"Gargoyles & Graffiti"chronicles architectural elements that I find interesting or unique in my travels. Gargoyles are my passion, but today graffiti (which I hate but am learning to love as it is everywhere) is as much a part of architecture as the gargoyles and decorative railings that thrill me.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Stroll in Morocco

Our guide to Teotouan in Morocco
I promised to tell you a little more about our guide in Tetouan, Morocco. He knew everybody, I mean everybody from  Spanish Ceuta where he picked us up and through Tetouan. When he met us outside the port in Spanish Ceuta very early in the morning, he seemed very brusque and business like. He took all of our passports and formed a packet, with all our passports below and his on top. He explained that he would be vouching for us in his country. I had no idea at that time that they would actually take our passports and keep them at the Moroccan border while we were there. But we would realize later that this was a very good thing, not a bad thing. 

Guides waiting for us at Spanish Ceuta port


We had to go through two border crossings, one to leave Spanish Ceuta which is part of the European Union and then to enter Morocco. Our driver was a great guy, and he spoke Arabic and Spanish, so I communicated with him in Spanish. We were 10 people shoved inside a minivan plus the driver and guide. They put me up front between the driver and guide. I felt crowded, but in the end, I realized was a better location than those stuffed in the back. Off we went.

entering the city of  Tetouan

We passed the beautiful manicured hotel area where, as mentioned, the King has a beach home and descended upon Tetouan early in the morning. The city was still mostly asleep, with the carts and makeshift areas all covered in tarps.
We watched the city wake up. As clean as the beaches were, the city was anything but. It was really dirty and so old.

Market area


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