Located in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco, if the name isn’t familiar then the photo of the blue-painted medina may be. But before tourism made Chefchaouen’s striking blue medina famous, the town was known for centuries for the cannabis grown in the region, the raw material for a good portion of the world’s hashish production.
Northern Morocco was settled by Muslim and Jewish refugees from Andalusia fleeing the reconquest of Spain by Catholic rulers. So while the traditional second language of Morocco has long been French, though English is common with young Moroccans, in the north Spanish is often spoken.
I stayed for several nights at a simple and most pleasant small hotel in the medina, Hostal Gernika, above, the owners Spanish-speaking and reserved but friendly. Every evening they retired with friends to a small lounge off the lobby from which the pungent aroma of the region’s cash crop permeated the premises.
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