Colossal Waste: Around The World 2011 Day 48: Tangier, Morocco and Puerta Banus, Spain

Seriously. I keep thinking that the Waste is going to slow down at the end here, and then we go ahead and have a day where we do everything. No joke. Five hundred and fifty pictures taken today, and no matter how many I move into the nyet folder, I still have around a hundred on the Waste. This is a record. A record-breaking Waste.

Shall we begin?

One word. Morocco. Tangier, Morocco. I think it is pretty normal for a person to have a fascination with Morocco. Besides the whole Casablanca thing, there is something about Morocco that seems different and exotic compared to most parts of the world. We have been looking forward to this stop ever since we reserved this cruise. Time for Tangier.

The first moment I ever saw of Tangier, Morocco. From outdoor breakfast on the ship.

You do not really need breakfast details, do you?

Our coaches lined up, waiting to take us around the city.

After breakfast we hopped on the bus.

The guides waiting for the day to begin. As you know, I never want to shop. But seeing those men in their long shirts, known as djellabas, I was struck with the great desire to have one.

Now... I have to say this right away. I cannot cover what needs to be covered about this city. Tangier has been home to many of the world's most significant civilizations. Its location at the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea has made it an important city for millennia. Going back 2,500 years, it has been home to Phoenicians (ancient people who spread out from modern day Lebanon), Berbers (native North Africans still here today), ancient Hebrews (who came from modern day Israel), Carthaginians (from modern day Tunisia -- a culture that challenged Rome and nearly toppled it), Romans (modern day Italy), and then in the middel ages the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French, and finally the British. Tangier might be the world's oldest melting pot.

Tangier has a long history of religious tolerance. At the beginning of the 20th century, Tangier was a city of 40,000 people; 20,000 Muslim (Arab and Berber), 10,000 Jewish, and 9,000 European (mostly Spanish Catholic). You might not expect it but even today Muslim, Jewish, and Christian houses of worship all hold significant roles in the city.

Tangier was a place of such strategic importance that in 1912, when France and Spain divided up Morocco into halves, Tangier was given independent status as an international zone under joint administration of France, Spain and Britain. It was an international, independent city-state until after the two World Wars, when the parts of Morocco which had been split by European powers were restored and Tangier joined with those territories to form a full, sovereign Morocco.

There. That is a tiny sliver of the history of Tangier. Hopefully enough to appreciate the significance of this North African city.

Directly next to the port is Medina. I was ignorant and think of Medina as a city in Saudi Arabia that is a Muslim holy site. It turns out Medina is the word for city, and Tangier's old walled city that is still home to the markets is called Medina.

This local gentleman hoped that someone on our bus would want to buy a bracelet. Alas, he had no takers. But I do not want to give you the wrong impression of the people of Tangier.

The vast majority of people we saw walking in Tangier were normal folks going about their day.

Tangier today is shockingly normal. Normal in ways I never expected. Apparently there was once a great deal of poverty and slums, but the city has been undergoing rapid development, construction, and modernization in the last decade. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy, and the King does have significant executive powers. (Mohammed V changed his title from Sultan to Malik, translated into English as "King" in 1957.) But the freely elected parliament also holds a great deal of legislative power, and the balance between King and legislature seems to be working.

King Muhammed V established this constitutional monarchy in 1956, creating the legislature. Over the following decades, reforms have brought about a greater role for the elected parliament. Though there have been recent calls from the people for the King to give up more powers, Morocco has an extremely stable government that has had a history of cleaner, freer elections than all of its neighbors.

In other words, had Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, etc., followed Morocco's lead, those heads of state would likely still be in power and/or not murdering their own people to stay in power.

This fascinated me. If you follow the news, you would know that many of Gaddafi's neighbors refused to pull support from him because Libya provides them with inexpensive gasoline. To do the right thing and call for him to step down would require accepting economic strife in the form of higher fuel prices. I suspect, seeing this gas station, that Morocco may be on Gaddafis side. But hey, nobody from the USA can claim that gas prices have no effect on our foreign policy.

The bus brought us to Cape Spartel, which is acknowledged as the point where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet. And we were told that without the fog we could easily see Spain across the strait of Gibraltar. That said, Barbie sure looks pretty giving the official lighthouses rule thumbs up.

Our guide, Samir, stated that Morocco has 1,000 km of Atlantic coastline and 300 km of Mediterranean coastline. (I am pretty sure of two things. One, those numbers are rough, as I just read that Morocco has 1,835 km of coastline. Two, Mediterranean has got to be the most difficult word to type without a typo. Every time I type it, I get a typo. Except for the previous sentence, which was about typos and then of course I miraculously did not have one. But guess what? I had a typo in typo that I corrected.)

