{"id":26953,"date":"2017-03-29T20:20:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T19:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=26953"},"modified":"2021-01-20T15:25:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T15:25:24","slug":"souk-imperial-city-back-mountains-chefchaouen-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/souk-imperial-city-back-mountains-chefchaouen-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"Souk, Imperial City and back to the Mountains, Chefchaouen Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zagan the motorhome is following in the tyre tracks of our previous motorhome Dave, parked up at Camping Azilan, the only campsite in the ‘blue city’ of Chefchaouen (N35.175603, W5.267009<\/a>) Morocco. This is our last stop before we head to the ferry back to Europe, so we’re staying here for a few days to make the most of it. It costs 110Dh a night for the two of us to stay here with electricity, about \u20ac11.<\/p>\n

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After cycling in I\u00a0couldn’t resist the smell of chips wafting from this deep fat fryer (run off the\u00a0gas bottle) in an alleyway in Azrou, so we dived in for tea.After a couple of days in Azrou, a cycle into the town and a meal out in an alleyway, we left the campsite on Tuesday morning and headed for the town’s huge souk. This was a treat which I missed on our visit in January<\/a> because I was poorly. I have to admit, I wasn’t fussed about going, but I am so glad I did. We found a place on a bit of wasteland to park up the vans and followed the smell of animals.<\/p>\n

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Parked up next to the adventure wagon for a trip to the souk<\/p><\/div>\n

Walking past numerous vans with roof-mounted cages, and through the archway that marked the start of the souk, and the scene that hit me was unlike anything I had ever seen before. A vast sloping field full of men, each of them surrounded by a ‘clump’ of sheep tied together at the heads. The clumps varied in size from single sheep to tens, all packed together looking disfigured, as their heads looked to be facing the wrong way.<\/p>\n

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Picking our way through the field, careful not to tread on any of the tiny lambs huddled next to their mothers, we then entered the goat section which in turn led to the food stalls. As it was a bit too early to eat we carried on into what was effectively a car boot sale. The ground under our feet was dry mud with the remnants of previous souks caked into it. It reminded me of images\u00a0I’ve seen in newspapers or on TV showing the aftermath of some sort of a disaster.<\/p>\n

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Souk site – what didn’t sell last week, or the week before<\/p><\/div>\n

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The hay section of the souk, unsurprisingly next to the animals<\/p><\/div>\n

We wandered around for a couple of hours, taking in the animal grain section, clothing, kitchen items, fruit and veg and even a small area where women gathered with either a single live chicken or turkey, or a basket holding just a few eggs for sale.<\/p>\n

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This chap was making and selling donkey saddles. We don’t need one, but they looked so cool we wanted one.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Stocking up on cheap dates and olives<\/p><\/div>\n

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Jay and Phil try ‘going local’. It’s normal to see two men who are friends walking hand in hand here as homosexuality is illegal<\/p><\/div>\n

Entering the material section I was inspired by the richly-patterned material, and we were invited to sit and discuss which fabrics we wanted to reupholster our home. After a bit of confusion and some attempted discussion they realised we only wanted a metre, well we thought they did. Turns out they thought we wanted to cover something a metre long, so they cut us off 1.5 metres so we could cover the edges too. My plan is to recover the scatter cushions in Zagan as a souvenir of our trip here, and who knows what else with the extra bit.<\/p>\n

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The new bling fabric and the owl cushions it will one day cover, it cost us 80Dh a metre (\u20ac8)<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally we arrived back at the food stalls, where Jurg and Margot had already met up with Phil. We joined them at a table in the biggest tent, a red canopy protecting us from the sun, while billowing plumes of smoke were\u00a0ushered away from us with a huge fan placed by the BBQ. Our table\u00a0was next to where the food was prepared. Hanging up beside\u00a0us were three huge chunks of beef, which looked like legs, and well, errr shall we say, maybe something else that let us know it was from a bull and not a cow.<\/p>\n

We ordered a beef sandwich each and a pot of tea between us, and while the tea brewed I sat and watched the meat cut off the bone. It was then mixed with onion, spices and a little bit of fat and put through a mincer. The mince was then made into small balls which were cooked on the BBQ and several of them served in a large piece of bread. This all took place right in front of me, while to my right several cows stood tied to a lamp post and flocks of sheep either walked by or were lifted up and loaded onto the roofs of vans. I hate to say it, but it was the best (and undoubtedly freshest) burger I have ever had.\u00a0After watching the animal market for about half an hour, we paid up (10Dh, \u20ac1, for the pot of tea, and 10Dh each for the burgers) and picked our way back through the remaining livestock to our vans. The most unusual thing about the whole souk experience, was that the food stall experience didn’t feel all that unusual, and probably not as weird as it sounds reading it at home.<\/p>\n

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The fresh food experience from end to end. Meat hanging behind Jay, mincer to the left, BBQ on the right, end result being eaten<\/p><\/div>\n

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View to the right of me as we ate<\/p><\/div>\n

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Lifting sheep into the trucks – they can’t be light and they wriggle<\/p><\/div>\n

After such a fantastic experience in the souk, we were riding high as we faced down a personal demon of ours – Meknes. On our first visit to Morocco in 2012 we drove around Meknes several times<\/a> trying to find the campsite, only to discover it was closed, so despite being shattered from a long days driving we had to hit the motorway to Fes instead. When we passed through again earlier this year<\/a>, we had a rather unpleasant encounter with a fella begging at the traffic lights, so our track record wasn’t looking good.<\/p>\n

After a quick stop and shop in Marjane to stock up on spices, harissa paste and other bits that we only get at the supermarkets, we headed into the city. As far as we know the campsite is still closed, so we aimed for one of the guarded parking areas in the middle of the town. We found ourselves unable to\u00a0reach the one that looked the nicest in our database (it was tarmacked) because our approach route needed us to squeeze through a small arch in the city walls. Jurg’s adventure truck would\u00a0destroy the arches too, so we circled around the city and stopped at the gravel-mud parking just outside the walls and opposite the bus station (N33.889871,W5.565713<\/a>). The guardian greeted us with a friendly smile and showed us into two spaces among the other vans and after collecting 50Dh for the night, pointed out where the toilet emptying was and left us to enjoy the city.<\/p>\n

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Guarded motorhome parking in Meknes<\/p><\/div>\n