Tangier, Morocco

Written by Dave:

First Attempt, No Go

After our visit to Ronda we headed south to Tarifa to make our trip to Morocco.  I bought the tickets for the next day, and we got ourselves ready for the trip.  That night, a very strong wind blew in.  It shook the camper all night and threatened to blow the vent covers right off the top.  We called for a taxi, and made our way into Tarifa in the morning.  Arriving at the ferry, we discovered the ferry was not going anywhere due to the unusually strong wind.  So, we spent the day wandering around Tarifa before returning to camp.  The wind walking around Tarifa actually threatened to blow you over, but we made the best of our day.

Second Attempt Successful

The wind died down about 8:00 that night, so it looked like the trip was on for the next day. In the morning it was still relatively calm, but this time we called to verify the ferry would travel.  Hearing it was sailing, we called the cab and headed back to the port.  The ferry ride started out smooth, which was a relief to Nancy.

Unfortunately the last half of the trip was a bit rough.  This surprised me with the size of the ferry, but we were bouncing around like a rubber duck in a hot tub.  This became a problem for sea sickness.  I went to get Nancy a diet Coke to help calm her stomach.  It was difficult to stand and walk, and I stumbled a few times as the boat was pitching forward and back as well as side to side.  I couldn’t imagine what the trip would have been like if we had actually sailed the day before.  As we passed into the shelter of the African coast, things started to calm down nicely.

We found our group in the terminal in Morocco, and boarded a van for the sightseeing tour.  Our first stop was outside of town for camel rides.  Of course the kids had to take part in this.  They were very excited to ride a camel.  While the kids rode the camels, we had venders pressing their wares on us.  They were very persistant, pressing their items into our hands and starting the negotiation process.  You need a firm but nicely repeated “no”, and I found it easiest to just put my hands in my pockets.

When the ride was over, we loaded back up to continue our tour.  It turns out this area is very green and fertile.  Today was a day when the farmers came into town with all their produce, and it was fun to see them lined up along the street with all their wares.

We then headed into the market area, which of course is an experience you must have when in Morocco.  There were many interesting items, although we didn’t know what a lot of them were.  The tub of brown paste is actually a natural soap, called Moroccan black soap.  It is made with olive oil and sometimes has eucalyptus oil or argon oil added to it.  My hunch is it is much more natural and likely better for your skin than what I am currently using.  I wish we had time to stop and buy some to try out, but we had to keep moving.

There were also displays of large bags of spices.  This is just one of many of the shops selling spices.  The smells were actually quite wonderful.  You really wanted to get some, but we were moving through the shops very quickly.

This was the best presentation of goat cheese I have ever seen.  The cakes of goat cheese were beautifully wrapped in palm leaves.  If we had a way to get them back to our camp, it would have really been tempting to get.  We LOVE goat cheese.

Of course you had many meat stands.  Chicken, fish, and beef hung everywhere, but I didn’t really see any pork.  The smells were not as wonderful in these sections.

We then made our way to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner.  I didn’t know what to expect, but the meal was fantastic.  The first serving was a delicious vegetable soup.

We then were served beef kabobs, which were Luie’s favorite.  I have to agree, they were quite delicious.

But then came the cous cous with chicken, and I loved that also.  They made a vegetarian cous cous for Summer, which she appreciated and said that it was perhaps her favorite.

The meal was finished with honey cakes and mint tea.  I didn’t get a picture of the honey cakes, but this is what the mint tea looked like.  The honey cakes were very sweet, and I really liked the mint tea.

We watched a Rick Steves video on Morocco after our trip, and noticed that this is the same restaurant that he filmed in for his segment on Morocco.

Our guide told us that this was a setting in the Bourne Identity film, after he was picked up from the water on the fishing ship, and doctored back to health.  They also filmed a bit of Inception in this area and the surrounding neighborhoods.

We were taken to a shop where they made rugs, and given an explanation on how they made them and why Moroccan rugs were the best.  I have to admit that the rugs were well made and beautiful, but the prices were a bit exceptional.  A couple we met from Minnesota did buy a nice rug that started at around 1,500 euros, and made a deal at $500 US dollars.  They just hung in there and kept negotiating until they hit their price.  They wanted 300 euro for a blanket.  We decided that as beautiful as they were, we didn’t actually need anything.

Our next stop was to a spice shop, which had many medicinal type spices.  It was interesting to hear the presentation on the medicinal uses of many of the spices.  They also had great cooking spices.  We bought three bottles of argon oil for 20 euro.  A very good deal, and in our use of the oil since, a very good product.  It is an oil frequently used in high end cosmetics with antioxidative properties.  We had heard how great of oil it is, and Morocco was the place to get it.

Summer loves to bargain.  She has had practice in Hawaii, Guatemala, and Mexico.  She has really honed her skills.  She found a necklace she wanted, and started her negotiations.  The price started at 22 euros.  She countered at $3 US dollars.  He said that was nothing, and couldn’t accept that.  She kept walking.  He came back at 15 euros, and she said $3.  He wouldn’t agree, and she kept on walking.  This went on for a while, until she finally got him to agree to $3.  Ironically she didn’t have $3, but a 5 dollar bill, so she paid him $5.  She was happy to successfully negotiate to $3, and still happy to pay $5.  Our guide who was walking next to her through the process came up to me and said Summer is half Moroccan with her negotiation skills.

As Luie typically does, he found a new friend.  She was from Poland, and Luie really took a liking to her.  He held her hand through the streets of Morocco, and we literally had to pry him away from her.  We got a picture of him with his new friend as we were getting ready to board the ferry back to Tarifa.

The ride back to Tarifa had much less waves, thankfully.  It was a busy day, and was everything we expected the trip would be.  The kids loved their time, and will always remember the trip.  I’m glad we finally got the chance to add Africa to our list of continents visited.  And yes, we did get our Schengen exit and entry stamps as required.  No drama there.