Tangier, Morocco

Sunset on Tangier, from our hotel window.

We arrived in Tangier by ferry from Algeciras on Friday, April 6. The following account of our adventures is a team effort - David supplied me with a couple introductory paragraphs and an excellent bullet-point summary of what we did and saw (he remembers these things much better than I do), to which I've added my own impressions and our photos.

David says:

After spending a few days driving around Southern Spain in our nice rental car, both Holly and I were a little tentative about leaving for Africa. It had been very laid back and comfortable staying in our thoroughly modern hotel with the option to drive to any site we might want to see. Thoughts of driving up the coastline to Portugal were filling our heads. If we hadn't already arranged our flight home to depart from Marakesh, I am not sure we would have left Spain.

But arrangements had been made and we knew that there was a long journey ahead of us before we could make that plane. Just to make things even more interesting we also changed our plans, deciding to ferry over and spend a night in Tangier before starting the long train rides. This was unusual for us as we usually stick to a plan and have all our accommodation booked ahead of time.

Tangier used to be the height of chic decadence for Brits, Americans and other foreigners to live, but that mostly ended when Morocco gained its independence in 1956. Now there are only a few western expats living there and most tourists go to other Moroccan cities. We only spent one night there to rest between the ferry and long train ride south to Casablanca, but we were also interested to have a look around because it still has a bit of mystique to it.

And Tangier features in the Bourne Ultimatum movie! I believe it is out now in the States but we have to wait until August 17. We absolutely love the Bourne movies, more even than James Bond if you can believe it, and can't wait to see the new one. So when we saw the preview, we thought it was super cool that we'd actually visited one of its many exotic locations!


Matt Damon chasing bad guys (or running from them) across Tangier's rooftops. Sadly no, I did not take this photo.

For regular people as well as Jason Bourne, Tangier is by all accounts not the nicest introduction to Morocco. There is nothing wrong with the city itself, but the port is one of the worst places to be accosted by pushy, would-be tour guides in the entire country, which only accentuates the culture shock.

Many people just fly directly in and out of Marrakesh, so we were taking a somewhat more adventurous route getting there by land. We don't generally prefer adventurous, but we wanted to see more of the country.

So it was with some trepidation that we left our gorgeous modern hotel in Algeciras, returned our lovely Spanish car, and boarded a ferry bound for Africa.

The ferry terminal was a bit chaotic in a southern European way, but we managed to buy tickets (with a credit card, even) in a little side office, then found a long line where apparently they check your tickets. After standing in that line until our departure time became alarmingly close, the general impression was given in Spanish that we were all just to go ahead to customs and boarding.

So we stood in another line to get our passports checked, where we got to watch a loud altercation involving a Spanish women who apparently had something wrong with her passport. She unleashed all her Latina fury on the customs officer, but it did her no good and eventually had to storm off. We also passed the time by chatting a bit with a friendly, middle-aged Spanish man behind us who seemed pleased to practice his English.

The customs officers had no objections to our passports, in fact they barely looked at them, and we headed quickly for the ferry in the hopes it was not about to pull away. It was actually a bit of a maze to get there and it was difficult to be sure where to go.



Until that point we had been following a girl in red shoes that seemed to know what she was doing, but then she suddenly went downstairs on an escalator while our new Spanish friend went straight ahead. After much hesitation we chose to follow the latter, and it's a good thing we did or we would likely have missed our ferry!

Once on board, we settled into some fairly comfy seats near our new acquaintances. Already we began to feel we were not in Europe anymore - at least half of the passengers were Moroccan and there were a few groups of young men that looked rather intimidating. But most were Moroccan families with young children and lots of Spanish young people heading over to Morocco for vacation.

We immediately set about taking care of the immigration paperwork, which you have to fill out and take to the on-board customs desk before arriving in Tangier. There was soon a very long line to do so, so we decided to wait until later in the hopes it would go down a bit. Then there was nothing to do but wander around the ferry and watch the ocean go by for about two hours.


