A side trip to Africa

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Day 41 30^th September 2013 and Day 41 1^st October 2013 - Tangier, Morroco, Africa



As some of you may already know, one rainy afternoon while we were in the Algarve I booked a trip to Africa for me and my husband (Steve), we travelled by ferry and sadly left Stan (our campervan) behind. It was a great adventure and we were very pleased to get a stamp in our passport, but for Steve and I things do not run smoothly, During our overnight trip to Tangier this is what happened.



Monday morning (30^th September) we woke to the alarm, this was a bit of a shock as it was only the second time in 41 days that we have had to use an alarm, it was 730am but it was still dark and wet outside (yes another dog shit weather day). We got organised and then went and dropped Stan off at his campervan hotel (the overnight car park) then headed to the ferry port. We found the port okay but it was a little confusing as to where to go, there were no signs and very few people around. After asking a number of different people we found where we had to go to depart as a foot passenger and went to collect our tickets that we had purchased online. As we had arrived early there was no one there yet, so we waited with a sleeping man that looked like he had been there all night, he was snoring and continued to snore as people started to arrive, (staff and other passengers). We got our tickets and where told that the ferry was delayed, eventually we went through passport control and then boarded the ferry after almost exiting the terminal, (again nothing was signed). After a one and a half hour delay we were sailing, Steve and I were both very excited the ferry was meant to take an hour and a half, however for some unknown reason it took about 2 hours. So we thought we would be arriving there at 1030am due to the time difference but it appeared that when we got to the port it was 3pm. We were a little disappointed but did not let this worry us to much as we had a big problem, we had got the ferry to the wrong port. I had booked Tangier Med (to be fair when booking there was no other options) but we thought we were going to Tangier and the port was only a 1.5k walk to our hotel. Sadly not, Tangier Med was 48k from the city and our hotel. We were told the only option was to get a taxi to the city/hotel this cost us €30 and nearly our lives. All the taxi drivers that drive from the port into the city drive old Mercedes and thought he was a rally driver, over taking trucks going up hills, driving in the middle of the road while going around corners. As soon as the trip started Steve said to me, this is a little scary but I was too busy looking at the scenery to notice as soon as I started paying attention I was scared and was pleased to see our hotel when we arrived. I was not only pleased to see the hotel because I was safe but because we were staying in a bed for the first time in 41 nights. Don’t get me wrong I love Stan but it was nice to indulge in a hotel. After checking out our room and having showers we went to explore Tangier. I had done a little research but we just went walking not knowing what we were looking for, we walked down along the beach for a while and then up the busy street where our hotel was. As we were close to the hotel we used this as an opportunity to go and ask for a map and use the internet to do some research of local sights. The map they had in the hotel was not very helpful but we found out where the old city was (Madina) and the markets. Even though we knew the general way there we got a little lost on the way. While standing on the corner trying to work out if we should go left or straight a man came over to us and asked us what we were looking for, we told him and he said he was heading that way and could show us, and as we were looking for a restaurant in the area he could take us to a very good one. We told him he could just tell us but he said it was no problem. I had mixed feeling about him, I thought yes he’s a friendly nice man but also thought we need to be careful of him. As we were walking he showed us some dresses ‘his girlfriend’ sells in her shop. I told him they were nice but I was more of a ‘pants’(trousers) lady, and Steve and I had looked at some hippy travelling pants earlier that day. He said that on the way to the restaurant he could take us to his friend market who sold the pants. We agreed to go with him. We went down and around back streets of the markets it was interesting looking at the markets but I also had a thought are we ever going to get out of here. After about 10 minutes (it might not of been that long but it felt like it) we arrived at a store and were greeted by a very friendly man, who called himself a nomad. He asked us if we would like a drink, which we agreed to and was served mint tea, which was very nice. I could not see any pants in this store, all I could see was rugs and traditional clothing for Nomads. I had been in a similar situation when I was in Turkey and knew they would try and sell us a rug. The man offered to dress Steve up in the djellaba (tradional dress) and he told us about the nomad tradition and their language and alphabet. It was very interesting and an experience that we both enjoyed. Even if we did come out with €70 less and a rug made out a camels wool. Yes this is a month’s food bill for us, but we got the rug at ‘a good price’ and €100 off the price and we have a great story to tell and a rug that will last forever (we worry that it might fall apart the first time we wash it). On leaving the store our new friend Mohammed took us to the restaurant that he recommended, it was not where we wanted to go to, as it was our first meal out in the evening in 7 weeks we wanted something with a little class and sophistication, we got back street café. We wish that we had said no and gone and found what we wanted, but it was difficult when Mohammed was introducing us to the owner of the restaurant and he was telling us the menu. The menu was a traditional 4 course meal with all you can drink (tea and soft drink) for €12 each so we thought ok. The menu consisted of – Moroccan salad or soup. We had one of each and shared. The soup was like minestrone and the salad was just a normal green salad, with lettuce, tomato, beetroot, carrot, cucumber and sweet corn. The second course was a little more traditional, I cannot remember what it was called but it was like a meat patty with some veg in it and then had what could have been icing sugar and cinnamon on it, I enjoyed this, Steve was not really a fan. The next thing we had was the main – which I had chicken tagine and Steve had chicken, cuscus and veg. Was nice but nothing special. Next come desert, a plate of watermelon, very disappointing. While we were eating our meal our friend Mohammed was telling us about the sights in the area and how it was best to see them with a tour guide and he could take us the next day, by this time we had worked out that he was not just a friendly man and he wanted to make money out of us. When we told him that we would not pay him to be our ‘tour guide’ the following day he got a little angry, he then walked off but soon came back, as he wanted to try and get some money for what he had done for us that evening, we felt very stupid and ripped off, we had tried to explain to him due to the rug and the price of our meal, we had no other money but he did not believe us, putting the money aside for the meal and showing him all I had in my purpose was €5 was the only way to get him to believe this, and we even ended up giving him the €5, which he was not happy with as he was asking for €20 per person. We told him that he could leave us to have our meal and we would find our own way back, as he was angry and making us feeling very uncomfortable. He did eventually leave, and when we went to pay for our meal the waiter told us it was €18, by this time the manager Mohammed friend was not there so the waiter thought we were trying to rip him of, eventually he agreed for us to only pay €12 each. By this point we were both feeling a little silly and partly angry at ourselves for falling for the tourist trap, but also laughed about the expense. As we had no more money on us we had to head back to the hotel, we were also feeling a little bit vulnerable that Mohammed may be following us to see if we were lying about not having any more money. We did not see Mohammed but we did have one crazy man who may have been on drugs or was mentally unwell try and follow us but we shock him off by stopping in a different hotel. We made it back to our hotel and went to the bar where we were going to enjoy a few drinks, I ended up with half a bottle of wine and Steve ended up with one beer, the barman was not great on service, I guess this is due to Morocco being a Muslim country. Once I had finished my wine, we decided we would go to bed and enjoy the TV in our room as we had not seen any TV since leaving the UK. This did not happen though as we could not get the TV to work, so It was bed time for us.

