It did not surprise us that the skies were overcast and the temperature was a cooler 60 degrees. Tangier, Morocco, is so close to Gibraltar we expected the same dreary weather like we had in Gibraltar on April 10th. And we were not disappointed.
So here is a little info on the country of Morocco on the north coast of the African continent. The capital is Rabat and the population is over 33 million people that speak several languages. They are Moroccan Arabic, Berber, and French. Some locals speak limited English.
There are mountain ranges, ancient cities, deserts and lots of hospitality. There is hiking, eating, camel trekking, shopping in souks or getting lost in the medinas or old towns.
The only city we will be visiting is Tangier, home to spices and souks. Mint tea is the drink of the day, taken with freshly-baked bread. Their markets sell healthy produce of the seasons such as Fall time for figs, pomegranates, and grapes. Winter has oranges, mandarins, onions, beets, carrots, potatoes and many root vegetables. Spring brings apricots, cherries, strawberries and peaches. The Summer time produces the watermelons, wild artichokes, and tomatoes. One important suggestion comes with this produce, and that is it must be peeled, cooked, and washed first to be on the safe side.
For starters, we arrived close to three hours late, due to our delayed departure from Lisbon yesterday. That Captain seemed determined to get to Tangier no matter what. And he did. At least the all aboard time was extended from 3:30pm to 5:30pm.
We had arrived to this port under dark cloudy skies and high winds by noontime. The local officials had not shown up yet, so we had to wait to be cleared. There were some tours here, but out of the four offered, only two seemed to be happening. One was Tangier highlights for 4 ¼ hours and $75. Moroccan tea and bread experience was 3 ¼ hours for $190. The other two excursions went out of town and may not have occurred. They were Asilah the Atlantic Pearl for 5 hours and $90 or Tetoucan experience for 5 ½ hours and $100.
The ship was eventually cleared by 12:30pm and the tour groups went off first as always. There was a shuttle provided to take the guests to the Mandubia Garden, which was located at the top of the Medina or Old Town. From there, you could enter the several narrow streets to the Grand Socco or the marketplace. When we left the ship around 12:30pm, we were told that the shuttle was allowed to come closer to the Zuiderdam. A long line consisting mostly of crew members had already formed . There must have been at least 30 folks with some guests mixed in.
Mila, Henk's assistant, told us it took some strong negotiations to get the shuttles to come past the port gate. We were lucky in two ways as the cruise guests were singled out to take the next small shuttle to the drop-off point in town. A larger bus was coming for the crew members. Kimberly our cruise director kept saying in her announcements that the walk to the shuttle was two ship lengths, when in fact, it was much further than that. Later in the afternoon, we heard that the shuttles were not going to be let into the port, but stop at the port gate. That was at least ½ mile or more to walk.
The shuttle ride took from 15 to 20 minutes, driving us up a very steep and narrow road to the square in the garden. There was a large plaza with an empty and inoperable fountain that was surrounded with grass and trees. Once out of the cramped shuttle, we were faced with local guides trying to sell us a walking tour. Seeing this , at least five people in our bus did not get off and decided to go right back to the ship. Being that we were here a couple of years ago, we knew what to expect. Believe this – it was nothing compared to what we had in Sri Lanka, which was 1000 times worse. The locals took a "no thanks" without a fight, and left us alone, more or less.
Our main focus was locating their marketplace and the bustling meat and fish section. Going down a few of the portals from the garden area, we finally found the right one. We entered the spice section where piles of the fragrant spices are sold by the kilo. The produce section was next, but it was in very tight and dark quarters – all housed in ancient stone buildings.
The meat, fish, and poultry area is always interesting. Their main meat products are sheep and goats, and it is not unusual to see half of a sheep hanging from hooks in the ceiling, skinned and ready for the spit-roasting. Every part of the animal is sold, including the hooves and heads. The chickens were a dark yellow color, probably raised on cracked corn and quite large. The fish section was separated from the rest with all of the butchering work being done by men and younger fellows learning the trade. It didn't smell extremely bad, but the floor was soaked with water to wash away the blood. I hiked up my long jeans to make sure I wasn't in contact with the water. We saw one local lady buying some shrimp, but other than that, there was not a single woman in this room except for me. We didn't linger very long.
One item you will not see being sold in this market was pork, as this country is mostly Muslim. Many of the women wore the dark robes with head coverings. We did not see burkas.
The produce area was much nicer as was the part where bread was being cooked. The lady vendors made piles of a round loaf of French-looking bread about 10 inches in diameter. The best was watching two fellows making "trid" which was an extremely thin layer of bread dough smeared on a hot surface. It was cooked in a few seconds, then stacked like tortilla shells in a stack. The fellows explained that these shells are used like a platter under chicken or fish stews. And they were really good. They seemed pleased that we were interested in their craft. Of course, we took 100's of photos in this fascinating market.
Back outside, we ducked into a different portal which led to a series of souvenir shops – all very small with all types of treasures. One persistent street vendor was selling "real" Pashminas, the wool scarves. They caught our eye with their colorful designs, so we figured they are useful. So two of them ended up as ours for a really good price. Suddenly, we were surrounded with other guys selling almost real Rolexes, t-shirts, and costume jewelry. No thanks, we said, then left them to go after other new customers.
Many of the shops sold nice leather products and carpets as well. Typical clothing included silk-like caftans and fancy robes for the men. Shoes are a big seller here. Magnets, keyrings, camel figurines, and silver earrings and necklaces were sold by the thousands. At this point of time, we knew we better not buy anything else, or risk being overweight with our luggage.
There was no suitable place for lunch, and we doubted we could find beer, except in a nice hotel. Since we had made our way down from the bus drop-off point, we found our way out of the souk mostly by memory. This area was set up on the ancient days to confuse the enemy so they could not find their way in or out easily. We ended up about 2 miles from the pier and decided to walk back. No sense going back up those steep and narrow alleyways to the Garden.
We were back onboard by 4pm and heard the Captain's talk around 4:30pm. He confirmed we had some rough seas arriving to Morocco, and he had avoided the worst of the system the best he could. The weather at noontime was windy and cooler with temps in the low 60's. He said the weather would remain mostly cloudy with rain showers, and the seas will be 13.5 feet with winds at 30 knots tonight. And to be safe, he will probably close down the outside decks . He also warned all of us to be most careful using the stairs, elevators, and doors. Mind your fingers and toes….meaning to wear practical shoes, please. He continued to explain the best he could about the power outage we experienced yesterday. He reassured us that the ship is self-sufficient but also good to know we have emergency back-up systems onboard.
Despite the cool and windy weather, we did have somewhat of a sail away out of the harbor after 6pm. Using the camera and binoculars, we could see horses and even camels on the beach across from the hotels. We have seen this in other Moroccan ports. We began to feel the motion of the ocean as soon as we got away from the land.
Dinner for us was two different salads, one bowl of chicken noodle soup with extra glass noodles, and entrees of prime rib with baked potatoes. Dessert was just one scoop of strawberry sorbet for one. Zero for the other.
The Grand World Band played music from Pink Floyd, a group that never really interested us. Country rock is more our style.
And the clocks went back one hour, which was nice for all. We are actually looking forward to our days at sea, even if it means we have to begin packing.
Bill & Mary Ann
