Chefchaouen – the blue-washed Medina enclosed by mountains

We are at Camping Azilan Chefchaouen (N35.17509 W5.26616), overlooking the rugged Rif Mountains.  It’s the only campsite near to the town and with this in mind the owners seem to have taken advantage of charging a high price of 95DH (without electric) – the most expensive we have come across in Morocco!  The campsite is clean and the owner friendly, however, the showers and toilets have seen better days (and won’t be getting used by us), but at least there is water to fill up the motorhome with, so we can enjoy our own bathroom comforts.

Not long after parking up we had a visit from the resident donkey, looking for food– think Mel was thinking: which Moroccan carried out your haircut? It was like he had a little blanket on top!

Mel with the resident donkey.

The views from Ouazzane to the campsite were really pretty.  We were surprised how green everything was and plenty of water in the rivers – not what we had been used to seeing in Morocco and a welcome surprise.

Chefchaouen is about 1.5kms from the campsite, downhill but unfortunately, that means it’s all uphill coming back.  Wonder how much a taxi back costs?!

Going through the 16th Century Medina gate at the top of the hill

It's looking steep and a long way down!

It was great to be able to just walk around and not get hassled by any sellers here!

Through the souks

This little boy was sitting about 40 feet up on a ledge on this building, no idea how he got there and no one seemed to bat an eyelid!

Little boy - top left, clearly enjoying the view!

We have been warned by people we have met travelling around Morocco that Chefchaouen is well known for the selling of Kif (marijuana) and Moroccans will unashamedly come up to you offering it.  It seems that the police just turn a ‘blind eye’ – it seems in Morocco they are only interested in catching you for speeding.  I have to say, we were lucky and didn't get offered any - we obviously don't look like druggies, which is a relief!

The blue-washed Medina is really pretty and has an Andalusian character about it.  It was originally white-washed but when the Jews moved in to the Medina mid 18^th century, they added indigo into the whitewash to contrast against the traditional green of Islam.

Views from the Kasbah (built in 1471) of the Grand Mosque and Medina.

Looking down on the Kasbah Gardens

Going back up!

We will move on from here to Tanger Med Port, which is only a couple of hours from here.  We have open tickets so we just have to turn up at the port, go through all the paperwork and wait for the next boat - we need to prepare for a long wait, if it's anything like the journey across here from Algeciras!  We will then return to Gibraltar to pick up the scooter from Joyce (who has been minding it for us at her garage), which I think Mel has secretly missed.

Mel is also looking forward to returning to Gib to sit and have a ice cold pint in an English pub and an 'All Day English Breakfast'.  Me, I think I will just need to sit a few days and reflect on all the lovely and different things we have seen every day over the last 36 days in this beautiful part of North Africa.  When we think back to coming over and how apprehensive we were, it seems months and months away.  What will we miss about Morocco - everything!

Sally x