Hey
there, readers! Guess what? Another long train (this time 5 hours)
means more time that I can spend hanging out with you, yay!
Last
you heard (unless you've been watching Facebook), I just
coming into Tarifa
via bus. That morning was the usual quick pack-and-go with me
shipping out of the hostel around 7 a.m. and
catching the city bus to the main
bus
station. MAN, that thing was packed early in the morning! Doesn't
help that I have a nice 30 pound weight swinging around my back lol.
Getting to the bus station, I grabbed a quick breakfast (my staple
has now become an OJ and croissant), deciphered the bus schedule and
boarded around 10 a.m.
I
must say, Alsa knows how to treat their customers. The “Supra”
bus I was on was more like a first-class bus, better than any train
or plane I've been on so far. It had WiFi, individual TVs and even a
goodie bag with snacks! Now, the Moroccan lady next to me insisted
that “ventana” doesn't mean window, so I didn't get my seat, but
whatever. I was perfectly content watching Slumdog
Millionaire
while cruising towards the Mediterranean coast. After a pit stop in
Malaga (and a dash to the bathroom by yours truly to make sure I
didn't get left behind), the second driver forgot to turn the TVs
back on, which was a bit of a bummer, but I chose to read and stare
at the coast. This was my first view of the Mediterranean and I must
say it's absolutely beautiful, especially with the rolling hills in
southern Spain.
Getting
to Algeciras, I had
to figure out how to transfer to the regional Comes bus to Tarifa.
Before I knew it, I walked to the bus next to ours, threw my bag
underneath and paid my 1-2 Euros. MAN, talk about a quick transfer
lol. Forty-five minutes later and I was in Tarifa. Overall, I've
been very impressed by the Spanish bus system. I had my doubts about
getting around the second half of my trip that way, but I gotta
admit, the buses are very nice and clean and there's always a spot
(at least during off-season). The ones to/from Algeciras and Tarifa
are basically nice charter buses that work like a city bus, where you
pay on board or swipe a card. Other ones require you to purchase a
ticket at the counter. Either way, I was very happy indeed.
Ah
Tarifa, a town I would deem “The Pismo Beach of Spain” for all
you Cal Poly peeps out there. It's got the total relaxed surfer town
thing going for it, which makes sense. This town, which also happens
to be the southern-most town in continental Europe, hosts an
onslaught of international tourists during the busy season for
surfing and especially kite surfing. The beach is also very
pristine, getting much less attention than the rest of the
overdeveloped southern coast of Spain. Of course, when it's winter,
the place is a bit of a ghost town. Even so, after Granada, it was
my second easy-going vacation spot, so no complaints, other than it
tended to get a tad quiet in the evenings.
I
found my hostel, which happens to be right by the coast and the ferry
to Tanger. The place was deserted, as most hostels are during the
day and especially during the weekdays in off-season. I seemed to
have 3 other roomies at least, so that was a good sign. Out in
Tarifa, I walked along the southern coast where you can literally SEE
the coast of Africa. So cool! I also cruised around the terminal
and to the beach where I finally enjoyed
a little sun in the warmer weather (I define warm as not
needing
two coats lol).
Other
than that, wandering the town proved there wasn't much else left to
do. I went back to the hostel and lounged on the rooftop terrace,
watching the sunset and the ships going in and out of the straits
while I read. I also began planning both of my daytrips, Gibraltar
and Tanger, which I'd be doing over the next two days. A little
blogging and then I was off to find dinner. Tarifa, being an
internationally recognized
surf/wind spot, has a matching set of international eateries. That
allowed me to take a brief repose from tapas and eat some sushi! I
was very satisfied, even if the rolls were small, as all the fish was
very fresh.
Touring
the bar area, I didn't find too many people (including
Gustavo and Adam, whom I met briefly at the hostel in the evening),
so back to the hostel to blog, write, make phone calls and call it
early. It's amazing, I've actually been getting a decent amount of
sleep on this trip. Maybe I'm doing this wrong (aka I should be
partying until 5 a.m. Everyday), but honestly, I'm not going to
complain when I'm awake during the day and can remember the amazing
sites that I've seen.
Speaking
of amazing sites, I woke up early the next morning to head off to
Gibraltar. That was by far one of my favorite sites so far on this
trip. The main trick with Gibraltar turned out to be getting the
buses right. In order to get there from Tarifa, I had to take two
buses from Tarifa to Algeciras and finally to La
Línea de la Concepción.
That's the Spanish town right on the border (Spaniards still are a
little sore about Gibraltar, so they don't like to mention it). The
buses were okay as usual, through the La Línea
bus made a TON of local stops; next time, I would remember to grab a
“directo” bus. The border itself? Sheesh. You literally walk
through a terminal and flash your passport! I was hoping for at
least a stamp to add to my collection lol. Once you're
in, it's either another bus ride or a 30 minute walk. With the
daytrip I had planned, I chose the bus. When backpacking and walking
everywhere, you need to pick your battles wisely lol.
Landing
at Casemates
Square,
I tried feeding not one but two map machines Euros and got snubbed!
It happens...at least I didn't pay one pound instead, since that
would be a worse exchange rate (Gibraltar accepts both, though
usually Euros are accepted with a 30% markup). I wandered main
street towards the cable car, grabbing some British pounds and
checking out all the shops along the way. I guess there's a cheap
duty on certain goods in Gibraltar, since all I saw was cigarettes,
electronics and watches in every shop. The first cigarette stop
after the border was absolutely MOBBED with people. Anywho, without
a map, I used the cable car wires as a guide through town (which
isn't
very big) and finally found the spot where I paid and rode to the top
of “The Rock”.
