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Adventure Sailing & Road Trips
Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen
A three day Sail & Road adventure..
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The blue city
The blue city
In the mountains..
Our destination is Chefchaouen, or Chaouen as is its popular name.. It's a city in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco.
We use day one to get to Morocco, Marina Smir, from La Linea just outside Gibraltar. Day two we go by large taxi or rented van to Chouen. Day three we sail back again. So it's a quick compressed adventure that I promise you.. will not have you bored. We sleep at Sarys, a hotel I know since long time back. We eat in restaurants
It’s known for the striking, blue-washed buildings of its old town. Leather and weaving workshops line its steep cobbled lanes.
I have visited Chaouen hundreds of times with friends and customers and I never get bored.. Back and forth It´s a full day trip from M'diq and the coast.
We use day one to get to Morocco, Marina Smir, from La Linea just outside Gibraltar. Day two we go by large taxi or rented van to Chouen. Day three we sail back again. So it's a quick compressed adventure that I promise you.. will not have you bored. We sleep at Sarys, a hotel I know since long time back. We eat in restaurants
It’s known for the striking, blue-washed buildings of its old town. Leather and weaving workshops line its steep cobbled lanes.
I have visited Chaouen hundreds of times with friends and customers and I never get bored.. Back and forth It´s a full day trip from M'diq and the coast.
We meet in the morning 10 am at Alcaidesa Marina in La Linea, pantalan 6. Go through the plans, hand out safety equipment, check out Joshua, talk about everybody's sailing experience and how much you want to take part in the work that needs to be done on the way.
Around 11 am is a good time to leave. I am happy to teach and tell you anything you want to know about sailing in general deep water cruising.
As we leave Alcaidesa Marina we will sail along Gibraltar for almost an hour, the rock is spectacular and if there is an Levante, wind from the East, as on the picture, really funny looking clouds will form at the top of the mountain.
It takes about an hour to get out past Gibraltar, and once here the wind and the waves will normally pic up. By now all the sails should be up and we will do about 6-7 knots at least.. There is always an Eastward going stream running so we will set the course more west than straight on the cabo by Ceuta we have to go around.
This is our first waypoint... Punta Almina, on the north point of Ceuta. We will take this Cabo on our Starboard side and then head more SW and go in in the large bay behind it.. We will have sailed for about 3 hrs by know.
As we have come around the bend of Ceuta we are in Morocco and in the long bay where Marina Smir is located. We go close to the coast and pass first Fnideq and then we arrive. All in all we have now sailed approx 5 hrs.
Welcome to Marina Smir, the marina was built and has been managed by a Swedish owned company for 25 years, but since the recession 2008 things have been tough, and last year the government took over and has done a lot of improvements on all levels except one, they fired all old personnel and has still not given them any settlement at all.
Marina Smir is not just the Marina. It´s the whole area. It´s very luxurious and expensive for Moroccan standards. The King Mohammed VI of Morocco has a house here. Actually we will pass it on the way to Hotel Sarys in Mdiq. If his there so will thousands of police and military all dressed very nice.
Mounir.. my best friend and partner around the yacht services we do in Morocco. He will for sure meet up greet us and take us to the Hotel Sary´s in M'diq. But normally he works just with the boats. We have a car that takes five, but since we will be at least 5 plus him, we will go by large taxi.
Not more than 20 years ago M'diq was just a small fishing town, today it is a posh summer resort, mostly for Moroccans that swarm the north coast in the summer. It still has a traditional fishing port where you also eat can good fish & seafood very inexpensive.
If you want more info about HOTEL SARY´S click the button below.
If you want more info about HOTEL SARY´S click the button below.
It´s nice to visit Chefchaouen, but the road trip going there or back is even nicer, one gets these typical african 3D views all over the place. Here on the picture we are at a rest stop, half an hour before reaching destination.
The water in the mountains is supposed to be very good, clean and healthy for you. So there is quite a few places that provides fresh mountain water, for free, however since you can´t just take it in you pocket you have to purchase something to take it in.. a 5 liter container, €1 or 11 Dirham.
Michel and Beatriz Clarenbeek also was here with me, 2014.. Even dogs are welcome :-) On the picture se see Chowie, who after sailing with me for three years now lives in Sweden with my Alex and Isabel.
Katja, Rui, Silvia on the way to Chouen..
Olle and Ina also on the way to Chouen.
OK, we have now arrived now to province Chaouen, and just got a little ways more.. But why not by some local pottery right here and now.. it will be cheaper than in the somewhat touristy town itself..
A view of Chaouen from the South side. There is loads of hiking tracks and other touristic things to do in this area, like rock climbing, visiting farmers, carpet and souvenir makers etc.. but we, on this trip will not have time for much of that.
The Medina in Chaouen, is pretty much all we will have time to visit. Do some shopping, have a good lunch at my favorite restaurant and just get the feel of the place.
The heart of the medina is the shady, cobbled Plaza Uta El Hammam. The plaza is dominated by the red-hued walls of the kasbah and the adjacent Grande Mosquée. The kasbah contains a lovely garden, an ethnographic museum, and an art gallery. (text: Lonely Planet)
Helena Norberg and her husband Captain Betong arrived with their yacht S/Y Wilma to Marina Smir, early spring 2018, they then came along to Chefchaouen and later wrote a blog about it.. please see their web blogg Projekt Sunshine, it´s in Swedish but if that is not for you, U can always enjoy their beautiful pictures. As you can see Fredrik was in deep trouble losing her for ever to the men in the mountain town.. :-)
As we return to M'diq we will go another route We will head down into a valley and straight for the mediterranean coast.. We don´t want to leave to late because this part of the trip is even more beautiful than what we have seen so far and we want to have time to stop in many places..
The roads are sometimessomewhat steep and winding but absolutely nothing to worry about.
This is a very good and popular area for rock climbing.
This road from Chefchaouen leads right to Oued Laou, that is another booming summer city but has not much to offer in the winter. From here on we will go along the Mediterranean coast all he way back to first Tetuan and then Mdiq.
Well back in M'diq, we go to the same Hotel Sary´s, and a little later head out to town for some cheap good food. I found this good picture of M'diq, by Mohamed Haddi.. on Wikipedia and it shows clearly that this village is not just a small fishing village any more. In the foreground you see the fishing port and to the right of that, the Kings private little harbour, that normally is empty as on the picture.
After a good night sleep and a solid breakfast with juices and fresh bread from their own bakery we leave Marina Smir at around 11 am.
We go the same way back.. along the coast, past Fnideq, Ceuta and then head straight for the Rock.
Naturally it is not always as nice weather as on the pictures I show here.. Sometimes the Gibraltar Strait can be a bitch, but the wind is always from the side, so one always makes the trip in the destined time frame.
Europa point on Gibraltar, we are back one more hour to go only, along Gibraltar, then La Linea and Alcaidesa Marina.
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