We were so close to Morocco when we were in the South of Spain that we decided that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to stand on the Continent of Africa and see Morocco or at least Tangiers, Morocco. We were going to take a ferry from Tariffa but then saw a great flight offer from Seville to Tangiers with Ryan Air for 24 dollars. That sealed it. We left everything but one backpack in Seville in storage and hopped on the plane Friday morning. It is a 1/2 hour flight.
We booked into a Riad right in the old Medina called Palace Zahia. It was a splurge for us. We have been doing Airbnb’s and this was our first hotel. We loved it. So authentic Moroccan and they treated us royally. We were picked up at the airport by Majid and Abdul, who helped us get the dirham (local currency) we would need and a SIM card for our phone so that we would have data. We also hired Majid to take us touring the area of Tangiers the next day and Abdul to drive. We enjoyed getting to know them both.
Highlights of the day were: hearing the call to prayer 5 times during the day and evening – it was the first time that we had visited an Islamic country and hearing that chanting call invokes those feelings of gratitude and thankfulness – just like church bells always have for me. A reminder to step out of ourselves and be thankful for our blessings. The Riad itself was also a highlight – it was beautiful and later we discovered it had an amazing roof top terrace, Another highlight was the welcome mint tea served by the hotel – delicious, as was the supper of Moroccan dishes and desserts! Yum. Jim has to be very careful because almonds grow all around here and are in many of the dishes but the chef has been very careful to work with us to ensure all his dishes are nut free. The Medina is crowded and loud with tiny streets and alleys that I think you could get lost in and never found. But so intriguing. We toured but cautiously stuck to routes we knew we could find out way back from. Tomorrow we’ll be more adventurous with Majeed guiding us. We never ever felt unsafe and actually found more English spoken here than in Spain. I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings.
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