September 15 Ksar Sghir (near Tangier) Morocco

Off to breakfast at the same place as yesterday. It was so good! Yesterday I was using the few Spanish words I know to order. Strange as the guy is of Arabic background. Today just English and he understood perfectly. He also speaks Arabic to all the others. The customers are mostly Arabic, Morocco I am guessing.

I thought I was going to catch the 11 am ferry, but turns out that one does not take foot passengers, so I ended on the 12 instead. This is certainly not like any airport. They do not allow you through security until about 45 minutes before departure and then you pass through the Spanish immigration. Basically just a stamp. The ferry was only about 20 minutes late leaving and the ride took about 1 1/2 hours. Interesting to see Gibraltar from the water and the Moroccan mountains coming into clear view. Not a rough ride even though it was very windy. The roughest part was getting out of the port.

I had to clear Moroccan immigration on the boat. The Tanger Med port is huge and about 1 hour outside of Tanger. Fairly new but very quiet as far as ferry traffic goes, and not really that busy with containers. Off the ferry and onto a bus that takes you through an immigration check, but just waved through and then bags go through scanners again. The terminal itself is a monster as well, but so few people around. There were a few semis and cars on the ferry. Hilarious as the cars were loaded right down. Not only was the back seat full to the roof but they had stuff piled up on the roof as well. Some were as much as 4 feet high!

I caught a taxi to hotel, only about 15 minutes away but the driver did not know where the hotel was. I showed him the map I had but he just asked if I had GPS!

The hotel was not hard to find. It is great, a little hide away in a small quiet village. It is 2 minutes from beach but very few people around. It is about 1 hour from Tanger by train. It is quiet as there is a cow in the empty lot next door, not tethered just dragging a rope behind and seems to go where ever she pleases and no one is bothered.

The toughest part is converting from Spanish to French. The hotel is excellent and being run by a French couple who have been here for 14 years. He speaks some English, and she has very little. The guy helping only has a few words of English. They gave me a bad time about being from Canada and not speaking French! Some words are coming back.... but slow and getting mixed up with Spanish.

Went for a walk down the beach. Interesting as it seems that the army/navy (not sure) have set up tents and have guys watching the coast. Interesting. I am not sure if temporary or permanent.

Such a change from Spain. Going from Christian back to a Muslim country. Call to pray 3 times in the afternoon, but i did not hear any calls last night.

The sunset was amazing. I can not see the water but the mountain close by looks great.
Also strange as I had to put on a sweater last night. Good thing the wind died down or I would have froze. Probably 20 degrees but feels cool. I am not the only one, many of the People seem to have winter coats on!

Dinner at hotel. It was great. Start was Brick with an egg. Tunisian. It is a very thin crepe, fried, and crispy with an egg in the middle. Interesting. Then a whole fish that was excellent and then an apple tart with ice cream for dessert. All very good. All for about $15 CDN. I was the only one eating...so great service but I think it would be great not matter. I think there is only 1 other couple in the hotel and they have about 6 rooms.

Went for a walk along the beach after just to get some exercise. A few people around. There are a few restaurants along the beach but not many are open. I have the feeling I will have tried them all by the time I leave.