Tangier, Morocco (AFRICA)

March 19th—Today we headed to Africa…we woke up at 6:00 a.m. and left the apartment at 7:00 a.m. We took a taxi to the Marbella bus station where we got on a 7:30 bus to Algeciras. It was a direct one hour bus ride. Once arriving to Algeciras, we took a taxi to the town of Tarifa to catch the ferry. Tarifa is the Southernmost point in Europe. It’s also the town to where you catch the 35 minute ferry to Tangier, Morocco. We tried our hardest to make the 9:00 ferry ride, but unfortunately were too late. The frustrating part was that the ferry was still in port, but wasn’t boarding anymore people. Oh well! Anyway, we had a couple of hours to explore Tarifa since the next ferry wasn’t until 11:00. We went to find a place to eat breakfast and stumbled upon Café Central. Café Central was a happening place. We’ve decided that when a restaurant is crowded, then it must be good. It was probably the cheapest meal we’ve eaten so far and was very good and filling. By the time we finished up there, it was time to walk back to the port. We certainly didn’t want to miss our ferry. We had to go through Tarifa customs in the station, but once on board the ferry, we then had to go through Tangier customs. The boat ride was a little longer than the 35 minutes due to high winds, but we made it fine to Tangier. Once debarking the ferry, our private tour guide, Mohammed was waiting on us. We booked our guide prior to even going to Tangier. It is recommended to have a guide before arriving to avoid the stress of being mobbed by potential guides at the port and being hit up to buy stuff all day long. Having Mohammed meet us was great because he lead us straight out of the station onto our private tour van. (This is where I have to put in a side note to the day: We have realized that we love using Rick Steves’ book…love his self guided tours, all his personal touches, and that you are at your own pace. In Tangier, we learned the good, the bad, and the ugly of having a tour guide. Mohammed was great! Very friendly, knowledgeable and loved the kids. He kept us feeling safe through the town, drove us around the town, took us to the great sites and a great restaurant for lunch. The bad is that along with all of that you also get thrown into “tourist traps”, as Rick Steves calls it because the guide makes a commission from your purchases. The ugly is that I didn’t get to go into ALL the shops. J) Anyway, back to our day…once getting into the van, we drove through Tangier seeing the Old Town, the New Town, mosques , and various sights. We then made our way out of town through the “rich area”. Here we passed the King’s palace and numerous palaces that are owned by rich international kings, princes and businessmen (including the head of Fiat). Once out of town, we headed toward the Atlantic Ocean coast. We made several stops along the way to get pictures. One stop was where the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea meet. Another stop was at Hercules Cave. We walked through this cave and got a wonderful view of the Atlantic through a cut out that is said to resemble the shape of Africa. It was at this location that we saw several tuna boats. It is big to fish for tuna in this area and most of the fish is sent to Japan. We also got our up close experience with the camels. Abby and I got on first. It was quite an experience when the camel stood up. If you’ve never gotten on one, then you definitely don’t realize how they go back and forward several times before standing straight up. It gives you the feeling like you are sure to fall off. Well, this whole event scared Austin because he did think we were going to fall off. So, he got a little upset and wasn’t sure he wanted to get on a camel anymore, but he did and quickly got over the scare of it. We left the Atlantic coast area and headed back into Tangier. Mohammad had told us to just let him know when we were hungry for lunch and he would take us to a local restaurant. We ate lunch at Mamounia Palace located right inside the Medina (Old City) wall next to Grand Socco. It had a great atmosphere with local music being placed. It was actually an awesome experience. We ordered the menu of the day which was a 3 course meal of Harira (soup), Pastella (chicken) with couscous and Patisserie (a chicken/raisin pastry). It was all very good and safe, to our stomachs that is. After leaving lunch, we were on foot at this point. We walked out of the gateway of the Medina and through the Grand Socco (the big square) and into the new town. Here we walked through the market. Mohammad took us into an area where we saw many artisans spinning thread in their shops. It was an interesting experience watching them in their small shops make blankets by hand. No electric machines here. We then headed back through the town walls of the Medina and through Petit Socco (the small square). The Medina is full of winding lanes and tiny alleys that weave through the old-town market area. If we didn’t have our guide, we sure would have gotten ourselves lost. Here we saw one of the public bakeries. Many people cannot afford private ovens so they drop off their ready-to-cook flour at the bakeries. Throughout the maze we were in, we saw ornate keyhole doors (lead to neighborhood mosques) and green doors (the color of Islam and symbolize peace). After this we were led into a local shop with many rugs and decoration items. We enjoyed a presentation on all the different types of rugs while sipping on some drinks, one being Moroccan mint tea. It was hard to explain to them that we couldn't buy a rug because we don’t even have a house to buy one for. We did purchase a unique mirror made out of camel bones. We figured that we could surely find a place for it in another house. From here we went to a Berber pharmacy where we were presented various herbal medicines and spices. We actually bought some spices that can be rubbed on chicken, fish, etc. We figured we’ve had a hard enough time finding spices to cook with because of the language barrier, so this would be a good purchase. It was now time to head back to the boat. Mohammad drove us to the port and escorted us to the customs line where we said good-bye. While waiting on the ferry, I noticed a girl with a UT cap hanging from her backpack. I walked over to talk with her. Her name is Danielle and she is a junior at UT on spring break. She was with her brother, Chris, who recently graduated from Georgetown last year and now works in Madrid and his roommate, who is also from the US and works in Madrid. We started talking with them and actually ended up all sitting together on the boat. They were great to talk with and even gave us a few tips on places in Barcelona, our next stop. They were amazingly mature for their ages. We arrived back to Tarifa a little after 9pm and caught a free bus to Algeciras. We then caught the 10pm bus from Algeciras back to Marbella. After a short taxi ride, we got back to the apartment a little after 11pm. The kids basically fell asleep on the bus from Tarifa and slept all the way to the apartment. We had a great day! While it is impossible to truly experience Morocco in a day, our side-trip gave us a legitimate taste of North Africa and the Islam culture. It was a day that was very different and unique to any previous experience.

