Assilah (Morocco) and Ceuta (Spain)
Hello again,
May 1. One more thing wonderful about this town. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a populated area and experienced such utter silence at night. Had a fantastic night’s sleep. On the flip side, the bathroom gave me quite the drama. Drain hadn’t been cleaned, so bathroom and part of bedroom flooded. Also had to have toilet fixed three times as it kept running. Guess there’s always bad with the good – in this case, the good highly outweighed the bad (is being asked if I want to buy hash several times good or bad?). More wandering through the medina offered wonderful glimpses of a myriad of buildings whitewashed and painted in pastel colors – very Mediterranean (obviously). This town is known for it’s artistic side, so had the chance to visit some interesting galleries. One in particular had some nice stuff with Arabic caligraphy.
May 2. 5:00 wake up call, though I don’t think I’ll go to the mosque to pray. Back to sleep. Pretty windy today, making it a bit uncomfortable for wandering (and not doing much for my allergies). Beautiful sunset from the bastion (old city walls) then did a bit of shopping for gifts.
May 3. The bathroom drama continues – this time only had about 2 minutes of hot water. Packed up and easy 10 minute walk to the bus station. Left pretty much right after I boarded. Uneventful 1 hour ride to Tangier where I bought another ticket to Fnideq (small town accross the border from the Spanish city of Ceuta. Waited about 45 minutes – until the bus filled up before we left. Bus actually dropped me at the border, which was nice. Otherwise, I would have had to take a taxi. Got passport stamped leaving Morocco, but not entering Spain. Also think this is the first time I’ve actually walked accross a border. Upon arrival in Ceuta, the first two hotels I checked had rooms for tonight, but full after that. 3rd one said same thing, but I guess the sign of resignation on my face did the trick – he agreed to give me a double for the 3 nights at a discount. Let’s hear it for the good side of human nature. And a nice room it is too. Most of the rooms are in the center of the building and therefore don’t have windows. My room is in front of the building and even has a small balcomy I can sit on!! Maybe I should use my look of pity more often. Only stop of the day wasSantuario de Nuestra Senora de Africa – a nice church at the edge of one of the town squares.
May 4. Looking out my window (I say as I laugh at the people in the other rooms) to see a lot more activity today. Yesterday was Sunday, so most businesses were shut. Quick stop at supermarket for breakfast stuff then back to the hotel to eat on my balcony (see parenthesis on line above). Wandered to the old city walls/fortifications. Kind of ironic that the canons are now aimed at apartment building accross the street, tenants better keep in line. On to the Museo de la Legion which heralds all that is interesting about the Spanish Legion. Even had to show my passport upon entry (run by the military). Once again, tried to go to one of the restaurants recommended without luck – that’s the 4th one. In Assilah, it was the bathroom and here it’s the restaurants. Ended up in a Mexican place that didn’t really know how to do fajitas. So far, only other semi decent meal was at a Chinese place next to the hotel. I know this is normal, but it seemed strange to hear Chinese people speak fluent Spanish.
May 5. First stop of the day wasPlaza de los Reyes to see 2 things. Iglesia de San Francisco (closed for restoration) and Csa de los Dragones – a three story architecturally interesting building festooned with several dragons along the roof line. Not something you see very often. The funny (?) thing is, I had to ask 2 people where this building was – like it’s not obvious enough! From here, on to Basilica Tardorromana – the remains of a basilica discoverd accidently during road work. Comes complete with skelatons in graves. Lunch was some wonderful tapas, some of which I ordered just because the name sounded interesting (my Spanish only goes so far). Did OK, liked it all. The easy part was ordering cervaza. And that brings us to now, where I’m sitting in front of a wifi pub just to enlighten all of you with my travels. Guess you’ll have to be patient until I can next get on line.
