Traditional and contemporary apartment at (Kasbah) – Younas (Airbnb Host)
After our less than ideal experience with CTM Buses and the delay due to the bus breaking down before it even arrived in Chefchaouen, we arrived in Tangier at about 1.30 am. Whatsapp kept us in touch with our host so when we arrived in Tangier at 1.30am, tired and resigned, we flagged down a taxi and got him to talk with Younas to get directions. Wonderfully, our driver knew where to go and we were virtually dropped at the door of our apartment where Younas was waiting. What a guy! By the time we had been shown around the apartment and had much needed showers, it was 3.00am when our heads hit the pillows.
Our first day in Tangier was less energetic than it would have been after just four hours sleep. It’s warm and there is no airconditioning in our apartment, and to top it off, fans seem to be a rare commodity. Our apartment is in the old part of town, so we set out to orient ourselves and do something I didn’t think I would ever look forward to – grocery shopping. Our location is close to the markets and the medina, with delicious looking fruit stalls and well stocked corner markets. Already Tangier feels good, with a lovely French vibe to the architecture contrasting with the energy of the medina and the manic traffic.
We navigated to our nearest Carrefour supermarket and quickly clocked up 80 euros of groceries, which was a lot pricier than we had expected considering we only ended up with four small bags of goodies. With dinners and breakfasts sorted, we hailed a taxi who very cleverly dropped us off close to the apartment, and even better, most of the way was downhill. After four weeks of Moroccan breakfasts, which yes, are yummy, but five kinds of bread every morning does wear thin, we are both excited at the thought of cereal and yoghurt. And dinner tonight? Lamb chops with veges – so good!
Sitting in the apartment which doesn’t have a lot of windows got us to thinking about another warm night’s sleep. Colin set out on the hunt for a fan and found a little box floor fan which he haggled down to 250 dirhams, or 25 euros. A gift for our host, and help for the next six nights.
With a week to explore Tangier, we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy living in our apartment. It finally feels like we are getting on with our new lifestyle, rather than being on holiday. We have time to do the things we want to do – read, research, explore – our time really is our own. We have been spending so much time in the old part of the cities we have visited we wanted to see what the modern Tangier is like, so we made our way to Tangier Centre, apparently the main shopping mall in the city. We walked along the sea front, following the evil blue dot and entered, hoping for an icy blast of airconditioning. Time to give up on that idea. The mall was a disappointing three levels of mainly clothes shops and a fun centre on the top floor, but it is near the train station so at least we know where we need to go on Friday to catch our high speed train.
One of our first ports of call was the American legation museum. Morocco was the first country to recognise the independence of the United States of America (all 13 states) in 1777 so there has been a long history between the two nations. It’s the only US National Historic Landmark located in a foreign country and housed the US diplomatic mission to Morocco. Morocco also played an important role in World War II and the museum showcases some of the activities that happened to spy on the enemy. The whole museum is beautifully set up and well worth a visit. It’s a beautiful building and was gifted to the US government by the sultan to serve as a diplomatic post.
Another icon of Tangier we had to experience was the Gran Café de Paris. It’s famous for being a popular café for artists and writers, and although everything we read about it claimed high process and poor food, we were pleasantly surprised to see that was not the case, with coffees only 10 dirhams and very drinkable. It was also very comfortable, and our waiter was personable – great service and we even got a show watching the antics of cranky drivers on the roundabout. Road rage is everywhere but don’t get out of your car on a roundabout manned by a traffic cop…
Colin’s research had discovered some bookshops that stock English books, so we found two of them and stocked up on reading material. Across from one of the bookstores we discovered a second-hand shop which was marvellous to explore. Lots of old books, most in French, but we would have loved to have bought a couple of the English ones. And just searching through the shop was fun – definitely some treasures to be found if we had the carry space. I’ve decided I need a Fatima hand piece of jewellery, but sadly he didn’t have anything in his shop. I would have loved to be able to buy it there as he was so nice.
The medina is one of the nicest we have explored. It’s not as big or bustly as Marrakech or Fes, but we really like it. The pushy sell doesn’t happen, and haggling doesn’t seem to be a priority. The prices are some of the best we’ve seen and don’t drop if you walk away. I found a Fatima hand that I like – asking price was 80 dirhams but ‘maybe later’. The food stalls look great and the butchers, products look fresh. If we were staying longer we would buy our fresh food from the markets rather than the supermarket.
