We leave La Marina and we are determined to drive right through to Gibraltar in one day. This is a mean feat as its 590kms and we have never driven that far in one day yet. However we manage it and arrive at a camperstop at La Linea about 8pm in the pouring rain. We could just see ‘The Gibraltar Rock’ from the van but was shrouded in cloud. The campstop was at a stadium and had many campers. We wont get to walk up the rock this time but we will be back again for sure.
In the morning we drive to the camper lockup at San Roque where we have had to make sure our fridge doesnt have any perishables and we take our back packs for the trip. The owner doesnt speak any English but we determine that they are closed when we want to pick up the camper on Saturday afternoon, so a quick decision has to be made that we will stay 4 days in Tangier instead of just 2. We say goodbye to Morrie (the van) who is parked up next to Speedy, Jules and Garries van and walk along the side of the highway to the bus stop. We take the bus down to Algeciras where we pay for our ferry tickets to Tangier which includes a free bus to Tarifa where it leaves from. We know that Morocco is on the high alert list right now and a lot of people are avoiding going there but we feel it will be ok.
We wait for our free bus at the Algeciras port which takes us directly to the waiting ferry. The trip is only about 40 minutes but is quite rough as the wind has really got up. We have our passports stamped on the ferry on the way over so disembarking is quite quick. We are asked if we want a taxi to the riad I have booked which is called Dar Nour. We decide it’s a good idea and the fellow wants to show us around the Kasbar and old Medina area where we staying so we agree on 20euro for 3hours sightseeing. The taxi is 5euro plus a walk up stairs and along narrow alleyways. As we wind up through the throng of people we are confronted with noise, bedlam, crowds, street stalls and a hectic local way of life. I feel overwhelmed and instant culture shock having been in the sheltered Spanish paradise for too long. Our room has been upgraded from a double to a mini suite which is up 3 flights of narrow windy stairs. It is very cool, but we have to get back down to our guide for our tour.
We head downstairs to the tour guide and he takes us around the narrow streets of the Kasbar area of Tangier. It is in the old medina area. He tells us a little about a few things we pass on our way and we go through the street markets that are chaotic and crammed with people. I fear a couple of times I am going to get lost as it’s difficult to keep up with so many people around. He eventually takes us to a carpet shop obviously in the hope we might buy something but after them showing us a dozen rugs I make it really clear that we cannot buy as we live in a campervan currently and have no room to put a rug. They are lovely but I know they will have massively inflated prices which I am not prepared to attempt to bargain with them currently. We then head off and he takes us to another shop which sells spices. These people are obviously his friends and this is part of his so called tour where we get stung for larger than life costs of things we could buy down the road for probably half the price. Scot succumbs though and he buys some saffron and a few spices. I tell him he will be able to buy it down the road for nothing but he has paid and that is that. The guide then takes us to a restaurant where we will eat but the owner is hedging about what the cost is and won’t tell us. Oh well we think it will likely be nice so we sit back completely on our own in the restaurant and await the 3 course supposedly truly authentic Moroccan cuisine. The meal is ok but the cost at the end is a little steep since we believed Morocco is supposed to be at least as cheap as Spain which doesn’t turn out to be the case at all. Halfway through the meal the guide asks if we want some hash. He tells us not to make a decision until we see it and takes off in a hurry to get some and comes back ten minutes later with some. He offers it to us for 1500 dirham. That is 150 euro or 240aud. I have no idea but it seems extremely exorbitant and we tell him we just aren’t interested. He has told us it is totally legal in Morocco which we google later only to find out it is illegal and the consequences can be significant if caught, but often the police turn a blind eye as it seems to bring so much money into the country. He then says he is leaving and the waiter will take us back to our hotel. He is only 2hours into his 3 hour tour but he says we started an hour earlier than we agreed. I have told him I think he is a rogue and I am not happy but he is determined to go and I figure what can I do, a stranger in a foreign country so I pay him and he leaves.
The waiter then takes us back to our hotel thankfully. We meet the owner of Dar Nour who happens to be a skinny French man who seems to be a very pleasant guy. We head up to our room but once in bed we seem to be getting cigarette smoke leaching into our room from the floors below. It is unpleasant and we have to open the window to try and keep it away a bit. Not good. We didn’t know they smoked inside this accommodation or we would not have booked.
