Back in Spain! And the beautiful Pueblos Blancos (white villages)

We made it back from the long wait at Tanger Med Port after nearly 3 days! We have spent a couple of days at La Linea and across the bordern into Gibraltar and are now parked on a beautiful Aire at Benarrabá (N36.54935 W5.27901).  There are spaces for 5 motorhomes and each space has its own fresh water tap, chemical toilet waste and tap and grey waste disposal and on top of that we have fantastic views across the valley of white washed villages and all for FREE - wow what a little gem!

The Aire at Benarrabá

The journey back from Morocco was a tough one.  Having spent 2 days/nights at the port, the ferries started sailing again mid-day on the Saturday. We got in a queue at 12.30pm to get our ticket validated and 3 hours later we had our ticket, (when I say we, Mel was the hero and did most of the queueing!).  The queueing system was a joke though.  You lined up between barriers (5 lines) which took you to 4 windows to get your ticket, the only thing was that only one was open so 5 had to become one – chaos!

Mel is in that queue somewhere sandwiched between all these people!

Lots of motorhomes and cars parked up waiting for tickets

We managed to get a ticket for the 6pm sailing with Balearia, only to have to get in another queue to get the motorhome through passport checks, get the paperwork approved to export the motorhome out of Morocco back to Spain and then put the motorhome through an x-ray machine - presumably to check we weren’t smuggling any Moroccans or drugs out of the country! That took us from 3.30pm to 5.30pm.  Another disorganised system of 5 lanes of vehicles going in to one, and all getting as close as they can to one another! As you can imagine a couple of vehicles got hit, including this one below that had its wing mirror hit and a lot of irate drivers blasting their horns.  

All this going on whilst the police and security just looked on in ignorance.  So, all that done it was a short drive round to the boat.  We were excited as we could see it being loaded - however, that was short lived!  As we got nearly to the front of the queue, the barriers went down as the boat was full – regardless that we had a ticket for a space on that boat we were not getting on!  The next one was due in at 1am Sunday morning, which took nearly 3 hours to unload and load again and set sail argh!  We eventually got to Algeciras at 6am on Sunday (with the hour ahead difference) – exhausted!

We spent the night on the carpark in Algeciras, one that most motorhomes use when going out to and coming back from Morocco, before driving around to La Linea on the Gibraltar border and stopping on the Marina Aire that we used last time around.

We walked across the border into Gibraltar, to be reunited with our scooter – thanks to Joyce who had kindly stored it in her garage whilst we were in Morocco.  Then it was round to Morrisons to stock up on all those English goodies that we missed and can’t get in Spain and on to a restaurant for some junk food – burgers and pizzas, and copious amounts of beer and wine yummy!  We were also able to do 2 washing machine/drying loads.

Unfortunately, our fridge then decided to play up. It kept sending out a 15 second beeping sound every 2 minutes which, according to the manual implied that the door wasn’t closing properly.  So, straight on the internet we sourced a Dometic (fridge) motorhome/caravan service place in Estepona to get it looked at – about 40km drive around the coast.  As luck would have it, when we got there the problem seemed to have righted itself – typical!  So, from here we headed inland through ‘white village’ land.  Passing through some lovely hamlets/villages, including the beautiful town of Casares.

Casares

Before ending up on the Aire, and the fabulous views from the village of Benarrabá.

Benarrabá from the top of the town

After lunch, we got on the scooter and rode 8kms to the village of Gaucín.  Unfortunately, the old ruined castle at the top of the hill was closed but it was worth a walk up for the views.

Algatocín, where most of the houses had lovely window boxes - looking a bit like an Alpine Village.

Algatocín

The next day, as we had plenty of free water on offer Mel gave Sonny (the motorhome) and scooter a good hose down, whilst I cleaned the inside.  Followed by a fry up of English bacon (courtesy of good old Gibraltar Morrisons!).  We then took the scooter for a ride around the windy lanes through the valley to Genalguacil

The village is really picturesque, with lots of narrow winding streets that are full of sculptures and artwork.  In 1996 the village mayor came up with the initiative to offer food and lodgings to aspiring artists in return for a donation of one of their creations to the village.  Every year in August there is an art festival and prize winning works of art are put on permanent display in the village.

