Traveling Week — Southern Spain and Morocco

Saturday

First thing in the morning we packed everything up, called an Uber, and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car. We’ll have this one for the next two weeks to get around southern Spain.

We didn’t have too many issues picking up the rental car — only had to note additional damage on the car that wasn’t in the description, but that was fairly minor.

Near Seville is the ancient ruins of Italica. It was a major city of the Romans when they controlled the Iberian peninsula. Italica was also the birth place of two Roman emperors, Trajan and Hadrian. Now all that remains is a portion of the large amphitheater and walls for some of the buildings in central Italica.

We started with the amphitheater. When it was completed, it could seat 30,000 people and was one of the largest in the Roman empire. It’s not nearly as intact as the one in Pula, Croatia, but it was interesting to wander through the passages under the seats.

We also hiked up the hill and read the plaques describing some of the important buildings of the city. Several large sections of mosaic floor tiles have survived and been pieced back together. The ruin are pretty sparse at this point, so you definitely have to use your imagination, but for 3 euros to visit, it was worth the stop.

Our accommodations for the night are in Vejer de la Frontera, so we headed south from Italica. We stopped for lunch at a pizza place, La Pontana, in Dos Hermanas. It was cheap and fast, so that simplified lunch plans.

We didn’t make any other stops on the way to Vejer de la Frontera, so we pulled into the city about 5pm. Then things got interesting! We copy-pasted the address from AirBNB into Google Maps for our directions. We followed the directions just fine, until the sign said, “no entry except for residents.” Vejer de la Frontera is a standard Spanish city with a little bitty old town with itty bitty streets. And Google took us right into the heart of town.

MAN it was tight! Keller did amazing and we did manage to get out of there without leaving any paint behind … though there is a little extra tire rubber on one particular corner. We didn’t quite get stuck and we did manage to wind our way back out of the trap of little streets. We were definitely regretting our “big” Peugeot 5008!

Once resetting for the correct address, we wound up and down the external ring road until we got to the new part of town and our apartment for the night. Marina was a gracious host and was like the Spanish grandmother that you never had. Her apartment though was a bit dated, quirky, and dim. She also spoke zero English, so her solution to not understanding was to talk louder and faster with more emphasis. We did our best, but I can’t say I knew everything she was saying either.

We walked to town to wander those same alleys we’d driven earlier before. Almost all the tourists had left for the day already, so we had the city nearly to ourselves. The city is definitely set on top of a hill, so the streets were really steep!

Hills are wonderful for catching the sunsets!

We ate dinner at El Central — the best was the octopus! It was very tasty and just as good as the octopus Keller and I had in NYC several years ago. One of the best dishes of this trip so far! The desserts were tasty too.

Sunday

Our planned destination for today was Tarifa — the very southern tip of Spain! We drove along the coast and stopped a couple of times to check out the beach. We let the kids play in the sand and surf in the little town of Zahara de los Atunes. It start with “you can take off your shoes and pull up your pants” and ended with soaking wet children. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming though. That’s what typically happens with anything water related. 😉 The beach was deserted and we had it all to ourselves.

Further down the coast we stopped again to watch some kite surfers do their thing! The coast here is particularly windy because the mountain ranges funnel the winds through the Strait of Gibraltar and thus this area is very popular for both kite surfers and wind surfers. We watched for a while, marveling at how quickly they move across the water and even jumped into the air. It was pretty cool!

Once in Tarifa, we parked near our apartment and walked to lunch. On the way, we passed a large brass band playing in a plaza. Spain has numerous events scattered throughout Lent in the run up to Santa Semana (Holy Week). They were quite good and we enjoyed the music!

For lunch, we went to BoccaBuena. It was a cute tapas restaurant in a small courtyard. All the dishes were tasty, but the best was the calamari squid stuffed with black rice. It was different and so good! It was my favorite dish from our entire trip to Spain!

Check in for our apartment went smoothly — it is a nice new apartment and looks very well set up. We’ll only be here one night, but it was nice to be settled for the afternoon. I ran a load of laundry and then we headed down to the beach!

We were right across the street from the beach, so it is very convenient. It was a bit cool to really go swimming, but that didn’t stop the kids! They happily played in the surf, chasing waves for almost an hour. Kamy managed to talk Keller into the water too before he got too cold and staked out a spot on the beach. The kids then proceeded to cover his legs with sand to “keep him warm.” It was quite a project and at times it looked like the waves would get too close and wash away progress! Caden helped by building a wall just below Daddy’s feet to block the waves. Two and a half hours after going to the beach we headed off to explore the coast a bit and then went back to the apartment.

