Inter-Continental Tangier

... a taxi. We drove through the new part of town which was big roads,<br>clean, even a McDonalds. The train station was big new and clean, we bought the<br>tickets easily and were on the train.<br><br> We got a cabin to ourselves until about<br>ten minutes to departure and then it filled up with late comers. Grr.<br><br>We left the<br>beautiful rose city and went out into arid hills and paddocks. There were<br>overgrown spiky cactus everywhere, and I recognised the bright flowery fruit on<br ...

... We were greeted in Tanger by an empty hall with all the promises of sorting us out with the essentials such as maps, money and information, but failed to deliver anything of the kind. There were 2 exchange booths, both unmanned. There was an information desk; unmanned. No map. We just headed out the door and grabbed one of three beige Mercedes Benz cabs into Tanger central. The cabbie spoke about 3 words of English but we managed to get dropped ...

... bargained with, pleaded with, offered all manner of trinkets, leather goods, belts, cards and the like. I tried putting off my bevy of salesmen by telling them I had no money. Go and hassle a rich Americano. Strangely the Americans near me didn't think that was such a good idea. The barter and banter was very good natured and often humorous but very persistent. One of the Texan women I was walking with said she would not feel safe walking alone through ...

... for now. But first I wanted to share the advice Ramdane gave us before sending us out on our own which both of us though was a very good thing to share. He said: "Just smile. People are animals, and our senses are sometimes more primitive than we think, and if you are scared people will know, and they are scared of you, or the evil will take advantage of you. If you smile your happiness will transmit to the others and this will get you farther than anything". 

... across an expanse of deep blue ocean, the air was crisp, the sky blue and the clouds fluffy. Taking little photos stops, or tea stops along the way, broke with long drive up. We nibbled on almond pastries, sipped tea, watched the fishing boats. We came across a little town call Oaud Lau, where we stopped for a seafood lunch. V and I had a seafood platter, which consisted of calamari, prawns, fresh ...

... skills are good now that we have done all the shopping we intend to do and been severely ripped off of course. The next day we hit the little beach and listened to music on the ipod. I successfully scavenged on the beach for some scraps of the beautiful, kaleidoscopic designed, Moroccan tiles that are used all over town. Of course the dreaded small town stalkers got wind of us being in town and before we knew it we had an entourage of ...

One cold, dark winter in London, I escaped to north Africa via Spain. Once again guardian angels walked with me. I stepped off the bus in Tangiers and met two young men who offered to be my guides. I was safe in their hands and saw the Medina, a snake charmer, bought real powdered kohl for my eyes, and drank sweet mint tea whilst discussing a ...

... checking into our rooms (I was in a room with Holly, my housemate, and Sandra, a friend she had met who is from Sweden), we had dinner. The first course was a soup that looked orangish and tasted of something like potatoes and cauliflower, I thought. Then we had chicken kebabs with rice and some vegetables. We had a delicious fruit salad for dessert. After a very exhausting day of travel, we went to sleep.

... we got a good deal, but I'm sure they were laughing when we left). The bargaining is fun but can get a little bit trying after awhile... they never leave you alone. After a wonderful cafe creme, it was time to hop back on the ferry to return to Tarifa. It was definitely a neat experience, and althought we probably wouldn't revisit Tangier, it would definitely be worthwhile to go back and visit the less touristy towns south of Tangier on another trip.

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 ...