The Blue City

The first surprising thing about Chefchaouen is that, when viewed from a distance, it is less blue than you expect. That said, it is apparently much more blue than it was 15 years ago, so there’s a trend.

The Blue really kicks in when you wander the Medina at ground level. Without the colour it would be a cute town; with it, it leaps up to utterly stunning. And that was in the rain!

My favourite thing about Chefchaouen was not the lashings of blue against winding cobbled streets. It was the communal bakeries. Every couple of blocks there would be a glorious smell of baking bread. The locals make dough in their homes and then take it to the community bakery to be, well, baked by a professional baker. These bakeries are over 500 years old and still being used today. On top of the age, it’s an incredibly efficient way to cook without every house having an oven and burning wood. Some bakers have a sideline in their own goods and we tried some very tasty local pastries made from almonds and peanuts.

Even the bits of Chefchaouen which aren’t blue are pretty. They still have communal washing stations that are used daily in the mornings, then, in the afternoon, they are used to cool oranges.

The town sits in a steep valley and we walked up one side at sunset to the Spanish Mosque. The clouds defeated the view, but we appreciated the exercise.

The nighttime view from our hotel, which is most of the way up the same hill, made up for it. Quite spectacular to contemplate while munching on locally-grown olives.