Hiking in Chefchaouen, Morocco

We went over to the British families hostel in the morning to drop off our bags and have breakfast. They fed us a few pastries, a bowl of fresh fruit with yogurt and coffee. We left with our guide around 9:15 for the hike. He took us through the city up to the mosque we went to the night before. After we cut up through the valley into the mountains that overlook the city.  

early morning soccer game

We headed up to the mosque through the towns cemetery. He pointed out parts of bones that had been exposed on the hillside due to heavy rainfall and erosion. We even saw a part of a skull sticking out of the ground but had been broken in at some point. Some graves were made of cement while others were just rocks. 

Heading through the cemetery

City with cemetery in background

As we sat at the mosque we were overlooking an old women tending to her animals. As we were snapping photos she turned around and started shouting at jeff. and putting her fingers in the shape of a camera lens and putting it to her eye. Needless to say she wasn't to fond of us taking photos so we stopped and made our way up the mountain.

We had a pretty quick incline but the hike wasn't too bad. We were about 4000 feet up and took a break while we snapped some photos and ate.

The hike up

The town's name in Arabic means "look at the horns" which were represented by the steep mountain slopes seperated by the valley we hiked up. the picture below shows the 'horns'

Chefchaouen

The guide brought his son on the trip with us. While he rested on the hill and talked to a few men tending to their "plants" the boy took us up the hill to a small cave we could enter.

Cave Entrance

We headed back down to where the guide was and headed down the other side of the mountain into the village to the side of the city.

"now watch me YOUUUUU"

The hike lasted about 4 hours. We made it back to the center, ate some food and went back to the hostel to clean up and go walk around the center of the city.

Overlooking the farm land of Chefchaouen

Heading back to the city

We made it back and hung out at the hostel with the owners again. We had a long day and a really long traveling day in the morning so we went to sleep relativley early to prepare. Earlier in the day I took a video of the hostel and as I was reaching to the top terrace the Muslim prayer was starting over all the loud speakers inside the mosques. Pretty interesting video and a great view of the awesome hostel we stayed at.

Sunset from Hostel 

After cleaning up we headed back out to shop. On the way to the center we heard singing and then saw a large parade of men coming. We were not sure was was going on at first but with time we realized it was a funeral procession and we were right in the middle of it. There were probably 500 men walking through the medina carrying a casket singing religious songs as they marched. It was a very surreal moment and we both never expected to see something like that.

We had a really great time in Morocco. I think it changed both of our perspectives on the culture and people of a muslim country. Definitely an eye opening experience and anyone with the opportunity to make the trip should do so.

fog rolling in