Ouezzane Medina

Ouezzane climbs a hillside in olive country between the Rif and the plain, and unlike the blue of Chefchaouen its houses are painted white with green trim - green being the colour of the Taibiya, the Sufi order founded here in the seventeenth century by Moulay Abdallah Cherif, whose zaouia is the centre of the town. The order's sharifs were powerful enough to act as intermediaries and protectors for centuries, and the shrine drew pilgrims from a wide area. Ouezzane was also a pilgrimage site for Moroccan Jews, who visited the tomb of Rabbi Amran ben Diwan at Asjen a few kilometres away, and the hillouloth there still draws people. The medina is steep, stepped, working and not set up for visitors at all; the olive presses, the weaving and the Thursday souk are what it does. It is a place to walk rather than to tick off.

What to look for

• Green-and-white houses - the colour of the Sufi order rather than Chefchaouen's blue.
• The Taibiya zaouia - the seventeenth-century order's seat at the town's centre.
• A two-faith pilgrimage district - with the rabbi's tomb at Asjen nearby.
• Olive country - presses, groves and a Thursday souk rather than a visitor economy.

When to go

Spring and autumn; Thursday for the souk. Half a day.

Good to know

There is no tourist infrastructure - few places to stay or eat aimed at visitors. The town is steep and stepped throughout. The zaouia is closed to non-Muslims. Little English is spoken.

Nearby

Chefchaouen is north; Volubilis and Meknes are south-east.

Key facts