Monday, April 25, 2011

April Holiday: Morocco: Tangier

Our first day on holiday started out in Tangier (or Tanger in French) where we stayed at La Tangerina, one of the loveliest hotels I've ever seen.  That first night, after driving around in hopeless circles in the confusing twisty North African streets, we sat on the terrace drinking mint tea in tiny glass cups looking out over the sea to Spain and listening to the chorus of the muezzins calling people to prayer - pretty incredible, no?
The next day we wandered over to the Kasbah museum, had more mint tea (this time with orange flowers in it!) and then lunch on a terrace called "Le Salon Bleu" - I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Tangier!  We finished up with dinner out at El-Minzah (not actually as good as the Lonely Planet says) and got a good night's sleep before heading off to our next destination...
Tangier is one of my favourite cities.  The whitewashed buildings overlooking the sea make it seem a little more like the Greek Isles than Morocco, and despite what everyone said before we left, we weren't hassled at all.  It was quiet and lovely, damp sea air in the mornings giving way to sunny afternoons and nights in the Grand Sokko alive with people selling avocados and teapots and spice mixes.  It also has a history of writers and expats living in and around the medina (which is really where you want to be) - the whole place seems charged with the history of the past eight hundred or so years.
Have you been to Tangier?  What did you think?

5 comments:

  1. Sounds awesome! I've always wanted to go but haven't been yet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oooh, I highly, highly recommend it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds like an amazing holiday, I'm glad you had a good time. I'd love to visit Morocco someday!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, what a hotel! I've never been but would love to go..hopefully someday! Can't wait to hear more about it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rachel - I always wanted to go, too...
    Photohogger - It was really lovely! Normally I'm not one to gush (lie), but, seriously, it was incredible!
    And at the risk of boring you all to tears, I promise to tell you all about it...

    ReplyDelete