we had almost 2 weeks of vacation in morocco! we rented a
tiny car, which was amazing, i really wanted to make it to gibraltar and ann
needed to get some work done, so upon arriving, she took the train to marrakesh
and i drove north to take the ferry to europe! morocco has a pretty impressive
toll expressway system, so it didn't actually take too long to drive to the
northern tip of morocco, to a town called fnideq. after spending the night
there and finding a place to safely park the car, i made my way to the border
of an enclave of spain in north africa called ceuta! it occupies a tiny
peninsula of north africa, and is one of a few remaining enclaves of spain on the continent. spanish sovereignty over these areas is contested by morocco, so it remains a sore spot between the two countries. the other major enclave a few hundred kilometers to the east is called melilla, and interestingly there is also a third small enclave between melilla and ceuta that is just one small island a few hundred meters square, which is permanently staffed by a contingent of the spanish military to protect it. that one can't be visited by the likes of me. the short border between morocco and ceuta is very heavily
fortified with a huge wall, as many migrants have attempted to make it into the
european union this way, often by rushing the border en masse. at the time of my crossing, there were thousands lined up on the moroccan side - i was told they were headed to europe for work. the city of ceuta is an interesting fusion of spanish and
moroccan culture, and is pretty substantial with about 80,000 people. from
there, i jumped on one of the frequent one hour long ferries to algericas, spain.
for whatever reason, i love ferries! once in algericas, one walks to the downtown
bus station and takes a 45 minute bus ride to la linea, which is one the border
with gibraltar. by this time it was about noon.
approaching gibraltar is fascinating. spain gives way to
british accents and very british things such as many posters advertising the
territory's upcoming open snooker tournament. gibraltar is perhaps even more
proud of its british heritage than is the typical town in england, because it
is so isolated and has a rich history - indeed it has been british longer than
america has been american. immediately upon crossing the border, one finds
themselves walking on winston churchill avenue across the centre of the single runway of the
peninsula's international airport! signs advise to "walk fast" and
watch out for landing aircraft, of which there are just a couple each day.
it takes about half an hour to walk into the pedestrianized
centre, where i got a huge fried british breakfast of blood pudding and mashers
and 10 other fried things. i then took a cable car to the top of the rock. the
view was spectacular, and there are famous barbary macaque monkeys up there!
they are very tame and numerous. they were brought from africa at some
point, and when they started to dwindle following world war II more were
brought from africa to replenish their population. today they are not having
any trouble with all the tourists feeding them. despite being basically just a
huge rock with forest on one side and a cliff on the other, the rock of
gibraltar has a fascinating amount of history. there is a massive cave of st.
michael that is seemingly endless, and in which there is evidence of neolithic
human habitation. there are massive stalagmites and stalactites which are
quite impressive. there are also many kilometers of man-made tunnels, built for
strategic protection of the rock in the 1700s and during world war II, many of
which can be explored. the tunnels from the 1700s open out of numerous holes in
the cliff face, where cannons were fired from. there was enough space in the
tunnels to house and provide for up to 1600 men for one year. very fun to
explore.
after exploring the rock, i headed back the way i had come -
back across the runway, the border, bus to algericas, ferry to ceuta, border
crossing to morocco, into the rented car which had survived the day, and then as far as a terrible hotel in kenitra just north
of rabat that night. an excellent day!
