Blogs from Tétouan, Tangier-Tétouan, Morocco, Africa

The journey on a local bus from Chefchaouen back down the hill to Tétouan was uneventful save for the kids needing sick bags after just the first couple of twists and turns! Luckily it didn't become an epidemic and we were soon jumping into a taxi and on our way to the Hotel Al Mandari.Perched on the edge of a cliff, it occupies a spectacular location in itself, but we were not prepared for the spectacle of the city of Tétouan. How this gets left off tourist itineraries is beyond belief. Our first stop was the impressive Place Feddane, an enormous square, gleaming white at the foot of the hill over which spreads the most magnificent display of white houses topped by a crumbling old barracks and kasbah. Where Chefchaouen was a blaze of beautiful blue, ... read more

We moved into a less-expensive hotel yesterday, one that caters to mostly Moroccans, just outside the Medina. We planned a day of relaxation and some medina-wandering. We sat on our rooftop terrace and read (had it all to ourselves), walked to the more modern part of the city, overpaid for bananas at the bi-weekly market, and bought some (perhaps authentic) Berber jewelry. When we got back to our room last night, we could hear a man singing (or maybe praying) in a beautiful voice, with the sounds echoing up the airshaft outside our window....later we heard what seemed to be a father helping a child with homework. This morning we ate breakfast across the street. The "complete breakfast", eggs, cheese, coffee, fresh oj, bread was about $2.50 each...The owner gave us a tour: he has a ... read more

As part of Spain's colonial legacy, Spain has held onto a little part of the African coast in Cueta and other small enclaves on the Mediterranean at the Northern tip of Morocco, just across the Strait of Gibralter. Isn't it ironic that the Spanish keep complaining about British Imperialism when Britain forcefully holds onto Gibraltar, but when the shoes is on the other foot ...? ummm! It was a gorgeous day, so we took a day trip to Cueta from Chefchaouen via Tetouan and stopped for lunch at the beautiful town of M'diq on the Meditteranean coast.... read more

Gabriel is being led around the medina by a guide called Omar. Gabriel has disappointed Omar by not purchasing anything from crappy stores which will pay him a commission. Omar is doing everything he can to terrify Gabriel with horrible tales of epic misfortune visited on parsimonious tourists. Gabriel has not seen any beer in the medina and that displeases him. Nor has he seen or smelled any sign of kif. Gabriel does not see the point in hot smelly narrow alleyways without drugs or alcohol. Eventually, he is led into a gigantic carpet warehouse and given some mint tea. The warehouse is both visually and olfactorily stimulating. It is very noisy. He is encouraged to touch the carpets. Gabriel is perched on a stool and carpets are strewn before him. A carpet expert - and ... read more

Ok, so it was Ronda one weekend, and then the following weekend I made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Morocco Africa with some of my IFSA-Butler friends. The trip was such a culture shock, and I would go back in a heart beat. Here is how it all went down: Our program director gave us the information for guided tours through Morocco so we would be safe and know where to go. The tour gave us 3 days in the cities of Tétouan, Tangier, and Chef-Chauquin (sp.). We took a tour bus from Málaga to Algeciras (1.5 hours) to catch a ferry to Ceuta (a spanish province in Africa). We left for Ceuta around 6:30 in the evening and it only took about 45 minutes on the boat. We saw dolphins, kind of cool, but the most ... read more