On the morning of June 14th I took my first step on the African continent. Ironically, I was still in Spain.

Unbeknownst to me, part of Spain is in North Africa.

Melilla was the city, and frankly, there seemed little special about it. In fact, it looked much like our other stops on Spain’s coast – just not as nice.

In all fairness, there was a lot of renovation and construction going on, and in a few years it’s likely to be much better to visit. One notable thing to share about Melilla is that there are 4 distinct religions co-habitating the city: Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews. By all accounts, they do this well and it’s something of which they are quite proud.

The highlight of the day, though, was actually back on the boat that night.

Shawna slayed the slot machines in the ship’s casino, and that was AFTER we’d hit the first spin on the roulette wheel AND card-sharked the blackjack table! We plan to reinvest some of the proceeds at the spa.

Things got interesting the next morning when, once again, my adventurism led to some tense moments.

The port was Tangier, Morocco – our 2nd African stop. Tangier has been a city for almost 3,000 years – visited first by the Phoenicians, then ruled by the Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Berbers, Moors, Castillions, Portuguese, British and finally the Moroccans. The British got their turn when the Portuguese gifted the city to King Charles as part of the dowry for marrying a Portuguese princess.

Like most older cities in Europe, Tangier has an “Old Town” nestled inside its 16th-century protective walls on a hill extending up from the sea. It was our first destination on this stop and was about a mile walk from the ship.

As soon as we walked out the gates of the port we were pounced on by a phalanx of local “guides’ harassing us to pay them 20 euros to be our escorts. “This is Africa. You need a local to protect you while you explore the town.”

Our initial response was a polite no, which they clearly misinterpreted as, “please continue haranguing us, and pile on with some thinly veiled threats.” As soon as we turned away one, another would tap in. We went from polite “no’s,” to completely ignoring them, to finally getting in their face with a stern “Stop!”

None of this worked, so Plan D was to shift to a fast-paced walk and head blindly into the Old Town (called the “Medina”) and its narrow, winding alleyways. Thus began the tense moments.

The Medina is NOT strictly a tourist area, possessing a large population of locals living in tight quarters. As we scurried up its narrow passageways we soon realized we were far from the tourist district. We got many strange looks, some perturbed looks, and some locals who appeared to be sizing up my athletic ability to determine if they should relieve us of some of our possessions.

Shawna was clearly uncomfortable with the situation – evidenced by her anxiously repeating, “I don’t like this,” in a harsh whisper.

Alas, turns out we had nothing to worry about. We eventually wound our way to the market area of the Medina and found a cafe with an elevated patio. There we enjoyed a staple of Tangier, Mint Tea, served piping hot in a glass too warm to hold without wrapping it in a napkin.

Looking down, it was clear we were early birds today.

But later, the Medina came to life, with shop after shop opening down the main corridor and well into adjoining alleys in every direction. Here’s the same area later that morning:

We also found a large food market, lined with stalls selling fresh fruits, vegetables and meats – including a rather disturbing shop with a collection of dead rabbits – some skinned, some not – hanging there for the picking.

Shawna’s favorite stall was the olive vendor.

One last fun fact about Tangier: it is the birthplace of the tangerine – a genetically modified mandarin orange named after the town. We certainly couldn’t return to the ship without first sampling a glass of tangerine juice.

After the rough start, it turned out to be a successful day – one in which we clocked 15,274 steps.

Tomorrow, it’s the start of a beautiful friendship.