Tangier, Morocco

My parents' current trip planning to Morocco has inspired me to dig into the archives for some photos of my own trip to "the door to Africa" in the fall of 2012 (wow, that's over 5 years ago now!).  I had just returned to Madrid after a summer in Saskatchewan and my friends Sheridan and Angela had bought tickets to Tangier for a long weekend that coincided with Angela's birthday.  I eagerly accepted their invite to join (or maybe I invited myself?) and before I knew it we were all on a plane to Africa.

To give you an idea of how close Morocco is to Spain, the photo above is taken from Morocco and the land on the horizon under the clouds on the left is Spain.  If I remember correctly, some of that is also Gibraltar (UK), which means you're looking at 3 countries in one picture.

Our hotel for the weekend was a pleasant surprise.  The above photo is of the elaborately decorated tea room at Hotel Atlas Almohades where we stayed.  I don't think we paid more than $30 a night each, but in Tangier that got us a large ocean view suite in a clean and modern hotel complete with a delicious breakfast each morning of all the fresh fruits and breads you could dream of.  The one thing missing?  A second bed.  When we entered our room we all went straight for the balcony to see our view, then noted our huge California King bed and additional living room.  We kept checking doors thinking there was another room with a second bed but after finding only a second bathroom we concluded that somehow a room that "sleeps 3" only had one giant bed (though it could literally sleep 3).  We considered returning to the lobby to ask for a new room but ultimately agreed that we didn't want to risk losing our view and figured we could deal with getting a little cozy for a couple nights. 

After getting settled in, we met up with a friend of a friend who had agreed to show us around his adopted home town.  Brandon is American, and friends with one of our American friends in Madrid, but he had been living in the Tangier area for some time teaching English while learning Arabic.  He lead us to the city's main square, introduced us to the sweet sweet wonders of sugar cane juice (literally liquid sugar) and then showed us around the old walled market called a medina. The sights and sounds were so different from anywhere else I'd ever been, the closest thing I could compare it to was as if I had been dropped onto the set of a modernized live action Aladdin movie. 

Keep in mind that all of these photos were taken 5 years ago, before I studied photography in college and before I had professional cameras and lenses.  Sometimes I cringe when I see the unsharp, distorted edges of these images, but it was all part of the process of getting where I am today, I remind myself.  

At some point in the afternoon we met up with a few of Brandon's friends and made our way to the coast to enjoy an oceanside dinner.  As the sun set on our first day in Tangier we walked back through the market and towards our hotel.  At the entrance of the medina we passed a wedding ceremony where the new bride was being paraded around town on an elevated curtained platform.   

From there we continued past our hotel to the newer area of town, which has a more western vibe to it.  Morocco was colonized by France, so we heard a lot less Arabic and far more French being spoke around us here.  We went to a gelato shop and enjoyed ridiculous amounts of ice cream before heading back to our room for the night. 

I remember our sleep being rather interrupted that first night, as we somehow left one of the doors to the balcony partway open.  The traffic from the main road outside our window along with the wedding celebrations woke us up often.  

In the morning, after a delicious traditional breakfast, we went for a little stroll along the beach before meeting up with Brandon for another adventure filled day. We hopped in a taxi and drove the winding roads of the hillsides out of town along the coast.   

Our first stop was at the Cave of Hercules, where, according to the legend, the Greek God Hercules hung out for a while. 

Next to this beautiful cave was another cave where a man housed a pet monkey for tourists to visit.  We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into, but suddenly an angry monkey stole Angela's sunglasses off her head and started breaking them apart while the owner did nothing and Brandon attempted to retrieve them.  Moral of the story?  Monkeys are not pets and should not be tied to chains in a cave.  But also there was a cute baby monkey eating yogurt which didn't try to attack us. 

After the monkey fiasco we stopped at a restaurant beside the ocean for some Moroccan Mint Tea, which is essentially just mint leaves in hot water with a whole bunch of sugar.  It tasted great but we also compared it to drinking liquid chewing gum. 

After tea we enjoyed the warm African sun on our backs as we went for a walk along the beach.  I remember Brandon mentioning that a famous movie scene had been filmed on this beach with the abandoned buildings, but I'm not a big movie person and can't for the life of me remember which one.

After our time at the beach we took a cab back to the city where we met another friend for a bite to eat.  I can't remember the names of any of the dishes we ordered but I do remember they were very tasty.  

Our new friend tried to teach me how to make a ball of couscous in my hand like the Moroccan women do but I failed miserably.  After dinner we did some shopping in the market to pick up some scarves and gifts and then when back to the hotel for a bit.

We met up again at night with Brandon and a couple of his friends and they lead us to a rooftop "bar".  I use the term bar very lightly because the closest thing to alcohol on the menu was "alcohol-free bear".  It was an awesome spot to take in views of the city lights, however.  Later that evening Tangier's football (soccer) team won an important game and the whole city was out celebrating.  We walked a lap of the street in front of our hotel and took in some of the celebrations before bed.   

And just like that our Moroccan vacation had come to an end.  It was such a great experience and a huge part of that was thanks to our new friend Brandon and his southern hospitality.  If you ever get the opportunity to visit this North African country I would highly reccomend it!