V5 travels: Chefchouen….sleeping, walking and eating

The Kasbah

We slept in our room and woke for a light breakfast and then a three hour walk around the old down. Climbing steps, taking narrow alleys and lanes while passing the doors of homes, shops and storage spaces. We exited the Medina and climbed the steps beside a small creek of mountain spring water - seeing where they wash their fruit and veg, wash their clothes and what was once the common meeting place of women…the laundry tubs with scrubbing boards.

There were all sorts of little titbits that our walking guide Mohammed gave us - there are different hats that women wear - brightly coloured for young unmarried women to ‘be noticed’ and straw decorated with black balls and ropes (tied) to indicate a woman is tied and therefor married.

Another little gem was that on the doors there is often metal decorative nails - each one for each child boarn in the house. One doorway had had generations in the one house, and the fore must have had at least 150 nails.

He took us around and up and down and up again - there are over 1200 alleys in the Medina, so one must know your way around. We’ll be sticking to the main thoroughfares. People owning houses must paint them at least twice a year. They are painted blue - some say the colour was brought with the Spanisha nod Portuguese Muslim Refuges, others say it is to mirror the colour of the sky as a happy colour and yet others say that the blue is to confuse the mosquitoes! The paint on some is acrylic but on most it is a colour lime wash - for two reasons - one to keep insects away, and the other to sanitize. Whatever - the blue is stunning! THe alleys painted in different shades seem to reflect the light differently and almost give them a magical quality.

We passed an olive tree that is guessed to be somewhere between 500 and 600 years old…just sitting there at an intersection and still bearing fruit!

There were lots of cats - they are kept and fed by households to keep the rats and mice away that live in the open sewerage system that runs down the middle of many alleys…in some there are carpets and bags over the openings, in others the stench is quite overwhelming in the heat. I also noticed that many food shops keep cats - probably for the same reasons - one had a large bag of dried cat food that cats were just climbing in and out of.

Generally the cats do not look healthy…I’ve had to control Fi’s urge to pat them as some look quite unwell - skinny and with fur problems. They all seem very young and I dont imagine they have a very long life as there appears to be little in the way of desexing!

Eventually we wound our way back down to the main square where the mosque is, and just around the corner from our room - a short break then a plate of olives, bread, cheese, eggplant dip and some sort of brown lentil dip washed down with a cold non-alcoholic beer.

This afternoon the girls from the tour went on a little shopping expedition. A few bought things - I didn’t as all I can think of is trying to fit it in my luggage! There are certain items on high repeat - versions on kaftans, fridge magnets, key rings, straw hats, rugs/wraps. There were a few more unique things - some lovely leather and some jewellery shops.

After a rooftop drink with the crew we ventured to dinner at the same restaurant we enjoyed the first night. A beautiful Chicken shawarmer which was absolutely delicious. Fi had a goat Tagine - which others had recommended however hers was full of bone with very little meat.