NEW CONTINENT/NEW COUNTRY

Ok I’m going to try this again, I will be typing and saving and editing. Yesterday I added 15 pictures and lots of words and the darn thing wouldn’t save And I lost it all. So let’s see what we can do today.

Sunday Roscoe and I officially touched the soil in Africa. While we have been through the Suez Canal twice, we had not been in an African country. Through pictures I will try and give you a sense of what we experienced in Tangier,

Morocco. So here goes….

Our first view of Tangier from our balcony coming into port. Tangier is on the northern coast of Africa, across from the straits of Gibraltar🇬🇮. We hired a private guide through, you guessed it, toursbylocals.com and away we went.

Raffi, our guide for the day. We also had a driver, Mustafa. He was a great guide and gave us more information than I can ever remember. We found out that we are all admirers of Rick Steves and Raffi told us that he has updated the 2024 Rick Steves Moroccan chapter. I am going to send him this link and Raffi, I apologize now for all the information I get wrong, after all, it’s been 3 days since we were there.

An actual cork tree. Raffi took us to a great place, Parc Perdicaris, that was donated as a public park by an American diplomat….notice the water and food….more on that later. Did you know that the first country to recognize the USA in 1776/7 was Morocco? Now when each president takes office, the first letter is to the Moroccan consulate! You learn something every day.

The point where the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea come together. I think the water is all the same. It’s just a man made point.

We didn’t want to ride a camel on the beach, so we went for tea instead. It was a great little place and the mint tea was delicious.

Children give us hope for the future.

In Morocco, most of the Muslims are Sunnis. I read that 90% of all Muslims are Sunnis and only about 10% Shia’s. In Morocco, the women drive, vote and do not have to wear all the coverings. Some go to Mosques to worship others don’t. Kind of like the rest of the world.

Hercules‘ cave. Notice the shape looks a lot like the shape of the continent of Africa. It is said that Hercules had a fight with another God and threw him down which is what caused the separation of North America from Africa. Or Africa from Europe….I can’t quite remember.

The “hands” ward off evil spirits And protect us.

The tile work is everywhere and is beautiful. We are in the Medina, which means ‘old town’. See Raffi, I haven’t forgotten everything.

This is part of a Barbara Hutton’s home. If you remember her, you’re old. She was the heiress to the Woolworth fortune. She hung around with the Beatles and the Stones. She had 7 husbands. She started with almost a billion dollars in today’s money And was almost broke when she died. The movie, Poor Little Rich Girl, was made about her.

Walking the streets of the Medina. During Covid, the government helped people turn their homes into air bandb’s. The Medina was immaculate.

Food! As you all know by now, my favorite pastime anywhere I go is eating the local cuisine. Raffi took us to the Restaurant VandaLucia. it was in the old town and family owned. There were no menus and after Raffi spoke to the owner in Arabic, he probably said, I have dumb Americans here who are hungry, please feed them, the owner came to the table and told us what we were getting.

Too busy chewing to smile! We had soup, bread, chicken pastries, beef with a sauce, chicken with a sauce, chicken in skewers, salad, fruit and dessert. We were so full we skipped dinner. All this for 30€ or about $17 each.

The three brown pastries were like Baklava. Yum!

This picture is for Kayla and Nicole, both have cats. The Koran forbids the spaying/neutering of animals. Cats reproduce 3 times a year. Cats are everywhere. Remember the water and food under the cork tree? Those were for the cats.

Prejudice and Bias

my final thought on Morocco are an apology to the Moroccans. Everywhere we went the people were friendly and accommodating. While they have a King, they also have an elected parliament, governor and administrators. The king heads the military. Their system is not like ours but it works for them. They have free education and healthcare. I am sure that we saw only the best and that the Bedouins, who are the original people, have it much harder. I am also sure that the country is not perfect. But my expectation was of poor people,begging, street markets where they're begging you to buy and basically a dusty, dirty place. It was none of that. While Islam is the state religion, we did see churches and I believe there is a synagogue. So others are permitted to worship in the manner they choose. It was a Sunday, which is part of Moroccans‘ weekend. They were at the beach, at the caves, picnicking and enjoying their families. Much like us!

So that's what travel does for us. and while only one day in a place won't show you the totality, you do get a taste of the country.

Shukran,Raffi!