Project: Red Scarf

Its 6.30 am Spanish time, its dark, its cold, everyones grumpy and were waiting by the side of the motorway for a bus. It arrives a bit late and we instantly hit a problem. Out guide is unaware that we are planning on spending the night in Gibraltar. Voices are said to no avail and we eventually go to the back of the bus where the cool kids are and take our seat, were quite annoyed as it looks like our anniversary trip has been a tad ruined, its a 2 is hour drive to the port but the time flies by as the senary is flawless and ever changing . We get to “security” where we put a bag on a Xray machine which no one looks at and walk through the metal detector thats beeps and again no one cares to check us. Are we feeling safe? not really.  We head out and go through a walk way very similar to the SECC red tunnel it blue instead of red  but its feels very familiar, the same feeling rise like were exited, are the support band on yet ? wait…were not going to see a cool band but a cool place, it better have an encore.

We get on the boat and explore the vessel, its quite big with a VIP section thats not ticketed so you can sit wherever you want. There is also an outside veranda were we can go and view coastline. Its cold but a great view.

We try to sort the Gibraltar situation out and meet up with our guide Salvador, what a character! He’s an old Spanish Senior who speaks 4 languages and is a bit ..um.. scatty is the term we would use. After some phone calls and what sounds like arguments Salvador finally sorts it all out and were good to go.

We enter the port of tangiers, our skin is prickly as the heat is dry, the smell is a mixture of diesel and musk, such a thick warm air to try and breath, it definitely feels like somewhere new. We are met by our guide Abby, this man has an air of mystery about him, dressed head to toe in a traditional cream and gold Caftan, bright yellow socks and light brown leather points shoes. He commands the crowd with an air of confidence, the whole group feels safe, he’s fluent in all our languages. Crowds of locals part like the red sea when he arrives, they shake his hand and great him with food and tea, we feel like we are the myst of a legend, he’s been rabbeting on for an hour or so now with information and it just keeps coming, he never lets up.

#morocco #tangiers

A post shared by J ? ??????? (@gallus_jay) on Mar 29, 2016 at 9:09am PDT

We get on a bus and go for a ride around the rich part of town which to be honest is still rather run down at parts, eventually we pull up to a carpark and we let out a little light laugh ant whats were seeing…. Really?

Ains isn’t having any of this! she hates camels. So here the fakes tourist nonsense we’ve ever done! we exit the bus and then take a ride on a camel around the carpark… authentic Morocco! The first time I did this it it was in a deserty part at least, I was a bit of a chunky money back then as well, We got some really cool vlog footage though which was enjoyable.

FEAR! ?

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We drive again for a good 20 minutes to the outskirts of the city and are dropped off at a viewing platform, the panorama is clear as day not a cloud in the sky, the land scape is lush and not what we expected its.. its green? what is it so green?

Everyones quite perplexed until Abby explains that its quite a green place in the spring and wet season his booming voice suddenly changes, it softens becomes quiet and calm he starts to talk to the crying child it its buggy thats been balling her eyes our for the last two hours, within seconds there is silence we look away and back again An his voice has resumed to its normal level. Yet we are shocked the the child is on his shoulder smiling and laughing. Abby is truly was a mystical person, a whisperer of all arts!

Tour guide / Manny extraordinaire ?

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As we approach the main arch entrance to the Grand Kasbah, the streets are crowded with entertainers and tat peddlers and they descent on us like ants, they are quite aggressive and don’t take no for an answer but Abby quickly sends them packing. We head to a viewing point of the port and as we turn the corner the madness begins, The drums start banging and flues starts up, no men in orange to be seen though, everyone gathers round a central man with a basket and a king cobra, the show starts and everyone entertained, the once small crying child is now playing with a cobra and the crowd is astounded!

#hypnotise that Sob put the #snake on him ! #humahoola #chatal #bigmoneyhusslers #morroco #snakecharmers #kingcobra #cobra

A post shared by J ? ??????? (@gallus_jay) on Mar 30, 2016 at 11:44am PDT

As we separate out child pick pockets and charity beggars work the crowd and some old folks give them money, please be careful and travel smart!

