Day 58: More Tangier

Because of our late night, we slept in till 11:30 and skipped breakfast. I showered and shaved in the morning and was ready to start the day. Unfortunately, it was raining again, so we had to modify our plan. 

First we went to a place called the Foundation Lorin where they had a couple hundred cool black and white photos of old Tangier and famous dignitaries visiting the city. I love those kinds of old pictures so this was a great free museum for me.

Afterwards, we went to a cafe near Hotel Menzah called La Giralda that overlooks the water. Despite the sprinkling outside, we could still see Spain in the distance and it was definitely raining over there too! I had some crepes and a vanilla milkshake but then I had some issues keeping them down. It must have just been a couple hour bug because, as of the time of writing this (10 pm), I haven't thrown up since lunch and have kept down some Sprite and some Pringles. I had to eat Pringles because the train didn't have any good recovery food like toast. I didn't want Pringles to see me in this haggard state, but they did and I think our relationship is still fine. Sometimes, I feel like Pringles just use me because I've got a good digestive track and they want to show off to the other chips at the grocery store. Sometimes, I feel like it's a very unhealthy relationship, but I can never say no to that face on the can; we connect. Do we need to go to joint therapy? Is a nice tupperware an okay 1 month anniversary present for a chip you recently started seeing?

After lunch and throwing up, we went back to the Kasbah to the museum. I wasn't very excited by this idea, especially because it was raining and we had to walk up some steep hills, but in the end, the sun came out as we entered the Kasbah and the museum was the best one we've seen in Morocco. It was a huge museum (the kasbah was the sultan's palace after all) and it had different rooms representing the seven periods of Tangier's history back to the first settlers in the area before the Romans. They had a lot of neat artifacts and good presentation style. The most fascinating room was all about trade through the ages. It had a huge map of the Mediterranean with each city around the ocean labelled, the trade routes from each period highlighted, and what each city would give the other cities. The map had details on over 60 goods and 50 cities. 

Afterwards, we got our stuff from the hostel and went to the beach. There was a food court next to the beach that had Dominoes and since the rain started picking back up, we hung out there instead of the beach. I didn't have any but it looked and smelled good. According to Meredith and Ariel, it was not as good as Pizza Hut.

Our train left at 5:30 and we got there early to get seats together. The train filled up too, so we had planned this well. On the ride back to Fes, I watched the movie Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence's (of Hunger Games fame) breakout movie. It's about her struggles in Missouri, raising her two younger siblings, dealing with a mom who has checked out of the family, and trying to track down her dad who makes meth because he has to be in court in a week or their house will get taken because he posted it as bail. I didn't think it was that great, but it won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Drama two years ago. We got to Fez at 10 and found a cab that would take us and use the meter, which never happens at the train station and especially not after dark. Then it was bed time.

Day 57: Seeing Spain

Our plan was to spend all day in Assilah and then to take a 5:30 train to Tangier which is only 45 minutes to the north. When we woke up at 9, it was raining, so we changed our plans. In the morning, as it cleared up, we walked around the medina and looked at all the murals. We explored the medina even more than I had last time so I got to see some cool murals I hadn't seen yet. Afterwards, although it was sunny and clearer, we didn't trust the weather to hold so we caught a 1:40 pm train to Tangier. There was no one to buy tickets from at the station, but no one checked them on the train either, so our 16 dh ride was free! 

Assilah medina

One of the many murals in Assilah

When we got to Tangier at 2:30, it was beautiful. The sun was shining and you could see the ocean from the recently renovated train station. It is a huge city with a small medina, a large centrally located beach, and tons of big buildings and well-contained urban sprawl. I'm very happy we chose to visit it because it strikes a great balance between its traditional side and modernity and is a good example of how Morocco could be. We were barely heckled the whole time we were there and the city transitions very well between the medina and the Ville Nouvelle that surrounds it. It is all contiguously Tangier, unlike how Fes is two separate beasts. With all its hills, Tangier reminds me a lot of San Francisco. 

You can also see Spain 8 miles away across the Straits of Gibraltar, even on cloudy days. Seeing its proximity and the huge ferries that are constantly making the 35 minute run, I understand how Moroccans could get so jaded and eager to leave for Spain. Illegal immigration is a big problem for Morocco and Europe and many have lost their lives attempting the crossing. The land on the other side is exactly the same and everyone on both sides can speak Spanish, but when you throw an 11 to 1 exchange rate into the mix, it's hard to ignore the greener grass just across the Straits. Europe doesn't want Moroccans, and Morocco has lost a lot of its young talent to the allure of Europe. Moroccans have a terrible time legally leaving Morocco because to get a visa to Europe, you must prove you have over 15000 Euros in assets. Even if you have that much, you still have to deal with inefficient bureaucracies and a shortage of visas. It's not a very pretty side of Moroccan/European relations.

Our lunch spot with Spain in the distance

We spent the day walking around the medina and the Ville. We went up to the Kasbah to have the best view of Spain and had lunch on the terrace of a nice small restaurant. We tried to visit a bunch of museums but they were all closed. We went to the beach though and to the Gran Socco, a big fountain and central meeting point in Tangier. We also stopped by the Hotel Mensah to see its storied Caid Bar. It's a five star hotel built at the beginning of the 20th century that has housed the likes of Winston Churchill and other famous people. We had dinner in the medina at a fancy restaurant called El Jedad and the food was delicious. Afterwards, we were planning on going out so we went back to the hostel to drink and change.

At the beach in Tangier

All the clubs in Tangier are along the beach, including one called Miami Beach! It's a nice situation though because there is a bluff, so they are all below street level and you can still see the beach over them. We went to a club called Beach Club 555 that has a gorgeous pool and a good scene. Alice came up from Fes for the night, so we met up with her at 555 at 1 am and had a blast together. We danced a ton and the music was super loud. It wasn't the best music because Moroccan dance music features a lot of elements of Moombahton, a genre of electronic music that is percussion-heavy and features a lot of drums. There's not many words, but there's a lot of bongos; it's still fun to dance to but I would have preferred some American pop music. All in all, it was a lot of fun being out in Tangier and being right next to the beach. We could see a few twinkles from Spain. I went home at 3:30 am, but the others didn't walk home till the club closed at 5. It ended up being a packed, but fun, day with a lot of walking and a great ending.