Day 46 - Bus to the blue city

A bit of a hassle to get a taxi this morning but we finally found one with a meter that dropped us off at the bus station. Unfortunately all the "comfort" buses were booked (put that one down to lack of planning again) so we joined the locals on one of their buses. The bus didn't have windows that opened and there wasn't any air conditioning apart from a hole to the outside near K's window. As sweltering as we were the other poor women must have felt worse in their long dresses and scarves. The driver told us it would take an hour and a half to get to Chefchaouen, we didn't really believe him and sure enough we arrived 3 1/4 hours later.

Our Airbnb was in the Medina so we were dropped off at the gate. From there we walked in to find our blue raid in the blue city. Just like the photos all the places are different shades of blue and part of the experience is to get lost in all the twists and turns of the narrow blue alleyways. The hassle from locals wasn't nearly as bad as we expected, once we politely said no we were always left alone. We found an unusual shop that sold fossils and bought an ammonite. 

This walled city seems to be different from others we have visited in that it appears as if local people live and shop here, so it wasn't all souvenir shops and tourist restaurants (there are still quite a few). The noise in the medina from the locals was very constant and we were glad it settled down a bit after 11pm.

Day 45 - From the rock to the casbah

We had bought tickets online for the one hour bus trip to Tarifa which is where the ferry leaves for Tangier in Morocco. The bus left on time at 11.30am but by the time we walked from the bus station in Tarifa to the ferry port we discovered that we had just missed boarding the ferry that we could see  waiting but hadn't left yet, and the next ferry wasn't until 4pm. Another case of poor planning from us or maybe we can just blame it on the fact that the bus and ferry timetables were poorly synchronised.  The positive was that Morocco is an hour behind Spain so the one hour ferry that was to leave at 4pm would get us to Tangier at 4pm.

The ferry was a similar size and set up to the ones we had used last year between the Greek Islands. Moroccan passport control was processed on the ferry which was a very efficient use of time.

We were ready for the touts when we left the ferry and found a taxi to our riad. A riad is like a homestay where you have your own bedroom and ensuite. Our place had a number of floors with a lovely roof top and a great view over Tangier, it was also right by the Casbah, We walked around the Casbah to see the views of Tangier and its port, then wandered around the medina before getting our first taste of Moroccan tagine for dinner.

Day 44 - Powerless

From our hotel balcony we had a great view of the rock and we could see that a good portion of it was covered in a thick fog meaning we couldn't see the peak. Our plan was to take the cable car up there but we didn't rush out, instead we waited for the weather to improve.

We ended up spending the morning looking for a land line to make a reverse charge call to K's bank as they had mistakenly put a stop on her account. After trying the hotel, the post office, the tourism office and a cyber cafe we gave up looking for a phone we could use and just used our Spanish sim which luckily still had enough credit. 

At lunch time we walked over the border again and took a bus to the start of the cable car. We stopped for lunch only to be told all the power on Gibraltar was out, at which point we noticed that the cable car also wasn't working. K caught the bus back to the border and went back to the hotel to do some research on our next destination (Morocco) which we were heading to the next day, while M took a different bus and did a little more sightseeing, going to the end of the peninsula and into the historic town centre.

Day 43 - England in Spain

We really liked Chiclana de la Frontera and the three of us felt we could easily have spent a few days there. There weren't any high rise buildings hogging the sun, or thousands of tourists. The beach front had a sprinkling of cafes, a wide walking path and a lovely beach. Just a nice amount of people were around and it was hard to pack up and leave after coffee on the lawn in front of our hotel.

On our way to Gibraltar we stopped at the seaside town of Algeciras for lunch where K & Sue thought they had ordered a fish to share but a large seafood platter arrived instead, of course they had no choice but to scoff the lot. Sue was going to stay with friends in Spain just on the other side of Gibraltar so we shared a last drink at a cafe on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Mediterranean before dropping her off, then driving to La Linea de la Concepcion on the Spanish side of the border with Gibraltar. 

The Rock of Gibraltar is large and imposing and the border is a narrow strip of land at the start of the peninsula. We had to drop the rental car off at Gibraltar airport, there was a slight glance at our passports by the border guard then we were waved straight through. After leaving the car we walked across the airport tarmac until we arrived at the first marina area in Gibraltar. Everything was in English and money was in pounds, it also seemed that all of the the tourists were British, which makes sense as Gibraltar is a British territory. 

Day 42 - Flamingo no show

There was some distance to cover today as we left Portimao for our first stop at Rio Famoso. This natural park and lakes is a stopover for migrating birds who have left Africa on their way to Europe. We hoped to see flamingos on our one hour walk but they must have heard we were coming and gone out for the morning. However, we did see lots of very interesting one claw crabs and a mill shed that worked using the power of the sea through tides - renewable energy at it's best.