Windy Day Out

March 18th—Today was a very windy day on the beach so we decided to escape the sand and water. We headed to the Selwo Aventura Parque in Estepona. Estepona is about 15 minutes from Puerto Banus. The Selwo Aventura is described as “a great jungle with more than 2,000 animals living semi-free”. We explored a big majority of it on 2 different safari routes. These safari trucks first took us through half of the park seeing rhinoceros, zebras, buffaloes, and antelope, to name a few. After our first ride, we walked around to see a snake exhibit ,the giraffes up closer and Bengal tigers. It was at this midway stop that we ate lunch and got a beautiful view of the parks nature and waterfall. We then got on the second safari truck that took us their “Africa”. It was on this ride that we saw bison, camels, tigers, bears, and elephants. Once reaching the top, we had to depart the truck, but could get back on after viewing the area or walk back down. We chose to go exploring. So, we walked through the nature of the area and across 3 suspension bridges. Suspension bridges are a little iffy on windy days like today! We got an up close look at the elephants, one was a baby elephant. The baby elephant’s name is Little Kanvar and is unique in Spain. We made our way back down to the halfway point and decided to take the Safari truck down to the bottom. As we were riding back down, we realized that we could have walked through the bird sanctuary. So, once we got off, we walked up through some of the bird sanctuary. At the bottom of the park, there were many kinds of monkeys which of course the kids loved. We also saw a toucan…we named him Fruit Loop. There were many peacocks just wandering the area around the red pandas we saw. We left the park and went to an indoor play area in Estepona that opened at 4:00. Abby had seen an advertisement for it in a local magazine and had been begging to go there since. We arrived a little after 4:00 at the KidszKingdom which was located inside Super Sol (grocery store). This place was awesome and FULL of kids. There was only one way in and out and the door was locked so no one could escape. As an added bonus, Wednesday nights is “kids eat free night”. The kids played for 3 hours and want to go back again.