In the morning we head down to breakfast which is 7euro each and consists of fresh berries, breads, sweet and plain and lots of little bits and pieces like hard boiled eggs, cheeses, raisins, nuts, home cooked crumpet type things, sweet biscuits and juice, tea and coffee. It is quite a strange mix really but we find something we can enjoy and it’s ok. The tea here is really lovely. They make a mint tea and the glass has heaps of fresh mint in it. Sometimes it can be a bit sweet though but it makes a refreshing change from alcohol which is difficult to buy here. They do sell wine and beer at the Dar but it is very expensive so we don’t worry. After breakfast we head out ourselves to see how lost we can get around the Kasbar and the medina. We run into a fellow who really wants to tell us where we need to go but they only want money and often they don’t take you in the right direction, so we have to forcefully decline as he is quite adamant we need help.
We figure out our way to the main Kasbar road so we now know our path. We walk all around the market areas and head down towards the port area. We end up at the Intercontinental hotel which looks over the port and stop for a mint tea and a toilet. Whilst sitting there we meet another couple who are English and spend an hour or so talking to them. Scot is happy as he chats with Bob about bikes, rugby and job opportunities in England. It is a pleasant afternoon and we say goodbye to the lovely couple we met and head off back up to the medina area. We have only booked the Dar for 2 nights and since we can’t get our van on the weekend we ask to stay another night at the same price for the suite. We get back to the Dar and end up having dinner there as the owner has employed a young chef who turns out to make the most delicious 3 course meal. It is Morrocan lamb and is fantastic and even surprisingly Vicki eats it too. Tonight no one seems to be smoking so maybe we will be ok. Back to our suite and an earlyish night for tomorrows sightseeing.
Another unusual breakfast the next day and we are off again to see some of the market streets we didn’t see properly yesterday. We have found the main tourist route through the medina so check out some of the shops. There are people approaching us often asking us to buy cigarettes, tissues (yes strange), come to their shop, offering to show us where other markets are etc. Most are really good and go away when you say no thanks but you get the odd one that hassles you more. Some of the shops are selling lovely stuff and we see light shades with leadlight I would love to buy but we can’t. Like every market place it is difficult to sort the genuine souvenir’s to the imported junk but it is nearly impossible but we have learnt not to be tempted to buy on the first day but to look around and compare and learn (except apparently spices!!) and though we see a few authentic looking things we don’t buy. We try and get a little something that reflect and will remind us of the country we are in. In a wholesale older market we see lots of ceramic and pottery bowls, tagines etc of all sizes and see one we like but keep it in mind for later. We spot the English couple from yesterday in the market so they offer to show us to the local supermarket as we want to see if we can get some crisps and a bottle of wine to have in our room before dinner. The supermarket has lots of goods, really good actually but suspect it is for the more well off households, but no alcohol and the crisps are really expensive so we buy only one pack and orange juice. Vicki assures me a break from booze will be good for me haha but she is serious.
Unfortunatly I spy bulk spices a hell of a lot cheaper than the spice bazaar but put it down –again – to experience. Vicki spies a bright, colourful shop and shows a bit of promise for a keepsake so we go in and chat to the owner who is keen for a sale. We look around and Vicki is taken by a small brass, colourfully painted camel which is real cute and though we do not know where it is made, though we are assured it is Moroccan made, it is small enough not to add any more bulk to the van. The owner tries to get Vicki to buy the set of 3 ranging in size but really we only want one so don’t give in. We decide to meander back up the old town to the market to get the miniature tarjine we saw the day before and manage to get one that was different than the others, a beautiful tone of blue at the right price. We wander around a bit more as the sun sets and sit in the main square for a while drinking in the sights and people watch. There are what seem to be homeless or at the least quite poor people around but on the whole the place doesn’t have the decrepidness and sadness of others we have seen and definitely not as many beggars. The food market area is humming as we wander back to the Dah and really it is a vibrant atmosphere and we feel now that we would like to come back and see more of Tangier and other parts of Morocco. We sit and read and have a few chips and juice in our room before heading down for tea. There are a few people in waiting for dinner and having a few drinks and lots of ciggies so not very pleasant atmosphere so we decide there is no way we can eat here so ask if we can have our meal downstairs away from all the smokers which is no problem thank goodness. I have a bit of a cold and the smoke makes it worse. Again we have a lovely 3 course meal this time large prawns done to a local recipe. We meet the young chef and congratulate him on his skills which I am sure he appreciates. All the staff here are great and if not for the smoking culture 5 star.
