Chefchaouen(Morocco): 1N/1D

November 2018                                                                                                         Itinerary Link

From Tangier to Chefchaouen:

We had previously booked a car to Chaouen(Xauen) for the 6 of us, but there was no room for Bill, so he was on his own.  One common mode of intercity travel in Morocco is Grand Taxi(shared taxi.) This worked perfectly for Bill, he went to the train station, found a taxi to Chaouen, waited until there was a total of 5 passengers and off they went.  I believe he said the cost was $3.50, about quarter the per person rate for our van.

The road was a two lane highway with little traffic.  I noticed numerous people standing along the road apparently waiting for rides.  I’m guessing that local buses come along and pick these people up, though I didn’t see any.  We’ve seen that transportation in rural China.

The other thing I noticed was people sitting by the road apparently selling some kind of large, yellow, round crop.  I assumed they were onions until we passed through a town with an outdoor market and a vendor handed one to our driver.  It was a yellow pomegranate. We encountered these pomegranates everywhere we went in Morocco. They were sweet, juicy and delicious.

Chefchaouen(population: 42,000):

Chechaouen (also spelled Chaouen or Xaouen) is a town in northwest Morocco situated between Tangier and Fez.  It is known for its buildings, all painted in shades of blue.

Our driver let us off in front of the Hotel Madrid which was supposedly near our 3 bedroom (we had thought 4) apartment and called our host Mustafa.  Mustafa appeared coming down a steep and daunting staircase.He asked if we needed help with are bags and I immediately said yes. A young man and a horde of preteen boys appeared,  swooped up our bags and started up the steps. It was a steep climb to the house and our apartment was on the third floor so we were grateful for the help.

I wasn’t sure what to do about tipping.  I pulled out a 100 dirham note and offered it to the young man.  He told me he wanted 160 dirham. I was about to find the additional cash when Mustafa took the bill from me, gave it to the guy, told him that that was more than enough and he should leave, which he did.

We then met Maria who appeared to be the owner.  She showed us around the place and then we discussed dinner which she was going to prepare for us(10 Euro person.)  At this point I finally realized she was speaking to me in Spanish. I had assumed it was French. Shortly later, when she led us through the medina or old city to a restaurant for lunch I noticed the signs were in Spanish and English not French and English.  The Hotel Madrid should have been a clue. The town is populated by descendants of refugees from the Spanish inquisition.

The restaurant Maria took us to, Beldi Bab Ssour, was lovely. The host was quite charming and assisted us in ordering an assortment of Moroccan food.

 

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We then spent the afternoon touring the central square.

 

Dinner was served in The central area of our apartment by Mufstafa, Maria and Mustafa’s daughter. A lamb tajine and a chicken couscous were very delicious!

The next morning we went to the bakery(Chez Aziz) that Maria told us about just down the street from us. All the pastries were excellent, and their avocado smoothie was to die for!

NEXT: Fez