The morning begins at the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest and most extraordinary mosques in the world, its minaret rising 210 meters above the Atlantic Ocean on a platform built over the sea. The craftsmanship inside, the marble floors, the carved cedarwood, the hand-painted ceilings, is among the finest produced in Morocco in the modern era.
A morning drive north into the Rif Mountains, the landscape shifting from the urban sprawl of the Atlantic coast to the pine-covered hills of northern Morocco.
Chefchaouen sits in a valley in the Rif Mountains, its medina painted in shades of blue that have no single explanation and no equivalent anywhere else in Morocco. The blue that covers its walls, staircases, doorways, and flower pots has accumulated over decades through a tradition that began with Jewish refugees in the 15th century and has never stopped. Your guide walks you through its lanes at a pace that does the place justice, unhurried and without agenda.
For those with energy and the right shoes, an optional hike into the Rif Mountains above the town reveals the valley and the blue rooftops from above, the surrounding landscape as dramatic as the town below.
The evening is yours to sit in one of the town's rooftop cafes, mint tea in hand, the mountains visible on every side.