Tantalizing Tangier

It was very exciting to come to Africa.  The ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar from Tarifa was terrific and in an hour we were in Tangier.

Goodbye Europe

Hello Africa

I was beginning to feel a bit bored with modern Western cities, as nice as they were.  I thought that maybe I needed to get into the country side or that we were traveling through Europe too fast.  But now I realize it is the exotic, less developed world that I was missing.  Traveling in these parts is not easy.  It is grubbier, scruffier and more confronting, but I love it.

We were in the most delightful hotel that Bob found, The Hotel Continental.  It was built in 1870 and definitely in need of refurbishment but oozes charm and history.  Its past glory is faded but still shines through.  The rooms are tucked in a labyrinth filled with memorabilia and pictures of famous people who stayed here.  These include (people, not necessarily the photos) Kerouac, Degas, Matisse and Kofi Anan.  The hotel is right on the waterfront behind the medina walls.  Our room overlooked the harbour and the back of the hotel borders on the Kasbah with its winding, narrow streets.  The very inexpensive tariff includes breakfast and the dining room had beautiful painted plaster work.

The Hotel Continental

The breakfast room

Painted Plaster work

One night just after sunset we were in a small square at an outdoor cafe sipping Moroccan tea - tall glass of sweet tea with mint leaves floating in it - when a noisy procession came through with young men playing long medieval trumpets and beating drums.  In the middle of the procession was a woman dressed in white holding a toddler also dressed in white riding a white horse.  Everyone was cheering and very happy.  We asked what it was all about and found out that the little boy was off to be circumcised - poor little thing! 

Off to be circumcised

The streets are filled with all sorts of interesting looking people.  I have been trying to take photos without being rude.  Many of the men wear hooded kaftans called Djellaba and look like they are part of some medieval monk cult. Most of the women wear the hijab (head scarf) but very few in the full Niqab just showing the eyes.  But all in all it is quite a modern city with plenty of the old ways still evident to make it interesting. 

 

 

The police always are in threes - two with guns and the one in the middle with a radio

The water front is undergoing a huge development and will have quite a big marina.  The beach is lovely and sandy and Tangier has all the makings of a prime resort town if terrorism and extreme Islam do not destroy this.

Riding horses on the beach