Caves of Hercules

Caves of Hercules

 

The beginning of this story actually starts in Denver while I was on my way to visit my sister there. I took a shuttle bus from the airport and made great conversation with the driver. I mentioned that we were going to Morocco and he told me to visit the Caves of Hercules because “the water there is a color you have never seen before.” Turns out he was right.

The Caves of Hercules are situated about a fifteen minute taxi drive outside of Tanger. Driving past the new housing developments they were building for the expo, I began to wonder how secluded these caves really were. Not very. However, definitely worth a visit, as the view from inside the cave looks out over the exact point where the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans meet.

Also, the opening of the cave looks like a cut-out of the entire African continent (including Madagascar), as a mirror image. It’s wild.

Foolishly accepting the offer of a guide, we toured around the fairly basic insides of the cave. The use of a guide was definitely not needed, and most of our experience there was of him tugging us places and snapping our photos. Very, very touristy. Also, all around and even inside the caves were people selling knick-knacks, but if you are one for knick-knacks, then this is definitely the place for you.

Finished with the tour quite quickly, we had time to look around and really people watch for the first time. There were people on the beaches, men drinking mint tea together as I’m sure they do everyday. Very normal, but in a Moroccan way.

As a major tourist site, I suppose I would recommend the Caves of Hercules, as they barely cost anything (sans guide), but be warned that there are always tons of people there.