We woke up early and went down for breakfast.
My heart was filling a little heavy thinking about the war going on in Israel and Palestine.
While having breakfast Rick pointed out the window and said, "Look at that!"
It was a view of the sun rising out of the Mediterranean
Sea. It was so breathtakingly beautiful and a balm to my sorrowful soul.
Today was twofold a special day. This has been a day that we have hoped and planned for, for a long time....traveling to Morocco! Also, it was Rick's 59th birthday! And what a birthday it was!
We packed up from Marbella and drove south to Tarifa. We were scheduled to leave on the ferry at 1:00 but we wanted to be sure to get a parking stall at the FRS (ferry) parking lot. What a miracle it was because as we arrived there were five spots available and after parking within just a few minutes all of the other parking stalls got filled. Phew! That was a close one. It was a tender mercy for us to be able to be get a spot and to be parked where there is twenty four hour security.
After parking, since we had an extra hour we meandered over to the castle that sits adjacent to FRS. We enjoyed the museum like quality of the castle and especially loved the views from up on top of the castle walls.
We had a little time left so we found a small souvenir shop close by.
I found these cute sunglasses.๐
After passing through immigration we were able to get on board the ferry.
Next stop...Tangier!
We got a seat next to the window:)
There is a huge barge passing right outside our window.
The straight of Gibraltar has about three hundred ships pass through it's waters EACH DAY!
That's a lot of marine traffic!
It was pretty smooth sailing except for a small part where it felt like the Med met the Atlantic. I don't know if that's right but it FELT like that.
At church two days previous the sister who spoke in Sacrament Meeting (Michele) gave us the number of the driver she uses when she travels to Tangier. Rick made contact with him and he met us just outside the ferry station in Tangier. His name is Moustafa and he was very nice to work with. Moustafa gave us a lift to the outer wall of the Kazbah (the old city) where we had to walk the rest of the way. He gave us some Morrocan Forints to pay a couple of guys to wheel our luggage to the hotel.
It was fun walking through the alleyways of the Kazaba to get there.
We stayed at a place called the Dar Sultan. We knew we wanted to stay in the old town and Dar Sultan had great reviews. We were not disappointed! This hotel is a three hundred year old home that twenty years ago was converted into a chic hotel.
It was FULL of little details that made the experience so fun.
We were first greeted by Kajasha. The hotel's hostess. She invited us to sit down and enjoy some Morrocon honey cookies and mint tea.
Then we were invited to go up to our room FOUR FLOORS up. Since this home is three hundred years old you can imagine the stairs. Steep and uneven but what a small price to pay for such an experience!
Here are some pictures of our room. It was very small but we had a beautiful terrace just outside of it.
After getting settled we were ready for some dinner. Kajasha recommended a place just right around the corner from our hotel. It was called the Macondo restaurant and while not very cheap had really good food. Plus, we were able to eat up on the terrace which had amazing views of the Kazbah. While taking pictures of the views the call for the Muslim late afternoon prayer started up. All of the mosques around the area started broadcasting out of their loudspeakers. It was really cool! We were on such a high and just kept feeling like we needed to pinch ourselves to be experiencing this!
Our food came to the table and looked os good and actually tasted so good! I didn't have any olives, though. No thank you!
Our restaurant terrace views...
Rick ordered the Keftka and I had the tagliatelle pasta.
After our dinner we decided to walk down (WAY DOWN) to the Medina for some shopping. It was such a cultural experience. Morocco is 95% Muslim so all of the women had their heads and bodies covered. There were many men wearing traditional Muslims robes and hats. There were lots of souks (shops) with many sellers selling their wares. The air was filled with spice and bread. People were milling about everywhere and we just loved being there. We stopped at a couple of shops and bought some souvenirs. We found a bakery overlooking with interesting looking desserts and had to stop to get a birthday goody to share. What a fun evening. Next we had to hike back the HUGE hill to the Kazbah gates. By the time we got back to the Old Town, the alleys to our hotel were deserted and we had a quiet walk back. After climbing those four floors we were glad to be back to our space for some relaxation.
Night pictures from our Dar (house) terrace.
Rick enjoying his birthday treat.
The next morning we were served a fantastic breakfast spread from Kajasha.
There was eggs, yogurt, pastries, cake and juice.
It was all served in a cute little nook off of the front room.
These sugar cubes were served in this cool container.
Same with the salt and pepper.
These little clay containers are found all over in the little shops.
This fountain of flowers gets changed each morning.
It was so pretty.
We had a fun time walking around the old town and exploring. Such beautiful and fascinating architecture and culture.
This is Muhammed. We happened upon his small painting shop in the old town and ended up buying one of his watercolors.
We then did a little more exploring only to end up back at his place.
The Kasbah is filled with little alleys and twists and turns. It's easy to get turned around and lost.
After we found ourselves back at Mohammad's shop he could tell that we were lost and gave this
little boy (named Immaran) a coin to take us back to the entrance of the Kasbah.
We made it!
Next we did more sightseeing of the Medina and completely enjoyed immersing ourselves into the culture and watching everything going on around us! We did little shopping, too:)
For lunch we stopped at Abou Tayssir a Syrian restaurant that was recommended from another couple staying at our hotel. They had been to this restaurant many times and really liked it.
This is Ghaish (pronounced Ryeesh, rolling the R, of course!)
He was delightful.
For our lunch we ordered the falafel which came heart shaped:) as well as the Chicken Chawarma.
It was very filling.
This was so cute...as we were getting ready to leave Rick was just chatting and visiting with Ghaish and all of a sudden he grabbed Rick by the head and planted a kiss on right on top of his head!
They both giggled and off he went to help other customers.
He must of felt of Rick's good and enlightening spirit.
In the afternoon we met up with Jamal (another driver) at the grand Socco (because Moustaffa was busy).
Jamal drove us to a different part of town where I was able to go to The Lady's Spa for a massage. Rick waited for me and was able to do some work on his phone. The massage was just ok. But an ok massage is better than no massage, right?
This is the only picture I have of the experience:)
Afterwards, Jamal brought us back to the gate of the Kazbah and we enjoyed some down time for the rest of the afternoon.
Here are some more detail pics of the hotel. It was truly amazing!
That night we walked back down to the Syrian restaurant and had dinner there. Ghaish was really busy so we didn't have much time to chat with him again.
We had the meat and rice special. It was a huge amount of food and we each left half of our plates full.
That was the end of our night:)
