#It'sTImeForAfrica

I went to Africa.

There is a stamp in my passport for the continent of Africa.

I spent this last weekend in Morocco, and it was the most amazing trip of my life. It has been three days since I returned and it still is quite surreal. 

We departed early Friday morning from Madrid via bus to the city of Seville, a popular town in Southern Spain. After grabbing lunch at a little sandwich shop, we made our way over to the Consulate of Portugal. This was the place we met up with our tour group for the weekend (since we knew next to nothing about Morocco we thought it best and safest to travel with a group, best decision ever). From there we hopped on another bus and made our way to the southern coast, I got my first passport stamp leaving Europe at the port and then boarded a ferry. Taking a ferry across the Straight of Gibraltar into Africa was by far one of the coolest things I have ever experienced, from the balcony you can see both Spain and Africa all lit up under the full moon. 

We arrived in Tanger late that night and headed for dinner and settled in at the hotel; only it took me a little bit to settle in since I had a killer view from my balcony of the ocean and it was hard to leave that for bed.

Crazy Winds Crossing the Straight of Gibraltar

Post Ferry Hair

The View from My Balcony

We woke up bright and early the next morning to head to the city of Chefchaouen, the blue city. it is about two hours outside of Tangier. We entered into the Old Medina (the city center) which was completely surrounded by a castle wall/barrier. We grabbed lunch on top of the Cafe Aladdin, which was phenomenal. The views from the roof were amazing, you could see the entire city and up into the mountains which the city was named for. Lunch was really good too, we had a fresh pepper and tomato salad followed by a Moroccan chicken and rice dish with fruit for dessert. Following lunch we had a tour of the city from a local man, he told stories of the history as well as enlightened us about present Chefchaouen. The entire city is a Muslim city, as well as an entirely middle class city, it also used to serve as a stop for caravans. We walked the streets seeing the traditional old baths, the local baker where everyone brings their bread to be baked, the old caravan market, the outdoor laundry facility, the mountains the city was named after (it looks like horns, and the city name translates to four horns), and saw all of the beautiful blue and white streets. Following our tour we had time to wander the city ourselves and to bargain with the locals. I made my first real purchase other than a postcard here, I talked a local artist down to 120 dirhams (a little under 12 euros) for a large, original, hand painted canvas. We then returned to the bus to head back to Tanger for dinner, and of course watched Aladdin on the bus.

That night we had dinner and a show. We were surprised with traditional Moroccan music and a fire dancer. And I must say, for a fire dancer who looks like he was almost three times my age he was at least three times more flexible than me.

 

The view from my seat at the table

The traditional tile and blue front door

Pick your color dye mix

Moroccan Street Art

Hangin with Our Local Guide

Traditional Moroccan Music

Fire Dancer

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early again, this time to visit the coastal town of Asilah. At first glance I thought it was similar to Chefchaouen with it's blue and white buildings, but upon entering I was pleasantly surprised by the unique culture of this town. Asilah has an annual art competiton, but rather than painting normal canvases, they paint the walls of the city. The winners stay up year round, causing the blue and white streets to be filled with all sorts of different colors and designs. We were given a tour, in the middle of which I was told to jump the wall of the city. I was confused but I followed the guide who went up with ease, it was at least a four and a half foot wall, so after a couple attempts I managed. Luckily there was a platform on the other side of the wall here which created an amazing look out spot onto the Atlantic ocean. After returning to the ground we finished the tour, stopping at the wall of relationships, people come from all over the world and sign this wall with someone they love or looking for love (I signed alone, but I wasn't not going to sign it). WE then were given a bit more free time. Something about Morocco makes me a spended, and I bought an original turqouise and coral ring (coral is very popular in Asilah as it is supposed to bring good fortune and was for the royals originally). 

One of the Art Competition Entries

Signing the Wall of Relationships

Local Art Gallery

After Asilah we grabbed a lunch of pepper salad and kebabs and headed back towards Tanger. We stopped along the way at the Caves of Hercules, a really cool sea cave that is said to be wear Hercules lived. I' m not buying it, if you watch the movie it's pretty obvious he didn;t live in a cave, maybe it was a vacation cave, but whatever. It was still really neat to see, you enter into this damp dark cave and then out of no where is a bright light (hint: it's the sun) with water pounding against the rocks from the ocean. The pictures will never do it justice, as the water pouring in and the sunlight mixing with the darkness of the cave was one of the neatest things I've seen. It was stunning.

After the Caves of Hercules, we headed to the CAMELS. Yes, the oh so anticipated camel ride. Leave it to me to find the one crazy camel who needed a muzzle, his tongue hanging out everywhere. His name was Ali Baba and he did not let me get off of him following the ride, he would sit down so I had to jump into this guys arms. Once I was off he sat and looked at me with a goof expression. I'll take it though, I didn't get spit on, but one camel got kinda mad when I stopped taking selfies with him and he bit my ankle (can we say DIVA). Anyways the camel ride was SO MUCH FUN. Plus, where we rode the camels had a killer look out spot.

Caves of Hercules

Throwback to Greek Week last year as Hercules's muses

Cave of Hercules

We and my Diva Camel Bestie

Casual Camel Riding

YAY for CAMELS

Killer Look Out Point

After out camel ride we had to head back towards the port to cross back over the Straight of Gibraltar and back into Spain. But it was one amazing trip, one that I won't ever forget about. It literally was the trip of a lifetime and I took it with seriously the greatest people on earth.

PS. Did I mention our tour guides were gorgeous? Check out Pedro, Tobas (who I thought was named Carlos the entire trip), Ricardo, and Giles. No complaints here.