We have a full day and a 2nd night here in Chefchaouen. This morning 10 of the fourteen of us set out on a 1/2 day hike into the mountains behind town. We had a local guide, soft-spoken and knowledgeable about the local plants and peoples.

The eastern edge of town had a historic bridge, built by Portuguese prisoners at the turn of the 16th C., a water mill and canals for harnessing the mountain streams, and lots of fun art installations.

We climbed for 2/3’s of the hike, a good challenge for many of the group. We made lots of stops to look back at the blue city emerging from the shadows!

Cannabis has just become legal to grow as a medicinal crop in Northern Morocco, partially legalizing what has been a huge cash crop. It’s grown everywhere and although it’s too early in the season now we still saw a few wild plants as well as the stubs of last year’s harvest.

We passed by several small farms and homesteads. Men were tilling the rocky soil with horses while the women cared for the children, animals, and gathered brush for goat feed and firewood. It’s disrespectful to take pictures of the locals so I stuck with landscape photography:

The hike ended at the next village over the hill and lunch was prepared for us at a local gite: a wonderful chicken tagine served in two large clay pots.

Then we returned to town via 3 Land Rovers, bouncing over the rugged, rutted track to the town then up a sidewalk(!) to our hotel. 2 hours break then off to visit the Medina, the warren of alleyways full of tourist tat. Here it’s special because Chefchaouen is the “blue city”. I couldn’t get a definitive reason: because it’s only an hour from the Mediterranean it’s a reminder of the sea? Because there was a big influx of Jews avoiding Fascism in the 30’s & 40’s and blue is a color of Judaism? Or just that it appeals to tourists? It appealed to me!