Chefchaouen, Tangier, Tarifa, Algeciras, Arcos de la Frontera, Seville, all in one day. OK, not Rosie’s most cleverest or finest logistical planning, but first we had to get out of Morocco and what a mission that was!
A 0400 am start saw us hiring a private taxi from Chefchaouan to take us the 2.5 hours and 115kms to Tangier in order to catch the 0800am ferry to Tarifa. This went really well, it was pretty inexpensive to hire a car and a driver, he turned up exactly on time and even carried Rosie’s bag while Rosie operated her phones flashlight in the dark to illuminate the way down 50 or so steps.
The ques, procedures, lack of staff and the slow documentation process at the Moroccan port of Tangier was trialing to say the least. The clock was ticking, it was after eight am, the boat should have sailed and we were next in line to have our passports stamped when it looked like they were closing the gates. Nooooo please dont bump us to the next boat when the goal is in sight. With a sigh of relief we made it…just…all that stress to get across the piddling 32 km Straits of Gibralter to Tarifa, in Spain.
From Tarifa we were one of the first off the boat and had to catch another taxi to Algeciras about 25 kms down the road to hire a car as there were none available in Tarifa…go figure. We are then driving to Arcos de la Frontera for lunch….by the time we arrived there at 1300 it felt like we had we had already done a full day!
The road to Arcos de las Frontera is narrow and devoid of much to see other than large sweeping green fields and the occasional white farmhouses. Its one of those roads you travel on where Rosie looks sideways at The Operator and wants assurances that our GPS hasn’t stuffed up and we are on the right road. The Operator assures me this town is only a short detour from our destination of Seville and then all of a sudden, sitting on its clifftop above us like it has for the last half millennia, is the town of Arcos de la Frontera, a joy to behold!
22,000 people live in this Pueblo Blanco (white town) The old town sits on top of the vertical cliff face and sweeps down to the new town at the bottom.
Arcos in the 11th Century was an independent Berber (North African) ruled tarifa (small kingdom). In 1255 it was claimed by the Spanish and literally remained de la Frontera (on the frontier) until the fall of Granada in 1492.
Rosie and The Operator were chuffed we had nearly reached our final destination of Seville and it was great to get out and stretch our legs and see to our grumbling stomachs. We had already been on the road 9 hours to get here from Morocco and yay, we were back in the land of Tapas!
Walking to a lunch destination Rosie had checked out online, bull fighting posters were stuck to every wall of the old town. Rosie is not sure how she feels about bull fighting….but it is big here in Andalusia….and Rosie just loves the graphics.
Lunch was so good! Rosie forgot to take a pic till halfway through. Local goats cheese and crispy shrimp fritters with roasted capsicum, swooning! Washed down with a beer….only a little one as we still have to drive….Rosie does say we as she will support The Operator….
Doing a quick lap around the town, The Basilica Menor de Santa Maria de la Ascencion sits on the high point and this old beauty from the 1200s is covered in carbon and has a lot of greenery growing out of her joints.
Her bell tower was toppled in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and its replacement was never been completed.
Rosie was loving the delicate blue and white pots sitting on the ledges….they look small….in reality they must be huge because they are so high up. Whilst gazing up at the dirty face of this beautifully ancient church, the heavens opened up and the rain poured down. OMG where are we going to go to stop getting saturated!
Quick in here, said Rosie. We took sanctuary across the square from the church in the Parador Hotel…the lobby had a small coffee shop and seating with the best view ever out of their picture window! When the rain stopped Rosie went out onto their terrace and took the best pics…what a great unexpected find….and the coffee was good too!
The town itself gazes down on its spectacular kingdom for miles over the beautiful patchwork of fertile plains with the Guadelete River gently winding through it.
Whilst Rosie was taking pics, The Operator went to get the car which was parked about 800 metres away, rain was threatening again and as we had no umbrellas with us he is much quicker on his feet than Rosie. The Operator was then going to pick me up from the hotel.
The Operator finally got to the hotel with the help of a local who ended up giving him directions on the terribly complicated one way system by jogging in front of the car…He helped us get out of this old town by doing exactly the same…what can you do but give him a couple of euros for a beer after his voluntary exercise.
Our last drive was then on wards to Seville, only 1 hour to go! It was quite the journey and not the best planned road trip by Rosie… but we made it and were even 10 minutes earlier than we anticipated in meeting our apartment host after negotiating the narrowest streets ever in the old town city center.
We wearily unloaded our bags and our apartment host hopped into our wee Corsa with The Operator to show him where the car park was just around the corner.
The old town streets of Seville are truly some of the narrowest we have driven down. On getting to the apartment The Operator had to wind down his window and fold in the mirror. Turning into the car park The Operator was devastated when he scraped the side of the rental car…on the only unblemished panel on the bloody car! No way! What a way to finish the day and our journey!
The Operator has never had a mishap in the hundreds of rental cars we have hired in many different countries….he was mulling on this and would not let it go. Until that is, we found the perfect tapas bar that served the best tapas and Vermouth ever…Shit happens said The Operator, finally letting it go, that’s what we pay insurance for. Salut!
Tomorrow, after a good nights sleep Rosie and The Operator will show you around this amazing city of Seville!
