Two Thousand Eight Hundred Eighty Moroccan Minutes

            Last weekend, I had the fantastic opportunity to go to Gibraltar and Morocco with We Love Spain and WSA-Europe! I very much enjoyed my time there and am glad to have gone. Here’s a breakdown of our schedule and what we did:

Day I-Friday

• 9am departure from Sevilla to Cadiz and then to Gibraltar.
• Gibraltar-A lovely guide named Alex showed us around the island. We stopped at a very windy point and looked out over the Straits to Morocco on one side and Spain on the other side (since Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory on the Iberian Peninsula). We continued on and explored the Caves of Saint Michael. They installed neat colored lights inside and seemed to be setting up for a concert/presentation of sorts. It would have been incredible to see them, minus the modern technology. After seeing the caves, we had a few minutes to watch the famous monkeys which reside in Gibraltar. It was sad to see how the animals were treated. Kids and adults alike crowded around the animals to take pictures with them, like they were an attraction they had a right to. They had no respect for the animals. The monkeys lack food due to human inhabitation of the island and thus steal food from careless tourists and pick up litter. It was very sad to see a monkey eating the plastic wrapper from one of the girl’s snacks. While it was “cool” to see something different, I think the tourism procedures regarding the monkeys of Gibraltar need to be changed drastically and soon. It’s incredibly unhealthy for the animals and environment, and very sad to see such disrespect.
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• After leaving Gibraltar, we went to Algeciras to pass through security and board a ferry to take us to Ceuta, a Spanish semi-exclave on the continent of Africa. Upon passing through customs, we boarded the bus again to head to our hotel in M’Diq. By then, night had fallen so there wasn’t much to be seen.

It was reeeeeeeally windy. A good photo was impossible.

Day II-Saturday

• Saturday was a cloudy though lovely day, as we ate breakfast and looked out over the ocean, such as our hotel was situated on the beach.

• Tangier- We hit the road early so as to get to Tangier with plenty of time for a mini bus tour of the city, a stop at Cape Espartel, and a camel ride on the beach! It was just as windy if not more at the overlook we paused at for views of the ocean. I lost a lot of hair later in the day when I finally was able to brush it out, but the views were worth it. The camel rides were fun, and something different.

I had fun playing with my photo editing program... 

The camels were kinda neat!

The beach was absolutely gorgeous! 

Photo credit for the photos of me on the camel go to my awesome friend Bailey!

Wind + Hair = Knots from hell... but it looks cool!

• Chefchouen-Visiting the blue city in the mountains was by far my favorite part of the trip. Most of the buildings of this mountain town are painted in various shades of vibrant blue. It was pretty chilly and rained while we were here, but that didn’t put a damper on our walk around the town. We had a bit of free time after the tour to walk about, try our hand at haggling for goods, and enjoy a few down minutes.  I bought a cozy little robe and a few blankets (thanks, Mom (she’s visiting this weekend) for bringing them back for me!). We went on a crazy run through the city when my friend decided to buy a blanket, but didn’t have the cash on her. The shop owner agreed to have his nephew bring us to an ATM in the town center for her to withdraw cash and pay for it. Boy, was he booking it on the slippery slopes. We were higher up in the town, and had to run after him, and my friend was able to buy her blanket!

Henna for fun! Why not?

Chefchouen is situation in beautiful, rugged mountains

We popped in and saw what people were up to at the public oven!

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•  Tetuan-After taking the bus back, we had a yummy dinner, and there was a neat musical performance!

Day III-Sunday

• Tetuan- On our last day in Morocco, we toured Tetuan. We went to a market and had some free time to haggle for goods, including beautiful leather products.  The spice market was neat to go to, and I stocked up on yummy Moroccan mint tea and curry for when my friends and I can cook together next year! After the spice market tour, we headed back to the bus to go home. We passed through Ceuta, took a ferry to Algeciras, and from there we said our goodbyes and hopped on the buses which would take us back to our respective home cities.

Our last morning in M'Diq.

 It was stormy the entire weekend, but never too bad.

The spice market in Tetuan

The square is empty after a rain shower struck.

We arrived just as the rain paused.

The long story, made short is I met some wonderful people on the trip and made friends, saw some incredible places, and had a blast.

This is my new puppy friend from the beach in Morocco!

*I'm having some issues with my photo program, and at this time cannot upload the rest of my  photos from Morocco and Gibraltar. I'm flying out to Italy in the morning sans laptop, so I'll try to fix the program and get them posted when I return in a week! Ciao for now!