Day two in Tangier (Tuesday 1^st October 2013) was not nearly as exciting as day one. #

Our plan had been to get up at a decent time have the buffet breakfast (stuff ourselves so we don’t have to eat till later in the day) and then spend a few hours by the pool before having to check out at 12noon. Sometimes I wonder why we bother making plans. We did have the buffet breakfast which we were both looking forward to, but were very disappointed it was not a western buffet, it comprised of: cold pancakes that looked a bit like crumpets, strange bread stuff, cakes, fried egg that had potato in it, boiled eggs, and some tin fruit. We did eat as much as we could but it was not enjoyable, and we were also a little upset as they did not replenish any of the good items even though there was still over an hour of breakfast time left(or so we thought). Due to the weather (warm but overcast) we did not want to spend time by the pool, so spent some time in the room enjoying the space, I also had a very long bath. Just before 12noon we checked out, we only had overnight bags but they allowed us to leave them there till later in the day, on asking they also told us of a bus that we could find at the bus station that runs on the hour and goes to the Tangier Med Port, and if we had ferry tickets it was free, we thought this was a bonus and planned to get the bus later in the day. We spent the afternoon walking around the city – we went back to the market where we had been taken the night before and found it a very pleasant place. (Shame we couldn’t of found it ourselves the night before) After this nice walk we went back and collected our bags and then went down to the water front and sat in a restaurant for a few hours enjoying the view and a meal. We even spotted a celebrate – Mike Jagger, we are unsure why he may have been in Tangier or if it was really him. After our meal we went to the bus station, on the way there we both said to ourselves do you think we should of given ourselves more time, it was 430, we were hoping to get the 5pm bus, to get us to the port for 6pm an hour before our ferry which is the recommended time. Yes we should of given ourselves more time, as when we got to the bus station once again there were no signs, and we had no idea where to get the bus from. A lovey local girl asked me which bus I was looking for and directed me in the right direction (she was not after money) however it was still not clear, we found an office that sold tickets for the ferry and he told us the same bus stop the girl had told us and that the bus comes every half hour and it takes half hour to get to the port, and it was a white bus. There was lots of white buses coming past, we had no idea what we were looking for and due to it being 445pm Steve and I agreed that if it hadn’t come by 515pm we would get a taxi. About 5pm a man came up to us and asked us if we needed a taxi he agreed to take us for €15. As we walked to the taxi we saw that it was an illegal taxi and it was an old VW which would be older than me, he also thought he was a rally driver and went a different way to the first driver we had, which was a little worrying. However we got there, as we were getting out someone was coming over to speak to him, unsure if this was police or what so we got out quick and I gave him the €15, at which point he said €10 however I did not hear this Steve did and we couldn’t do anything as he was driving off. As we were walking not the port terminal this man come up to us asking us if we had tickets, yelling and telling us where to go, it was a little strange but it seemed it was his job. We got our tickets and a card we had to fill in for customs, as we were filling it in. I seen the time on the ticket 645pm, we checked the clock that said 645pm also, our ferry was leaving at 7pm, so we quickly got through passport control, we had one of the most friendly people ever on the desk wanting to chat to Steve about his bearded and we were trying not to be rude but not wanting to miss the ferry, to find out that it was delayed. We again were not given any reason just told to sit and wait. We waited for about an hour and a half before being taken to our ferry. It was annoying being delayed but while waiting we people watched, the Afriacans that were travelling to Spain looked like they were moving house, carrying so much luggage, including food. We couldn’t really understand it, and it appeared that there were two ferry’s leaving ours and another – which we thought maybe they were not going to Spain. We were eventually taken down to our ferry and then made to sit for another hour. After 3 hours delay we were moving and made it back to Spain, on making it to passport control we were greeted by the people that had left on the other ferry, these people had no manners and when having to put our bags through the x-ray machine it was like a cattle yard, I was pushed out the way and had my foot run over by someone’s bag. We eventually out the port and made our way to Stan after a little detour due to going down the wrong road. We got to Stan at around 1230 two hours after I had booked the carpark for, we were a little worried how much this would cost us, but the man with his limited English was very sweet did not charge us any extra. As much as we loved our hotel we were very pleased to be back with Stan and don’t think we will do any other trips without him.

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