The Rock of Gibraltar

March 14th--Today we left the apartment about 8:15, got a taxi to the bus station in San Pedro and then got on a bus at 8:40 heading for La Linea. After several stops, we arrived at La Linea a little before 10:00. We had about a 5 minute walk from the bus station to the Gibraltar border. Picture crossing into Mexico...it was a very similar experience. All they wanted to see was that we had a passport, but they didn´t look at them too closely. To get into town from the "frontier" (as the border is called), we took the #3 bus, but instead of getting off we took it all the way through town up to Europa Point. It´s here that the Gibraltar Lighthouse is located. It dates back to 1841 and stands 49 meters above sea level with a range of some 37 kilometers. From here, we had our first view of Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar. We then took the bus back into town to find some lunch. We walked down Main Street which is basically a shopping drag. We ended up at Casemates Square for lunch at All´s Well Pub. It is highly recommended by Rick Steve´s to sample some English pub grub; so we had fish and chips and jacket potatoes (baked potatoes with fillings). Mike ordered the Moroccan chicken tanjine which is also recommended since you are so close to Morocco. After lunch, it was time to head to the top of the actual ¨Rock of Gibraltar¨. The limestone rock mass is nearly a mile long, rising 1400 feet high with very sheer faces. When we first entered into Gibraltar, there were many signs posted stating that the cable cars (which take you directly up the mountain) were closed for the month due to maintenance. So, our only way up to the top of the rock was by a taxi tour which turned out to be a great way to see all the sites. Our taxi driver, Chris, was a born and bred, 3rd generation Gibraltarian. He was very nice and knowledgeable and brought his son along for the ride. He filled us in on a lot of history of the island. The taxi took us for a 90 minute loop tour with four stops: a Mediterranean viewpoint (called the Pillar of Hercules), St. Michael´s Cave, a viewpoint near the top of the Rock with a close up view of the monkeys, and the Siege Tunnels. The first stop, Mediterranean viewpoint was where we got our best view of Africa and the ferries that go back and forth. Before exiting the car at our second stop, St. Michael´s Cave, we had to get our instructions on how to handle the monkeys since there were several just running freely. The rules were to not be scared of them, don´t feed them, and don´t run towards them. St. Micahel´s Cave was about a 15 minute free walk throughout one of Europe´s most dramatic natural grottoes that is situated about 300 meters above sea level. Recently, a sound and light system have been installed that dramatically enhances the cave´s natural features. At the end of the walk, we entered an area that has been converted into an auditorium where performances are done within the cave. When we exited the cave, there was a gift shop (imagine that!). There were several apes hanging out in the area. Our taxi driver pointed out that one was sick (comparable to Parkinson´s Disease) and then there was another one that clapped his hands when he wanted more food. That was funny! Anyway, we got back into the taxi heading for the Apes´Den. It is here that we saw a lot of monkey action. There were some tourists that had them sitting on their shoulders. We decided to pass though. There was one monkey named Michael. I found that very funny! He is 26 years old (oldest in the area) and is crossed eyed. They usually live about 15-20 years, so Michael was definitely old. Once we had enough monkeying around, we headed to the Siege Tunnels. These tunnels were blasted out of the rock by the Brits during the Spanish and French siege (1779-1783). Inside the tunnel, there were tiny windows which were used for perches from where big cannons could fire. From here, we saw a great view of the airstrip and the man made land of Gibraltar. The entry road into Gibraltar crosses right through the airstrip so it is closed down about 3 or 4 times a day to allow planes to land or take off. After the tunnels, our tour was basically over except for the drive back down the Rock. On our way down, we passed the Moorish Castle. The only part of the castle left is the Tower of Homage, which dates back over a thousand years. After our tour, we decided to walk back down the Main Street and do a little shopping. The kids were determined to get monkeys (stuffed ones that is) after seeing so many on the Rock. It´s funny because this is the first time in all our traveling that they´ve insisted on getting a souvenir. After the monkeys were purchased, a snack was in order. We sat back in Casemates Square, enjoying the beautiful weather while the kids ran around playing. We left there about 5:00 to give us plenty of time to exchange our pounds back into Euros (Gibraltar´s a British Colony so it uses the British pound) and cross back over the boarder. Our bust left out of La Linea at 5:45. Gibraltar was a wonderful day trip and had so many fascinating things to see. We really enjoyed it!