Mel was missing morocco but we managed to find him a donkey sculpture!

An interesting sculpture - but a lovely tree!

A pencil drawing a line up the wall

Graffiti or art - you decide!

On the ride back we drove up to a fantastic view point overlooking where we had been You can just make out the white blobs that are the villages - Genalguacil (on the right) and Jubrique (on the left), about a 50km round trip.

Next stop Ronda, the most famous of the ‘white towns’!

Sally x

Waiting it out at Tangers Med Port

Just a short update, and as our Moroc Telecom card has run out and we are reliant on the Port's free Wi-Fi, it is not letting me upload any photos. So, unfortunately it is all in words!
We are currently parked up in the carpark at Port Tanger Med  – having been here 2 days and nights now, as no ferries are able to sail due to high winds!  The plan was to get the ferry back to Algeciras on Thursday.  We have an open ticket, so it’s just a case of turning up at the port and booking on to the next one that sails.

We left Chefchaouen on Thursday morning around 10.30, knowing it was a little over 2-hour drive to the port (120kms), so we hoped to get the 6pm Balearia Ferry. A really scenic route out of the town, and then through the Rif mountains again.

For the first time in days we put the radio on and was enjoying a 'sing-a-long' to the 80's music blasting out from 'Hits Radio' station.  We hadn’t bothered much with music around Morocco as we were just happy to look at the scenery, there was always something different to see and talk about no matter what road we were on.  Dropping down into Tanger on the motorway, the wind picked up and was in front of us.  It was so strong that it pushed the passenger side wing mirror in and was blowing the motorhome all over the place!  We looked at each other and said, pretty much simultaneously: “don’t think the ferries will be running today”.

Coming in to the port there were lots of motorhomes and cars parked up and very little information being give, other than there were no ferries running today!

Parked up alongside a few French motorhomes, we got speaking to a group of British bikers who had been at the port since 8am, it was now 3pm and they had just heard it was going to be a couple of days before any ferries would sail due to the weather so they were going to Tanger to get a hotel for a couple of nights.

There are mothorhomes, vans and cars parked everywhere.  The port police have been doing a good job at trying to coordinate the vehicles over the last couple of days and ensure they are parked in an actual parking spot; however, this morning the Civil Police have turned up and seem to be letting anyone park anywhere and it’s chaos!

People, mostly Moroccan’s have been sleeping in their parked cars for 2 days now.  A lot have small children with them and we are not sure how they are coping with sleeping and eating.  There is a small café here (fairly reasonably priced) selling baguettes, crisps, cakes, drinks and tagines but not many seem to be using them.  There's also a Prayer Room just behind where we are parked – one for men and one for women.  The Moroccans all seem to be piled in there regardless if they are praying, especially the women with the children, just to keep warm I should imagine.  Daily temperature has been about 18°C but with the winds it has felt more like 10°C.

We consider ourselves lucky having plenty of onboard water, bottled water, food, toilet and shower, heating, and even BBC World News on the TV!  So we are okay probably for another night if we can’t get a ferry until Sunday.

This morning a board has gone up to show that a couple of ferries are sailing but ours is still on hold.  So, we will keep watching and waiting!

Sally x

Chefchaouen – the blue-washed Medina enclosed by mountains

We are at Camping Azilan Chefchaouen (N35.17509 W5.26616), overlooking the rugged Rif Mountains.  It’s the only campsite near to the town and with this in mind the owners seem to have taken advantage of charging a high price of 95DH (without electric) – the most expensive we have come across in Morocco!  The campsite is clean and the owner friendly, however, the showers and toilets have seen better days (and won’t be getting used by us), but at least there is water to fill up the motorhome with, so we can enjoy our own bathroom comforts.

Not long after parking up we had a visit from the resident donkey, looking for food– think Mel was thinking: which Moroccan carried out your haircut? It was like he had a little blanket on top!

Mel with the resident donkey.

The views from Ouazzane to the campsite were really pretty.  We were surprised how green everything was and plenty of water in the rivers – not what we had been used to seeing in Morocco and a welcome surprise.

