Rosie and The Operator have arrived in The Blue City of Chefchaouen in Morocco and are eager to explore this beautiful rural town of 45,000 that sits perched high above the valleys on the slopes of the Riff Mountains.
We were awakened on our first morning in Chefchaouen bright at early with the sound of the Muslim dawn call to prayer from the mosque being broadcast over the town via loudspeaker. This call continued on for about 20 minutes instead of the usual couple of minutes. Rosie lay in bed listening to the haunting, musical melancholy sounding sing song of the Imam praying in a language that Rosie could not understand and it was so beautiful, sad sounding and poignant. After the prayer had finished the chorus of dogs barking and roosters crowing was not such a lovely dawn chorus…so, we guessed it was time to get up.
Rain was forcast for the afternoon so Rosie and The Operator wanted to get out and about and see as much as possible. Our first stop was trekking to the abandoned Spanish Mosque high above the town which is one of the most popular viewpoints in the city, (pic above). The mountains tower over you and the nice cobbled walkway turns into a slick clay goat path the higher you climb.
All of the locals are entrepreneurs here, as you hike past this guys house, he is sitting at a table across the doorway ready to sell you a drink and a snack…he will also juice some oranges for you if you fancy something a bit more…fancy.
Seeing how far and how high she has to climb Rosie is always a tad grumbly as she heads out on these treks but she is always glad she has done it when the goal is achieved because the views (and photos) of the beautiful blue and white patchwork that is the city below are always worth it. Que, hopeless selfie.
Heading back down the mountain we recross the river that supplies the towns waterways plus the old local laundry, built in its flow, that is still used today. What a beautiful place to stand, undercover in the wee building with the open sides and do your washing watching the world go by.
The town itself is a winding mish mash of alleys and dead end streets. It is just best to go with the flow and wander the streets, because you really do not know what awesome scene you will come across along the way. Rosie and The Operator just totally enjoyed wandering along not knowing where we were going, yet knowing the old town was small enough not to be bothered.
Chefchaouen was established in 1471, in 1492 the population exploded when Spanish Jews fleeing the executioners of The Spanish Inquisition flocked to Morocco and hid in mountain villages like this one. The Jews were the first ones to start painting the areas they lived in blue because it reminded them of heaven and the need to live spiritually whilst on the earth.
Urban legend has it that the town was painted blue as this is a colour that repels mosquitos…there might be abit of that in it, Rosie can say she never saw one mosquito…mind you, it was freezing cold.
The main income for the area is tourism, which has really boomed since The Blue City was made famous on Instagram. This is closely followed by flax and wool weaving to make cloth which is still done traditionally by hand and sold all over Morocco and internationally. Below are some examples of the local weaving. The colours look so beautiful against the blue.
The next most infamous export…which could possibly eclipse the other two but is unrecorded as to its GDP….is cannabis. This is the biggest plant growing area in Morocco and it is abundant…The Operator, being middle aged and pretty clean cut was surprised how many times he was approached to see if he wanted to buy the ‘best hash in the world’.
On we wandered….mind you, you cant really get lost in this small town, walk up hill and you are going higher in the town, walk downhill and you will eventually come to the main square which has a tall pine tree in the center that you can virtually see from everywhere in town and can be used as a landmark.
The town square was always full of hustle and bustle, it housed many of the restaurants, souvenir shops and was also home to the huge orange walled Kasbah (fortress) which was built in the 15th century and now houses a teeny tiny museum…with not a word of English in it.
There is a small orangery garden inside the walls of the Kasbah and there are good views from the towers over the town but this was one of the most expensive (and small) places we have ever paid to get into for what there was to see.
The cost for a tourist was 12euro each – the cost for a visiting local was .30cents. Serious! In her best English Rosie announced 2 local Moroccan tickets please….with a straight face. The queue stopped, and looked at Rosie….the man in the ticket booth looked up, paused….and burst out laughing…it was worth a try. Below are the views over town from the parapets of the fortress.
The Town Square (below) was fun to sit in on a restaurant terrace and watch the world go by.
This main square was a bit of a tourist trap but we didn’t mind. The food was good, and the menus were in English and the waiters understood you. At this point in time that was all we wanted. We had the best local beef tangine ever one night. It was slow cooked in charcoal for 12 hours they said and it came in the clay pot it was cooked in that looked like a vase, which they tipped out in front of us. It was so aromatic and fall apart delicious, we scoffed it all before thinking of taking a picture….
Plus, we also had an awesome Chinese meal….pretty much the most authentic Chinese meal we have ever had in our life….and one of the best, tastiest, freshest meals as well. You know when you have had enough of the local food and are looking for something different. The waiter showed us to a table inside the Chinese Restaurant 4 stories up inside the building….on every floor there would have been about 40 Chinese people eating! The place was packed with busloads of Chinese tourists. We opted to sit out on the street and people watch, we couldn’t go wrong with this meal…we were the only Europeans in that restaurant and it was truly delicious! Chinese in Morocco…don’t hold it against us.
You were able to roam freely in this town too without being hassled from the store owners to buy their wares which was totally relaxing.
We had a fantastic, fun, relaxing time in this Blue City. The memories of wandering these streets are burnt into Rosies brain along with the vibrant shades of blue.
But the most lovely gesture which will remain with us as a lasting memory is the hosts of our B&B inviting us to have dinner with them as ‘we are now family and that is what family does’, that is pretty much all of the English they spoke as well. The home cooked meal was truly delicious, the company exceptional and what a finale to the lasting memories of this town and Morocco.
