Chefchaouen: The Blue City

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The Blue City of Morocco is truly one of the most interesting sites in Morocco. This is for several reasons. First of all, as the pictures will show you, the city is really Blue. The labyrinth that makes up the old city (created in the 1400s) is painted in blue. Apparently the color comes from the Jewish communities who settled there after being expelled from Spain. As for the meaning of the color several theories exist, including it's being a spiritual reminder of heaven and earth or keeping the mosquitoes away (there were no mosquitoes in sight). Second, the city is in the Northwest part of the country and as such is this incredibly mixture of Arabic, Spanish, French and Berber communities. Here my terrible Spanish was just as useful as my terrible French. This city truly brings to life the various colonial forces present in the country's history, it's frascinating.

This is a good place to take a couple days and just enjoy the culture and walk through the neighborhood. You'll get the opportunity to walk up the hill to the Spanish Mosque and get an incredible view of the entire valley. There is good shopping to be had and Kim found some beautifully crafted Berber rugs, made of cactus silk of all things! We enjoyed tagine which is basically a slow cooked dish of meat (beef, goat, lamb, fish, etc.) and vegetables. Tagine is everywhere, is hearty and is surprisingly inexpensive.

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Photos

Caution: Mule working
Mules are at work everywhere around the country.

Kasbah
You can see the kasbah right in the middle of the picture.

Mint tea
It's everywhere! It is common to be greeted with mint tea, it's an integral part of the culture.