28.06.18

I’ve been looking forward to this day from the moment we decided to head to Morocco. Today was Chefchouan day, the day where I could see the blue city. Chefchouan is famous for its blue walls.. the entire city is painted blue!

So early start as our driver picked us up right on 9am. The drive out to Chefchouan took us two hours (so not too far to go today) and meant that we left the sea side behind and headed in a southerly direction and into the Rif Mountains.

The Rif are another spectacular mountain range in the north of the country. Much greener than the Atlas in the south, the Rif is famous for its marijuana production. Morocco is the biggest producer of marijuana in the world and the Rif is the main production area of Morocco so not only is it very green (the mountains are completely under cultivation) but it is also heavily patrolled by the local gendarmerie! 🙂

The drive lead us through one of the main mountain valleys which has turned into a series of reservoirs to provide water for Chefchouan and Tetouan (a city on the way that was once the Spanish capital for Morocco)- so the landscape was green verdant mountains on either side and aqua blue water in the base of the valley.. really pretty drive.

Before we knew it our guide was dropping us off in Chefchouan where we were greeted by our local guide who then walked us up to the old Medina (the blue part of the city). First thing to say about Chefchouan is how clean and tidy the city is. On the outskirts of town the local council workers were hard at work sweeping the streets, putting in new garden beds, watering the grass etc—so unlike Southern Morocco (should also say that Tangier was similar—you could tell that they take pride in their cities here in the north).

Entering through the gates (the Bab) to the Medina and you are immediately surrounded by blue. Every lower part of the walls of houses is painted blue, much of the road ways are painted blue, blue doors, window frames… blue as far as you can see (at eye level).. look up and it is all white! The actual stone is white washed and then it is overpainted with cobalt to give the blue look at the lower levels. Everything is painted with cobalt to keep the bugs away! No ebohar in Chefchouan! To keep up the blue look, the houses are painted with cobalt four times a year. A photographers dream!

Everywhere we looked both of us kept saying comments like “goodness, oh my god, look at that” and my camera got a nearly non-stop work out. It was also market day so not only were there plenty of tourists walking around snapping pickies of the blue-ness but there were plenty of local berber women buying and selling in the main streets and squares. I should also mention that the Rif Berber are different to the Saharan and Atlas Mountain Berber peoples. For one they wear different clothing- with both women and men wearing hats (that look a heck of a lot like Mexican sombreros..) and flowing over jacket style things very reminiscent of the Mongolian tribesman’s outfits!

Our guide took us in for the obligatory “carpet shop stop”. We explained to our guide and the guide inside the cooperative that we had already bought a carpet but that we would be happy for the guide to explain the weaving process in the Rif. We were both quite surprised to discover that in the Rif the men weave the blankets and the women weave the rugs. A man was actually operating the loom in one of the rooms, weaving a red and black blanket. (Difference between rugs and blankets is the thickness of the thread and the weaving method- hand knotted for rugs vs loom woven for blankets).

We were both a bit taken with the blankets (our hotel in Tangier has a blanket on the bed and it is a really nice bed spread) so although we weren’t interested in rugs we did ask the salesman to show us his collection of blankets. We again got suckered in (although I think S was more suckered in on the blankets than I was) and we walked away with two gorgeous agave silk bed covers for just over a $100. (More stuff to get home!).

Next stop in Chefchouan was to see the local apothecary. The guide said he would take us to see the herbalist and so I was thinking “oh yeah.. here we go again.. more bloody thyme and mint for us to see” but no way! The apothecary in Chefchouan ended up being this perfume and soap seller (who also sells spices and stuff) and his shop was absolutely chock a block full of stuff! It was incredible to wander through his store looking at the amount of smelly bath products for sale (all for use in the hammam)- completely overwhelming!

Last stop for the day was for a nice cold drink in the main square whilst we waited for our driver. Really awesome wander around the Medina in the bluest of blue cities!

Our drive back to Tangier was very uneventful and we both got in thirty mins or so of shut eye. We had a very late lunch (early dinner is probably more appropriate description) at a local restaurant down on the beach front of Tangier. We had been assured that it was great food, cheap prices and clean surrounds. All were pretty accurate but the food itself was interesting. I ordered the fish soup to start and the Mixed Fried Fish for main. I don’t normally go for starter and main but the menu looked great and with no lunch I was pretty hungry. The soup came out and I had a huge bowl full—delicious but a lot of it, based on the size, I decided to just eat half and save room for mains. Mains came out and I got an oversized plate filled with fried ocean things. OMG! Anyone who knows me well knows that I like seafood but I don’t like to think of it as once being alive.. nearly everything that was on the plate was looking at me out of crumbed and fried eyes.. It was awful! S came to the rescue and swapped meals with me (he had fried swordfish which was without eyes) so that at least I ddin’t have to look at my meal.. Either way the nausea had set in and I pretty much didn’t eat much of my dinner (or S’s in this case). Apparently me fried debacle also wasn’t that good as most of it S didn’t eat either so I guess whether it was looking at me or not I probably wouldn’t have eaten it. If this is what passes as “great” seafood for Morocco I think they’ve got a ways to come.

After a hasty exit stage left, we walked along the beach front and up to the Medina. Beach was pretty busy with a few kids + men swimming in the Med (flat as and pretty cold!). I saw one woman who was fully clothed and decided it was too hard for me to go for a swim (even if I had’ve had my swimmers with me) so I’m glad I didn’t attempt it. Walk up to the Medina was lovely with us wandering through the souk before finally making it back to the digs. Another gorgeous evening in Tangier!