Azrou
A Berber market town at 1,250 metres in the cedar highlands — the name means "rock" in Tamazight, a reference to the basalt outcrop at its centre. The Tuesday market draws people from the surrounding plateau villages. The town is a working Amazigh community rather than a tourist destination: the macaque forest outside it is the attraction, the town is what surrounds it.
Azrou sits at the junction of the Middle Atlas mountains and the plateau that stretches north toward Meknes and Fes. The name means "rock" in Tamazight — a reference to the volcanic boulder that anchors the town centre.
The town is Amazigh. The market on Tuesday is one of the best Berber markets in Morocco — a regional gathering where the mountain communities come to trade. Wool, livestock, vegetables, and the distinctive flatweave carpets of the Middle Atlas (geometric patterns, earth tones, thinner and lighter than High Atlas rugs).
Azrou is also the crossroads town for the cedar forests. The road south toward Ifrane passes through the Cèdre Gouraud forest — home to the last significant population of Barbary macaques in Morocco. The town itself is quiet, cool in summer (1,250 metres altitude), and cold in winter (snow is common). The Protectorate-era administrative buildings and the French-planned Ville Nouvelle give it a subdued, orderly atmosphere.
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