For
my little adventure, I chose the cheaper option of riding to the top
and hiking (walking down the streets) back to the bottom. I decided
to pay for the five or so attractions along the way as well, since it
seemed worth seeing at least a few of them. Arriving at the top, I
grabbed a coffee from the little shop and took a TON of pictures. I
then began hiking down to visit the sites, first heading for St.
Michael's Cave. Along the way, I ran into monkeys everywhere...I
mean, they literally took over the street to the point of me
having to scoot
around them. It was fun to watch them play and inundate the taxi
tours that drove by. One even jumped on a lady's shoulders with help
from a guide lol. The apes were by far the best attraction as you
were able to get close up (just don't try to feed them or show them
any plastic bags).
Everything
else along the way down? I'd say if you want to spend a little time,
check out St. Michael's Cave and maybe the Siege Tunnels if you're
a history/military buff. The other big sites (Ape's Den, City Under
Siege exhibit and Moorish palace) were all totally not worth it. The
monkeys you get to see just by walking along the top; there weren't
really any by the Ape's den, which is also where you stop if you take
the cable car back down. Of course, navigating down the tiny, twisty
roads was an experience in itself. Add in the people driving super
fast and the loads of taxis and tour buses careening around the
corners, and you have yourself a grand old time hiking down haha.
Back
at the bottom, I wandered back through main street, a little slower
this time to look for any souvenirs.
Of course, the American dollar is TERRIBLE vs. the British pound
(like 2 to 1), so any “deals” I saw in those shops didn't look so
good to me. Of course I had to stop for some fish 'n' chips as well!
Now, I was a little mystified why I got cold beer, but that's okay
I'll take it. I sound like an anti-ugly American lol. Afterwards,
my feet were feeling pretty good, so I took the walking tour back to
the border, admiring the runway that you literally walk/drive across
to get there. Too bad no planes were flying in that day, that
would've been so cool!
Finding
my bus, I made it to Algeciras with no problems only to find that
this time there wasn't just a bus waiting for me to Tarifa. I had
become spoiled lol. Instead, I had like an hour and half wait (!)
between Tarifa buses. It's kind of strange, since they run
regularly, but the schedule has these random gaps (and I happened to
find one lol). In the time I had, I decided to hang and finish my
current book since Algeciras isn't really much more than
an industrial port.
When I did finally make it back to Tarifa, I checked out the San
Mateo church briefly, the one major site I missed, and then proceeded
back to the hostel, where I happened to run into Gustavo, Adam, and
three vegetarian girls (named such because I forgot names) who were
from Utah, Vancouver B.C. and Australia.
We
all began to talk about Morocco and heading over there, since the 35
minute ferry is the main reason people come to Tarifa. It's the only
direct ferry to the main town port in Tanger (the Algeciras one takes
you to a port about 30 minutes away from the Tanger town center).
This whole trip, I've been hearing how awesome Morocco is (from Leo
and others), so I was looking forward to my little daytrip the
following day. Unfortunately,
my personal
guide has been a bit flakey since finding him...or may it's just the
Moroccan way. Either way, I hadn't heard anything from him since
booking back in the States, so I emailed him again and
in the meantime I booked one of the cookie cutter tours the ferry
company puts on. Anxiety got the best of me for a moment lol. The
guide, Aziz, actually did get back to me saying we were still on, but
then a follow-up saying we could meet once I figure out how to get
out of the tour yielded nothing. I'm guessing either he thought I
was blowing him off or he was just being Aziz.
Either
way, over dinner I heard more from Adam and others how great going
deeper into Morocco is and how the tours are so awful (which Rick
Steves agrees with, though 90% of
people
traveling
there do
them). The problem is that the tours are made in such away that
you're thrown into high-pressure buying situations with crappy
souvenirs. You get guides in Tanger mainly to 1) keep the hawkers
away and 2) to see the sights lol. But the tour companies get a cut
from the vendors they walk you buy, which is why the tour with ferry
is actually cheaper than a roundtrip ferry ticket. Such a scam. By
this point, I was feeling a little down and out about buying a ticket
(which was also non-refundable), but I kept telling myself I just
want to see a quick glimpse of Morocco and Muslim culture, no matter
how bad the tour is. I mean, you can't glitz over all that, right?
Out
I went for dinner, grabbing a salad to try and balance out all this
bread and meat in the Spanish diet. I came back to hang with the
hostel cat, who took over my keyboard as cats do, while I researched
and read a little bit. At this point, my Dutch roomies (who I met
the night before) were back from their kite surfing lessons, so we
talked with Adam about random travels. At this point, Adam told me
that with how windy it was today, the ferries might cancel during my
daytrip. Oh no! Well, all you can do is wait and see, right? The
girls whom I met earlier weren't
worried, since they were all going to Morocco for days or weeks.
Then you have me, who's on a tight schedule and only has a day here
and there.
In
the end, I decided to just sleep on it (Tarifa was still dead) and
see what the next day brought. Stay tuned for word on Tanger and
Sevilla...I'm going on a reading break :-)
¡Hasta
Luego!
-
Mateo
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