Tangier, Morocco (AFRICA)

March 19th—Today we headed to Africa…we woke up at 6:00 a.m. and left the apartment at 7:00 a.m. We took a taxi to the Marbella bus station where we got on a 7:30 bus to Algeciras. It was a direct one hour bus ride. Once arriving to Algeciras, we took a taxi to the town of Tarifa to catch the ferry. Tarifa is the Southernmost point in Europe. It’s also the town to where you catch the 35 minute ferry to Tangier, Morocco. We tried our hardest to make the 9:00 ferry ride, but unfortunately were too late. The frustrating part was that the ferry was still in port, but wasn’t boarding anymore people. Oh well! Anyway, we had a couple of hours to explore Tarifa since the next ferry wasn’t until 11:00. We went to find a place to eat breakfast and stumbled upon Café Central. Café Central was a happening place. We’ve decided that when a restaurant is crowded, then it must be good. It was probably the cheapest meal we’ve eaten so far and was very good and filling. By the time we finished up there, it was time to walk back to the port. We certainly didn’t want to miss our ferry. We had to go through Tarifa customs in the station, but once on board the ferry, we then had to go through Tangier customs. The boat ride was a little longer than the 35 minutes due to high winds, but we made it fine to Tangier. Once debarking the ferry, our private tour guide, Mohammed was waiting on us. We booked our guide prior to even going to Tangier. It is recommended to have a guide before arriving to avoid the stress of being mobbed by potential guides at the port and being hit up to buy stuff all day long. Having Mohammed meet us was great because he lead us straight out of the station onto our private tour van. (This is where I have to put in a side note to the day: We have realized that we love using Rick Steves’ book…love his self guided tours, all his personal touches, and that you are at your own pace. In Tangier, we learned the good, the bad, and the ugly of having a tour guide. Mohammed was great! Very friendly, knowledgeable and loved the kids. He kept us feeling safe through the town, drove us around the town, took us to the great sites and a great restaurant for lunch. The bad is that along with all of that you also get thrown into “tourist traps”, as Rick Steves calls it because the guide makes a commission from your purchases. The ugly is that I didn’t get to go into ALL the shops. J) Anyway, back to our day…once getting into the van, we drove through Tangier seeing the Old Town, the New Town, mosques , and various sights. We then made our way out of town through the “rich area”. Here we passed the King’s palace and numerous palaces that are owned by rich international kings, princes and businessmen (including the head of Fiat). Once out of town, we headed toward the Atlantic Ocean coast. We made several stops along the way to get pictures. One stop was where the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea meet. Another stop was at Hercules Cave. We walked through this cave and got a wonderful view of the Atlantic through a cut out that is said to resemble the shape of Africa. It was at this location that we saw several tuna boats. It is big to fish for tuna in this area and most of the fish is sent to Japan. We also got our up close experience with the camels. Abby and I got on first. It was quite an experience when the camel stood up. If you’ve never gotten on one, then you definitely don’t realize how they go back and forward several times before standing straight up. It gives you the feeling like you are sure to fall off. Well, this whole event scared Austin because he did think we were going to fall off. So, he got a little upset and wasn’t sure he wanted to get on a camel anymore, but he did and quickly got over the scare of it. We left the Atlantic coast area and headed back into Tangier. Mohammad had told us to just let him know when we were hungry for lunch and he would take us to a local restaurant. We ate lunch at Mamounia Palace located right inside the Medina (Old City) wall next to Grand Socco. It had a great atmosphere with local music being placed. It was actually an awesome experience. We ordered the menu of the day which was a 3 course meal of Harira (soup), Pastella (chicken) with couscous and Patisserie (a chicken/raisin pastry). It was all very good and safe, to our stomachs that is. After leaving lunch, we were on foot at this point. We walked out of the gateway of the Medina and through the Grand Socco (the big square) and into the new town. Here we walked through the market. Mohammad took us into an area where we saw many artisans spinning thread in their shops. It was an interesting experience watching them in their small shops make blankets by hand. No electric machines here. We then headed back through the town walls of the Medina and through Petit Socco (the small square). The Medina is full of winding lanes and tiny alleys that weave through the old-town market area. If we didn’t have our guide, we sure would have gotten ourselves lost. Here we saw one of the public bakeries. Many people cannot afford private ovens so they drop off their ready-to-cook flour at the bakeries. Throughout the maze we were in, we saw ornate keyhole doors (lead to neighborhood mosques) and green doors (the color of Islam and symbolize peace). After this we were led into a local shop with many rugs and decoration items. We enjoyed a presentation on all the different types of rugs while sipping on some drinks, one being Moroccan mint tea. It was hard to explain to them that we couldn't buy a rug because we don’t even have a house to buy one for. We did purchase a unique mirror made out of camel bones. We figured that we could surely find a place for it in another house. From here we went to a Berber pharmacy where we were presented various herbal medicines and spices. We actually bought some spices that can be rubbed on chicken, fish, etc. We figured we’ve had a hard enough time finding spices to cook with because of the language barrier, so this would be a good purchase. It was now time to head back to the boat. Mohammad drove us to the port and escorted us to the customs line where we said good-bye. While waiting on the ferry, I noticed a girl with a UT cap hanging from her backpack. I walked over to talk with her. Her name is Danielle and she is a junior at UT on spring break. She was with her brother, Chris, who recently graduated from Georgetown last year and now works in Madrid and his roommate, who is also from the US and works in Madrid. We started talking with them and actually ended up all sitting together on the boat. They were great to talk with and even gave us a few tips on places in Barcelona, our next stop. They were amazingly mature for their ages. We arrived back to Tarifa a little after 9pm and caught a free bus to Algeciras. We then caught the 10pm bus from Algeciras back to Marbella. After a short taxi ride, we got back to the apartment a little after 11pm. The kids basically fell asleep on the bus from Tarifa and slept all the way to the apartment. We had a great day! While it is impossible to truly experience Morocco in a day, our side-trip gave us a legitimate taste of North Africa and the Islam culture. It was a day that was very different and unique to any previous experience.