Last month Vincent and I took a quick, three-day trip to Tangier, Morocco for a change of scenery and to escape the gray, winter days of Paris.
It’s 2:45 minute flight from Paris, and when we arrived, it was warm and sunny, about 69 degrees Fahrenheit.
The taxi driver stopped at the taxi stand, and walked us through the lively, narrow alleyways of the medina. We arrived at Riad Arous Chamel, an authentic, 200-year-old riad (bed and breakfast). The living area on the main floor had handsome, thick wood furniture, tall stone columns, and a beautiful marble floor in red and white marble. Our room was on the third floor and had mini-stained glass windows and Moroccan style carpets and a tapestry bedcover. Breakfast was on the rooftop with views of the entire city with uneven rooftops. The room rate was an incredible 50€ a night, including breakfast.
The next few days we roamed the maze of the medina and its crafts, tapestry and rug shops, always losing our way home. We also toured the more modern part of the city, hung out in cafes and coffee houses, went to a museum and a few galleries, and feasted on Moroccan cuisine. Our first day, we had lunch at a worker’s restaurant, which served mounds of couscous and large tagines, with a bill for 12€ for the both of us.
Tangiers is very hilly, and I climbed stairway after stairway, discovering hidden alleyways, and lots of cool doors. Spain is only an hour boat ride from Tangier, separated by the strait of Gibraltar and there’s beaches outside the city.
We took a day trip to a very special place, which I will write about on Thursday. Stay tuned.
Comments