The North of Morocco

Chefchaouen

The blue painted city in the wide valley of the Riff Mountains offers a fabulous and chilling environment. Its interesting Medina makes it the perfect place to shop while in the North of Morocco. You can enjoy its narrow painted streets and shops while having a quite medieval ambiance.

Chefchaouen was funded in 1471 by Moulay Ali Ben Rachid as a strategic point military base for the Riffian Berber to launch attacks on the Portuguese settled in Ceuta.
Chefchaouen litteraly mean "look at the peaks" as the city is located right above the peaks of the West part of the Rif Mountains.
The town as kept isolated and almost xenophobic for many centuries until the arrival of the Spaniards that took the town with its army in 1920.
During centuries the entrance on non-Muslims and non-Jewish was forbidden.

Asilah and Lixus Roman Ruins

One of the best spots of the North Atlantic Cost, Asilah is very well known for its medieval ramparts, narrow streets with fantastic coast line and its fancy beaches. For the last few years Moroccan government has been investing money in this region to promote its tourism since it has a lot of potential. You’ll enjoy the Old Medina and the medieval ramparts and castle walls right in the Atlantic Coast.

Lixus is located on the Coast a few kilometres South of Asilah and can be done in a morning trip from Asilah.
According to Ancient Mythology, it was here hat Hercules picked the golden apples of the Garden of Hesperides, thus completing the11th of his 12 labours. The Phoenician Atlantic colonies fell to the Carthaginians in the 6th century BC. Lixus remained a trading point for slaves, gold and ivory.
Lixus was taken by the Roman Empire in the 6th century BC and its exportations changed mainly to olives, wince, salt and wild animals to Emperor Claudius’s ampithitheatres.

Photos of Asilah by Samir Selim
Photos of Lixus by Macie