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Thor

Thor Winther is an engineer by profession but has been travelling the world full time since late 2015. He is the author of www.worldwidewinther.com, a blog focused on budget/backpacking solo round-the-world travelling.

The last days in Morocco, the Hercules cave, Casabarata and a Hammam

  1. Roadtrip to Morocco
  2. First leg on the road trip – from Copenhagen to Alicante
  3. Welcome to Africa, Tangier and Medina
  4. The last days in Morocco, the Hercules cave, Casabarata and a Hammam
  5. Making it home for christmas – no, wait. Making it to Madrid for New Years!
  6. What is a Hammam and why I decided to try one?

Daytrip out of Tangier, Morocco

We got up in the morning and prepared for the day which involved going to a cave near the coast that apparently Hercules had slept in, the big market in Tangier called the casabarata where you “could get anything you wanted” and finally the local hammam (Moroccan bathhouse). Originally we had planned to go to Chefschaouen today but seeing as we got up too late we reasoned that a 2h drive each way would be too much.

The Hercules cave and a note about the croissant scale

We first had another lovely breakfast at the hostel with pancakes and freshly pressed orange juice, took a shower and headed out into the Medina. Some of the peddlers from the previous days recognized us and went “hey, danemaark!” but otherwise mostly left us alone. We then proceeded to grab a taxi and the price was a cool 100 dirham (about 9EUR) for the 30 min drive to the cave. Of course when we got there he wanted 50 more dirham because he took “the scenic route”. Sure. Have your 50 dirham my friend 🙂 50 dirham comes up to about 4,5EUR (1,5EUR for each of us). The cave wasn’t all that spectacular – it was a nice cave but to me it was way too artificial. Lots of lights and paved ground – I didn’t really get the feeling of being where Hercules had slept. Atleast it was free.

It's a straight drop down!
The cave wasn’t spectacular but the outside view was

The croissant scale

While on the topic of money we tried to get an idea of how much we were being ripped off. 50 MAD (Morrocan dirham) isn’t much to us but it is to a local. We saw vastly varying prices for things we would consider of equal value. One of the first things we bought was a croissant and it was only 2MAD. Using that as future reference we created something called the croissant scale. With the croissant scale in mind, the 50 extra MAD we gave him sums up to 25 croissants! We also created a tea scale which seemed to mostly correlate with the croissant scale – 6-8 MAD for a cup of tea is within reason. Of course sometimes we paid up towards 15 MAD for a tea which completely shattered the croissant scale!

Food ran to about 40 MAD for a meal and 25 MAD for shawarma styled fastfood. It seems croissants are cheap but since we got bread with everything we ordered (for free) I guess it’s just bakery goods (and tea) that come cheap.

Casabarata

As previously mentioned, Casabarata is a market in Tangier. The first thing we experienced was a local warning us to not show our money (which we did when we paid the taxi).The second was a bunch of dead chickens on the ground – except they weren’t dead which became apparent when one of them moved. Besides giving us a bit of a scare it also became obvious that animal welfare wasn’t a big thing here. These chickens were just lying on the ground, alive and bound. That’s one way to keep them fresh.

Live chickens
These chickens were alive

We walked around a bit more and found a nice little shop that sold Djellabas, a local type of clothes that the locals wear. It’s like a robe and instantly gives associations to Star Wars – either the Jedis or the sand scavengers(Jawas) combing Tatooine for droids. We each bought one which cleaned us out and with no money a market is less interesting so we soon headed home

Inside the Medina
On the rooftop of our hostel. I’m wearing a Djellaba, a type of robe the locals wear

Hammam – Moroccan style bathouse

I was traveling with two other friends and one of them, Nikolaj, was also the one i took the Trans Siberian Railroad with 1,5 years ago. We made it a thing to try the russian bathhouses (Banya) everywhere we went and why not continue that tradition in Morocco. Here they are called Hammams and are very different.

I’ve gone into detail Here but for now it suffices to say that I have never had such a soft skin and felt so clean as i did after this gem of an experience. Also, the fact that we didn’t speak the local languages (arabic, french or even spanish) didn’t make the experience any less exotic!

Getting bodyscrubbed using a special bodyscrub glove
Getting bodyscrubbed using a special bodyscrub glove

Conclusion on Morocco

This was the last evening in Morocco and the next morning we had decided to leave early to be able to make it to Madrid for new years eve.

All in all Africa has treated us well. The onslaught of peddlers that hit you when you first arrive can be very annoying to say the least but as you get settled in and have been there for a while you start to learn how to deal with them and you can start enjoying all the positive things that Tangier (and the rest of Africa) has to offer. As described to us by a local bartender, this is white Africa, and when you cross the Sahara you get into black Africa which is vastly different. Can’t wait to try that out someday!

A beautiful sunny day in Morocco
A beautiful sunny day in Morocco
The Djellaba was actually too warm!
All my bags are packed and we are ready to go. I’m wearing my Djellaba – mostly because it didn’t fit in my bag

Welcome to Africa, Tangier and Medina

  1. Roadtrip to Morocco
  2. First leg on the road trip – from Copenhagen to Alicante
  3. Welcome to Africa, Tangier and Medina
  4. The last days in Morocco, the Hercules cave, Casabarata and a Hammam
  5. Making it home for christmas – no, wait. Making it to Madrid for New Years!
  6. What is a Hammam and why I decided to try one?

