Two Continents, Three Countries in Eight Hours!

The Kasbah in Tangiers

Herbs on sale in Tangiers

Two things that made it towards the top of our list for when we traveled to Spain to  visit our niece, Blayne, was to take a day trip to Gibraltar and Morocco.  We had the transportation and Blayne was up for the adventure.  We hopped in the car and headed to Tarifa, Spain.  This is where you can catch the high speed boat to go to Tangiers, Morocco.  If you are unfamiliar with the geography of this area, Tangiers is a city found on the West African coast at the western entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar.  This is where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.  None of us had been to Africa before, so we thought this would be an excellent opportunity to step foot on an unexplored continent (to us) and, in a few short hours, glean as much history/culture as we could.

Blayne and Tammy

Blaynie getting a shot of the sunset while we get a shot of her and the Rock!

When we descended from the boat, we were greeted by about 30 "guides" and drivers offering their services.  One particularly hefty man started to badger David.  He then headed my way and started to berate me for not accepting his services.  To the rescue came Lerbe, the gentleman who would be our guide (and we are sure now a partner in crime with the first "guide" - think good cop, bad cop).   We hopped into a taxi and headed up to the Kasbah.  From there, we walked the narrow routes through the Kasbah area, checking out the number of stalls lining the pathways.  We had an excellent meal at a "friend's" restaurant.  Then we were ushered to a carpet store to try and sell us a rug.  Overall, it was very interesting with great food and company.  Unfortunately, it did not end on a good note.  When we reached the boat terminal, Lerbe insisted that he had done more than the agreed upon rate and made quite a scene.  David held his own while Blayne and I quickly scampered through customs and out of earshot.  Although parts of this quick trip were stressful, we wouldn't have missed the opportunity.

Twilight in Gibraltar - Catalan Bay

When we arrived back at Tarifa, we decided to head to Gibraltar, not far away.  We have seen Uluru in Australia and pictures of Prudential Insurance's logo.  But we have to admit that the sight of the the Rock of Gibraltar was awesome.  To get from the Spanish mainland to Gibraltar, which is a British territory, you have to go through this gate where they check your passports.  Then you cross over an isthmus which connects Spain and Gibraltar.  The interesting thing is that this isthmus is also a runway.  If a plane is coming in, they stop traffic to allow the plane to land and then resume after it has landed.  Very interesting.  Blayne and I were excited to see more of Gibraltar since we had both finished the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and Lisbeth Salander speaks of Gibraltar being her favorite place.  We traveled around as much of the rock as possible before we got to Catalan Bay which is where I want to vacation next (and I assume was the setting for the books).  


After a very long day of new sights, smells and people, we headed back to Cadiz, Blayne's fall home, to get rest before our next adventure the next day.