My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
This morning we walked through the central market then had breakfast at a nearby cafe.
Then we went to the Ceramics Museum and Palacio del Marqués Dos Aguas. The museum was interesting but the building was amazing. It was over the top opulent
We walked around and explored for most of the afternoon.
For dinner we went to the same restaurant that we ate at with Rick and Elaine in 2020, Garnacha Tinta Restaurante & Gin Corner. It was wonderful.
Today we drove from the Parador of Albacete to Valencia.
Less than 10 miles from Albacete we stopped at the castle of Chinchilla. It is being restored and is not open to visit, but it was fun to walk around the outside. It has a commanding view of the surrounding countryside.
When we arrived in Valencia we checked into our hotel then went for a walk. First we went to the central market. It was getting ready to close for the day so we will probably go back there on Friday.
Next we went to the silk exchange.
While we were eating our tapas dinner all the local stations were covering the enormous apartment building fire that was burning about a mile from where we are staying. The pictures were horrifying.
After dinner we went for another walk.
We are spending two nights in Valencia. It is a nice change to be in the same place for 2 days.
Today we picked up our rental car at the train station in Almería. We walked from our hotel to the rental car office at the train station.
Once we had the car we drove to Albacete. Along the way we saw lots and lots of Almond trees in bloom. We also stopped at a marble quarry where we just happed to see some very cool deer.
When we got to Albacete we stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for a picnic dinner.
Our ferry was scheduled to leave Melilla today around 2:00 pm. So this morning we visited the fortress of Melilla and the museums inside the fortress. The museum about all the civilizations and cultures that have lived in the Melilla region was excellent. We learned about the Phoenicians, Mauritanians, Amazigh (Berber), Rushdie, Roman, and Roma (Gypsy).
At noon we went back to the Parador, checked out and walked to the Ferry terminal. We waited a bit and the walked along a very long ramp to our boat
We had a cabin for the 6 hour ride. It just had bunks, no seats, so we took turns resting in the cabin, and sitting in the lounge. We also played a lot of cards in the cafeteria.
When we got to Almeria we walked to our hotel then went to the restaurant, Las Botas, recommended by the front desk clerk. It was excellent.
On all the highways in Morocco you see frequent police check points. Usually at a checkpoint there are three speed limit signs (60, 40, 20) each 20 feet apart then a stop sign.
Up until today the police have waved us through every checkpoint. We have probably gone through 50 or 60 of them. Unfortunately today we got stopped. Duke pulled over and the officer asked us for our papers. Because he didn’t speak English he called up somebody on his cell phone who told us in English that we had been going 73 kph when we passed the 60 kph sign.
He said the fine would be 150 Moroccan Dirham ($15). Since we were on our way to the border crossing, we had already spent all our Dirham. So he said we could pay $15 U.S. It took the officers a while to write the ticket. When I took a picture he told me to stop and made me delete the picture. Eventually he gave us the ticket, we paid our $15 and we were on our way. It was interesting to see that all the police were wearing body cameras.
About 30 miles later we arrived at Nador airport where we turned in our rental car. From there we took a 50 minute taxi ride to the Moroccan border with the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Border control was easy and we got another cab to the Parador where we are tonight.
Later we went out for a walk and checked in for our ferry ride tomorrow.
We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant called La Travis’s.
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