Three Countries: Three Days

We´ve just returned from a three-day bus tour that was great fun. The first day we drove to Seville, Spain for a few hours. What we saw of the city was beautiful: the Plaza of Spain, a beautiful building built for a 1929 Exposition; the old Jewish Quarters and St. Mary´s Cathedral. The latter is two-thirds of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that also includes a royal palace. We´ll be going back to Seville for a couple of days at the end of the month, so I can write more about it then.

After Seville, the bus took us down to Algerceris for the night. Don visited this city 40 years ago and couldn´t believe the difference between then and now. Then it was a little town on the coast where you could take a ferry across to North Africa. Now it is the second largest port in Spain after Barcelona. It has huge cranes, lots of containers and trucks to carry them out of town, and ferries, still, for going to North Africa. The pesky east wind is still blowing across the land and most crossings had come to a standstill on Wednesday. The wind howled around our hotel room window all night Wednesday night that it was almost impossible to sleep.

Thursday, we were driven to the Rock of Gibralter, just a half-hour away. Since Great Britain owns "Gib", it was a border crossing with passsports, security and the whole business. We crossed from Portugal to Spain by driving over a bridge and setting our watches ahead one hour! But here, Britain´s hold on the Rock is quite tenuous and they are very serious about protecting their border.

We had plenty of free time so spent a couple of hours wandering up and down Gibralter´s Main Street that was lined from one end to the other with shops. Many were high-end and we saw a lot of beautiful jewelry, china, glassware and other items. Leather is also big here. Had a great lunch in a pub, well Don thought it was great becasue he had home-made steak and kidney pie! I had fish and chips and they were quite good.

In the afternoon we took a minibus tour of the mountain itself. We found out is it riddled with caves for hiding troops. Supposedly, they´re set up to live inside the mountain for up to 90 days. We weren´t taken to the top, but it was cloudy and we wouldn´t have been able to see much anyway. We did stop and go into a huge, beautiful cave with stalagtights, and mites. When we came out there were monkeys all over the place. They live there freely and roam all over the mountain. They don´t usually go down into the city because it is too stressful for them there. It was great fun to watch them, expecially the little ones.

Back to Algerceris again for Thursday night. We had enough time to walk around the city a little before dark. We were in the old part of town, down by the waterfront. There were some abandoned buildings, many shops and a lot of people out and about. The pastry shops had many more delightful things in them than any we´ve seen so far. About half of the shop owners and people on the street were Muslims.

Friday was our big adventure. We were driven to Tarifa and walked onto a "fast cat" catamaran for a 45 minute crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. It was reall iffy for awhile that we would be able to go becasue of the winds. But Friday was a beautiful calm, sunny day. We landed at Tangiers and it was fantastic. We were taken by minibus through the city and out into the countryside where we stopped for camel rides (strictly for tourists). Then back into the city where we were unloaded and walked into the casbah! That was everything you´ve ever imagined.

The streets were narrow, dark and twisty. They were crowded with people and we had to have four guides working to keep us all in one group and moving together. Men with trinkets, purses, jewelry, souveniers, etc., would walk right up to you and stick their wares practically in your face and walk with you trying to get you to buy their stuff. We were being moved through incredibly fast and only had glances at the shops we were passing. Most interesting to me were the spice shops. I would have loved to have been able to stop and smell some of their spices.

We eventually were taken to a very nice restaurant where we were served three courses for lunch: a spicy soup, kabobs made of ground lamb, and a couscous dish with chicken, vegetables and interesting spices. This was followed by mint tea and a belly dancer that showed no skin at all! A quartet of musicians played strange, lovely melodys during lunch.

After we´d eaten we were taken to a rug merchant´s store. We were all invited to sit on benches around a showroom and the owner, Mohammed, in perfect English, had his wares presented to us as he explained the different weaves, patterns and materials. He made eye contact with me as soon as I walked into the room and I knew I was in for it. Sure enough, right after the presentation he came up to me and asked me to come and see his "favorite" carpet. I made Don come with me as we went upstairs to a room stacked with carpets. The next twenty (?) minutes were a total blur as carpet after carpet was unrolled for me and I was asked what I liked and what I didn´t like. Don was beside me saying "Careful, careful.....", but my new best friend Mohammed had me in the palm of his hand. The whole operation was so well orchestrated that I didn´t have a fighting chance. So, yes, I bought a carpet. It is beautiful and I did "negotiate", but who knows whether or not I got a deal. I had great fun, was worked over by a pro, and have a gorgeous carpet that will be shipped to me when I get home.

After all of that was done, we realized our group was long gone. But the "tail gunner", the name we´d given the guy that was bringing up the rear of our group, was waiting for us. By that time, we had to race to the ferry. Trying to get through the crowds and pushing all of the "salesmen" away from our faces as we literally ran down those lanes is something I´ll never forget. I felt like we were practically running for our lives!

We made it safely to the ferry in time for a crossing that was a little rougher than going over as they were prediciting the east wind, "lavanda", was kicking up again. We got home very late last night, but it was a wonderful adventure. We´re leaving again early Monday for another three day trip. Will write again when we return from that one.

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