Solazur Tangier

... Looking
from Africa into Europe was one of the strangest and coolest moment in the
trip! The port down below looked like Splits, with lots of big ferries moving
in and out, and some hilly land nearby that looked like Marjan.

We popped into a
bar near our hotel, called the American bar but decked out with British
memorabilia inside.

We ended up
chatting with a self proclaimed ‘businessman’ who finished off a mysterious
discussion with an ...

... I was in Tangiers!!!
First stop at an old Castillo to see the camels. Hell, I didn't come this far not to ride one, and at only one euro, a bargain,(it was a bit wobbly though)
Next the coach took as through the international areas where Britain, France, Spain and the US had there own areas, a little like in old Shanghai.
We head towards the casbah and the coach stops and we all get led to a nice area with an enormous fountain and watched the local people ...

... run thing when we reached the lee of the land and things quietened down. So we set foot on African soil and the weather was cold, windy and a little damp - around 12 degrees or so. As I write this in my hotel room looking out over the strait it does seem calmer. Let's hope so for we have to retrace our path back to Spain tomorrow. Tangier is a bustling, thriving city of over 1 million, a very mixed population, definitely third world and ...

We left Algecira on a ferry, passed by the Rock of Gibraltar and then after an hour or so of cruising pulled into port in Tangier Africa!! The Port welcome sign in French and Arabic was the first indication of how different Morocco would be. There were also countless very persistent touts, the most original of had a fake badge and tried to tell us he is special tourists police and that to be safe we should stay at Holland Hotel ...

... while the shop owner tried his best to sell me a rug for a measly 200 euros. He wasn't phased in the slightest when I laughed at him, took 3 euros out of my pocket and said thats all the money I had (which as true). My young guide turned up again and brought me back to the main group, who by this time had bought quite alot of presents for the folks back home, costing frig knows how much, and if they paid by credit card then it's ...

... but he will not open the trunk of the taxi and then tells us he will take us to the campground for 25dirham. We agree knowing we are still being ripped off, we have an approximate exchange rate sorted out. The driver does a maniac mission through the medina area of town and even drives on the footpath. He was actually snorting like a bull in anger and spitting out the window. We had to put our heads out the window and make horn noises so people wouldnt ...

... drive through fields of Argan trees. Everywhere there are little co-operatives, nearly all run by women, selling Argan oil and other products derived from the nut of the Argan tree. The oil is one of the rarest in the world because of the small growing area of the trees and the labour-intensive process. As we drive into Essaouira young men and teenagers stand by the side of the road and wave keys at us and make sleeping signs, touting for business for their hotels. Essaouira ...

... somehow got caught, surprise surprise, and the police were throwing their bags back over the fence. Then the men started arguing with the police and before you knew it, the one man grabbed the police and he started hitting him with his beating stick thing!!!!! Then they took them away and that was all we saw!!! The craziest thing I have ever seen!!! Well finally after about a 25 minute wait, our passports were stamped and we continued on our way to the hotel ...

We awakened early to wind banging against the balcony doors and bright sunlight filtering between clouds. Rushing over to the port we found a vast number of people queuing for the ferry. A massive tour group surrounded us. We watched as their names were called and passports handed out (and promptly collected by the tour leader after getting onto the ferry). A young Australian woman in front of us fretted about the line and ...

... which results in murals being scattered on walls throughout, too. The air here is nice and cool, a welcome change from the scorching hot sun in Marrakesh. Tomorrow I am leaving Morocco already: by either train or bus to Tangier, then by ferry across the strait to Algeciras, Spain, and finally by bus to Gibraltar from which I have a flight the next morning. I've just finished getting used to the strange keyboards and seeing stray cats everywhere instead of dogs ...