Memories of Morocco

Every now and then, I nostalgically sort through all my travel photographs, in an effort to recapture the fun of a trip I have taken to some exotic destination, or maybe just in an effort to organize my travel album. The pleasure of sifting through photographs in your hand is now lost, thanks to the digital age......now that everything is stored in the memory of a computer! In spite of the ease and convenience of digital pictures - where you can delete a picture cos you look terrible in it, where you can touch up something to make it look brighter and better, where you can accentuate one color more than the other - in spite of all this, I am convinced that old fashioned film photography, is the best kind. Anyway, I am rambling.....while sorting thru some pics yesterday, I came across these taken in the spring of 2008, on our European vacation to Spain, Lisbon and Morocco. Today I will share the pics of Tangiers, Morocco.

Tangiers is the gateway to Morocco and the country's summer capital. It is where Africa meets Europe and and was until 1950, occupied by neighboring Spain, separated by a mere 20 mile stretch of the Straits of Gibralter. We took the ferry from Algeciras, the southern most point in Spain, across the Straits. Tangiers is colorful, warm, bustling, exotic, old, mysterious and vibrant. Spain and France, the early colonizers of Tangiers have left their legacies on the city, producing an interesting hybrid culture. The bazaars are jostling with people and vendors selling fragrant spices, warm, fat, juicy fresh dates, nuts, honey, sweets, flat breads and wonderful fruits like cherimoyas and mangoes 

For those planning to go there, this will give you a taste of Tangiers and what to expect, and for those who have already been there, hopefully it will bring back wonderful memories!

Lovely blue pottery, I wanted to buy the entire shop

Brassware - lanterns, urns, plates....

Earthenware - pots, tagines and lanterns

Wonderful old buildings on the way to the Casbah

Meandering through the labyrinth like streets

More meandering......

Self appointed guide Mohammed with his cute son

Lovely colorful homes along the way

The allure of a doorway

Another doorway.......

Sweet, sticky, gooey, syrupy, street food...heaven!

Tagines, tagines and more tagines......picked up one for myself too

Jovial, old wizened women in the marketplace

Fabulous tabbouleh.....the best I have tasted!

If you want to read about our entire trip, go here! This is the start of the trip, you will have to keep clicking on "older post" below to read about the entire trip!