Who Said That Greece Has A Monopoly On The Mediterranean, Labyrinths, And Whitewashed Cities?

Because they were lies. LIES, I TELL YOU.

Where were you this weekend? Because I was here:

(Okay, so I'd be ashamed of that if I posted it on, say, Facebook, where you couldn't get away from it. But ostensibly, you are here with the rather sole purpose of staring at my pictures and listening to me babble a lot and brag a little, and I was in Chefchaouen and Tangier yesterday.)

That being the case, I have more pictures for you to browse through. 

Yeah, I'm pulling a selfie here.

The outside of our hotel. I loved the gate.

The view from our hotel. It was gorgeous there. It was gorgeous pretty much everywhere.

The center atrium-ish area of the hotel.

I got artsy with one of the stained-glass windows. 

A couple of sights from the old medina: 

We did some volunteering with a school, and afterwards took a hike up to an old mosque. See that little white building at the top that I've zoomed my camera into? That's the spot. I took this picture where we were volunteering, and we went straight into our hike. 

The view was definitely worth it though. The sun was dropping, and the valley and mountains were absolutely magnificent.

I won't subject you to any more selfies. Promise. It's just that I was so happy to get to the top without dying, and it's actually an okay picture.

After our hike/climb/workout that totally made up for the zillions of calories we had consumed at lunch, we walked back down into Chefchaouen and continued to use our legs to get back to the hotel. (To be fair, it was, as always, beautiful, with bright blue and white buildings making up the section we walked through.)

The inhabitants of Chefchaouen must be very fit. The entire city is a  60s-style house. There are rather a lot of levels. Stairs going up and down, and twisting streets make Chefchaouen the labyrinth that I spoke of in my title. I'm hazarding a guess that it was more pleasant than the one in Crete.

I totally creeped on someone's doorway. I keep forgetting that people actually live behind the many doors that I take pictures of. It would be totally weird if someone came and took a picture of my door. I wonder if the residents have just gotten used to it.

Quick explanation: every year, the city is re-painted blue and white. It serves several purposes. 1.) From what I understand, mosquitoes do not like the blue (or maybe the paint?). I'm not entirely sure if this was a joke, a wife's tale, or a fact. 2.) It's a really effective color scheme for keeping houses cool during summer (see below rant). And (I'm kind of inferring on this one) 3.) It has become pretty iconic.

I must say that for the North/Mediterranean, it got pretty darned hot. As in, people there probably take vacations to Tartarus for the Arctic breeze that passes through. Okay, perhaps I jest, but our hikes got hot. Coming from a person who likes the heat. 

Edit: Before going to the hotel, we went to the Kasbah. 

A view from the top. Lots more stairs. I'd give you a success selfie to say that I made it, but I promised that you wouldn't have to be subjected to any more of those. 

Fast forward to Sunday. I think the drive to Tangier was pretty, because we were driving through mountains, but honestly, I wouldn't know. We got back to the hotel (the second time) near midnight, and we had to be in the dining room at 7, so I slept on the bus (I'm becoming pretty adept at zonking in transportation, after 17 years of failed attempts from my parents.) and only woke up a few times on the hairpin turns. What I saw was lovely, because the sun was still rising. 

And when we got to Tangiers...BOOM. The Mediterranean! 

It was cold (not even close to Tensleep, though), but totally worth it! The pictures don't do justice to how classically blue the water was.

We walked around Tangier for a while (side note: it's actually "Tanja" in MSA) and then took the bus home, very late. 

Because this is not a selfie, I'm posting it. Just me chillin' with Spain in the way-background.

Last picture.