Welcome to Morocco

As soon as we arrived in Algeciras, Spain we were told that the next ferry to Tanger would leave at 2:30pm. We had made it just in time!! Or so we thought...nobody around us spoke English and this worried us a bit since our ferry number was not on the schedule once we entered the terminal. Thankfully there was a British guy sitting next to us that was wondering the same thing. At least we weren't the only foreigners all confused! For one reason or another our ferry was delayed. Once we boarded we grabbed a seat and waited to set sail. We waited and waited and waited and after about 70 minutes of sitting there not knowing what was going on we left :-) I was sooo excited as I could not wait to experience Morocco!

I have been on my share of ferry rides since the in-laws live on the island. Some rides have been more pleasurable than others, but this ride to Tanger was nothing like I had ever experienced. IT WAS A ROCKIN' & A ROLLIN'!! 1.5 hours of sea legs and a queasy stomach and I am really surprised I didn't get ill. Thankfully we arrived with our stomach in tact!

One girl we met in Seville told us about a nice hotel very close to the port, so we decided to try and find it. As soon as we stepped off of the ferry we were accosted by men trying to take us on a tour or get us in their taxi. This is something that I have experienced before on previous travels, but it was all new for my mom. I have learned to be firm, but polite when turning someone down. The key word being firm. My mom is such a nice person that she would engage in conversation with the people trying to get us in their cab. I was determined to get away from them and find the hotel on our own. They would say to me "C'mon, smile for once. Be like your mom. I'm just talking to you ladies." BLAH BLAH BLAH IN MY OPINION!! Beat it buddy!

We walked and never found that hotel the lady in Seville told us about. It was a very different experience from Portugal and Spain. There were no crosswalks, so trying to cross a busy street with luggage was a challenge. There were potholes everywhere and I am so thankful the wheels on our bags didn't bust. It was dusty and there was garbage everywhere. We were approached at every block by someone wanting to take us to a hotel, but once again we were determined to find something on our own and avoid a scam at any cost! It was only irritating because I was so tired from a huge day of traveling, but I was not surprised by anything we came across. I mean we were in Africa! My mom was a TROOPER because this was all so new for her.

Some of the hotels we went into either didn't have heat or a shower. We kind of wanted both :-) We found a hotel called the Bristol and booked it for a night since it did have heat and a shower!

This was taken from the street in front of our hotel. We walked all the way from the ferry terminal which is located to the right of the yellowish building behind the tallest palm tree does that make sense? :-)

That night we walked around the city centre so we could find something to eat, but we didn't explore too much because we didn't feel that comfortable walking around at night. After we ate we went back to our room and watched a movie. This was the first time we had an English channel other than BBC.

The next AM we woke up, went for breaky, and decided how we were going to get to Marrakech (our planned destination). Initially I thought we were going to take a 12 hour overnight train, but my mom wanted to explore flight options. Twelve hours on a train or 25 minutes on a plane. My mom decided to book us a flight from Tanger to Marrakech where we would spend a few days and then from Marrakech to Madrid, Spain. SCORE FOR ME!! Thanks a ton mom for picking up that tab!!! It was well worth it   :-) Since we had the whole day in Tanger we wanted to do as much as we could.

My mom had met the owner of the Bristol hotel a couple times out on the street while having a smoke and he told her that if we wanted to he could call someone to take us on a private tour of the city. We definitely jumped all over that! So for 6 hours we had our own private tour guide and taxi driver. The guide spoke really good English, whereas the taxi driver didn't speak any!

I took as many photoz as I could, but given that Morocco is a Muslim nation due to their religion it is extremely taboo and disrespectful to take their photograph. So as you will see in upcoming posts I have photographed the backs of many people. Unless there was a huge crowd in front of me and it was less obvious as to what I was aiming at.

Here are some from our day in and around Tanger:

We tried to take a self photo in front of this mosque, but our guide insisted he take the picture!

A view of the Medina from afar

A Medina quarter  is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The Medina is typically walled, contains many narrow and maze-like streets, and was built by Arabs as far back as the 9th century.

Medinas often contain historical fountains, palaces, and mosques. The monuments are preserved for their cultural significance (and are also a draw for tourists).

Because of the very narrow streets, Medinas are free from car traffic, and in some cases even motorcycle and bicycle traffic. The streets can be less than a metre wide. This makes them unique among highly populated urban centres. Some medinas were also used to confuse and slow down invaders because of how narrow and winding they are.

Where the king resides when he is in town

These signs signify the Atlantic (left) & Mediterranean (right) coastline and at one point the two bodies converge.

This is the entrance to the Caves of Hercules which is located 14 km outside of Tanger. Apparently this is where Hercules used to rest after he found Tanger and made the Strait of Gibraltar with one blow from his sword.

After exploring the outskirts of the city we made our way to the inside of the Medina.

All I can say is THANK GOD we had a tour guide with us. The streets inside the wall of the Medina are SO narrow and branch out in every imaginable direction. It is so easy to lose your way. Just look at the map on the left!

We took a break and had a delicious lunch at a typical Moroccan restaurant. Yummy -- mint tea, couscous, chickpeas, veggies and chicken. DELICIOUS!

 

One thing that we saw quite frequently was the symbol you can see in the picture above. This is not only a symbol of good luck, but also to protect against the evil eye. It is called Hamsa (Arabic) or an alternate name is the Hand of Fatima in reference to Fatima Zahra, the daughter of  the prophet Muhammad. Miracles were attributed to Fatima, such as when she prayed in the desert, it rained.

After our amazing day in Tanger we got back to our hotel, relaxed for a bit, went out for some eats and walked down to the beach. There aren't any parks in this city, so the only place to play football is on the beach. It started to rain, so we didn't spend too much time there. We really lucked out with weather as this was the first time we experienced rain. It only rained 2 other times on our whole trip!

The next morning we had to catch a 5:30 AM flight to Marrakech, so we hit the hay pretty early.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my trip! Stay tuned to my most favourite photoz yet....