pinkbirdflies

Orientation walk around the city which is famous for its sherry production. Visited a sherry Bodega (winery) which I thought was boring until I tasted the actual sherry…absolutely beautiful…I’m guessing absolutely nothing like the McWilliams flagon sherry at home!??! Fortified, we took a bus through mountainous countryside to the busy, industrial port city of Algiceras where we could see the Rock of Gibraltar in the distance. Changed buses to arrive at the ferry port town of Tarifa and caught a large high speed passenger ferry for a rough crossing of the Gibraltar Straight to land in AFRICA at Tangier, Morrocco…very exciting. Complete change of culture immediately noticeable…busy, poor, third world, dirty  but so different and fascinating. 3 hour drive through mountainous countryside in a private transfer van. The agriculture is not mechanised, small plots and all worked manually however huge dams being built on the river. A long, winding journey finally led us into Chefchaouen a beautiful town spread across the mountainside with predominantly blue coloured houses. it was freezing cold and rainy but very exciting to be in such an unusual and fascinating culture so very different to our own. The hotel is just lovely and very morroccan in style. My room is set up high overlooking the whole town so I scored very well except for the “tepid” hot water. Wonderful morroccan feast of breads, salads, olives, vegetables, tagine, meat skewers and the sensational mint tea….sooo sweet!