Our air conditioning didn’t work in the room, so it was a rather warm night for us. It will certainly go in Nicole’s review. She is a diamond member, you see, and must be taken seriously. We enjoyed a free breakfast thanks to her diamond status, but we pretty much just loaded up on carbs. A combination of French-influenced items such as pain au chocolats, crepes, and madeleines served as the foundation.
The wind had calmed down to a reasonable level today, so we enjoyed walking around the property more leisurely without dust blowing in our eyes. We eventually packed up and left around 1045 or so. We started up our trusty Dacia Sandero and set forth on the open road toward the town of Chefchaouen. It was about a two and a half hour drive on mostly decent roads. There were no major slowdowns other than the usual stuff — traffic circles, police checkpoints, and rogue cattle.
We managed to park the car in a small nearby parking “garage.” It was all very tight, but they seemed to have some system of double and triple parking cars based on when they thought we would leave. Check-in took a while, but we finally got into our room. We then proceeded to check out the rooftop terrace and ate some prepackaged snacks. After getting settled, we ventured outside. The town of Chefchaouen is also known as the “blue city,” for reasons that will soon be obvious.
The reason for all the blue seems to be due to an influx of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition who settled here. Blue is a traditionally Jewish color representing the sky and heavens. But the real reason it has remained blue in an absence of Jews is because someone had the foresight to predict an influx of social media influencers.
The picture of Bricole (everyone’s favorite celebrity couple) above was taken in what would normally be a very popular photo op spot. We did initially see some people posing in these locales, but we were actually surprised by how few instagram-types we encountered. As countries are opening back up, it seems that Morocco isn’t as high up on the list for western tourists or influencers as much as a place like Marfa, Texas.
Most people in the town seemed to either be locals or Moroccan tourists. This made us the unfortunate targets of hawkers who would make beelines toward us at times to tell us to go into their restaurants etc. Fortunately, this practice only really occurred in one of the main squares. On the side streets, we mostly encountered locals. It served as a reminder that people actually live in a place such as this. I’d be taking a picture of an ornate blue door and then the resident would open up said door and head out for the day. Nobody takes pictures of Bricole’s door despite our celebrity status.
We were pleased that for the most part the town wasn’t inundated with tourists. We were preparing ourselves for the worst. I can’t say how it was pre-pandemic, but I picture something on the level of Santorini with clogged narrow streets and lines to take pictures. One benefit of the town’s geographic location is that it isn’t super easy to reach. Tangier is the closest at a little over two hours, and Casablanca and Fez are each over 3-4 hours. Day trips exist from those cities, but it limits the amount of time those people can spend here. Cruise ships also can’t dock anywhere nearby, so that helps as well. Spending the night here doesn’t seem especially common. The town is not big, but I’d rather be able to see things at a leisurely pace than have to be back on the road at a predetermined time.
All this walking in the sun had us feeling a bit parched, so we went back to the main square and got a couple sprites and sat down at a cafe to regain our strength. Afterward we decided to do our obligatory tchotchke shopping in the nearby markets.
Nicole got a magnet of some blue doors that actually open and close (wowzers!!!) and I got a Moroccan football jersey. The prices were so cheap it seemed wrong to even bother negotiating on price. We meandered the streets some more. Worth mentioning is that there are a lot of steps as well, so walking the streets involves a lot of climbing. We got lost a bit before finding our way to the Vancii Hotel, just outside the central area of town.
We went back to the hotel and had to kill a few hours before anything would open for dinner. The pizza place across the street was supposed to open at 8pm, but did not. We found another one down the street and had a rather inexpensive meal that cost us the equivalent of $6. Even though we finished our meal a little after 9pm, the dinner crowd was only just beginning to show. I guess meal times like that work if you’re used to it, but it’s not for me. My stomach will start rumbling at 530pm no matter what time zone I’m in.
Tomorrow we have a long drive (about five hours) to Casablanca. It is not recommended to drive at night here, so we just have to get there before 830pm. And even if it takes us a while to drop off the car, check into our next hotel and get situated, I can promise you every place in town will still be serving dinner.
passports & pepto bismol 