WHERE ARE WE ANNE?: IN THE FADED FOOTSTEPS OF SPIES, ARTISTS, WRITERS AND HIPPIES

TANGIERS, MOROCCO

Hello readers, far flung fond few. Sorry for the long radio silence. I hereby present the first post in a series from Morocco.

It's been a grand experience across many landscapes starting with our landfall on Tangiers on 6th November. The fast ferry which isn't very, got us from Tarifa, Spain across the Straits of Gibralter to Tangiers, Morocco. Goodbye alcohol, hello to the perfume of hashish in the streets.

Tangiers is undergoing a makeover of it's waterfront. A squillion dollar project is underway, building breakwaters and a glossy marina complex. They obviously want a slice of the Med sailing traffic. Acres of waterfront buildings are being raised which made our map a little redundant when we first arrived looking for where the streets were on the way to our accommodation.

We read about some of the street scammers in the guidebook but when they actually used the very lines we read about, I found it fascinating and was happy to hear more of their patter for the sport. Anne wasn't so keen so we'd do a 180 on the unshakeable ones. We were often told “you can't go that way, it is blocked, I will show you”. They even said that to our host, and she lives there.

We had some tips from our airbnb host on where to eat which was great for quickly orienting ourselves. Ok, maybe one restaurant tip was an overpriced dead loss in a worn out soulless tourist weary Fawlty Towers with mean unloved food to match but the others were good. We dined at one place that only the locals know about. A women's refuge where the women learn skills and put on a different set menu every day in a leafy courtyard. A nice little find for us and an important income stream for them.

Tangiers is an ancient town with a rich history. Famous writers and famous gays have hung out here in it's heyday. The call to prayer belts out over the densely packed Medina where one night a young kid held a toy gun to my head, another first. An interesting, gritty place, three nights in Tangiers was good but maybe one night too long, we were glad to be on the road again when we headed out to Chefchaouen.