Morocco

Agadir 4/4/2023

MOROCCO!! WE ARE HERE! It was so exciting to step foot in Morocco today. After a bit of hassle, we made it. We were late getting into port this morning because we had to leave the canaries late due to bad weather (wind). Similarly, our all aboard here went from 4:30pm, to 5:30pm, to midnight, to 10:00pm all in the span of just a few hours.

Again, bad weather. Except in this case we stayed an extra night here and left in the morning. But we were unable to leave the ship.

We spent the morning walking around the beachfront. Because it’s currently Ramadan, most things are closed in the day time. But the quiet area was nice-

despite the wind violently throwing sand in my face, hair, and every crevice in my body. Seriously I swear I’ll be finding Moroccan sand in my ears by the time I get back to Fort Lauderdale. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. A souvenir if you will.

In the evening as sun was setting we went to the beachfront again for a traditional Moroccan dinner. I had chicken tajine and we all had Moroccan mint tea.

It was all very new to me. The tajine pot (which I compared to a Dutch oven of sorts) came out with steam rolling off. When the server opened the pot it was sizzling, boiling even. Like fajitas. It had lots of vegetables, olives, and a preserved (basically pickled) lemon on top. In this form you’re able to eat the entirety of the lemon, and it pairs really well with the chicken and veggies.

We got to watch them pour the tea very high up (three times. I didn't know why at the time. But I asked my guide and he said likely for religious reasons of doing things in threes. For example they typically wash their hands in threes, etc.) before being put back into the teapot for pour. Pouring from a height gives it more foam and more flavor. It was so tasty our table of six ended up having 3 pots! By the third pot I found out it’s so tasty because it’s basically just mint and sugar.

The atmosphere here was very welcoming. We sat near the live entertainment. The man sang for about 20 minutes before taking a break. During his break, him and I shared a polite smile and wave. He came up to us and said he wanted to play whatever the “two beautiful ladies requested” for his last set. So, even though shauna requested hot in here by Nelly…. Hahaha… we also requested Sinatra, and Bob Marley (variety is good for the soul). And listened to him sing our requests for the rest of his time.

Before heading back to the ship shauna said she wanted to touch the water. We were pressed for time, but I told her I’d go with her quickly. We started jogging to the water (I’m already not elegant. You can imagine what I looked like jogging on the beach. Picture baywatch. Now picture the exact OPPOSITE of that and you have me).

Anyway, the beach was a lot longer than we thought. Approximately 2 minutes later, when I’m huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf, our toes finally made landing into the ocean. And I realized I need to work more on my cardio at the gym.

Casablanca 4/6/2023

Ah, here are the meat and potatoes…

John, Laura, a couple I just met Jim and Elida, and I went to Ricks cafe for lunch. The shuttle dropped us off at the wrong place so we did extra walking to get there, but it was so worth it! I had red wine, stroganoff, coffee, and good company.

It was so beautiful on the inside, but on the outside it was very ordinary. If you didn't know what you were looking for.

Met our guide Mohammed for a walking tour and he did a great job. At the end of it all he told us we were welcome to stay with him and his family at his home next time we come to Casablanca.

Our tour consisted of 3 sections: old Medina, souk (market), and French inspired section of town.

The oldest gate in the city: At one point the city was gated and would open in the morning and close in the late afternoon

We made a pit stop at a little cafe and had Moroccan mint tea and pastries. While we were sitting here prayer time started, and we could hear the prayer being spoken over the loudspeaker from the mosque down the street. Our guide was kind enough to translate for us upon our request.

Next was the souk! Such a fabulous and crazy market. Like a snake maze. So easy to get lost within them. You turn a corner thinking you’ll be at the end and there are 3 other directions to choose from. Somehow entirely different than the rest of Africa. They weren’t quite as obnoxious of salespeople, which was nice. So many different stands: stands for spices, live chickens (this was traumatizing for me. To spare the details, but still give an idea: I watched an alive chicken become an unalive chicken and that was a lot for me. Probably taking a break from meat for a while).

Anyway, there were stands of people selling head wraps, and tajine pots, and coal to cook tajine in, fresh mint for Moroccan tea…

But the most important stand was the date stand. Laura said that last time she was in Morocco about 30 years prior, she had the best dates of her whole life, and wanted to buy some more. Of course, our guide happened to be best friends or cousins or something in that realm with “The best date stand in Casablanca.” We walk the the maze of souks to the date stand.

But, an altercation at the stand across starts. The police are trying to arrest someone, we believe for a reason involving selling chickens where he wasn’t supposed to be. People start crowding around the already crowded area, and the 5 of us are stuck with nowhere to go. You know when you see news articles about people dying from being trampled because and area is too crowded? Yeah. Nearly that bad. Not to mention that people are allowed to drive their motorized bikes through the area which makes it even more of a hassle.

Anyway, the guy resisting being arrested pulls out a large box cutter knife (everyone else said it was a box cutter. I thought it was a screw driver). Luckily, we were able to get away, and let the chaos settle down before going back to buy the sweetest dates I’ve ever tasted. Laura also bought some walnuts that literally looked the size of my brain (haha).

We ended the last 40 minutes of the tour with a bit of time to calm down from the souk and altercation by walking through the French inspired square - coined pigeon square because of all the pigeons taking over the area.

Fast forward to being back on the ship after a fun day, and getting to wave to our friend Sam from Alaska who’s doing a semester at sea right now (small world right? Met in Alaska. Waving from each of our own ships in Casablanca, making a plan to hang out in Portugal).

Fast forward a bit more, to ending the night with 4 friends playing music together, drinking bottles of red wine, and enjoying each others company.

Tangier 4/7/2023

Here we spent our time wandering the streets and the small picturesque alleys.

We found a cute cafe to have some mint tea.

And happened to stumble around a corner to a beautiful view of the city, and a glimpse of Spain in the distance, waiting our arrival.

Finally, after night fell, we were surprised to know we were passing the rock of Gibraltar.

Here's to wandering, stumbling upon cool places, and wonderful company.

Cheers to Africa, Europe here I come!

Tay