Monday April 21, 2025

After breakfast we pack our bags, say goodbye to Ali, and walk through the narrow street to our car. The guard with his yellow jacket waves and bows and wishes us the best, while he helps us to manoeuvre the car from between other cars.

Then we move through familiar streets, through a gate in the old city walls, past a dozen traffic circles, avoiding pedestrians and donkey carts, until the roads become better and wider, and lined with palm trees, until we hit the toll road to Tangiers.

Like all important roads here, it is excellent quality and a speed of 120km/h (80m/h) is quite realistic.

We basically follow the coast due north. Left of us is is the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes we see a small bit between the hills. The land stays fertile and moist enough for agriculture. We pass many plastic greenhouses with banana trees. The large hills are covered with fields of different crops. It almost resembles Auvergne in the south of France, with its peaceful fertile hills.

The trip is uneventful but pleasant because of the landscape, and after about three hours we arrive in Tangiers.

This big city is more pleasant than I imagined. I thought it would be dark dirty and industrial, because of the harbor. But to my pleasant surprise, it is modern and clean. The houses and highrises are mostly white, which reflects the sunshine and makes it airy and positive.

Through some traffic jams we make it to our hotel (named after the famous Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam). We manage to park our car in the busy street and after sole rest we go for a stroll to the harbor. 

Tangiers has a nice waterfront. Two gigantic cruise ships are docked in the distance. In front of is, in wonderful green-blue water lie a hundred small yachts. On the other side of the boulevard, in the blinding sun, are classic stylish hotels. Walking west, remnants if the old fortress gradually take over parts of the white walls. First some parts of the hotels are the ancient stone walls, then the bottom part becomes ancient defenses while on top are white buildings. Lastly all is fortress - now museum.

In the harbor we see the ferries for Spain and after some inquiry Sisi proposes that tomorrow we cross the Strait of Gibraltar and sail from Africa to Europe for a day. If there is enough time in Spain, we will try to visit Gibraltar. The idea is very tempting and we decide to go for it. Adventure still exists…

There are very many spanish tourists here, and the souq has a decidedly european touch. Through narrow winding streets we work our way back to the Omar Khayyam. I manage to ask the owner of  tiny restaurant to cook six eggs for me - for breakfast tomorrow morning, because we will leave early in the morning.

Then we are back in our room where we relax and I write these lines.

Tomorrow we will cross the Pillars of Hercules!