Tétouan, a mere hour bus ride over the Rif Mountains from Tangier, hasn’t yet been “discovered” by tourists. It’s a place where real people live real lives, where the various souks in the medina serve the needs of the locals, not hoards of tourists, where the King of Morocco has a summer palace. And where he is in residence this day. Due to the security we had a bit of trouble finding Hotel El Reducto, on a narrow alley just inside the medina and directly across from the royal palace. Hassam stopped and said, “Come, I will show you.” Talking non-stop, he took a long, circuitous route designed to confuse us, offered us his guide services demanded five euros. If you are wearing shorts, pulling a bag and carrying a camera you are fair game (pigeon?) for a shake down. Just like Egypt. El Reducto, once located, is elegant in its simplicity; only five rooms and a wonderful restaurant. It’s a blend of Moroccan and Andalusian architecture, dark wood, open patios and colorful tiles.
Morning tea at Hotel El Reducto
Tétouan’s main attraction is the WHS market or “medina,” a warren of narrow lanes leading to different “souks,” each specializing in a different product. (The "casbah," for your information, is the area where people live outside the medina.) Like Alices’s Restaurant, you can get anything you want. Hand woven carpets? Check. Custom doors? Of course. Leather sandals. What size? And enough jewelry, clothing, pots, pans, stoves, lamps, to name a few, to make Msrs. Sears and Roebuck envious.
You can get anything you want
Nothing can prepare you for the sights, sounds and smells. Fruits and veggies galore, fresh fish, chickens (dead, alive or chicks) and eye-watering array of spices all being loudly hawked. You are never sure where in this maze you are. Landmarks come and go as new stalls are set up and products change. A wrong turn and you are in a narrow, blind alley or even out one of the “babs” into the town.
Moroccans, as they will tell you repeatedly, are Berbers, not Arabs. They speak Arabic with French as a second choice. Anyone who speaks English wants to be paid for it. I thought I was finished with Spanish when we left Europe but it has come in handy on a couple of occasions. I’m sure our language deficiency will become more problematic as the trip continues.
