Ibis Tangier

... who left to catch a ferry to Spain, and then made
sure the staff provided us with copious amounts of the best tapas. Tapas are
free when you drink at bars here we found (something of an oasis in a
backpackers trek through the desert of restaurants and bars!) but he got us
whole fish and lots of repeat serves that night...we are sure he was mafia,
needless to say. We found people in Tangier generally speak four languages,
most of Morocco knows three, and we felt quite ...

... work. A mix of Africans, Muslims and Spanish it seems.
Then through the arches into the casbah marketplace which was, bloody amazing. Imagine the movie "Casablanca" I'm in it."Indiana Jones: I'm in it. "Monty Pythons Life of Brian" (half a din ah for my bloody life story:-))
Lunch was upstairs at a typically Moroccan restaurant. Food was great, some kind of Kebabs and the Mediterranean Chicken. Sat with a bunch of other Brits so a laugh was had by all.
Then ...

... many many hawkers and souvenir shops. We've been told to bargain for everything. Never pay full price. Surprisingly French is the main language of shops and instructions although everyone seems to have some English at least. There's a lot of new development, very few monuments or squares, no memorials to Columbus, lots of really old cars and if you use a pedestrian crossing you do so very carefully. The drivers only stop if they think you're ...

... common scam around the world is for taxi drivers to tell you the hostel you are looking for is closed and they have a better hotel to show you. We said, ok well we have a reservation so take us there. The driver insisted and so did we...off we went to find out...the hostel was actually closed. We even stopped 3 different people on the street to make sure we were at the correct address. We had another address and asked to go ...

... cost them considerably more than they thought. All day I'd just been wanting to get to my hotel, leave my stuff off and then come back to the Old Town on my own and have a look around at my own pace, so I was a bit shocked when we got back on the bus, and the bus started to head back to the port. This group were only over on a day trip, so I had to explain to the guy in charge that I was here overnight and I'd already paid ...

... run over by the madman. After we get to the location he demands 20 dirham AND 5 EURO. Bollocks to that we said and he threw our money into the dirt and kicked it. He then tried to steal Nadines daypack and put it back in his trunk. Some muscle-y looking Moroocans came over to smooth it out so after we paid the 25 dirham the driver left yelling Arabic out his door. Later we found out that he just needed a cigarette. Welcome to Morocco. We stayed in a ...

... virtually booked out because of the Gnaoua festival, and it's very windy and cool there besides, so we stay at Kasbah Zineb about 15kms inland (we hear that it's 51 degrees in Marrakech, and probably much the same here). It's a sort of resort and has a pool, so it's nice to lounge around there during the day, then go into Essaouira at night for the Gnaoua Festival (Gnaoua is a type of popular religious music). This fetival is held every year in Essaouira and all the best ...

... outside of Tetouan. I slept most of the way, but after finally reaching the hotel, I was up!! Upon arrival, we were greeted with this amazing tasting mint tea and like pastry cookies, we filled out a form to confirm our stay, and then headed straight to a large dining room for dinner. The hotel was very nice, nothing spectacular, but not bad at all!! Dinner was great as well, finally a full meal, with REAL food, and not just soup!!!! There was bread sitting ...

... stickers that were being placed on the lapels of the tourists. At last, after passing by stern officials we streamed over to the ferry. Indeed, it was a monster of a boat that quite gently floated us across the channel to North Africa. Disembarking we were immediately accosted by a most persistent tour guide. I used to think that Chinese vendors were persistent; they are bashful and warmly polite compared to this fellow. The ...

DAY 30 So we got up at 7am so we could catch the ferry at 815. So the ferry takes about an hour and a half and it crosses over where the Mediterrean and the Altantic meet, the currents are incredible, we were flying all over the place. When we got to Tanger, we met our guide and get in a van. We drove out into the country, first stop is to see some donkeys and one was only 5 weeks old ...