España

So it was time to leave Morocco and head to the south of Spain, but not before another Moroccan bus journey.....

Joe was heading to Spain too so we headed off early to catch the bus to Tangier then the boat to Tarifa in Spain. We had just missed a bus (but overtook it 2 hours later while it sat on the roadside...with only 3 wheels attached!) so we had to wait a while. By the time we boarded it was 36 degrees outside and about 56 degrees inside the bus. Everyone piled on the bus and we headed off. After a few minutes we noticed that the three children in the seats opposite were staring straight at Joe. As he was the only white person on the bus (I was cultivating quite a nice tan by then) we thought nothing of it. After 20 minutes they were still staring. After 30 minutes they were still staring....

While I was dying with laughter Joe was getting quite uncomfortable at being stared at so told them to look the other way. Anyway, their mother came over and shooed them into a different seat....and then stared at Joe! This went on for the rest of the journey much to my amusement.

Anyway, we got over to Tarifa on the boat quite late and ended up staying there for the rest of the day. The place had a beautiful beach and windsurfing so I was in my element! We had some beers and met a couple of Dutch girls who were cycling all around Spain then headed out for tapas and paella!

The next day Joe was going to Seville and I was going in the opposite way to Granada. However, I was thwarted by a group of French School children who had bought all the tickets for the only bus to Granada....cheese-eating surrender monkeys (I stole that insult form Joe). Anyway, the obvious thing to do was...to go the completely the opposite direction to Seville!

Seville is BEAUTIFUL. The city centre is full of nice parks and amazingly intricate buildings towering over the many palm trees planted all over the place. It has a river running through it that reminded me a bit of the Thames...except it was emerald green...and had lots of fish in it...and it wasn't cold outside...

There is also quite a pretty old quarter which leads out to a large square that contains the Cathedral of Seville. The cathedral was built over 500 years ago and looks masterfully over the city with its main tower, the Giralda, soaring high up into the sky. We climbed up the Giralda to hear the bell ring and look out over the city - a truly beautiful sight....

Probably the most amazing thing we saw was the Plaza de España, a spectacular building constructed for the Spanish-American exhibition in 1929. The building curves round a huge courtyard to form a semi-circle and has a tiled alcove for every province in Spain that it decorated with wonderful paintings that represent the area.

More tapas (and lots of beer) were consumed and the next morning I headed off to Granada, the last city on my trip. (I'm actually back in the UK now but I'll write all about it tomorrow anyway!).






The Cathedral of Seville



The Giralda



A beautiful stained-glass window in the cathedral



The view from the top of the Giralda



The main bull-fighting ring



This lady guards the cathedral



The Plaza de España



The Plaza de España from another view!



Barcelona alcove



Alicante alcove



Just another beautiful fountain....



They even named a hotel after me!!







Me + Granada...



Looking across the square at the Plaza de España

Chefchaouen

Situated up by the Rif mountains, the lazy town of Chefchaouen is easilly the most chilled out place in Morocco I´ve visited....

I was actually lucky to get there in the first place! The day I had decided to make the trip from Fes was the day after Ramadan had finished. For those who don´t know much about Ramadan (I didn´t) - for one month every year devout Muslims don´t eat or drink ANYTHING between the time the sun rises to the time the sun sets. Once the month is up they have two days of celebration that basically involves visiting the homes of family members and eating all day long. Consequently nothing was open and instead of the 50 or so busses to Chefchaouen, there was one....and it didn´t go all the way to the town....

The company did however provide those who wanted to go the extra 10km to the town with a taxi. Unfortunately that taxi was a battered old Peugeot 205 that had to transport 7 men to the town....so I spent the last 20 minutes of the journey crushed between two fat Moroccans who had clearly not discovered the wonders of deodorant.

Chefchaouen is named 'the blue town', a nickname it receives because all of the buildings in the Medina are painted a beautiful creamy sky blue colour that give the impression the town is a fluffy blue cloud nestling at the foot of the Rif mountains.

The people are equally chilled out too. There was no constant hassles to buy things and no one following us around trying to guide us to placed for a tip. There was however a ridiculous amount of people selling hash. Apparently 90% of the marijuana that comes out of Morocco is grown up in the Rif. Even the waiters in the restaurants would give you the bill and ask if you wanted to buy ´some special smoke´!