The picture I took right before this one was Barbie looking sad in front of the closed film shop, as surely they have not sold a roll of film for many years. This picture is not about the shut film shack but about the sign above, indicating our next destination, the Grotto of Hercules!

From the right angle, the grotto's opening looks very much like the outline of Africa.

The Cave of Hercules is a major attraction here. People have lived in this grotto for at least 2,500 years, having found this cave carved out by the Atlantic and then digging to further increase its space. When you walk from the heat above to the cool insulation of solid rock facing the sea, you understand why this was an important place to the people who lived here.

Today there are local vendors here to make sure that visitors have the opportunity buy cheap goods at high prices.

Hercules is important in Berber mythology. The Berbers were the first to settle Tangier, and their mythology became that the town was built by Sufax, son of a Berber hero. The Greeks called Sufax the son of Hercules, which means that to local legend their city was founded by the son of the greatest of Greek heroes.

To add to the myths, some believe that Hercules slept in the Grotto before embarking on one of his twelve labours. Of course, for this to be true, Hercules would have needed to existed. But I like these legends. All around the Mediterranean they have legends that Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and even Mary Magdalene had come by at some point. It is probably no more far-fetched to say that Hercules stopped by.

All over Tangier, you see new housing going up. Very small units, but not at all unattractive. Again, we were told that a few years ago you might have seen people living in slums. Today, Tangier is looking like a city ready to join the developed world.

The football stadium. Never doubt the power of sport.

Or the power of globalism. Samir said that it would have been rare to see a McDonalds in Morocco until now.

Our next destination... a show. This is not the sort of thing we would have chosen to do; a touristy stop to watch Moroccan acrobats and dancers. But the bus tour seemed like best way to see as much as we could during our half day in Tangier and the show was included.

Note that we were greeted by traditional armed men on horseback, doing their Arabian Knight thing. These guys crossed into Europe and dominated the Iberian peninsula for centuries, which I think qualifies them as badass. Or, at the least, formerly badass.

I learned later that these guys would hand their rifles to tourists for pictures, and as the rifles were handed back they stated, "You pay me." Ah, tourism.

Globalism.

Dancers dancing to a three piece Moroccan band.

Young gymnasts. The girl was particularly impressive, as you will see when I get around to sharing the video.

This gentleman spun in a circle, balancing a tray of lit candles.

This seemed like a good time for an open shutter effect.

As Barbie pointed out, she was not a belly dancer so much as a woman who moved her feet around and shook her chest.

It is never a good thing to be pulled onstage.

This man was the magician. I forget his name. His tricks were like the ones you see at that store in Disneyland where a young Steve Martin worked.

See, that was a lemon-lemonade moment. The magician stunk, but the Waste got a Steve Martin reference out of it.

My new best friend, let us call her Fatima. She is very pretty, no?

Do you see why Fatima is my new best friend? She is pretty and sweet. She wanted me to tell you that the nasty reputation that camels get as kickers and spitters is due to mistreatment. A well-cared for camel is a sweetheart. (Or, as the guide in Thailand said about the elephants, "The have good take care."

Barbie goes for a photo moment on Fatima's older brother.

My turn, with my pal Fatima watching me ham it up. As I got off the camel, the trainer holding the leash said, "You give me money." Ah, tourism.

So... this part of the show was the dudes riding to end of the open area and turning around to gallop back, then firing their guns in the air as they neared us. It was not what I would call un-entertaining. actually, it was silly. But what entertained me is that they seemed to think that this was impressive.

Okay. The jerk in me wants to say something to the effect of, "The Portuguese and Spanish were such wimps that after Rome fell these dudes rode in and kicked European behinds for 400 years." Rude. I know. I apologize to the North Africans and Europeans for that. I just did not get a sense of awe from watching these guys ride around firing blanks.

In case you doubted the reach of the iPhone.

Just outside the Medina sits the Grande Socco, or Big Square. It has been named Place du 9 Avril 1947, the day of Moroccan independence. By the way, all signage in Tangier is bilingual with Arabic and French. To this day, all students are taught both, and many are taught English as well.

Samir said this Bodhi tree is 800 years old.

The walls of the Medina. Time to enter the old city. Why not believe him?

Compared to many marketplaces we have seen, Tangier's was clean and organized.

Berber women can be spotted by their straw hats.

Spices? You want spices? These smelled wonderfully.

