Hey folks!
With these further posts ill try to type more about the places I visit. There will be less photos and they will be the smallest format. (remember to click on the thumbnails for the full size!)
Deep in southern Spain near Gibraltar, I caught a ferry from Algericas to Tangier, Morocco. Yay! Back in Africa!
My last stay in Africa was a 1 month stint in Egypt, you know how that went. I am very determined to have a better time in Morocco.
Once the two hour ferry arrived I walked out the gates and was greeted by......nobody! What a relief! Not a single tout in sight. There was even an ATM planted directly outside the gates.
I joined up with a couple and we hopped over to the closest hostel. I am pleasantly surprised that Morocco has a few hostels in the major tourist locations, which there are many. Most countries similar to Morocco only offer budget hotels and above.
There were several things that brought back memories of Africa. The amount of people outside enjoying the night was staggering, packed streets. The dirtiness and strong smells of diesel, open sewage, and dust definitely brought the memories back. Lastly, the sense of respect people have for each other seems greater than in other countries. This fact hinges largely on the Muslim population. The family unit extends to almost everyone. Lots of people were genuine in there attempts to help me. Most shopkeepers would come out of there stores and point you in the direction you needed to go.
My initial feel also included a pleasant surprise at how liberal the country seems. People seems happy here. Smiles all around. You can also seem woman out and about, very similar to Syria, if not more so. Morocco seems to have adopted some of the European philosophy's without loosing there deep rooted traditions.
After a couple nights in Tangier I took a 3 hour bus to Chefchaouen.
With these further posts ill try to type more about the places I visit. There will be less photos and they will be the smallest format. (remember to click on the thumbnails for the full size!)
Deep in southern Spain near Gibraltar, I caught a ferry from Algericas to Tangier, Morocco. Yay! Back in Africa!
My last stay in Africa was a 1 month stint in Egypt, you know how that went. I am very determined to have a better time in Morocco.
Once the two hour ferry arrived I walked out the gates and was greeted by......nobody! What a relief! Not a single tout in sight. There was even an ATM planted directly outside the gates.
I joined up with a couple and we hopped over to the closest hostel. I am pleasantly surprised that Morocco has a few hostels in the major tourist locations, which there are many. Most countries similar to Morocco only offer budget hotels and above.
There were several things that brought back memories of Africa. The amount of people outside enjoying the night was staggering, packed streets. The dirtiness and strong smells of diesel, open sewage, and dust definitely brought the memories back. Lastly, the sense of respect people have for each other seems greater than in other countries. This fact hinges largely on the Muslim population. The family unit extends to almost everyone. Lots of people were genuine in there attempts to help me. Most shopkeepers would come out of there stores and point you in the direction you needed to go.
My initial feel also included a pleasant surprise at how liberal the country seems. People seems happy here. Smiles all around. You can also seem woman out and about, very similar to Syria, if not more so. Morocco seems to have adopted some of the European philosophy's without loosing there deep rooted traditions.
After a couple nights in Tangier I took a 3 hour bus to Chefchaouen.
Chefchaouen is set beneath the Rif mountains and is quite the charming little town. Again pairing with another couple, this time Flemish, we stalked the Medina for a hotel.
Reminds me of Greece
We lucked out and got a great terrace room for the equivalent of 7 Canadian dollars each. We couldn't help but stay for 3 nights it was just so delightful.
The center plaza in the Medina.
On day 3 we hiked up into the mountains to get great views. Along the way the Belgian, Wim, pointed out that all the farmland crops looked like weed. Holy crap! We stumbled into seemingly endless fields of kif (dope). The first leaf I picked was pretty small. By the time we hit the 4 hour mark I was walking through 5 foot tall plants that had leaves as big as my chest! I kept thinking some farmers were going to come kidnap us. We were fine.
The Belgian girl impressed me by getting pretty far, but they turned back at about the 5th hour. The last peak was only around 1700 meters, but was close to the tallest in Morocco.
-A view from the top!
From Chefchaouen we hopped on the bus for a crazy speed-demon trip to Fes.
Until next post,
D.
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