Tangier, Morocco

From Seville we made our way to Algeciras where we caught a ferry over to Tangier, Morocco.  We missed the first ferry because we were waiting in the wrong boarding lounge.  It is hard when you don't speak the local language and you are relying on the locals or staff to tell you where to go.  Someone had lead us a stray.  So when we realised (which was when we tried to board the wrong ferry) then we found out where our particular ferry was departing from, and caught that.

Once we were on the ferry, we were getting looks from the locals, which were arabs, so we though we better make an effort to cover up.  Once we arrived in Tangier we were a little overwhelmed.  There were men everywhere and we didn't trust any of them.  We had been travelling all day and it was hot.  We were tired.  People were trying to help us but we were not sure who to trust, and who would take us for a ride.  We eventually found a taxi driver who spoke some english, so we got in his taxi and he took us to our hostel.  But a car couldn't take us to the door - we still had to decipher our way through the alleys.  The map didn't seem to be correct, it was a difficult task to do while being harassed by the locals in every direction trying to sell you things plus we had all our luggage.  We asked a few locals for directions and eventually found the place.  We were so relieved!

We hung aroung the hostel for a couple of hours to unwind, then in the evening went out to explore the area. Ramadan just so happened to be on while we were there, so after dusk, most people were at the mosque.  This was good for us as it made the streets a lot quieter, we were left to ourselves instead of being harassed.  However it was hard to find food, as most restaurants were closed during this period of the year.


The next day we woke up to a lovely breakfast served by the hostel.  It was traditional - feta cheese, olives, fresh fruit, bread rolls, juice and turkish pastries.  We then went out exploring again and had a look around the Kasbah - a palace.  It was nice and it was right on the coast, so the views from there were amazing.  We noticed there were more local woman out the next morning too, and we didn't get hassled by the street vendors so much, plus we knew now what to expect now, so the day was a lot nicer than the one before!

That afternoon we caught the ferry back to Algeciras where we spent a night, before heading to Granada the next day.