Leaving Spain behind.

The ferry was pretty nice, but in the way that most European-influenced things were in Tangier - you could tell they were really nice once, but that day is past. The ride was not choppy, but just had a gentle sway the entire time. For David that is the worst kind, and although I don't usually have problems with seasickness, we both took Dramamine just in case. I was actually the one to feel a little bit nauseous, but some 7up and Pringles from the overpriced snack bar helped considerably.


We finally joined the customs line as we got closer to Tangier, which didn't take too long.


And we're here! It was pretty exciting to be about to set foot in Africa for the first time.

Just as advertised, immediately upon leaving the boat we were set upon by a would-be guide, an older man dressed in traditional Moroccan garb of long robe and fes-type hat. All our guidebooks insisted there is no need for a guide in Tangier, who would demand a exorbitant sum once you'd been guided, and we didn't want one anyway. We said "no thank you" about a gazillion times while he asked us where we were from, where we were staying, if we needed a hotel, if he could show us the way.... We eventually lost him, but then promptly got lost ourselves.


Tangier port.

All we really needed to do was follow the waterfront around to the main part of town, but the port area is quite a gauntlet and is not designed to be helpful to visitors. Which, by the way, we seemed to be nearly the only ones. After leaving the ferry, we saw only one other western couple during the entire walk into the city. I know this is a dream for many tourists, but it just made us feel like we didn't belong there and made the place seem even more foreign, unwelcoming and intimidating.

We were both extremely ready to just get a hotel to settle into and we feared stopping and looking around because we knew a guide would pounce again, so despite not knowing where we were going we just pressed on. Needing to make a decision, I led us into a terminal looking area that I thought might be the only way out of the port.

I was quite wrong - it was actually the departures terminal, and we got many bewildered and bemused looks from guards and attendants there. We feared we'd have to go around, but they eventually let us in a locked side door and pointed us to the exit after inexplicably x-raying our bags.

Insult added to injury when we came out the door and found our "guide" had followed us, seen the whole thing, and now openly made fun of our stubborn independence. "You can’t even find your way out the terminal, but you say you don’t need a guide..." Grrr. Can we go back to Spain now? In Europe it's actually normal for tourists to get lost and then find their way again without needing paid assistance or being ridiculed by the locals.

Fortunately he went away fairly quickly this time and we were free and on a fairly clear path along the waterfront. But there was not actually a path for some time, so we walked on the side of the road or up on the curb while the crazy traffic whizzed past. The buildings that we passed all looked so dingy and run-down that we began to despair of finding a decent place to stay, but we were headed for the "new town" so remained hopeful.

And on the bright side, nobody else approached or talked to us the rest of the day. I wished we'd known that in advance, as we remained on edge and nervous of everyone based on our introductory experience and the foreignness of it all. Another part of the culture shock is that there were a lot of men standing around and wandering around, doing nothing. To us such loitering looked quite sinister, but after more days in Morocco we realized it is just part of the culture to hang out and watch the world go by.

Eventually we came on to quite a lovely, wide boardwalk that overlooked a huge beach. It looked like quite a nice beach, but the ocean is part of a huge harbor so probably not too nice for a swim. There were lots of soccer games going on out on the sand.

We set about finding a hotel, discreetly checking our map for a couple hotels I'd marked in the guidebook. The first decent looking place was a big Ramada, which turned out to be quite nice inside but also quite full.

There was an ATM in their nice lobby so David decided to get some cash, but then found that his debit card had been frozen due to our unusual travel (again, as happened in Rome). We settled on their comfy couches while David called his UK bank on his cell phone and got it resolved, then we were able to get cash.

After another hotel was also full, we finally got lucky at the Hotel Solazur. Well, we got a room anyway! It looked decent on the outside and the lobby was quite nice, with bellhops and plush carpet and everything. The man at the desk was nice and first said they were full but then found us a room. We were very grateful to have a room and things seemed to be looking up.

