Ian Lloyd Neubauer, for CNN
Surrounded on all sides by breath-taking mountain scenery and boasting a 500-year-old fortress at its center, the city of Chefchaouen — or Chaouen for short — is becoming a new “it” place on Morocco’s tourist trail. Yet it’s not the mountains or the “Game of Thrones” architecture that travellers come in their thousands to see. It’s the colour — a gorgeous blue rinse that covers not only Chaouen’s houses, but its mosques, government buildings, public squares and even its lampposts and trash cans.
The custom dates back to the 15th century, when Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish Inquisition settled in large numbers in Chaouen. They brought with them their tradition of painting things blue to mirror the sky and remind them of God.
