48 hours in Tangier

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December 30, 2014

My husband and I had originally planned to spend a week and a half in Lisbon, Portugal for New Years Eve. Of course, realizing Portugal was near Spain, which is near Gibraltar, which is near Morocco; it only made sense to split a week and a half into four countries. We spent 10 hours in Gibraltar, 36 hours in Morocco, and admittedly, we drove through Spain and had lunch at a small restaurant on the way — totally counts in my book, right Graham Huhges?. The other 2 days we spend in Portugal.

But it was exciting for me. It would be my first time in Africa and I was too close to resist the urge to book a ferry to go. So basically, if you are in Lisbon, you can drive 5 hours to Algeciras (which is only two hours away from Gibraltar) and take a choppy 30 minute to hour ferry ride to Tangier.

You can be like us and book your hotel last minute at El Minzah Hotel which is a bit pricey but totally worth it. We paid about 290 EUR for two nights. It’s close to everything and it was a compromise I had to make with my husband who likes comfort.

At the hotel is a restaurant, bar, cigar lounge, guides to book tours with, and of course nightly belly dancing shows. The food is actually good considering it’s very touristy. If you only have a short time I’d recommend getting a tour guide. For us; we did it the way I like it.

The hotel also offers tour guide services for the day to explore the old city. I love tour guides so I’d recommend one. However for us, we had an unusual encounter for a tour guide….

We met our tour guide Sharif as we were getting out of a bus in the middle of the night looking for a taxi and some guy randomly comes up to us and he’s like I’ll be your tour guide and get in a taxi with us.

Considering we had no idea what was going on and the bus we had just gotten off of had dropped us off in the middle of nowhere we agreed. So he got us a taxi and took us to the hotel and we gave him our number and he said be ready at 8am.

So we got up at 8am the next morning and met him and went with him. Would I recommend finding all your tour guides that way? No, but for us it worked out. He took us on a great tour of the heart of Tangier and I even got to see a camel.

Our Tour Guide Sharif

We spent most of our day shopping and seeing the sites. We had lunch at Restaurant Mamounia Palace which Sharif said was featured in the movie Inception. Part of the movie was filmed in Tangier so why not?

Part of our lunch — lots of rice, veggies, and meat. The meat was quite good.

Scene’s from the open market area in Old Souk of Tangier which is a bustling marketplace. Well worth visit although your wallet may not be happy when you leave.

A man walks down the street.

Yes we bought a rug…. Don’t you judge me.

A small store with Spice and other household needs

Chicken for Dinner?

Fun to be a tourist

Our guide walks ahead of us in an open fruit market.

A taxi Bike zips by us.

Another highlight of our tour was the trip to the seaside where I saw the camel and a beautiful sunset. Tangier felt full of contrasts where there was a clear divide between rich and poor.

As we drove we passed a camel and I freaked out. This is a typical camel but there are so many varieties.

Driving through the “Hip” part of town. I wish I would have captured it but there’s a long waterfront area where you can just walk and walk and walk. The view is fantastic.