We get up to our last brekky and then go for a last walk around the Kasbah and final look around to see if there is any more souvenir’s we don’t really need but when has this stopped anybody. We decide to get a taxi to the port as it is a bit wet and only 5E so not worth the walk. We get to the port and find that the ferry has been cancelled due to the high winds and doesn’t look like going for a day or two. I am not sure if the taxi driver knew this but probably wanted the fare but who knows we will give him the benefit of the doubt. The guard there who has told us says we can go to Tangier Med which is a bigger port about 30 miles away where the ferries are running as they are bigger and can handle the conditions. We hum and hah for a minute then pay the 30E to taxi there but in the back of our mind is whether we should stay in Tangier until the wind drops but really that could be days away. The taxi ride is cool as we see some of the countryside though the driver doesn’t spare the horses and the old merc is put through its paces.
We arrive to a very blustery port which is very new and still being built but Morocco is definitely planning for the future which is great to see. We get inside and find to our dismay that all THESE ferries are cancelled as well but luckily find one that is still scheduled to leave in a few hours so we decide to wait till the last minute to pay in case that is cancelled as well. As we are waiting we notice more and more people arriving including tour groups so we bite the bullet and line up and we are grateful we did as we get our tickets just as tempers start to fray and yelling and pushing occurs especially when a tour leader, who has already started getting tickets, comes back with all the passports which causes resentment as others think he is barging in! The guy behind the glass is doing his best but no staff to help as this is not planned. More people join in the arguments so we slink away and keep a low profile. In a matter of minutes the queue has doubled and we pray that the ship sails. We finally get on the bus shuttle to the ferry which drops us off at the terminal. We are on the first shuttle so get a seat. We chat to a couple of American ladies on holiday. Then we notice a man having difficulties and not looking well so we offer help and he is a medic and says he is having a heart attack. Vicki’s training kicks in so we get him comfy, she gets a sick bag as I alert the authorities to get an ambulance. The man is groaning and spewing and angry as he just wants to get back to Spain and doesn’t want to go to a Moroccan hospital. Vicki tells him she is a trained in CPR and we won’t get on the ferry until the ambulance has arrived if needed. The ambulance arrives in a very short time which is amazing and he is taken on board. His wife comes back in to get the bags and they are still hopeful that he will stabilise and be allowed on the ferry but this doesn’t happen and they are whisked off. We are impressed by the urgency and professionalism of the Emergency Services. We finally get on the ferry but don’t depart for hours so it is a long day when we finally get going. I reckon that the crossing is fine considering the conditions but Vicki wanders around so sees the roughness and rolling which she says is bad. I figured as we couldn’t smell copious amounts of vomit from the previous crossing then all will be ok.
We pull into Algeciras and get to debark. All I can say is that if the ship was sinking we would all die as no one wants to let the one in front go first and no one knows the merge rule and as at the ticket office tempers are fraying and rudeness abounds. Not sure what the nationalities are but I think Spanish. We have been on a few ferries now but the on board organisation here is non-existent and the crew would be useless in any emergency or evacuation. Gratefully we get on to solid ground and as it is already 8pm we end up getting a taxi to the Marriot hotel as it is cheap enough in Spain to make it worthwhile and did have rooms available before we left Morocco. The room is great although the only one left is a twin room so it’s single beds for us tonight, then we eat an ‘average for Marriot’ meal and hit the sack. The next morning we have a buffet brekky included and then taxi to the bus terminal, happily get our refund from the cancelled ferry minus the agent commission and get the bus back to San Roque and after a short walk we are reunited with Morrie who has had a great time with Speedy and they are now firm friends after sharing engine and gearbox stories.
It is early enough so we decide we should head off to Portugal. We were going to spend another night at Gibraltar to see the rock but since we are two days behind our schedule we get going. We drive along southern Spain and up around Seville which is meant to be a lovely city, but think another day we will be back. As we head over the border there are toll booths and we are a bit confused about what we need to do. I get on the Portugese toll website which says we need to enter our credit card and any tolls we go through will be automatically charged. This is apparently the only way a visitor to the country can work the tolls so that’s what we do. We need to do motorways to travel quickly up through Portugal as we now have a time limit to return to the UK. We head to the first place we have checked out to stay just over the border and the first camperstop which is free is full, so we move on to the next place we sussed out. It is also heavily filled and there appears to only be one or two spots left. It is a very large dirt carpark and there appears to be approx. 100 vans here, which we can’t understand as there is nothing here but muddy carpark and few facilities and it costs 4.50euro a night. Anyway it is only for the night so park up.
