I ventured out a bit before breakfast to see if I would be comfortable with many layers of clothing. I walked down the hill from the Medina with Abdou who was out for a run. My weather app said it was 63 degrees but it felt quite cool in the early morning before sunrise. I returned to the hotel after a short walk. Breakfast was laid out as a buffet. Our group wandered in gradually since we weren’t starting very early this morning. I went back to my room to finish packing and add a sweater to wear for the chilly morning weather.
Our bags were delivered to our van and then we were taken in the van uphill to the entrance to the casbah, the old fort.
The casbah is filled with small winding very clean streets. Apparently it is where many wealthy people live. The walls are freshly whitewashed. There are flowers in pots along the street. There is a bookstore selling works by famous people, many of them American, who lived a free style life in Tangier. Matisse spent time in Tangier enjoying the weather and painting.
The mosque entrance has a covered area where the ceiling is highly decorated cedar. Other buildings have ornate doors and tiled entrances.
As we left the casbah, we returned to the Medina and walked through the souk, the market. Women were busy tying up bunches of mint, rosemary and sage. Stalls were arrayed with olives or spices or chickens or meats often with every part displayed. Chicken carcasses were piled up to buy for making soup.
We continued on to the fish market which was bustling with buyers.
We learned that people buy fresh fish every day except Friday when couscous is the traditional meal and it is not served with fish. Interestingly, couscous made Moroccan style takes several hours to cook unlike the very easy dish that we can make in about 15 minutes. We will be eating couscous at some point on this trip on a Friday.
Part of the group stopped for coffee. I went on with a few of us to explore a section nearby where we couldn’t get lost since the streets all radiate from a central circle. We ventured into a garden that had a 1200 year old Ficus tree according to the guard. It was huge and quite healthy.
We met up with the group to take a taxi to the train station to take the bullet train (TGV) to Rabat. It was meant to give us extra time in Tangier and to let us have a different travel experience.
The station was very modern filled with shops and fast food. Bev and I had to purchase Starbucks mugs that we liked. We both chose Marrakech where we will be in a few days.
We bought sandwiches to eat on the train and boarded along with many others. The train was fully booked.
We arrived in Rabat, the capital city. It has walls from the 12th century but no structures. Apparently it was used only as a camping area to stage exploration in other areas. The streets are wide and lined with beautiful trimmed trees due to a strong French influence. The city was built up in the 1920’s. Our hotel is quite modern.
We met for an orientation walk to learn about the city area where we are staying. There are many restaurants, a streetcar line and a few interesting museums that look like good places to visit on our free afternoon tomorrow. Walking back to the hotel, Abdou told us about buying wine to take to the desert since it would not be available. A few of us split off to go to the wine store, Maison de vin, but we got confused and never found it. Luckily we were able to get back to the hotel which wasn’t far away. We will go tomorrow with Abdou.
Dinner was with the entire group of us. Seven more people have joined us for the main trip. There are now 16 of us total. We will get to know the new folks as time goes on. Tomorrow we explore Rabat.
The Adventures of Anne 