When I think of Morocco my mind automatically goes to couscous, tajines, crowded marketplaces, and Humphrey Bogart. Well, I would have to say I think my mind was right. Even though Tangier is probably outside of the norm for Morocco, given its proximity to Spain, the stereotypes seemed fairly true for our daytrip. First, we drove around Tangier towards the high-end neighborhood of California. The residences here are huge estates and the owners include the Governor of Tangier, the current President of Morocco, Mohammed VI, and a prince of Saudi Arabia. Once we had finished looking at all the extravagant estates we headed outside of Tangier to the Cap Spartel, which is supposedly the most northwestern point of Africa and it is also where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.
We spent a few minutes there and then we drove to the Grotte d'Hercule or Caves of Hercules where Hercules allegedly died after separating Gibraltar from Africa. Inside the Caves of Hercules there are several places where you look out into the water and one of the openings looks like a mirror image of the continent of Africa and the island of Madagascar and at another opening there is a rock whose silhouette looks like the head of a lion. One chamber off of the main cave has round carvings in the rock where they quarried circular millstones. After the caves we headed back into Tangier for lunch. Originally I was disappointed because September is the month of Ramadan in Islam and Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during the entire month, so I wasn't sure if we were going to get to eat much local food. Luckily our guide took us to a place that was pretty good despite being touristy. Our Lunch was family style and the entrees were very tasty. we had a preserved leon and chicken tajine, a couscous with a chicken and vegetables, and chicken pastilla, which is like a Moroccan phyllo pie. The preserved lemon and chicken tajine was the best. The chicken was moist and tender and the sauce went well with bread or couscous.
The chicken on the couscous was a little dry, but the couscous itself was better than i've had back home, it seemed lighter and the grains seemed more fluffy.
The pastilla was interesting in a good way. I had read that it is usually a layered pie that can be quite thick, but this one was pretty thin and all the filling seemed to be mixed in together. The pastry sheets were really crispy and light and the filling was flavorful, but the powdered sugar and cinnamon they sprinkled on the top make the dish a little too sweet for my taste, but it was still really good.
After lunch we walked around the Kasbah or fort for a while, then we went into the Medina or old town and walked around some of the shops and the market or souk.
The market was packed and just walking around was a chore, but I guess that's kind of what I expected. There were vendors selling whole goats and lambs, fresh fruits and vegetables, preserved lemons, olives, dried figs and dates, breads and crepes, and various other foodstuffs.
Once we exited the market we met up with the minibus and headed back to the boat. For the most part Morocco was just as I had imagined it, even if I didn't see Humphrey Bogart.
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