We’ve already done one radio show from Morocco but we thought the country was worth a second look. We originally recorded this before boarding the boat for Spain but had some problems uploading it. Our voices sounded like we were on helium and we are still trying to figure out why. For this reason, you’ll see a link below where you can download the show, instead of the usual way we allow you to play the audio directly from our site.

Enough rambling, says Andrew! On with the show…. This time we share our thoughts on the city of Tangier, where many cycle tourists will start or end their journey, as well as a few tips and highlights of our trip. We have an interview with German cyclists Wolfgang and Gregor (see Gregor’s homepage), who we met between Tafraoute and Tiznit, and we review our Thermarest mattresses, along with a beer brewed in Morocco. Phew!! It’s a packed show but we had a lot to say on this wonderful country for cycle tourists. We were sad to leave.

 

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We rose before the sun this morning, dragging ourselves out of bed around 5:30am for some last minute preparations before the first ferry to Spain. No matter how much we pack and unpack, we never seem to get any faster at getting our bikes ready for the road after staying in one place for a while. Our belongings explode over the space of a room when we arrive and only reluctantly fit back into their original spots. This time we also had a bag of treasures from Morocco to squeeze in as well. They were all food related. Cycling seems to have brought out a ravenous appetite in both of us. Cookies from a patisserie, olives and dates from the market and a few chocolate bars bought with our last handful of dirhams. Soon we were cruising down the hill to the port. With our passports checked and boarding cards in hand we rolled onto the ferry and waved goodbye to Africa. Arriving shortly afterwards in Tarifa was a breeze. We quickly found our way out of the town, which is filled with surf shops, and starting making our way along the coast to Cadiz. We felt ever so slightly lonely, missing the enthusiastic Moroccan greetings from the side of the road. Before long we strayed onto a cycle path to Cadiz. The city would otherwise be a nightmare to get into because it is surrounded by motorways so the Transandalus trail sounded like a good alternative. Our luck on the track was mixed. Sometimes the surface was quite good and other times we found ourselves wondering how to get across a mucky stretch of water. This usually meant backtracking to the main road for a short detour, before rejoining the piste. The wildlife along the trail was the bonus for our hard work. An elk herd ran in the fields to one side of the road while eagles soared high overhead and occasionally a rabbit hopped in front of us. Late in the afternoon we found some picnic tables so we stopped to read our books and make supper, before setting up our tent in a field near dusk.

The crowing rooster woke us up at first light, his cock-a-doodle-doo standing out among the sounds of traffic from the streets below. “Who in the world keeps a rooster in the city?” I mumbled to Andrew as we both rolled over, trying to catch just a few more minutes of sleep. Later, over coffee and croissants, our friend and host Corinne told us that there were quite a few roosters in the neighborhood, along with a sheep or two. To us it seemed a strange contrast, a bit of rural life in one of Morocco’s main port cities. As we considered what to make for supper that evening (coq au vin??) Corinne told us about the changes taking place in Tangier. Before arriving we were quite apprehensive about what we might find, having read almost entirely bad things about the city, perched on the north-west tip of  Africa. Dirty streets, lots of hassle and its fair share of crime. That was what we remembered from the guide books, which commonly advised first-time travellers to Morocco to arrive instead in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

Now it seems Tangier is undergoing a revival. After years of being out of favour with the former king, the tide has turned and now the city is seeing a flood of investment, as well as competing for right to host Expo 2012. Nearly every street is under construction. Fountains and gardens are appearing and a new beach boardwalk has replaced what used to be a dusty shoulder to the main road. At the same time, Tangier has held on to its history, giving it a distinctly European feel, more so than any other place we have visited in Morocco. We wound our way through the medina, gazing up as Corinne pointed out balconies on the buildings, traces of the Spanish and Portuguese influences on the city. In the streets, among the traditional coffee shops, vendors fried up churros and we peeked into delis where Moroccans advised us on the best wines. We found displays of cheese that made us drool, having only seen the dire Laughing Cow (an expensive, over processed and tasteless spread) since boarding the boat in January. It was a refreshing change before we roll our bikes onto the boat once again on Saturday for the crossing to Tarifa. Tangier is a city where we arrived expecting the worst and will leave pleasantly surprised by its rejuvination and unique mix of cultures.

For days the landscape around us has changed our view of what we imagine to be Moroccan. Before we only saw sand dunes, camels and palm trees but now we notice rolling green hills that could easily be in England and fields full of cows that look so similar to our homes on the east coast of Canada. If it weren’t for the mosques we could forget that we are in Africa. Today we passed a set of shortwave radio towers with marshes on either side that was almost a perfect replica of the CBC towers in Sackville, Andrew’s home town. Only the mountains in the background gave it away as being somewhere else. We have also been pleasantly surprised by the coast as so much of it is still unspoilt, long stretches of nothingness. This may all change in a decade though, as already the sets of new holiday homes are starting to pop up in certain areas. One town where we could imagine many more new apartments being built is Asilah. We stopped there on its seaside walk for lunch and were surprised to find a mini Essaouira, with a whitewashed Portuguese medina and streets bursting with fashionable cafes and restaurants. The afternoon brought us a strong headwind for much of the way into Tangier but we finally arrived in the early evening to stay with our friend Corinne, a wonderful hostess and tour guide to the city. Soon we will be back in Europe but for now we are enjoying a last taste of Morocco.

Morocco has been a fairly cheap country to visit and today, nearly at the end of our travels here, we found the best bargain of the trip: free camping in Larache. Thanks to the ferry companies who run services between Tangiers and Europe there are “rest areas” with hot showers and sparkling clean toilets. They aren’t officially campsites but the camping cars are welcomed in their dozens to stay overnight (some stay for several days) and we were waved in as well to a nice patch of lawn for our tent. We have paid for many campsites which offered far less, so we were quite pleased with this little find. Our journey to Larache once again took us through rows of modern agricultural fields, where it seems to be strawberry picking season. Women filled the fields picking the berries and the main road was lined with men selling flats of the fruit. Tomorrow we hope to reach Tangiers, possibly camping a few kilometers outside the city if headwinds slow our progress. Weather reports we looked at a few days ago showed some rather strong breezes in the area and we already experienced a bit of this coming into Larache.

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