Tangier has been a trip!
Our time in Tangier, Morocco has been a trip. Not one of these “easy” trips for sure.
Our flight time was changed and then delayed. We ended up as one of the last people off the flight, and the back of a very slow security line. Then we had to get currency. You can’t get Moroccan dirhams outside of the country, for whatever reason. But being that we were one of the last people in the line for the currency exchange, and it was the middle of the night, the seller ended up running out of money. We got just enough in order to get a taxi into town.
Currency is king here. You need cash for everything, food items, even scuba diving and hotel rooms. Very few places will take a card. It’s a very very weird and unsettling feeling to walk around with a wad of cash in my wallet. Very 1900s! Haha.
Our taxi from the airport got us to the Casbah and didn’t know how to get us any closer to our hotel, as he can’t drive on the streets of the Medina. After some yelling out of the window, a nice guy offered to walk us to our hotel. Nice guys are in abundance here, even when we arrived at 3 in the morning, although they sometimes want tips. It was definitely a leap of faith to follow this man into the narrow winding streets. But after 15-20 minutes of walking, he got us to our hotel at almost the other end of the Medina. He knew exactly where he was going. There were definitely closer places the taxi could have gotten us to. We booked one night at this hotel, because we knew we would be in late and they had a 24 hour check in desk. We just didn’t know it would be this late! When we finally got to our location, our nice guy wasn’t that nice because he wanted a bigger tip. Honestly, fair, but did I mention Nathan was only able to get enough cash to cover the taxi? What he had was only a few dirhams left. Then there was someone from our flight in the lobby very upset because the hotel didn’t have her room that she booked! More anxiety over that, but they did have our room! Thank goodness. We got to bed just in time to hear the morning prayers over the city and got a few hours of sleep. With that, and a shower we felt more prepared to face the next day (or really, the same day).
After finding some breakfast, we set out in search of our hostel, which would be our home for the next two weeks. We found it fairly easily and then went back for our bags, promptly getting lost in the process. We eventually got them and checked out of our hotel. Now here’s the thing. The Medina is entirely made of stone, so gps doesn’t work well, also many things have the same name and similar sounding addresses, and the streets are very confusing when seeing them for the first time. We started off, following what we thought was the correct map. It took us to the wrong place. So then I tried and we were walking for 15 minutes uphill. Remember our bags are very heavy. Eventually this nice old man (I told you there are a lot of nice guys here) stopped us, and basically said in half English/French “where are you going? There’s no hotels up here” I’m forever grateful for him, because we still had another 15 minutes walk uphill, before we would have found out we weren’t at the right place. We tried to show him the blue line on the map that was pointing us up the hill, but being that he was an old man he couldn’t see it on the phone. Eventually another nice guy came along, took my phone and put it the correct address to our hostel, and pointed us on our way, in the wrong direction. We spent a long time debating whether we follow the new map’s directions, or his oral directions. We eventually chose the technology, which finally got us home. That walk was probably the least fun I have had on this trip so far… until later… One funny thing (to me) was when Nathan was walking, he had his backpack on his back, and Lily’s on his front. He couldn’t see well his feet. There are little metal poles, about shin height, sticking out of the ground at intersections to prevent two wheeled vehicles from going down the really narrow streets. He caught one of those, and in his words “almost died”. Lol.
It took about a day and a half, but we are now pretty successful at navigating the Medina! There are a few landmarks, and a few of our favourite places. We have really enjoyed wandering around. There are still many places here making beautiful things by hand. Weavers, basket makers, leather workers. My favourite was “the tailors street” rows of little stores with one or two men working in each, the store itself big enough only for the man and his sewing supplies. Here they make the djellaba and kaftan, traditional garments that are made to measure, perfectly fitting the wearer. These may take one month to six! From start to finish. I love that there are still people holding their own against “fast fashion”, because that is certainly not fast! I wish this were closer to the end of our trip because I would dump out my bag and fill it with all of these wonderful handmade things! Krystal did do a fair amount of shopping, even managing to fit a beautiful blue handwoven blanket into her bag! I have not bought much. Nathan did buy me a gorgeous handmade silk scarf. What I really wanted, was a handmade leather purse from near the leather tanneries of Fez. But we didn’t make it there. That’s a sad story. For me.
We wanted to go to a hammam and we booked in at one close by. It offered the traditional hammam and we each got a little massage. It was nice. Not the most relaxing because you’re not sure of the expectations on you at any point. It was a very naked experience. When my hair was being washed, which is an absolutely lovely experience, the washer absolutely drowned me and just kept running the water over my face, even when I moved to avoid the spray and try to take in a breath, she followed my face, so I ended up taking in a bunch of water. It was at that moment I knew I was done for. And I was. The next day I was completely out of commission, as everything that was inside of my body, tried to escape out of it any way that it could, to put it delicately. Because I couldn’t be more than two steps away from a bathroom, we missed our train to Fez, and I missed the largest reason I was looking forward to Morocco, one of the things that I always listed when people asked what I was looking forward to. I’m still recovering as I write this, additionally from a cold I picked up on the airplane and a very heavy period! When it rains, it pours. Although we have only seen a sprinkle of actual rain twice so far in the five weeks we have been travelling.
The one day trip we do manage to make it to was to Chefchouen. Called the “blue pearl of Morroco”. It’s a gorgeous little town, with a very blue Medina perched cutely up in the mountains. It was a 2 hour bus trip both ways and it was a great opportunity to see more of Morocco! We enjoyed doing a little exploring, I did not enjoy how boiling hot it was. There goes my idea that mountains = cooler. It was farther from the ocean and lacking the breeze. If you enjoy taking pictures, or need the perfect Instagram picture, it’s the place for you. But you should stay a day or two so you can have a shower before your glamour shot!
