April 7th, 2023 Day 94 of 128

Tangier, Morocco (Bus trip also to Tetouan)

Hello, from our last port in Morocco and our final stop on the African continent of this adventure we are on. Last night when we were pulling out of port we noticed a Semester At Sea Ship with the saying “The World Is Your Campus” written on the side. Megan is getting that same experience currently but it is definitely something we will have to research later. We sailed into the Mediterranean Sea this morning as we crossed over from the Atlantic Ocean. We slept fast last night as we were exhausted from yesterday and had an early morning again today. We grabbed our breakfast from the Lido and headed to the Main Stage for our 8:15am meeting time. Our journey started today with a short drive into Tangier, which means the white pigeon. We saw the Grand souks here, the kasbah (fort), the walled old town area, St. Andrew’s Catholic Church and the American Legation Museum. We did a lot of walking today. Up and down hills, across cobblestone streets and up and down many steps. I had no problem reaching my step goal for the day. We saw so many new and wonderful things again today. Much like yesterday it was a fantastic visual variety of old, new, colorful, bustling, poverty, history and grandeur. There is so much tradition and history here in Morocco in complete contrast to the length of our own history in the United states. I wish we had more time here to experience more. Next, we boarded the bus and took an hour drive over the Reif Mountains into Tetouan. There we visited their walled souk (marketplace), the Royal Palace at Hasan II Square (so yes, if you are counting that’s three palaces belonging to the same king in two days), and finally we went to the School of Traditional Arts and Crafts. Sadly, since it is Friday and we are in the Ramadan there was no one there working on their craft, but we got to see some beautiful completed works and works in progress. I also need to mention that Morocco is the land of a zillion cats. Megan and I saw more cats then we could count. My camera is filled with photos of Megan and her feline harem. As tempting as it was to sneak one back onto the ship, we decided against it. After that we boarded back onto the bus for the hour long ride back to Tangier and the pier where the Zuiderdam was waiting for us. These three days were barely a taste of what Morocco has to show us and I look forward to returning here at a future date. I think today’s port of Tangier was my favorite. I never felt unsafe and the food again was fantastic. We had a delicious traditional Moroccan meal with vegetables, couscous, beef, rice, cookies, and mint tea for dessert. We got back to the ship just before 4:30pm and headed to the Aft pool deck on 9 for the sail away party. They had drink specials, served hummus and pita, and had live music. We stayed and enjoyed the sun for while until the wind just got too cold and we headed back to the cabin. We are winding down our evening now. We skipped dinner again after having such a filling lunch. We are hydrating and getting ready for another long day tomorrow. It will be long excursion three of five tomorrow as we are back at sea now and heading for Spain. We anticipated this month as being busy with a lot of “on the go.” We will go to sleep early and get as much rest as we can. Our excursions will drop down in length of time after this week as well. These just all ended up being about 8 hours each for multiple days in a row. We are anticipating some high winds for the evening and I’m sure we will be rocking and rolling along. Hopefully it will lull me right to sleep and keep me resting throughout the evening. Enjoy all the photos. I know there are a lot of them again. But it is so hard to decide what to share and not to share. These are my favorites from the hundreds I took. I hope you again feel like a little part of you is here, if only in my heart!. Hugs.