Chaouen,morroco

Hello, I am glad to greet you, I am Yael Yancelson and today we are going to a literally blue corner of Africa, so breathe, close your eyes and let yourself be guided to reach Chaouen in Morocco, let’s begin.

We arrive in Chaouen in the Rif mountain range, northwest of Morocco, with about 40,000 inhabitants, we will be able to breathe clean and fresh air, how calm it feels and in part, it is due to the fact that there is almost no traffic!

One of the most beautiful cities in Morocco, Chaouen is also known as the pearl of the north and has been famous for hosting great artists, especially painters and writers such as Matisse. Its white and blue houses captivate us with a unique beauty with an architecture of Mediterranean style.

It is known for the spectacular blue buildings of different shades of its old town, as well as for its sloping cobbled streets, full of looms and leather goods

It is very interesting to see how the inhabitants paint their houses in different shades of blue several times a year, many of them tie their brushes to broomsticks to reach the top.

Blue refers to the sky and is an important symbol of freedom and the place where God is. Currently, the facades and doors of the houses are still painted in this color, as a way to continue attracting tourists and they say that the painting repels mosquitoes and it is true there are none around here!

We visit the Andaluces Mosque and the Uta al Hammam square, where we will see the Alcazaba and another mosque with an octagonal base tower.

This small city was founded in 1741 by Moulay Ali Ben Rachid where a small Berber population lived, it is considered a holy city because it was kept safe from foreign interventions thanks largely to the mountains that surround it and it prospered thanks to Muslim refugees from Spain.

Its original population was made up of exiled Al-Andaluz Muslims and Sephardic Jews.

I feel like doing a trek to reach the Ras.a.Ma spring and swim for a while, will you come with me?

We continue walking through these unique streets, somewhat medieval along Hassan II Avenue, which is the main artery and look here at Mohammed V, there is a market with beautiful handicrafts that of course, we will take home. From there we go to Bab el Ain which gives us entrance to the ancient city.

A medina is a quiet place unlike the big cities in Morocco like Fez or Marrakech, we walk through the souk that is also full of unique crafts and workshops to see how they do this wonderful work with carpets and skins, and this part fascinates me when we find so many species that give aroma to the whole environment and give us a feast to each of our senses!!!

We go to Plaza Xauen where we find many bars and restaurants and we can sit and watch people go by while we drink a delicious mint tea, look in front of the great mosque and if you turn your face you can see the Kasbah that formerly protected the city ​​of the Berbers, let’s go in to see what it hides inside, which is this beautiful and quiet Andalusian garden and under the tower we can see what the cells used to be, going out to the left we are going to enter the interesting ethnographic museum, which has he excellent collection of ancient weapons, costumes from different eras and art, this was formerly the Rif guard house and look how many ancient musical instruments, how great!

Now we are going to feel that time literally has not passed in this region of the world, because the hydraulic mills are still in use and the women are still doing the laundry in this Bab el-Ansar stream and the Ras el-Maa spring, the well-known neighborhood one of the laundries is called Rif Sebbanin and here we can also enter a 15th-century mosque. The source of the water comes from limestone rock and this beautiful stream that accompanies our walk is also in charge of watering the orchards on the riverbank.

On the Laoud Route, we will see beautiful waterfalls, natural monuments with pine forests, natural pools, mountains, and the famous Bridge of God, which is a 35-meter-high natural arch, look at it! And let’s continue hiking to reach the Talasemart National Park.

If you like to cook, I think it’s time to prepare our ingredients to go to the kitchen and make a typical Moroccan couscous, click on the button, or if you prefer, keep traveling.