There was only one thing on our list of things to do today – drive to Chefchaouen. It is a 250km drive from Rabat and will take us at least 4 hours. Jason and I settle in to the back seat of the Toyota Pathfinder for the drive. I am grateful to have Heated Rivalry downloaded on my phone (IYKYK) and Jason is doing his best to finish all the Facebook videos on the internet.
We arrive in the very cute city mid-afternoon. I was not expecting Chefchaouen to be built right in the mountainside, 664 m asl. Driving up to it, we can see blue dotting the landscape. Blue everywhere but the sky.
We have a guide to take us for a tour of the city. It was nice to have someone give us a bit of history and a few stories about the small city. Mostly though, we were in awe of the quaintness of the streets. So many Instagram worthy streets, so many surfaces painted in different shades of bright blues, so many tourists like us clicking away with our cameras.
I asked our guide, “Why blue? How did this become a thing?” I was expecting an answer steeped in historical significance. That might be the case. There doesn’t seem to be a very clear reason. It is believed that in the 15th C, in the Jewish quarter, they painted their window and door frames blue as a religious way to be closer to the sky, or to heaven. Then, in the 1930s, when more Jewish people gathered here, the practice was revitalized. As time went on, more and more people started doing it for aesthetic reasons. Eventually, as tourism exploded, Chefchaouen became known as ‘the blue city’ and the practice became mandatory. Locals paint their buildings twice/year now.
It may seem like a silly gimmick to keep up, but it has definitely worked. The place was packed with tourists all trying to get the perfect Instagram shot – and it isn’t hard to do. The blue has made this Medina both unique and stunning.
Worth the 4 hour drive, for sure.
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