Chefchaouen

Upon leaving Essaouira, we took a bus, then a night train to Tangiers, then a taxi to get to Chefchaouen, the blue city in the Rif mountains of northern Morocco. Amazing! We cannot explain how much we loved the feeling of that city. Highly recommended.

First, about the voyage there. The night train was awkward and cramped but a cool adventure that we had to try. You share a small compartment of 4 single beds and hardly any room for all of our luggage. I shared a single bed with Colin and then Andrew was NOT in the bed next to me but rather above the bed next to me. Two random Moroccan men slept in it with us. Granted, I did not have the best sleep of my life since I was constantly awoken by the man snoring next to me or on guard, thinking that maybe he was trying to touch me or steal something from our luggage. One of the men got in two hours into the voyage and made lots of noise settling in.

We arrived in Tangier and then took a shared taxi 2 1/2 hours to Chefchaouen. We got the back seat and then the taxi driver picked people up on the way. Shared taxis are the way things are done here and it is much cheaper than a private one. Sometimes you see a taxi with 7 people in it.

We took a hike to see the full scope of the city from the outskirts. It was a gorgeous valley.

From the mosque pictured later, we off-roaded it and hiked down this mountain to check out the cemetery below. We stumbled upon people doing mourning chants. It was beautiful to stop and listen to them chant over their loved-ones grave. It will be very interesting to see the cemeteries and how people deal with death in some of the cultures we experience.

A little selfie from our hike

A woman washing and drying her clothes in the mountains.

An abandoned Spanish mosque from 1311. 

These ares various photos taken around the medina. The blue was added in the 30's. I loved the uneven walls that seem to look almost wave like and bulge out at times. Some of the pictures are huge and I really don't know how to fix that. Sorry.

Our riad was just as blue as the city

These are the views from the top of the terrace of our riad. 

Instead of hearing the call to prayer at 5:30 a.m., we were greeted every morning by the roosters that were all around us. We ended up calling it the "Cocklarmclock" . . . gets funnier every time you say it.

Moroccans LOVE giving Colin free food. Sometimes it was a healthy treat like clementines but mostly it was fries and cookies and evil treats that were already in his mouth by the time they asked, if they even asked at all. In case you were wondering, we have not been good at keeping up with our real foods, gluten-free diet in this bread-based culture. This is my major fail and I am really trying my best to do better in Europe, where my goal is to have more access to supermarkets and kitchens (especially since we can in no way afford eating out like we could in Morocco).  I already prepared myself for this challenge of traveling, knowing that our selection is sometimes limited and eating healthy food can be way too much work. If anything, this little while has shown me how much I miss that healthier diet.

Chefchaouen was an absolutely magical town that spoke more Spanish than French. I was not prepared for that but French still served me well. Every city we have been to has gotten less and less intrusive in regards to merchants. The shop keepers were so nice and not pushy. They hardly made a a peep when we walked by. We finally decided to actually buy something from a shop keeper knowing it would be so unique and less expensive here. We replaced a carry on with a bigger and better travel bag that is blue carpet and leather, with a shoulder strap. The blue reminds us of this colorful country.