I´d met an American guy on the bus and met an American girl and a Spanish couple at the hostel. We all went out for dinner that evening and watched the people wandering around the square from a beautiful roof terrace and drank mint tea til the early hours. The next morning we wandered through the winding blue streets and all agreed that Chefchaouen was the most peaceful part of Morocco we´d visited.

That afternoon it was time for some serious mountain climbing! I´d managed to persuade Joe, the American dude, that he actually wanted to go climbing too - so we headed off about lunchtime. The initial climb was killer - not least because it was 36 degrees outside, but also because 3/4 of the way up it started to get very very steep. By this time it was too late to find a different route so we pressed on. At some points it was full on vertical rock climbing (with no harness) which I loved! As we got higher and higher we came across mountain goats, large lizards and even a scorpion. The view from the top was truly spectacular and worth every bit of the effort.

We headed back down to check out an old mosque before meeting the others for dinner and lots more lovely mint tea. The next day it was off to Spain!! Pictures tomorrow!

Casablanca and Fes

So Morocco has officially made it to the top of my list of the most corrupt countries I've visited....

It's not because of the way the locals try to extract money out of you at every turn, or because everyone who speaks to me tries to sell me hash. It's not even because of the fact that since I've been in the country I've had my shoes and towel stolen! No, the thing that tipped the balance was that I came very close to having all my stuff stolen by a baggage attendant who I paid to put my bag on the bus!

As I got on the bus and it started to pull away I just happened to look out the window to see the guy wandering off with my backpack!! After running down the bus and paying the bus driver to wait, I ran out and snatched it off him then turned round to get back on the bus. All I could see was the other baggage people coming towards me.... Luckily a policeman had also made his way over. After slipping him some cash I was allowed to get on the bus and left the baggage handler to explain himself.

I arrived in Casablanca 6 hrs later. I had never planned to visit Casa but I had to spend a night there to connect with the train to Fes. Because of this I didn't have high expectations but I was still disappointed... There was not really anything to see except a huge mosque (which was fairly impressive) that I couldn't go in anyway!

The next morning I took an early train to Fes, which has the biggest Medina area in the world. The city is HUGE and is surrounded by the Rif mountains on all sides. The winding streets contain hundreds of stalls selling all types of arts and crafts (according to all the shop owners Fes is the world capital of 'handicrafts') and is even more hectic than Marrakesh!!

The next two days were spent wandering through the winding streets, visiting the tanneries, learning how rugs are made and attempting to make a bongo drum! I also trekked up the hill to some old ruined tombs to take in some beautiful views of the city....next stop is Chefchaouen for some mountain walking :)






Casablanca in all its glory...this was a nice part!



At least there was a nice sunset



The Mosque at Casablanca



Some intricate carvings at an old Koranic school in Fes



The dye pits at the tanneries



The walls of the Medina at Fes



Fes + me!



A beautiful view across the Rif



A HUGE cemetry in Fes







The doors to the royal palace at Fes



One of many crazy souks

Essouaria....

So finally, after almost a year, I've been able to go surfing!!!

The seaside town of Essaouira is the complete antidote to the craziness of Marrakesh. It's only about 1 square km and is surrounded by beautiful battlements that protect it from the pounding waves. There is also a nice beach which stretches as far as the eye can see (and then some) and turns more and more desert-ish the further away you get from the town (the camels wandering around help create the desert look).

At one end of the town there is a big fishing port and I spent my first evening watching the 'fish auction', where most of the town's restaurateurs frantically buy lots of weird and wonderful sea creatures to cook up in the evening. After watching the sun dip down into the sea and finally set, I headed back to the hostel for dinner with the other guests followed by an impromptu guitar performance from the owner and the rest of his band.

The next day I spent virtually all day surfing which was fantastic! However, the only thing that's (almost) interesting enough to write about is that somebody stole my shoes while I was in the water....so I had to walk the 2km back to the town barefoot....damnit!!

The last morning was spent walking 5km down the beach to see the ruins of an old castle that was susposedly the inspiration for Jimi Hendrix's song Castle in the Sand....then it was off to Casablanca!