After quick showers to remove the sand and salt, we went to a local pizza place for dinner. Grocery stores are all closed on Sunday afternoons, so we weren’t prepared to eat at the apartment. It was fast and cheap, though not overly remarkable. Then it was off to bed for an early start on the way to Morocco!

Monday

We were up and going first thing in the morning. Since the grocery stores don’t open until 9am, we tried to get breakfast at a “cafe” near the ferry port. Instead, we found a small counter serving coffee and toast to the dock workers. Not quite what we had in mind. So Keller walked to drop off the rental car in a parking garage for the next few days, while the kids and I walked to the ferry terminal to pick up our tickets.

There was a small cafe in the terminal, so we grabbed a few pastries and drinks for a light breakfast. The ferry crossing itself went fine — fairly smooth water and no issues with passport control out of Spain or into Morocco. We made sure that Keller’s Zenyatta keychain was on the backpack and could add Africa to “his” travels. 😉

Once in Morocco we met our guide, Majed, who would be showing us around for the next two days. We started by driving through the city of Tangier where he pointed out the different colonial sections of the city. Tangier has been controlled by many different European countries over the years, so it has a lot of European influence. We drove to Cap Spartel, the light house on the northern-most point in Morocco where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet.

Then we went into the Cave of Hercules, so-named after the Roman fables which claimed Hercules rested in these caves during one of his many adventures. The coolest part of the cave was the giant opening near sea level where you could see out of the cave. It was quite stunning! We loved watching the waves crash into the rocks below and the echoing sound that moved through the cave.

We also made a quick stop at the confluence of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The currents can get quite tricky in this area and the winds whip through here very quickly.

From there we drove back to the Old Medina section of Tangier where Majed took us through the twisty, turny little streets — past vendors of all sorts (and all food handling processes). My nose was stopped up from allergies, but Keller said he was getting nasal whiplash — wonderful smells followed by quite foul smells too.

The fish market was quite extensive and fascinating. Vendors had everything from sardines to lobsters to shark to eel, in all possible shapes, colors, and sizes. Kamy even held a massive langostine!

After the market, we went to lunch at a traditional Moroccan restaurant with a nice terrace and view of the port. I can’t say Moroccan is my new favorite cuisine, but the food was decent. The kids weren’t really impressed though.

Majed took us through the market streets again, with stops in a couple of larger shops. One of the shops he took us to had an old fashioned, mechanical loom for weaving blankets and scarves. It was fascinating to watch them work! It takes a lot of skill to cast the shuttle and thread across the loom while working both food peddles to create the weave. The blanket was being woven right in front of our eyes! Kamy was tempted with a scarf when the shop owner showed her how to look like an Arabian princess. She was enamored!

Majed also took us to a small museum in the heart of the Kasbah. While we weren’t impressed with the “collection”, the ceilings were fabulous. The museum was in an old palace, so the intricate details and fantastic carvings were original.

We then met our AirBNB host, Mustapha, who took us to our accommodations for the next two nights. It is a traditional Moroccan house in the heart of the Kasbah. The entire apartment is spread out over 5(!) floors with a total of 60 stairs from top to bottom! It certainly had character and was different from any place we’ve stayed before! There were a couple of issues with it, but for two nights it worked out okay. The beds were rock hard though. The views from the top terrace were quite lovely and we felt transported to a new world.

The kids were a bit antsy after trailing after us all day long, so we walked down to the beach to let them play for a bit. This beach wasn’t nearly as clean or nice as the one in Tarifa and the weather was chilly, so we didn’t stay long. We grabbed dinner at a pizza restaurant in the new part of town, picked up some ice cream, stopped at a grocery store for some breakfast options, and caught a cab back to the Bab Kasbah and thus our apartment. It certainly was a whirlwind introduction to Tangier!

Tuesday

This morning we met our guide and driver at the Bab Kasbah gate for our day trip. We started with driving to Tetouan, a Moorish city about an hour away from Tangier. In many ways it was similar to Tangier, with a convoluted medina market and a newer urban city. The market was pretty tame this morning — many of the shops were not open yet and what was there did seem more hygenic than those in Tangier. For example, most of the raw meat stalls had a glass case to protect the meat from people passing by.

One of the most interesting sections of Tetouan was the leather curing area. While the entire complex isn’t in use any more, there were still artisans working with raw hides and soaking them in the vats to create leather and dye the finished products. It was interesting to see leather being made in the “traditional” way, by hand and not machine. We also saw many women who came in from the countryside to sell their home grown vegetables and homemade cheese in town. It also gave us an appreciation for the overall ease and quality of life we enjoy. So many people here have to work very hard all day to earn a basic living. Poverty and subsistence farming are very common here.

