Fes and Chefchaouen ‹ Claire Dunnington, Writer

Going from the desert to Fes was the only really long day of driving. It was about 7.5 hours, and Abdul dropped us off in Fes around 5 pm.

What can I say about Fes? Not much, unfortunately, except that I need to go back. My time in Fes was analogous to someone traveling to NYC but only visiting Times Square and the Port Authority. I was there for about 15 hours and my heart felt like a clenched fist the whole time. So…the pictures from Fes itself consist of: the inside of the (beautiful) guesthouse and shots taken while walking/running to the bus station.

Following that will be 1,000 pictures of Chefchaouen. It was like a sunset in that way. I knew I already had hundreds of blue pictures, but I just couldn’t resist taking one more. Click through for photos and commentary (and for no commentary on most of the Chefchaouen pictures, because I didn’t want to mar the blue…instead, just imagine this song playing on repeat):

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Driving through Ifrane, "the Switzerland of Morocco"

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Excuse the car-window photos, but it did look very ski-resort

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There was even snow--just a bit--along the sides of the road, and people had gathered it all up to make snowmen. Unfortunately, I did not catch any.

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Guesthouse in Fes, another hallowed place in which I took a shower for the first time in four days.

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Fes, early morning

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There were some beautiful public gardens behind some of the city walls, but...next time

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Goodbye, Fes old town. I'll come back!

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The bus itself was stressful because the guesthouse proprietor told us it wouldn't actually stop IN Chefchaouen--it would stop nearby and we would need to get a taxi.

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He drew us this map...and then after spending the 4-hour bus ride anxious about it, the bus pulled right into downtown Chefchaouen. It's so confusing when things work out!