Help me, Ronda

March 11th—Help me Ronda, help, help me Ronda! That’s all we could think about or sing when going to the beautiful town of Ronda, Spain. We travelled by bus about an hour and 15 minutes north of Puerto Banus. The bus was nice, but the roads were a little rough. The majority of the trip was on a windy road up into the mountains. I had flash backs of Colorado. Abby and I had to spend majority of the time watching the road to prevent from getting “car sick”. In fact, at one point on the way to Ronda, we thought Abby was going to be sick, but it passed. Anyway, we survived the trip and were glad to be in Ronda. We arrived about 10:30. It was about a 15 minute walk from the bus station into the town area. Our first thing to see was the gorge and New Bridge (Puente Nuevo), built in the late 1700s. Once on the bridge, you can look down into the ravine, called El Tajo. It is 360 feet down and 200 feet wide. It divides Ronda into the old Moorish town and the new town. From the bridge, we got a good view of the unbelievable scenery that Ronda has to offer. It really is breathtaking! After crossing over the bridge, we walked into the Old Town area. We wandered into Plaza de Maria Auxiliadora for more views and a look at the two rare pinsapos (resembling extra-large Christmas trees) in the park. This is the only region in Europe where these ancient trees are found. From there, we went into the Mondragon palace (Palacio de Mondragon). This beautiful Moorish building was erected in the 14th century, possibly as the residence of Moorish kings. It has been turned into a museum that focuses on prehistory subjects like cavemen, tools, metal and pottery with displays of archeological pieces found in the area of Ronda. After that, we wandered through more of the Old Town area and passed by the Santa Maria la Mayor Collegiate Church. Along the way we saw very full orange trees in front of the Town Hall. Abby even found an orange on the ground that she proceeded to carry the rest of the day. Then, we walked to Plaza del Socorro where we found a restaurant to eat lunch. Since it was such a beautiful, sunny day, we were able to enjoy a restaurant that had outside tables in the plaza. We had seen many horse and buggy rides throughout town so the kids really wanted to do that. We got on the carriage outside of the bullring. It was a nice ride through Old Town and New Town. After getting off the carriage, we toured the bullring. Ronda is the birthplace of modern bullfighting, and this was the first great Spanish bullring. We first saw the chapel where all matadors stop and pray to Mary for safety. After the chapel is the museum which houses stuffed bull heads, photos, artwork, posters and costumes. We then walked in the actual two-tiered arena where we all played toro. It was really neat! The kids then wanted ice cream so we got some and found a park to play at before heading back to the train station. We caught the 6:00 train back to Puerto Banus. The ride was much better back because we knew what to expect this time. Abby and I both sat on the aisle seats and watched the road the entire time. We arrived back at the apartment by 7:15.

Arriving in Costa del Sol

Hola Puerto Banus
March 7th—Today was a travel day and all went very well. We left our apartment in Madrid about 9:30, took the Metro to the Atocha train station and got on the AVE train at 10:30 heading to Malaga. It was a very nice, very fast (we topped out at 297 km/h) train; very similar to flying. It had a movie on the TV in English. However, it was Hellboy II so ended up being not very appropriate for the kids. The nice thing about traveling by train is that the kids can move around as much as possible and there is a lot more space too. We arrived in Malaga a little before 1:15. We walked to the bus station, which was across the street from the train station, to get a bus ticket to Marbella. Luckily, there was a bus leaving at 1:30 so we hopped onto the bus and headed for Marbella. It was about a 45 minute bus ride, but very beautiful because the highway travels right along the coast. When we arrived in Marbella, we took a 10 minute taxi ride to our new apartment. Wow! It is beautiful here and our view is awesome. From our balcony, we have a 180 degree view of the mountains all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The minute the kids saw the water, all they wanted to do was go get in it. Since we hadn’t had lunch yet, we first went to get something to eat. After eating, we walked down to the beach. It was sunny, but a little chilly with the wind. That didn’t stop the kids from enjoying themselves and wading around in the water. Although we rolled their pants up a bit, before we knew it, Austin was soaked all the way up to his bum! After our quick trip to the beach, we needed to go to the grocery store. This is becoming our normal routine. Once we arrive at a new apartment, we have to find a store to get the basic essentials. Luckily, there is an El Corte Ingles a block away from our apartment. It is a huge department store (attached to a mall) and has the biggest grocery store we’ve seen so far. We actually were a little overwhelmed with all our options. However, we were excited to find peanut butter again. We just decided to eat dinner at the apartment and call it an early night.

