Tangier 20 June

Getting no joy from the Safmarine people of Casablanca and even less from Crown Logistics, they decided to go to Tangiers and get things done from there. So, early, that Saturday, we hopped onto the morning train with all the luggage. They booked first class and had enough space to put all their things in a 6-seater compartment.

Train ride

It was a comfortable journey and the scenery just passed by: small towns, bigger ones with loads of apartments and farmlands with apple, citrus and olive orchards mostly. There were maize and sunflower plantations too. It did not look as orderly as the plantations in South Africa. Here, agriculture seems to be labour intensive and more ‘manual’.

It was a five hour trip. We reached Tangiers early afternoon and had to haggle for a taxi to take us some 6 km up the main road to our hotel. We checked in and then we left to walk to the ‘passenger’ port to see where we pick up the others the  next day, then we did a ‘reconnaissance’ to find out where to eat that evening. The place was pretty empty, it was Saturday afternoon.

However, after a bit of rest, they decided that it was time to investigate the eateries and by then there were loads of people on the streets, women, children. It was still daylight at 19h30 but temperatures were certainly cooler. We stopped at a fish place and ordered a fish platter for two. There came a huge platter with calamari, soles, small pink prawns and a whole grilled fish on a bed of sliced cabbages. It was certainly a very generous serving. It was fresh, moderately tasty. The prawns were small and not deveined. The prawns were sweet and did not have the grit feeling you get when they are not deveined.

Harira

The movement of people by then was quite interesting. Many dropped in on the eatery where we were to have a bowl of ‘harira’ and bread and off they went, ambling along the boulevard Mohamed VI: men, women, babies, children, young, old, all sorts… the walk back to the hotel was a bit of a climb but it was interesting to see the nightlife.

The next morning, after a breakfast of olives, breads, cheese, prunes and freshly pressed orange juice, we were off on the roads. First was to find the offices of the shipper. It was Sunday but they wanted to do a ‘reconnaissance’, then disappear into the market of the old town to investigate what was of interest. It was still early despite the fact that the others said they were also taking an earlier ferry from Spain. We stopped at one of the innumerable cafés in the market for some orange juice. They did not get hassled too much, the shops were just opening.

The place is fascinating, the detail they put in the construction of these buildings, built  barely a few metres from each other. Not much tile/mosaic work is to be seen in the old town but the work, balustrades, doors, lintels, burglar bars etc was nice to see. Many of these structures date from the time when Tangiers was an international city and have been well maintained but others are in this state of decrepitude you tend to see around these parts.

Tangier ferry port

At the port we were waiting under the one palm tree where we told the others (Hans, Elismé, Mariana and Stephanus) we’d meet them. Finally, they were out and there was another haggling session with taxi’s. It was agreed that she would go in a big taxi with the masses of luggage they had and the rest of them would follow with Coen on foot.

All together!

Finally, we were all at the hotel. Booking in was fairly simple, they had room for everyone. After a bit of freshening up, they all went out to check the lay of the land, have a bite, buy sim cards and they even got ‘dongles’ for 24 hours internet connection.

Cakes and more cakes

We went to investigate a ‘patisserie’ they saw the evening before. It was a well-appointed shop, its front part made in intricate mosaic and inside with piles and piles of fascinating cakes. They purchased some for tea: cornes de gazelle, sesame bites, roasted almond bites, baklava types with orange blossom water. They had those in the hotel’s garden, with mint tea. With a couple of hours for napping, we were out again to explore and find a place to eat.

Tangier Medina

On the way down into the old town, we were accosted by a guy who claimed that he was not a guide but worked at the hotel and only wanted to show us the way. In the end, he got cross because we seemed to know what we were doing and thanked him for his help and sent him off. By then he was saying that he knew a good restaurant with belly dancing and all.

Spices

More spices

Roaming the old town by night was a different feeling again. There were people everywhere. They looked in on a spice shop which they had found earlier. It had the most fascinating stuff: cinnamon, cumin, run of the mill spices but also argan oil for cooking as well as a different one for the face and body and some deer horns as well. There was mined salt and some fascinating looking plants too. More investigation should go into this.

I was tired and she was also feeling weak in the feet. We only felt all this when we got back to the rooms.

The next morning, after breakfast, they went off to the Safmarine offices to meet the people who would tell them whether or not the cars can be delivered in Tangiers or in Casablanca. We had to wait a bit for the right person to come in and when he did, he explained in detail what had to be done in order to have the cars discharged in Tangiers.

Negotiations with SAFMAINE

After that there were a few hours of admin work to be done: letters to write and sign, deliver, shippers to be phoned and such. In the midst of all this, they were to learn that the ship was late leaving Dakar already and did not make the connection to Tangiers when they were expecting it. Then the Tangiers docks were on strike too. So, they have to devise a plan C and eventually D.

 In the meantime we had walked back to the patisserie to order ‘bastilla’ but walked out because they were charging extortionist prices at that place. Lunch, then was, again schwarma and chips.