"I'm Blue – da ba dee da ba dye, da ba dee da ba dye"

As I got back to my riad last night, I had 3 options about what to do the next day:

1) Do it for the Insta: Buy a ticket for Chefchaouen, the Blue City of Morocco. It's about a 4 hour bus ride each way down a windy road... but oh man, the pictures should be pretty sweet

2) Do it for history: Go to Volubilis, see some Roman ruins, and wonder what happened here

3) Do what locals tell me: Travel to Meknes, a smaller version of Fez, which is what a couple of people here told me to do

I know what you're thinking, and you should already know #1 was the answer because of the title. Sorry history! Sorry local advice! I needed some good pics.

So first things first, I join some Aussie girls in a small car to go to a somewhat larger bus somewhere in the city. I say somewhere, because I'm trying to maximize power on my phone and I have no idea where anything is in this city. Probably should have left at around 8:30, but got on the road finally by about 9/9:15.

You see the above? I don't want to say the road situation outside of Fez is dirt, but... in some places it is literally dirt and gravel. And there's construction. And sometimes police checkpoints. Perhaps more police checkpoints in one day than I had previously seen in my life.

Anyhow, we stop a couple of times for scenery and the bathroom. Let's share the scenery.

What's up with the roadside gourds? I have no idea. Didn't eat those at the market.

Some people stopped to take pictures of kids riding donkeys wearing weird hats. I didn't do that, because turns out, they ask you for money incessantly after that.

Quick word re: bathroom though-- nothing is more annoying than when you can read Arabic, and you see that all the women are using the men's toilet because they can't read الرجال means guys and I shouldn't have to wait on line for this. Sigh.

Anyhow, a scant 4 hours and 2 stops later, I arrived in Chefchaouen. Sometimes people just call this place Chaouen. Here's some pics of the town

Pretty blue right??? You know, the legend of why they paint the houses blue has a few different answers #moroccanfacts

1) It keeps away mosquitos

2) It reminds people to live a spiritual life

3) Jews painted it that way when they hid from Hitler here

Most of the locals here thought it was the first thing. So let's go with the skeeter explanation for now.

I stopped for lunch at Bab al-Ssour, which fulfilled my requirement of "3 different travel blogs mentioned this place". It was...ok. Fine. Suitable for the occasion.

Shrimp tajine and lentil soup, lunch of champions. Super hot! Do you know what was the best part of this lunch though? the spicy green sauce next to the olives. And talking to a weird American/French couple about how amazing they thought this food was, and I thought, "you must not like flavor as much as I do".

Anyhow, after lunch, I had a grand total of about 90 minutes before going back to meet my guide. I climbed up the old fort in town and took some pics. Scenic!

Eventually, it was time to go back to the village square and meet everyone. Look, my thoughts on this place are:

1) you should probably spend more than 3 hours here

2) you should probably spend less than 2 days here

3) you should probably visit the hammam here, which is supposed to be great, to make it an experience.

Another 4 hour bus trip later-- let's ignore the part where our english guide left and the driver didn't speak English and half the people couldn't get to their hotels. Got back to my Riad at a ripe 9:30 p.m., and from what I understood, this was my last chance to get food. I begged the riad owner and bam! He made his (I assume sister) make me something in the kitchen, for which I was eternally grateful.

Moroccan salad, fresh bread, and a "berber omelette"

You know what though? This cat would not stop trying to eat my omelette!!!

Not today pal. Not today.

He later settled for drinking out of the fountain here. To be fair, the host guy at the riad tried to shoo him away, then lure him away with cheese, but neither worked.

Did I mention that after dinner, I had to take a taxi at 2:30 in the morning to get to the airport for my 5 am flight? I'm probably not going to get a chance to write about my awful travel experience at the airport, so let's give my top few moments here before I close with happy stuff:

1) Still didn't/don't as of today have one of my bags.

2) While I was supposed to get a free transit hotel in Casablanca, I was denied this.

3) I spent *3 hours* after my flight got in at 6:15 in the morning alternatively trying to clear customs or go through transit. Spoke with 2 customs agents, 2 travel agents and 2 policemen including the chief of police. Not helpful.

4) Blew 50 bucks on a lounge just to get an hour of creaky neck sleep and not be judged

Ok, I'm done complaining. Great 2 days in Morocco!

Random Things:

They say the holes in the walls make them stronger somehow. Also, that pigeons live there.

This town had to get blue somehow.

They always find the shade. Also, they could eat more.

Moment of Zen: