larchneedles

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Day 31 Thursday August 24th, 2017 Ronda, Spain

We left Algeciras on the train, first class!, at 10am after a wonderful day at Gibraltar. We were headed for the town of Ronda, Rhonda’s namesake. The train travelled through mountainous country, railway tunnels, gorges, steep cliffs, until we were close to Ronda

Ronda is a town perched on the edge of an escarpment. The town is bisected by a deep ravine and has a spectacular bridge joining the two halves of the town. I was expecting a sleepy village but Ronda is a tourist destination featuring a bull fighting ring, the bridge, and lots of shopping.

We were advised not to hike down the escarpment because it was too steep and too hot - but we did anyway.

The pictures show the bridge from below, me walking on a path that went under the bridge and into the ravine, and the view from the bridge. The orchards in the final picture are olive groves. We got back to the top covered in sweat and looking for ice cream cones.

As our trip was coming to an end, we went shopping too. I bought three European styled shirts (a bit dressier than casual) and a tee-shirt. Rhonda bought some cool blouses and a sweater..

The hotel was very nice. They looked at us strangely when we walked in carrying backpacks and wearing worn unpressed clothing but we looked better when we left the following morning after a good shower and wearing some new clothes.

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In 1789, the Spanish aided by the French tried to drive the British from Gibraltar. They besieged the rock for three years before giving up. The siege caused the British to begin tunnelling to place cannon overlooking the Spanish positions . The British fired 200,000 cannonballs during the siege and developed weapons such as shrapnel shells and recoilless cannons that would become standard in the napoleonic wars and beyond. The pictures show scenes from the siege and a view of Gibraltar from a cannon slot. Note that British Gibraltar ends a little way beyond the airport runway.

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Day 30 Thursday August 24th, 2017 Gibraltar We walked to the bus station and took the 40 minute bus ride to the entrance of the British zone surrounding the rock of Gibraltar. The entrance was packed with people and vehicles moving into the zone. We walked into Gibraltar showing our passports to Spanish and then British security stations. We then walked across the famous runway that crosses the road into downtown Gibraltar and onto a busy street mall with British flags waving, British voices, British beer advertisements, you get the picture. At the end of the mall, we found the gondola ride that took us to the top of the rock. We spent the day walking along the top and down the roads. The views were spectacular. We saw apes, naval guns, St. Michaels caves, the siege of 1789 tunnels, and finally at 5pm, exhausted, we made it back to the mall. We stopped in a little pub on a side street in Gibraltar for a pint of British ale and nachos before making our way through crowds back to the bus station. Back in Algeciras, we had kabobs at a Turkish restaurant and went back to hotel, we were too tired to do anything else. The pictures show the runway with Gibraltar's main road crossing it and the rock of Gibraltar from the runway. One the holes in the rock wall, they are cannon ports from the 1789 siege. Awesome day!

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The British military started tunnelling into Gibraltar during the 1789 siege and massively expanded the tunnel system to house 16,000 men during world war 2. We didn’t get into the world war 2 tunnels because they were closed for the day (the rock is huge and there was lots more to see) but We passed two world war 2 entrances behind gates and saw another major entrance large enough for trucks.

The British captured Gibraltar from the Spanish in 1704 during a war and the Spanish have always wanted it back. Signs seem to indicate that the British military left Gibraltar in the 1960’s.

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There are two 9.2” naval guns on the highest point on the rock of Gibraltar overlooking the Mediterranean. They have a range of 29,600 yards. Africa is 25,000 yards to the south so they threatened the entire passage between the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The guns are fed from a spring loaded magazine alongside the barrel. I'm guessing that the magazine could hold a dozen shells. More ammunition stored and hoisted from below where there was also a power source to rotate the turret. The pictures show the gun mechanism, the turret, and the spring loaded magazine. This gun was manufactured in 1898, the second gun was newer.

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Day 29 Wednesday August 23rd, 2017 Algeciras, Spain

This was our travel day from Tangier to Gibraltar. We stayed in a hotel in Algeciras rather than in Gibraltar to save some money.

Our day started with our final breakfast on the Tangier hotel rooftop terrace then we walked about 2km down to the harbour ferry terminal.

We joined the line to exchange our pre-purchased tickets for boarding passes for the noon ferry to Tarifa. The lineup of Africans was short but slow and an ferry official took us out of the line to get our passes from a special spot. We filled out Moroccan exit customs forms and joined a line at the Moroccan customs checkpoint. This line was much longer and slow moving. Another official pulled us out of this line and took us to the front. I shrugged at the Moroccans who watched us go past, hey it wasn’t my idea. After customs, the official told us to hurry and we boarded the 10am ferry. We certainly received preferred treatment that we didn’t need. If all gringos are treated like us, the locals should be resentful.

Tarifa is 40km east of Algeciras and our ferry tickets included a bus ride to Algeciras. In Tarifa, we got the last two seats on the bus.

We had prebooked all our hotels starting with Santiago. We chose nice hotels close to the train and bus stations. In Algeciras, our hotel options were limited and I was worried. This hotel wasn’t great, 2 star, but it would serve us. The nights were bad, hot with little or no air flow. I slept on the couch where there was a fan that blew on me.

We went in search of a cafe for supper and happened on a men’s clothing store. I bought a shirt. Finally I had a third fashion choice 😎. At dusk, We walked along the waterfront, saw a skateboarder fall, and her skateboard roll into the harbour.

The rock of Gibraltar was visible in the distance from the waterfront , that’s tomorrows objective.

Today’s first picture is a photo taken on the bus ride between Tarifa and Algeciras showing the Mediterranean Sea and Africa in the distance. The second photo shows the rock of Gibraltar from the Algeciras waterfront.

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The rock of Gibraltar is famous for its wild macaques, there are hundreds of these apes. Warning signs warned us against feeding or petting them. They have no fear of visitors, sitting on railings and paths as people passed and took photos.

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Day 28, afternoon and evening Tuesday August 22nd, 2017 Tangier, Morocco Morocco was the perfect place for gifts and souvenirs. After a stop at the hotel for Moroccan mint tea and cookies, we headed back to the market. I bought a new belt to replace the one I'd left behind early in the Camino. We visited clothing, metalwork, pottery, leatherwork, and jewelry stores and found nice things to bring home. My pack is going to be more full and heavier. Hans, the hotel owner, told me I could bargain. He said I should offer half the first price and hope for 70%. I paid 90% but the shopkeepers are canny and I have no idea if I got a good price. Supper was good, Moroccan salad and meatballs. Moroccan salad is cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, and diced avocado. I should have taken pictures in the shops but I didn't so here are pictures of the market street and another picture of me.

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Here are the remaining pictures from my previous entry. Tumblr dropped them.

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Day 28, morning Tuesday August 22nd, 2017 Tangier, Morocco Ghani, who we met yesterday, offered to find us a guide for two hours this morning’ from 10am to noon. We had a Moroccan breakfast on the hotel rooftop terrace with a French couple and two Chinese girls. I had coffee wit hot milk, fresh squeezed orange juice, olives, and bread with jam. We went to Ghali’s restaurant at 10 and were we're surprised to discover that Ghani was to be outperform guide. First, he took us to the places we had walked the previous evening and talked about the houses and mansions along the way. Tangier used to be the capital city of Morocco and we passes some embassy buildings that now needed some repair. The Phoenician tombs were the rectangular pits int bedrock that I'd mistaken as building foundations the night before. Ghani then took us to the medina, the old fortress overlooking the harbour. The medina was mostly gone. It had fallen down or been demolished. A few buildings were now hotels. Such a shame, Next, Ghani took us to the market area. It's a warren of passageways between the medina and the road. People and families live at the back below the medina. Shops and markets including huge meat and fish markets are closer to the road. The shops sell clothing, leather goods, metalware, jewelry, pottery, The road is bordered by food stalls, fruit, eggs, spices, baked goods, etc. The road is busy with people and a few cars or small trucks slowly snaking their way along. Ghani grew up in the market but were quickly disoriented. We popped out to see a Jewish cemetery, and a park. Apparently this area was famous in the sixties, the Beatles and Rolling Stones stayed here. Tangier was then a city of 40,000, its now a million people. The pictures above are The Phoenician graves Rhonda and Ghali walking through the residential section below the medina A residential passage. Many people have flowers and plants outside their their door. It's beautiful. The fish market A corner in the shop area.

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Rhonda recorded this video from our hotel balcony when we heard music coming from somewhere. We later learned it was a wedding procession.

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Day 27 Monday August 21st, 2017 Tangier, Morocco

This was our travel day from Santiago to Tangier. We would fly from Santiago to Madrid and then from Madrid to Tangier.

Our flight from Santiago left at 6:45am so on the previous evening we had booked a cab for 4:30am to take us from the hotel to the airport. We got up at 3:30, ate a banana and yoghurt in our room, and went down to the lobby at 4:20. The cab arrived shortly after and we watched dark quiet Santiago slide by the cabs windows. At the airport, the airline counters were open, we checked our packs, got our boarding passes, went through security, and were at the departure gate by 5:15. I started reading ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho. Rhonda had Picked up the book at a hostel or albergue, read it, and given it to me. I’ll leave it for someone to find and read when I’m done. I had the window seat for this flight, lucky me. The 200 seat airbus flew low and slow, the engine seemed to be idling sometimes and I could see individual street lamps on the ground. We arrived in Madrid at 7:45am, it was still dark. The aircraft parked on the tarmac and long wide busses took us to the arrivals terminal.

Our next flight to Tangier didn’t leave until 11:35am so we had lots of time. Madrid’s airport is huge and it took lots of walking, following signs, and an airport subway ride to reach the international terminal. Twice, young polite African men showed me their boarding passes and asked for advice on their flight. They spoke excellent English but I couldn’t help them, I was lost too. At the international terminal, we got coffees and a snack from Starbucks and sat down to read and people watch; we saw people from everywhere in the world.

We will be in the same Madrid airport terminal in six days waiting for our transatlantic flight home.

The flight to Tangier was on a smaller 100 seat aircraft. It was exciting to see Africa’s coastline appear. Rhonda had emailed our hotel, the Kasbah Rose to arrange transportation to the hotel and Hasan was waiting for us outside the airport with a sign. It was a 30 minute drive to the hotel.

The buildings were like older buildings in Spain but white, light grey, or tan in colour. The men wore robes or western style dress. The women were completely covered in ankle length skirt or dress and a hijab. The young people sometimes wore knee length dresses or skirts and no hijab. The kids wore western clothes.

The last 500 metres of our ride was through a busy middle eastern market just like in the movies. Our hotel was just past the market. YAAY!!! Our room at the hotel was on the second floor on a hill overlooking old Tangier. There was rooftop terrace above the 4th floor where we were given welcoming cold Moroccan mint tea and cookies. You need to have Moroccan mint tea.

We settled in at the hotel then walked down to the market. Very exotic but I didn’t know the customs and didn’t take any photos. We walked into the lanes and passageways behind the street and the shopkeepers harassed us continuously and Rhonda was overwhelmed. We worked our way out and Rhonda sat a street side table outside a restaurant while I went to find some Moroccan currency to get her a drink. The banks were closed, the first ATM machines wouldn’t accept my card but I eventually got 500 dirhams for $70 Canadian (I think). I found Rhonda relaxed and talking to the Moroccan man who owned the restaurant with her table. He was a nice person named Ghani. He he spoke English very well. Rhonda had a cold Fanta lemonade and I had hot Moroccan tea. Good stuff. Ghani agreed to find us a guide for the following morning from 10am to noon.

We went back to the hotel to recover. On two occasions, there was lively music from the street, we later learned it was a wedding procession. We also heard the mullahs afternoon call to prayer. All the mosques around us broadcast the call in their own voice and all the calls overlapped.

Later, we visited Ghani’s restaurant for cous-cous with chicken and vegetables for supper. Dessert was cookies and fresh juicy (not dried) figs. The supper was fresh, healthy, and delicious.

We had a map and decided, after supper, to look for the Phoenician tombs and go to the ocean. We didn’t find the tombs but we found a large park filled with cafe tables and Moroccans enjoying themselves and then a cliff overlooking the ocean with what appeared to be building foundation trenches along the top. There were a lot of Moroccans there too.

It was getting dark when we returned to the hotel. Morocco seemed safe. The people were friendly and seemed to have a good quality of life.

This blogs pictures are Our first view of Morocco from our room The rooftop terrace on the hotel A passageway behind the market, trying to find our way out Sunset from the cliff overlooking the ocean The cliff with the what I believe to be building foundation holes

It was a good day. Tomorrow was to be our only full day in Morocco.

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Part of the Benedictine monastery in Santiago is used as a seminary and albergue. We walked through it, nobody stopped us although we expected it. I liked the furniture I saw and photographed it. It is elegantly simple. Here are the pictures.

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Pictures of pilgrims completing their Camino

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Day 26 Sunday August 20th, 2017 Santiago, Spain We wanted to explore places we hadn't seen on our previous visit. Rhonda did some research and chose a monastery near the cathedral, two parks adjacent to the old district, and the famous cathedral of Saint James for us to see. The cathedral is the destination for Camino perigrinos. To start our day, The hotel provided an excellent European continental breakfast that included bread, croissants, cereal, yoghurt, orange and grapefruit juice, cheese and salami, sliced melon, apples and oranges, and coffee with hot milk. No, I didn't sample everything on the breakfast buffet table. We visited the monastery first. The building had been a Benedictine monastery until, for some reason, they were expelled in the 16th century. The building fell into disrepair until it recently became a museum. It was early in the day and we were lucky to be alone for most our exploration. The building was absolutely beautiful and the contents were magnificent, it was far and away the best representation of religious history we had seen. You can find blog entries with pictures. It was hot when we left the monastery so we stopped by the entrance to the first park for a beer. There was a row of cafes with sidewalk tables, the cafes were busy and we found a table next to the entrance of a cafe. Two ladies were next to us, one in her early sixties and one in her eighties. We assumed the they were mother and daughter. We ordered two beers and the waiter brought the beer with small bowls of peanuts and chips and small wedges of a Spanish omelette and bread with ham for each of us. The younger woman next to us was Spanish but spoke English and said ‘I've travelled a lot. Spain is so nice, you've ordered beer and the waiter gives you a snack as well. The French are snooty and stuck up, England Is expensive and they charge for every little thing. In Spain, the people are friendly and relaxed. Spain is the best.’ Then the younger woman saw that her mother looked sick, got up and went inside. A waiter came out to stand by her table, another waiter came and stood at the door looking at her as he talked on the phone. The mothers head slowly sank to her chest as she lost consciousness. After a moment, her eyelids started to flutter and she opened her eyes. She raised her head and started to vomit. Rhonda and her daughter grabbed small napkins and tried to catch the vomit then Rhonda used a paper placemat to successfully catch the vomit. I cleared a path to her table so they could get near her. She stopped vomiting and looked better, her daughter cleaned the vomit from her clothes. I got a bag from inside to clear the soiled paper and napkins. The ambulance arrived and took her into their truck to monitor her. The daughter, her niece actually, said she had recently experienced a sudden drop in blood pressure and this looked like a second occurrence. The ambulance left with the aunt and the niece thanked us repeatedly, kissed us, and went home. A waiter mopped the ground around the table and the table legs and another family immediately sat at the table. This was a powerful experience for us. After our beer, we strolled around the shaded tree-lined Parque das Galeras. While in the park, we heard drums in the distance and found a troupe of young Spaniards performing a choreographed drum song as we were leaving They were very good and I recorded one session that you can find near this blog entry. After a break we visited the famous cathedral. It was crowded with lines of people going from place to place and I was happy to get out. We had seen it four years ago. Our last visit of the day was to the Parque de Belvis. This park was not well maintained but it was bordered by a lovely old building that is currently an art college (I think). We have seen so many wonderful centuries old stone buildings in Europe. We stopped at a cafe at the park exit for a sangria and to watch more perigrinos finish their Camino. Today's pictures are from the Benedictine monastery, the Parque das Galeras, and of the building beside the Parque de Belvis. This was an awesome day rivalling the days we walked on the Atlantic shoreline.

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Drum dance performance at the Parque das Galeras in Santiago

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Day 25 Saturday August 19th, 2017 Santiago , Spain

This was another relaxed morning. Our train from Vigo to Santiago left at 12:30 so we followed the same routine as yesterday morning. We relaxed and read in our hotel room, loaded our packs and walked to the train station, stopping st a cafe for coffee and a croissant on the way. The police were not as visible as the day before.

European trains are fast, frequent, comfortable, efficient, and cheap. We had another nice ride and arrived in Santiago just after 2pm and walked to our hotel about 600 metres from the cathedral.

After a snack, we visited a supermarket for supplies. Tomorrow was Sunday and stores would be closed.

After leaving the groceries in the hotel, we walked into the old section and recognized many places from our visit four years ago when we did the French Camino. A Charlie Chapman style mime was performing and we sat with a large crowd on the cathedral steps to watch. It was an excellent show. A constant stream of perigrinos passed by, some limping, on their way to the church reception centre to get their certificates.

After the show, we continued exploring. There were rows of souvenir shops selling Camino memorabilia.

Eventually, we stopped for supper and went back to our hotel. Tomorrow was a full day in Santiago and we were looking forward to it.