Day 10 - Chefchauouen

The blue pearl, Chefchauouen’s nickname was literally on our doorstep and so we had a day of Instagram-able photoshoots lined up. During breakfast, Anna had found 9 or 10 streets and doors to visit, and it would be up to me to get her there. Gold Duke of Ed does come in handy every now and again.

Both Anna and I were to be models today, I even was strutting my stuff in an orange t-shirt so I would compliment the blue walls of the city. However, we didn’t account for my fantastic ability to sweat, or the 40 degree heat that had joined us on our adventure. It would all be down to Anna.

It was still early in the day and the streets weren’t too busy. There were less tourists in the way and even the locals were much nicer. Their catch phrase seems to be ‘don’t worry, be happy’. Makes sense when most of them are trying to sell ‘very good, very cheap hash’ with cannabis plantation allegedly dotted around the hills.

Navigated with such proficiency, we got our pictures and videos and I was in desperate need for a change of t-shirt. My light orange top had almost become dark red so we took our time in our air-conditioned room to change into something more favourable to water.

With a full day ahead of us, and an Anna and Louis trip not complete without one, we hiked up to the Spanish Mosque. It’s only about a 20 minute walk but is dangerously uphill. Anyway, off we went in our toms and sandals. On the way, we crossed the river and small waterfalls where the locals, once again, were loving life. The first part of our hike even allowed us to take in the ingenious methods of orange movement and orange juice making, using the forces of the water.

We reached the summit of the mountain just in time for the call to prayer, listening to the chants echo around the valley below us as we took in the sights. It was quite peaceful up here and we stuck out the sun for as long as we could before climbing down, walking along the various streets and finally ending at a cafe for some water and a small snack.

Back to our Riad for some needed cold air again, I took the opportunity to ask our hosts if we could us their washing machine. To be fair to them, Fatima the cleaner was shouted at and like a drop of a hat, arrived and told us to fill a bucket of our laundry. Couldn’t be better! We showered and changed and chilled on our terrace, waiting for sunset to go for dinner.

We weren’t too sure where to go for dinner tonight. The other residents, who happened to be from Glasgow, told us there was only one place in Chefchauouen that served alcohol, and they had found it. Nae Tennants though. Instead we opted for the restaurant opposite our Riad that also had a rooftop terrace.

It was a meal to forget. They had apparently ran out of anything we wanted on the already scarce menu, so I was left with an omelette fromage whilst Anna had a bowl of lentils. The only problem was that my omelette came about 20 minutes before Anna’s and was served runny and underdone - just how I like it.

I mean, £7 for 2 mains, a basket of bread, little snack dishes, water and an apple juice for Anna, you can’t really complain too much. Well a properly cooked egg and a candle on the table would have done. We returned home for Moroccan mint tea on the terrace with some peanut butter pastries - they go nuts for peanut butter here!