Chefchaouen came as a surprise to me, having been to Casablanca my image of Morocco was deteriorating as it had not been as I had anticipated. But when we woke up the morning after we arrived in the dark, this is what we saw. What a thing to wake up to when you're not expecting it!
I was happily surprised to find out that Chefchaouen reflected almost exactly what I had first pictured Morocco. The winding alleys, painted houses, curious side stalls, small cobbled squares, so picturesque, so beautiful and so interesting. One of the most curious things is the array of doors which I'm sure the citizens pride themselves in, small, big, wide, skinny, short, colourful, dull, studded, patterned, blue, purple, white, black, more blue. We spent much of the day inspecting the array of doors sprawled across the streets and in winding alleys, Mum had a ball taking various pictures of some of the most interesting.
We started off the day by exploring the local area, familiarising ourselves with the main streets and surrounding alleys. We also walked to the bus station to book tickets for a trip to Fes on friday. Several hills on the way back saw Dad and I racing up like maniacs and receiving worthy sniggers from the onlooking people. But we didn't care, we were having a good time.
While Mum and I ventured up an alley to take photos Dad got into a conversation with a man who then invited us into his home to look at the rugs and carpets that they weave themselves. We watched a relative of his use the 125 year old weaving machine, making it look so easy, yet is was so complicated. He gave me a twisted wool bracelet and then we went down stairs to be shown and taught about their works and how everything comes to be. This is a good demonstration of how hospitable Moroccans are, which i think Dad touched on in another blog. They are very kind and generous people.
Today we will probably do a walk to a fairly close by waterfall which is supposed to be very beautiful and visit the Kasbah, as well as probably just wander around the town a bit more. So lets see what the day brings.
