Our first meal in Tangier. Vegetarian Tajine. These dishes are named after the earthenware bowls they are cooked in. They stay hot a long time. The spices stay hot even longer.
You thought you couldn’t read Arabic. Wrong. What does this sign say? I knew you could do it.
The mediterranean sea. This is looking west along the extremely wide promenade that goes on for a couple miles in Tangier. At the far end of the beach is the new marina and on the hill is the old walled city, the Medina.
Part of the wall that surrounds the Tangier Medina. This entrance takes you to the American Legation. It was the first American public property outside the United States.
Another view of the wall surrounding the Medina.
When is a palm tree not a palm tree? When it is a disguised communication tower, like those two tall ones.
It’s a little fuzzy and hard to read, but that sign says we are going 314 km per hour. We are on Africa’s only high speed train and we are zipping along at about 200 mph. Headed toward the capital, Rabat.
A pretty sight I spotted as we were pulling out of the high speed train station (gere) in Tangier.
A slice of the ‘suburbs’ of Tangier.
Ex-pats in Rabat. We gathered to share our support for progressive change in the USA lead by Senator Bernie Sanders. This picture was sent to over a million Sanders supporters all over the world.
The lighthouse at the very northwest corner of Africa where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean Sea.
An old castle ruins along the Atlantic coast of Morocco.
Inside the cave of Hercules. These circular patterns are leftover from ancient Phoneticians carving out grinding disks. Thousands of these spheres were mined here.
Camels waiting for riders along the Moroccan Atlantic coast.
In the Kasbah area above the Medina of old Tangier. This little store is where we buy our lentils.
A section of the outer wall of the Medina in old Tangier. In the foreground is a restaurant with the yellow awning. It was reviewed by Anthony Bourdain. We ate there. More on that later.
Camels along the beach in Tangier.
Moon Over Morocco. If you want to listen to about the best spiritual adventure series ever produced for radio, download a copy of the 50 or so episodes of Moon Over Morocco from ZBS Media (ZBS=Zero Bull Shit)
One of the women we have met along our daily jogging route.
Seagulls roosting on a street light in Tangier.
The Rock of Gibraltar. Only when the weather is very clear and only in a couple high areas of Tangier can you get a glimpse of the rock. Just to the right of the center of the photo rising above and behind the skyline. CORRECTION: After actually traveling over toward that horizon, we found that mountain was not the Rock of Gibraltar but instead was a mountain peak in the Rim Mountains called Jbel Mussa.
Charlotte is back there near the center of the picture buying some bread on the street in the old Kasbah.
Sunset at a fancy hotel/casino on the other side of the bay from Tangier.
We walked here from Tangier that you see across the bay. This is a hotel/casino where we were suppose to meet with a group called InterNations and meet other ex-patriots. We screwed up and arrived a day late.
One of the views from the roof above our apartment. Looking West.
Eglise Notre Dame de l’Assomption, a Catholic church very near to where we live.
From a park bench along the beach at the end of our jogging route. Every few days we see one or two dogs on the top of this abandoned building. It’s curious.
When we jog west, this is where we end up. We sit on the concrete ledge and watch the cats and the fishing boats, and the tide and the huge cargo ships pass through the straight of Gibraltar.
This is the bottom west corner of the old medina – kasbah of Tangier.
The Hotel Continental is one of the oldest hotels in Tangier. Maybe around 250 years old.
Part of the walled old city of Rabat, the Moroccan capital.
The high speed train comes into the train station at Rabat.
Low tide at Tangier, Morocco.
Charlotte here is getting some Sujok therapy for pain in her back. This is a type of acupressure of stimulating nerve endings in the hands or feet. We got good results.
Sitting on the sea rocks with the moss.
Huge seagull nest on top of tower. In villages along the Moroccan coast you will see where people put up tall posts for seagulls to make these kind of nests.
Home Sweet Home. Residence Detroit is actually to the left of this picture. This is along the driveway to the underground parking.
The Moroccan flag
Not much graffiti in English around here. Fear Less. Love More.
So at our favorite restaurant in Tangier (El Tangerino) we decided to try something from the dessert menu – the Tangerino cookie. Fresh baked and served hot. Yes. Good.
Waiting for this restaurant to open for the evening hours. We ended up eating with the fellow sitting here. He is traveling from Saudi Arabia (where it is too hot this time of year). This is a restaurant reviewed by Anthony Bourdain. They have a set menu. It’s about $20 for about a six course meal. Starts with a bowl of assorted roasted nuts and seeds. Then some fresh flat bread, then a big square of pizza like spicy bread, then a big bowl of fish soup, then a plate of sizzling hot pieces of fish with some of it on skewers, finally the main course – a huge whole grilled fish cooked just right and a lot to eat. Next course these super huge figs that stood about 5 inches tall and finally a dessert of some unknown small grain or seed, covered with hot roasted nuts and some top grade honey drizzled over the whole thing. All this while you had unlimited fill ups of their special juice which was something like a grape juice with prune juice and some other exotics – sweet and delicious. Upon leaving the owner gave us a locally woven bread basket and alocally carved fork and spoon. Wonderful experience.
The interior of the restaurant just described. It has seating for less than twenty!
Sharing the sizzling fish dish.
The huge figs.
A view of the more modern part of Tangier from the coast to the East.
Many of the city blocks have these covered walkways between the sidewalk and the shops.
Part of the old city Medina wall. The cannons were last used in the sixteenth century to successfully repel an invasion by Portugal.
This is the fellow who has the night shift of security for our building. He has a really pleasant attitude.
This is us with our Sujok therapist.
This was Sunday morning sitting on the seawall at the Straits of Gibraltar. We end up here after our three mile jog and love watching the fishermen and the cargo ships slide in and out from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.