Gibralta + Morocco + Ronda + Granada

Hi Everyone,

We have a lazt day today, as we are catching an overnight train and have to just hang around the city until that time comes. So internet seemed like the logical choice, that is after some shopping of course. It is siesta time now, so the shops are closed :(

The last post told you all that I was heading off to Gibralta. It was a fly in and fly out, as we had to be able to catch the last bus back to where we were staying - Tarifa (Beach resort). As we were about to cross the border into the British Colony, we had to wait as a plane came in for landing right in front of us!! It has a sign when crossing the flight path to not drop any rubbish or any objects on the runway as it could cause an accident, and it said something like "It could be you on one of these planes in the future" :-) It was quite stange walking out of Spain and then walking into Gibralta - there are red double-decker buses, pomms everywhere, Marks & Spencer shops, Fish & Chips, and many other things very British. We didn´t have time to stop and look at any of the shops as we had to quickly make it to the Cable Car to take us up to the famous Rock of Gibralta. When we got to the top, there are warnings everywhere about not feeding the monkies and that they may bite if touched etc, so who forgot they had an empty muesli bar wrapper in the side pocket of her backpack? Me of course, as soon as we were off the cable car a monkey jumped straight onto my backpack and got the wrapper out!! It was hilarious - I could not think what the monkey was possible after, until I saw the wrapper. The funny thing is, I had 2 x in there and didn´t notice until after I got back to the hotel. LOL.

The next day we all excitedly left to go to Morocco. We eagerly caught the ferry in extreme wind conditions, but were quite happy that we were off to see the famous Morocco in Africa. When we got off the ferry, we were told to get back on and have our passports stamped and they guy who stamped them crankily told us that there were announcements in English during the journey, to which we informed him that ´no, there was not any english said´. Why else did he think that a heap of Australians and Americans have to come back for. We eventually got off the ferry, phew. We caught an english speaking bus for our tour, which took us up through the vrey elite suburbs of Morocco, with lavish mansions and beautiful gardens growing in such dry conditions. We stopped so people could take a ride on a camel (I opted out of that one), to which those standing and watching the camel rides were bombarded with hawkers offering to sell the most crappy things. We got back on the bus and then headed for the Kasbah - and yes, we were singing ´rock the Kasbah´!! The Kasbah is actually in some really dodgy looking streets, and the tour continued down these dodgy streets, were more and more hawkers of all ages continually asked us to buy there crap. I expected to have people come up to me selling me things, but these people don´t take no for an answer. One kid asked me 4 times if I wanted to buy some gum off him, to which I said no, no, no, no and then no again with a hand movement of GO AWAY, and so he departed by saying "Fu#¿ You" Lovely !!! So said the same back, cheeking little sod. We watched a snake charmer and then headed towards the resturant, as lunch was included with our tour. We walked through this alley where people we selling fruit and veg, and they were washing the fruit and veg in sewer stinking puddles of water on the ground´- mmm appertising. We turned the corner and there was out resturant - needless to say, I didn´t really eat anything. After luch we went to a rug shop where a fantastic salesman passionately told us about his rugs and the technique that they use, annd then we went to visit the pharmacie to be told about lotions and potions and spices, it was very interesting - they even sell viagra for both men and women - so the men can keep up with their 4 or 5 wives :-) By the end of the day, we were extremely sick of the dirty, stinky streets, and the rude and very persistent hawkers and couldn´t wait to get back onto that ferry and head back to Spain. We all agreed that it was something to definately do, and we did go on a Friday, so most of the better shops are closed for mass etc, but I don´t think any of us would go back again.

After our stay at Tarifa, we headed to the small town of Ronda (and yes again, we did sing "Help me Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda"). We all enjoyed Ronda, it has a famous bridge which is just amazing to see, and on day 2 at Ronda, Hollie and I went for a walk down the side of the cliff to see the waterfalls under the bridge and to get a better view of it - beautiful. The shops there were very quaint and sold some great items, it is such a bummer that I can´t carry anything that I buy, my bag is full and heavy enough already. They had some beautiful hand laced tables cloths and runners, and they a great quality range of leather goods. The pottery and oilk paintings were wonderful too.

We then travelled to Granada, another great place in Spain. Ronda and Granada brought about an appreciation for Spain, up until now, I hadn´t been that impressed. We visited the Alhumbra yesterday, which has lavish gardes, Muslim palaces and an old castle that was used as a watch tower and dungeon. The night we arrived in Granada, at 7 pm the temperature was 41 degrees (I even took a photo of the sign to remember it). It is very hot, but at least it isn´t that humid, so it is bearable. The hotest past of the day seems to be around 6pm, that is when the sun is directly above you - it is strange. The first night we went to a very friendly and welcoming bar for a dinner of tapas and drinks, it was fun. Last night though, a few of us went out for a ´normal´ meal - I loved it, it was the best meal I had had in a while.

Tonight we head off on our train to Valencia - the town for Paella (a scrumptous rice dish) and our tour leader has really talked up Valencia, so hopefully it lives up to it.

Of well best get going now. I will update you all again hopefully soon.