Okay, maybe we didn't get to deepest, darkest Africa.... but it turns out that it only takes 35 minutes by catamaran to go from Tarifa to Tangier, Morocco - so how could we pass that up?!?!
It was recommended that we hire a personal guide, to be taken around for a quick day trip, to avoid the monster tours, and not be harrassed too much by the locals. As we stepped off the boat, the crowds parted and there standing in front of us was Ahmed Ben Tayeb, an official Tangier tour guide. He offered up his services to show us around Tangier, take us into the countryside (with our trusty Mercedes cab driver), into the casbah, and stop in the markets for a little shopping - sounded perfect!
We drove out along the shore to a lighthouse, passing through rural residential Morocco... had a little ride on a camel (as you do!) and then headed back into the Medina (the old walled town).
We walked along with Ben ahead of us, the locals parting in front of him - answering all of our many questions. We headed into the food markets, including an unbelievable fish market - then stopped for some mint tea while Ben went for his one of 5 daily prayers. We sat in the local tea shop with 12 local men, who stared at us for a few moments, then went back to their chatting and watching Algecera (CNN equivalent) that was blaring over our heads.
We ended our afternoon doing some shopping - very hard sell - I went in for jewellery, and came out with a lovely Tuareg carpet - after haggling him down from 2500 Euros for 3 carpets to 100 Euros for one lovely one...
Because of the 2 hour time difference, we were back to Spain with enough time to continue along the Western coast that day to the beach at Bolonia... see next post!
No comments:
Post a Comment