Celebrity Summit pulled into Fredericksted(population: 1,000) port at the western end of the island of St. Croix(pronounced like “croi”), and we could tell it would be a little sleepy town where nothing much happened. We decided to get off the ship after an early lunch of a cheeseburger and a beef hot dog.
Dark clouds gathered overhead, and big drops of rain started to pour down as we got off the gangway. March on, no turning back, we declared.
There was a tourist information office right at the exit of the port. Some ladies handed out maps and things, and samples of local rum and baked goods were offered to us with smile outside of this office even though the office itself was closed for Sunday. We waited for the rain to ease up standing under a canopy, and it seemed we could pretty much see the whole town from there.
We were quite right about the size of this town: small. The whole island’s population is around 50,000. A few restaurants and some shops line the street right along the water, and that was pretty much it.
We walked around as much as we could to get the feel of the place, but it really was just a little sleepy town. Whatever rain damage we had got dried up quickly, and we were good as new by the time we were heading back to the ship after an hour or so.
The tourist information office had free WiFi, but it didn’t work well. After trying to get online for a while, we gave up.
The other big town on St. Croix is Christiansted (population 3,000) and a taxi shuttle was offered for $16 per person, round trip, from outside of the tourist information office. We didn’t try to go there. It is supposed to have more historical sites and restaurants than Frederiksted, but it was a rainy day.
Christopher Columbus landed here in 1493 and was attacked by the natives. Dutch, English, French all came and went. Denmark sold Saint Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John to the United States in 1916 for a sum of US$25 million in gold. So that was the beginning of U.S. Virgin Islands.
This is the kind of place people go to in order to get away from it all and just hang out at the beach, and getting away from it all does not come cheap in this part of the world.
We had previously booked a car to Chaouen(Xauen) for the 6 of us, but there was no room for Bill, so he was on his own. One common mode of intercity travel in Morocco is Grand Taxi(shared taxi.) This worked perfectly for Bill, he went to the train station, found a taxi to Chaouen, waited until there was a total of 5 passengers and off they went. I believe he said the cost was $3.50, about quarter the per person rate for our van.
The road was a two lane highway with little traffic. I noticed numerous people standing along the road apparently waiting for rides. I’m guessing that local buses come along and pick these people up, though I didn’t see any. We’ve seen that transportation in rural China.
The other thing I noticed was people sitting by the road apparently selling some kind of large, yellow, round crop. I assumed they were onions until we passed through a town with an outdoor market and a vendor handed one to our driver. It was a yellow pomegranate. We encountered these pomegranates everywhere we went in Morocco. They were sweet, juicy and delicious.
Chefchaouen(population: 42,000):
Chechaouen (also spelled Chaouen or Xaouen) is a town in northwest Morocco situated between Tangier and Fez. It is known for its buildings, all painted in shades of blue.
Our driver let us off in front of the Hotel Madrid which was supposedly near our 3 bedroom (we had thought 4) apartment and called our host Mustafa. Mustafa appeared coming down a steep and daunting staircase.He asked if we needed help with are bags and I immediately said yes. A young man and a horde of preteen boys appeared, swooped up our bags and started up the steps. It was a steep climb to the house and our apartment was on the third floor so we were grateful for the help.
I wasn’t sure what to do about tipping. I pulled out a 100 dirham note and offered it to the young man. He told me he wanted 160 dirham. I was about to find the additional cash when Mustafa took the bill from me, gave it to the guy, told him that that was more than enough and he should leave, which he did.
We then met Maria who appeared to be the owner. She showed us around the place and then we discussed dinner which she was going to prepare for us(10 Euro person.) At this point I finally realized she was speaking to me in Spanish. I had assumed it was French. Shortly later, when she led us through the medina or old city to a restaurant for lunch I noticed the signs were in Spanish and English not French and English. The Hotel Madrid should have been a clue. The town is populated by descendants of refugees from the Spanish inquisition.
The restaurant Maria took us to, Beldi Bab Ssour, was lovely. The host was quite charming and assisted us in ordering an assortment of Moroccan food.
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We then spent the afternoon touring the central square.
Dinner was served in The central area of our apartment by Mufstafa, Maria and Mustafa’s daughter. A lamb tajine and a chicken couscous were very delicious!
The next morning we went to the bakery(Chez Aziz) that Maria told us about just down the street from us. All the pastries were excellent, and their avocado smoothie was to die for!
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 esplanade
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.
We walked into the Medina, the walled old city area filled with little shops, eateries, people’s houses. YK had picked a restaurant that was supposed to be a local favorite in this area.
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.
Small Wide World 