Blue lanes
Sky blue to indigo.
Emilien Lebourgeois — Public domain · Uwe Brodrecht — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ekaterina Kvelidze — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Azer Koçulu azer — CC0 · Gabriel Rodríguez from Sevilla, Spain — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aleksandr Zykov — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Summering2018 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Aleksandr Zykov — CC BY-SA 2.0
The old medina of Chefchaouen, the Blue City, on the slopes of two peaks in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco. Moulay Ali ibn Rashid founded it in 1471 as a small fortress against Portuguese raids, and it then took in Muslims and Jews arriving from al-Andalus after the fall of Granada, shaping its houses and lanes in an Andalusian mould. Its name means look at the horns, the mountain peaks around it. The town is famous for walls, lanes and stairways washed in shades of blue, from pale sky blue to deep indigo, with coloured doors and windows and potted plants, so every corner looks like a painting. There are several stories behind the blue, one linking it to the Jewish community that lived here. You wander up and down quiet winding lanes past shops of woollen weaves, blankets, baskets and leather, small cafés and cats dozing on the steps. At its heart is Outa el-Hammam square with its cafés, the kasbah and the Grand Mosque with its octagonal minaret. Wandering is free, and the town is calm and relatively safe. Its loveliest hours are early morning, before the tour buses arrive; some lanes are very steep, so wear comfortable shoes, and respect residents' privacy when photographing in front of homes.
Sky blue to indigo.
Cafés, kasbah, mosque.
Wool and baskets.
Old medina, Chefchaouen, Rif Mountains
Stories vary: some link the colour to the Jewish community that lived here, others to cooling houses or keeping insects away; none is certain.
