Tangier(Morocco): 1N/1D

November 2018                                                                                                   Itinerary Link

In November of 2018 we took a 13 day cruise from Barcelona with ports of call in the eastern Adriatic Sea, an area we had never visited. After returning to Barcelona, and rather than heading back to LA, yk had made plans for a two week trip through Morocco, another new area for us. Two couples from Korea joined us during this trip.

We flew into Tangier from Barcelona on Air Arabia. They changed the departure time from 11:20 to 13:20, and this shortened our tour plans in Tangier. Going from the cruise terminal in Barcelona to the airport in a van big enough to hold six adults and luggage cost us about 50 Euros including a small tip. The Air Arabia departure gate in the terminal 2B was not a comfortable place, and not a whole lot of restaurant choices were available. Nevertheless, we paid about 70 Euros per person(including a 15 kg of checked bag)for the flight, and the price was right for us. The two hour flight was uneventful.

The immigration formalities at Tangier Airport was quick, and the bags came out quickly enough. The signs at the airport indicated that taxi fare to city center was 100 dirham (one dirham being about 10.5 cents.) When we approached the cab line, the drivers told us that we would need two cabs (probably true) and the standard fare was 150 dirham (almost certainly not true.) Had I been by myself I would have been tempted to walk up the line to find a driver who would honor the posted price, but, with 6 of us plus luggage, I agreed.

Tangier(population: 950,000) is the third largest city in Morocco, located just to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar.

We were being joined for the first week of our Moroccan trip by Bill Schanes, my former brother-in-law. For the last several years Bill has been traveling the world as a nomad, a few days here, a few days there, never in one place long. When I invited him to join us in Morocco he accepted.

Bill’s apartment was a 5-10 minute walk from ours, but for some reason we wound up looking for each other about a block apart and it took us a while to hook up. Finding an address in Tangier was not always easy because the numbers were not well marked.

The party of 7 marched down the main drag, Pasteur Blvd, toward Kasbah, the fortress area northwest of the city by the ocean. Faded glories of the colonial era were quite evident. People were not in any hurry, enjoying a cup of dark thick coffee or mint tea at a cafe. Lots of young people were hanging out at the esplanade with the view of the ocean.

Following the blue dot on Google offline map worked as long as it did, then the blue dot stalled. Looking at the spiderweb of little alleyways, we knew we were lost completely. In desperation, YK stopped a local man and showed the name of the restaurant(Ahlen). He immediately recognized it and motioned a little girl who was playing nearby to come over. Then he gave her an instruction and told us to follow her. She was delighted by this mission, and a few of her friends joined in to lead us to this restaurant which we had apparently passed by moments ago. We were all touched by this little development, and we knew we would be fine in this foreign land.

The dinner was delicious: A tajine dish, a couscous dish, some grilled meats, and the Moroccan salad. The owner was very nice and welcoming, and he served mint tea to all of us for free when we sat down. After the meal, he bought a box of local cookies for us to sample. “On the house,” he said. After our first typical, hearty, Moroccan meal, which cost about $7 per person, we emerged on the far side of the medina and eventually found our way back to the apartment.

The next morning, yk had chosen a place called the Cafe Hafa for breakfast. The cab driver recognized the name and the ride was 5-10 minutes. At the end of the trip, the meter read 8 dirham. Only once in our two weeks in Morocco did a metered ride exceed 10 dirham.

This ocean side Tangier institution had been here since 1921 serving tea, coffee, and light food. It was opening up as we got there at 9 AM, and a few young people were sitting around drinking mint tea.

The restaurant consisted of several levels of outdoor terraces overlooking the Atlantic, just to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar. The view was stunning.

After breakfast, we walked to the kasbah or fortress area which overlooked the port of Tangier. Then back to our apartment to catch our ride to Chefchaouen.

If we had arrived a couple of hours earlier as originally scheduled, we planned to check out American Legation Museum which is the first American public property outside the United States. Maybe next time.

NEXT: Chefchaouen