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| Chefchaouen |
We haven’t visited Chefchaouen before, the blue mountain town that has become the most recent “go to” tourist destination in Morocco. It is well worth a visit, with a charming central square and medina ranging up the steep mountainside in narrow, rocky alleys and long, curving stairsteps.
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| plaza in Chefchaouen |
Chefchaouen has a very interesting history. It was first settled by Spanish Jews and Muslims in 1492 when both groups were expelled from Spain by Isabella and Ferdinand, after they conquered Spain and Portugal from the Moors who had ruled Spain for 800 years. So, the townspeople speak Spanish, Arabic and Berber, unlike the majority of the Moroccan population who speak Arabic, Berber and French. The central square is called the “zocalo” rather than “place”. The Jews left Chefchaouen as well as the rest of Morocco starting in 1948, when Israel was founded, and continued migrating to Israel, Europe and the US for the next 30 years, so that now there are no Jews left in Chefchaouen.
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| blue doorway along alley |
The town is very picturesque, with gorgeous blue doors and blue squares, walls and alleys. We kept coming upon pretty little plazas with cafes and tiny shops, selling everything from tourist trinkets to paint pigments
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| art gallery |
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| paint pigments |
Most of us hiked to a small mosque built by the Portuguese on the mountainside above Chefchaouen. The townspeople don't use it because it looks like a church instead of a mosque. I continued climbing to another mosque higher up and a small village with a few houses, goats and lots of children. The schoolchildren were coming home from school in Chefchaouen as I walked down, a steep climb of about 2 miles each way, which they make every day.
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| mosque in village above Chefchaouen |
On our 5 hour drive to Chefchaouen, we quickly encountered the first of many police traffic stops. Our bus was pulled over and our driver forced to produce all the papers regarding the bus as well as his own credentials. If a driver gets a ticket, he gets points against his license. It doesn’t take many tickets to lose your driver’s license and, therefore, your livelihood. So, police have tremendous power when they stop a car or bus. As a result, drivers usually pay off the policeman in order to avoid a ticket. As we drove hundreds of miles all over Morocco, we encountered many police roadblocks and were stopped multiple times.
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| sharing trail with a kid |
This part of Morocco is its breadbasket. There are tens of thousands of acres of
wheat, beautifully golden right now as the fields await the harvester. Farmers contract with harvester owners to get
their crops harvested. We saw lots of
big machines in the fields and on the roads.
Once the crop is harvested, the stubble is cut and baled into large hay
bales. If there is enough rain in the
north for the grass to grow and feed the sheep, cattle and goats, the hay is
sold in the south, where there is very little grass. The south of Morocco sends dates and sheep north
in return. If there is a drought, the hay stays with the farmer to feed his animals.
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| last of the poppies |
We’re a little late for the huge splashes of red poppies that cover the large meadows across Morocco in March and April. But, some are still blooming to remind us that Morocco is a land of many colors in both cities and countryside.
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