Today is mostly just a travel day. We need to catch an early ferry from Tangier to Tarifa, Spain so we’ll stay overnight in Tangier. It pretty much a full, uneventful day of driving but we did do side trips to the Lighthouse at Cap Spartel for some pizza dinner over looking the North Atlantic and the lighthouse at Cap Malabata for great views of the harbor and the Med. We did a short trip through the medina but after everything else we’d seen it was ...

Meknes is a much newer city, founded in the 17th century but it's newness doesn't take anything away from the feeling. Here is the only other mosque that non Muslims can go into, besides Hassan II. I know, it seems like I’m starting to gleam over stuff but we saw so much; the Royal Granaries, The musee Dar Jamai, the Ramparts, the Souks, the gates and walls to the city and the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail. And that was just Meknes. Then we headed to ...

Breakfast at this Riad made the last place look stingy. Fresh OJ, fruit cup, pastries, crepes, yogurt and some fresh made bread that was like monkey bread. This made it easy for you wait until 2pm for lunch. Today we walked all over the old city, which was built around 800 AD and the new city, built around 1100AD. We stopped at Borj Nord, a fortress which over looks most of the old city. We saw Musee Dar el-Bartha which was a palace in the 19th century but now a...

Travel day to Fez. 9 hours in the van even by highway. Suck it up and do it. Ah, but the things you see when you stay off the highway. We came upon a Fantasia. Think of it as a Moroccan Rodeo. All the local tribes get together for a riding competition. About 30 or so riders all line up and race about 100 meters at full gallop. Then they are all supposed to fire their rifles at the same time so only one bang is heard. This was very cool and well worth the side tri...

Today is a trip to Essaouira. Its about a three hour drive to the coast and along the way we get to see Argan trees. Argan trees are what you get argan oil from. It’s used in all sorts of beauty and food products. In the wild, goats are commonly found in the trees eating the fruit. Now, along the highway, farmer will put the goats in the trees on purpose so tourists stop to take pictures and pay them a few Durham. We stopped and even got to have a baby goa...