Where the Waters Meet, Tangier, Morocco
Tangier, port and principal city of Northern Morocco, is located on a bay of the Strait of Gibraltar, 17 miles from the southern tip of Spain.
The old town or Medina, is enclosed by a 15th-century rampart and is dominated by a Casbah, the Sultan's Palace, and the Great Mosque. During the early to mid-20th century, Tanger was periodically under the collective administration of several countries.
It was during this time that many westerners settled here, and the city became a place of great political importance and artistic activity. Tangier was famous as a destination of artists and writers from Europe and the United States during the 1950s and 60s.
Sights of Tangier:
Boars run wild in the forests, as most of the inhabitants, Arabs and Jews, don’t eat pork.
Most NW point in Africa
The Meeting of the Ocean and the Sea
Enjoy the cold Atlantic beach
The Casbah and the Medina
Tonight’s Dessert:
Home-Made Soft-Centered Chocolate Soufflé
My hat pins are growing.
Algeria, Malta, Aussie/US, Morocco, Sicily
South Africa, AZ, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia
Saturday, May 17, Tangier
A Day in the Life in Morocco
This morning, we are still docked in the harbor at Tangier, Morocco, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. We drive out into the countryside today for what is called “A Day in the Life.” We will visit a small local Berber farm (no English speakers), see how they live, do some minor chores, and have a home-cooked lunch with them.
After that, we return to the city for a last chance of shopping in Morocco. And maybe a visit to the American Legation if we get there on time. Tomorrow we are off to Gibraltar.
Our last day in Africa, we are in Europe the rest of the way.
On the farm today
Making bread
The “Patio”
The garden: onions
From the patio, ocean view
Mint for the tea
One of our hosts
What a day!
Bread about to go into the oven
Tasting the bread
Fresh bread with water, sugar, mint tea, tajines with honey and with peanut butter, goat cheese, olive oil
Choose your potty style
Making Homemade Chicken Couscous
Dining area, shoes off
Lunch is served
Some give and take with our hosts,
getting to know you
I’m ready
OMG, so much food
The American LegationClosed at 3 DammitWe got there at 3:10
So
Went shopping in the Medina
Aziz sold me the soccer shirt for the Moroccan team
Bargained him from 30 Euros down to 13
He still made money 😉
Vendor’s kids
Finishing the day, and our stay in Morocco,
at the Cafe Central.
2 Euros for a can of Coke
Tonight’s Dessert
It’s not all fun and games
So I’m sure it looks like we’re all having a great time on this trip and it’s true, we are. But it’s become rather clear that traveling with a group of 90 seniors has its risks. As you may have read, we’ve traveled through several of the Medinas of some of the cities we visited, and we’ve wandered through narrow alleyways and streets that go up and down, sometimes steep slopes with lots of steps, especially in places you don’t expect them.
So I have to share that we’ve had a couple of accidents on the trip, not on the boat or at least not that I know of. But when we were in Algeria the other day, one of our passengers slipped and fell working her way down the Medina, and fractured her ankle in four places. She’s on her way back home.
It just seems like there’s lots of different ways to ruin your vacation. Yesterday in Tangier, one of the couples on the trip, and not one of the older couples, relatively speaking, were walking through the Medina, apparently holding hands. She missed a step and started to fall. He tried to grab her and ended up falling all the way down with her. The result was that she ended up with two broken wrists, he fell on his face, scratching it up badly, knocking a couple of teeth loose, and he also fractured a finger.
It’s just a great reminder for us all that you can’t be too careful, especially in these areas that have lots of steps, especially going down.
Ciao for now.
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