My Woeful Attempt to Rock the Kasbah

It has only been a few days since we arrived in Morocco but I thought it was time for another post. I will let you decide at the end if this is really an update or a bit of a rant.

Rock the Casbah.....spelled with a C instead of a K for some reason, perhaps it was the drugs......was a 1982 hit song written by the Clash, written in response to a late 70's ban on western rock music in some Arab countries. The ban was largely ignored by the Arab population who continued to play the music in their homes and even by the armed forces who were tasked with policing this 'offensive' behaviour. Gradually, even the Shah or rulers at the time became enchanted with Rock & Roll music, like we all are, and the severe penalties were repealed although rock music is still not 'encouraged' in most public places. My chance to rock the Kasbah.....a special fortified palace in the old walled city......was diminished by forgetting my boom box at home, which now meant I had to go out to one of the clubs at night. However, they do not seem to open here until 10 pm, and get rock'in until midnight, which is way past my bedtime, so that is not working out so well for me. We did get to visit the Kasbah in Tangier but I cannot really say I rocked it. However we did enjoy it anyways with it's well laid out museum inside.

We tend to book our accommodation on these trips close to the places we want to visit since we carry our backpacks with us and prefer to walk everywhere we can once we get there. In the case of older countries that is generally close to the old city, either just inside the walls or very close to them. In Morocco the old city is called the 'Medina', and in Tangier where we have started our adventure, our hotel is just inside the walled city. The original town planners in this country did not do a very good job (in my opinion). There is no such thing as a straight road or a grid within the medina. It is a complex labyrinth of winding narrow streets and alleys that are guaranteed to get you lost in an instant. No need to worry though....if you pull out your map, or your device, or even hesitate for a few seconds, you will immediately be approached by a local offering their assistance to get you where you really want to go........for only a few dirhams in exchange (less than a dollar). I have decided to treat this like a puzzle. When I challenge myself with Master Sudoku puzzles which I enjoy, getting a hint by looking at the final solution at the back of the puzzle book would be akin to soliciting the help of a local over here. So I am now expecting to get helplessly lost in the medinas and will be challenging myself to successfully find my planned destination. Hopefully my bride will still be at my side, or at least still smiling, when I emerge from the maze. Today, that worked out quite well covering off both the Upper and Lower Towns with the medina (yesterday as newbies, we did not fare so well).

We have been to India and other countries where alcohol is not always readily available but this is our first foray into an Arab country where alcohol is forbidden in public places. Apparently there are a handful of places in each city where alcohol can be purchased but none of them exist close to the medinas where we like to stay. If we were to take the trek, or a taxi, to one of these rare places, then we would only be allowed to consume it within the confines of our room. That kind of rules out beer since the rooms here do not come with fridges or mini-bars.......unless you like to drink warm beer which I don't. The reviews I  have read on Moroccan wine are not very good.......but we did seem to slowly acquire a taste for Retsina when we were in Greece and it was the only wine available, so there is some hope there. For now we have started with 'mint tea' which seems to be served everywhere. It is a concoction of sweet tea with fresh mint on top, delivered to your table in a steaming hot glass which requires hot mitts to pick up. However, if you let it sit for five minutes then you can gingerly pick it up at the very top of the glass with two fingers and have a sip. Eventually it warms up and you can finish it off. Meanwhile you will have spent most of your time thinking about how wonderful a cold beer would have tasted after spending a hot day walking in and out of the maze. I did notice some locals at a table beside us drinking their 'tea' from a teapot which brought back some old memories.....on election day many years ago, alcohol could not be served until after the polls closed. However, if you were a good patron of a local bar you did get served your drink of choice in a teapot so that you could pour it into a teacup without anyone else noticing. I suspect that may be going on over here, or perhaps it is just my imagination working overtime again.

