MOROCCO

We were actually going!! James found a great guide of the Internet. He would pick the four of us up at our hotel at 7:30 in the morning. We drove about a half an hour through the mountains lines with wind vanes. Because of the wind that blows off the sea Tarifa is known as the windsurfing capital in Europe.

We arrived at the port in Tarifa for the high speed ferry. We would have stayed here the night before if we had realized this is where the ferry is, but there are two. The port is lined with ruins from the 13th century.

After about 35 min on a high-speed ferry we were in Tangiers. Crazy! We are actually in Africa people! Unbeknown to Denise and I there was much in store on this tour, as you will see. From the port you could see the mountains lined with little cities.

Because it was still a little early and not much open first thing we did was drive around the city. Morocco was an hour earlier then Spain. The views were spectacular.

NO that’s not the sports mobile! But with this economy this could be our next adventure vehicle!

So next on the agenda….. CAMELS!!! Yep CAMELS!!! It was a riot! The wind was a little out of control.

Next we were off to Hercules cave. When we walked in there were people selling stuff. They say the opening in the cave is a resemblance of Africa.

In the cave there is an area where they dress the tourists up like some of the nomadic locals. It was hysterical!

Next we were off to see town and the local markets

We decided to have lunch before dragging the boys shopping. Our guide, Sharif, took us to a restaurant we would have NEVER found. Everything on the street was VERY local, we went upstairs to an amazing restaurant, Hamadi. We had a room to ourselves with live music through an archway. There were lanterns everywhere.

The chef came out to meet us. Of course we had no idea what to order so he told us he would bring us all soup and then four things we could all share. The soup, Harira, was a vegetable base with some noodles, flavored with cumin and cinnamon, served with a lemon wedge for a little tang.

For lunch we were served lamb with prunes, couscous with chicken, and Bastila, a chicken pie. When the chef heard I don’t eat meat he made me a Bastila only with vegetables. It was amazing!

Dessert was mint tea, honey cakes, Gazelle Horns, and an assortment of Almond cookies. We all agreed that it was one of, if not THE BEST meal of the trip! We also learned to say please and thank you in Arabic, shoran and afwan.

We were off to shopping! Some of the shops were for looking only, unless I could of gotten my hands on a shipping container!

The doorways to the homes were just amazing!

Lots and lots of rugs. Some being made right there others made by nomads in the desert.

After lunch many shops looked like this.???

On Fridays there is an afternoon prayer. Most shop owners shut down,and don’t reopen. You can hear the prayers being said over loudspeakers in the streets. I’m sure not for the boys, but it was frustrating not being able to buy some of the things we saw before lunch, and thought we’d go back for. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have go back!
It was a FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC day. A highlight of the trip!