Chefchaouen, Morocco

So the first thing I want you to know about this mandala is that it's actually a maze, to mimic the old quarter of Chefchaouen. There are two large city gates, the entry near the top of the mandala and the exit near the bottom. You can navigate the alleyways via the darkened tunnels... but not through the blue of wooden doors, which are private homes. Good luck!

In November 2016 I visited Morocco for a fortnight with a Spanish friend. The first thing we did after crossing the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier was to hire a car and head towards the Rif Mountains and Chefchaouen. The blue city of Morocco is home to roughly 40,000 people, spread out on a lower slope of the mountains. It's medina or old-quarter, is traffic-free and a wonderful maze of alleyways that sometimes pass beneath homes. There are no straight lines of flat-surfaces, the stores are full of tasteful leather and woven products, and the food is great everywhere. In the restaurants, it's an experience of varied flavours and traditional presentation.

But why are the walls blue? Well you have a choice here. Some say it's a deterrent to mosquitos in a wet area. Some say it's to keep the buildings cool in hot weather. Others that it reflects the colour of the sky, and others the water on which they are so dependent. And in the late 1400's during the Spanish Inquisition, there was a large influx of Jews to Chefchaouen, who had a tradition of painting their buildings blue. It appears that it caught on!