While I am on a roll, you don't need to set your alarm over here if you wish to get an early start on the day. At dawn each and every day you will be awoken by the Islamic chanting call to prayer which is broadcast in surround sound from loudspeakers throughout the city. There are as many mosques here as there are Catholic churches in Italy, which is how they can easily provide surround sound to every single residence in the city. I have not figured out a solution to that one yet. Fortunately for us, we rarely get too far ahead of ourselves in making advance reservations, in order to maintain flexibility in our schedule thus enabling us to take advantage of new route suggestions offered to us or remaining in a place a bit longer than we originally wanted to. That means in the near future I can start narrowing my search for accommodations.........a soundproof bunker with a fridge and close to one of the rare stores selling alcohol. I will keep you posted on how that works for me going forward.

Despite what you might be thinking by now, we really are having a good time so far. The Tangier medina is fascinating to walk around even if you are not quite sure where you are going. Incredible history, buildings that have survived longer than our country has existed, interesting and tasty street food available at every turn, watching the odd vehicle attempt to make it through the crowded and narrow streets, busy markets selling food items we are not familiar with, and lots of shopkeepers pretending they are our new best friends. There is not a lot of English spoken here.......except for some common phrases like “let me show you the way”, “taxi?”, “please come into my shop”..........but beyond Moroccan Arabic, of which I can only seem to remember “shukran” (thank you) and several more words, the Moroccans seem to have a good grasp of French which we also remember from our early school days, at least enough to get by.

Just before we arrived in Morocco, we spent a day in Gibraltar. After heading out to Europa Point at the southern point of Gibraltar where you could see both Spain and Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar, and likely more countries on a less hazy day, I climbed up the Mediterranean Steps to the top of The Rock. Rather than climb the 4 km steep route of steps and path, Pocahontas settled for the cable car to the top. It was a good workout for me with beautiful views along the way, although I had to careful not to join the throng of other tourists at the bottom of the cliff who might have missed a step admiring the view and plunged to their tragic end (editor's note: this might be fake news). Anyway, I made it all the way and we had a celebratory drink at the top. We walked back down together, but on the less steep west side facing the city so that we could stop along the way to visit the many war time exhibits including batteries, temporary shelters and tunnels built just inside the cliff wall for cannon placements. The main street of Gibraltar is pedestrian-friendly as was Casemates Square. There was a quick passport check where the only requirement was to hold your passport in the air as you walked from Spain into and out of Gibraltar.

The next day we took the one hour ferry from Tarifa, Spain over to Morocco. Once again it was a light security check (backpacks only, through a metal detector) and a quick passport stamp during the ferry trip. Once on shore we were able to walk the kilometre or so to our hotel in the medina.

Tomorrow, we are leaving Tangier and taking a 5 hour train ride deeper into the heart of Morocco, arriving in Fes where we will spend several days getting lost again within their much larger medina.

The Rock taken from Europa Point at the southern shore of Gibraltar. The mosque had the unusual name, "Mosque of the Two Holy Custodians". This view of the 4 km. hike to the top changed the mind of one of the two participants in my group.

Came across this small family of Barbary macaques near the cable car station at the top. I later discovered that the 300 or so in Gibraltar are now the only wild monkey population left in Europe. Since they are not hunted here and live in a Nature Reserve, their population is actually growing which is in contrast to Africa troops (hunting and deforestation).

View from the top of The Rock. The city of Gibraltar is on the bottom left and La Linea de la Concepcion, Spain on the right across the water. In the middle is the Gibraltar air strip which runs out into the water. When you cross into Gibraltar from Spain you actually walk across the centre of the airstrip. When we arrived the barrier was down and we had to wait until a plane took off before we could walk across the airstrip.

Walking through the shop portion of the medina in Tangier. This might have been the straightest stretch of pavement in the entire medina (old town).

Our freebie appies that were served before our first rooftop meal in the medina......lentils, green bean puree, olives and hot sauce. A good start to a great meal.....although a glass of wine would have been a nice accompaniment.

A good view of the Tangier port from the Upper Town within the medina. The Atlantic Ocean is on the left and Spain is on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar which leads into the Mediterranean Sea.

This is one of the inner courtyards of the Kasbah with a lovely tiled floor. It is now part of a museum which does a good job of explaining the history of Morocco in terms of how it got it roots from many parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Grand Socco indoor market where the locals often shop for their food.

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