Day 4, March 5, Tangers

Saturday March 5

I look out through the window of my bedroom
when I get up in the morning
and look what I see:
Tangier's beach.
I am in a beautiful apartment with this
wonderful view
I am so happy!
and so very grateful!
God is Good!

Good view to this hotel with a pool

Saturday morning walking on the Medina

This is Bab El Fahs

in The Medina in Tanger

Bab means gate

Every city had different street signs, 

but always bilingual Arabic/French

here they are very pretty with colors.
In the mountains in the South they speak
more Berber than Arabic
but the signs are still only bilingual 
not trilingual, except a sign in the dessert that
you will see a picture later.

I asked myself why those men are with tools? I saw them before in Casablanca in the market and I thought they were selling used tools.
They sell a lot of used things in the market.
 They are waiting to be hired to do a job, they advertise their services with the tools they will use, like a plumber has drains, hoses, faucets, sinks, a painter has rolls, etc.

This is breakfast:

fresh fruit juice; the green, on the left is avocado juice.

Yes,  they drink it sweet in juice like in Brazil.

I made guacamole for dinner, they are not used to avocado with salt, only with sugar but they liked it.

If I could I would have another one right now!

And those pastries, mmm, sooo good.

Neil ordered breakfast for the 4 of us, 

the juice, pastries and bread with

cheese inside; we would not even
know how to order it, it was  a little shop
with a sidewalk table and view to the plaza
in the Medina,
We truly enjoyed it!

Marisa does not beg for food, she

respectfully watches, but does not

touch, and keeps her distance from food.

She is very well trained.

She is Neil's pet.

She is so beautiful that when I kept taking pictures of her

Neil said I was a cat paparazi,

he was getting annoyed with me with reason.

I took many pictures of her cat

but look:  have you seen any other cat more

beautiful than Marisa?

She came to Tanger from Thailand, she lived as a baby 

in a palace there, she is royal

And she loves computers

Does it look like the Mexican Panela?

 This is really fresh cheese and it is sold at the market 

I asked to taste it and tastes very fresh and creamy

I wanted to buy one.

Cats in the market

are kings,

they relax

and sleep

and nobody bothers them

More mint to be used  in Mint Tea

I saw fields and fields of mint when I was on the train

the fields smell very good

I noticed a big belly in this cat, it was a "she" and it 

was pregnant, not fat, although many cats in Tanger are

so well fed that no one looks skinny, like the ones in the Chella in Rabat, you will see pictures of them later, 

they look sick and neglected.

Future Tagines,

 they will be bought home alive 
and slaughtered at home

and eaten in Tagine

This is a Tagine, the food is

also called Tagine

it cooks slowly

in charcoal
it tastes good, it
is commonly cooked 
by a man in the restaurants,
outside in the sidewalk
I did not see woman cooking only men

Look: this man is cooking his Tagine for lunch
You put meat or chicken in the middle and tower it
with vegetables, do not stir it, it is served in the
same Tagine it was cooked, 
it is brought to the table and everybody
eats from it directly with the most
 delicious home baked bread

They sell natural charcoal to be used to cook Tagine,
 everywhere you go you see Tagines cooking
 it is like Pizza here.
It costs from 25 to 40 DH, 3 to 5 dollars per Tagine.

I ate eggs almost everyday in omelette's and hard boiled eggs,

Moroccan seem to eat lots of eggs, in every market I saw eggs

being sold. Hard boiled for 1 to 2 DH, and Omelette's for 10 to 15 DH.

2 different type of Tagines, 

the conical with glaze and decorated

and the plain unglazed clay,

 and the bottom to keep the charcoal

Pretty but I could not buy it, as I could not carry it

I I saw this on the street and I decided to have a picture taken

Beautiful clock and the time is right, it was about lunch time

and we had a delicious lunch in a very Moroccan restaurant

not a touristic place. Again, fish and some vegetables.

We relaxed in this tea place, had Mint tea and enjoyed this comfy place, it was like our private room, nobody else was there.

 On this roof  scenes of the Bourne Ultimatum were filmed

 with Matt Demon

The most impressive thing is that they filmed scenes of the movie too in Neil's home

The ceiling and walls are made in this

clay material,

the picture does not show that

it is 3 dimensional, it is the roof in the pharmacy.

This is a pharmacy with natural herbs

All lined very pretty

A Henna hand  tattoo

very common in Morocco

Purchasing a rug takes time and negotiation

"I think I want this one", Teresa said
after spending an hour looking at many carpets

she is a master in bargaining,
she got one at a very good price,
they can pack it for you, and even mail it
see at the bottom a package?
it has a rug

The carpet building had this view from the roof of Tanger

The tower is very old, it is a

a synagogue or a mosque,

What is it Neil?
They pointed  out to me both,
but I think this is a Mosque.
Tanger was an international city and it had many Jewish people living there.

Traditional green clay tiles adorn many roofs of old buildings.

Overlooking the Port of Tanger
  a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000. It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The history of Tangier is very rich due to the historical presence of many civilizations and cultures starting from the 5th century BC.

 Between the period of being a Phoenician town to the independence era around the 1950s, Tangier was a place —and, sometimes a refuge— for many cultures. However, it was not until 1923 that Tangier was attributed an international status by foreign colonial powers, thus becoming a destination for many Europeans and  Americans

The city is currently undergoing rapid development and modernization. Projects include new 5-star hotels along the bay, a modern business district called Tangier City Centre, a new airport terminal and a new soccer stadium. 

Common roofs in Tanger with satellite dishes everywhere, 

they do not pay any monthly fee like us, so even poor people have satellite TV

I never seen so many beautiful tiles

Teresa declared :"I came to shop", and shop she did,

she bought a Tagine and a carpet and took good part
of the day  looking and bargaining,
Sometimes I grew impatient
because I was not shopping yet.
When I visit her in Lisbon I will see this Tagine again.

We carried Marisa all day long in our tour,
she did not get tired and looked always very
interested in all the sights.