Day 37: Bus to Chefchaouen

March 24, 2023

Meeting the French Canadians

We arrive very early to the bus station; Rachel is concerned about the hill . In Essouria with Supra@Tours taking the bus with the bikes was so easy, not even having to unload the bikes. Here there is the unknown of how organized this might be with the bikes.

The clerk looks at the bikes as tells us we have to unload and pay for each bike and bag. Patrick gets the green duffel bag and loads most of the panniers and the other bags with bungee together in two bundles.

Then we wait.

When it's time for loading of the bus to Chefchaouen, the bikes are loaded first. The bus ride is 4 hours and through beautiful but very hilly country.

The bus station is a lot lower in the valley than the guesthouse in the Medina. We set-off in the direction that makes the most sense based on google maps, but the waiting taxi drivers convince us to take the longer route in the opposite direction because it is easier. That is relative, because there are still some very steep streets to navigate before we find the main road towards the Medina. When we enter the Medina we again take the road that makes the most sense according to the map, we end up at a dead end on the bottom of the stair. A friendly guy helps carry Patrick's bike up. We find the guesthouse we booked, but there are a few more stair steps to negotiate. As we carry all our bags up again a friendly bystander helps.

For dinner we meet up with Genevieve and Pierre they are on Facebook we see their pictures of the back road ride they took between Fez and Chefchaouen. We also get more detail of their experience with the kids throwing rocks and being followed by the police. We also discover they had met Michael and Joanna on the coast.

A very nice evening. They will take the bus to Tangiers on Sunday, as we will take 3 days riding to Tanger Med. We will all be on the same ferry to Barcelona.

At the Fez CMT bus terminal. Tags for the bikes are 25Dh and bags are 5Dh each. We combine our panniers in the duffelbag and by bungying them together.

3 km from the bus station, we find the guesthouse in Chefchaouen. Now all we have to do is find a way to get our bikes up to it.

A mark on the ceiling indicates the direction to Mecca. First time we've seen this in Morocco. We saw this frequently in Indonesia and Turkey.

The "Spanish Mosque" is visible from the terrace of our guesthouse.

Our first foray into Chefchaouen. From our guesthouse a stair and steep path leads into the Medina towards the central plaza. The GPS on the tablet will guide us through the maze.

Sunset from the "Cafe Clock" restaurant terrace.

We finally meet-up with Genevieve and Pierre.

Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 1,345 km (835 miles)

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