Mar 20, 2012 - MOROCCO Chefchaouen

Some discoveries and thoughts.... Eating local (and cheap) in Morocco Note; 1 Euro = 11 Dirham If you eat locally in Morocco it can be very cheap, almost like Asia. For example, for breakfast we have a bowl of baizara which is like a vegetable/pea soup. It is served with a loaf of local oven baked bread, is thick and fulfulling and costs 4 or 5 dirhams, about 40 - 50cents. For lunch we can get a plate of fried fish for 10 dirhams, 1 euro. Other options- Harira (4 dirhams) A thick bean and noodle soup Lubiya (5-7 dirhams) Another variety of...

Oct 3, 2011 - Chefchaouen, Morocco

October 3 This morning, we still had some time to check out Jerez. I did a quick tour around the nearby Cathedral and castle and then we enjoyed a bodega tour of the famous Tio Pepe winery and sampled the sherries on offer. Great lunch that was. By mid afternoon, we were off on our journey to Morocco. We travelled by bus (approx. 3 hrs) to the port town of Algeciras, with its spectacular view of the great rock of Gibraltar (in the fog). First, we took taxis to the bus station and took two different buses to Algeciras. From there we boarded...

Jul 1, 2011 - The backpacking life

Extra: Waiting, waiting, waiting. I'll never leave this place, I'll die in Casablanca Over the past few days, I've found myself settling into a routine. I set out each morning and buy some fresh bread, olives and a pastry, and then take that back to the terrace via the small shop next to the hostel where I buy a bottle of water, and after eating that I'll read for a while, pausing occassionally to take in the view. Come afternoon, I'll shower and then head out to eat or have a tea on the square. It's a relaxed way to pass through the...

Jun 28, 2011 - Thank god for hashish farmers

Rick: He's just a lucky guy After having spent the previous day doing very little bar eating, reading and watching a Czech guy expertly play an enormous digiridoo, Jack and I make a early start for the peak of Jebel el-Kelaa which sits Vesuvius-like over Chefchaouen, setting out at just past 7am, and after a few wrong turns, blunder our way out of medina, straight into a guy driving through cones and then parking up as another man watched - a driving test presumably. We walk up a paved road and then a 4wd track, my Icebreaker top proving a...

Jun 26, 2011 - Waterfall

Yvonne: Will I see you tonight? Rick: I never make plans that far ahead. At 8 o'clock we're assembled, two Dutch girls, an English couple, Jack and me, and head down to the grande taxi that will take us to the trailhead. It's a squeeze as ever, and I'm in the back with the English couple to my left and one of the Dutch girls between me and the door. The ride is uneventful, with us all crammed in so tight that the Dutch girl's generous left boob smacks into my ribs every time we take a sharp right turn, which being in the mountains is quite...

Jun 25, 2011 - To the hills

Victor Lazlo: Are you ready Ilsa? Ilsa: Yes, I'm ready. I sleep on the terrace as the room is so hot, a square cube of concrete with a solid steel door that needs only a hatch for meals to complete the police cell look. The hours roll by as I look up into the sky, watching satelittes trace silent steady paths through the stars, making out the Plough but little else over the light being thrown up by the medina, with the shouts of the street and the roar of motorbikes rising from the alley below like a never-ending heat haze. A cat settles at...

Oct 28, 2010 - Chefchouen, Oct. 27-28

We are spending the entire day in this charming hillside town, located in the Rif Mountains. Morocco has two mountain ranges: the Atlas mountains and the Rif mountains. The Atlas are very high and rocky and remind me of our Rocky Mountains. The Rif mountains are rounder, fertile soil with beautiuful plowed fields, olive groves and wooded areas. It looks a little like Switzerland. For a relatively small country it is a very diverse one, both in its geography and in its people. Not only are there two mountain ranges but Morocco also fronts on...

Jul 24, 2010 - Chefchaouen

Since Mandy has been a little SLOW on the update, I (the Mommy) thought I would add a bit about where she is right now! She left Rabat last night on a bus and arrived at about midnight (5 hours later) in Chefchaouen. Today they are hiking in the mountains around Chefchaouen. Chefchaouen is located in the northern part of Morocco in the Rif Mountains. This tiny village with a population of approximately 35,700 inhabitants is located at an altitude of 600 m above sea level. Chefchaouen enjoys a pleasant summer season owing to its altitude...

Mar 14, 2010 - We have internet !!

Hello all, we have established an internet connection, se we can update the website and see our dear (grand)children, yippie ! We're in Chefchaouen, and after our sunday sermon of Joseph Prince, we visited the city, the souk, the market and all the nice little shops, we had our Moroccan tea and lunch and tonight we'll have our first diner : tahine with meat ;-) On our way to Chefchaouen we're filmed by an television crew and had to pass an area which would be visited by the Moroccan king, that resulted in an police escort to the...

Sep 11, 2009 - Morocco

Day 43 continued We were planning in staying in a place called Chefchaouen. I fell asleep in the car and when I woke up we were there. Dad went in and checked it out and came back and told us he’d booked the room so we went up and put our bags in the room and we went out in search for the markets and some where to eat. We asked some teenagers which direction to go. They pointed us in the right direction but one of the boys wasn’t so nice to me........ We went and had some dinner at a nice restaurant then we went and had a look at the...

May 26, 2008 - Chefchaouen

We arrived in Chefchaouen, a small village in the Rif Mountains, best known for its blue washed walls and copious amounts of hashish...needless to say it was very laidback and the opposite of Fes and Marrakesh. We wandered the hills above the town with the sheep herders and mountain goats. Instead of pressure sales for carpets or trinkets the shop owners sat on the stools outside their shops, smoking joints and offering it up. Bob Marley is very popular here. Drug culture aside, the town was a utopia for photographs, every turn down a small...

Oct 6, 2007 - Chefchauen

Bus to this big village(30,000) in the foothills of Rif Mtns. Picturesque, everything is either up or down, steep...stayed in a nice pension, the Mouritania in the medina(old town, narrow winding alley ways) walls all blue/white to reduce heat and disease...Lots more traditional Muslem dress, also more tourists...met Japanese fellow, Poles, Brits, Slovac, Irish, and Spanish in pension...as yet we are the only Gringos. Next day(7th) Bon and I climbed 1616 meter high Jebel el-Kelaa which overlooks town...we thot it would start as a road and...