First night in Tangier

At around 20:00 (8pm) we arrived at Tangier port. With a beatiful view to the oldest part of the town, Medina, and the walls surrounding it, we entered Africa. Immediately we were approached by a seemingly friendly guy that wanted to show us around and help us find a hostel or a place to stay. The prizes he quoted seemed reasonable compared to what we could find on the internet but as we didn’t want to book the first the best thing we got offered, we decided to say no. He then offered us to buy some hash instead which we also politely refused.

We walked for about 5 mins out of the harbor (about 5 guys asked us if we wanted a taxi) before another guy told us not to go the direction we were heading because it was dangerous. We decided to follow his advice and go another way. He followed us and started talking to us and of course he wanted to show us a hotel he knew (very good price – best price and good beds) – this guy, however, didn’t stop following us until we gave him some money. It turned out that this was neither the first nor the last time that “helpful” locals offered us their help. Later that evening after we had found a hostel we walked around the town for a bit and a guy offered to help us. A “no” and “please leave” didn’t deter him and after we told him more and more sternly to leave (and gave him some money) he left us with a “Fuck you!” as his last words. We then had a tea and pondered upon our recent experience.

For another hour we walked around Medina and looked at the people and the surroundings. This place is like taken directly out of a James Bond movie with extremely narrow streets and odd buildings. People hanging on every street corner and small shops selling all kinds of things and trinkets. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and something worth experiencing! It was very easy to get lost and we did so too a couple of times which resulted in us ending up in dead ends of various more or less illuminated alleys. Despite dark dead end alleys it all seemed safe though.

I could see James bond jumping between this buildings, chasing a perp
I could see James bond jumping between these buildings, chasing a perp

Second day in Tangier

We had a delicious breakfast at the hostel and ventured out. People kept approaching us to help but we got better at saying no right away. Telling them we knew what we wanted and where we were going helped, politeness and no thank you didn’t. We walked around and outside Medina to see if we could rent a scooter but with no luck.

Instead we got to see alot of the town and some nice views over the Mediterranean Sea and we found a local watering hole with a very (genuinely) friendly bartender who talked to us and explained things while we had a beer. He also kept bringing us tapas of various kinds, until we were completely full – for free! He was indeed very friendly and made me restore faith in people not wanting something for their help 🙂

We also had Flag and Stork beer
We had a local beer called Casablanca

He also told us where to get a Shisha and surprisingly we found the place about 10 mins away very easily.

The tea was very sweet!
Shisha and Tea

I am now back in the hostel and it was actually a very nice day. Tomorrow we plan on going to see Chefchaouen up in the nearby mountains which is apparently a very nice place with excellent views!

First leg on the road trip – from Copenhagen to Alicante

  1. Roadtrip to Morocco
  2. First leg on the road trip – from Copenhagen to Alicante
  3. Welcome to Africa, Tangier and Medina
  4. The last days in Morocco, the Hercules cave, Casabarata and a Hammam
  5. Making it home for christmas – no, wait. Making it to Madrid for New Years!
  6. What is a Hammam and why I decided to try one?

We started directly from after our respective Christmas lunches with our families. Said goodbye to our parents and to all the people that told us this was a bad idea and why didn’t we just fly?

At 20:30 (8.30pm) we had made it across the ferry to Germany. I took the first leg and before we knew it, going 180km/t on the German autobahn, we had made it to Liege, Belgium. The gas mileage dropped from 18km/L to about 12km/l but the average speed was above 150km/t according to the car computer.

Belgium had some of the most empty roads I’ve ever seen. Not a car going the opposite direction for up towards 10 mins and lots of empty parking lots. Didn’t see a rest stop or a gas station either for several 100 kms but luckily we had enough gas. At 04:30 (am) we hit Luxembourg and had a local waffle and beer (Bofferding beer) and I went to bed on the back seat.

They were delicious
Waffles and Beer at a rest stop in Luxembourg

When I woke up about 9 hours later we were on the border to spain. We had passed France while I slept and from the sporadic conversations I had heard from the front seat, French drivers are really bad drivers. Mileage was now up to 18km/l due to the more moderate average speed of 120km/t

I took over driving again and 8 hours later at 22:00 (10pm) we checked in to a hostel in Alicante, Spain.

In Alicante, we had the most awesome tapas and beer and Sangria. All tapas was 90 eurocents and all beers were 30 cents. The waiters were running around with beer and tapas of various kinds, chicken, squid, anchovies, ham, sausages etc. and whenever you wanted some you just grabbed it from the plate. In the end they counted the empty glasses and the empty plates to get the final bill. Such a simply concept and such brilliant food for so little money. Why can’t we have this in Denmark!?

To sum up : in about 24 hours we had driven 2800km non-stop across 6 countries and had made it from the north of Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. Only about 6 hours driving and a ferry from Tarifa to Tangier and we are in Africa!

At a rest stop in France
In France they are very zealous about signs. I think I understand that this is the wrong way