Hercules Caves
Our final destination for day 4 was Chefchaouen, the blue town, the blue city, the blue pearl of Morocco. But before we travelled south we went north to visit a lesser know attraction, Hercules Caves. It was not a long drive just about 44km taking about 40 minutes.
Hercules Caves was easy to find. There was a car park just outside and after we parked we walked toward “Hercules Caves”. We were surprised that it was not as deserted or isolated as we thought. There was a complex of shops at the location.
We located the ticketing kiosk and bought two tickets at 60MAD per person. We walked a couple of steps down to a cave entrance which was set-in among some huge boulders.
The cavities in the caves which was opened to public were were much much smaller than we expected. In less than 10 minutes one could completed the “route” and be done with Hercules Caves.
The cave was long thought to be bottomless. It was believed that the cave was one end of a subterranean tunnel over 24 kilometres long which passed under the Strait of Gibraltar and emerged at St Michael’s Cave in Gibraltar.
It was amazing to see the unique structure of the cave walls. It looked like sea shells stacking up into columns. We wondered how were these cave walls formed. On surfing the internet on the spot we realised that there was nothing natural about the walls. They were carved up by human!
This cave was half natural and half human-made. The human-made part was that the Berber people (ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa) cut stone wheels from the walls of this cave which expanded the cavity. These caves were mythically where Greek god Heracles stayed and slept before completing his 11th task which was to get the golden apples from Hesperides Garden.
There were two openings to the cave, one was where we entered the cave from the beach the other opened out to the sea. It was believed that the Phoenicians created the sea opening which was shaped like the Africa map as seen from the sea-side.
Tea at a scenic sight
After Hercules Caves was a 2.5 hour drive to Chefchaouen, mid way we planned to stop for a coffee/tea break. We were not sure where would be a good place for a break, until we chanced upon Bin Khallal cafe Karini.
“Bin Khallal Cafe Karini” was just by the road side. We spotted a beautiful lake and immediately we looked for a place to stop that was when we saw the cafe up a slope by the side of the road. We just parked our car by its gate and walked up the slope to the cafe.
There was nobody around so we explored the place until we saw a young man sitting near a tiny shed kitchen. This cafe did not served coffee so we ordered mint tea.
We found a table facing the lake, propped up our legs and slowly seeped the mint tea (20Mad per glass). Wow the view was stunning.
The lake in front of us was Lac Barrage Martil. The water looked so blue, a uniform pastel blue color. The green grass, the trees and distance hills contrasted so nicely with the white clouds in the sky and the blue lake. We wished we could stay longer but had to leave after an hour to continue our journey south.
Chefchaouen
We reached Chefchaouen at about 3.30pm. Cars were not permitted to be driven into the Chefchaouen Medina, which meant we had to park and walk to our place of stay. We booked Hotel Alkhalifa which was on the hillside overlooking the center of the medina. There was also a open-air carpark very nearby. Being on the highground we would have a shorter trek to Bouzafer Mosque which was a great place to watch sunset over the city.
There was a attendant manning the carpark and we paid him 70Mad for two days of parking. He scribbled some words in chalk to on our car tire to indicate that we paid for two days of parking. We asked him what happened if it was to rain and the chalk marking washed off, he did not bother to reply us at all. We just had to trust him.
From the parking to our stay was 150m, the pavement was pretty good condition so rolling our bags on the pavement was okay. On the way we saw a big blue complex on the left side of the road, it was still under construction. This new complex was a huge multi storey carpark which would be in operation a few months later.
Mosque Bouzafer
This mosque was on a higher ground and was considered as the best place to watch sunset over Chefchaouen. Once we settled and rested we started our walked to the mosque. Though the mosque was practically directly on the hilltop behind our hotel there was no direct steps up to the mosque.
From our hotel to the mosque was about 850m which seemed like a short walk. Unfortunately it was all uphill so the walk was not as breezy. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the mosque and at 6.30pm there was already a big crowd gathered at the mosque.
A low wall in the compound of the mosque facing the medina were already seated with tourists. Everybody was waiting excitedly for the sun to set. The view was amazing. We could see the sun coming down over the horizon, casting its brilliant golden rays over the city of white and blue houses.
Exploring Chefchaoun Town
We had two days in Chefchaouen, onthe first day we walked through the city/medina in the evening time after the sunset and the second day we we visited the city during the bright daytime.
In the evening most of the street stores were already closed and the alleys were rather quiet as the locals went home and visitors left. Before the sky turned totally dark, the street lights came on. But once the sky totally darkened the lights bouncing off the blue walls created an errie bluish glow. Walking through the empty streets we felt rather chilly and quickly we moved to the medina center where there was more people
In the day time when we walked through the same streets of Chefchaouen, the place gave off a totally different vibes. The natural sunlight shining on the blue walls made the place bright and cheerly. We felt none of the uneasy eerie wariness we had the night before.
The name “Chefchaouen” was of Arabic and Berber origin. “Chef” meant “to look” in Arabic and “Echaouen” meant “antler” in Berber term. “Look at the Horns” could indicate the two mountain peaks overlooking the area. In the present days, Chefchaouen was known as “the Blue Pearl” of Morocco.
In the day many stores were open for business. It was fun to navigate through the many alleys, popping in and out of the many souvenir stores, browsing though their wares, looking at items that our interest. We also came by a small local fresh food market selling typical daily fresh food.
Though there were many alleys in Chefchaouen and the place might seem like a complex maze, but no worries google map worked fine and we did not get lost at all.
Our hotel was on a higher ground so we were always going downward as we walked through the alleys. At the lowest point was Plaza Uta el-Hammam, the center of the medina. This plaza was an iconic landmark of Chefchaouen. The place was bustling with people day and night. Surrounding the square were cafes, restaurants and shops offering local cuisines, crafts and products.
In the middle of Plaza Uta el Hamman was a Kasbah. This was a historical fortress built by the founder of Chefchaouen, Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami, in the 15 century to defend the town from Portugues and Spanish attacks. The fortress was now a museum.
We had our first dinner in Chefchaouen at Restaurant Bab Kasaba. It was practically facing the gate of the kasbah. We had a meat (goat) tagine, salad, soup, bread. The total cost of the meal was 100Mad
Our 2nd dinner in Chefchaouen was in a Hotel Triana. We walked by the hotel and thought it looked posh so we went in for a dinner. We had meat skewers and a pasta dish and enjoyed the meal very much. The total cost of the meal was 300Mad.
Our stay at chefchaouen
Our stay was at Hotel Alkhalifa, we booked its family suite for Eur139 from booking.com for two nights which included daily breakfast for two. We booked Hotel Alkhalifa because of it location, its view of Chefchaouen and its nearby public parking.
Our suite family was on the highest level (before the roof terrace). It had two rooms, one with a two single beds and another with a double bed + single bed and an attached toilet.
The room indeed had a window that looked directly into the heart of Chefchaouen. The view was beautiful unfortunately the room was not cosy at all. Besides beds it had a small table but no chairs! There was no way to get comfortable and gazed out of the window to enjoy the day and night scene of Chefchaouen.
Breakfast was held at the hotel dining room on the ground floor. Very standard Morrocan breakfast, simple and nice.
