Moroccan Odyssey Day 5

Morocco Day 5: Tetouan

Today, we drove about 2 hours to the city of Tetouan, the "white city".  In the Berber language, Amazigh, Tetouan means 2 eyes.  Tétouan, located in northern Morocco near the Mediterranean coast originally inhabited by Berber tribes and later influenced by Phoenician and Roman settlements. The city itself was founded in the late 13th century but was destroyed in 1399 by the Castilians after becoming a base for pirates.

Tétouan was rebuilt in the late 15th century by Muslim and Jewish refugees expelled from Spain during the Reconquista. It served as the capital of the Spanish Protectorate in northern Morocco from 1913 to 1956. It's medina  one of the best-preserved historic quarters in Morocco, was named a UNESCO site for its unique blend of Judaic, Moroccan, Andalusian, and Spanish heritage.

The homes in the city are all plain and white outside, but are richly decorated on the interior.  All include 5 elements of design:

1. Mosaic tile in geometric patterns
2. Carved Plaster
3. Cedar carved columns
4. Marble Columns. exchange sugar for Italian marble
5. Water fountain

Tetouan also boasts one of about 16 royal palaces scattered around Morocco.

The medina is a warren of alleyways lined with shops of all kinds. To keep from having to send out daily search parties, the designers of the town came up with a method for negotiating the medina.  Paving stones down the center of each lane are the secret to getting out alive.  Single vertical stones lead to a dead-end, two parallel lines lead to shopping and places of worship, and three parallel stones take you to an exit.

A modern addition includes symbols which denote, shops, places of interest (mosques, synagogues, museums), fountains.

The medina was divided into three quarter, Jewish, Muslim, and Spanish Catholic.  Every quarter had 5 elements in common:

1. Communal oven
2. Communal bath
3. Water source
4. School 
5. Place of prayer

We entered the medina in the Jewish quarter or Mellah. The word, Mellah, comes from the word mel, meaning salt. The term first appeared in Fez in the 15th century, when the Moroccan sultan assigned a walled quarter of the city for Jewish residence. This became known as the Mellah of Fez — the first Jewish quarter in Morocco. Its use later spread across Morocco, symbolizing the walled areas where Jewish communities lived.

At one point Tétouan was home to many synagogues (around sixteen are cited) and a large Sephardic‐Jewish community.  Today, only 7 men remain, making it impossible to hold regular services. The last remaining synagogue was built in 1889 nder Rabbi Isaac Ben Walid’s leadership.  Today, the only services held here are during the annual pilgrimage (hiloula) to commemorate the date the death of Rabbi Isaac Ben Walid.

A particularly interesting detail: there is (or was) an apparatus inside the synagogue that allowed automatic control of lights for the Sabbath.

Doors in the mellah also were signals. Green doors signified shops

whereas brown doors were residences.

In addition, the blue along the walls delineated the Jewish quarter.

We moved into the Muslim quarter without even realizing it.  

and finally found our way out through the main gate.

On our return to Chefchaouen, we stopped along the coast for an amazing seafood lunch in Azla.

Our Chef

Our Lunch

We sat out on the Mediterranean and ate for about two hours.

The stray cats here eat like kings.

We continued onward after lunch through the Riff Mountains crossing dramatic deep gorges.

Mo taking pix

After our huge lunch, we decided on another dinner of ice cream, and early to bed.  Tomorrow we travel north to Tangier