September 14, 2009 Morocco and Gibraltar

We had to rush around quite a bit but we were able to go to the main market in Morocco via a bus from Algeceras to the main ferry port that takes people to Tangier. (We decided that we didn’t want to risk having something happen to our precious camera, so we didn’t’ bring it with us to Morocco.) When we got to the port town where we were to catch the ferry, the first thing I saw was a guy dry heaving and his girl friend patting his back. Needless to say I shielded Ginny from seeing such a thing to ensure she didn’t have a change of heart about crossing the Straight of Gibraltar. We then had an hour wait for the fast ferry very due to some technical difficulties. When we arrived in Tangier, Ginny was really on edge. She had dressed that day covering everything, even bringing a scarf as a head cover. Although not all the women were completely covered, most were. I definitely had the upper hand that day! We ended up having lunch on the second story of a shack; it was some kind of chicken and rice dish. Other than the mini cockroaches and flies dinning with us, the food was really good. We hiked up to see what was probably the only Christian cemetery in the city and heard the 12 o’clock bell ring calling everyone in the city to prayer. We got to take a look in a mosque where everyone had their foreheads pressed to the ground and Ginny had a chance to buy a cool Morrocan plate. We missed the next ferry back to the port town due to a wrong turn at the massive maritime port of Tangier, but got to see what looked like a boat grave yard, that was actually where the boats were repaired. After we returned to Algecirias, we grabbed the camera and headed to the rock of Gibralter. With only 2 more hours of daylight, Morocco being two hours ahead of Spain despite being directly south, we had to hurry. The rock was immense! Of course we had to cross an airplane runway to get there, but that was an excellent opportunity to take our first pictures on an airplane road. Then we hustled our way right up to the base of the mountain where we could see no monkeys but could hear them chattering as the light was disappearing from the sky. We heard that there were tours that took you into the miles of natural and Britain made tunnels but just to see the rock in all it’s glory was enough for me. We also walked around the mini city and saw all the pubs. While I’ve never been to great Britain, I have to think that this was as close to being there that I’ve ever been. Everything looked British, the only thing missing was they did not drive on the wrong side of the road.