Tangier Off The Beaten Path

No matter where I go in the world, there is always a Coca Cola sign and usually a Kodak sign to be seen.

Only 43 consumer product brands ring up annual sales of more than US$1 billion each and can be considered truly global, according to a study released in 2001 by AC Nielsen. The category with the most billion-dollar brands was beverages. The total Coca-Cola brand was number one among beverages at well over US$15 billion in sales, with its two sub-brands, Coke and Diet Coke, being billion dollar brands in their own right. Pepsi Cola and its associated sub-brands, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi (including Pepsi Light, Pepsi Max and Pepsi One), ranked as the number two beverage.

I suspect that Kodak will soon be fading off my traveling radar screen. With digital photography becoming more and more popular, it is a company that seems to be trying to reinvent itself and only time will tell if it is successful.

It seems that one of the big tourist things to do in Morocco (and other desert prone countries) is to ride a camel. I had already done so years before in Egypt so I felt no urge to do it again. But a number of the folks on my tour bus opted for that unique experience.

One of the reasons I think tourists like camels so much is their appearance. They have long eyelashes and a split lip that curves up, and a humped back, so that they resemble stuffed toys. But more than that, there is the exoticness of riding a beast seldom encountered in ones normal life. However, one soon learns that a camel’s gait throws the rider forwards and backwards, making for a really bumpy ride. One could almost get seasick from the swaying.

If you do take a ride, or just mount one for a photograph, let your mind’s eye imagine that you are riding with Lawrence of Arabia and his band on the way to some exotic desert oasis. By the way, did you know that Lawrence of Arabia hated camels?

But take to heart a word of warning. Camels are typically fleas infested so don’t be surprised when you find fleas on your person after even a short excursion on a camel.

If you decide you still want to take a ride, and you have some insect repellant with you, spray your pants or jeans or outer clothing before you mount up. That might discourage the fleas from changing residence.

It appears that wild goats are among the common fauna that you'll find near the seacoast as well as in the hills surrounding Tangier.

After the stop at Cape Spartel and on the way to a rest stop, these wild goats were feeding near the Caves of Hercules.

Seemed to be a good photographic opportunity to me.

A short five-minute walk south from the Caves of Hercules takes you to the ancient Roman site of Cotta, a small area of stone ruins just above the beach. The archeological excavations have revealed several wall sections and the layout of a Roman town, probably dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

A guide will probably soon appear to show you around this mixture of villa and Roman industrial complex, with its baths, temples, shrine, oil press and central courtyard lined with vats that were used for processing oil and the other products of the town.

Like many of the classical sites on the Moroccan coast, Cotta specialized in the manufacture of the rancid sauce made from fish guts called Garum (anchovy paste) that was beloved of the Romans.

According to Greek mythology, 4,500 years ago Hercules found rest here after finishing his Twelve Labors. These caves, whose mouth opens onto the Atlantic and are flooded at high tide, are partly natural and partly manmade caverns.

When I visited the caves the tide was high and we couldn’t get into them.

But these large holes in the ground, on the hillsides, have water gushing up through them when the tide comes in. It’s thought that some ancient culture found the limestone useful and carved millstones out of the solid rock causing, over many years, caves to form as a result. If that is true you will wonder how they could do it. And you’ll realize what hard work that would have been for them with the crude tools at their disposal.

At low tide, the significant photographic opportunity found here is the cave's seaward opening that frames the stunning blue of the ocean and sky and resembles a reverse silhouette of Africa. Also notable is a space of sea whose clear depths shift with the sea’s slow movement from the deep green of emerald to all the colors of the opal while in the sky above circles flocks of seagulls - noisy and insolent. Swimmers need to be cautious here as the water currents, just offshore, can be very strong and rather dangerous for weak swimmers. Stick to sunbathing if you're not sure.

Looking out to sea from the rocks near these caves, your mind’s eye can imagine pirate ships running before the wind in the distance, as it was along this Barbary Coast that the pirates of the region once headquartered.

Some say that these caves were once joined under the sea to St Michael's Caves that provides one theory about how the apes got across to Gibraltar from Africa.

It is also my understanding that these caves were used on a cover of the Led Zeppelin album “Houses of the Holy”, the one with the children climbing the rocks and looking into the pools of water.

Another thing to look for, located about 500 feet (150 m) from the caves of Hercules are the old 2nd and 3rd century Roman ruins of Cotta.

There is a very nice view of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea off the roadway area adjacent to the Cape Spartel Lighthouse. From here, as well as the lighthouse, you get grand views of Europe on a clear day.

Shown in the picture are just a few of the tourist shops, vendors and local entrepreneurs selling photographic opportunities with their donkeys.

All in all, this was a very nice place to visit.

Once we were done taking pictures of the donkeys we continues along until we reached Cape Spartel, on the Atlantic coast. The lighthouse, 312 ft. above sea level, built in 1864 at the cost of the sultan of Morocco, and maintained at the joint expense of England, France, Italy and Spain, is the only one on the western coast. It is provided with a large fixed intermittent white light for the safety of passing ships. This spot is considered by political convention to be the most northwestern point of Africa and the African intersection of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Cape Spartel, famed since antiquity, also contains the Caves of Hercules - for centuries the haunt of the Barbary Corsairs, the savage pirates who were the curse of the Mediterranean.

This is a very nice spot from which to take landscape pictures from along the cliffs as well as views of the Strait of Gibralter from the Cape Spartel lighthouse. You will be able to enjoy the breath-taking view over the Atlantic, onto the Strait of Gibraltar and - weather permitting - onto the Spanish coast – which on a clear day is easily visible from here. This site is very pretty as the windy straits that open onto this extreme promontory of the African continent are covered in rock-roses and cork-oaks.

You will probably only spend 20 or 30 minutes around the lighthouse.

After that you’ll probably want to spend another 15 to 30 minutes bargaining with the vendors who have set up shop in the parking lot. These vendors change all the time but often they will have carved goods, jewelry, leather, caftans and t-shirts to name just a few of their wares.

To get to Cape Spartel the most convenient route is over a zigzag road that passes through the wealthy residential district of Marche aux Boeufs, and along the new mountain road edged with elegant villas. Although there are not many places to get photographic views, it is an area of sumptuous villas and royal palaces. These mansions are quite magnificent with gorgeous gardens, and ornate gates. It is interesting to note that foreigners own many of these villas. The mountain Jebel El Kebir forms the hills upon which this district resides. In the 17th century, this wooded hill area provided cover for the Moors in their battles against the Portuguese and the English. Proceeding west, Jebel El Kebir provides the seaward extremity which forms Cape Spartel, the northwest angle of the African continent.

Beyond this area you continue along through, forested hills covered with a uniquely Mediterranean variety of pine tree that were all planted by volunteers. In the mountains of Morocco there are large forested areas of oak, juniper, cork, cedar, fir and pine. On the south coast there are stands of Argon - unique thorn trees. The fauna includes rabbits, squirrels, gazelle, wild goat, wild boar, panther, baboon, fox, and the horned viper.

Just before reaching the Cape Spartel lighthouse the scenic drive comes upon long golden ocean beaches and the blue Atlantic Ocean. Our tour bus pulled over to the side of the road, while still in the heights, for a glimpse of the beaches and a new resort. Of course the local kids knew that the tours were stopping here so, being the entrepreneurs that they are, they had donkeys out for the tourists to take pictures – and pay them for that privilege of course.