Tangier, Morocco

December 3^rd, 2025

Our first African port. Again the weather didn’t look too promising when we arrived, but later we had brilliant sunshine.

We had organized a private tour to Chefchaouen, the blue city. We were meeting our driver Mohammed outside the port gate. It was quite a long walk from the ship to the gate, but we were able to hitch a ride on a passing golf cart. The next challenge was to find the port gate (there are several). There was also the very distressing sound of dogs barking and howling. They sounded very angry and not happy at all. There is a lot of hashish transport in Tangier, so maybe they were drug sniffing dogs. Anyway they were very noisy and I felt bad for them

We moved on from the unhappy dog noises, and were able to find our driver.

It is about a 2-and-a-half-hour drive south to Chefchaouen   passing through an assortment of towns and tree covered hillside. It was very pretty for the most part, the only problem was the inevitable road works meaning that one carriageway of the dual carriage way was closed for most of the trip.

We drove past vendors selling tangine pots.

We passed several large dams, and we stopped at a view point near one, Nakhla Dam,  for a bathroom break.

Close to Chefchaouen the road became very bumpy and windy. I felt bad for our friend who has had back problems, this was not a comfortable ride at all. But this was a relatively short part of the drive. Soon I knew we must be near to our destination, even the street lamps were blue.

Our driver let us off near one of the main squares and we met our guide, Hazzim.

Hazzim was an excelled and very knowledgeable guide, who seemed to know everyone in the city.

We had watched several YouTubes of Chefchaoeun, and though it looked interesting, but none of the videos did it justice.

With the blue walls and winding alleyways, it was really a magical place. Hazzim did a great job explaining everything to us. I was totally enchanted by the tour. One of the really great things was that despite us walking by many small shops, the owners didn’t bother us at all. It was such a pleasure to explore the windy street and not be pestered constantly as had happened in the other Moroccan towns we had visited.

There were cats and kittens everywhere. They all seemed very well fed and happy. I just loved seeing them all.

We stopped by a community bakery and got to sample the local flat bread, khobz.

We saw the local weavers at work

It is an amazing city!

All too soon, it was time for lunch. Hazzim had made reservations for us at Restaurant Hicham which was on the second floor a riad hotel and had a lovely courtyard and amazing views.

I really enjoyed my salad, it was just the perfect size and really fresh and tasty.

The only issue with the restaurant was that it didn’t take cards, only cash. This was a problem as Brian and I don’t bring much cash with us on tours, so we were unable to pay. Luckily our friends did have extra cash. I just wish the tour operator had alerted us to this in advance, and thus avoided the issue of asking friends to lend us money.

I slept for most of the drive back to the ship, and only woke up just before we arrived back at the pier.

The walk back to the ship didn’t seem so long this time, but it was great to get back to our suite and relax for a few minutes. It had been a long day, and there had been so much information to absorb.

I would certainly recommend a visit to Chekchaouen. It was great.

For our sail away we were treated to “Buble and Bubbles” by the pool. Cruise Director Nick sang Michael Buble songs while the guests consumed champagne. My kind of sail away. Nick has a really beautiful voice. It is always so great to be treated to his singling.

I stood on our balcony as we slowly made our way out of the port. Suddenly it felt like the whole world was bathed in the sounds of the calls to pray. The sound came in every direction, echoing around the bay. It was all encompassing. Then as sudden as it had started, there was silence again as we made our way out into the night. Magical.

We had dinner in the restaurant and had a window table and were served by our favorite waitress, Eunice. There was a pistachio souffle for dessert, so I was feeling very happy.

The show tonight was the first production show by the Seabourn singers and dancers, the Seabourn Six.

As we went to our seats in the lounge we were offered chocolate martinis. They were not as good as milky way martinis or even chocolate affair martinis, but it was a nice gesture.

The show was very good, and the singers and dancers did a great job, and have an amazing amount of energy. It was a bit loud, but maybe I’m just getting a old and crotchety.

We have a time change tonight and get an extra hour of sleep. I’m going to need it after our long day. The good news is I did 11,040 steps. Tomorrow won’t be as good I fear!