Kitchen Pulse: Tangier, Morocco: Day 1 and 2

View from the hotel terrace

As someone with a scientific background, I am inclined to give credit where it's due. Hence, I must acknowledge that Anthony Bourdain and his episode about Tangier from his series on travel called Parts Unknown influenced my most recent choice for a vacation destination. It also helps that travel to Morocco is relatively easy with a direct 7 hour flight from Washington, DC to Casa Blanca. The flight was brutal as I truly felt like a sardine crammed into a metal can without even functioning in flight entertainment to distract me from my discomfort. After the plane ride, we caught a 4 hours train from Casa Blanca to Tangier.

Kasbah Rose, our hotel, with balconies
to the outside

As is his talent, Bourdain imbued the city with enchantment and seedy mystery. He ate delicious food and socialized with locals and expats. Tangier is a city steeped in history. It is a major port between African and Europe and during the infamous, semi-lawless days of the "international zone" when it was jointly overseen by Spain, France, and England, writers, artists, and discontents flocked to the city. The architecture tells the history of European occupation as colonial era European style architecture mingles with Moroccan style buildings. As pointed out by our tour guide, the Europeans built their houses and apartments with large windows and many street facing balconies. The Moroccans, with their Islamic background and emphasis on privacy, built their houses with few, small windows on the exterior walls and heavy wooden doors open to reveal interior courtyards and balconies.

French style buildings in the Medina

Before arriving in Tangier, my friend (and regular travel partner) Jess, suggested I read Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles, an Englishman who could be considered king of expats in Tangier. He was actually a composer, musical historian and then writer. His novel Sheltering Sky book chronicles a young American couple as they travel through Africa starting in Tangier and ending in the Sahara. The book ends ends with their mutual demise as they overestimate their travel prowess and underestimate the harsh nature of the Sahara and its inhabitants. Despite the darkness of the book, I was inspired by one famous quote early in the book: "Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he had felt most at home.'"

Olives in the market

I'm a tourist not a traveler; I always want to return home. Because I speak Spanish, I usually feel more at home in Spanish speaking countries. Tangier has an international feel that it welcoming in its own way, especially when some people speak Spanish. The city looks its age--that is to say old and run down, more than historical. I cannot say I feel at home in Tangier, however, I'm happy to visit and get a feel for the city.

Mural of Berber woman

View of the Mediterranean from the Kasbah

Cemetery within St. Andrew's Church garden

Berber Market

Our exploration of Tangier started on Sunday morning at the Berber market outside of St. Andrew's Church, an active Anglican Church. The cemetery of the church is devoted to expats and British Colonial service members who lived and died in Tangier. The graves are remnants of the English empire and its expansion into Africa. Many of the gravestones mention the devotion of these colonial serviceman to "the Moorish people."

The cemetery is a symbol of European influence on Tangier, a city so close to Europe, yet firmly Islamic and African in its culture and history. The Berber Market is held Sunday and Thursday. Women from Berber villages located in the Rif Mountains outside of Tangier come to sell fresh produce, milk, and cheese. Strawberries, peppers, potatoes, avocado, artichokes, tomatoes, flowers, herbs and much more are laid out on the sidewalks outside the white walls of the St. Andrew’s church garden. Scattered showers dictated our schedule.

Fresh goat cheese wrapped in palm leaf (from the market)
and mint tea

The morning was mostly sunny, yet by 11am rain forced us into shelter at a cafe overlooking St. Andrew's Church. Mint tea is a stable of Moroccan gastronomy and hospitality. The tea is made with a mix of dried green tea leaves and fresh mint, usually steeped in an embellished teapot and served in small clear tumblers. Once the rain cleared, we followed Anthony Bourdain's itinerary and had lunch at Saveur de Poisson, a popular seafood restaurant right outside of the medina. The restaurant serves a fixed menu starting with pepper paste, roasted nuts, and olives, followed by grilled squid, a whole grilled fish, and finished with dessert of honey with nuts and fresh berries.

Mint for sale: 20 cents a bushel

The appetizers at Saveur de Poisson

Whole grilled fish at Saveur de Poisson

Sheltering from the rain with locals

We decided to try our luck and walk out towards the new Corniche (the coastline) to the marina, a pet project of the current King of Morocco. However, the rain started again, and we took shelter with some locals and waited for the rain to pass.

Local bread bakery

European inspired bakery

On day 2, we spent the morning as more traditional tourists, and joined a walking tour of the old city aka the Medina. We wound our way through the city taking in views from around the fortress or "the Kasbah" and stopping to meet local vendors and buy goods. I bought two carpets, one made in the Atlas mountain region and one from the Sahara region. I wish I had taken pictures of the enormous room full of Moroccan and Persian style rugs, however, I was focused on picking the perfect rugs for the right price and only money left my pocket (unfortunately not my camera).

Balcony at the American Legation

The highlight was the American Legation. Morocco was the first foreign nation to acknowledge the US as independent from the British. The American Legation building was gifted to the US in 1821, and is the site of the first US consulate and as such, the first piece of property held by the US in a foreign country.