Tag: Spain

Al Hoceima, Morocco to Melilla, Spain

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.

You might be able to see two of the speed limit signs here.

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.

Here is our ticket

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.

At the border

Later we went out for a walk and checked in for our ferry ride tomorrow.

The Melilla fortress

We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant called La Travis’s.

Grilled vegetables
Octopus
Pork
Cheesecake

Ceuta to Chefchaouen

This morning from window of our room in Ceuta, Spain there was a beautiful view of the Rock of Gibraltar across the straight.

The Rock of Gibraltar in the distance

After breakfast we walked around the square outside the Parador. Then we caught a taxi to the border.

The square in front of the Parador

We walked across the border into Morocco and got a second taxi to take us back to our rental car.

Crossing the border

The town on the other side of the border is Fnideq. From there we drove south about an hour to the town of Chefchaouen where we are staying at Puerta Azul Hotel

We had tea while we were being checked in
Our room at Puerta Azul

Later we hiked up through the Medina to a viewpoint overlooking the town.

Shops in the Medina
Hiking up the trail
View of the town from the trail
At the top

On our way back to the hotel we stopped and had dinner on the roof of a restaurant called Bab Ssour

Salad
Chicken tagine

After dinner Duke got a $5 haircut.

Duke in the barber shop before the haircut
Duke after the haircut playing cards in Brian and Jo Ann’s room.

Tangier to Ceuta

This morning when we left Tangier we took a beautiful drive along The coast south and west of Tangier.

This is the lighthouse at Cape Spartel. It was built in the 1860s
Near the entry to Hercules Cave where part of the Hercules legend was set

Then we headed east to Ceuta. Although Ceuta is on the Moroccan coast of Africa it is a part of Spain.

As we approached Ceuta we saw an absolutely enormous Container port. The biggest I have ever seen. There were at least 40 big container loading cranes.

There were probably 8 or 10 groups of cranes like this
Ceuta from above.

We couldn’t take our rental car out of Morocco so we parked it and took a cab to the border crossing.

Looking for a place in Fnideq , Morocco to park the car

After walking through the border control check points we caught a Spanish cab to the Parador of Ceuta.

Waiting at the Spanish entry window
Checking in at the Parador of Ceuta
The Rock of Gibraltar from our room

Later we walked through Ceuta. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising but Ceuta is strikingly European as compared to just across the border.

The Ceuta Cathedral, the first church we have seen in a week.
Out for a walk

We had dinner at the Parador

This fish is biting its own tail
Dukes cake with Carmel sauce

Reno to Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

I’m having problems with WordPress, my blogging software. This post was published and then deleted when it already had comments. If your comment was lost I’m sorry! I’m recreating the post. Argh*!*

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Saturday 3 February 2024.

Duke and I are at the start of another adventure. Tonight we are sitting on the balcony of our room in our hotel overlooking the Atlantic. We are on the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. It was a long trip to get here but we made it!

At our hotel on Fuerteventura

We left Reno Wednesday and drove to Walnut Creek. Thursday Allison and the kids drove us to BART where we caught a train to San Francisco airport.

At the BART station

Our flight from San Francisco to Paris was on French Bee Airlines, an airline that is new to us. We were a bit late leaving the gate and then sat waiting while 10 or more planes landed before finally we took off. Apparently there was only one runway open because of maintenance work.

Champagne to start our trip

We arrived at Orly airport and walked across the street to our hotel. We were each pretty tired after the red eye flight so we went to bed at 7pm and were immediately asleep.

Walking to our hotel at Orly airport

Since our plane to Fuerteventura was at 6:30 the next morning it didn’t really matter that we woke up about 3am. We walked back to the airport, had croissants and coffee, then caught our flight to the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.

Leaving our hotel
Croissants and coffee
Fuerteventura

We rented a car and drove to the other end of the island where we are staying at a beautiful Meliā resort. After naps we went out exploring and checked out the pools and the beach.

The Meliá from the beach

Cervera de Pisuerga to Donastia San Sebastián

We woke up to a temperature of 0 Celsius and a beautiful sunrise that we could see from our window. The primary objective today was to get to Donastia San Sebastián by 2 pm to return our rental car.

Here you can see the frost on the grass and the beautiful sunrise this morning.

We got a fairly early start and made stops along our route when we saw something interesting.

I thought the bridges in the town of Pisuerga were pretty.

We headed north through the mountains to the Spanish north coast.

On our way to Donastia San Sebastián
When we got to the coast we stopped to take pictures.

In Donastia San Sebastián we dropped Rick and Elaine and our bags at the hotel and then Duke and I returned the rental car. From the rental car office we walked back to the hotel.

Walking back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Donastia San Sebastián.

On the beach