La Tangerina Tangier

... heaps of places that famous
rockstars and writers had been known to frequent. One café was a scene from one
of the Bourne movies, and we had a very expensive drink at a plush bar in a
gorgeous hotel – the bar had been the inspiration for Sam’s bar in the movie
Casablanca.

The city is one
of the more liberal, with lots of locals wearing Western dress and the girls
often in quite skimpy clothing. A lot of people sold tissues, strangely enough.
Not ...

... realizing I have no info about the return trip on me (A mild panic is setting in now) especially as Moroccan Hotels don't take credit cards and all I have is 20 Euros.
Anyway, I get to the terminal, find customs, but they wont let me through as I don't have a ticket (the tour guide has them) and a stronger panic is setting in now.
THEN, just in time, the tour guide who had been looking for me shows up and gets me on the boat.
I'm on beer 6 now..
More later.

... days of bygone years. Winston Churchill, Rock Hudson and Rita Hayworth were all shown on covers of various hotel stuff but my safety box wouldn't work, the mini bar was locked with no key around and in the bathroom there was a gap in the tiles in the middle of the floor about 2m by 2 cm wide. It would comfortable fit several trillion bacteria and probably did. Tomorrow we are escorted through the Kasbah and get to do some serious bargaining.

... culture is also very big in Morocco, but mainly for men who all sit facing the street enjoying their mint tea (Moroccan Whisky). A tout here won't just pester you ask you walk by their store, in fact they will follow you for 5 to 10mins acting as a faux guide. Persistent little buggers but eventually after ignoring everything they say they evaporate. One bag hawker who tried to show us his wares called us Zionists for not ...

... quite a few lesson since I left. I can´t believe that I will have been gone for three months already next week...wow, that time truly does fly by. I mean, I hate to remind you all, but Christmas is almost here even! haha We were off on our way early friday morning! Ick, 7am meeting time at the Torre de Oro (tower of gold in Sevilla). We set off for the strait of Gibraltar, only to be stuck in rush hour in Sevilla. We went about two miles in an hour ...

... shapeless kaftan shirts that all the women wear. I am getting mine in potato sack brown. Bang on some sunglasses and some genie shoes and hey presto, no-one knows you are a gringo and we can get around the gorgeous streets without being harrassed by men. The harrassment generally takes the form of intense and persistent staring and constant greetings. One guy attempted an **** grab but i was too quick for him and no contact was made. Avoiding eye ...

... around an inlet on the coast. After dinner we go for a walk around the town - the atmosphere is amazing - the air is thick and moist and full of salt. Visibility is less than 100 metres an everything is slightly blurred. We continue on up the coast to Azzemour with it's Portuguese fort and walls. We stay at a beautiful place called Riad Azama in the medina - there arre no tourists here at all. Wandering through the medina the Portuguese influence is obvious - we notice it ...

... l'air le moins touriste possible (avoir l'air de connaître mon chemin, ne rien demander, répondre "Salam" quand on me dit "Hola amigo"). Partir à vélo à la nuit tombante. Chemin. Longtemps. Se faire inviter à dormir chez Youssef. Youssef chef d'entreprise de machinerie agricole ET fournisseur de lapins pour tout le maroc. Président fondateur du "Centre de développement économique d'Al-Rhaba, pour les Femmes et les Enfants", c'est ...

... What's going on in your head!" he jabbed a finger at Sneeze's head. "I am official tour guide" he practically yelled, brandishing an id hanging from his neck, "and you ask some stranger for a map!" Sneeze glanced at him dispassionately and said something like "we're going now." At this we trotted off towards the city. Another potential tour-guide ran after us, but accepted more readily our refusal of his services. We ...

... herbs and how they use them for different ailments. Bought lots of stuff from there. We then went to a traditional Moroccan restaurant and had a vegetable soup and a vegetable couscous, which was divine. Our last stop was the British hotel, where they filmed some of Casablanca. We then headed back to catch the ferry back to Algerciras. So now I can officially say I have been to Africa.