Looking down on Tangiers harbour from the Kasbah

I decided that the easiest and safest way to return to the UK was from Tangiers to Gatwick, and Assia and Jamel took the opportunity of a mini holiday by accompanying me.

My flight left quite early on a Tuesday 22 June and I needed a PCR test certificate. A lab in Tangiers did tests 24/7, but we decided to allow for issues, so took the TGV (Train Grand Vitesse) from Rabat to Tangiers on the Saturday morning. 235 kilometres in about 80 minutes in great comfort.

We located the laboratory on the Saturday evening, leaving a couple of days for sight seeing. This time I was mainly in charge and did some on-line research.

Tangiers is a very green city for Morocco. It seems to have an above average number of parks and other open spaces.

Walking to the PCR test lab

The old town, topped by the Kasbah, is on a hill overlooking the harbour. Below it are the French and more modern parts. On Sunday we started by taking a taxi to as far up the hill as possible, then walked up to the Kasbah (old fort / palace) which is now a museum.

En route to the Kasbah

Assia and Jamel read all about the entrance hall

And here is what you could see in the mirror on the right of the last photo.

Though why the walls have become blue in my photo is a mystery

Parts of the palace interior are preserved

Mosaic floor

No palace was complete without a shady garden

Tangiers is situated on the Straits of Gibraltar, so is neither on the Atlantic nor the Mediterranean. It has been important ever since mankind ventured on the seas, so the surrounding area has archaeological sites from all periods. There were several rooms of well displayed finds, but photographing them was difficult, so here is just an example.

I was surprised to discover that England was one of the many countries that has ‘owned’ Tangiers. Charles II received it as part of the marriage dowry when he married Catherine, Infanta of Portugal. So England ruled Tangiers from 1661 to 1684.

Next we walked down through the old town to find the American Legation. In 1777 Moulay Mohammed ben Abdallah, Sultan of Morocco was the first leader in the world to recognise the USA as an independent nation, so the USA appointed a representative. At that time Tangiers was tiny, and the post was thought of by some as a punishment.

In 1821 the Legation was opened in a newly built building which served as office and home for the diplomat and his family. It is now the only US National Historic Landmark not situated in the USA.

Nowadays it is mainly a museum, and is preserved much as it would have been in the first half of the 20th century.

Jamel could not resist the opportunity to ‘take charge’

The meeting room

Dining room

Looking down on the garden

Reconstruction of the 1578 Battle of Ksar al Kbir, which Assia and Jamel knew all about

There were many photos and such items as old phonographs. Very well worth a visit.

The restaurants by the harbour seemed an obvious place for lunch. However most were closed as diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco are poor and the harbour was closed to day ferries from Spain, and day tourists are the mainstay of Tangiers tourist industry. Individually Moroccans get on well with citizens of all the neighbouring countries. There are many Algerians in Morocco and many Moroccans have worked in Spain, but the Moroccan Government seems to be able to fall out with neighbouring countries on any pretext. Current issues include the Western Sahara, and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

On the Monday we went to the lab early for my test (results available after 7pm) then Jamel started looking for taxis to take us somewhere he had seen on National Geographic Abu Dhabi TV.

In search of the correct taxi stand

He eventually found the right place to get one and we went east to the Atlantic coast and the Caves of Hercules.These were used by smugglers in times gone bye, and are now an interesting tourist attraction.

The entrance to the caves is at one corner of a three sided courtyard, open on the sea side.

Once inside the ground slopes down to where the caves are open to the sea. This is presumably where contraband was landed. It must have required great seamanship.

The caves had clearly been increased in size with hand tools to make storage space

On the left in the photo above you can see a metal grille. This was a small prison for holding captives, hopefully only temporarily.

Just near the entrance from above was a small cave operating as a mini museum and shop. A small fee was charged to enter.

Part of the rather tacky museum

The entrance fee entitles one to become a parrot perch.

The 3 sides of the courtyard are shops with restaurants mainly on upper floors. Due to the lack of tourists, most were closed, but we had some excellent fresh grilled fish overlooking the Atlantic and watching ships approaching the Straits of Gibraltar. It was quite windy though.

The more observant of you will have remembered that I actually got back to the UK on 29 June, not 22 June! When I got to passport control on the 22nd, I was not allowed out of Morocco. I had to return to Rabat for a week to sort my visa out with the police.

Once sorted we returned to Tangiers on Sunday 27 June. We were now confident that the PCR test result would be available the same day. After a test early on Monday morning we had the whole day to be tourists again, so decided to go to the Parc de Pericardis, halfway along the Straits towards the Caves of Hercules.

After some persuasion, Assia and Jamel consented to a ‘British’ style picnic, so we bought some bread, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, fruit and cold drinks and caught another taxi. A Moroccan style picnic requires massive preparation and many heavy bags to be carried. We correctly assumed that any small cafes at our destination would be closed.

The Parc was originally the estate and house of Ion Pericardis, a Greek-American playboy. In 1904 he was kidnapped by Rasuli, a Moroccan bandit, resulting in a diplomatic incident between the USA and Morocco. It was all eventually resolved in favour of Rasuli, who claimed to be a patriot.

Information board at the entrance; there was also a map

The Parc was quite extensive and all the paths were like this one.

Interesting specimens were labelled very precisely

I imagine it can get very busy at weekends and in the summer. It was possible to stroll for a couple of hours with a fair amount of up and down, and the really keen could have descended several hundred feet to the beach below, where there is the line of an old Roman road. There are picnic tables and benches scattered around, as well as formal toilet blocks.

Pericardis’s house, now closed

The grey smudge on the horizon is Spain

We had a very pleasant day, though I doubt many foreign tourists visit the Parc.

This is my final post on Morocco. It has only taken me 6 months to find the time to write it up!

I will use the same website again when Covid eventually makes it feasible to travel abroad for 3 to 4 month excursions.