The plan for Day 2 in southern Spain was to… well… leave southern Spain. I had casually mentioned the proximity to Morocco in some of the planning e-mails I had sent B & Emmy Lee, but I wasn’t sure they would bite. I had been to Morocco on this very ferry (ha. very ferry.) during my last Eurotrip and was eager to get back and spend some more time there with the confidence that comes from traveling in groups larger than one. Fortunately for me, Brian and Emily were game, and we all woke up early to take the quick ferry across to Tangier from Tarifa.
We immediately found a nice looking English speaking guide named
Majid who offered to take us around town. He offered a short day inner city tour (about 4 hours) or a longer tour which involved a minivan and took us all around the outskirts of the city as well (about 6 hours) for only €10 more. I was casually encouraging the latter, as I had already done the inner city tour, and was ecstatic when my comrades wanted the longer tour. Yippee! I get to see something I didn’t see the last time I was here.
We started our tour in a van with a man who spoke no English, but who was nice enough, I think. He drove us all up and around town, all the while, Majid telling us about which sheiks and princes lived in which houses and took us to some gorgeous look out points from the tops of the mountains. We looked down on some gorgeous beaches, all of Tangier, back towards Spain and some berbur caves. Majid took us to Hercules’ Cave which is a tourist trap blowhole type cave where it is said that Hercules used to live in where the water comes rushing in and what not. It was interesting, but had some GREAT views from the top of the cave.
Next on the agenda was a camel ride, which I was SO freaking pumped for. I can’t exactly remember if I’ve ever ridden a camel before, but definitely not in Africa and not that I have any pictures of, that I can recall. So I reveled in the opportunity to overflow my facebook with pictures of me mounting a camel. Emily handled it like a champ and seemed completely at ease on the giant cranky beast, but Brian, bless him, was a complete mess (sorry B Lee, I can’t let you off this one easy). He was holding onto Emily so hard that she couldn’t breathe. Anytime the camel took a step other than forward, Brian had a look of absolutel TERROR on his face. Even when he was given the lead rope and asked to lead us around while they took our picture, he still looked like he was going to faint at any minute. And yes, he is wearing a hat in that picture remeniscent of the one Abu wore in Aladdin. Hil-air. I took a video on my phone, but he must have deleted it because I can’t seem to find it (thanks JERK) but hopefully my account of the events embarrass him as much as the video would have.
After all of this, we drove back to town to begin our walking tour. Most of what we saw was the same sort of stuff that I saw the last time I was here with Abdul, but it was interesting nonetheless. We listened to the call to prayer, browsed through a live animal market, wound around the streets, glanced at the Kasbah, had a spice demonstration (and a €2 neck massage) at a spice shop and did some Persian rug and jewelry shopping at a large store that looked strangely familiar to one I had frequented 3 years ago. Lunch was served late afternoon at the most INCREDIBLE shish kabob restaurant for about €15 total for the three of us for WAY too much food. We chatted with a guy who was a fellow tour guide who had dropped his customers off down the street and was coming here to eat his own lunch. It was amazing.
Majid put us back on the bus just before dark and we rode back to Spain with no incident. Dinner back at our favorite restaurant and a try at the “Best Mojitos in the World” which… surprisingly… actually was the best mojito I have ever had.
Majid also wrote our names in Arabic...
Abbey: 
Emily: 
Brian: 