Day two in Tanger started with a trip
to the American Legation. If you are unaware, Morocco was the first
country to publicly recognized the United States. The property below was a gift to the US and was the first American public property
outside of the United States. It is located in a very quiet corner of the medina and finding it was not the easiest of tasks. The directions in my travel book lead me to a small gate on the outside of the medina wall. I walked up the stairs to a small narrow street. Halfway down the street was a
small sign outside a set of large bronze doors. I knocked and this
tiny door within the larger door opened and a man looked at me then let me in.
Inside there were two large three story buildings that were connected
by a bridge.
It is usually hard for me to feel
patriotic about the United States when traveling abroad but I'll have to
say I was feeling pretty damn proud of the ol stars and stripes while I was in the legation. They had
copies of the letter George Washington sent to Morocco and the response Sultan
Mohammed III wrote which initiated the Moroccan–American Treaty
of Friendship which still stands to this day.
Translated it reads:
“In the name of the clement and
merciful God; There is no force or power but God. The servant of God,
Mohammed Ben Abdullah, may God aid him. To the great President of the
United States of America. Greetings to him who follows the righteous
path. We acknowledge the reception of the letter which you have sent
us defining the condition of peace. We are in agreement with you for
reconciliation and complete peace. We have written, as you requested,
to Tunis and Tripoli and, if God wishes it, all your wishes shall be
accomplished.”
Or so the translation in the museum claims. I have not quite mastered Arabic yet. Once the soundtrack of
Team America had stopped looping in my head I decided I have had
enough of the medina and wanted to explore the new part of town (new being a relative term). It
was of course more open and more European than the old town. A lot of similar stores
and items existed but they were nicer and the streets lacked the
claustrophobic feel of the medina.
One major difference was the onslaught of cars present on every
street. You really have to watch where you are going otherwise you
will be hit. You also have to be very aggressive or you will not get
anywhere. To cross the street you basically have to step in front of
cars and force them to stop. Otherwise they will keep on going and you will be stuck standing for a very long time. Once I got the hang of things it turned out to be quite efficient. There are no real
traffic laws here so people pretty much do what they want.
Ohh Haitian pizza! As I was walking
around I saw this group of tools.
I really wonder how much the locals
hate them. Some of you may know that my standing policy when confronted by a Segway tour is to point and laugh. Because I was not confident in my surroundings this did not happen. If I see them again I do not believe that group will be safe from ridicule. If you look closely in the next Photo you can see a sign
pointing to where you can rent a Segway.
By now my stomach was telling me it was time for lunch. The problem was that no one else felt the same way. Lunch
in Tanger (and im guessing the rest of Morocco) starts much later than I am accustomed to. My wondering the streets for something to eat at noon did not really work
for the local restaurants. All of their doors were open but they will wave me away when I tried to enter. I finally found a place in the medina
that was empty but was willing to serve me. My meal consisted of a main
dish of chicken, chick peas, onions, and potatoes in some sort of
curryish sauce and came with pita bread and what they called a salad.
I really am not sure what all was in this 'salad'. I
think the red things were beets but they were really sweet. The
orange and white stuff looked like fruit in mayo but tasted more like
mashed potatoes. And the rice was dressed with some sort of citrus sauce. The main course filled me up enough that I didn't need to mess
with the salad much.
With a full stomach I headed for my
last tourist attraction, the town kasbah. It was on the other side of
the medina so I had to once again navigate through a series of small
winding streets to get there.
The kasbah itself was not my favorite
sight of the day but there was a nice view from the top and they had these cool
cannons that still remained. There was also a small museum that was
fairly interesting but nothing spectacular. I would say it was worth
the 10 dh I paid to get in.
After all of this walking my feet were killing me
and I wanted to give them a break so I decided to head to the beach
to relax a bit. In Tanger gringos are allowed on the beach. So are camels. I'm not sure if that's an insult or not..
The cold water and sand really rejuvenated my lower extremities. The water temperature reminded me of the Oregon coast so it was not the most swimmable of
waters. Does wonders for the feet though.
I had read that Tanger was
a bit overwhelming for tourists and when I first got here I couldn't understood why people felt this way but after some time here I get
it. People are constantly approaching you to either be your guide or
sell you something. If you refuse politely they make you feel like the
asshole. It is not as bad in the new parts of the city but in the
medina it is relentless. I thought I could stay somewhat inconspicuous if I stayed low key and kept to myself but despite my best efforts I am pretty sure I look like this
to everyone:
And if you are wondering, the dude from
yesterday ended up finding me and wanted to 'hang out' all day. I
told him politely I didn't need a tour guide and he let me be. I have had my fill of Tanger and I am ready to head out to Spain. But first
I have to hit the local gym before it closes. Pump it
