After having such a stressful time in Essaouira, I was drained from the hassle involved in travelling solo around Morocco. The men were incessant and followed me everywhere, the touts were out in full force and wouldn’t leave me alone, and stares had me on my constant guard.
Honestly, guys, I wanted to leave the country. I was so tired that all I wanted to do was book a flight out of Morocco and back to Europe. I had been in the country for four weeks and that felt like my limit.
Before I would allow myself to buy a one-way ticket out of there, however, there was one more city I had to see. It was the city that had drawn me to Morocco in the first place. The city that’s meant to be the most relaxing in the entire country. The city where every single building is painted the most gorgeous shade of blue.
It was time for me to check out beautiful Chefchaouen.
Views of Chefchaouen from my guesthouse’s rooftop terrace
And you know what? I’m so glad I went.
Chefchaouen felt unlike any other place I visited in Morocco. For starters, there was no hassle and no aggressive touts to be seen. When I first arrived at the entrance to the old town, I ended up lost and nervous in the maze-like medina, worried I wasn’t going to be able to find my hostel. A local guy approached me when he saw I was lost and helped me find my guesthouse — he led me from hotel to hotel, asking all of his friends if they’d heard of the place I was staying at. He walked with me for over half an hour and yet, once we found the place, he didn’t ask for any money afterwards! This did not happen anywhere else in the country that I visited and I was shocked.
In Chefchaouen, I was able to walk down the streets and not have touts running up to me and grabbing me, not have men shouting insults, not have people staring — everybody just left me in peace.
I could see why people say it’s the most relaxing place in Morocco, and it certainly was for me. I warmed to this pretty blue old town so much that I ended up extending my stay over and over, eventually staying there for well over a week!
Oh, and I haven’t even started talking about the colours of the old town! Because Chefchaouen was also the most beautiful place I’ve ever been on my travels so far. I must have taken over 500 photos during my time there as every single square inch of the city was so photogenic.
This was the view of the streets outside my guesthouse. Every morning, after breakfast, I’d wander along here, taking the exact same photos, because the colours were blowing my mind every time I saw them.
The doors in Chefchaouen were something special, too. The walls, the doors, the doorbells, the house numbers — everything was painted in a different shade of blue.
More gorgeous shades of blue…
One thing you’ll notice from my photos is the lack of people in them!
I adored my time in Chefchaouen. It was the most relaxing and peaceful place I visited in Morocco, and it’s one of the few places I most want to return to. I even felt like it gave me the energy and determination to stick it out in Morocco until the end of the month.
It would be a huge understatement to say that I struggled while travelling in Morocco but, like most countries in the world, there were both good and bad parts, Chefchaouen was definitely one of the best.
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