I have no
words to describe how interesting was our visit to Tangier some weeks ago.
During our trip to Tangier I learned a lot of new things about the city. I have
to admit that I never knew that Tangier was the destiny of famous writers like
Paul Bowles and the Beat generation.
Our trip
started like any other, the boring journey to Tangier and then we finally
arrived. The first thing I liked was the Hotel Minzah. It was big and famous. I
was excited to enter the American Legation but it took to us some time. I
thought that the American Legation was a huge building in the Medina, not in
the walled medina. When we entered I felt like I was in a palace of a rich
family. I am still annoyed because we couldn’t take any photo. I have to say
that the explanation was a little bit boring but the man who was talking was
fluent in English and that impressed me. The other thing I liked in the
American Legation were the paintings, some of them were masterpieces for me.
There were a lot but I liked the portrait of that women. I remember that there
was a room full with pictures of a lot of things, that room was really hot. I
didn’t like the dinner room, it was big but the table wasn’t so. Also there
were a lot of pictures and I don’t like walls filled with pictures and those
decorations.
I was
disappointed because the ceiling was cracked. Since it is an old building it is
normal to find cracks in the walls, the roof and the floor but I think that
they could fix it up. I was scared because the building could fall down in any
time. The backyard was cool, also I saw that there were other rooms that
we didn’t visited.The other thing that impressed me was that there was a room
dedicated to Paul Bowles and in that room we saw a lot of his pictures and his
works and his books. The explanation about Paul Bowles was boring too and I
didn’t remember anything about it. I think it was because we were tired of
standing the whole time and things like that. In the Paul Bowles room we could
take photos and I liked that. I liked an old typewriter because I always wanted
to have one.
After
our visit to the American Legation we went and had a walk in the Medina, I
liked to see those backstreets and looking at children playing, people doing
the shopping, old vehicles…
After a
long way we reached the Hotel Continental. The views were spectacular, we could
see the sea and a part of the city. The problem was the sun, it was so hot that
I felt like I was fried. I entered with some of my friends to the covered area.
Inside, it was cooler. I drank an orange juice and I felt good. After our visit
to the impressive Hotel Continental we visited the perfume shop Madini. It
smelled good inside that shop. After that we walked a lot to return to our
starting point. I was so tired that I started sitting to recover some
energy.
And finally
we reached the restaurant La Gelateria, the thing I didn’t like is that a lot
of pizzas took too long to be served, like mine but I enjoyed it. The thing I
liked more was the chocolate ice cream. It tasted so good that I wanted another
one but I couldn’t buy anything more because I was running out of money. After
that we visited a Christian church. We saw the graveyard and the graves of
Christian people who died in Tangier and were buried there. I took some photos
but I deleted them because I had a bad feeling. I wanted to photograph a spirit
but there wasn’t anyone in the pictures. I liked some of the tombs, but the
other ones were a little bit simple. I don’t know what happened but we couldn’t
enter the church I still don’t know why but I don’t want to know.
Finally we
went to the place of the meeting with the bus. We waited a long time and we
spent it talking about the marks of the second term. The bus finally arrived
and we returned to Tetuan.
I liked
this incredible trip and I learned a lot of things about Tangier, Paul Bowles
and the Beat Generation. I loved and hated the American Legation and I was
tired during the whole trip. During this trip I discovered another face of
Tangier. In this trip I learned that I still have to discover the hidden places
of this beautiful country and its people.
When I got
back home I felt like I learned new things about Tangier. I hate Tangier but
this trip made me to love it forever. That’s all I’ve got to say about that
incredible trip and the day we passed in Tangier.
