Leaving blue Chefchaouen and driving to Volubilis was very interesting. It looked just like California! The Rif mountains are a beautiful landscape with olive trees, little villages, more olive trees, more villages and even more – guess what? Olive trees! In fact, we were wondering if Morocco is producing most olives around the Mediterranean?!

After a few hours of driving we reached Volubilis, a town founded 300 BCE by the Mauritanians, then annexed by the Romans. It flourished under the Romans, but fell slowly apart after they left and Christians, Jews, Greek and finally Islamic people took over. A mayor earthquake destroyed the city and everybody moved away.

What’s left today are ruins that still show the prosperity of its earlier time. Beautiful mosaics in many of the houses, a huge triumph arch and a massive Basilica show how big this city must have been; the streets are wide, forum and marketplaces proof of its busy life!

1. After 10 days in Morocco, we have NOT seen (a) any roadkill and (b) any supermarket.

2. After 10 days in Morocco we have seen (a) lots of garbage everywhere and (b) an agricultural paradise with orange orchard, olive trees, millions of olive trees, bananas, cork oak trees, agaves, fields for grain / currently harvested, garbanzo beans, etc. the soil has different shades from Sandy beige, to red, to dark brown. We’ve seen many sheep, goats, chickens, donkeys and mules; also many stray dogs and cats. But still, no roadkill. We haven’t seen any wasps or mosquitos, only bees, who try to reclaim their honey from the breakfast table.

3. After 10 days in Morocco, it rained!

4. Driving around the north of Morocco for 10 days reminds us of California. A lot!

5. 10 days ago we were not prepared of how friendly the people are, how good the food tastes and how amazing their craft skills are!

6. After 10 days in Morocco we learned that the restaurant portions are always generous because it would be sign of stinginess if you get served “just enough”. If food is left, it will never be thrown away. Restaurant workers, hungry people, animals, everybody else will get fed. So it’s ok to leave food you cannot eat!

7. Driving around for 10 days through many cities, towns, and villages, the pretties, nicest, most colorful, most modern buildings everywhere are the schools!

8. Morocco’s favorite sport is soccer. Every little village has a soccer field, every child on the street kicks balls, soccer games on the beaches everywhere. Morocco also has a professional women soccer national team.

I just can’t get enough of this color! Especially the old, worn and torn patches of walls, the weathered doors and windows, I just love it…

What is also striking is the local arts & crafts scene with many little stores throughout the Medina.

And then there is the food! We sat at the main market place for dinner last night and ordered a 3-course meal: avocado & cheese salad for Ted, Moroccan soup for me, mustard chicken breast and tajine with lemon chicken as our entre and caramel flan as the dessert, with chocolate sauce. And this whole meal cost $14! For both of us, $7 each!!! (Did I mention the bread and olives we got before dinner?)

Abdul, our guide for today, was not only born and raised in Chefchaouen, his ancestors arrived here 650 years ago, before the town was established and got a city wall for protection! He is a very proud Arab, who is knowledgeable about customs and traditions, about religion and society. For example, we didn’t know (a) why women always walk behind their husbands and (b) in what case a man can marry a second wife. And (c) why a man can have multiple wives and not the other way around. And (d) why a traditional Riad has 3 doors. And by the way doors, we learned (e) why the doors to a private residence is always very low. A door to a public building is way higher (kind of normal size) and the doors to a building of an important person is even taller; the more important, the taller the doors!

