يوم 10 -Málaga to Chefchaouen

We left our Málaga hotel at 10:00 for our 12:20 flight to Tangier.

Iberia airline was an hour and a half late, with no information written on the departure screen at our gate, and no Iberia employee in the entire wing of the airport to talk to (let alone at the gate) and a bunch of worried/confused passengers (we overheard that this was the first time that Iberia ever flew to Tangier from Má;aga).

Eventually, however, we made it to North Africa!

Lahsen, from Amazing Morocco Tour, was waiting for us (thank you for texting him, Kimmie!) just outside the airport.

We did a quick driving tour of Tangier before heading to Chefchaouen.

There are blockades all over the place (kind of like Mexico, but more) stopping suspicious people and checking documents.  There are twelve documents that a driver must show, including a recent eye exam.

Cactus fruit for sale!  Get your cactus here!

(You have to say it like you are selling a newspaper in the 1920s.)

Cactus!

Onions for sale!  Get your onions here!

Chefchaouen, the blue city.

The city is 500 years old but it has only been blue for the past 100 years.

People are not sure why it is blue, maybe because blue reminds them of the sky or the heavens, or maybe because blue, like flowing water, keeps the mosquitoes away, or maybe because tourists are attracted to blue...

We were dropped off at the spring, after someone from our riad came to show us the way (since there are no cars inside the medina).

At the spring people are swimming, using the water to clean orange presses and washing clothes.

There are hoses everywhere.  To what?  No one knows.

Hopefully not directly to our water bottles...

This is the door to our riad.  

A riad is a traditional Moroccan house built around a courtyard and, these days, later converted into a hotel.

مواء القط 

(meow)

My first Moroccan mint tea!

I was surprised how sweet it was.  I wasn't expecting any sweetener at all, maybe because that is how I make my tea.  But it was delicious.

Our first tajin!

I had a vegetarian tajin, while Eric got the chicken.  (The owner of Sofia's, who is also the server, is behind Eric.)

It was yummy and reasonably priced, although more expensive than expected at 70 dirham a piece (10 dirham= $1, its like the metric system, easy to convert).

Sofia (of Sofia's restaurant) was given the job of chasing away stray cats with her water gun.  It was a never ending task, but she seemed up to the challenge. 

These cats are safe, well, safe from Sofia.

After dinner we rushed up hill towards the Spanish mosque for sunset.  

On the way back was an unforgettable experience.  My first call to prayer.  At first it sounded like a bunch of motorcycles going by, but then you hear a nearby mosque start and it becomes more clear what all of the mosques are saying almost simultaneously- Allahu akbar!

So amazing!

So foreign.