Morocco

When I was backpacking around Europe I came close to going to Morocco.  The fellow I was going to travel with never showed up and being too timid to go alone I headed north to Portugal and never went back to that part of the world.

Yet Morocco has always captivated me.

So some thirty odd years later and with my willing and dependable partner I took a ferry over the Straight of Gibraltar to this mysterious, ancient, north African country.

The brand new port for cruise ships and yachts

When we arrived at the port in Tangiers, before we were out of the terminal, we were met by men offering tours, taxi, sim cards for our cell phones and other services. We declined them all for fear of being ripped off and began to walk to our hotel.  As we walked, several taxi drivers stopped and offered a ride.  The map said it was a short distance.  In fact it was short,  but most of the distance was up a steep hill! 

We found our hotel, with French and African decor and furniture from the 1940s.  On the walls were large signed photographs of Rex Harrison, Rita Hayworth, Christian Dior and other famous people of that era. The staff were all men, except for the housekeepers, and many wore a fez on their head, knickers and red suede slippers.  Since Morocco was a French Colony it was a great opportunity to brush up on my francais!

We ventured towards the city centre in search of the sim card we had declined to buy earlier. Outside a Cell Phone store was a table with young men selling sim cards. Keith bought a sim card from them - very inexpensive - and gave them a bill. One of them took the bill and ran off,  to our confusion! He returned with change.  The young men asked us many questions about where we lived and about Canada. They sadly spoke of the lack of opportunities for them in Morocco. 

We asked them where we could find a couscous dinner.  It was Friday, the day families get together to eat this meal. One of the fellows offered to take us to a restaurant, but again being skeptics we said it was too early (which was true, it was about 4 pm and most Moroccans eat after 7 pm).  We left them and explored some of the town and shops.

Couscous

Refreshing mint tea

As we were walking back to our hotel, we heard yelling. We turned and one of the fellows ran across the street and offered to escort us to the restaurant with "the best couscous."  We followed him and had an amazing meal. We had such good food in Tangiers!

Legendary Moroccan Sandwich

Delicious food cooked in a tagine

We spent lots of time exploring the Medina.

Bees on the honey filled sweets! 

We even purchased a locally made rug which we had shipped to Canada.

We rocked the Casbah!

Ceiling of the Casbah Museum

I'm so glad I finally got to have a taste of Morocco.  We met kind, friendly, helpful people; ate delicious food and experienced a very different culture from Canada!