« Chefchaouen | Main | Gibraltar »
August 26, 2006
Tangier
One Lonely Planet reader wrote that Tangier is the worst possible introduction to any country in the world, including Kabul. We had some interesting time in Tangier and more interesting journey out.
Scumbag group #1
At Tangier bus station we were looking for Petit Taxis to take us down town. A Grand Taxi pulled over. Unlike the metered Petit Taxi, with the Grand Taxi you need to negotiate the fare. The driver asked for 4 dirham, a bit shocked since we expect something around 10 - 15 dirham, I double check with him if it's 4 dirham. Yes he said.
He drove us down town and when I paid him he looks surprised and now with perfect English asked for 40 dirham. Some guy claimed to be a police officer came to try to resolve the issue. He produced his badge, I doubt it's real, Mark think it's real but not his. I have no doubt that these two people are working together. We were arguing for several minutes making ourselves a small crowd. We were about to walk away after paying 12 dirham, which is the fair fare for the trip, but got caught again the drama. We finally gave another 20 dirham and left. In all we probably paid 20 dirham more than we should have, that is less than 2 EURO, definitely not worth the 20 minutes on the road arguing with a bunch of Tangier locals creating a little drama on the main road of Tangier.
So lesson number 1, never catch a grand taxi where you're supposed to catch a petit taxi. Limit grand taxi for intercity travel.
Scumbag #2
Leaving the drama scene we were talking about accomodation strategy when a friendly guy approached us to find us accomodation. This is quite common in Morocco, we in fact had use several of these touts and always had good experience. People usually give between 5 to 10 dirham.
He lead me to 2 different hotels, one was a good one and within our price range. So to his credit he did give us good direction but we had to categorise him as scumbag because he asked for 50 (yes 50) dirham. That's rubbish. I was going to give him 10 dirham, but we only had 20 dirham note with us at that time. We told him 20 is enough, we argued for several minutes in the hotel lobby. The receptionist, which is a very nice old man, tried to tell him that 20 is enough but he didn't want to listen. Finally I left the 20 dirham note on the reception desk and told him that if he didn't want it then the receptionist can have it. He took it.
Tangier
After the eventful afternoon with the scumbags, we had a good time in Tangier. It is a cosmopolitan and modern city, without the scumbags it could even be called a nice city. It is unfortunate that Tangier attracts these characters. After a nice dinner at the restaurant we bought a bottle of Moroccon wine. Suffice to say that this wine was probably the worst wine that I ever had. I suspect that since they export almost all their wine, whatever left in Morocco is the rubbish.
The next morning we visited the Medina. On the way I could confirm that most locals are very nice, just like normal Moroccon. With little Arabic and French that I've learned on my travel, I asked several people for direction and they all eager to help me without asking money. I wish all people in Tangier are like this.
Went to the American Legacy Museum. Do you know that Morocco is the first country in the world to recognise USA? And the friendship charter between US and Morocco is US' longest running unbroken friendship treaty. It is a fascinating museum. The original letter written by George Washington was on display, as well as the reply from Morocco acknowledging the treaty.
Leaving Tangier
Another drama! We booked our ticket in advance. At the port Jane went inside the FRS' ticket office to collect our ticket. I went back to FRS ticket office to ask them which terminal to go to. At first the girl told me there was no ferry to Morocco today, it was cancelled ....
WHAT? I have the ticket here .... some commotion in Arabic ... finally a guy told me yes there was a ferry going to Morocco today, go to terminal 3. Outside the ticket office Mark started to worry, this sounds really bad. It sounds that they didn't want to do anything with us and they tried to get rid of us from the ticket office. We walked to the terminal, looked at the information screen, and there's no ferry to Morocco. I walked back to the ticket office and this time he told me that the ferry leaves at 1pm instead of 2:30, hurry run to terminal 3 he said.
We raced to terminal 3, during this time jumped several queue, had to apologise to a few people for jumping the queue. Finally managed to get to terminal 3 only to be told that the ferry was going to Tarifa. I asked the guy if there was a ferry to Gibraltar today, don't know he said. And then he said maybe, just wait. Fark .... not the answer that I wanted to hear.
I told him that ticket office told me to board this 1pm ferry to go to Gibraltar. Wait a second he said while radioing someone. Not a minute later a guy holding 2 mobile phone appeared and asked me what the problem. I explained my case ... and finally we found someone who was willing to take responsibility with us. Not like those fuckwits in the ticket office who just want to get rid of us from their office. He blasted (in Arabic .. I wished I knew what he said) those people in the ticket office and pulled another guy to ask him to accompany me back to the ticket office while Mark and Jane wait with our packs at the fery terminal.
This guy was very friendly and composed. Don't worry he said, we'll get you to Europe. He said what probably will happen is that we go to Tarifa, catch the company bus to Algeciras and we had to catch public transport to Gibraltar. That's no problem he said, should be easy. At the ticket office, this guy blasted everyone and tried to sort out my problem. After a few minutes we walked back to the ferry and he explained to me that everything will go as planned. Catch a ferry to Tarifa, catch a company bus to Algeciras and we had to take public transport to Gibraltar. This is quite a common service by the company, FRS, to get people to Algeciras.
At the terminal our group was joined by the captain of the ferry, the guy with two mobile phone said that the captain is going to Gibraltar, he might be able to take us there, but not sure if he can do it because the regulation does not permit it. The captain said he will find us in Tarifa to tell us if he can do it or not.
After all those commotion we board the 1pm ferry to Tarifa. As I expected it was 30 minutes late.
At Tarifa the captain was waiting outside and he told us that unfortunately he couldn't do anything because the regulation does not permit him to take us to Gibraltar on his boat. Well thanks for trying we told him and once we pass the passport control we took the bus to Algeciras and from Algeciras to La Linea just across the border from Gibraltar.
I've had more interesting days than my 2 days in Tangier, but this certainly rank in one of the most memorable days of this travel.
Posted by vhadiant at August 26, 2006 11:58 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.hadianto.net/mov32/mt-tb.cgi/225
