Morocco

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Today the ferries were running to Morocco! We caught a 9am ferry on the FRS a 40 minute ride from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. We were concerned about motion sickness because the winds were still quite strong and the water was choppy. It ended up being a fairly smooth ride. Once arriving in Morocco, our tour guide Aziz had a driver meet us at the port. He took us to meet Aziz. We were first shown around the Kasba (fortress or a protected area) where a lot of the local people live. We then went with the driver around the town and its outskirts. We saw a homes and palaces of kings, sultans, and other extremely wealthy people (including one of the Forbes). We were taken to a beach area where there was an ancient Roman burial ground and some of the graves had been exhumed from the rock. We went to the top of a mountain with great views of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. We then drove along the beach and stopped to take photos of the camels and were offered camel rides, but we passed. Next, it was on to Hercules cave which was neat, but did not live up to Pileta caves from yesterday. Then we were allowed in to tour a Jewish synagogue., which was very ornate and beautiful. Aziz then took us to the medina or market. We were taken to a community wood fire oven, where the locals can bring their bread or cookies to a man at the oven and he will cook it for them to be picked up at a later time. There were tons of people, shops, and food. The shops included hand carved wood items, leather goods, and rugs. There was also a great market with spices, fruits, vegetables, olives, meats, and fish. We were also shown the spots where recent films or scenes from movies such as James Bond Sepctre and Bourne Ultimatum were filmed. We were then taken back to the port to catch the ferry back to Tarifa. The guides spent 7 hours showing us around Tangier, they kept the day very nteresting. The ferry ride back to Spain was not as smooth, there were a lot more ocean swells, but we made it. A nice dinner in Tarifa (Sandy had a whole fresh local fish), now on to Sevilla. 15,224 steps, 38 flights of stairs climbed; the driver really helped out today!

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