Monday's eye on Tangier-Le coup d'oeil du lundi sur Tanger

Berber women in brightly coloured traditional dress: striped foutas, straw and wool hats and bath towels as shawls. Wide smiles and ultra-fresh produce at the market. Life's good.

Femmes berbères en costumes colorés traditionnel: foutas rayées, chapeau en paille et laine et serviettes éponge en guise de châle. Sourires radieux et légumes extra frais.

Image: Joelle Desparmet

The Old and the New in Tangier-L'ancien et le nouveau à Tanger

One of the striking things in Tangier is the contrast between traditional customs and modern life, between the past and the future. You find it in the outside food market with berber women in traditional dress selling their produce near the entrance of an ultramodern hair salon, in the television antennas atop 16th centuries buildings, in the men in their prayer day caftans driving a brand new SUV. It's as if the thrust of progress is trying hard to push back old customs .

Une des choses frappantes à Tanger est le contraste entre les traditions et la modernité à l'occidentale: un marché berbère traditionnel a lieu aux pieds d'un salon de coiffure ultra-moderne, des antennes de télévision s'alignent le long du toit d'un bâtiment d'un autre siècle et des hommes vêtus de leur caftan de prière traditionel sont au volant de quatre-quatre flambant neuf. C'est comme si la poussée du monde moderne ne suffit pas à repousser les coutumes, ceci pour notre grand plaisir.

This Berber woman has come from the surrounding hills to the open-air market to sell what she has grown,. She wears a traditional hat and an apron called a fouta that she probably wove herself. She walks past cars she never uses. She prefers her donkey: cheap, practical and not subject to the fluctuations of the barrel of oil.

Cette femme berbère vient des collines avoisinantes pour vendre ces produits au marché. Elle porte le chapeau traditionnel et une fouta rayée rouge qu'elle a vraisemblablement tissée elle-même. Elle croise des voitures dont elle ne se sert jamais. Elle préfère son âne: bon marché, pratique et indifférent aux fluctuations du marché du pétrole. 

The ramparts of the old fortified city, the Kasbah, is falling apart for lack of funds to repair it while a brand new multi-million euro fishing port and marina are being built. The marina will bring in tourist and cash but the wall won't. Or won't it? Will Tangier look the same from the sea without the centuries old wall? 

Les remparts de la ville fortifiée, la Kasbah, tombent en ruine pendant qu'au dessous se construisent un port de pêche et une marina de plusieurs millions d'euros. La marina fera venir des touristes et leur argent alors que les remparts ne le font pas. Mais est-ce bien vrai? Quelle tête aura Tanger, de la mer, sans son enceinte fortifiée?

The roof of the "foundouk", an ancient market place seen in all the old cities of Morocco, is lined with television dishes while underneath the weavers work on the same looms as those used for centuries.

Sur le toit du "foundouk", un marché couvert très ancien comme on en voit à travers le Maroc, sont alignées des paraboles de télévision pendant que juste en dessous, les tisserands travaillent sur des métiers centenaires.

Images: Joelle Desparmet

Monday's eye on Tangier-Le coup d'oeil du lundi sur Tanger

A Berber woman selling mint for tea in the medina. Traditional striped skirt and pompom hat with modern bright pink socks and pale blue sweater.

Une femme berbère vend de la menthe pour le thé. Jupe rayée et chapeau à pompons traditionnel avec des socquettes mode rose shocking et pull bleu pâle.

Image: Joelle Desparmet

The food shops of Tangier

Although there are new supermarkets on the edge of town, most people buy their food fresh every day from street-side markets and stalls right down the street from my house. There is an amazing variety of vegetables and fruit year round. Morocco is a prime producer and exporter of citrus, melons of all sorts and strawberries in season. There are figs and avocados, bananas, dates and herbs and of course mounds of spices at every corner.

The spice, nuts, herbs and all sorts of remedies shop.

Some vendors display their goods in hand made straw bags...

 ....or crates set down right on the sidewalks. This "shop" decor is a testament to the vendor's sense of style and ...humour.

Even wheelbarrows serve as mini grocery stores! It gives the expression "directly from producer to consumer" an entirely new meaning.

Produce and dairy products are brought fresh every day from the surrounding farms by Berber women in their typical dress: a big straw hat with wool pompoms and striped foutas, a rectangular home spun piece of cotton they use as shawls, skirts and aprons. These women walk huge distances to come to market. 

Goat milk on offer. Hum...I think I'll have mine pasteurised.

Tangier being a port, fresh seafood arrives every morning at the brand new fish market, from shrimp and clams to baby shark (baby?..shark?) and a myriad other delicious fish and crustaceans. I have never heard of or seen some of the fish on display and odd-coloured fish roe pouches the size of an average handbag is for sale: I am willing to try anything once but huge brownish fish roe is where I draw the line! Would not know what to do with it anyway.

My typical Tangier breakfast: naturally sweet, freshly squeezed orange juice, warm bread and locally made jams and honey. Also fresh eggs and goat cheese from the Rif Mountains. And of course my tea. Can't leave the house without my cup of tea! A good start to a day of exploring the city and countryside...and food shopping.

Bon Appétit! 

Photographs: Sylvie Pellet, Joelle Desparmet and anonymous.