Day 10 - Tangier  5/20/22

Morocco

Frank's Trip

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Tangier...

I took the high speed bullet train from Casablanca to Tangier. It is 198 miles +/- ad there were several stops at towns along the way. The trip took 2:10 - that's really fast when considering the stops. The First Class seats are nicely upholstered and with power reclining to a greater degree than most airline seats - makes it very easy to catch a nap... and not so easy to avoid doing so. I really enjoy the train travel here :-)

The Hercules Caves

Legend has it that Hercules came to rest in this cave outside of Tangier.

ABOVE: The area surrounding the entrance

RIGHT & BELOW: Some caves near the main entrance have been made into a side show (not "sideshow") and souvenir shop.

The Caves of Hercules is an archaeological cave complex.

The cave has two openings, one to sea and one to land. The sea opening is known as "The Map of Africa". It is believed that the Phoenicians created the sea opening which is in the shape of Africa when looked at from the sea.

The cave itself is part natural and part man-made. The man-made part was used by Berber people to cut stone wheels from the walls, to make millstones, thus expanding the cave considerably.

Different archaeological finds have demonstrated that the cave was known to and used to some degree by prehistoric people

The main cave room which opens to the feature above is dark and very difficult to photograph. I wasn't able to get any good shots but have put a few of the "best of the bad" shots. This cave is not like the ones I have seen before insofar as there aren't stalagmites and stalactites. This is just rock wall and I would guess formed by action of the sea wearing away the rock rather than as with the sort of caves I've seen before.

The passages leading into the cave are somewhat steep, but quite wide and paved to make walking very easy - at least the downhill part; not quite so easy the uphill part for EXIT ;-)

Cap Spartel Lighthouse

Supposedly, on a clear day you can see the coast of Spain from here... this day wasn't that clear...

The lighthouse stands at an altitude of 250 m - 820 feet.

The high number of casualties suffered by ships passing through the Strait drew attention to the need to build a beacon that can alert ships to proximity to the coast. The most well-known shipwreck is undoubtedly that of the training frigate for Brazilian Navy cadets, t he “Dona Isabel”, which crashed against the rocks around 1860.

Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abderrahmane (1859-1873) then decided to build the lighthouse, which was carried out with the technical assistance of the French government. The lighthouse was inaugurated on October 15, 1864.

The wind here is amazing... It was often difficult to take pictures because it was frequently blowing like a minor hurricane.

RIGHT: Model of the training frigate Dona Isabella

The Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea meet here

Supposedly, on a clear day the coast of Spain is visible in the distance across the Strait of Gibraltar

Since there is a washer, there must be a dryer. This is the energy efficient model!