Tanger

Tanger (or Tangier for the english speaking people) is a coastal town residing on the northern coast of Morocco eyeing Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar.  For well over 2,000 years this strategic town has been the desire of many looking to conquer this region of the world.  "Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, Portuguese, British," and more have all left their mark on this well worn town as thousands of other still flock to it this day.  In years past it was known for its scandalous nature and wayward settlers who dealt in drugs, sex, and money.  Being incorporated into mainstream Morocco the city has settled down and now is an expanding industrial powerhouse.  

Neither African, nor European, nor Arab, the culture in Tanger stands alone.  Among first time visitors fresh off the boat from Spain, Tanger can seem overwhelming and ghastly.  Everyone is after your money and the majority of friendly faces on the street are really touts trying to direct you to the 'right' hotel, ie. their hotel!  However, if you can push past the hustling the city has much to offer with soft yellow sand beaches, palm lined walkways and cafe's galore.  

Walking off the train, we were taken aback by what has to be the most beautiful train station in Morocco.  Making our way through the doors and around the masses of people we spotted the beach off in the distance.  Wasting no time, Hil and I beelined to the shore.  We had reached our destination and it was glorious!  Not wanting to move we spent a good hour walking up and down the beach, sinking our toes into the luscious sand and playing in the waves.  As our stomaches began to growl we unwillingly departed from the water making our way to solid ground and on a comic search for a hotel.  Having been warned by our trusty guidebook about the numerous "guides" and "friends" who will seek to help you find your way, we decided to pursue a place on our own.  With no shortage of hotels we began making our way up and down the Blvd inquiring about prices for double rooms and whether or not they included a hot shower.  Less than thrilled with our findings we switched to looking for the youth hostel, which we came to find out closed down a year ago.  A bit frustrated we decided to call off the search and eat!  Finding a lovely Moroccan restaurant across from the water we dug into dishes of tagine and couscous!

Feed up with the hassling and hustling, we asked our friendly waiter if he could recommend a reasonably priced hotel.  He was more than happy to oblige and recommended a hotel just up the street ( a street we had already walked up nearly 6 times - we were becoming regulars).  Without thought we decided to check it out.  However, its hidden location proved near impossible to find and we had nearly given up when we stumbled upon it.  The fact that we had the name wrong at first probably didn't help either.  Walking in it was anything but a dream, but we didn't care, we only wanted a safe place to drop our bags and stop for the night.  Receiving our cheapest quote so far we settled and threw our stuff in our less than sparkling room.  Then it was back to the beach!

Relaxing, Beaching it and enjoying the cool breeze we spent the rest of the evening taking it all in.  I also took in tons of photos, some of which I will hopefully be able to post soon.