Morocco 2022 – Day 5 -Meknes and Chefchaouen

Yesterday afternoon, When I got to Meknes and checked into my hotel, the Château Roslane, I wrote my daily post before swimming and relaxing at the pool. Located on a sprawling vineyard located in the countryside outside of Meknes, the property was stunning with beautiful views of the surrounding vineyards. I met Pete for a poolside dinner, where we caught up on our lives while enjoying an amazing meal.

The next morning, I went for a 4-mile run in the countryside and afterwards, when I walked the beautiful grounds, I saw that the hotel maintains two large organic vegetable gardens, which were full of beautiful plants. Part of the reason my dinner was so tasty the night before was that all of those vegetables on my plate were grown in their garden!

After my run, I met Pete and Mohammed for breakfast by the pool. We then then did a morning tour of the old part of Meknes, the Imperial capital of Sultan Moulay Ismail, founder of the ruling Alaouite Dynasty. The palace and city tour were impressive. Sultan Moulay was a very successful ruler. In the 17th century, he built the city of Meknes’ from scratch and surrounded his city by three massive walls that had a circumference of almost 9 miles. It contained massive granaries and stables, ornate city gates and the grand Place El Hedim. It’s main gate, the Bab Mansour is often mentioned as Morocco’s most beautiful city gate.

After Meknes, we shuttled inland and North to the Rif Mountains and Chefchaouen (about 4 hours). I loved the drive on the way to The Rif mountains. We stopped quickly near the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis, which served as the capital of this region of the Roman Empire and also served as the capital of this part of Morocco for several centuries after the Romans left the region in the 3rd Century. Unfortunately, there is not much left of this great city but ruins because the same earthquake that totally destroyed Casablanca in the 1750s also destroyed Volubulis, and it was never rebuilt.

The rich and fertile terrain here in northern Morocco is very different from the rock dessert of Southern Morocco. And as we drove further into the green hills and finally into the beautiful verdant Mountains, I became excited for our hike in the Rif Mountains tomorrow.

After we arrived in the town of Chefchaouen, we walked around and stretched our legs a little, before stopping at a cafe for what else but mint tea and Moroccan cookies! We checked into our hotel, the Dar Echchaouen, a small property with stunning architecture and flower gardens. We walked some more around Chefchaoun, often called the Blue City of Morocco. A photographer’s delight, it is known for its many shades of blue rinsed houses and buildings! We walked to the spring at the edge of town, a gathering place for locals, before returning to the City Center to have dinner in a street cafe.

Because many of the Moors and Jews who were expelled from Spain in the late 1400’s settled here and because Spain controlled this area for a large part of the early 20th century, this city has a heavy Spanish influence.

Because Chefchaouen is so beautiful and I am limited on the number of photos I can share on a post, I struggled choosing which photos to share. So, enjoy the ones I did share.