Dream trip to Spain: & Tangier, Morocco

We took an excursion to Tangier Morocco. The group drove to Tarifa by bus then we caught a ferry crossing over the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier Morocco.  There is a bay that the city is built around and we pulled in on its western side.
   Here's what the bay area looked like as we pulled in.  (the sparkly stuff on the right - is salt crystals that had formed on the ferry window - and the sun is reflecting off of them.  The pictures I took on the ferry all had this happen to them. I had to settle for them since this particular ferry did not allow us to go up on the top deck.  You could tell it was a working ferry that was transporting cars and people across for business purposes and really wasn't one for touring in.)   The trip itself took about an hour.
    It was fascinating watching the people on it.  It seemed like every group of people we were seeing were speaking a different language.  The people in front were from Germany (I studied German in college and remembered just enough to occasionally hear a couple of words I recognized), the ones behind us were speaking a form of Arabic, the ones across from us Spanish and French (being from LA I hear enough French to recognize it when its spoken and the same goes for Spanish).  I loved the way it was such a international group.  And I guess it should be since we were traveling from Europe to Africa.  This was so different from what I'm used to were everyone basically speaks English. 

 the bay - Tangier Morocco

We got off the ferry and had to go through customs.  Since we were with a tour group they had gotten as much prepared as they could ahead of time.  All we really had to do was give them our names and they confirmed who we were.  We got through a lot faster than I thought we would.  For other people with baggage's and such it was a different matter they had to go through different lines that were quite slow. 

It wasn't long before we were on the buses again and getting to see the sights of the city.  This was one of the first things we saw.  Walls of the old fortress that used to protect the city.  The tour guide told us that Alcazar means fortress.  So this was his welcome to the Alcazar.  (I must apologize for some of the photos since they were taken on a moving bus and sometimes things reflected off the window and also there was tinting on the window which changed thins slightly. All of which didn't lead to the best quality of images but it was better than nothing.)

The Alcazar of Tangier Morocco.

The Fortress in Tangier Morocco

The first thing I noticed was the rocks that were out cropping.  I couldn't help but notice that they were highly folded.  The other thing I notice was they were mostly sandstone and shales.  This surprised me since I was expecting to see limestone since the Rock of Gibraltar is mostly limestones.  I wondered if these outcrops were part of the famous Atlas Mountains I had heard so much about.  The guide said these were not the Atlas Mountains - the Atlas Mountains were the high mountains we were seeing in the distance to the south southeast. He said in fact there were two different ranges that were the Atlas mountains the middle and the high.   Later I found out these were part of the Rif Mountains.  I was a little bit disappointed in that because I wanted to see the Atlas Mountains.  The Atlas has always interested me because of the wonderful ammonoids that have been found there.

Even though these rocks were part of the Rif mountains I still thought they were interesting to see.  I would have liked to have stopped the bus and look at them more closely for awhile.

It wasn't long before we were into the heart of the city and seeing all sorts of wonderful sights, and hearing the bustling sounds of it.  One of the things that surprised me to see was this church.  I really wasn't expecting churches but mosque.  That just goes to show what a cosmopolitan place this was.  I was able to get this shot because the bus had come to a complete stop at a red light.

A church in Tangier Morocco

We came to another stop and I got another good photo of what the streets were like.

typcial street in Tangier, Morocco

Because our bodies were all out of whack from jet travel, the tour guides had arranged for us to have a meal at a local hotel restaurant.  The said they wanted us to be able to get a typical Moroccan meal.  We thought that we would just sit and order and they'd bring us what we wanted.  Boy were we wrong.  First of they brought us to this beautiful room. 
  This is looking back at the door we came through. 

Le Royal Hotel and Resorts

Then the next thing you noticed was there was a band there playing the local music. 

Band at Le Royal Hotels & Resorsts, Tangier Morocco

The band playing at the Le Royal Hotel & Resort, Tangier Morocco

We were told to get a seat.  But it was so hard to choose. Do you go with a window view or do you go with a view of the band playing. 

