A walk through Chefchaouen takes you past shopkeeper’s wares, through blue-painted arches, and over uneven cobblestone streets.

Chefchaouen, originally called Chaouen, meaning “peaks,” sits firmly among the peaks of the Rif mountains. In 1975, the town was renamed Chefchaouen (Look at the Peaks).  It’s a colorful white-and-blue montage of buildings that can be seen from a pull-out along the highway. And the doors, windows, flat roofs and scrunched-up living quarters make for a memorable view from the road.

From the highway going in to this city, this is the initial view of the colorful “Blue Pearl” of Morocco.

A little rock hut with a blue door of its own welcomes you along with the flag of Morocco.

An inset blue door surrounded by white welcomes visitors to this town that is now discovered and “on the map,” so to speak.

The town, founded in 1471, began to grow quickly with the arrival of Jewish and Muslim refugees from Granada in 1494 who bought up the smallish tile-roofed abodes that lend a Spanish look to Chefchaouen.

Dry pigment awaits buyers in Chefchouen. When mixed with a bit of water, it defines this little city known for colorful walls and doors.

But it’s the blue you want to see — sort of a watery wash of blue that pervades the town as if residents bought the color in powder form, used a little too much water, and slung the paint willy-nilly all over the walls and steps and doors.

Blue steps lead to a blue door at a residence in Chefchaouen.

No one cares much about detail.  It’s the blend of sea blue, sky blue, marine blue and baby blue with pure white that sets this town apart. And the doors provide details, varying in form and construction and history, making you wonder why did they select that style, who lives behind them, and what their story is.

Doorways invite you to climb the steps and pose for pictures as we did — often!

Perhaps a perfect place to pose for a picture:
under a blue arched doorway in Chefchouen.

But sometimes, we just stood still, watching residents going about their daily chores.

A man in Chefchaouen sweeps off the walkway in front of his door.

Some doors are almost obscured as goods (mostly for tourists to take home) frame the openings, making you wonder what’s inside.  And, as we can attest, if you walk in, you’ll probably walk out with more than you came with!

Leather goods, perhaps made at the tannery in Fez, frame a doorway in Chefchaouen.

Just off the town square, Alcazaba, a fortress built in 1471, offers more glimpses into the architecture of this well-preserved building that’s now houses a museum.

Alcazaba, the kasbah in Chefchaouen, opens off the town square.

Of all the sites we saw in Morocco, the town of Chefchaouen  remains one of the most memorable — from its colorful blue walls, steep steps and simple, yet fairly complex doors.  “The Blue Pearl,” as it’s called in several guidebooks, is one town you don’t want to miss in this country that seems to have it all.

Best thing to do in Chefchaouen? Wander through the blue.

For more information:

We booked our trip to Chefchaouen and other towns in Morocco through Ortelius Travel.  Our agent, Lauren Gunnels, can recommend riads and restaurants — some of which even have blue doors! (We stayed at Lina Riad & Spa and dined at Auberge Dardara Restaurant, at the recommendation of our guide.)

For more Thursday Doors, click here.

For more about Morocco, go to Marvelous Morocco in the bar at the top of this blog.

A Pinterest favorite is this home surrounded by trees of autumn splendor standing in the square of Castine.

Our typical morning in Castine found us up before dawn, standing at Acadia Dock to greet the sun, and then hiking uphill to the open door (at 7 a.m. no less) of MarKel’s Bakehouse where the smell of hot-from-the-oven blueberry muffins and rich quiches greeted “the regulars” and visitors like us who quickly made friends.

Open for business: MarKel’s Bakehouse near the Castine harbor

It would be easy to typify this town of predominately white clapboard homes as just another seaside village. But with the British, French, and Dutch all vying for dominance of Castine’s location at the mouth of the Penobscot Bay and settling troops and families in the village, the architecture took on a decidedly European look with embellishments not seen in other coastal Maine towns.  Some white homes in Castine boast painted doors.

But it’s not all white houses in Castine.  Colorful homes as well dot the landscape. Under renovation, this deep red home faces Water Street but opens its back to the beauty of the bay. Here are a few we loved.

Looking a bit like a fixer upper, this deep red beauty gets new doors and updated interior.

Swaths of gray mark the age of this shingled beauty that blends in with the landscape.

At water’s edge, a grey-shingled home greets the morning fog.

Dating back to 1796, this home is considered one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, in Castine. Its doorway remains one of its prettiest features, yet one of its darkest.

European styling with stone, plaster, and timber combined in the exterior.

An inset door flanked by shutters and benches on the oldest cottage in Castine.

A few buildings are used for teaching and demonstrating crafts of yesteryear — like this place for blacksmithing with a distinctive red door.

Open only during summer months, this building houses equipment for blacksmithing.

Some cottages are quaint . . .

Gray cottage with black door

Yellow two-story with framed doorway

while others are quite elegant surrounded by walkways, hedges and formal gardens.

Elegant home and former antique shop — one of the prettiest in Castine

But even among the finest, the largest, the cutest, and so forth, we found a favorite:  a simple, white Cape Cod with red door and stone wall facing the water.  Oh, to have a cup of coffee while sitting in the front window watching the boats sail past.

House with red door and rock fence facing Penobscot Bay

You know it’s Castine when even the typical becomes the extraordinary.

Every week, you can find more doors at Norm’s Thursday Doors.

Bert and our driver from Stanton, Gloucestershire, admire the transom windows, iron bell, and door knocker of this original door.

If you thought all doors in the Cotswolds would be similar, you’d be mistaken.  And we stand mistaken.  We envisioned most of them as brown, heavy wooden structures, some with hand-forged hardware, some just plain.  But really we didn’t think much about Cotswolds doors until we saw them.  If there are a thousand doors, then there are a thousand styles.  And each is to be appreciated for its individuality.

