Tangier | Traveling Humans

/ DESTINATION #4 /

TANGIER

/ JUNE 23–26, 2017 /

Tangier (and Morocco in general) was one of our must-see places. We wound up visiting during the last few days of Ramadan, which was a bit confusing at first but ended up being a cool experience.

Maroc Telecom was giving out free SIM cards at the airport. We had a few issues getting ours to work, and the young ladies helping us kept giggling at Brandon.

Filling out SIM card info on the baggage belt

The taxi from the airport didn't have seatbelt buckles, so Brandon tied us in.

The entrance to our Airbnb. It was really cool seeing Arabic everywhere — what a pretty language.

Inside the apartment. There was candy in the bowls on the table.

I was looking around for something when I noticed this under the stove. Unrelated: we had an issue with the washing machine which involved our clothes getting locked inside at 2 a.m. the morning we were supposed to leave.

We noticed that the cafes were mainly filled with men.

We visited during the last few days of Ramadan, so this sweet shop was gearing up for Eid.

Of course we bought a box of cookies.

We went to Le Royal Grand Hotel Villa de France to check it out — it seemed deserted, but the security guard offered to take our photo.

Then we wandered into the bar and ordered drinks (American prices, shocking!)

We were hungry for lunch, but unsure of how to find an open restaurant. Then we stumbled across a sandwich man, who called us over and made us this: eggs, olives, potatoes, etc. It cost 10 dirham ($1) and was probably the best meal we had in Morocco.

We hid away on top of a building to eat the sandwich.

I bought some looser pants to wear in the heat.

Dinner at a more touristy restaurant: vegetable couscous and fish with the ever-present mint tea.

From the balcony where we ate, we could watch the neighborhood stop and eat iftar after sunset.

Since we were at the restaurant during iftar, the waiter brought us dates and a bowl of harira soup.

It was chilly — I used my new pants as a scarf.

Some Australians we met at dinner

After dinner, we found another place for more tea and a tin of cookies.

Fave box kitties

We wandered into a rug store, where we were offered mint tea by a guy named Karim. He gestured for us to sit, asked us about our trip, and within half an hour had planned the rest of our journey in Morocco. Unfortunately I didn't really get to look at the rugs.

Karim showed us his father's shop, where they make things on this big loom.

He dressed us up in Berber clothes.

Karim in his rug shop

I couldn't resist the piles of olives and preserved lemons.

I like to reference the NYT's 36 Hours series when I travel, and this cafe was listed in their article about Tangier. I couldn't figure out why it was special until we found out they served alcohol!

Cockroach in the apartment

Brandon after murdering the cockroach

window kitties

The main square, I believe

Snacks by the beach

The essentials

Back with Karim

Karim's plan for our trip

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