Tangier, Morocco

To get to Morocco, we had to catch the ferry from Tarifa.  Tarifa is the southernmost Spanish city that is on the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic ocean.  

These buildings line the south coast of Tarifa.  They were built centuries ago (there have been some add-ons since then) to help defend against the Moorish invaders coming across from North Africa.

These two shots show the southern tip of Spain.

Here is dad on Spain's south coast.  Africa is in the background, but was hard to see because of fog.

Then the ferry showed up.  All aboard, time to cross the Mediterranean.  The ferry ride only took about 45 minutes and the ride over was pretty smooth.  The ride back was pretty choppy.  Just ask the guy who tossed his cookies four times.  We saw a few dolphins jumping through the water, and the pictures don't do justice to how blue the water was.  The ferry was pretty nice.

These are the first views of North Africa and Tangier from the ferry.  

Some shots from the main streets of Tangier.

Check out these four pics.  The first shows the worldwide reach of American corporate power.  I think they have a McDonalds on the moon.  The second pic is the tower of the biggest Muslim temple in Tangier.  The third pic is a bit blurry, taken from a moving bus, but gives you an idea of how a Moroccan gets around.  The last pic was taken from up on a hill, showing just how packed this city is.

One can't go to Africa and not ride a camel.  Camels are pretty tall and dad was way up there.  He didn't look too stable and thought he would break his neck.  But the Moroccan entertainment industry mandated high safety standards so dad made it in one piece.

We took a tour bus to get around.  We would have never been able to make it through that town without a guide.  These two pics are from a lookout we stopped at.  That day was very hazy, so we couldn't see much from the spot.  But there were plenty of vendors who tried to sell us everything under the sun.  The vendors know all the stops of the tour busses so they wait at these spots like vultures.

We went though the nice part of town also.  Here are a couple of the nice houses in the suburbs.  The third pic is of a pet cemetery.  The last pic shows another picture of downtown from up on the hill.  

Next, we went inside the Kasbah, a 15th century Portuguese fortress.  Most of the walls left from the fortress are somewhat hidden by all the recent buildings that block them from view. 

We got to meet real life snake charmers.  They used a flute and a tambourine and kept the snakes attention.  That was a real cobra, and it was big so I kept my distance.  A lady in our tour group was brave enough to try one on for size, and you can see dad being pretty bold in that last pic.

These pics are from the streets of Tangier.  The first shows our tour group.  Only half the people in the picture are our group, the rest are the street vendors that tried so hard to sell us anything.  "I make good deal for you, five for one dollar."  The last pic is a guy with a canister of lemonade on his back.  He would lean forward and it would pour out the spout.  Me and dad would not drink that stuff, who knew what kind of bacteria was in there.

These are from the restaurant we ate lunch at.  There was a live band, shown in the first pic.  We got them on video and the music was pretty good.  The other pic is a glass of mint tea.  Good stuff, very full of flavor.

This was a carpet store our guides took us to.  Stores must have a deal set up to have the guides bring tourists to their shops.  The same holds true for the street vendors.  They know all the stops and were always outside the stores waiting for us to come out.  But the carpets were very nice.  The price was high but all prices in Morocco are negotiable.  

The last shop was a Herbologist.  They sold all kinds of stuff and I even bought some Ginseng and some mint tea.  The other pics show me and dad getting samples of Eucalyptus seed.  Sniffing it helps the sinuses and prevents snoring.  I think it just burns like hell to breath it in deep.

All in all we had a great trip.  We did get talked into buying a couple of things from the street vendors.  I was offered a Rolex real cheap.  I think it was actually a Rolux, if you know what I mean.  We got to see the Mediterranean and go to another continent but the fun part of these trips is seeing the different culture.