Resting my nerves
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2008
1
16
42
Trip End
Oct 15, 2008
Asilah,
Morocco
Saturday, August 30, 2008
My first day in Morocco went quite (and I'd like to underline the quite..) smoothly, both Monty the Land Rover and I are still in one piece, I've found a nice place to stay, nosed around the local Medina, took a few pictures and now I can upload them right away for your enjoyment!
After leaving Claire at Jerez airport earlier this morning (please insert hugs, kisses, and some tears in the order you prefer), I made my way back to Tarifa, sorted for the nth time Monty's roofrack, had coffee and a couple of cigarettes and then patiently waited to board my ferry to Tangier.
The crossing itself was very fast (only about 35 mins), so nevermind the departure was an hour late, but the real odyssey was to get out the Tangier's ferry terminal! It took me about an hour and a half to get all my papers, both for me and the car, and change my money while negotiating my way through the endless locals approacching me for tips. True to them, they were mostly very helpful and accomodated my poor French, which I was trying to combine with my even poorer Spanish, and in the end I also felt sorry I couldn't do anything for them after my offer to take a polaroid shot of one of the porters that helped me the most was met coldly.
At this point I still wasn't sure if I would stop in Tangier for my first night on Moroccan soil, but as soon as I drove outside the ferry terminal, I was overwhelmed with a fiesta of chaos and general mediterranean fervour, - sort of the same you could find in an Italian town on the sea. Call me a chicken, but the decision to drive on and find a more gentle port of entry was almost immediate. So the story goes that I drove the 40-odd Ks to Asilah, a little town on the Atlantic coast on the road to Rabat.
I'm now chilling in my bedroom at the Hotel Marhaba, right in front of the Medina's gates, half listening to the hubbub in the streets below and the local muezzin's call to prayer. Oh, and yes, I'm also cunningly taking advantage of the internet connection of the place nextdoor, a fancier choice of accomadation called Le Patio de la Lune, far nicer but way too expensive (500DH for a single compared to the 130DH I'm paying for my double) So, my advice is, if you ever happen to be in Asilah, check in at the, and use the internet - it works absolutely fine, at least from room number 1.
Look at some pictures here! and Stay Tuned.
