779. Morocco Part 6 | Chefchaouen

This weekend we took a trip to Chefchaouen, a beautiful town washed over in all shades of blue..up in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco. It is an incredibly photogenic place. It reminded me a bit of Santorini/Greece in how the buildings looked, and also the colours and traditional dress have similarities to Cusco/the Sacred Valley of Peru.

It takes on average 4 hours to get there from Fes which is quite a long time on bumpy roads. Especially someone who gets motion sickness (me). We stayed there 1 night only. Since it's a small place, a day is enough to explore it but it would have been nice to stay an extra night or two. It is a lot more relaxed than Fes.

I literally took photos at every turn since every corner was so pretty. I really like that the place feels authentic (even though it is also touristy now)..but I mean they didn't paint it all blue to attract tourists initially. A lot of locals there wear their traditional clothing and numerous cats roam the streets. The city was founded in 1471. They don't know the exact reason for having it all painted blue (could be because of the large Jewish settlement in the past, to keep mosquitoes away, to keep the city cool during the summer heat, to represent the colour of water, etc).

So I took approximately 300 photos during the entire time there which I managed to narrow down to 47. I will post them over 2 posts.



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778. Morocco Part 5 | Christmas in Fes

Spending Christmas in Morocco was not pre-planned and up until a few weeks ago, I would have ever thought we'd be spending it here. I am really enjoying Fes so far though and glad to be here. Today is Christmas Eve. It's the first time in my life that it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Mainly due to the fact that we are in a country that does not celebrate Christmas. Also the weather is still between 15-20 degrees. I am used to snow and cold weather during this time of year.

But even if I was back home in Toronto, I don't think I'd be much in the Christmas spirit either due to the current situation in the world. Toronto is currently on lockdown anyways. I usually love the holiday season but this year I don't care about it at all, since it doesn't even feel like Christmas today/tomorrow and I don't mind skipping it for a year.

Yesterday we went with our guide around the modern part of the city and the new medina. We are staying in the old medina which I feel, out of all areas of the city we visited so far, is the coolest and most fascinating area. Definitely a very different experience and way of life. I still have a lot of photos to post from our explorations in there. My posts are a bit out of order. So yesterday we toured the modern area a bit and the new medina, including the Jewish quarter and cemetery. I love visiting cemeteries.


Barber shop


With our guide!

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777. Morocco Part 4 | Moulay Idriss

A few days ago we hired a driver/car for the day (along with our guide) to bring us to Volubilis, Moulay Idriss and Meknes. It was really cool to see the countrysides and some small villages. Volubilis was to be our first stop but unfortunately, upon arrival we discovered that the site was currently closed due to COVID (we've already run into this issue with a couple popular restaurants being temporarily closed for the same reason). So we continued on to a town called Moulay Idriss which is famous for being the burial site of Idris I; the first major Islamic ruler of Morocco (considered the "founder" of Morocco). I really enjoyed the experience there. It felt like a really authentic experience (like Fes) but Moulay Idriss receives way less tourists. Up until several years ago, non-Muslims were not allowed to stay overnight there.

After that, we continued our way towards Meknes. Meknes is beautiful as well but I felt it was a bit more touristy (compared to Moulay Idriss and Fes). It didn't have the same charm as the other places.

So in this post I will just show you photos from the first half of the day. The rest will continue next time..


We started the day going to a lookout point offering a nice view over the Fes medina. As you can see it is very large..pretty impressive considering it's an all-pedestrian zone. This is the labyrinth we are staying at. Our place is well located though as we are just a few minutes walk from a "car zone" so we have the option of conveniently taking a taxi/car whenever we need to. Some homes you'd need to walk for a long time to arrive.


Peering into Volubilis as we were not allowed any closer


Moulay Idriss

This used to be a "caravanserai" which were traditionally inns along the Silk Road for travellers and traders to spend the night. Now its been converted into something like a market where each room sells something different. It was pretty cool.


There's always livestock along the sides of the roads. Here is a blurry shot of sheep - a very common sight here.


Then we stopped by a place on the side of the road for lunch. It was really nice. There's a small restaurant with a large lawn dotted with lots of tables and chairs. Apparently it's usually a very popular place but when we went it was empty (just us). I assume partly due to COVID again. As always when you eat, there are cats watching and asking for food (which I always give lol).



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