Our first stop was Tangier (pronounced Tanja in Arabic). We had read in the guide book that Tangier was a nightmare city to enter into; said it was worse than Kabul. Apparently people hang out waiting to sell stuff to tourists or just beg for money. Recently Morocco regulated the tour guide industry. So the guide book mentioned that there were false guides at the entrance waiting to illegally collect your money for an unauthorized tour.
Everyone had a backpack except for me. Charles and I packed in one and he was carrying it. So the backpackers were going to walk ahead of me and I was to walk behind watching for pick pocketers. The guide book said they have light fingers in Tangier. When we walked off that ferry, we were all ready for battle.
And not a single person said one word to us. We walked all the way to the hotel and the only incident was an overly friendly Moroccan aggressively approaching Tim and grabbing his arm. Tim told him to back off. The Moroccan seemed surprised because I think in hindsight he just wanted to say hello. But after reading the guide book, we just wanted to be left alone. We settled into our hotel and after wondering a bit we found a wonderful Moroccan restaurant in the madina called Hamadi. It catered to tourists, which we typically avoid when traveling. But Tangier had to be the dirtiest city I have been to thus far. So it was difficult judging a restaurant from the outside. They all looked a little disconcerting. Our dinner was fabulous. We ate and finished with some traditional Moroccan Mint Tea. Since Muslims don’t drink alcohol, mint tea is a staple in the diet of many Moroccan men.
Tim and Richard Dean Anderson on the ferry to Africa.
Megan and Katie deleting the bad pictures that Tim took of us while we weren´t looking.
Grand Soco in Tangier.
Hotel Continental.
Charles and I eating Tangine in Tangier.
Tim pointing some interesting garbage in the fields as we traveled through Morocco.
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