We did a chill day letting Colin’s dodgy tummy rest which we think may have been from the cheese we bought. The fridge in our apartment is not super cold, so we think the cheese may have got too warm. It’s the only thing he ate that I didn’t, so it couldn’t have been my dodgy cooking. The TV has a couple of movie stations in English and we enjoyed lazing around, guilt free because we still have time to experience the sights of Tangier. This slow travel gig is great.
I dragged Colin around the medina, getting lost and winding our way around the narrow streets checking out the stalls and keeping an eye out for a t-shirt. I went back to the shop where I found my Fatima hand – he tried to get 100 dirhams but I offered 80 which he took. Cheeky buggar. Hopefully it brings me luck like it’s supposed to.
We had to retrace our steps and call on the evil blue dot to find our way to the Kasbah museum there are amazing views from the Kasbah over the strait and we could make out the Spanish coastline, even though it was a bit hazy. After cooling down in the glorious breeze, we made our way towards the museum. We stopped in at a funky café where the owner was playing music on what looks like a lute and of course Colin gave it a go. Very different to a guitar.
The Kasbah museum is the first we’ve seen that doesn’t have two prices – one for locals and one for foreigners – and at 30 dirhams a bargain for both the historical museum and the museum of contemporary art. The Kasbah museum is the best we’ve been to in Morocco – lots of interesting displays and very well laid out. All of the plaques are only in French and Arabic, but we managed to interpret enough of the French to get an idea of what everything was. The displays spanned more than 2000 years of history and even has a beautiful garden which has turtles roading around. Pretty groovy. The evil blue dot took us on the scenic route back to our apartment, although getting lost, as usual, took us to some gorgeous streets, reminiscent of Chefchaouen.
We’ve discovered Moroccan patisseries and there are plenty in Tangier. Moroccan pastries are not too sweet and we have been making it a bit of a habit to stop and get something for afternoon tea. If we can’t drink, I guess the pastries are the next best thing.
We love the location of our apartment. We are just inside the old city so it’s easy to access the medina and the supermarket is a short walk. We’ve decided that this is definitely the place we would live if we were to come back for a longer stay. We had planned on doing a couple of day trips to some of the nearby towns and sights, but it has been nice to just wander the city and enjoy Tangier.
We enjoyed another relaxing day and took time to do some housework to re-assemble the Moroccan lounge which we had pulled apart for TV watching. With a 9.00am fast train to take us to Casablanca to catch our plane, we headed out to find a taxi, thinking we had a fifteen minute walk, but one materialised just 50 meters from the apartment. We were at the train station with plenty of time to spare and after checking where we needed to be, we headed to the food court and had maccas for breakfast.
There is a dedicated lounge for Al Boraq passengers so we relaxed until we were called to board. We treated ourselves to first class seats and they are very comfortable. Our tickets only cost 25 euros for the 2hour 10 minute trip. We could have flown from Tangier, but it’s another experience in Morocco. The train stops at Casa Voyages from where we got the train to the airport. We had five hours to make the transfer and even though the line up for tickets was long, we got our tickets with plenty of time to make the 12.05 train.
As is the way of travel, there was a moment when we thought we might not get to the train. Someone jumped a barrier, so with security chasing him down and closing all access to the platforms, we thought our smooth travel day might be coming to a close. Considering the world we live in, knowing the authorities are checking that everything is safe is reassuring, even if it means missing our train.
Our travel angel stayed on the job and we were allowed down to the platform where we boarded our second class carriage. After the smoothly gliding trip from Tangier, this felt like a ‘real’ train, clicking and clacking along the tracks for the 30 minute trip to the airport. After a little bit of confusion, we were cleared through several security scans and checked in. At least we made the check in process easy – how do people manage to leave check in until an hour before their flight? We were miffed when a family jumped the queue in front of us, but we had plenty of time, so let it ride.
Colin finally got his Moroccan t-shirt – yes it cost 15 euros and took forever to find the right size, but one useful souvenir and a farewell to Morocco. Now all we need is for Royal Air Maroc to do their job and get both of us AND our bags to Porto.