View from the Le Royal

My husband and I opted for the window view.  You can't see it from this angle but we were able to see the Rock of Gibraltar and the African coast together.  This was just of the bay area. But it was still spectacular, it was fun watching the ships coming and going and I was content with that. 

 As we settle in we started to look at the details in the room and marvel at how pretty everything was.  Just look at this chandelier and wooden ceiling.  

Le Royal Hotels & Resort, Morocco

Here was a beautiful dish just sitting in the middle of the room.  I'm not used to seeing something like that and was curious as to why it was there.  Later I came to find out its part of the way in which they serve there food.   Also look at how beautiful the rug was in the room. 

The waiter came and wanted our drink orders.  At that point I was using the restroom.  And oh what a rest room that was.  The tile work in it was incredible and the stall doors were all beautifully carved wood like the ceiling with intricate designs.  But the other girls and I decided it just wasn't appropriate to take pictures in there even though we wanted to.
   My husband knows me well enough to know what I like to eat and drink.  He went ahead and ordered me a beer - which is what I would have gotten anyway.  We couldn't believe they brought us Casablanca Beer!  I wanted to take one home with me but had to settle for this images instead.  If I really thought about it I could have pealed the label off and just took that home with me, but I didn't think of that until I was back on the ferry heading back.

Casablanca Beer

We thought that being in this place that was mostly a Muslim area we would only be drinking water which was fine with us, so we were surprised that we could get both wine and beer.

Here's another more artsy shot of the beer.  Notice by then some of it had been drunk.

Casablanca Beer in Tangier Morocco.

We were sitting back enjoying the view and enjoying each other company while waiting on the food and talking about what an incredible experience this was.  When the first course came.

Typical Moroccan salad

They just put it down right in the middle of the table and called this a salad.  It was up to us to serve ourselves.  This was different and we weren't expecting it.  They had a variety of thing on that plate, marinated beans, beats, coleslaw, hard boiled eggs, saute eggplant, black olives and lettuce. Not what I'd call your typical salad but was good anyway.  Each had to try a little bit of everything.

We were all getting into the food and wasn't expecting there to be anything else entertainment wise than the band playing.  Imagine our surprise when a belly dancer came in and started to dance. 

Dancer at Le Royal Hotel & Resort

and dance

dancing for the group

and dance

Dancer at the Le Royal hotel and resort

She left and then they brought in the main meal.  Vegetables with lamb on a bed of riso?? They said it was ground up wheat that is like a rice (but to me it reminded me of grits.)  Definitely different.  The lamb was buried deep inside and at first we didn't realize it was there.  It was very tender and you could tell it had been slow roasted with the vegetables, eggplant, squash, carrots, a potato type thing and tomatoes.

Typical Moroccan Lamb dish

After trying all that I was full and was ready to just sit back and relax and enjoy the view again.

I got up and actually looked into the window to get this photo.  If you look really closely you can see the Rock of Gibraltar near that palm looking plant and above the orange roof in the left center.

balcony view Le Royal hotel & resort

We were told we would be getting a dessert too.  Then this other belly dance came out.  I wondered if that was the desert for the men.  But it wasn't.  They brought us orange slices with cinnamon on top of it.  I had never had oranges like that before but it was quite tasty.  You could tell the cinnamon was very fresh and a little bit went a long way.

One of the girls in our group knew how to belly dance too.  So when the belly dancer gestured for people to join her this girl decided to go ahead and do it.  You can tell we all had a grand time watching them dance and have a good time.

After the meal we retired outside while we waited on people to freshen themselves up.  Here's a couple of images I got while waiting.

I almost didn't include this but it gave me a chuckle when I saw it.  To me it looks like I'm sprouting really weird looking wings or antlers.  At least it showing me being in Morocco with the Rock of Gibraltar behind me.

After that incredible meal it was on to tour the city again.

Our bus was park in this common meeting place.  To the left you can see the Mosque there and that is why this is such a popular place. 