Chefchaouen is about 1.5kms from the campsite, downhill but unfortunately, that means it’s all uphill coming back.  Wonder how much a taxi back costs?!

Going through the 16th Century Medina gate at the top of the hill

It's looking steep and a long way down!

It was great to be able to just walk around and not get hassled by any sellers here!

Through the souks

This little boy was sitting about 40 feet up on a ledge on this building, no idea how he got there and no one seemed to bat an eyelid!

Little boy - top left, clearly enjoying the view!

We have been warned by people we have met travelling around Morocco that Chefchaouen is well known for the selling of Kif (marijuana) and Moroccans will unashamedly come up to you offering it.  It seems that the police just turn a ‘blind eye’ – it seems in Morocco they are only interested in catching you for speeding.  I have to say, we were lucky and didn't get offered any - we obviously don't look like druggies, which is a relief!

The blue-washed Medina is really pretty and has an Andalusian character about it.  It was originally white-washed but when the Jews moved in to the Medina mid 18^th century, they added indigo into the whitewash to contrast against the traditional green of Islam.

Views from the Kasbah (built in 1471) of the Grand Mosque and Medina.

Looking down on the Kasbah Gardens

Going back up!

We will move on from here to Tanger Med Port, which is only a couple of hours from here.  We have open tickets so we just have to turn up at the port, go through all the paperwork and wait for the next boat - we need to prepare for a long wait, if it's anything like the journey across here from Algeciras!  We will then return to Gibraltar to pick up the scooter from Joyce (who has been minding it for us at her garage), which I think Mel has secretly missed.

Mel is also looking forward to returning to Gib to sit and have a ice cold pint in an English pub and an 'All Day English Breakfast'.  Me, I think I will just need to sit a few days and reflect on all the lovely and different things we have seen every day over the last 36 days in this beautiful part of North Africa.  When we think back to coming over and how apprehensive we were, it seems months and months away.  What will we miss about Morocco - everything!

Sally x

Meknes, Moulay Idriss and the impressive Roman ruins of Volubilis

We are parked up at Ouazzane, in what is basically a car park at the back of Motel Rif, Ouazane (34.77287N 5.54515W), overlooking a pretty orange grove.  It has all the facilities that we need – water/chemical toilet disposal/grey waste disposal/electric hook-up and showers/toilets if we choose to use them – all for 70DH (less than £7)  Toilets for me – no,no,no!  But the shower is not bad with plenty of hot water.

Ouazzane - behind Motel Rif

Before then (having left Fes), we were on a campsite just outside Moulay Idriss at Camping Zerhoun Bell Vue (N34.01527 W5.56238).

Lovely little planted up plots, pillars and urns to replicate Volubilis. Toilets/showers block is clean, although temperature gauge temperamental!  The route from Fes to Meknes had the roads lined with orange sellers in abundance.

No shortage of freshly squeezed orange juice here!

We parked up in Meknes near to the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, where motorhomes can park overnight if they wish. Unfortunately the Mausoleum was closed due to restoration work being carried out on it.

The motorhome parking next to the Mausoleum (under the arch)

Meknes is another city on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list. A short walk down to the main gate to Bab Mansour, which they say is the finest in Morocco with its Almohad design and marble columns brought from Volubilis.  The design was really intricate.

Bab Mansour

The main square where they like to sell a lot of pottery.  I wouldn’t want to have to put out and get in all of this every day.

Plenty of tagines for sale in the main square

Lots of lovely intricate alleyways.

The Medina was very busy so we didn’t hover for long but they had a fabulous covered market selling the usual fruit and veg and multi-coloured spice stalls and olives piled sky high!  We then had a look around a few of the artisan shops.

Intricate silverware in an artisan shop

We then visited the Medersa Bou Inania – built around 1358 and is one of the oldest in Morocco.  It is hidden among the souks and only spotted by its imposing door.  Medersa means place of study and originally, they had little dormitories providing room and board to poor (male) students from the countryside, so they could attend lessons at the mosques. The Medersa is encircled on both floors by tiny windowless student’s cells with beautifully carved cedar wood screens.

