Wednesday 11 February 2009

On to Tanger and the Mediterranean coast

It was another fairly bleak day as we set out on our trip north to Tanger so we were thankful to be in the car with the aircon and protected from the weather. We will return to Fes - there was a lot to see and do that we were just not able to enjoy due to the very bad weather conditions. We stopped by the old city on our way out of town to see if the weather had cleared enough to park the car and wander off into the souks and see the tanneries, but alas Allah had decided that Fes needed water that day and he was pouring it down in bucket loads! So we stayed in the car and set our compass (because we couldn't see much through the rain) towards the Mediterranean. We enjoy car travel and it allows us to stop when we like or to slow down and observe things we might otherwise not see on the train or a bus.



As we drove we came into (and out of) good weather along the way - so we did get to admire the countryside, the villages and the spectacular scenery of northern Morocco. Steep snow capped mountains, beautiful green valleys, flocks of sheep with the ever present shepherds, people going to markets with produce and coming home with supplies, suicidal taxi drivers who were in a race from village to village (usually in a Mercedes sedan from the 70's), women carrying huge baskets of sticks (presumably firewood) struggling along the road, children playing soccer and walking along the roads to and from school. It is a colourful country and the population is spread evenly across the land once you have left the big cities. There were a lot of abandoned buildings that stood testament to urban drift and many of the buildings people were living in appeared to be poorly constructed and serviced. I don't think rural life in Morocco is as prosperous as it may have been in years gone by. We noted the avenues of grapevines in some areas and wondered if the poor grapes from those vineyards were the ones that were destined to be tortured into Moroccan wine.



As we approached Tanger the traffic became quite heavy and it is amazing how quickly you find yourself in another set of city streets with traffic lights and mad drivers and only then do you realise how much you can contribute to this confusion by not knowing where you are going. Our compass was still set to find the sea so we just kept going until we saw a sign to the port area and decided to follow it. There is a lovely seaside boulevarde in Tanger, lined with hotels and cafes, a long promenade for walking and a huge beach area where there were horses exercising. We decided it would be nice to stay in a really lovely hotel called the Rif and Spa. It is built with all the features that we had come to know as a Morrocan style and it was lovely - I can recommend it as a great place to stay in Tanger, even if a little expensive. Previous guests have included Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Taylor, so I can only guess that at one time it was a very flashy place! I think Tanger must have had a real heyday in the 50's and 60's but it is struggling to maintain it's grandeur now and development appears to be occuring very slowly. Apparently it is a great holiday destination for the British - there were quite a few of them about despite the cold weather and the staff at the hotel said they arrive in droves with the summer warmth, much like the flies do (and they chuckled about that!). I can imagine it would be lovely in the summer and the city is certainly geared for tourists with discos and bars and numerous restaurants.

We took a drive out along the Mediterranean Coast, also known as the Moroccan Riviera, had lunch at the Sofitel which had a really nice art exhibition on at the time, the work of a local artist mostly in oil and some acrylics. The coast has been set up as a holiday destination and there are a number of small towns, large hotels and tourist attractions like water parks and amusement centres. There are also lots of opportunites for purchasing Moroccan pottery and other handicrafts. Pity we only had the backpacks - I could have bought a suitcase full of them!

And then it was time to leave Morocco. We packed up the trusty backpacks, handed back the car and headed for the pier at about 10 am for the midday ferry. Once again a cold raining and miserable day and hoping for better weather on the 'other side' of the Straits of Gibraltar. To give an indication of the weather the fast ferry we were about to board was cancelled - weather too rough for the crossing. So we were redirected, after running all around the docks in the rain and changing our booking, to the car ferry that was being loaded and should "leave soon". Well it didn't leave soon at all and we spent about 3 hours watching the ferry being unloaded and loaded with lorries and cars. It was actually quite fascinating and we could not believe how much came out of the ferry and then how much they managed to put back into it again! The most amazing part was the traffic management - people, cars, lorries, campervans, little towing tractors, forklifts and motorbikes went scurrying in every direction and there seemed to be just one guy telling them all what to do - mania on wheels it was........but fun to watch. Small children (and big kids too) would have been amused for hours.

We finally made the crossing to Algericas arriving there at about 6 pm - 5pm Morocco time - and THAT is another story. Let's just get this blog up first and maybe early next week you will hear the tale of the time in Algericas!

Check out the photos on www.picasaweb.google.com/cherylandron If I am ever going to get this done I just have to leave photos out!

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