Tangier, Morocco, Africa

(Tangier Is a city in the North of Morocco on the Mediterranean sea, 11 miles to the borders of Spain, Tangier is also known under the name of Tangiers and Tanger in French, the city counts a population of about 669,680 (2004) census, Tangier lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, It is one of the most important Moroccan cities, and has a very rich history and geographic location, the city of Tangier is the capital city of the Tangier-Tétouan Region.) Copied from the internet.

We woke up at 4am to catch a 5am bus for out tour to Tangiers. We picked up many people along the way and made our way to the ferry terminal to take across the Gibraltar Strait. From loading to unloading this was about an hour trip where we were greeted by our tour guide. Mr. Hassan

 

As we loaded the Tangier tour bus, we toured through the local town being given much of the history of the area eventually getting us dropped off for a walking tour.

        

We entered through the Bab Kasba, Kasbah Gate. Kasbah means fort. Janice had asked me to take her to the Kasbah, but I don't think she meant to the fort. The Kasbah was originally built as a fort in 1315 to protect the city from pirate attacks. It functioned as a fort into the 1800's. In the 1950's it was a big night spot for the rich and famous of Europe and in the 60's became a hippie colony. It has now been turned into residential and market quarters. The doorway Mr. Hassan is standing in was the home of Heri Matise in 1912. The streets in the Kasbah are narrow and winding. It is hard for a non-resident to navigate without getting hopelessly lost. We knew we wouldn't get lost because the same vendors kept popping up no matter what direction we turned. The streets were purposely designed this way to confuse an invader in case they breached the walls they would still have trouble on the streets and could be picked off one by one.

All the different naturally colored yarns use to make the beautiful carpets.

No one carpet is the same, none of my photos did the carpets justice. They are magnificent.

We had a nice lunch in a restaurant in the Kasbah. There was traditional music from a robed band. After lunch we were taken to a rug design store where we were shown many beautiful rugs which they said were so tightly made that they only needed vacuuming every two years. Janice loved the rugs and went with the salesman to price a rug for shipment to the U.S. or our home in Mazatlan. They would have been happy to have it packaged and shipped for us including insurance for only $5500.00. Janice came to me to help her get out of the conversation with the salesman and I had to break the news to the salesman that I had left our credit cards in the safe back in Spain. They said we could make other arrangements. He then said they would sell it to us for $4,000.00.  Needless to say, we left without purchasing the carpet. On the way out the owner approached us and asked us to make an offer. We left without a purchase.

After the rug store we were taken to a spice and herb shop. This turned out to be the Moroccan version of a wild west medicine show, We were shown plants and herbs that would do everything from remove wrinkles, restore your youthful sexual vigor, or cure every ailment known to man. There were no FDA labels. Janice was interested in buying some Saffron. They showed her a small baggie of some twigs that they said was pure saffron and only 6 Euros, $9.00 US. They would give three bags for the price of two. A good guess is that three bags would have weighed a total of about 1/4 ounce. Again we did not purchase. We did end up purchasing a Muslim round hat (beanie) for Joel and a Moroccan National Team soccer jersey for Joel. When Joel re-grows his Santa’s beard this fall and wears his Muslim hat he might become known as the Mazatlan Iman. Janice bought a beautiful red Caftan with gold embroidery and two bracelets. Janice did all the bargaining on these items and ended up paying well under a third of asking prices on all.

                       

Some pictures from the market area. I was too busy negotiating with other vendors

to get pictures of all of them trying to work their deals on us.

Snake Charmer

After we left the Kasbah we were taken on a bus tour of the rest of Tangier. We were shown the residence of Malcom Forbes, the summer palace of the King of Morocco and the American legation building. The  American Legation Building was acquired by the U.S. in 1777 as Morocco was one of the first nations to recognize the independence of the 13 colonies. The building is now the only building on the U.S. National Historical Landmark overseas. It was the U.S. embassy until 1956 and now functions as the U.S. Consulate. We then went to the Tangier beaches which were some of the most beautiful we have ever seen. There were lots of people on them enjoying the sun and sand. As Tangier is the northernmost tip of Africa, one sie of the city borders the Atlantic Ocean and One side the Mediterranean Sea. Being this is on the strait of Gibraltar these beaches were originally headquarters for Barbary Pirates that made shipping hazardous in this area. We were shown a beautiful cave on one of the Atlantic beaches that was used living quarters.

This lighthouse is on the furtherst point north in Africa.

We had a cup of the traditional mint tea here enjoying the sights.

On our way back to our ferry to return to Tarifa, Spain we drove by many Umbrella Pines, trees that had tops that looked like and umbrella. We caught our ferry back to Spain and cleared Spanish customs around 6:45 and started back to drop off everyone. We drove by the Rock of Gibraltar and hopefully some of our pictures of it turned out. There were many stops before we reached Torrox and finally arrived home after 10:00 P.M tired, but happy for our first experience in Africa.