Morocco: Azzemour

We drive up the coast taking a lesser travelled road along the ocean.

The soil is white and the distant sea is hazy as we view it down below.

The view points we stop at are breathtaking. We notice around this area a lot of new single-unit vacation homes being built. They are luxurious structures for the average Moroccan.

We finally cross a bridge and spot the small town of Azzemour sitting picturesquely on the banks of the Oum er-Rbia River.

It's a sleepy backwater with a languid charm and a sturdy Portuguese medina.

We take our time as we watch this fisherman row his boat in to shore.

We are booked at the Riad Azama, a traditional riad in an incredible old house complete with original carved woodwork and charming rooms surrounding a lovely courtyard (below). We are led into the largest room (pictured above), after being upgraded due to overbooking their smaller double rooms. It is a charming place that has not been too modernized, but maintained to standards that make it old and beautiful, yet very comfortable and homey. The carved painted ceilings here are some of the finest you'll see anywhere in the country.

The rooftop terrace has great views of the medina and the ville nouvelle.

A shot of the ville nouvelle where we wander to try to find Nigel another close shave at a barber shop. As we wander around we realize there is something going on in this small village. Some sort of art movement. We see murals on random walls or randomly painted doors like the one above. The town is completely unadorned for the tourist market and gives an authentic insight into modern Morocco. We don't run into any foreigner and are eyed curiously by some of the older locals. In fact, it is so unlike any of the tourist places we visit that we are shocked when the kids shyly say hi to us as though we are a novelty. In other places they can be hard core money earners and demand money for walking in front of us and apparently "guiding" us. It is a breath of fresh air here. It is a small village with a quiet languid charm, similar to some of the Tuscan villages in Italy I have visited. We walk along the city walls of the village along the river and are mobbed by a group of young boys who are so excited to see a blond foreign woman that one just hugs me and tries to lift me off the ground for fun. For our last days in Morocco we know we have chosen our location well. We find both the medina and the ville nouvelle relaxing as we discover a large flea market right outside city walls (much to my delight). Back at our riad we lounge around in the internal garden. There is a budgie bird cage built into the wall with new babies. Other budgies are not allowed in the cage and just fly about the garden. They stick around because they are fed there. There is a small cozy library that I settle into for hours in the evening. I make a pile of all the art and Morocco books that I want to look at on the shelves and hunker down to immerse myself. I chat with the French man who owns the place and mention I notice all the art filling the riad. When I mention I am an artist he takes us up to his private area to show us the original painted ceilings in his place. They are absolutely stunning. He is looking for a good restorer for one section of it. I like him immediately and watch as he goes to check up on his budgies several times a day. We eat dinner by candlelight in the courtyard, a wonderful tajine with great service, while we watch the fountain splash away. The sun sets and we head to bed ready to drive back to the Casablanca airport the next day.