Morocco, 2018

Day 26: October 26

Chefchaouen

Morocco, 2018

Itinerary

We decided to stay in Chefchaouen for one more day.

In the morning it’s cloudy. During the day we go for a walk to the nearby hill - there’s an observation deck with a view of Chefchaouen. The hotel manager, an amazing old man, told us about the hill. He wears a jacket with a tie and listens to blues. Yesterday, when we went out for a walk, my favorite Beth Hart song was playing. Imagine hearing Beth in Morocco. I tell him, “You listen to such good music.” The old man immediately brightened up. “Oh, you think so too? That’s wonderful. You know, my favorite artist is B.B. King.”

The hill really does offer a great view of Chefchaouen. While we’re looking at the city, a Moroccan man comes up to us and offers hashish. Chefchaouen is known not only for its blue houses, but also for its marijuana plantations. The Moroccan spends a long time trying to persuade Volchy to try marijuana, talking about how hashish has a positive effect on sleep and calms the nerves. But Volchy is adamant.

View of Chefchaouen

View of Chefchaouen

We’re having lunch in a small restaurant in the medina. We hoped it would be tasty because the restaurant was run by two women. We ordered two soups, something with eggplant, and French fries. The soups were okay, but much worse than the ones we had eaten before. Making tasty French fries definitely takes skill, but here they were on the verge of being inedible. The eggplant was the tastiest. Apparently, it was first baked, then cut into pieces and stewed with tomato and garlic.

We bought a very tasty baguette. We return to the hotel and eat the whole baguette with jam and tea.

On the way to the hotel. Me and the cats.

On the way to the hotel. Me and the cats.

In the evening we wandered around the town again. We already feel at home here. We know all the little alleys, passageways, climbs, and descents. We can easily find our way without a navigator. We don’t feel like having dinner, but we go to the most popular restaurant in town — “Lala Mesouda” (during the day we saw people standing in line to get in). We’re just very curious what it’s like there.

It’s busy there in the evening too, but they find us two seats at a large table. Across from us sits a group of Italians in their 40s and 50s, all so funny. They keep glancing at us sideways. Wolf in a djellaba leaves no one indifferent. The restaurant is very nice, the soup is delicious (and, most surprisingly, the cheapest of all we’ve eaten). The tea is so-so. It’s a pity we didn’t take any photos there at all.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, the first rain in Morocco began…

Probably it was exactly at that moment that I realized our journey through Morocco had come to an end. I mean, we’re still here, of course. And we’re going somewhere, or rather moving around. But for some reason it feels as if it’s already the end… The weather has completely turned bad, it’s gotten cold, it’s raining. All the most interesting things I wanted to see here are behind us. All that’s left is to close the circle… Go home and, like a boa constrictor, digest the impressions through a long, cold winter.