Chefchaouen, The City Painted in Blue

Chefchaouen, also known as the "Cobalt Blue City", is located in the Valley of the Rif, the crescent shaped region found in the north of Morocco. It is considered a hidden jewel painted in blue. The whole entire city is painted in blue, including houses, walls, doors, windows, fountains, and even the streets are colored in this shade.

Chefchaouen, founded in 1471, has been regarded for many centuries as an inviolable and sacred place to which foreigners are not permitted.



The ancient part of the city mirrors the typical style of Andalusia, and it’s no wonder since its population originally consisted of the exiled Andalusians, Muslims and Jews who have come to this day in search of a safe place to put roots. Even today most of its inhabitants still speak Spanish.



Not on traditional “tourist routes” until the 1950s, Chefchaouen is today a haven to photographers and also hashish smokers thanks to its cannabis cultivation, which is legal only in these valleys of Morocco, guaranteeing work to hundreds of thousands of people. The amount of hashish produced in this area corresponds to 40% of world production, over 80% of the cannabis smoked in Europe. The Chefchaouen Berber farmers are among the earliest growers of this forbidden substance.



Speculation about the shades of blue used to paint the old town is vast and some say that it was the work of Jewish refugees associating this tonality with paradise. Others argue that it is just an aesthetic choice and that blue is an excellent color to dispel mosquitos.



Whatever the case, Chefchaouen is an enchanting town declared a Unesco World Heritage Site, and is a testament to the fusion between the Andalusian world and the Moroccan world. A true gem of bluish glitter, carefully restored in the mountainous frame of the Rif.

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