The Rooftops of Tangier

TANGIER

Claire and I hop on the night to train to Tangier and a cool girl named Laura, from Perth, who'd traveling solo around Europe/Morocco. The train was comfortable actually! Slept the whole way.. We arrive in Tangier and split a taxi to the port and then through the medina to get to our hotel. We wait outside for an hour cuz no one answers the door at the hotel! We make a little contraption out of a string to tie to the door knocker and still whilst sitting down hehehe we're so silly. This guy Abdul is bothering us, offering me some hashish (the size of a tennis ball!) But I didn't come to Morocco to buy drugs.. He tells us about "the moskee!" and tries to get us to go to another hotel- nice try Abdul. Finally, one guy comes to open the door and ushers us inside- we tell him unhappy we are to be kept waiting...but the place is exquisite. Oh, how to describe?Tiled walls adorn the place, nice rugs and carpets and arched doorways. And COLOR! Even the stairway is gorgeous. We have the massive master suite, with two BIG beds. And the roof! It's right in the sun with a view to die for. Let's see, there's the port, with aquablue waters. In the distance are hillsides with houses built on them. And we are surrounded by the Kasbah on the other side, house rooftops are built up like tetris cubes, with laundry hanging out to dry in the warm sun. Mosques stick up as the highest points, one at the the very top of the Kasbah. Everything is generally white white white, but there are splashes of blue here and there. I hear a rooster crowing, a kid crying, whistles from the port. I have a panoramic view from our closed-in rooftop veranda, so there's so much to see. Woman wearing bandanas on their heads hang their laundry out ot dry. Actually, there's really only womens on the rooftops, no men to be seen. It's the opposite in the street: the men are out selling. When Claire and I are outside in the sun, sipping mint tea, the call to prayer rings out over the city, from every mosque, just a chorus of chanting. In the distance, out over the Strait of Gibraltar, are mountains, with the sun dipping in and out of the clouds. I'll stay in the veranda and read, rather than more souk-shopping. But as we walked through this morning, I noticed it's already a lot calmer and more relaxed than Marrakesh- it's not tourist driven; it's just a way of life. And that's what makes it more enjoyable and more natural. Not hectic, in-your-face, but chill and really beautiful, ready to enjoy and be savored.
Off to Córdoba!