A Bayt of Medina Life

Tangier, Morocco

June 19 – 22, 2019

The cultural heart of every Moroccan city beat in its ancienne medina (ancient city). That was why Ki and I dove head on into Tangier’s old quarter by booking a stay at a boutique guest house named Bayt Alice. Bayt, we later learned, was Arabic for house and, by extension, household. Alice, however, was a decidedly Western name. We could only surmise that this was a house owned by a foreign woman. How typical of Tangier, the African city closest to Europe, not only geographically but more so culturally.

TTT and Ki @ Bayt Alice, Ancien Medina, Tangier

A Camel Tow and the Beach Boys of Tangier

Tangier, Morocco

June 20 – 21, 2019

Thousands of feet up on Royal Air Maroc, I could make out the tip of Morocco – of Africa, really – forming the lower lip of the Mediterranean’s mouth. That turned out to be Tangier’s coastline stretching from the Atlantic in the west through the Strait of Gibraltar toward Alboran Sea in the east. A day after our arrival at the sun-drenched, sea-kissed city, Ki and I were drawn to go beachcombing through five kilometers of its coast and newly-reinvigorated corniche.

Camel Tow @ Plage Municipale Tanger (Playa de Tanger), Tangier

Avec le Temps

Tangier, Morocco

June 21, 2019

Avec le temps tout s’évanouit.

“With time everything vanishes.” Even an entire civilization all but disappeared with scant remnants of its existence. To the unfamiliar, Moroccan history may seem to have begun with the Islamic conquest. That we would stumble on a pillaged Phoenician site in Tangier was the cherry on top – of Marshan Plateau which Ki and I unknowingly explored on foot.

Punic-Roman Necropolis of Hafa @ Marshan Plateau, Tangier, Morocco

The Sweltering Sky

Fes (Fez), Morocco

June 23, 2019

“The soul is the weariest part of the body,” Paul Bowles wrote in his novel The Sheltering Sky set in North Africa. I took exception to that. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was fatigued and dehydrated, so much so that I slumped in the middle of a busy intersection in Fes – and slept. My body shut down for 15 minutes in the shadow of the center island’s stone monument. With the sun still high at 4:30PM, I pulled my cap over my eyes and dozed off under the sweltering sky of Morocco.

TTT Napping in the Middle of a Busy Street @ Fes

Here’s Looking at You, Casablanca

Casablanca, Morocco

June 17 – 19, 2019

Casablanca was not Casablanca. The movie was not shot, nor could the story even be set, in the city. Given the time and place in history, Tangier would have been a more plausible setting. Everything I knew about Casablanca was fake AF. To top it all, Tripadvisor reviews generally dismissed it as an unavoidable but unnecessary pit stop as travelers made a mad dash to Marrakesh and Fez. Casablanca was tabula rasa in more ways than one.

Touchdown Africa!

Fifty Be Like

Den Haag, the Netherlands / Le Puy-Sainte-Reparade, France / Casablanca and Tangier, Morocco

June 10 / 15 / 19, 2019

More than 3,000 kilometers from Amsterdam to Marrakesh. That was how much distance I covered in my epic trip to celebrate my 50th birthday and the 10th anniversary of my blog and alter ego – TTT (The Transcendental Tourist).

Three countries and 15 cities by land. That was how intimately I was acquainted with my itinerary as I traversed almost the entire stretch through railway and highway, but mostly on foot – save for one flight across the Mediterranean.

TTT Flying Over the Mediterranean aboard Royal Air Maroc