Within four hours we had left the beautiful town of Chefchaouen and the Rif mountains. As the local bus pulled into the bus station..Tangier did not give me a feeling of wanting to be explored. It was busy in a typical modern way with people rushing everywhere – a typical port town that has seen huge developments in the last few years. What I was looking for was a nice quite place to sit looking at the ocean and enjoying some fresh seafood.

Well I got the seafood…After a delicious lunch of calamari and chips we eventually managed to find some taxis and headed off for a panoramic view over the straight of Gibraltar. While sipping on a sweet mint tea we all admired the views.

It was here that we heard about the horrible bombing in the square at Marrakesh. It was quite a shock as we were heading there the next day and because we were also advised that we were to stay away from busy tourist places. How busier could Tangier be? Our group leader, Moha, handled the situation really well and gave everyone a sense of calm as we really did not have the full picture. The best solution was for us to hire a mini bus and head out of Tangier.

What a great decision! We headed out towards Cap Spartel, which takes you through a wealthy suburb of villas and royal palaces. After exploring Hercules Grotto and attempting to take a picture of the famous view that looks like the map of Africa, it was off to the terraces to watch the views, the people fishing and the young boys playing in the sea…very brave as this was the Atlantic.

After a relaxing day, we headed back into Tangier to a Tapas Bar so we could have a few relaxing drinks before catching our overnight train to Marrakesh. The atmosphere was really lively and I am sure they picked all the English classics to play just for us tourists. The hospitality was fantastic and instead of just a few tapas for the table they kept bringing out more and more…which made everyone buy more drinks to compensate for all the food and the vicious cycle began.

The festivities of the evening continued on our overnight train as we all piled into one of the carriages, drank warm wine, laughed at jokes and enjoyed some excellent singing entertainment.

Thanks to new found friends for a great time that will be fondly remembered!