Getting resettled In Tangier

Last night, we arrived very late. The sun had gone down at the same time that we disembarked. So were in the uneviable situation of having to find a hotel in the dark in our first night in Africa. We did the best we could given the constraints we had to work with--no guide book, no idea where stuff is, no idea which hotels offer what we want at a good price. We stayed at the Continental. At least it was an interesting experience. It was like US$80 (552 dh) but it came with coffee and breads, and WiFi in the lobby at least.

But we decided to change our place. Armed with 5 photocopy sheets of the Lonely Planet on Tangier from the woman from Texas we met (who was going to return to her home in Rabat) we headed out in the morning to find the stairs by La Gitana. They were easy to find from the Contental. Just follow the wall of the Medina clockwise--it's like going from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock. Once we found them we headed up the stairs to try the Hotel Becerra which was mentioned in the photocopies of the guide book. We asked to see the rooms and we were first shown a room with 4 beds. THere was a glass of Cola or something on a table. Then she took us to room 8. She couldn't get the door open so we all went down but when we got to the bottom, Elena decided she didn't like the place and we thanked them and left. The photocopies also mentioned the Pension Palace just across the street. We went in. The clerk speaks all languages. We went and saw a room with 1 bed and a shower/toilet. Elena asked if he had a room with 2 beds. He did and he showed it to us. It is the highest--on the top floor, and deepest into the hotel. It is pretty good. Only 150 dh per night. The rooms are clean, big, and cool, so the just over US$20 is worth it. We decided to take it. We went and got our stuff and checked out of the Continental and moved in.

Whew!!! Now we are situated well. We have a nice room for a reasonable price. With that out of the way, we can settle down and start to see if we can enjoy Tangier.

Our hotel is on what is called the Petit Socco. It's just sort of a small plaza with a few cafes and stores. Continuing in the same direction from La Gitana, you reach the Grande Socco which is the big roundabout on the edge of the Medina at about 10 o'clock--continuing the medina as a clock metaphor. We headed up and noticed a restaurant. A tout noticed us noticing the restaurant and approached us. We get approached quite a bit--maybe 3 or 4 times hour. So this tout told us to come on into the restaurant with him. We told him we'd come tonight. He left us alone but came back about 30 seconds later to warn us that we should only go into these restaurants with a "guide" aka a tout. We assured him we would definitely do that and went on.

The Grande Socco has a market with booths for butchers and fruitiers among other things. We made mental notes of where we could get all the various things. We decided to head down to the beach. Tangier has a nice beach or two. Large and sandy. We got there and popped into a pizzaria/cafe for a coffee creme (9 dh) and a cafe expresso (8 dh). So the total bill came to 17 dh which is like US$2. Pretty good. A cafe expresso in France is at least €1,20 and a cafe creme is typically starting at €1,90. So the cheap end of the same bill in France would be €3,10 or US$5. It can easily be higher at an average priced place.

I found the names of a couple of bookstores. I want to get a Routard guide of Maroc or one of the English guides if they have one. I'm pretty certain I can find the French ones, but English might be a tall order. We wandered a bit around the town looking for the bookstores, but most intersections are unmarked and even when we did find a sign once, it was so rusted that the paint had long since chipped off. Anyway we were getting pretty hungry, so when we saw a place with a menu outside we looked over the menu.

If you want to get the attention of a waiter in Morocco, be Western and look at their menu. A waiter came and showed us a menu. It looked pretty good. A place called Comedie. So we let the waiter lead us in. He wanted us to sit upstairs and Elena wanted to sit downstairs. The waiter won that one. We sat in a nice upstairs table overlooking the restaurant. We started looking at the menu. After a few minutes, the waiter came with a platter of fresh fish to show us what they had. Elena ordered the sole immediately. I stuck with skewers of beef. Elena ordered a water and I ordered a Sprite.

They brought a basket of bread and a plate of olives. I'm not normally an olive guy, but these were pretty good. Especially these red/brown olives--Yummy! Finally the food came and we ate. It was really good. My meat was spiced nicely. Each of the dishes had a little pile of rice, fries, and some shredded lettuce. We ate everything. They had ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce. The drinks were around 8 dh each, and the entrees were 68 dh. No beer here. The whole thing came to 167 dh. Around US$25. So a bit on the pricey side, but not unreasonable. After all it was our first meal in Africa. We tipped a little under 10% just because I wasn't liquid enough to tip 10%.

We then headed out into the Tangier sun. Actually, the heat was not oppressive at all. That's a pleasant surprise. In fact as I write this at 4:09 Europe time, a nice cool breeze is coming into our window. We found one of the bookstores but it was closed.

We headed back to our place and then went out to find water, fruit, and soap. We got a bar of Lux soap for 3.5 dh (US$0.50). Then we got some peaches, bananas, and kiwi for 24 dh (US$3.50). Finally we got a 1.5 liter water bottle for--I can't remember.

We met a French couple who had been in line with us the night before waiting to get our visa stamps. Elena had struck up a conversation with them at some point in our 1.5 hour wait. When we met again, we informed them of the price of the Continental and how much the Pension Palace was. Always good stuff to know.

Then we came home and Elena did some cleaning to get everything up to her standards and finally she made a yummy fruit salad.

Now she is taking a nice nap and commenting at how long my blog is by the amount of typing I'm doing.

Tangier is an interesting place. They seem unable to make up their mind whether they are called Tanger or Tangier. Both are everywhere. The city smells like dead fish at the port, rather unpleasant on some blocks, and positively delightful when you walk by a spice store. There are barbers everywhere. Wow! Moroccans must really like to make sure they have their hair in good shape. There are many styles of beards that the men, especially older ones, wear. Most of the women wear gowns with headscarfs. Some are more Western looking in their dress, but not many. There many pizzarias, cafes, and even an occasional bar. There is some English, but I was wise to learn a bit of French because you really need to have the French here. English probably works in some places, but French opens the doors. There are hotels and pensions everywhere. Anyone coming to Tangier can easily find a place by just showing up as long as he speaks French and is willing to take pretty Spartan accomodations. It's good to show up with some daylight left though. Still, I could do it again now that I know what I'm doing. And hopefully readers of my blog could do it, too.