I feel like I have written about a lot of negativity, which is true, this hasn’t been an easy travel time. But it has been enjoyable and rewarding. One of the reasons we are trying to stay for a “long” time in these places we are visiting is to learn and get a sense of what it is like to live here. I think if I lived here a year I wouldn’t get used to the hours that people keep! People don’t go out until 11:30pm. There’s kids playing on the streets of the Medina at 1 in the morning. I mean, I don’t blame them. It’s incredibly hot during the day. Actually, at all of the time.
The pace of life is different too. Getting used to this meant that we constantly had to check our selves and remind ourselves that we did not need to move at a North American pace. A simple sit down dinner can take more than two hours. Buying things from the store is a 10 minute conversation. Goods and services do not seem to move in an efficient manner, but prioritizing connection with others seems to be the upmost priority.
The people we have interacted with as a whole have been generous, kind and helpful. Moroccan people are wonderful. Lily has gotten so many gifts. You can meet your best friend when travelling. We have made a friend who has helped and supported us. He has given us advice and friendship. I am blessed to have met Ahmed!
The beaches have been a bit of a respite from the heat. The waves are cool, and just big enough to play in. We went to one that had camels and a horse walking back and forth looking for riders. It was picturesque until we watched both the camel caretaker and the horse caretaker let their animals poop right into the waves to wash right over to where we, (and hundreds of other people) were playing.
One day we explored the Kasbah museum, which gave us some insight into the complex history in this part of the world. Also the Casbah is beautiful!!
Another day we walked to see the King’s palace, and Krys got yelled at for sticking her camera through the gate. We also hiked to see the Phonecian tombs and had a lovely view of the city.
We went to the very lovely Hercules cave. With a beautiful view of the ocean through a hole in the rock. There wasn’t too
much else there, they did have the story of Hercules playing via projection in one of the cave rooms. It was pretty to see, even if the story was in Arabic. Apparently the cave was where Hercules rested between his labours.
One day Lily, Krys and Nathan went to the Hercules park, which had high ropes, a suspension bridge, zip lines, trampolines and other fun things to play. They all got very hot. I stayed back inside and nursed the cold that I had, by resting, and not getting too hot.
One of the nicest days we had was when we went up to Rimilat Park. We drove through some very beautiful, wealthy areas with gorgeous houses. Then we walked around a lovely forested area that was (relatively) cool. There were a couple playground/workout areas, and some pretty views and an old house with a kidnapping story that was interesting. Apparently “rescuing” the victim in this case, helped Teddy Rosevelt win his reelection campaign, never mind that the victim, Perdicaris renounced his American citizenship, or that the Sultan of Morocco actually paid the ransom. Details…
The land around the house was full of all sorts of imported trees and flowers and made for a beautiful walk around.
Krystal and I did go for a scuba dive out in the Strait of Gibraltar. The water was cold! 14*C at the bottom! We had on 5mm wetsuits with hoods. Luckily the boat ride out wasn’t long and it was a very calm day, waves wise. Our first dive was on the wreak of a cement boat. There were apparently still bags of cement inside. We had fun peeking into holes. I enjoyed when the ladders was lying sideways as you look in. The current to get down to the bottom was very strong and we had to hold a chain in order to descend, so as to not get ripped off and float away from the group. It took me a bit, because of the current, cold and strong swim I had to do to start, to convince myself that I can breathe underwater. Sometimes on my first dive my body revolts and wants to rip the regulator out and swim to the surface. Mind over circumstances sometimes takes some time. But it was worth it!
The second dive was shallower with less of a current, but had neat changes in temperature as we moved about. It was in a rocky area with lots of seaweed. Some very beautiful kinds that were fun to look at. Purple swirlies, giant flat pieces etc. there was some fish. Mostly silver, but some colours. Nothing particularly outstanding. Our dive guide pointed out something interesting and made a flappy/wavy motion with his hand. We looked. It was kind of cute. When we were back at the surface, we asked the boat driver if she could ask him what it was, because he didn’t speak English. But he didn’t know the name of it in English, French or Arabic. Ok then, we saw a thing.
When we went diving, Nathan and Lily went to the Tangier Equestrian centre and took a lesson and a trail ride, mostly in French. Lily had great form, and impressed the instructor. Nathan got beat up by the saddle, but both had a good time.
Living in the Medina has been like going back in time, but we have been out to various parts to see the rest of the new city. Even going to a very modern mall, which could have been the Oshawa centre. All of the space between people, and bright lighting was a bit of a shock to the system after living in the crowded stone old city.
We have been staying in a great hostel, Bayt Alice, which was built sometime in the 1800s, no one can tell me exactly. It’s a traditional Riad design with an open centre column, and rooms off of the side. The roof is the greatest space, especially at night when it cools off. You can see up to the Casbah and down to the water. All the people staying at the hostel gather there and you can have some interesting conversations, while you look at life and laundry on other roofs and listen to the calls to prayer that echo across the city.
Of course, what would my travel be without food? We enjoyed couscous on Fridays. Because that’s the Moroccan custom. We tried many different tagines, which is stew baked in a clay pot. It was a good way to get meat and vegetables. The best thing though was the chicken pastilla. It’s hard to describe, sort of like shredded curry chicken inside a sweet phyllo pastry covered in sugar and cinnamon. I loved that every single meal came with a dish of olives. Drinking fresh pressed orange juice with no filler!
Overall I adored Morocco and would happily travel back. But I have to say I am so excited for Spain, and AIR CONDITIONING.
