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Published: August 13th 2008
It has been a busy few days. We left Barcelona on Monday morning and headed to Madrid. The train was very nice - spotless, gave us chocolate and candy and played a movie. It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles but we cannot have everything. We had 3 hours between trains there so we threw our bags in a locker and hopped on a bus tour. We spent 1.5hrs riding around the city, learning about its history. It is really nice city and we both could have spent a lot more time there. There was water in the fountains which excited us. (In Barcelona, there were these beautiful fountains and none had water in them. Not sure why. We never did ask.) The tour was definitely worthwhile.
A short time later we were back on the train and headed to Tarifa. It is a small seaside village, the most southern point of Spain I believe. An exciting aspect of Tarifa is that it is only 14 km (10 miles) away from Morocco (Africa). We arrived around 9:00pm and headed out to find a room at a hostel. There were tons of hostels in this very little town so it seemed
like an easy plan. However, this was not to be the case. (For the parents reading this, no worries. Everything turned out just fine.) Every place we went to was Completo - Full. Hmm. This was not something we had anticipated. I am not sure if it was good or bad, but we were not alone in our assumptions. There were a lot of people wandering the streets with their backpacks on. (Had this happened at the beginning of our trip, I would have had a meltdown. However, I have learned to relax and realize everything would work out.) At about 11:00pm, we were starting to becoming concerned. The buses were no longer running out of the town and we were not sure there were taxis. The good/bad news is that we were not alone. By now, there were probably at least 25 other people hanging out at the bus station with no where to sleep. We decided to give it one last shot and wandered back down the street. All of sudden we saw a flashing green VACANCY sign. Wow - we bolted there. We went in and the guy said he did not have room for 2. Sherrie
politely asked why the vacancy sign was lit if there was no room in the inn? He said that he had a room for 5 but not one for 2. The room was 189 euros. (Wow - we could not afford that on our own.) So, in my Scottish ways, I asked if we could find 3 others could we have the room. He did not care. At that moment, a father (around our dads' age) and son walked in looking for a room. The father did not speak English but his son did. They were very nice and quite desperate for a room. We ended up sharing the room with them for the night. Basically we turned it into a hostel room. It was at street level, very hot and noisy, with a toilet that did not work - but who cares! We had beds. The next morning we moved into their dormitory which was quite reasonable.
The main reason we were in Tarifa was to go to Morocco. We joined an organized tour and took the ferry over. It was only a 35 minute ferry ride but in reality, it took about 1.5 hrs from one place
to another. We got to Tangier, Morocco and met our guide. We were loaded onto a bus and went on a tour of the city. It was crazy busy! Our guide assured us that Tangier was a lovely city to visit from September to May. Our first stop was for camel rides. For 1 euro, you could ride a camel for a short distance. Sherrie was (of course) the first one on a camel. I opted out - I felt bad for the camels and their sad life. We then went to the old town and walked through some markets. We were warned to be very careful with our purses and any documents that we had on us. Most of us had on money belts so it was not an issue. I did not hear of anyone having problems. The next stop was for lunch. It was very interesting. We started with a cinnamon-tomato style soup and bread. We then had meat kebabs - beef I think but I was not asking any questions. Next was couscous with chicken. For dessert we had honey cakes. The food was delicious. We quite enjoyed the meal. We were then taken to the
rug store and were given a short talk about the making of the rugs. Basically, they just want you to buy a rug. The rugs were beautiful but I don't think anyone in our group bought anything at this stop. Next we went to a spice store. It was very interesting. After a long walk through various venders, we made our way back to the bus and back on the ferry. It was a great trip - short but a great experience.
Once we arrived back in Tarifa, we walked along the beach. It is beautiful and has the finest, softest sand. It was at sunset so it was quiet and cool. It is one of the windest places along the coast so many (kite) surfers flock to the area. Another one of those sports I know I could not do. Sherrie, of course, would love to try it. We headed back to our hostel to turn in for the night. We were in bed reading while the other 3 girls in our room were getting dressed to go out. You know you are old when.... Seriously, it was midnight and they were heading out. What would their mothers
have thought about this!
This morning we got up early and headed to the bus. Trains do not really run along the coast in this area so we took a bus to Sevilla and then another to Faro. We are currently in Faro, Portugal. Our plan is to stay in this city until Saturday. Saturday night we fly to Ireland.
This seems very long winded. I am sure there could have been a shorter version.
Two weeks from now we will be at home. Lots to do before then but looking forward to coming home!
Steph and Sherrie
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Deb Duncan
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Soooo jealous
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