We woke up early in the morning to catch a bus from Seville to Algeciras, Spain. From here, we went and purchased ferry tickets to Tangier, Morocco. The journey was a two hour boat ride across the water, and the ship was huge, carrying cars and cargo. When we arrived at port, and we had to catch another bus into town. Once we caught a local city bus, we were dropped off at the bus station with chaos all around us. There were people shouting all over the place, people begging for money, and strange stares at the white people. It was quite intimidating at first, but once we got our bearings we headed to our hotel. The walk was not very far, but quite steep. Our hotel was located near the medina of the city (old quarter) and close to the water front. We dropped our bags, and headed to dinner. The Moroccan food was quite good, and we usually ate Tangine chicken, cous cous, olives, cheese, or seafood. They also drink a lot of mint tea with loads of sugar. We typically drank that every day along with our honey pancakes. They called the tea “Berber whisky,” since they don’t drink any alcohol here.  The girls were getting cat called all night, so we decided that we should head in before dark. There were a lot of touts just like in Asia. The next morning, we caught a bus to the small, mountain town of Chefchaouene. All of the buildings are painted blue for some reason in this town, and it is located in the Riff Mountains. We stayed here for two nights, and did a lot of shopping at the local markets. In this town, they sold a lot of handmade rugs, blankets, and handicrafts. The Berber women live in the mountains, make these items, and then sell them in town. It was a very cool city, and we came out with some good gifts. In this town, we also witnessed a bus station brawl with lead pipes and broken bottles, as well as a stoned-out taxi driver having a wreck. We were also offered to stay in someone’s house for $5 a night…. No thanks. We will leave those stories for your imagination. After leaving Chef, we headed south for Fes.

In Fes, we arrived at 22:00 at night, and had a stressful journey to our guesthouse. There were people in the streets offering to take us to our guesthouse for money, which you do not want to agree to. They typically take you to their home and offer you drugs. When you decline, they beat you up, end of story. In every city in Morocco, we stayed in the medina, or old part of the city. The medinas are typically a maze of streets laid out with no rhyme or reason, and they are very difficult to navigate. The owner of our guest house finally found us, and helped us reach the hotel. We stayed at a nice riad, and they offered a delicious breakfast every morning. In Fes, we did a lot more shopping since it is the handicraft capital of Morocco. Here, everyone wanted us to come into their shop, and always pulled the line “you are the first customer of the day, I will give you good price.” This is the city where all the leather goods are made. We were all three sick most of the time in Fes with a sinus infection, and this made the crowds a little difficult to deal with. The options from Fes to Marrakech were: bus for 9 hours, train for 9 hours with no AC or assigned seat, or 1^st class train tickets with AC for $10 more. Since we had already taken two long bus rides, we opted for the 1^st class train tickets to Marrakech. We drove through the desert, and had a pleasant 8 hour journey.

In Marrakech, we had the most problems. It seemed here that the hagglers were the worst, and the tensions between tourists and locals were highest. Shop owners were literally grabbing us off the streets to come into their shops, and when we did not want to buy, we were sometimes cussed out. For a country where tourism is king, you think this would not happen. This was a huge turn off for us, and left us with a bitter taste. Marrakech did have a lot of wonderful shops, and I was used as the negotiator for buying things. Morocco is a Muslim country, and they don’t respect women like we do at home. So it was tough for them to get the best prices.  All the men thought that Grace looked like Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga, and there were many whistles throughout the day. There was also one instance where a snake charmer saw us walk by and threw a snake on my back. Laughingly taking it off, I noticed he wanted me to pay him. I refused of course because this was not what I asked for, and I was chased down the street. The men here were just too touchy and feely for us, and we were typically back at the hotel before 9 PM. At El Jemma Fna square, we ate at a bunch of the local food stalls, and had our fill of people watching. I was really in the need for a new pair of sandals, so I did a little bargaining at a stall. The guy wanted $12 for a cheap pair of Nikes. I offered $4, and after 10 minutes, got my way. I then found out after I left that one pair was completely torn on the back, and had been glued back together. I thought it was odd he only let me try on the left one. We even had people asking for money for cleaning the toilets in the airport and giving us directions to the nearest garden. It was like we were bombarded all day long with beggars.

So on the day we left Marrakech, we took a small flight to Casablanca where we waited for another flight to Madrid. Our flight was two hours delayed, and we were stuck downstairs with no AC and angry passengers.  We were getting hungry as well, so we went down to get some sandwiches. We ordered 3 turkey sandwiches and two bags of chips. The guy said 28 euro…. $35! His math was completely wrong, but there was no use arguing with him. We gave him the chips back, and the total was now 12 euros, go figure. Those were the most expensive chips in the world for $10 apiece. Do not get me wrong, Morocco was a great country, but just be prepared to haggle and watch over your wife. They actually did offer me camels in exchange for the girls….no lie. I of course refused the offer.

When we made it to a Madrid, we were in relief that we did not have to haggle any more. We spent the first day sight-seeing, and then went to a bullfight in the evening. This was a little different than what we thought it was going to be like. It was extremely interesting, and consisted of about 12 matadors and 6 bulls. All the bulls were killed by sword and knife, and this spectacle was not for the faint of heart. It was very up close and bloody, and there were some people who left.  It was a great cultural experience that may only need to be seen once.

During the rest of our time in Madrid, we went to Puerta de Sol, the Almudena Cathedral, the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, Sabatini Gardens, and various other sites around town. We all flew out of Madrid on September 24^th. Grace flew back to Knoxville, while Morgan and I flew to Istanbul Turkey. Here is where we are going to spend 12 days touring Turkey. We basically have one month left in Europe before our flight home.

Hope you enjoy the read!

Cheers,

David and Morgan