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Published: April 15th 2012
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April 13, 2012- Our wake up call was very early today and our tour guide picked us up at 6:10 am and we were off on our way to AFRICA! We booked a one day guided tour to Tangiers, Morocco. It was still dark outside and we made many stops on our way down the coast to pickup others that were going on the tour. We dozed on and off while enjoying the views of the Spanish and African Coast. Our ferry left from Tarifa, Spain and we had an hour ride on a hydrofoil ferry. The immigration process was smooth and we quickly found a seat on the crowded ferry. Rick Steve's gave us an idea that even thought we traveled 8 hours to Spain, we would see the biggest cultural difference as soon as we arrived in Tangiers. The wind was very strong whipping thru the Straight of Gilbraltar during our crossing. This was probably the worst ferry ride I have ever taken. There were lots of "green" people on the boat and every stall of the bathroom was crammed with those who had succumbed to the sickness. When we approached the harbor, the boat stopped rolling, and we
made our way to the car deck to exit the ferry with our guide Enrique. Enrique led us by the police and thru a customs checkpoint quickly and we stepped into another world. We immediately saw women in traditional Muslim dress. We boarded our bus and met our Tangiers Tour guide, Hassan. Hassan led us on a whirlwind tour of this international city and we were all amazed. We were amazed at all of the different neighborhoods like Italian and English areas, where the majority of the immigrants from those countries settled. Each area had their own school, where the students could choose to go. Our first real stop, was to ride a camel. I challenged my mom to ride one, since we have a picture of my Grandma Flynn riding one when she was approx 75 years old while she was in the Holy Land. She met the challenge and so did Amy and I. We also got to see the baby camels that were just a few months old. This stop introduced to the barrage of merchants that were trying to hawk their goods. We each took a short camel ride and my mom got a picture holding
the baby camels before we were off to our next stop. Our tour made a few more stops at some very scenic spots were we could take pictures, before we made it to the Kasbah. Hassan guided us threw this old fortress, where the cultural divide was most evident to us. We saw a snake charmer, and were harassed at every turn by merchants. One of the highlights of the tour was a traditional Moroccan lunch complete with music. The food was delicious. It consisted of a soup appetizer, a beer kebob, chicken with saffron-flavored cous cous and a tasty dessert dripping in honey. They topped it off with a small glass of mint green tea, which was delicious. After lunch, we stopped at a large Moroccan "WalMart" where we learned about Moroccan rugs and had an opportunity to haggle for goods. I tried my hand at bargaining but in the end I wasn't interested in the item enough to pay the price. After our shopping stop, we walked down the hill and made our way back to the bus for our return trip on the ferry. The ferry ride back was a lot smoother and before we knew it
we were back on our bus heading back to Fuengirola. We arrived back at the hotel and took a quick rest in our room before walking down the boardwalk to get dinner at an Italian restaurant. Our hotel is one block from the Mediterranean Sea and we have been enjoyed the crisp breezes. We watched a few shows on the TV while we made our plans for Saturday.
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