City park in Tangier Morocco

Here's another view of this meeting place.  If you look between the two palm trees you see a gate.  This is the entrance to the market place. Later we were able to explore that area, but first we had to see other things in the city.

Here's that same church again only seen from a different street.

As I expected there were a lot of Mosques there and here is another one.

Mosque in Tangier, Morocco

And a closer view of it.  I really liked the outside tower wall and the design that was on it.

We drove by some impress places like this. I think it was the Spanish embassy.

They took us up into the hills and showed us all these palaces.  Most of them I could not get a good shot of because we were traveling so fast.  A lot of the palaces were also set so far back you couldn't see them, or else they had high walls with guards so you couldn't get close by.  They were nice to look at but what really got to me was driving and seeing all this incredible geology in the area.  Eventually we made it to the Atlantic Ocean. 
  They stopped at this scenic overlook.  And I got this picture. I notice there was water on the beach and then realized it must have been low tide. 

The other day the moon was so spectacular and I tried to get a photo of it but it didn't turn out real well as far as getting the port and other things but it does show it close to being full.

an almost full moon

When we were coming back we did get to see the beaches closer.

The one thing that surprised me was how small the waves were.  I was expecting bigger ones like I've seen on the American coasts. I guess it was a calm day without much wind to generate big waves.

Moroccan beach at low tide

We continue to drive and we ended up riding camels on one of the beaches and that is a different post I have planned. 
Here's one outcrop I found really interesting to look at.

Rock Outcrop on the Atlantic Ocean Morocco

I liked this rock outcrop.  You could tell that someone had built structure into the back side of it.

It wasn't long before we were back into the city. And seeing sights like this again.

Again you can see the white gate that is the entrance to the market place.

The main market place in Tangier Morocco.  It was definitely different walking through it and having all sorts of people trying to get you to come over and look at their wares.  At some place or other just about anything you could want you could find there.  Its so different from what I'm used to when I go shopping.

A market street in Tangier Morocco

Typical stalls with there wares hanging out in the sunlight so you could see them.

The Market in Tangier Morocco

Eventually we ended up in one place that served us tea.  As we were drinking the tea they told us all about how the Moroccan rugs are made.  Needless to say they are famous for there rugs.

preparing tea in Tangier Morocco

Here the guy is making the tea.  Those trays in front were filled with cookies and scone type items.

Serving Tea in Tangier Morocco

I liked this image because it showed all the different colored yarns used to make a rug.  All you had to do was look at the yarns and pick the color you like then they would find a rug with it in it.  If you couldn't find anything you liked then they would be willing to make one for you with the colors you pick.  I wasn't interested in getting a rug.  We  had no place to put one but they were interesting to look at.  Each rug was a piece of artwork in and of itself and deserved to be looked at and admired.

The different colored yarns used to make rugs.

Some typical Moroccan rugs that were for sale

   In the end my husband and I just looked. There were other things  than rugs to purchase in that area and most people went away with something.   We did not get anything but the people that did  were all happy with their purchases. Although most had no clue how much they paid for what they got. The hardest thing to deal with was the exchange rate. They didn't have an exchange rate readily available for American dollars so we had to deal in Euros.  When we were in Spain we were dealing with the Euro and at the time it was a little less than 1.5 dollars equaled one Euro.  We were told 10 Moroccan dollars equal one Euro.  So then they had to do all that calculating and then there was the other fees tacked on top of it.  I asked one person if they thought they got a good deal and her responds it wasn't the price of the thing but the experience of getting it in Morocco and being able to say it came from Africa.
  I guess I know what she means because even though I didn't buy anything I did get some coins from the area just so I could have something from Morocco that was typical of that area.  To me coins were the perfect thing.  Small enough to easily carry and unbreakable.  I'll turn them into a piece of jewelry that I'll be able to have for a long time.

Once again I have to thank that nameless company for a day that I'll never forget. 

I muse: I wonder how much those rugs actually cost?   Should we've had gotten one?  My husband was glad we have no place to put one and all the money we saved by not getting one, so everything turn out for the best. But they sure were beautiful.