A Surprise Trip to Tangier

When I went to the bus station in Meknes to see if I could get a grand taxi or a bus to Chefchouen I found that there aren´t any direct taxis, plus the only bus is at 5am. I didn´t feel like waiting another twenty hours for the next bus, so I took the first bus that was heading north. It would take me to Tangier and I figured when I got to Tangier I could stay if I liked it, or see if I could get to Chefchouen from there.

Luckily on the bus I happened to sit next to a Moroccan who has been living for several years in Virginia and who also wasn´t intending to go to Tangier. Perhaps it´s the luxury of traveling alone, or perhaps it´s the haphazard transportation in Morocco, but somehow going to a city one didn´t intend to go to at all has become the norm. At least while I´m on vacation it adds to the adventure. If I actually needed to go to Chefchouen for something I would be cursing Moroccan transportation instead of glowing about how fun and exciting it is.

To make a long story short - I loved Tangier. I was prepared not to like it. I had very low expectations: a border town that I expected to be centered around the port and have an industrial feel to it like Casablanca. But Tangier surprised me. It´s a lovely city perched on the hills above the port, with a nice beach off to the side and quite separated from the shipping areas of the port.

The first thing I did in Tangier was go to the fish market by the port to see what the catch of the day was. The Moroccan-Virginian I had met in the bus decided to play guide for me even though he had never been to Tangier before either. Hichem ordered a platter of fish which turned out to be a few of everything with breaded calamari on top. Some of the fish were breaded and fried, some were steamed with herbs and butter. It was delicious and I had a fun time piling up the fish heads and bones beside the platter. Cats wound around my ankles beggin for scraps. It was far too muc food for two people and the cats got more than their fair share.

After lunch we found a clean hotel close to the beach with a couple of rooms available - then it was off to the beach. I was excited to see the Mediterranean from the African side, since I had only seen it from France till now. The beach wasn´t particularly clean and I didn´t go swimming, but it was fun to watch all the Moroccans playing on the beach. I don´t think I saw any foreign tourists, which is another thing I loved about Tangier. After Marrakech and the busloads of foreign tourists at Oualili, Tangier was refreshingly Moroccan. If there were other foreign tourists in Tangier there weren´t enough for me to notice them.

Most of the places I´ve visited in Morocco are either undeveloped and not at all touristy, or developed and full of tourists. Tangier was developed and beautiful, but not touristy. It was refreshing and I felt very comfortable there.

The next morning I had breakfast at a cafe some locals had recommended. Cafe Hafa is up on the bluff overlooking the bay and serves the typical (and delicious) mint tea that I have gotten used to drinking every day. I missed good Moroccan tea so much while I was in the US.

Tangier is known for a kind of soup called bisara. It´s made with fava beans, which are blended to a smooth soup and topped with stripes of olive oil and sprinkled with cumin and red pepper. I´ve had it in other places in Morocco, but Tangier does have the best. I had never thought of it as breakfast food but that´s what Cafe Hafa serves for breakfast so I gave it a shot and loved it. There are very few Moroccan dishes I don´t love, but bisara does rate up as one of the best.

Though I had a great time wandering around Tangier the beach isn´t the best so when Hichem said he was heading to a little beach town his friends had recommended I decided to tag along.

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