Of course, one door we were most grateful to see was this one , a most sought-after door for tourists!

A welcome sight in the Cotswolds!

Want to see more doors today?  You’ll find them on Norm’s Thursday Doors.

And for our first round of Cotswold doors, click here.

Like this sturdy wooden door standing in stark contrast to pale gray stones surrounding it, and adorned by an arc of vines. Classy colors.  Stately architecture. Memorable statement.

 Or this nail-studded door with a pouf of winding, climbing now-hardened vines hovering over and spilling onto to those charming leaded windows.

Even plain doors are noteworthy in the Cotswolds.  With a simple lion’s head door knocker and metal (hand-forged?) letter slot, this Court Cottage door exudes elegance in simplicity.

Now this door deserves a double-take.  If it weren’t on a church, this sweet closure could almost be the opening for a Hobbit house, with that rounded top and romantic carvings.  And look twice at the details like a forged iron hinge at the bottom and teeny cut-outs at eye level.

I guess everyone has a favorite, even among a line-up of remarkable doors where each one seems more special than the last.  And here’s mine.   Perhaps I should call it what it really is — a gate rather than a door.  But it’s a doorway to something.  This lovely carved wooden structure — door? gate? — begged to be pushed open just so I could get a glimpse of what’s on the other side. And it was all I could do to hold back and just take pictures.

Be still my heart.  The Cotswolds have doors to envy!

For more of Norm’s Thursday’s Doors, click here.  And push open a whole new world of worthy entrances.

A passerby checks his phone in front of an elegant London doorway.

When you travel, walking the neighborhood near your hotel is one way to get a feel for how people really live.  And, if doors are any indication of the people inside the homes in the Mayfair section of London, we could expect to meet some very British residents, comfortable in their formality.

Doors on Park Street reveal some things in common:  Almost all are beautiful, and almost all are coated with high gloss, black paint.  Park Street doors reminded us of quaint London taxis bearing shoppers on Bond Street and those ever-popular (at least in the States) glossy boots by Hunter, the brand that outclasses almost all other rain gear on the market today.  Park Street doors are the ultimate chic, if you will, in this quiet neighborhood in the Mayfair section. And the color hints at lineage or status — the color not of royalty, perhaps, but of understated elegance that would never dare to scream, “Notice me!”

Who wouldn’t want to turn the knob, walk in, and see what’s behind any one of these doors?

With so many types of doors surrounded by entryways worthy of ambassadors (and some live here!), a walk in the Mayfair section of London may be in order.  It’s a place where variety reigns but uniformity is the gold (or, should we say, black) standard for doors.

For more doors, check out Norm Framton’s site: Thursday Doors, January 12, 2017.  It’s a welcome site to see!

Pretty doorway in the Cotswolds — with boots!

Dear Readers,

We think doors in the Cotswolds just ooze charm.  Maybe it’s because they’re shorter than ours in the States.  Maybe it’s because the hold wreaths or garlands or signs of the season. You may be looking at this one saying, “That one’s pretty ordinary.”  And maybe it is.  But this door had us grabbing the camera.  It’s the little things, right?

Boots by the door: England in the Cotswolds

Thinking Christmas all week long — Rusha and Bert

More Christmas 2016 postcards:

Markets at Bath

Windows at Selfridges

Leave it alone — we love it! The aging exterior of Napoleon House, New Orleans French Quarter.

It’s not that we’re opposed to new.  Levees need repairing.  The Cabildo needs a facelift.  And paint makes old spaces new again.

Doors with broken slats, painted many times.

It’s just that we love old.  Timeworn, tattered, peeling paint old.  And where else could we be more at home with the oldness than in New Orleans and the heart of the French Quarter?

Preserving more than the rich heritage of jazz, the exterior of Preservation Hall shows off its ironwork and aging exterior.

Take Napoleon House, for example.  Occupied from 1812 to 1815 by Mayor Nicolas Girod and offered as a residence to Napoleon in 1821 while he was in exile (even though Napoleon never made it there), the home has stood solid since at least 1798 when Girod bought it at auction.  And with its history and untouched spaces (well, they look untouched), it’s as much a favorite on the outside at 500 Chartres Street as it is on the inside.

Rooftop structure, Napoleon House, New Orleans French Quarter

Original wall of Nicholas Girod House, now Napoleon House, on Chartres Street.

Looking through the arched doorway to the courtyard at Napoleon House

But there’s more old everywhere you turn.  From hand-made bricks settling year after year . . .

to doors that make you wonder who went in and who came out.

It’s the cute factor, too.  Shotgun houses with their quirky carved adornments and colorful facades . . .

Shotgun house, New Orleans French Quarter

to lighting shops that use peeling plaster walls as backdrops for new merchandise.

New lamps and mirrors contrast nicely with aged brick and peeling plaster walls.

Sometimes it’s preservation efforts that ensure we get to see the old.

Preserved 1788 fireplace in Madame John’s Legacy, now a Louisiana State Museum

And sometimes, it’s just happening upon a glimpse of a courtyard when you wonder who goes to and fro in a place as charming as this.

Old courtyard with painted stairs as seen from Madame John’s Legacy.

Look up to see aging, antique balconies and windows and doors.

Two windows, one door open onto a stately ironwork balcony.

Aged but colorful — windows on the French Quarter

And old window ties together brick and stucco walls for a glimpse of French Quarter charm.

Or look down dark corridors to see inside and out all at once.

Glimpse of a courtyard in New Orleans French Quarter

It’s old, all right.  And we hope NOLA can keep it that way.  ‘Cause for some of us, that’s what brings us back again and again.

Old window and downspout in the New Orleans French Quarter

Thanks for joining us as we share our sights and sounds of New Orleans.

— Bert and Rusha