In the courtyard - windowless student cells above

Entrance into the narrow prayer hall

From the rooftop, you can gaze across to the tiled pyramids of the Grand Mosque and towering minaret, inlaid with green tiles. 

We got back to the car park about 2 ½ hours later and poor old Sonny (the motorhome) was roasting!

Temperature Gauge showing 44° C

Time to head to the campsite at Moulay Idriss campsite to cool down with a cold beer!

Mel relaxing with a beer in the shade!

The campsite is 8 kms from Moulay Idriss and 12 from Volubilis, so the next day we drove to them both in the motorhome.  Volubilis and Moulay Idriss embody much of Morocco’s early history – Volubilis as its Roman provincial capital, Moulay Idriss as the creation of the country’s first Arab dynasty.

First stop the roman ruins of Volubilis – a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997.

Walking up to Volubilis (on the hill)

The ruins are well excavated and maintained and mostly from the second and third century AD.  A great majority of its mosaics have managed to be restored and some are complete.

Well preserved chariot mosaic

The Triumphal Arch

Volubilis is vast and I won't bore you with lots of ruins but just a bit of history!

On to Moulay Idriss, which takes its name from its founder – Morocco’s most honoured saint and creator of its first Arab dynasty.  His mausoleum is the object of constant pilgrimage but the shrine is not open to non-Muslims.

Moulay Idriss

A climb up to the top of the city gives you a great viewpoint of it and the green tops of the mausoleum.

You then wind back down into the city, through the narrow streets.

This is as far as non-Muslims can go to the mausoleum

Whilst in Moulay, Mel treated himself to a haircut.  The hairdresser used a cutthroat razer - luckily Mel sat very still.  He even cut his eyebrows, the hair in his ears and up his nose! All for 50 DH.

Mel enjoying a short, back and sides!

A Moroccan man came in whilst I was waiting for Mel and started talking to me.  It turned out he had lived in Guildford,Surrey for 18 years and had returned to Morocco after getting a divorce from his wife.  He went on to tell me the story of how his brother had met an English women and had moved to England with her.  She converted to Muslim and they had 3 children.  Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer and returned back to Moulay Idriss to die.  The father then persuaded him (the younger brother) to marry his dead brother’s wife to support their 3 children.  This apparently is a common custom in Morocco.  He then went back to England with the 3 children and they had a son (who is now 17).  He said he had to have 2 jobs (post office driver and taxi driver) just to pay the rent and put food on the table.  He said the marriage was good but there was no real love there and it was agreed he came back to Morocco, but his 17 year old son stay in England.  He said he was happy to be back in Morocco but missed his family in England.  We chatted about the big difference in England and Morocco and it was clear he preferred to be in Morocco and to be honest I don’t blame him! 

He recommended a restaurant for Mel and I to eat at - delicious Keftes and salad, then it was back to the campsite - where another first happened.  The campsite owner asked us if we would sell him some beer.  He gave us 30DH (a little over £3) for 2 small cans (they only cost us 25p each, brought over from the Carrefour in Spain).  He hid them under his clothing, presumably so Allah didn’t see!  We felt a bit guilty (only for a couple of seconds) at making such a huge profit but to buy alcohol in this country is hard and very expensive.

Sadly, we move on later to our last stop in Morocco - Chefchaouen, before getting the ferry back from Tangers Med to Algeciras.

Sally x

Fes – the oldest of Morocco’s 4 Imperial Capitals

We took the N8 from Azrou to Fes that passes through Ifrane. where the King has his summer palace.  With its manicured parks and ornamental lakes and Alpine-resort style houses, it is not your usually Moroccan town and is clearly a place for the wealthier Moroccans.  It looked too pristine for us and lacked the human touch of older settlements, so we didn’t stop.  It does however, have a famous landmark – The Stone Lion, where all the tourists like to stand and have their photo taken.  It stands as a reminder that lions once roamed here and was allegedly carved by an Italian prisoner of war. 

The route was very pretty, with lots of poppy fields, olive and apple trees and we even had to swerve to avoid running over a tortoise crossing the road – no kidding!