We then crossed the border into Spain and drove to Seville. We had a bit of trouble finding a park since it was Sunday and a festival was on, so there were lots of people around. We then had trouble finding the Alcazar and ended up stumbling onto the impressive Plaza de España. Last time we were there we had it all to ourselves but this time there were masses of tourists. It was also the hottest day we had experienced for a while so we were relieved when we finally found the Alcazar, only to find there was a huge queue. We joined the others in the hot sun just as a man came over and told all of us that from where he stood all people after that point wouldn't be admitted. There were many disappointed tourists, some who begged him to be allowed in. However, while we were standing there deciding what to do next lots of new people came and joined the line, so we just rejoined it, and bought tickets and entered.

By the time we returned to the car it was 6pm and we still had an hour and a half to get to our beachfront hotel at La Chiclana de la Frontera, making it just before the staff closed up for the night. The drive was worth it as we had a great spot on the promenade and were able to see a great sunset with the fort of Cadiz in the distance.

Day 41 - Roman around

On leaving Lisbon we travelled over one of the longest bridges we have ever seen. We drove to Evora, an ancient medieval walled city with a Roman temple and of course masses of souvenir shops and tourists. 

From there it was south to the coast stopping at Beja for lunch. Travelling through this part of Portugal it was obvious the farmers must be desperate for rain to come as it was very dry with no pasture.

We arrived on the south west coast at Ponta da Piedade which consists of lots of rock formations, cliffs, grottos and caves. We were surprised that there wasn't a boardwalk or any barriers especially as the tourists were standing very close to crumbling cliff faces. 

We drove through Lagos and on to our overnight stop at Portimao. We were only a couple of minutes walk from the beach where we finished our day with drinks overlooking the water, followed by a nice dinner of grilled fish.

Day 40 - Retracing our steps

A casual day today wandering the streets of Lisbon. We headed off from our apartment in a different direction, and found that we were following the path of the number 28 tram that we had taken yesterday.

We followed the signs up to the miradors with cafes and nice views over the harbour, spoiled only slightly by one of those pesky cruise ships that seem to be getting more common as time passes. 

Day 39 - Quiet down, amigos

A nice 30 minute walk from our Airbnb through the streets of Lisbon brought us to the Camoe Monument which was the meeting point for the walking tour. We were split up into groups first by language and then by size. It was very difficult to hear as there were groups of uni students singing at the top of the voices - something to do with the beginning of the uni year - and lots of traffic. Throughout the walking tour we also had to contend with the Spanish group who are loud at the best of times but now the the tour guide had a microphone as well, something they didn't really need.

After the tour we walked along the foreshore to the Time Out market hall which was basically an over crowded tourist food court. Deciding against paying the tourist premium we found a nice small cafe where S and K ordered caipirinhas, and M tried the local Arroz de Pato (Duck Rice) for lunch. 

We then joined the ridiculously long queue for the number 28 tram, a tourist tram route through many neighborhoods of Lisbon. The final tram stop was in front of the cemetery where we found ourselves a possible hour's walk from where we wanted to be, so after calling a very cheap Uber we were dropped off at the Topo Martim Moniz rooftop bar where more caipirinhas were consumed as we enjoyed the view. 

Day 38 - Climbing the walls

We walked along the beach promenade in Nazare in to find somewhere for breakfast before checking out of our apartment and driving on to Caldas da Rainha, where we visited the ceramic museum in an old mansion over three floors. 

Then it was on to Obidos to visit the very touristy walled city where we walked the walls before having lunch.

From there we headed towards Sintra, a city in the mountains outside Lisbon where the Portugese nobility used to spend the hotter months. We walked up to the mirador so we could see some of the famous castles in the area.  

We drove the coastal route from Sintra into Lisbon via the Avenal Diana Spencer (no idea why they thought they should name a Portugese road after her) and checked in to our Airbnb not far from the Lisbon city centre for the next three nights.

Day 37 - Body parts going cheap

We left the man part of Aveiro and drove 14km to the the nearby Atlantic beach are of Costa Nova. The beach was lovely with soft sand but hidden from the town by sand dunes. Many of the houses in the area were decorated with stripes with bright colours and the fences were decorated with huge bows, some made by different coloured plastic bags.

Next stop was Coimbra, the original capital city of Portugal. The buildings and old town area had a lovely sense of antiquity. We walked up to to the university at the top of the hill with its grand old buildings overlooking the city.

Next stop after lunch stop was the town of Fatima, an important place for Catholic pilgrims because of their belief that the Virgin Mary appeared there in 1917. As it was later in the afternoon the sanctuary wasn't that busy and it didn't have the atmosphere of Lourdes but the huge size made up for it. The viewing area is so large that they have had 1.5 million pilgrims there at one time. The Chapel of the Apparitions attracts the very devout and there was a woman circling the outside perimeter on her knees as well as another elderly lady approaching the altar, also on her knees. It was possible to buy candles to burn as offerings, as well as wax models of body parts to help the devout with their prayers.

Our final destination was Nazare, the site of the world's largest waves, with the highest ever surfed at Nazare at 23.8m. The waves are so large because of the underground Nazare Canyon. We walked to the light house for a view of the beach, and from where we were standing up high we could see they they weren't at their biggest, just "regular" size waves today. Dinner was a lovely meal of freshly grilled fish at a nice restaurant opposite the town beach, a pleasant way to finish the day.