The Blue City of Chefchaouen

The road to Chefchaouen took us through interesting landscapes.  A vegetarian buffet for lunch was enjoyable as was the fire roasted fresh bread.

Once again this charming city, nestled in the Rif Mountains, did not fail to amaze everyone.  You can’t help being impressed by the white and various shades of blue on the buildings and streets.  Every alley you look at is not only painted but frequently decorated with flowers, rugs and much more.  I’m pretty sure I went down new streets from the previous trips and saw new places and learned new things - eg. If the street is painted blue that means it is a dead end - that would have been helpful the first day! The doorways are al, so unique.

Picked up a new member for the group

Public water fountain

Washing tables along by the river for women from countryside

Lunch de Lilys

Women bring their bread there and the baker bakes it for them.  Handicrafts are big in al, regions of Morocco and this is different.  

Putting silver on a pottery bowl

Protesting Gaza - this happens every Friday after prayers

One special stop for me was the handicraft centre where the same lady from two years ago came to greet us.  She immediately remembered me and there were hugs all around.

Cats, cats, cats everywhere you can think of to look.  Cats seemed to more valued here than dogs - they are considered cleaner!

Another highlight dinner to Omar’s apartment.  Omar’s wife is a chef and had prepared everything ahead since she was working.  W3 enjoyed a tasty vegetable soup, beef and prune tagine and of course tea and many sweets.

Some opted for the hike up the hill to the Spanish Mosque - panorama views.  Since I did it before I opted out but they kindly agreed to share their pictures.

The hotel this year was completely opposite from the previous locations - charming, blue, 3 adorable and begging hotel cats and right along the River.  The first walk into the old city seemed far but then you realized it was not all that bad, although it was composed of many steps.

This is my first tour to Morocco in spring and it is definitely different.  Everything is quite lush and green and of course there are spring flowers every where.  But spring does bring rain and we discovered that in Chefchaouen as the skies opened up as well as lit up and caught our attention with what seemed like endless thunder.  The rain was not threw with us as the skies once again opened up the last morning, bringing hail with it,

That white stuff is hail!