Tarifa to Tangier & on to Casablanca

Checked into Hostal Las Margaritas in Tarifa to discover we are about 3 blocks from Puerta de Jerez, the gateway to the old town.

This is the only one of four original gates still standing.  The plaque on it commemorates September 21, 1292, when King Sancho IV took Tarifa back from the Moors.

It's pretty easy to get anywhere in Tarifa on foot in a half-hour...

...except walking on the endless (actually 10 km) Playa Los Lanus.  A truly beautiful and uncrowded beach, with very few beach bars or restaurants.  It's so pleasant without the commercialism.

Photos below are looking up and down the beach.  No seaweed, no seashells and only a few tiny stones.  Shallow water good enough for some body surfing or a board.

Tarifa is where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, so the water is too cold for us, but others are happily swimming.

Then there's the even closer beach at Calle Batalla del Salado.

Button up against the wind or you'll be sand-blasted.  This is one of Europe's primo kite surfing areas ... and do these athletes get air.  They fly.

We drop into the FRS Ferry depot to orientate ourselves to where we have to be early the day of departure.  They invite us to trade our online tickets for boarding passes and thus avoid lineups on the day.  Great advice.

Some photos from Old Town Tarifa:

The watchtower below, built in the 1930s remains permanently closed due to damage sustained in the Spanish Civil War.  Its dimensions are impressive.

Castillo de Santa Catalina

The fortress below was built in the 10th century & named after a military leader.

Castillo Guzman el Bueno

A water fountain & its tap

Some street art, a gate & giant fish sculpture high in the air

Time to get the ferry to Tangier.  If you go: get in line early to get your exit stamp from Spain and to go through security to be among the first on the ship.  

Go directly to the front left side and get your  Moroccan entry passport stamp.  Those who were later had to stand in line for the whole ferry journey, while we relaxed.

Photos below are through the ferry window of the pilot boat approaching, coming along-side to  escort and then leaving:

I was lucky, the ocean was calm.  If you get seasick and it's at all windy, take preventive measures.

All is easy landing on the Tangier side.  Have your passport open for inspection at your Moroccan entry stamp, then you're quickly on your way.

Despite what we had read about hoards of touts approaching to sell you tours etc., we were not approached by even one.

The big task ahead is to get Moroccan currency.  Online we read about non-functional ATMs at the port, and to go into town to a bank to avoid touts and all kinds of wild plans.  We lucked out...walked to the FRS ferry booth in the parking lot.  The man spoke perfect English, exchanged our Euros at a really good rate and directed us to the Grand taxi stand where we paid a small sum to be delivered to the train station to get to Casablanca.

Train tickets cannot be purchased online so hoping we don't have to wait for hours.

The train station is large, clean and comfortable.  Here, wandering stray cats are very visible.  Outside there seemed to be a feeding station where some kind soul(s) are trying to help.

Within 45 minutes we are comfortably seated in our reserved 2nd class seats for an inexpensive two-hour journey on a clean, quiet fast train.  The speed of the train is posted.  Below is a snapshot of a moment in time:

It's a Petite Taxi that we take to our Hotel Ambassadeur in Casablanca.  The driver is friendly and chatty in good English.

Its the holy month of Ramadan which means, among other things, no eating from dawn to dusk for people of the Muslim faith and we are too hungry to wait until 7:30 PM.  Hotel staff direct us to a restaurant a five-minute walk away that remains open.  We have our first real tagine.  It's sizzling hot and delicious.  It won't be our last.

The next day we taxi to the Hassam II Mosque.  Taxies are very inexpensive here.  Make sure your driver uses the meter, it costs less than trying to strike a bargain with him.  Walk away if he doesn't have or won't use the meter.

There is an amazing number of statistics about this Mosque which is a tribute to the former king of Morocco (Hassam II), so I'll only repeat some highlights.  It took seven years (started July 1986; completed August 1993) to build with about 10,000 craftsmen.  The prayer hall can accommodate 25,000 and the esplanade an additional 80,000.  There are many estimates of whether its the 3rd, 5th or 7th largest mosque in the world.  No matter, it is enormous and impressive.  There seems to be agreement that it has the tallest minaret in the world, soaring to 210 meters and capped by a spotlight that shines east towards Mecca.

The mosque complex includes a prayer room, ablution room, baths, a Koranic school, a library and a museum.  It is built to withstand earthquakes and is partly on a platform over the Atlantic due to the wishes of King Hassam II:

"I wish Casablanca to be endowed with a large, fine building of which it can be proud until the end of time.  I want to build this mosque on the water, because God's throne is on the water".

Modern building techniques include a heated floor and a mobile roof that can open in five minutes.  We got to see it open today, which doesn't usually happen on a Saturday.  There are fifty Murano glass chandeliers from Italy.  Our tour does not cover the whole mosque.  Apparently somewhere part of the floor over the ocean is glass.  Nature was to be included in this building with the roof that can open to the sun, sky and wind and the floor where water can be seen.

Photos really cannot do justice to the beauty of this building.  The first four try to give a sense of the enormity of the structures:

Then some photos from the prayer room:

Some details

The beautiful tile work in the building is done by an ancient method described here:

Just some of the intricate tile work found throughout the complex:

A sideways look to see the depth of work

The roof that opens to the sky is quite the engineering marvel:

The ablutions room is enormous:

Another huge space downstairs

Some of the buildings and structures that are part of the complex:

After lingering to appreciate the mosque, we walk the promenade that extends from it.  This is a deliberate attempt to create a family-friendly and people-gathering space.  There are shelters with tables and benches; outdoor gym equipment; the rocky beach where people are clambering around; and a playground.  Some people are in the ocean in rubber tubes and some with the tubes are closer to shore and appear to be gathering some kind of food from the sea.  We pass this man just coming from the sea with his tube and his catch in plastic bags in a basket.  He is happy to be photographed.

We walk around to where you can see the lighthouse in the distance, and back.

Reading, there is some discussion of controversy about the mosque.  Some say there is discontent about how much it cost to build; some say that people living there were expropriated without compensation.  Who knows where the truth lies.  The area around the mosque is clearly economically disadvantaged.  Someone has done some beautification of the apartment housing in the neighbourhood by painting murals on the ends of some buildings.

The next day we walk towards the King's Palace and Quartier Habbous.  On the way there we see this:

Through a gate, we see a tattered Canadian flag outside an office in a huge, run-down building

There are lots of flags near the palace.  Roads and the grounds are cordoned off and surrounded by police.  We cannot visit the palace this day as the King (Mohammed VI) is in residence.  A policeman kindly gives us directions to Habbous ... walk straight for 6 or 7 minutes ... you will come to many police ... at the last policeman turn right and there you are.  His directions are perfect.

We'd love to have more time at this market but can only linger for an hour.  Men everywhere were shining brass and silver.  People were trying on Kaftans and slippers.  The mounds of olives glistening in the sun called to us.

Random Habbous:

Many beautiful lamps

We're off to different accommodation for one night, then leaving Casablanca in the morning on the train for Rabat.  The view from the window in our room:

The train station is the white building with the clock tower in the background

It's a busy two weeks in Morocco, next posting is likely to be from Greece, while relaxing on Crete.