# Morocco for a day



## kijana (May 1, 2005)

Having found ourselves on a site not far from Tarifa, Marion & I felt it too good an opportunity to visit Morocco to miss.

So we wished our dog onto a fellow Golden Retriever owner on site, and drove to the ferry terminal to catch an early high speed ferry to Tangiers.

Within the hour we were in Africa!

Tangiers was brilliant! We spent all day wandering round the Medina, or walled market area, haggling in the souks.

It was absolutely amazing. A mass of tiny winding alleyways, little more than tunnels in places. Tiny entrances that give onto big open courtyards with tiled walls and palm plants. At first we were too early, but all of a sudden the traders opened for business and completely transformed the place. Every square inch of wall space was hung with carpets, rugs, clothing, leatherware, lamps - you name it, it was hanging on a wall. And once inside, even the tiniest shop would put Aladdin's cave in the dark. It's just impossible to describe the range of stuff up for barter.

But barter we did, and it's great fun (even though you know full well you're being robbed blind). I was pretty rubbish at driving the guys down, because in their terms we're pretty rich, and their stuff is so cheap anyway.

Eventually we stopped for a mint tea and to rest our feet, and added up what we'd spent so far. We'd bought (by then): a pair of babouches (bright yellow leather Moroccan slip on shoes); a pair of leather sandals, and a djebella (kaftan type long dress with matching embroidered trousers, in soft cotton). I'd had breakfast of bisara, a thick pea soup with a layer of green olive oil plus half a dinner plate sized loaf of bread, and we'd had a coffee and a mint tea. 

The total for all the above was 33 euros, or about 22 squid! I think it was the breakfast that pushed up the total - that cost 28 pence 

We got into the foody areas, via spice alley. Loads of sacks of every conceivable type of spice, herbs, leaves; and more bags of beans, pulses, and dried goats' testicles (not sure about that last). Then the crowds propelled us into the fruit & veg area. Loads of greens of spinach type stuff, huge bunches of coriander, white radishes, and a wealth of nameless species unknown north of the Sahara.

This array of greenery was being pedalled by ancient women squatting or sitting on the narrow alleyway paving. They all wore the same bizarre style of dress. They had various layers of cotton sarongy type outer layers over once-white trousers, topped off with more shawls, in different colours. But it was their headgear that won the weirdo prize. Conical cotton hats with what looked like those furry handles that go over the ropes used by bellringers (I bet somebody knows the name of bell ringing rope handles). There were three or four of these large furry things running from tip to brim of the hat.

I could go on - well, I spose I have gone on - about the meat and fish markets, the lamp shops, the leather gear and material stalls, but there's just too much to get your head round..

We punctuated our meanders with frequent stops at outside cafes. I really like their national drink of mint tea. It's made with Chinese gunpowder tea, to which is added most of a mint bush, preferably in flower, and served presweetened with loads of sugar. A lot better than it sounds!

We ventured out of the Medina for lunch. We had a shish kebab of lamb (mutton really), cooked over a brazier on the street, served with chips, a huge salad and a plate of fiery red chilli sauce.

We haggled with a nine year old boy (who beat me), and bought a brass lamp off him for the front of the RV. We got offered ganja (sadly refused), and we got robbed (we were jostled by 3 or 4 guys - I felt a tug at my pocket, but no loss. Marion had her purse nicked, but it only had a few coins in it. She said later she hoped the thief wasn't too disappointed with the small amount of money in it :roll: ).And we were constantly hassled by people wanting to sell us stuff, guide us, or just with a hand out. We loved it!

Total expenditure on shopping, meals, etc was about 65 quid.

And then we went home. It's a brill place, Morocco. Lots of people motorhome there now, and some Spanish overwinter in the south. It's very safe for tourists (out of the big cities), and by all accounts the locals are very friendly.

So one day, when we are dogless, we'll almost serpently return.

The only downer was the price of the ferries. A day return for the two of us as foot passengers was 104 euros. Had we taken the RV it would have been 180 euros, according to Colossus, who's recently returned from a long trip there.

Luego

Bruce


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## CaGreg (Mar 28, 2007)

Hi,

Enjoyed reading you account of the trip to Morocco. It brought back memories of a trip we took there in 1981. we were on our honeymoon in Torremolinos and went to Morocco for two nights. 

At the time it seemed like such an exotic thing to do esp as this was my very first trip abroad as a young bride of (Nearly!) 21. We have never gone back there but hopefully sometime we will in our MH.

Your photograph was so evocative and makes me want to take out our Honeymoon album again.

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks again for bringing back nice memories,


Catherine.


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

Thanks for that Bruce - a fascinating read.
I bet there are a whole load of MHFers checking their maps and trying to work out if they can squeeze in a similar trip.


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## Otto-de-froste (May 20, 2005)

What a nice little article this was for a Sunday evening read. It had a lot of soul in it. 
Bless you.
O de f & Mrs. de f


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## baldlygo (Sep 19, 2006)

Great post Bruce - Thanks

Paul


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## Steptoe (Nov 8, 2005)

Enjoyed reading about your meanderings in the souks.

We did it as a cruise ship stop some years ago. The rep frightened us into his tour by telling us we would never get out alive if we went on our own, but obviously from your experiences it wasn't bad, could he have been on commission :roll: 

I still treasure the Crocodile Dundee hat I bought there


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## Otto-de-froste (May 20, 2005)

PS - please read 'Bless you' as thanks.
Keep your score up!


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

Ever since I saw scotjimlands photo's of Morroco, its facinated me... I'd love to go. Great post Bruce!


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## 101405 (Oct 15, 2006)

*MORROCO*

ENJOYABLE READ! If you are along the tarifa coast dont miss Baelo claudia the roman city at bolonia just along the coast


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## catzontour (Mar 28, 2007)

Really enjoyed reading about your trip, now feeling inspired to go there ourselves one day - better add it to the list, there is so much world out there.


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## kijana (May 1, 2005)

Thanks to all for your kind words. (The free wifi on this site is playing up, so I haven't been able to post earlier)

Looking at the photo on my original post, I realized it makes the market look like a giant open street, which it isn't. So the first photo shows a more typical alley, taken before the traders hung out their wares.

In the second one I was trying to get a picture of the man pulling the loaded cart in the foreground. The Medina is on quite a steep hill rising up from the harbour, and the traders need to move their stuff around in the narrow alleyways, where cars can't go.

So many of them pull their handcarts. The one in the photo was being pulled by a man in a leather harness, like an autonomous horse.

The more successful traders have moped powered carts. A bit like those 3 wheel pickups you see in Greece, only built around a tiny moped. 

These moped carts really struggle to get up the hills, so they adopt one of two methods to overcome this. Either the driver gets off, and walks alongside the moped, holding the throttle wide open. Or, the preferred method, he builds up a head of steam on a level bit, and goes at the hill flat out. Once under way, he's not going to stop, so ignores the brakes in favour of his horn. Quite impressive to see a swathe cut through the tightly packed mass of people!


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