Blogs from Chefchaouen, Tangier-Tétouan, Morocco, Africa

Today we say goodbye to Fes and head north to Chefchaouen, a town in the Rif mountains just south of the Mediterranean. The day starts badly. We’re made to wait 15 minutes for breakfast – how hard can it be to slice a baguette and make some coffee, which doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but irritates badly. Aziz comes to collect us and help us pull the suitcases back along the alleyways to the nearest road where Hassan is waiting for us, smiling as ever. There’s a heavy mist, which makes the alleys quite ethereal, and reduces visibility on the drive quite considerably. We head off across the plain, which is noticeably greener and more intensively farmed than anywhere we’ve been so far on this holiday, although the villages all look rather miserable. ... read more

Od CS vypadnutie okolo 9/30, kedze obe este spali nechal som im tam pisomne podakovanie. Pesi na stanicu cca15.min. Opat ako naschval nikde nic otvorene s jedlom. Na stanici stacilo povedat nadhanacovy mesto a uz ma sikoval k dalsiemu a uzaj sedim v buse. Este siel so mnou kupit listok do kanclu, samozrejme,ze s batohom ma nechcel pustit hore do busu, tak platim este za batozinu. Domaci platia tiez, len neviem ci aj oni 10dh alebo menej. Cestou casto zastavujeme bo je to obycajny bus a nie ctm resp surpatour. V tetoune mame dokonca pol hodinovu cakacku. Tu nabieha do busu predavac vody, potom predavac zakuskov. Po vystupeni v chefcha, strasne krkolomny nazov, cita sa to šefta, vonku dobra zima. Sa ale necudujem sak je to v horach. Taxi netreba,centrum je blizko i ked do kopca. ... read more

Okay, so we’ve made it to Tangier and we’re in the taxi collective. One interesting aspect of the journey was a police road block where they stopped our cab, asked to see the ID of the other passengers (didn’t care about our blue-eye’d-ID) and… arrested an old man! The passenger next to Steve whispered the word, “hashish,” with breath that itself should be a felony. We still don’t know why they chose him or how they knew to arrest him save his resembling the guy from ZigZag packs. Once in Chefchhueuen, we were dropped at the curb and, of course, scoped out by locals. Our French had been coming in very handy since the first petit taxi at the ferry dock, and it didn’t hurt here either. With surprisingly non-invasive help from locals, we found a ... read more

Geo: 35.1716, -5.27069We awoke this morning to the "call to prayer", such a characteristic element of the Muslim world. We enjoyed a nice breakfast of bread, cheese, olives, jams, honey, crepes and coffee, prepared by our Riad host. We then met Morad for a nice, leisurely stroll of the Medina and old town of Chefchaouen. This beautiful, mountain-top city has many buildings which are painted blue, giving the town a cool and unique feel. Unlike places like Egypt, here the shopkeepers do not aggressively try to drag you into their shops, and our walk through the city is most pleasant. We top for a coffee in a cafe on the main square, before heading out to drive back to Tangier.Upon arriving back in Tangier, Morad takes us to one of his favourite old restaurants, with all ... read more

Dnes jsme nasim koukanim opotrebovali modre steny Chefchauenu. Cesta tam byla trochu dlouha, cca 4 hodiny, a samotna medina je celkem mala, ale jinak slo o moc hezky zazitek. Z jakehosi duvodu totiz doslova vsechny steny maji modrou barvu, nekdy s bilymi vrsky. A jeden mistni excentrik mel barak fialovy (predstavuji si, ze ho od te doby nikdo na ulici nezdravi). Oproti Fesu tu byly urcite nizsi ceny a celkove mi tu prisli i milejsi lide. Jen deti, ktere z nas mely povyrazeni jinak standardniho dne, me trochu zklamaly svou jedinou naucenou anglickou frazi "no photo". I kdyz jsme je fotit nechteli. Takze to trochu z jejich strany vyznelo zbytecne neprijemne. Dali jsme si jidlo, navstivili par kramku a prosmejdili co nejvice zakouti, abychom proste meli vyfocene ty nejhezci modre dvere, ktere vsichni na Facebooku lajknou. ... read more