Morocco

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M'Diq

The sun was setting as we boarded the ferry from Spain to Morocco, and by the time we arrived it was totally dark. The hotel for the first night was located in M'Diq, and in the morning I was up bright and early to grab a couple of pictures and take a walk around the area surrounding the hotel, while most people had breakfast and waited for the coach.

From my balcony, I watched the last stages of sunrise	Dramatic swirling sky	Colours of the sunrise
The road outside of the hotel	A park near to the hotel	A view of some of the town, with a building site in the foreground
On the beach	The other way	Out to sea
The hotel I'd stayed the night in	What looks like a harbour	Another shot from the beach
The town	Another view of the town

Tetouan

This was the first city that we visited. The old city was one of the most culturally interesting experiences I'd ever had - hundreds of narrow streets that you'd never be able to drive down, flat bread for sale all over the place and people desperate to sell you whatever they can because it's the only way they can make a living. I ended up in a pretty tricky situation inside a carpet store, where after showing interest (out of politeness) in the carpets I was being shown, they isolated me and then tried to get me to barter, not accepting that I didn't actually want to buy a carpet! In the end, I didn't buy one, though a did end up with them offering me one at less than a third of the original price, which tells you the markup they put on things! (Of course, to take advantage of their desparation to sell soemthing if you really want it is kinda bad, because many of these people are very poor).

Entering Tetouan	An entrance to the old city	Looking towards a Spanish building
A palace	Another shot from near to the palace	A Jewish synagogue - religions co-exist peacefully in Morocco
A tailor's shop	Looking town a typical street	A tower in the distance
A spice shop	Other things the shop had on offer	A street that, amongst the poverty, was full of shops selling gold
One of the gold shops - only women are allowed to wear such things	The old town walls, from the inside	A spice shop...
...selling many spices...many, many spices!	Back outside, looking down another of the narrow streets	The place we had lunch
Me obviously not having a clue how to play!

Tanger

Tanger, also known as Tangiers, is something of a toursit trap - even in February! The street sellers here really wouldn't leave you alone at all! The most exciting bits weren't the visit to the city itself, but the places on the way there. We stopped off to see the place where the Atlantic and the Med meet. A bit further down the road, there was a chance to ride a camel, which of course I took up! There was also a rather pretty cave nearby with views out to sea. The city of Tanger itself wasn't so nice as Tetouan, in my opinion, but worth seeing. It's where I purchased a jabala (something Moroccan people wear).

On the way to Tanger	The countryside was quite pretty	A nice lake we passed on the way
Lots of birds by the lake (not visible in the small version of the image)	A small settlement along the way	The fertile, green countryside
Tanger in the distance	The meeting point of two seas!	This is where the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean sea meet
I guess this building is a lighthouse	A camel	The sun shines ont he sea
Beautiful coastline	Me riding a camel!	Am I being followed?!
Being helped off after the ride	Many camels	People look outside a cave
People inside the cave	Looking out of the cave to the sea	Inside Tanger - to the left is a Koran school
Walking through the old city	The harbor	The sea
Dressed up character at a night show	Traditional Moroccan acts	Dancing
The roped me in! Argh!	A belly dancer

Chefchaouen

Away from the bustling cities, Chefchaouen is a mountain village set in the beautiful north Moroccan countryside where, apparently, they grow a lot of hash. All I know is that I was offerred a lot more of it in Tangers. Chefchaouen, along with the journey to and from it, was probably my favourite bit of the entire trip - because I'm a countryside and mountains guy more, not because of the hash! :-)

Buildings in the countryside on the journey	A nice lake I spotted along the way	Another shot of the lake
And yet another...prettyness!	The wonderful Moroccan countryside	The place where we were dropped off
Along one of the narrow streets	A building the middle of the square	Notice how the buildings are painted blue to half way up...
...this is the get rid of mosquitos, and somehow it actually works!	A loom in a weaving shop	View from the roof of a building
A view from the same place	A spices shop	Outside a castle in the town
Inside the castle	A landscape of the same thing	Another view inside the castle
From the first floor of the tower	Same, with less of the nearby buildings	Red rooftops
Looking over the town	A similar view	Another angle on the town
Yet another	Looking to many villages in the distance	Forest
Another wonderful view	A nearby tower being worked on	Back down from the tower, inside the castle
Looking towards the tower I'd climbed	Out on the street by the castle	It kinda looks like a Christmas tree!
People walking near to the castle	A donkey being loaded up	A last glance at the castle as I left
Leaving the town	A field by the town	Rivers
Craggy rockfaces	Looking over the countryside	Another amazingly green view
The rock face straight on

Cueta

Cueta is a Spanish enclave. As you enter the city, you pass through customs and immigration. Once you are inside Cueta, you are essentially back in Spain. That means that there are no passport checks either side of the ferry trip back to the Spanish mainland. I grabbed a couple of photos of Cueta as we drove through it.

A build in Cueta	The harbour	Driving along the coast
People selling fish and sea food	The sea front