Exploring Chefchaouen

Meeting at 9, we met our guide for the morning. He was a happy, friendly man with a strong accent, meaning we had to concentrate hard to hear him, although his English was very good. He took us through the Medina, as it is Friday morning, the shops weren't open. Which made it a much more pleasant experience all together as we could move about easily. We wandered through the tiny lanes, admiring the many blue painted doors and walls. The houses seem so small and such irregular shapes, with steps winding around them and many arches over our heads. We saw people sitting painting the views and locals going about there day. There were lots of dogs lying around or wandering amongst the people. The street dogs have tags on their earth show they have been vaccinated. The cats are much more numerous. They are fed by the locals. We saw piles of cat food and tubs of water dotted about. We saw cats in all sizes and colours, although there were a lot of white ones and non were over weight, most looked well.

There are two ovens that burn so people can take things to be baked and we saw them, at one a lady and her tiny son were carrying small branches and dried herb stems to burn. The Medina housed the Jews from 1760 and started to mix the blue, indigo with the whitewashed ochre. In contrast to the green of Islam.

We climbed the tower of the small castle in the central square where we had good views over the city and beyond. Inside was a small prison and some details of the intricate handwork involved in carving the interior of such places. Unfortunately, there was no English description!

We had lunch in the square, prawn and avocado salad for me and soup for James. Unfortunately, he ordered the wrong soup so was a bit disappointed. We had seen others with a bean soup that he wanted.

We headed back to the hotel for a doze. James slept for a while, I for about 30 mins which was plenty for me.

We walked up to the Spanish Mosque on a hilltop overlooking the town to watch the sunset. It was a popular activity but wasn't crowded and was worth the 40 minute wait. It amazed us how quickly the sun eventually disappeared.

We went to dinner at a hotel with three floors of restaurant, the service was slow to begin with but the food was tasty and we all enjoyed what we had. They even had a beer on the menu, which was smooth and just what we fancied.Read more