From Tetouan, we headed south to Chefchaouen. There was a lot of traffic on the road, so it took longer than we were expecting. We did eventually reach Chefchaouen, known as the Blue Pearl. Instead of white washed buildings, many of the houses and shops in this town are painted a wide variety of blues — from light to dark. It gives the little paths between the buildings an other-worldly appearance.

We picked out our own restaurant this time, another Moroccan place that had good reviews and a lovely view of the Kasbah walls. We liked this food a bit better, but it still wasn’t a huge hit. Alas, apparently Moroccan food isn’t our thing.

Majed led us through the little alleys and by various shops in town. We were looking for a piece of art work but never found something we loved. Caden has now collected a little colorful window magnet from each of the cities in Morocco. Some of the little shops sold colorful powders to mix with water and lime for painting the buildings. Such a rainbow of options!

Once we were done in Chefchaouen, we drove back to Tangier and were dropped off near the medina. Kamy decided she wanted to get the scarf from the day before, so we asked Majed to take us back to the textile shop. The owner was there again and happily showed us the options and helped Kamy tie the scarf around her head. Keller also bargained for two zipper bags in order to carry all our charging stuff while traveling.

We said thank you and goodbye to Majed and returned to the apartment. We walked down the hill to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We’re a bit paranoid about food handling safety as we’ve been cautioned about cleanliness and water purification in Morocco, so we didn’t feel very adventurous.

Overall, we found Morocco interesting. We felt safe while walking around, especially once we saw it with our own eyes and could get a feel for the area. Caden was a magnet for adults touching him on the head, which he did not like. Keller and I did a better job shielding him from well-wishers during day two.

We also learned that we do not really care for “tour guided” day trips. Being waited on, hand and foot, and feeling like we need to move at someone else’s pace cramps our style. Once we were there, we were not nearly as intimidated by the culture. Yes, there is a significant language barrier and cultural differences, but we could have done a lot of what we did without a guide. Now we know!

Wednesday

Today was a travel day.

The ferry to Tarifa leaves every two hours from the Port of Tangier, so we were up early to head that direction. We were advised to arrive by 8:45 for the 10am ferry. Once we got there, there was a big line to go through border control, which was moving very very slowly. It’s clearly not very organized, but we did ultimately get through security. It was almost 10am, but the ferry perpetually runs late and thus we were safely on the boat before it left for Spain.

Once in Tarifa, we stopped for lunch at La Morena. The tapas were pretty tasty and the best was the sweet and sour fried fish. We picked up our car from the parking garage and headed north toward Ronda.

Ronda is an old town perched in the mountains of Southern Spain, spanning a massive river gorge. The drive up was beautiful and very twisty. Check in went smoothly and our apartment came with free parking. Caden is feeling a little sick, so we went to a little tapas place for a light dinner and called it a night. We did catch the sunset for a few minutes, but the wind was chilly and no clouds meant the sunset wasn’t particularly colorful.

Thursday

Caden still isn’t feeling great, so we took our time getting started in the morning. My allergies continue to explode, so I visited a doctor to make sure it’s not turning into an infection. So far so good, just adding cough medicine to my daily routine.

We all went to lunch at a little Italian pizza place, Michelangeo. The portions were large and the prices were very reasonable, so we ended up with enough leftovers to have for dinner as well.

After lunch, we walked down the street to check out the new bridge. The gorge is SO DEEP! It’s amazing to think of the engineering necessary to build such a massive structure.

We also visited the Ronda Bullfighting Museum. This bullring is one of the largest and still hosts bullfights every year. While we have no desire to support bullfighting, it was interesting to learn a bit about the history and see the facility.

We also stumbled upon a little art gallery! It was filled with hundreds of paintings, in all shapes and sizes and from a myriad of different artists. The gallery had most pieces on sale or clearance because they were preparing to renovate the shop. We looked and looked and looked. And ultimately we bought THREE oil paintings!

The flamenco dancer will be our painting “from Spain.” We really liked the dark seaside scene — it feels so moody and evocative. And the little landscape reminded me of the Bay of Kotor from last fall. The price was right now — we ended up with all three canvases for 150 euros! We’re planning to ask Opa to build frames for the canvases once we return to the US. In the mean time, they’re all rolled up and stored in our rental car to bring home with us. We were so excited to find pieces that we loved and to add to our collection!

We also wandered town a bit and looked at the interesting architecture and buildings. Ronda was definitely a surprise and we really enjoyed the laid back feel of the city. And the caramelized sunflower seeds were fabulous!