You want Carmelo Anthony's NBA jersey? (Does the shop owner even know he was traded to New York?) The other jersey is Evan Turner's. I had to look that up. I have no idea why there is an Evan Turner Sixers jersey in Tangier. Perhaps anything and everything NBA is popular here?

After the tour came the obligatory Berber carpet presentation. SeaDream had warned us about this in writing. After listening to a professor of history talk about how great the Berber rugs are, each couple from the ship found a salesman attached to them. I told him that I was interested in a garment; the djellaba that I saw him and everyone else wearing. We went to the lower floor and looked around. I found one that looked nice and had very soft material. And then the bargaining began!

They will not let you buy without haggling, you know.

And soon you will see my Djellaba.

On the way back to the ship, I got a shot of Barbie in an arch of the Medina's wall.

Tangier is a truly amazing city, and deserves a longer visit someday. Amazing culture, amazing history.

Barbie and Samir, our guide.

Yours truly and Samir, in our djellabas.

I have never worn a garment that lets the air through as easily as this one, yet keeps away the heat of the sun. I plan to wear it all over Los Angeles during the hot month of September. The reactions will be delicious.

As you can see, Barbie had me google fora Hard Rock just in case. And if you were wondering where we were, look for the blue dot. The Rock of Gibraltar is just off the map, but as you can see the narrowest point is marked as the Strait of Gibraltar.

Lunch. Clockwise from top left; my Lamb Tagine with Couscous; Barbie's Tuna Melt; the lunch crowd; Ira's hot dog and broccoli.

Mike, who you have not seen before, took the bold step and asked the crew if we could be allowed into that area beyond the glass, and they said yes. This gets us closer to the front of the ship for our pass by the Rock of Gibraltar.

Dolphins came to greet us.

Do you really believe that ancient mariners mistook dolphins for mermaids? Those sailors must not have seen a real woman for a long time.

If you look ahead, and see through the fog, you will note that there are two continents in this picture.

Allow me to assist your eyes.

There.

After the dolphins, a pod of whales paid a visit. Hard to see them, I know.

The Rock of Gibraltar is THERE.

What a landmark. No wonder sailors throughout the ages used it as a guide.

My feet and the Rock of Gibraltar.

When you pass the Rock of Gibraltar, you keep taking pictures. You never stop. This is how it is.

After passing through the strait, one more look at two continents at once.

Yours truly, in the pool, with the Rock of Gibraltar behind me.

By dinnertime we had pulled up to Puerto Banús. This yacht-port of a city is the opposite of Tangier, historically. In 1970 this area was vacant when developer José Banús, who happened to be a good friend of Spain's military dictator Francisco Franco, got permission to build a luxury marina and shopping complex for the rich and famous. Yes, it is very profitable to be friends with dictators; just be sure that you stay on their good side.

How is that for a contrast? Tangier is an ancient city that has been home to dozens of historically significant cultures. Puerto Banús is a luxury port built overnight by a dictator's buddy.

Puerto Banús sunset.

Barbie and yours truly, ready for dinner.

We both started with the Vol au Vent; mushroom and asparagus ragout filled in a Puff Pastry Shell.

After the starter, another sunset picture. Note that the little ship heading away from SeDream is our tender, one of the lifeboats that takes us to and from shore.

Sunset Panorama, Puerto Banús, August 2011.

Second course; we both had the lobster bisque. Do not get angry. Sometimes we want the same thing. Are we supposed to not order what we want because YOU want to see more food pictures?

Barbie's hearts of palm salad.

My dinner; Grilled Vea Saltimbocca with Fresh Sage Leaves, Pasta Linguine, Vegetable Linguini, and Marsala Sauce. Yummy.

My dessert; Profiteroles filled with Vanilla Cream and Homemade Chocolate Sauce.

I broke the rule against taking pictures of friends' food because Ira and Robin split the Tiramisu with Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, and, well, they were right that it should be included on the Waste.

Barbie's Apricot Mascarpone Tart.

Robin, Barbie and Ira enjoying themselves after dessert, while I take pictures.

Puerto Banús at night.

Mediterranean Moon.

At this point we took the unusual step of planning to do something after dinner. You see, Puerto Banús is home to a scene much like Saint Tropez, with the nightlife you expect to find next to parking spaces for multi-million dollar yachts. It is also home to a Hard Rock Cafe. Of course we got off the boat.

A laser pointer from a hotel room in Puerto Banús. Long story short, our tender arrived at the dock and for some reason the local police would not let us off. Sure, several dozen people from our ship were already in town, but now there was a problem. Time to go back to the ship and see if the problem can be corrected. And, yes, we all assumed that the correction would involve something that matches the color of the above laser pointer.