Were off again through the winding streets, so small yet long and built up, its cool in the shade and the Moroccan multicoloured buildings are very pretty, they change the feel and mood of each street, we get a new vibe every time you turn a corner, the city’s colour pallet is that of light mid tones and pastel colours: yellow, blues, greens, turquoises and reds.  Its all a bit too much! A complete sensory overload, the colours, the smells ,the tastes of the spices in the air, its so overwhelming and its making everyone  Hungry, its nearly lunch time and our bellies are grumbling.

Ains takes my hand as we finally get to the taverna, we breach the wall of street sellers and enter the building and find ourselfs in what feels like a Glasgow Tenement, its kind of uncanny to Ainsley’s old flat in Mount florida, it has the same style of tiles and light greens the only main difference being that there is a big moroccan style glass chandelier in the middle, don’t think that would go down very well in Glasgow, cash converters would be over ran with them. We reach the top of the stairs the doors open and all hell breaks loose and its an amazing sensation, overjoyed by the sound of the traditional band playing as you walk past them in to the ruby red velour labyrinth of tourists all chowing down on amazing traditional foods and breads.

#rocking the #kasbah #theclash #morocco

A post shared by J ? ??????? (@gallus_jay) on Mar 29, 2016 at 9:12am PDT

everyone sits down and we have a wing of the restaurant to ourselves, the red traditional tde diamond wallpaper from the n

Nages head from only fools and hourses is like a rag to a bull you can feel the hunger galloping toward you. They take your drinks order and then drop a bowl of the best tasting harissa and cinnamon soup we’ve ever had theres a traditional basket of flat bread in the middle of the table and everyone is frantically tearing in. People start chatting, the group is so multi cultural from Sweds to Germans and Italian.

It’s in situations like this that you raise how terrible the uk is for educating our people in other languages. We learn french and Spanish at school but its never gets taken any further we are so lazy as a nation that its embarrassing to be in a room full of so many other cultures and they speak your mother tongue perfectly, in some cases better than we do. Ain’s and I always try our best to learn the basics before we go anywhere, its our way of trying to counteract stereotypes of some travellers. Its nice to learn things and locals appreciate it, even in Morocco our spanish went a long way. Wow that was a rant sorry!

Back on point. The food; Oh My God the food!. Next course. Two big kebabs on skewers with chilli hot sauce. Main course was a small chicken with fennel cous cous and then mint tea and traditional sweet pastry cakes to end.. The atmosphere is electric the band are playing although its a dry state some of the room are drinking wine and beer everyone having a great time.

We finish up and are shepherded once again through the street sellers and on to the main Bizarre, the streets are littered with sack and bags of flowers and grains, spices everywhere as far as the eye can see. The colours again are intoxicating, Vegetables on barrows are everywhere and raw meat hangs in the butcher shop section, we walked through the main bakers section men are needing bread and firing up ovens, theres flames and smoke everywhere, I feel like Indiana Jones could burst through a door on a horse at any moment, it’s so picturesque and cinematic. Then as per usual I annoy a local by pointing my camera at them I apologise, they through rice at me, it was a shared moment.

After this we end up in a carpet and antiquities place we are given a fully fled presentation on fine carpets

and pottery before being again whisked away to a traditional spice and medicine centre we try some local spices

and purchase a few necessities (magnets) and then we are give free time of 30 mins …………

This would be scary… I my even go as far as to use scarryaf. so for 15 minutes we were kettled into a shop behind a barrage of street sellers.I think our no nonsense Scottish attitude of “get lost”  worked a treat!

we were quickly left alone while they prayed on the weaker quieter people.

A post shared by Ainsley??????? (@gallus_ains) on Mar 29, 2016 at 9:11am PDT

We head back to the main pick up point away from the hordes of seller and meet back up with Abby under the Hotel Continental. The Continental is where Casablanca was filmed, J had dinner there before and it was nice, a bit run down but still nice. We have our last photos taken and harassed one final time by street merchants and get back on the bus and back to the port.

We made some cool friends during the 15 minutes of mayhem Wioletta and Calle a cool couple staying in Spain from Finland and Poland. Really cool laid back people and a pleasure to spend a boat ride with. As we go in the bus we contemplated, what the hells next ?where do we get let off? will gibraltar even happen?

Fingers crossed

Jaimsley Signing off