Tangier Favorites

Favorite thing: The Algeciras to Tanger Med ferries are the way I always enter and exit Morocco, from Spain, it's cheaper at €20 one way per foot passenger, and the hourly sailings operate eighteen hours a day, on the summer timetable. A free transfer coach transports ferry passengers to the roundabout at the main bus station, Gare Routiere ( keep your ferry ticket to show the bus driver ) or there is the option of the grand taxi rank just outside the ferry terminal, if you're in a hurry, because the transfer coach turns up when it feels like it.......

The main attraction of using the new Tanger Med port is that instead of being hustler-infested it's plain-clothes police-infested, pre-occupied looking for the usual suspects and providing security for tourists....

I only encountered one small insignificant change money tout, on my trip this year, but he was effectively put out of business when the port bank opened up at 9am.....

There are two stand alone cash machines in the terminal building, but one displayed a notice advising that if your card was retained to use the contact phone number...this is something to be avoided, nowadays I always ensure that the bank is open before using an ATM, having fallen victim to a confiscation for no valid reason at the Banque Populaire, Chefchaouen two years ago....

I also noticed that some of the ATM's in Tangier had worn-out keyboards which did not function properly, something else to beware of.....

So many hustles and pitfalls, sometimes going on my annual holiday to Morocco can seem like hard work, until I arrive at Essaouira's deserted north beach, and relaxing in the hot sun, with the prospect of a bibulous evening in all my favourite bars, everything falls into place and makes sense......

Have a good trip.......Benny.

Favorite thing: The Algeciras to Tanger Med ferries are the way I always enter and exit Morocco, from Spain, it's cheaper at €20 one way per foot passenger, and the hourly sailings operate eighteen hours a day, on the summer timetable. A free transfer coach transports ferry passengers to the roundabout at the main bus station, Gare Routiere ( keep your ferry ticket to show the bus driver ) or there is the option of the grand taxi rank just outside the ferry terminal, if you're in a hurry, because the transfer coach turns up when it feels like it.......

The main attraction of using the new Tanger Med port is that instead of being hustler-infested it's plain-clothes police-infested, pre-occupied looking for the usual suspects and providing security for tourists....

I only encountered one small insignificant change money tout, on my trip this year, but he was effectively put out of business when the port bank opened up at 9am.....

There are two stand alone cash machines in the terminal building, but one displayed a notice advising that if your card was retained to use the contact phone number...this is something to be avoided, nowadays I always ensure that the bank is open before using an ATM, having fallen victim to a confiscation for no valid reason at the Banque Populaire, Chefchaouen two years ago....

I also noticed that some of the ATM's in Tangier had worn-out keyboards which did not function properly, something else to beware of.....

So many hustles and pitfalls, sometimes going on my annual holiday to Morocco can seem like hard work, until I arrive at Essaouira's deserted north beach, and relaxing in the hot sun, with the prospect of a bibulous evening in all my favourite bars, everything falls into place and makes sense......

Have a good trip.......Benny.

Fondest memory: My best memories of Tangier, and which still exist today are the Spanish-inspired " Tapas " bars, which predominate late-night drinking, for those unfamiliar with the routine, if you order and consume a couple of alcoholic drinks, and appear intent on staying in the establishment for longer, small plates of free food are offered, as a compliment of the house in gratitude of your custom, but more especially in the case of Moroccan drinkers to prevent, or at best delay, the onset of raucous inebriation, on an empty stomach.........

Some Tapas bars are more generous than others, and in Tangier small fried fish, fresh from the harbour landings, accompanied by salad and petit pain bread are the usual offerings, as long as you keep ordering more drinks, the free Tapas will continue, supervised by the all-vigilant waiters, it's in their own interests to avoid a client becoming "legless".........

And, of course, at the end of the evening's session, he will expect ( and always gets a generous tip, typically Dh20 or more, depending on customer satisfaction )

A generous tip in Moroccan bars will always guarantee customer recognition and preferential service on a subsequent visit..............Benny knows best !

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Favorite thing: Tangier enjoys a Mediterranean climate and it can get quite hot during the summer months. If you are trying to miss the rainy season then late spring through to early summer is a good time. The winters are fairly mild with an average of about 20C, but can also be wet.

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Favorite thing: Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens) visited Tangier and commented “I would seriously recommend to the Government of the United States when a man commits a crime so heinous that the law provides no adequate punishment for it, they make him a Consul-General to Tangier”.

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Favorite thing: During the early days of World War II, US espionage operations were based in Tangier.
For the period between 1932 and 1956, Tangier came under the control of a 30 nations committee to be an international tax free zone. Wealthy expatriates used the city for financial fraud and smuggling operations.

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Favorite thing: Parts of the following movies were filmed in Tangier
Man from Tangier – 1957
The Living Daylights – James Bond movie. – Timothy Dalton
From Russia with Love – James Bond movie – Sean Connery
The Bourne Ultimatum – Matt Damon
The Wind and the Lion – Sean Connery, Candice Bergen
Prick up your ears Joe Orton – Gary Oldman

Favorite thing: In the Medina you will see mounts of olives, black and green. The countryside around Tangiers is very fertile and just perfect for growing olive trees. Morocco is the second largest exporter of olives (next to Greece). Olives are certainly staple in the Moroccan cuisine.

Favorite thing: My friend was working for the Calcuta sisters there in a house for single mothers, that are illegal in Morocco (single mothers), so I decide to visit her and while she was working I use to take care the children there, they were so sweet, so great, you could not stop loving them!

This was one of the mothers, No, she was not hurt, she had a problem with an eye ...

I am afraid my experience in Tangier was not very tourist, it was very therapeutically for me, as I was just dismissed from a horrible job, and my friend suggest me to go there, help them for a while, and she promise me I will see life completely different after that!

I agreed with her immediately!

Sometimes we need someone to remind us, how lucky we are to live in such wonderful conditions as we live in Europe...

maybe is not my best tourist travel but it has been the one that teach me more about this wonderful moms, broken families, new families (one of the single mothers got married while being there...). I was told while I was there that single mothers does not exist there, and their kids do not exist for their law... I am not sure if that is true still now... as Morocco is changing a lot.

The only thing I did not like was that I was suggesting not smoking in the street, as I was a woman! (I was suggested only to do it in my private accommodation!) Horrible for an addicted person LOL