We saw many new businesses, bought another piece for our house – blue, why not? – and had an interesting lunch at a restaurant on the third floor of a house. Kind of hidden. Only local people ate there what looked like somebody’s living room. We had delicious Moroccan soup, an eggplant & pumpkin appetizer, chicken Kebap (delicious) and what was called beef leg with chick peas. The chickpeas were delicious! The beef leg was – how can I describe it in a nice way – made of 2 slices of a cows leg, only bones in the middle and skin on the outside and a glibberish wobbly substance in-between. There was no meat at all, only glibber! Not the big hit! But the Moroccan mint tea and the avocado juice were tasty. And the price was ridiculously inexpensive again: $12

We saw a bunch of instagram addicts, selfie gurus and wannabe celebrities! And cats, of course. They seem to be comfortable anywhere…

(a) if a woman would walk in front of her husband, he would be distracted by her appearance. That’s the same reason why women never pray in the same room as men. By bending down and being on all fourth and touching the forehead on the ground, it would be too distracting 🧐 (b) if she cannot bear any children he is allowed to take a second wife who is able to do so. (c) If a man has several wives, all the children born are his sons and daughters. If a woman has multiple husbands, it is never clear who the actual father is. (d) The entrance door to the alley /street = 1st door. Behind this 1st door is the space for the animals, donkeys, carriages, etc. Behind the next door = 2nd door, there are the guest quarters, with a kitchen and bathroom. The windows of those always face the street / alley and never the inside courtyard. Behind the 3rd door is the area where women can be without head coverings; they can move freely there and nobody will see them ever! Once they get married, they are transported from their parents house to the husbands house in a wooden box! So nobody outside can see them 😵‍💫

(e) If you walk through a door that is not high enough, you automatically bend your head. This is not only to avoid bruises, but also a sign of respect! 🤨

When Jewish people moved to Chefchaouen in 1492 to escape the Spanish Inquisition, they painted their houses blue to reflect the sky and be reminded of god. It is beautiful and “right along my alley”! I love blue and therefore we bought a piece of furniture yesterday. And of course it is blue! And made of Camel leather…

Floating through the Medina is always our favorite thing to do. What’s nice about Chefchaouen is that many people live here, the shops are selling touristy stuff of course, but lots of thing you need to live here: bread, soap, underwear, plates, pots, wooden utensils, etc. Children run around in the alleys, play soccer (of course), hide and seek (perfect location!) or just sit together and watch us, the tourists. Usually it is us, the tourists, who watch the locals like in a zoo…

1. Many German car dealerships along the freeways.

2. So far, we saw 1 Tesla (car, not a dealership).

3. Honking is the way to express your inner feelings.

4. Our driver for the whole trip, Abdul, does all the driving without a GPS. Of course.

5. Walking across the street teaches you to walk fast. Better run!

6. Big cruise ship outside our hotel. I wonder if it’s the ship my aunt Hannelore is on for her cruise around Africa?!?

7. Cork trees and banana trees are grown everywhere! It takes 25 years before cork can be harvested for the 1st time, after that, you only have to wait 9 years before the next harvest and so on…

8. Fruit stand along the freeway (we saw ~15 of them between Tangier and Chefchaouen, all with the same assortment

1. Don’t drink tea out of a cup, tea needs to be drunk out by of a glass, mostly the size of a shot glass

2. Yoghurt is provided at every breakfast, but no spoons. 🧐 🥄

3. Freshly squeezed orange juice is a must!

4. Don’t eat with your left hand. The right hand is the clean, good one. The left hand is the dirty one. Hint: they don’t have toilet paper at public bathrooms. Not even toilet paper holders or anything…

5. In mens public bathrooms the way to go is using the hole in the floor

6. Instead of salt & pepper, you get salt & cumin.

7. Tea is sweetened if you don’t order otherwise.

8. Pancakes are crepes that are folded square.

9. Moroccans have a sweet tooth. At every market you see those machines where they feed in sugarcane and sell the juice. Very popular!

10. Cell phone towers are the size and shape of palm trees.

11. We finally found a bookstore!

12. … and a plumber!

Everything an Edith heart desires: a small town dedicated to the arts, an annual art festival, cats and old doors, small alleys and quaint stores, AND: the color blue! Everywhere! Like heaven…..

First: Art

Second: CATS

Third: DOORS

Forth: STORES