Chefchaouen Blues

After an long bus ride, I just arrived in Chefchaouen, a town in Northern Morocco up in the Rif mountains.

It’s a beautiful town, known for the way most of the buildings have been painted blue and white.  It looks a bit like I’d imagine a little mountain Santorini would be.  I am happy to be here – Mountain Girl that I am – as it reminds me of home.  There are many tropical plants nestled among the pine trees, though, so it’s exotic and foreign at the same time,  familiar and comforting.

I’m staying in a little bed and breakfast called Dar Terrae.  Maia, the friend I made in Fes, recommended it, as she stayed here when she visited last week.  Of course, I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that she speaks fluent French and Italian (and a bunch of other languages) when I booked here.  This hotel is also known as Hotel Italiano, and I believe it may be owned by Italians.  I interacted online before arriving with a girl named Hanaa.  After arriving, I learned that she and her husband run this and another hotel in town.  She doesn’t speak much English.  Luckily however, a lot of people in northern Morocco speak Spanish, (which I studied for about 4 or 5 years while in school).

…So I just had a full-on 30+ minute conversation with someone completely in Spanish!  (with only a couple of fallbacks on Google Translate, and the occasional slip into French, since I’ve been surrounded by French-speakers for the last week, especially in Fes!)  Hanaa and I had a great talk over coffee as we finished up my registration.  We talked about her marriage, where to go here in Chefchaouen, how to get there (and back again!), what is the best way to get to the next town I’m visiting, and about her honeymoon in Turkey, since I’m going there this year, among many, many other things from nose rings to Bollywood to camping in the desert!  I must admit, I’m relatively pleased.  Clearly, I’m proud of myself, but I also really like Hanaa.  She’s super nice, and I’m looking forward to talking to her again.

Dar Terrae is a beautiful traditional riad located in the kasbah of Chefchaouen.  It’s got an open central courtytard and the rooms have windows that open onto the center.  On the rooftop is a terrace where they serve breakfast each morning.  Over the walls, there is a view of the city, and you can hear the calls to prayer over the rooftops.

It, like most of the buildings is the whitewashed and beautiful blue color.  It has lovely gold accents, which really shine.  I have a lovely alcove in my room for my bed, and an individual bathroom and fireplace (which I don’t need at this time of year – the fireplace, not the bathroom)!

I’m looking forward to checking out Chefchaouen this evening.  I’m going to walk around and see the village.  It’s nestled on the mountainside here, and the white buildings promise to be very picturesque.

Hanaa told me there’s a river nearby and a church, so I’m going to head over there for the sunset.  I’m also planning to go to Akchour, which is a nearby village which has waterfalls and is known for spectacular hiking in the next day or so.  Looking forward to some mountain riverside hiking time!

 

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The waterfall here in town was lovely.  To get there, I walked through the town and enjoyed seeing the beautiful blue and white buildings.

I liked seeing the townspeople interacting with one another and some children who were playing in the streets.  There were a lot of tourists at the waterfall area, checking things out, taking pictures, and there were vendors selling their wares.

 

 

One guy had a peacock he was showing off to tourists.  Some kids were reacting everytime the bird even moved, which made for some funny moments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a cute little tea shop down by the banks of the river and there was a beautiful church on the hill beyond.

 

 

 

 

There was a fascinating covered area by the river where the water could be funneled through with individual stations where clothes could be washed.  After walking there, I came back to the kasbah and had a nice tangine in a restaurant just off the main square.