Hello dear Hiveans (hope this is right) and fellow travelers,
after my introduction last week, I was due with a travel post. After reading around, discovered that here is a vibrant travel community, a post needed to be written today.
I'm lucky that I travel a lot, for pleasure and work, and somewhere last year, with some friends, we decided to visit some factories in Tangier, but also to celebrate a bachelor party. It sounds strange to do something like this in a country where alcohol is hard to get by and parties are not welcomed. It was a great party, as Tangier is quite an open city, where everything can be found, if the price is right.
Nevertheless, let's go back to the travel and sightseeing. The most North-Western part of Africa is Cap Spartel, which is now a protected area and acts as a natural parc.
At the Southern point, the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean, and if carefully looking, there is a slight color difference between the two sea bodies.
We strolled till the boulder to see it from close up, but forgot to take a picture. On the way we also could see a small spring and have been amassed by the types of olive trees present. This part is actually more greener than some parts in Spain and Portugal. Was not expecting it.
We did not go to the beach, but wanted to touch the Atlantic. I have a thing, wherever I see a body of water, I need to touch it. The Atlantic was definitely colder than the water in the Mediterranean that morning. We rented an apartment with beach view in Tangier and had about 5 minutes of walking from the bedroom till there, which is again another story.
After a short drive South, there is the Hercules cave. Yes that Hercules from the Greek mythology, or like the Greek used to call him, Heracles.
Here we paid an entry fee, which was 10 times higher than of the locals. Morocco has special prices for their citizens. It was not a rip off, so I was fine with it.
Hercules had to do 12 labours, and the 11th was to steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, which happens to be in Morocco and Gibraltar. He tricked Atlas, the father of the Hesperides to give him the apple, and take the burden of the sky on him, which turned into the Atlas mountains.
He is said to have lived in this cave during that time, where the apples have been in the garden of Lixus, an ancient city, which happens to be in this area.
The cave was inhabited by people for over than 8000 years. It was believed to be endless, even the gateway to Europe and the path for the monkeys that arrived in South of Europe.
The Phoenicians wrote about it, but after some dark times in history, it disappeared till 1827, when it was rediscovered.
As a fun fact, around 1900, it was used as a brothel. Well, it changed in the 1920, as it was opened for visit for the public and in 1952 became as a national sight, which gives protection for a landmark.
The gave has electricity and is mostly dug by humans, as stone from it was used for centuries for different tools.
Another fun fact is that Def Leppard played a concert here in 1995, and set a world record, to play 3 concerts, in one day on 3 different continents. The other two locations were Sheffield, England and Vancouver, Canada. I think this was the most spectacular venue.
It can be seen clearly the marks that people have left during centuries on the walls. One thing that I did not like, it was that the natural feel was gone and with the flooring was more like a modern cave. Still, I have to accept that this is history.
One special thing about the cave, is that it has two major entries, the one where the ticket and souvenir shop is located and the other one, with the magnificent view to the Atlantic Ocean.
It is called The Map of Africa, and it is human made, believed by the Phoenicians.
I loved and it was the highlight of the day.
