Chefchaouen to Tangier. 4 June

This morning we made our way down for our delishi-osa bread, goat’s cheese and honey breakfast before taking taxis to the local bus depot where we were to catch the dreaded ‘chicken bus’. The day before, Khaled had been preparing us for a horrible, ‘very local’, hot, stinky bus. And we had almost fully believed him. Luckily, the bus was more like a very old coach, and other than the fact we had no air-conditioning (I play this down because we expected worse, 3 hours on a boiling bus is never great), we were fine. We got to Tangier and took our cases to a Lebanese restaurant opposite the beach. A lot of us ordered the Meze platter, and got SO much food. Big bowls of hummus, baba ganoush, potatoes, falafel, savoury pastries, beef and chicken skewers and more, just between two! It was amazing obviously.  
We went on a group walk, stopping along the way for the casual photo of Spain, as we looked across the water. Along our walk Ash got a killer compliment, as a man sitting alone at a café yelled out ‘Hey Spice Girl’, and so it was that she joined the outrageous cat-call club. Khaled took us to a central area, but we decided to follow his lead to an apparently famous café. We don’t know who had dined there, but other than the view, it was pretty non. We split ways after this and decided to go to a swish hotel/restaurant/bar to have a drink on a balcony. The place was pretty lovely, and there were photos everywhere of past visitors, from John Malkovich to Winston Churchill. After a good chat there, we decided to see what the more local bars were like, so Khaled, wanting a beer, took us to one he knew and we got gelati on the way (obvs). We sat there for a bit, and were served some fish as a bar snack (making Elise very happy about not missing out on Tangier fish). Khaled shared stories about his life and family, and it was pretty interesting to hear about how he studied to be a tour guide and what it’s like to grown up in Morocco. Deep in conversation, we noticed it was 8.15pm, which was quarter of an hour after we were supposed to meet back at the Lebanese restaurant for dinner. Khaled seemed unfazed, so we skipped dinner and headed back half an hour later.

Here's looking at you Spain

Kim, Ash and Phoebe

Elise helping someone out with some shots

Please notice 'Mc Do Dawliz'

We met the group as they were eating and got our bags downstairs and ready to load into taxis, which took us to the train station. At 10pm we boarded the night train to Marrakech, which would be a 10 hour train ride down the country. We were in ‘first class’, which means beds, so that was a total positive. The cabin contained two small bunks beds and a space between them big enough for a regular sized case to stand. We tackled our case to squish them all in, somehow getting ours into the top storage area! We bunked with Sam and Phoebe, of course, and played cards and had snacks until 12am, when we finally decided to make our bed and try and get some sleep. I mean, we definitely tried. The cabin was hot, and the train was loud, so conditions weren’t exactly perfect but we got some naps in.  Sam and I (who were top bunkers) tackled the window, which wouldn’t stay shut all night, but we like to think the whole thing was still a totally great experience.

So hot, so squishy

Love A&E