Happy Birthday, Amy!
March 8th—I woke up to Mike and Abby singing Happy Birthday to me and a beautiful sunrise over the water. I couldn’t ask for anything more. We had a slow morning trying to convince the kids that it was too early and still a little too chilly to head to the beach. Finally at about 10:30, we had exhausted the term “not yet” so we got ready for the beach. There is a wonderful beach area with lounge chairs across the street from our apartment. As we headed there, we had to make a quick stop for some beach toys. We all enjoyed the beach for a couple of hours before walking along the port / marina area for a spot to eat lunch. The walk was filled with a ton of restaurants to choose from and along the way there are a lot of high dollar stores too. Puerto Banus is apparently a port to the rich as the marina was filled with million plus dollar yachts. During our walk, we passed 3 Lamborghinis. We stopped at a restaurant right along the marina where we could see all the boats. Mike and I shared our first paella and it was really good. The kids got crepes, but didn’t eat them all so we had them as dessert. They were really good as well. We headed back to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. It had warmed up by then and the kids actually got in the water some. We met some people who now live in Marbella but are originally from the UK. One of them had a little boy, Mikhel, who was Austin’s age so the kids played really nicely together. It was fun to talk to them about the area and our future travels. We basically closed the beach down, if there is such a thing. It was about 6:00 before we headed back to the apartment for much needed showers for the kids. Austin was literally covered from head to toe in sand. After they went to bed, Mike and I had pizza, wine, and raspberry/chocolate dessert while watching a movie. It was a great first day at Costa del Sol…we love the beach!

Adios Madrid

March 6th--We had beautiful weather for our last day in Madrid. Since we have had a couple of days of cold and rainy weather, we decided that we definitely needed to get out and enjoy the park one last time. So, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Retiro Park. The kids wanted to eat immediately when we got there so we let them go ahead and eat. After that, we walked over to see the Palacio de Cristal. It is a glass pavilion that has been built since 1868 and houses museum collections. Then, we sat at an outdoor take-away eat spot where Mike and I enjoyed our bocadillos (sandwiches), chips, and drinks. Austin spent most of his time feeding the birds our chips and bread. He got a big kick out of it. After that, we went to the playground that we had visited a couple of times, but there was a herd of kids all dressed in their school uniforms. Mike described the scene as a bunch of ants on a playground. Since there was no room for our two kids, we went to a small area within the park until the school kids left the other playground. Anyway, we all played at the park for several hours this afternoon until we realized we had procrastinated enough on the packing. So, we headed back to the apartment to do so. Tomorrow, we leave Madrid, by train, to Malaga. We will be staying at Puerto Banus, right on the Costa del Sol.

Guys Day Out

March 5th -- We decided to split up today, girls and guys. Amy and Abby set off to do what girls do best....shop! Austin and I set off for Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the home of the Real Madrid futbol team. When we left the apartment it was blue skies and sunny (although still cold and windy). We actually went back up to the apartment to get our sunglasses. A 10 minute metro ride later, we arrived at the stadium to cloudy skies and rain. Luckily it was only a 100 meter walk from the metro to the stadium and we began the tour inside. We took an elevator up to the top of the stadium where we could get a birds eye view of the stadium and playing field. It was the first time I had ever been to a soccer, excuse me, futbol stadium and I was surprised at how big the stadium was (85,000 seats) and how large the field was. We then went down inside the stadium to visit the trophy room. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about futbol history, but judging by the number of trophies, Real Madrid has been a top team for a long time. We then walked around the stadium to the Presidential Box. It's an exclusive area reserved for the management of the two playing teams and special guests. We then were able to walk down to the field level and sit in the players and coaches area. We left the field and headed down the tunnel into the players dressing room and finally to the press room. The tour was self guided and was actually a fairly impressive tour of the stadium. Austin really enjoyed the stadium and was only disappointed by the fact that they were not actually playing futbol. Luckily since it was raining, I was able to explain to him the game had been cancelled due to rain. This kept him from being too upset! We left the stadium and headed to Puerta del Sol to meet Amy and Abby for lunch. We decided to go to a historic restaurant near Plaza Mayor called Botin. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the oldest restaurant. Botin had been recommended to us and we enjoyed a great meal. We've enjoyed having big, long lunches and light dinners. After lunch, we were heading back towards Puerta del Sol and we passed an old barbershop. You don't find too many old barbershops anymore and so I decided that Austin must have a good old-fashion haircut. Between the fast scissor work and the straight razor, we weren't disappointed. Austin really enjoyed the haircut and judging by the smiles of those in the barbershop, they enjoyed having him there too. We then split up again and Austin and I headed to the train station to try one more time and resolve the overnight train ticket issue. We didn't post yesterday b/c we didn't do much, but I did spend 2 hours at the train station trying to get a single room with no success. It took a little work today, but we finally got it done. I decided Austin was the good luck charm.