With apologies for the length of this post, here we go - and remember for a larger image..well you know.
The image below is a view of Tangiers on arrival at the ferry port.
This was fascinating visit but for a couple of reasons, not ideal for the kind of photography that I would have preferred. First, it is tightly scheduled so, while the guides allow some time for photos at specific stops, it is necessarily short in order to stay on schedule so many photos in the next Tangiers post were made "on the run". Secondly, many people in this part of the world for personal and cultural reasons, do not want to be photographed either specifically or as part of a group or crowd. In some instances I did a bit of an "end run" taking a photograph of an individual who did not know s/he was being photographed by either using a zoom lens or by being sufficiently surreptitious. On a couple of occasions my technique was not successful. I'm sorry if I offended anyone.
Tangiers is a city of over 700,000 people on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea. (The adjacent photo was taken at that spot - Atlantic to the left, Mediterranean to the right.)
The city has a complex history, apparently originally founded by the Carthaginians around the 5th century BC. It was a Berber and Phoenician town that, over the centuries, was under the control or influence by the Romans, then a series of Arab rulers and others before the Portuguese conquest in 1471. The Portuguese rule lasted, except for a 60 year period of Spanish rule, until 1661; just under 200 years. (The photo below taken from the moving bus shows a bit of the country side we saw on our driving tour, mentioned below.)
The Portuguese gave it to the British as part of a dowry, the British were forced to leave by a Moroccan Sultan and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the French and Spanish became involved in the area leading to the partition of Morocco into French and Spanish Morocco. In 1923 Tangiers was made an international zone under the administration of France, Spain and Britain, joined in 1928 by Portugal, Belgium and Italy. For a brief period between 1940 and 1945 it was under Spanish control until the International Zone was reesetablished in 1923. The period from 1923 to 1956, when Tangier joined Morocco following the full restoration of Moroccan sovereignty, is considered by some to be the golden period in the history of Tangiers. I know, more than you wanted to know.
On arrival we were taken by a local guide on a driving tour of this modern and growing city as well as to some "outlying" areas. While on this tour we learned that Morocco has some very progressive policies including "free" tax supported education and health care as well as an investment in low income housing. In addition, although there are some residual traditional limitations for women, for the most part women have similar rights to education and participation in public life and employment as men - for example 30% of the members of parliament are women, a number which may well exceed the percentage in Canada. Also, religious rights for all religions are ensured by the constitution.
First stop on the driving tour was for photos at the junction of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (see photo of the rocks above) and then on to the camel rides. Ruth was keen to ride a camel and she appears to be enjoying it.
But the camel was not pleased and raised a fuss which required a bit of restraining by her handler.
Below is quite a nice view from the camel riding site. Sorry, I don't recall what the buildings on the left are.
After the camel rides we were driven back into Tangiers for a very interesting and entertaining lunch, in a large and colourful tent. As you can see we had a welcoming committee (one of these mounted guards on each side of the entrance) - this fellow may not look it, but he was very friendly.
This main course consisted of, on the left, couscous, apparently originally north African which I did not know, with chick peas and vegetables - and on the right lamb meatballs in tomato sauce garnished with poached eggs. Extremely tasty and colourful enough to merit a photo, I thought.
And while eating we were entertained by these three musicians, a couple of male dancers and a belly dancer. The photos of these entertainers are quite blurred because there was too much movement for the amount of available light and I don't like using a flash.
After lunch, we were on our way to the old city (the medina), the Berber outdoor market (which we passed by much too quickly for my taste), the souk (the indoor market) then on to the Bazaar.
This is already far too long, so more about these in the next post.
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