welcome to the land of slime, sleeze, pirates, and espionage

Tangier has always served as a gateway city with its location on the Pillars of Hercules on the straight of Gibraltar.  Because of its convenient location close to Europe Tangier has long served as a hub for all things that will send you straight to hell!  My first experience with tangier is from the book "For Bread Alone" by Mohamed Choukri (a good read by the way) where he talks about his childhood and teenage years of losing his innocence to a prostitute, vomiting when he orally ingested cannabis, getting beaten by his father, boxing and selling himself for money, and all sorts of other fun stuff.  With those ideas on my mind, I headed to tangier for a few days (along with some other areas on the north coast). 

The easiest way to get to Tangier from the south of morocco is through Rabat.

As we approached tangier was got stuck in a traffic jam, with a truck in front of us.  Suddenly a bunch of people jump on to the road and start pounding on the back of the truck trying to pry open the backdoor.  Our van driver honks his horn, and chucks a piece of bread at the thugs.... the truck driver than scoots up and backs up thrusting the goons on the ground and they flee a little shaken up!  sweet so I saw some crime... good times!

Tangier is actually a fairly gorgeous city once your off the touristy sex trade trail; of course we needed to hit the next which was along the water front.  Apparently morocco is getting rid of the rift-raff, but this is accurate of the year 2004.

wanna dance?

Caution:  Do not buy hashish on the street... a lot of these people will try to blackmail you and some work for the police and you'll get to spend lots of time in a Moroccan prison, for some this could be a little fun, for others not so much!  If you do try to befriend a younger Moroccan and they'll hook you up. 

Of course the pentacle tangier moment is to eat at one of the many seaside restaurants a long the strip.  While you do this you will have a delicious meal, have guys try to sell you sunglasses, women, and hashish, and otherwise have a great time!

Tangiers might be the gateway to Africa, but no doubt Africans would be happy if it was reclassified to the continent of Europe... which powers its economy and fills it with sleaze!

Sites to see in Tangier: souke, sins, nearby beaches, Pillars of Hercules, donkeys painted to look at zebras, and the former US embassy!