Day 05 - After a leisurely breakfast and the usual packing rituals, Jay and I flagged a red petit taxi from the hotel. We arrived at Casa Voyageurs with time to spare for our 11:00 departure. We navigated directly to our assigned second-class seats with zero drama, proving once again that we actually know what we're doing.
The train itself was a marvel. North of Rabat, we hit the high-speed tracks and clocked a blistering 304 km/h—though my camera trigger-finger was only fast enough to immortalize 301 km/h on my phone. An entirely stress-free, incredibly smooth glide brought us into the Tangier station at precisely 1:19 PM.
Emerging into the crisp warm sunshine, we sought out another petit taxi. They're painted blue here, trading Casablanca's red for coastal hues. Our prospective driver initially tried his luck by demanding 50 Moroccan Dirham (about $7.00 CAD). We firmly declined. He parked, apparently reconsidered his negotiating stance, and walked back to concede that 40 Dirham ($5.60 CAD) was perfectly acceptable. We piled in and he whisked us up the steep, winding hills to Bab Casbah—bab translating to "door" or "gate" in Arabic. We successfully breached the ancient walls and were checked into the Casbah House just before 2:00 PM (and thankfully not 2:00 AM).
Our temporary royal residence sits just inside the Bab Casbah gate, the high-altitude entrance to Tangier’s ancient fortress. For the uninitiated, the Kasbah isn't just a neighborhood—it’s the old walled citadel that has stood watch over the Strait of Gibraltar for centuries, fending off various invaders with varying degrees of success. We are bunking at the Casbah House, officially located at 18b Rue Ahmed Ben Ajiba. To put its age into perspective for the folks back home, this traditional Moroccan dar is woven directly into 13th-century defensive ramparts. It has been standing significantly longer than almost any house you’ve ever set foot in. It’s a labyrinth of thick stone masonry, heavy antiques, and ancient stairways that serves as the perfect, soundproof refuge from the delightful chaos of the Medina sprawling out below us.
I am wrapping up today's entry up here on the rooftop terrace, accompanied by the views you can hopefully decipher from the pictures. Jay and I will bunker down here for the night, trusting these ancient walls to keep the chaos at bay. Tomorrow, we throw ourselves back into the labyrinth to properly explore the Medina and the rest of Tangier. Come Wednesday, we break out of the fortress entirely and head inland to the Rif Mountains for a few nights in Chefchaouen, which better known to the world as the "Blue City" or the "Blue Pearl." True to its moniker, the entire town is a sprawling, centuries-old maze where nearly every building, alley, and staircase is washed in brilliant shades of blue.