We stopped at Camping Diamant Vert N33.9905 W5.02113) for a couple of nights, which reminded us of Centre Parcs with its chalets that are at the top of the site.

Motorhomes are at the bottom of the hill next to a lovely water park and swimming pool.

The bridge across the waterpark - it wouldn't pass UK health and safety!

Our little plot - it was a luxury to get some grass as we haven’t seen any for a while, as we have been parked either on stone or sand for the last few weeks!

There were lots of interesting motor homes on this site, including

A German converted fire-engine

A South African Owned, which carried 800 litres of fuel (that's an expensive fill-up!) and even had a washing machine inside.

An old East German (from Dresden) converted truck – must have been about 30 years old.

We arranged a half-day guided tour into Fes through the campsite.  A taxi picked us up, we shared it with the South African couple and their son and 2 French people.  We met our guide Elouafi Hanaf (or Wafi as he liked to be called) by the Royal Palace and it became clear that he was going to do the tour in dual language – English and French.  Although he spoke quite quickly to toggle between the 2 languages we got a good explanation.

The gates of The Royal Palace

Inscribed to the side is a famous Arabic Poem - no idea what it says though!

Royal Gardens

The Royal guards – the red one is the oldest military dress-wear in Morocco.

The medina-city of Fez el Bali is an incredibly intricate web of lanes, alleyways and souks and if it weren’t for UNESCO adding it to their World Heritage list in 1981 much of this old city would have collapsed.

Bab Boujeloud – The western gate and the most famous in Fez

With its tiled façade - blue (traditional colour of Fez) on the outside and green (the colour of Islam) facing into the Medina

Bab Boujeloud

We were so glad we had our guide to show us where to go, although you can’t get lost if you pick up a tourist map, as there are signs showing you the way.

No donkeys allowed in here!

Wafi leading us through the narrow walls of the Medina.  He told us the temperature inside the walls cooled by 10 degrees – weren’t we glad as it was about 30 degrees and it was 4.30pm!

Lady making a sweet bread that will get rolled with honey and nuts.

The restored Water Clock consisting of 13 windows and platforms, 7 of which retain their original brass bowls.  Every hour one of its windows would open, dropping a weight down into the respective bowl.

Water Clock

Date seller

Banging out a design on tin and copper, a skill passed down through the generations.  We were told that his grandfather had done the designs on the palace gates.

Panoramic view over Fes – the graves all face the same way towards Mecca.  Wafi told us when husbands die the women don’t come to the funeral/grave as they like to remember the happy times.

The Potteries - where they still do everything by hand.

Carrying out age-old techniques

Bread oven – All the bread in the Medina is made here, as it is not safe to have a lot of fire ovens in the Medina as it is so compact.

Bread oven

Tanneries Chouwara - The white vats are full of pigeon dung and locals collect it and can earn 200Dh per kilo (that’s a lot of dung to scoop up!) and the stench was immense and everyone who enters is given a sprig of mint to sniff to help disguise the smell. The hides are soaked in dye in the brown vats - turmeric (yellow), poppy (red) mint (green) and indigo (blue) for 28 days.  There has been little change in the processes here since the 16^th century.

Metal workers hammering away at iron and copper cauldron’s in Place Seffarine

A large grinder for sharpening the knives and tools

A goods-laden donkey trying to manoeuvre through one of the narrow passageways - an important mode of transport around the medina!

In the Weavers Souk

He showed us how the silk thread is removed from the cactus plant and used in the making of pure silk/part silk material. Mel kindly brought me to a silk scarf here but told me I can’t have it until 25 May – my birthday!

The tour cost 250DH for the 2 of us for 3 hours however, Wafi started the tour at 3pm and we finished just after 8pm (a 5 hour tour for the price of 3)– it was a fabulous tour and well worth the money.  There was so much to see and a clear divide between the rich and poor but it was inpossible to take those pictures to demonstrate how some of these poor people live to survive. Wafi told us that property is going for silly money here – the rich are buying up small areas for millions!

The taxi got us back to the campsite about 8.30pm we were exhausted but we really enjoyed Fes!

Sally x