Chefchaouen, the Blue City of Morocco

Chefchaouen is situated in the Rif Mountains, just 

inland from Tangier and Tetouan. The city was founded 

in 1471,^[1]

 as a small fortress which still exists to this day, by 

Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami (a 

decendent of Ibn Machich andIdris I, and through them, 

of the prophet Muhammad) to fight the Portuguese 

invasions of northern Morocco. Along with the 

Ghomara tribes of the region, many Moriscos and Jews 

settled here after the Spanish Reconquista in medieval 

times. In 1920, the Spanish seized Chefchaouen to 

form part ofSpanish Morocco. Spanish troops 

imprisoned Abd el-Krim in the kasbah from 1916 to 1917, 

after he talked with the German consul Dr. Walter 

Zechlin (1879–1962). (After defeating him with the help of 

the French force Abd el-Krim was deported to Réunion 

in 1926). Spain returned the city after the independence 

of Morocco in 1956.

Chefchaouen is a popular shopping destination as well, 

as it offers many native handicrafts that are not available 

elsewhere in Morocco, such as wool garments and 

woven blankets. The goat cheese native to the area is 

also popular with tourists..

The growing tourist industry is geared especially 

towards Spanish tourists, who are especially numerous 

during great Catholic feasts like Semana Santa and 

Christmas. Chefchaouen was visited byJoe Orton and 

Kenneth Halliwell in 1967. They adored it finding it "very 

'Golden Bough-ish'. Orton mentions their trip in the Orton Diaries.

Religion

There are a number of distinct mosques in the town. 

Aside from the mosqueat Place Uta Hammam in the 

medina, there is also a mosque dedicated to the patron 

saint of Northern Morocco's Jebalah region, Moulay 

Abdeslam Ben Mchich Alami. His tomb and the village 

surrounding it is by the way an hour's drive or so from 

Chefchaouen on the old road to Larache. There is also a 

ruined mosque built by the Spanish, with stairs still in 

the tower.