Spain/Gibraltar/Morocco - Finally Made it to Africa

March 22
I decided to take a trip to Spain for Spring Break before starting my new job and to take my first entirely self-financed trip. First stop: the southern tip of Spain and Morocco. I got their flying Air France through CDG in Paris, which was an interesting experience. I definitely felt that AF took better care of me than US carriers do. CDG is an interesting airport. I love the train station in the middle of the airport, however, it is a HUGE airport and my flights were, of course, on opposite ends of the airport, but I still made my connection. I even had time to hunt down a (well-hidden) ATM to have some cash before I got to Spain. I landed in Malaga and I was a bit concerned about making it to Algeciras as I was planning to hop a metro train and then bus in a place I'd never been before, but it all actually worked out fine. When I got to Algeciras, it kind of reminded me of El Paso, which was odd.

March 23
Gibraltar is an interesting place, lots of Spanish being spoken everywhere and people tell me that its primary purpose it to indulge Spanish vices (smoking, gambling and boozing). The cable car to the top of the Rock was fantastic and the view was great, even if it was a bit overcast. The monkeys were literally everywhere and they were quite ambivalent to my presence. I rather like the small walking streets, it gives off the best of small town and big city feel. I walked all the way out to Europa Point, which apparently is something not a lot of people do as it is not that easy. I spent a lot of time walking on roads I probably shouldn't have walked on, but it turned out fine. And when I got to the point, there was a rather ornate mosque that was a gift of the Saudi royal family (I think).

March 24
Today was an eventful and excruciating day. Excessive winds caused a change in my transportation from landing at City of Tangier to landing at Tangier Mediterranean, which is 50 miles away. I ended up in Morocco about 4 hours late (The misery of waiting in airports is nothing compared to the misery of waiting in Ferry terminals). When I finally met my tour guide Aziz we had to rush through the tour, although Aziz was less talkative than I expected. I did get a chance to see where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic and I got to ride a camel and visit the Pillars of Hercules. When we got back to the Kasbah, Aziz pawned me off on his assistant, who was a little bit suspicious. He took me wandering through the Kasbah until we got deep into it, far away from others and I got spooked and led us back to a more populated area. Out there, the assistant met a "friend" who talked off on the side while looking at me. I stand by my suspicions. Eventually the assistant dropped me off back at the Ferry Terminal with 2 hours to wait for my ferry back to Spain. This time we had to land at Tarifa instead of Algeciras, so I didn't end up getting back until 1am. Ugh.