Chefchauen means “look at the peaks” and indeed the majestic mountains of the Rif can be seen from the city.  But really it should be called “look at me; I’m all blue!”

Chefchaouen is Morocco’s popular blue-washed city and the next stop (for two nights) on our tour.  We took the long way to get here from Tangier.  But first, the amazing news is that we, or rather, Majid, got all our big suitcases into the luggage compartment on the bus and we left five minutes early at 8.25 am, having had a massive breakfast and said adieu to La Tangerina.

First stop was Tétouan, the old capital of Spanish Morocco, a dazzling white town high in the hills overlooking the Med in the distance and the Rif.

After a comfort stop we then hugged the coastline along a beautiful winding road to Oued Laou, a seaside resort town that’s worth a miss, before heading inland along a dramatically beautiful gorge en route to Chefchauen.

Majid and Lyn were happy — maybe it was the sight of some kif growing by the river (there were whole plantations of weed along the valley)!  That’s it in the green patch on the left, above the stones in the foreground of the second pic below.

After finding our way through Chefchaouen’s medina and stopping for lunch, we settled into sumptuous rooms at the Lina Ryad, right in the heart of blue-land.  Ev took advantage of the late afternoon light for a demo from the riad’s roof terrace (negotiated with some degree of difficulty up many, many stairs).

Dinner in our riad tonight and more leisurely painting in Chefchauen’s derbs (alleys) tomorrow.