TRAVELWITHZOE

Tangier was my third-to-last stop in Morocco before heading back to Marrakesh for my flight. I was lucky enough to find another kind Couchsurfing host to stay with there (honestly I’d say Morocco is probably the best country for Couchsurfing out of everywhere I’ve ever been).

He lived in a small rented apartment with a friend/housemate, so it was actually a shared room situation which I definitely don’t usually do with Couchsurfing hosts who are men, but it didn’t feel weird on this occasion. The room was a decent size so the beds were quite far apart, and the host was super chilled and I felt very comfortable.

I arrived there late on the first night so we pretty much just went to sleep. The next day, he had a day off work so he wanted to show me around Tangier as much as possible. He borrowed his brother-in-law’s motorbike, as it would be much faster for us to explore that way than if we had to keep waiting for buses etc.

We went for breakfast (I ate bissara obviously – favourite Moroccan breakfast) at a cafe near the “Foret Urbaine” (urban forest), and then walked around the Foret Urbaine which had some great views. We sat on a rock for a while and discussed some differences between Moroccan and British culture. After the Foret Urbaine, we went to check out the point where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Altantic Ocean (marked with a signpost).

We stopped at a few more places and then went to his sister’s apartment for lunch and to give the motorbike back to the his brother-in-law. I couldn’t communicate much with the sister but she was very welcoming anyway, and we stayed there for a few hours. We ate lentils, bread and salad. I had an online English lesson to teach in the afternoon so we went to a cafe around the corner from the sister’s house and drank smoothies while I used the wifi to teach the lesson.

In the evening, we walked along the seafront/boardwalk which seemed to be a popular spot for people to go out and socialise. There were lots of vendors selling snacks etc., and some people had set up (apparently illegal) games where you have to kick a football and knock over a bottle full of sand to win money, for example. There were also horse rides being offered on the beach.

We stopped at a Syrian place to share a big falafel plate which was great, and we had a laugh about the fact that falafel is definitely not Moroccan and generally can’t be found at most food places in Morocco, but that “Moroccan style falafel” and “Moroccan hummus” are both sold at certain UK supermarkets, which makes no sense.

When we got back to my Couchsurfing host’s apartment, I washed my clothes in a bucket and hung them up to dry on the communal roof terrace. I was travelling with only 6 t-shirts so it meant I had to wash quite often, which was sometimes difficult to plan because I was moving locations so often that there wouldn’t always be time for the washing to dry before I’d have to pack my bags again.

We just relaxed and chatted for the rest of the evening and I left the next morning to take a bus to Rabat, the capital city (look out for Morocco diaries part 9 for this). I got on well with this Couchsurfing host so I had a nice time in Tangier, but I’d say it’s probably somewhere that isn’t an essential stop on a Morocco backpacking trip, as there was nothing there that I found particularly amazing, but it has some nice beaches and pretty coastline so I feel like you could happily chill there for a day or two.