Arriving in Tetouan we were told over and over to remain with the Guide. Otherwise, you will be approached by many beggars and pick-pocketers and worse of all...people selling their goods (if you even look at their goods once, you are followed and hassled for a long time). I had to ask John not to speak to them so they would stop following us...he likes to play games with them. So we followed Ahmad (our guide) like a herd of cows into the Medina. The Medina is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The entrances are shaped like key holes. The one shown in the photo is the Queens keyhole. This is a neighborhood of Spanish and Muslim influence built around 1306. It is a massive structure of caves and mazes of streets that is home to about 25,000 persons today. We found the city to be very dirty compared to our standards but it is VERY old. There is trash everywhere and flies on the food in the market. It was Friday, which is Market Day so it was very busy with a very diverse cross-section of people. Another reason to stay with the guide is so you don't get lost...it is literally a maze.
They take you around the Medina but never stop, never giving you a chance to buy souvenirs. They show you the Mosques where they pray five times a day. We got to witness one of the praying sessions. They all face East because that is the direction to Mecca from there. Only the men are allowed in the mosque, the women have a seperate section to go to. Most of the women there wore the Head Scarves if not the full Berqa. It is their decision whether or not to wear them and it is based on religious beliefs. We found very few women run shops, mostly men selling the goods...women were mostly selling food. Notice the chandeliers in the photo of the Mosque. They also have very beautiful tile work.
Lunch time they took us into a Moroccan restaurant where we had a show of men in costume dancing, one with candles on a tray (see photo). We had Snake Soup (at least that was the translation), Cous-cous with Chicken and cabbage. For dessert it was a cookie and hot mint-tea (supposedly good for digestion) but it was very sweet.
After lunch, they herded us off to the Carpet Store where our group was seperated into small groups (John and I had our own carpet entreprenure). They demonstrate how the carpets are made and then have a "community young man" come in and starts un-rolling all the carpets for you to see. After there is a pile of 30 or more carpets, you are to choose which ones you would "consider" purchasing. When you have three or four left, they bring another gentlemen in (the owner we presume) who gives you a quote for the one you like most. They tell you they accept, Euros, Pounds, US Dollars, The Dirham (Moroccan) or Plastic...they are quite flexible. The price is VERY outrageous so you bargain back and forth until you say you will not pay that price and start walking out. Then you tell them "your final price please" and make a deal. The young man works on rolling up all the carpets again. They ship it home for you as well so we hope our package makes it home with our purchases in it. I have photos and their address, just in case.
After that, it is back onto the bus to go to Tangier, the capital of Morocco. We noticed how good the roads are. There is a lot of construction going on but it seems that a lot of it is only partially done and looks like it has stopped. There was a HUGE Seaport under construction on the Northern coast as we drove along in the bus. We passed many beaches that were beautiful and crowded. As we passed more and more we noticed mostly men at the beaches. If there were women, they were fully dressed, not in their swimsuits. There were very few in swimsuits, probably tourists.
Going back to Gibraltar was pretty much the reverse of getting to Morocco except when we arrived off the ferry back into Spain, it was 22:00 hour and after our taxi ride back to the Spanish border it was too late to catch the bus so we walked...but we had to walk across the airplane tarmac to get to through Customs. I don't think I've ever had to walk across a runway before. Then two miles back to the boat...WHAT A DAY! WE WERE EXHAUSTED!!!
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