Spain week four, day five

Wednesday May 21st 2008

Tangiers, Morocco, Africa

Hi everyone. It's Ellie here and I'm going to tell you all about our trip to Tangiers in Morocco. As it says on the Well Being Breaks website, this is a long day out from the hacienda but is well worth it. We had a great adventure.

We decided to aim for the 1:00pm ferry from Tarifa (on the southern tip of Spain) which gets into Tangiers at 11:30am (there is a minus-two-hour time difference between Spain and Morocco!). This meant that we had plenty of time for the drive down and could go a more scenic route rather than stick to the dual carriageways. Our route took us down to Jerez and through a most amazing valley which was covered in wind turbines

We got to Tarifa about after a drive of about two hours. We decided we would take the Tangier tour organised by the ferry company as we thought this would be the best way to spend a relatively short visit to the city. This was absolutely the right thing to do, and was only about 5 euros more than the cost of the ferry (55 euros in total for the trip) You simply ask for the day trip when you buy your ferry ticket and then you are met at the ferry port in Tangiers. You do have to get your passport stamped on the ferry, which can involve a little bit of queueing. Oh, and you shouldn't take photos of the port as you could get arrested!

The crossing took about 40 minutes and we were met at Tangiers by Ahmed, who escourted us to our tour minibus along with the various other groups of day tourers. Our first stop was in one of the residential areas on the way to the centre of town where there were a number of really beautiful villas. There were also some camels (aahh) which you could pay one euro for a short ride on (we declined) .

From there we were taken to a local restaurant for a meal of kebabs, vegetable tagine and couscous. This was really good, and was included in the price of the trip, though you did have to pay seperately for any drinks you wanted.

Next stop was a carpet shops with a wide range of carpets on offer - some really beautiful, some not so. Lots of haggling went on and some of the tour group (not us) actually did but something. Then to a spice shop. It was really easy to get swept along with the excitement of it all and end up spending more than perhaps you had intended. We did buy a few things and were happy with what we got. You can also pay in euros, so you don't need the local dirams.

We stayed in Tangiers till late afternoon (local time), about five or six hours there in total. Overall, this was a fabulous trip out and we would recommend it highly - a great adventure. I can't believe we've all been to Africa! Love Ellie

Back at the hacienda

A change in the weather this evening as the sun finally breaks through and we have three hours of sunshine in the evening. The forecast for tomorrow is pretty good as well.

The Tangiers expedition is back in by 10:00 or so in time to see the extra time in the Manchester United / Chelsea champions league final (on local Spanish tv). Most people are supporting Chelsea so it is a slightly disappointing end to the day.