0203. Three nights in Nador (Mor 052--new)

Since I didn't want to repeat my Zaio experience, and since there aren't any more sizeable cities in the remainder of my tour, I decided to set up base in Nador for a few day and take day trips to the surrounded towns.

Nador itself, of course, has a lot to see--a lively boardwalk area out near the lighthouse... a fascinating "favela" type neighborhood climbing up the steep hills with stairs and tiny alleyways that squeeze between the houses... a very ambitions railway project that will connect Nador to Taourirt and thus the rest of the country (it looks like much of it will be an actual tunnel under the city).

Maybe Moroccan Railways is a little embarrassed that that nothing has been done to improved its rail system since the French ran this place.

A lot of respectable bearded fellows selling delicious harira and boiled eggs in the evenings...

I found that for some reason, folks in Nador have a really hard time understanding my Arabic...I was getting downright irritated a couple of times.  Not until later will I find out that MOROCCANS have exactly the same problem!  Apparently Berber is such a dominant language here that they just have a hard time understanding the accent of out of town Arabic speakers...

...And the money... it's driving me crazy...

I already have a hard enough time with some Moroccans calling a dirham "20 ryals" and others calling it "100 francs"... we'll in Oujda they call it "20 duros" thanks to the Spanish influence... BUT in Nador they call a dirham "2 duros"!  Please, people, why is it so hard just to call a dirham a dirham?

Anyways... spent a couple of very pleasant evenings in Nador after coming back from my day trips, sipping a tall glass of "North Moroccan" style tea, with a handful of fresh mint leaves stuffed into the glass...