Tangier was not on the agenda for Morocco. Sure, it sounded cool to visit the northern coast and the Strait of Gibraltar, but I already had a concrete AFCON itinerary focusing on other cities. Tangier was too out of the way so it didn’t make the cut.
But then we were told we needed to visit Chefchaouen. After taking one glance at “The Blue City,” my weeks of work on the itinerary immediately flew out the window. And with Chefchaouen being situated between Fes and Tangier, it just made sense to alter the plan, add Tangier to the mix, cut Rabat out, and add an AFCON match there too.
We actually didn’t do a heck of a lot in Tangier as we were already spinning from a hectic first few days in Fes. Tangier became a place where we could relax and breathe in the fresh sea air.
However, our arrival was anything but relaxing as we arrived to our seaside hotel at the exact same time as the Sudanese team. 😬
For a good half-hour, it was loud and chaotic and the most crazy check-in experience we’ve encountered. (see video)
Gimme a view
The city has a bit of a European vibe, which makes sense as it’s been a gateway between Europe and Africa for centuries. But it’s still so Moroccan. On the one day we had in Tangier, we made our way to the Petit Socco inside the city’s ancient medina and “rocked the Kasbah” by getting lost in all the alleyways until ultimately arriving at Bab al Bahr (Gate of the Sea) to look out at the Strait of Gibraltar. Not a long day, but a pretty one.
Gimme a sexy arch
Please add arches to all the things! Why do we even do straight doorways? So rigid. So boring.
Gimme a taste
While getting lost in the medina, we came across the food vendors. Fresh produce and freshly-caught seafood abound.
We also spied some men making the most interesting thing on what looked like hot steel drums. Turns out, it’s called warqa, and it’s considered the world’s hardest dough to make. I can see why. (see video)
Oh, and look at all those fresh olives! We could not get enough olives in Morocco. Dare I say better than Italy? We loved that wherever we dined in the country we would receive never-ending bowls of seasoned olives. Yesssss.
Gimme a beach (in a city!)
Morocco was cold and rainy for most of our trip, but that didn’t stop us from trying to get in some beach time. We just switched out beach towels for rain jackets. 😆
Our hotel was situated right alongside the city’s vast beach, the Plage de Tanger, and it was such a nice change from the closed-in and contained riad we had just come from in Fes.
Gimme a moment in an orange chair 💋
These orange chairs were the only place to sit on the beach. We enjoyed listening to the ocean and watching people walk by on camels… until someone came and kicked us out of those chairs.
Gimme a fun game
We caught a fantastic AFCON match between Senegal and Sudan in Tangier’s new stadium. And what a stadium! It was a super fun place to watch an event. We loved every second of that match. Plus I got to watch Sadio Mané play.
