, as the climb has become quite popular.  We walked from village to village exploring the area and it gave us inspiration to come back and climb Toubkal in the future. We talked to a few people who were on their way up the mountain, or some that were doing a long trek throughout the Atlas Mountains.  We were a little surprised at ourselves for not allowing time for this area of Morocco, because we love the mountains, and things were in bloom.  But, just being in the mountains was quite a shock to the system after coming in from the Sahara just 2 days prior.

Martin in the Medersa

Heading back to Marrakesh was super easy and even quicker than our journey the day before, as we
were old hands at it now. Once back in town we made the most of one more free morning before leaving the country by heading to a couple of historic sites that we hadn't visited before: The Musee de Marrakesh was a beautiful 19th century building with some great restored architecture and some interesting exhibitions. It was purchased by Omar Benjelloun and restored beautifully.  The Koubba Ba'adiyn was a crumbling ruin with great character - it was used previously as a bath house and latrine. My favourite, though, was the Ali Ben Youssef Medersa, or theological college, that had recently been restored with some amazing architecture. Early morning there with hardly any tourists and we almost had the place to ourselves and could explore the little study rooms in peace - not found much in Marrakesh.   The details of the decoration of this building was amazing, but we were driven out when the hoards of bus tours started coming through the door!   *Mush