Chefchaouen

Are you ready for picture overload?  There is a beautiful picture waiting around each corner of Chefchaouen!  This just might be our favorite city so far, and I am so happy that we dedicated the whole weekend to this white, periwinkle and turquoise town nuzzled in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco...just wait, you'll see!

We're off to a great start... when the kids are happy, we're happy!

There are bound to be a few bumps in the road, right?   As we waited for a train to cross, I was pretty impressed to see the safety precautions they implemented at the railroad crossing, but not so impressed when it broke in the down position right in front of us.  We had a hard enough time finding this turn, and there very likely is no other way to get to our destination.  The cars and trucks piled up, and several men finally decided to manually remove the barricade.  Everyone remained lighthearted as we laughed and passed each other with a friendly wave, but really?  Ridiculous.

We arrived at our hotel and found yet another hidden treasure.  Many of the riads/hotels are tucked away and sometimes impossible to find (we drove right past it several times before asking for help).  What we've found too is that there are many less expensive places to stay that still provide plenty of space and beautiful surroundings.  This is the entrance and a view from the bedroom into the living area.  

Our hotel was located higher on the mountain and provided an excellent view of the city.  You can vaguely see all of the white buildings cascading down the hill.

We spent a lot of the time at the pool taking in the view

There were sheep and rosters (good thing we're up early with the boys anyway) right on the other side of the hotel wall.  The boys enjoyed peeking over to say good morning, and Abraham learned how to say Baa!

Hotel Garden

The outside of the city was full of whitewashed walls...

...but the inside was an intoxicating mix of periwinkle and turquoise.  Who would have thought!?!

Almost every single door was blue!  I'm ready to go home and paint my door blue too! :)

After walking through the city, we opted for a cab ride back to the hotel.  Gabriel is always a fan...no carseats and a seatbelt only if you're lucky!

There is a natural spring running through the city with small waterfalls and even places where the locals swim and wash their clothes.

We thought it would be a good idea to join them until we realized that we were stepping into ice cold water!

Check out this all natural laundry mat!  They have built washboards into the mountain! 

Below the washboards is an open area where Gabriel ran a played with the other children; don't mind the huge drop off behind us.  You can also see the top of one of the waterfalls.

Before the iftar on Saturday, Jamil played soccer with the locals right down the hill from the hotel.  Gabriel played in this cement mixture (or something) and was a dusty shade of grey when we left.  Thanks to the spring water, we didn't have to enter the hotel with a pasty child.

Wheww... what a weekend!  Now the trick is to make sure whoever wakes up first doesn't wake up the other!  I haven't quite figured that one out yet.

Remember last weekend's temperature?  Well, it's not getting any cooler.  See you next weekend, inshallah!