We had to pay up front and they accepted cards as well as cash. After some deliberation, David chose credit card and followed the desk clerk into a side storage closet where they kept the Visa machine. David said he felt like he was in some movie-type African interrogation room and said never mind, I'll pay cash! :)

The bellhop escorted us upstairs and to our room, so we had to keep from laughing out loud when we saw it! It was the most hilarious time warp - mid-70s maybe? The comedy of errors continues!

And the room itself was a far cry from the standards suggested by the lobby! They clearly decided to put all the money into the part that guests see before they pay.

A glance at the TripAdvisor reviews for this hotel (which for once I had not looked at beforehand) shows we were not alone in our reaction!


The beds had thin sheets and hardly any springs, and bed bugs crossed my mind. On my side was a radio thing that looked like it was out of Austin Powers and clearly hadn't worked in a long time. The speaker was full of dead spiders and dust.

So the lesson is, if you stay the night in Tangier, book ahead! But on the bright side, we had a magnificent ocean view...



We had been nervous to take out our big cameras out on the streets, since that's just the sort of display of comparative wealth one should avoid in unfamiliar surroundings. But we did so later, even in the poorest parts of Casablanca, and never felt threatened, so in hindsight we would have gone for it. But as it was, it was really great to be able to snap away from our window!


Me enjoying the view (later that evening, with some delicious bread in hand).

We then considered our options for the evening, which included swimming across the Straits of Gibraltar and begging Spain to take us back, taking the 11pm night train to Casablanca, or staying in the yucky room until the morning. But the first two would have been too tiring and the third option would have seen us bored to tears. And also we were hungry. So in the end, David convinced me we should venture out into this disagreeable city and explore a little.

That was a good decision, as we ended up having quite a nice evening and Tangier even grew on us a little. We explored the old town (or medina - no, not really a funky cold medina), which had several nice-looking mosques, a run-down kasbah (fortress - and yes, I would say we rocked the kasbah), maze-like streets, and lots of bustling markets selling everything from shampoo to onions to chickens.


The kasbah.

We didn't take too many photos in the medina, but it looked exactly like this:


Except without Matt Damon.


David did snap a couple shots with our little spy camera.


And I just had to get out my good camera for that lovely mosque.

We did have several shopkeepers holler out their wares to us in English and a little boy tried to sell me gum (I didn't have change at the time), but it wasn't nearly as bad as we would later experience in Marrakesh and we mostly walked in peace.


At the other end of the medina was a big open square with a central fountain and a large, modern-looking mosque to one side (not shown).


Exit from the medina (left) and main entrance to the mosque.

It was here that we had our first taste of delicious Moroccan food. We found a bakery that sold all kinds of breads, pastries, samosa-type parcels, and little pizzas. I tried a buttery-looking kind of flat bread that was absolutely to die for (and probably to die of if eaten regularly):



David chose a little pizza and some kind of meat wrap, which I had bites of, and they were both so delicious too. Perfectly spiced and full of flavor but not spicy-hot at all. Seriously, wow. Before we left we picked out a selection of bread to take with us, which is what I'm clutching in the hotel photo above.


Then we meandered back through the New Town towards our hotel, our spirits significantly lifted.

We headed for the waterfront in search of some of that famous Moroccan mint tea and some oceanside relaxation, and we found both. The waterfront is actually lined with nice-looking cafes, restaurants and clubs, but there were also some ugly construction sites there too. It really gave us a glimpse into what Tangier could be - quite a nice tourist destination - with some development.


One such waterfront cafe, complete with sparkling pool.


We finally decided on this one, with a fine view of the sea.

The mint tea was also fantastic - it was served hot and very, very sweet - and we really enjoyed sitting outside, looking at the ocean, feeling the breezes and taking it all in.

We took our time, then stopped at another small store on the way back to the hotel for Diet Cokes, the ever-important bottled water, and a couple pastry treats.

So we ended the long and eventful day with smiles, trying not to think about having to sleep in the yucky beds and looking forward to moving on to Casablanca in the morning.