Monday, February 5.  This is one fantastic trip.  A simple transport to Tangier was captivating.  It began with a fairy tale morning, the sun revealing gorgeous snow covered mountains.  The drive along one side of a very pretty valley, totally green.  We stopped for a rest stop, where I finally burned my mouth on an excellent, very hot tea.

The entrance to Tangier began with a view of the lessor income housing.  Slightly depressing, though Ben said the country was working hard to eliminate “shanty towns”.  Encouraging.  A look at the debt as a percentage of GNP is not encouraging.  A question I’ll ask Ben about when the full group arrives tomorrow.

Anyway, Ben took us to the lighthouse that designates the separation between the Med and Atlantic.  Much further west than I thought. Cold, windy.  We didn’t stay long.  Then the Caves of Hercules.  This was an entertaining though totally fictitious stop.  The cave had an opening to the sea which looked like a map of Africa.  It was a nice piece of mythical fiction.  Enjoyable.

Lunch was at a French styled restaurant which Ben initially translated as “Beneath the Grill”. I immediately thought “rats”.  On arriving the French experts on the bus properly translated “On the Grill”.  Relief.  I had a terrible hot dog that was probably more food coloring than beef.  But it was a nice respite.  The side offering was “potatoes or fries”.  Fries are McDonald’s style, Potatoes are thicker french fries.  But they did have mashed potatoes.  They aimed to please.

The Medina/Kasbah was fun.  Lots of strange items available.  I never saw the carpet store I spent hours at in 1984.  Ben found the indigenous Jewish Synagogue.  Fortuitously, there was a man at the door willing and able to provide a tour.  Then a tour of the local Jewish cemetery.  I avoided both for some convoluted personal reasons, but everyone else really enjoyed them.  I enjoyed watching a fairly busy intersection.  Organized chaos. Saw a busload of young children go by.  Youthful ignorance is bliss.

After checking into the hotel I immediately left to find a hotel whose bar was considered an inspiration for “Rick’s” in the movie Casablanca.  Not.  But there were photos of famous people who visited the place.  I had some good Moroccan wine.  Better than Temecula, worse than anywhere else.  They provided peanuts, then olives(!), then potato chips.  Afterwards, I found the St. Andrews Church, which had a tower suspiciously similar to a mosque.  Camouflage?  Afterwards I walked through sections of the medina.

Dinner was fun.  It was the last one before ending our Pre-extension.  Tomorrow we join the other nine members for the main tour in Rabat.  Ben will most certainly be repeating things we’ve already heard.  I’m afraid I’ll drift off and miss some new nuggets of information.  I’ll have to stay alert.