Charming Chefchaouen, Chefchaouen, Morocco

I wrote charming because....well....it rhymed. But more than charming I would say Chefchaouen is mesmerizing, or at least the medina or old town is. The entire medina is awash in vibrant blue colors that captures your attention and holds it as you round every corner.

Chefchaouen, or Chaouen as most of the locals call it, is a city in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco. It lies about 60 kilometers south of the Tetouan airport. The city's name means "Look at the Horns" referring to the two mountains that serve as the backdrop to the city.

Photo of the old city taken on one of Dan's morning runs. You can see one of the "horns" above the city.

The first question that most people have is why was the entire city painted blue in the first place? There are a lot of theories, but we have it from a reliable source that there are actually multiple reasons for the blue hue.

First, it was where the Jewish inhabitants went to live. Many Jews had fled persecution in Spain and elsewhere in Europe and found asylum in northern Morocco. Many of those Jews made their way to Chefchaouen and settled in certain areas of the medina. Given the significance of blue in the Judaism the local inhabitants painted their walls that color. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).