Carpet ignoring in Tangiers on our Spanish adventure.....

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Day 3 of our Spanish adventure and we are due to visit, well, Morocco. We have both been to Morocco before but I haven't been to Tangiers (today's destination) and Claire can't remember. Our travel is an organised tour so let's see how that pans out.

The alarm went off at a ridiculous 5.30am which is usually when I'm about to finish work. I'm sure my body clock hates me. After a cup of coffee-free coffee I wasn't quite ready for the day. It was either cheap coffee or cheap-tasting Nescafe (that is always overpriced) so I gambled on the cheaper option and lost. Got to be bad when Nescafe wins a taste test! Hopefully I'll have chance to make a pot in future.

So, anyway, posh coach, en route to Morocco at stupid o'clock and already writing my blog. The trip costs €80 each including coach, ferry, lunch and city tour. Sounds like a bargain....we shall see....

We are now on board the fast ferry to Tangiers which is just 24km away from Tarifa port in Spain. We have driven past the closest point Europe is to Africa which is only 14km apart. I reckon I could swim that. I wonder if people do like they swim the English Channel?

I'm always very envious that Claire can sleep anywhere; I reckon she could sleep hung upside down with sharks nipping at her hair so getting to sleep on a cramped coach while a guide rambles on very loudly was a cinch for her this morning.

The talk was quite interesting and quite accomplished as he did it in both English and German. There was information on our itinerary for the day as well as fun facts about our destination. We were also warned that we may not make it back from Morocco for maybe a month if we lost our sticker as there was no way he could find us without it. I've checked mine about twenty times already!

We were also instructed in the fine art of haggling in the medina and offered the help of a guide to bring the transaction to a conclusion or it could take a week. A week?! We may never make it back to Spain at this rate!!

We're on our way though. It's raining and I have been told about twenty times to use the toilet facilities when I have chance. I feel like a two year old before a long car jouney and had better not be wanting a pee inbetween scheduled toilet stops as I guess that could get me in a lot of trouble. Gulp.

Later....rules followed and I'm not in trouble....apart from with Claire...

I've just pointed out that we can't go back to Morocco as there are too many cats and even being dragged into shops was more interesting....oops!

I'm not sure if we've been the victims of a stereotypical name game today. Our guide and driver on the Spanish side were Ricardo and Pedro while on the Moroccan side we had Mohammed, Mustapha and Abdul. Suspicious no?

Mohammed's English was exceptional but with a disappointing American twang....too many movies methinks. His German also sounded fantastic too. We had a coach trip around some of Tangiers which was interesting and then we stopped for 10 minutes to see the view. Or so he said....

In reality his mates were sat there with dromedaries to ride along with the ubiquitous trinket sellers. The view was of a sports court and some trees. Hmmm...

We bought nothing and didn't have a ride.

The trip continued and then we could tell the walking part was about to begin as it started to pour down. We walked a little way and were soon in a restaurant for a free lunch, well an included lunch anyway. While we were chowing down on a Moroccan meal there was a Berber band playing and charging people to have their picture taken with them. We were also given the opportunity to tip the band too to which Claire said she'd have rather gone without if she'd realised we had to pay for it.

We did get a belly dancer thrown in as well but she had some strange moves. During one part she danced for a while with a walking stick balanced on her head which was impressive but odd. Then she decided she was going to dance with the stick balanced on her boobs, well her padded bra anyway. She never explained why and the thrusting moves she made looked somewhat bizarre.

Out into the rain again and Mohammed continued his very interesting tour as he regaled us with information about the city and showed us film locations like a hotel that featured in the last James Bond movie. Apparently Daniel Craig and Matt Damon were affable chaps while Leonardo Di Caprio was an over-protected tosser.*

*not Mohammed's word.

After wending our way through the casbah we made it into the medina where we had the privilige of visiting his mates' shops....and none that we could choose ourselves. It may be the first time for some but I am sick of carpet presentations. If I want to buy a carpet I'll buy a bloody carpet without having to nod off through an overlong boring presentation.

And then we were trapped in the shop... We tried to sneak out but were told that the meeting point was inside the shop and even waiting outside meant you were bombarded with trinket sellers. They're only trying to make a living and are nowhere near as bad as in Egypt or India but you couldn't move for them today. At least their prices were more reasonable than in Mohammed's mate's shop.

Next we got to visit another sodding shop...hurray! This was an old fashioned pharmacy and there was another overlong sales patter as Comedy Dave (not his real name) went through his banter. To be fair lots of people bought things but we made for the exit as soon as we could.

And after that we were lead back to the bus which then drove us the 150 yards to the ferry. It wasn't even 4pm, we'd had no free time to wander round the medina, there were far too many cats meaning I lost Claire for a lot of the time as she stopped to take pictures of every single one (apart from the ones she missed and I didn't point out....) and we were already headed for home.

Claire had bought a bangle in desperation from a trinket seller as she didn't want to leave without buying something but then tried desperately to get us to miss the ferry while she negotiated buying some fridge magnets just as we were about to go through customs.

Thankfully she didn't get her way and we were soon speeding back to Spain ready for the two hour coach journey which is where we are now. It's been a good day really but spoilt by the selected shopping experience. Everyone has done the correct toileting so no-one has been in trouble (Claire was thrilled to squeeze out a poo on both ferry journeys so she is top of the class!) and I suspect Mohammed has made a few quid on the side as some people spent quite a lot of time in the carpet section of his mate's shop.... His tour was very good though. Oh and everyone appears to still have their stickers meaning we've all made it back on the same day we set off. Bonus!

Mohammed didn't ask us for a tip but I'm sure I saw Abdul doing so. Let's see if Ricardo wants something... He has been pretty good too but some women on our trip don't like him as he has rushed us about a bit. He, and they, are due to come to Gibraltar with us tomorrow so battle will recommence!

So was the trip worth €80 each? Maybe so, we learnt a lot and got to see a lot more than we would if we'd gone across on our own. It's nice being driven, the food was okay and the driving and walking tours were good. Now if you could just stick your damned carpet patois where the sun don't shine (or at least give me a choice) you may be onto a winner!!

Later still....Ricardo did ask for a tip for him and Pedro....apparently he saved us time by helping to serve in the restaurant....what, so we could spend more time selected shopping?? Gee thanks!!

I forgot to mention about a stunning offer I was given by some trinket sellers but somehow managed to pass up on. These guys were actually selling genuine fake Rolexes, GENUINE no less!! I didn't dare ask the price in case I ended up buying them all....

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