#FERRY ALMERIA

[4x4facil]

OFERTA FERRY - INVIERNO 2023 - 24

barcos para viajar en grupo a Marruecos Tenemos los mejores precios especiales para viajar a Marruecos, para grupos con cualquier tipo de vehículos y desde cualquier puerto desde la península a todos los puertos del norte de África. Almería Desde Almería tienes opciones de barco dirario a los puertos de: Melilla y Nador. Con opciones diurnas o nocturnas en comodos camarotes con baño y…

[bu1410]

Good morning TUMBLR - March 9th - 2024

''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."

Ch. XI.1 - Morocco - 1989 - 1991

The ferry ''Marrakech Express'' in the port of Sete - France

TRIP TO MOROCCO So on Dec 18th 1989 I left Italy, heading towards the French port of Sete, where I was supposed to board the ferry ''MARRAKECH EXPRESS'' to Tangier. My Range Rover was packed to capacity, since in a few months my wife and son would be joining me by plane. And so in addition to my luggage, there were suitcases and boxes with their clothes, shoes and toys. I filled the tank at the nearby petrol station and paid the considerable sum (at the time) of 94,000 lire! In any case, the journey was smooth and problem-free till Sete: Autostrada dei Fiori, Menton, Nice, Aix en Provence, Arles, Montpellier and than Sete, an important port in Languedoc region. I arrived there on a gray and foggy afternoon, around 3.00 pm – no sign of the Marrakech Express ferry at the port. Near the dock, a local fisherman was repairing a net.  ''Sorry Sir…is it here where the ferry to Tangier leaves from?''  ''The Marrekesh Express? ''  Yes…….  Ahh well yes…but it's already set sail…'  How come did it already set sail? It's only 3. 10 pm..?  Yes but… the Captain said they'll find heavy seas on the route….  So???  So he decided to leave early…… '' WTF....….  And .....sorry… may I ask you when does the next ferry leave?  Ahh….well...........in seven days, next Tuesday……

Suddenly the kilometers I would have had to travel by car went from 1,100 to 3,600!! You can imagine my state of mind, to tell the truth I was more angry than worried: after all it was a matter of retracing roads that I had traveled several times in previous years, and with cars that performed much less well than the Range Rover I had now. After a few minutes of confusion, I was already on the highway to get back to the Autoroute du Sud. The journey to South - alone and on a ''winter'' highway was unparalleledly boring - I crossed the border at La Jonquera, and than via Girona, Barcelona, Valencia, Almeria, Malaga and then finally Algeciras. Again I chose the ferry to Ceuta, since it was the first to leave. Quiet crossing, even I had to stay indoors, given the cold wind blowing over the Strait of Gibraltar. The disembarkation operations were faster than usual, because in winter few people are crossing the Strait. It was just after 2.00 in the afternoon, and the day was grey. I soon reached the Moroccan border post and entered the border police offices, where I immediately noticed the presence of couple of Italians (which was quite unusual for that time of the year). Two rather elderly men, who were animatedly discussing each other in MY DIALECT!!! Yes, with that particular inflection, which replaces the ''s'' with ''z'' and the ''a'' with ''ooo''. I stayed for a few seconds listening to them, and than I realized that I had forgotten my registration document in the car, necessary for transit procedures. I then suddenly said, without giving the two Italians time to reply:  ''Could you please keep my luggage a moment? I'll be right back! (Talking in common dialect) The two looked at me in shock!! But I had already left the office, leaving them speechless. Upon returning, after a few moments, the two guyscontinued to look at me as if I were an alien.  ''Good afternoon… I understand that you're coming from my area'' I said  One of them, suddenly cautious: ''why you said so …from where are you''????  ''Well……Just few km North of Milan.....''  ''We...we are from Monza !! You know where's located the famous racing circuit!!???  Well – I replied after the introductions – (One's name was Perego and the other Fumagalli) May I ask you what are you doing at Spain-Marocco border on Dec 20th?

(All this conversation in pure North Milan's dialect).

 Ahhh… Perego said - ……we're traveling with two campers you know– when it starts to get too cold in Munza, we are used to pack and go heading South – so in addition to avoid the cold season, we save lot of money house's heating''. At this point, once the customs operations were completed, we went out into the border parking and Perego invited me 'to have a cup of coffee' in his camper.  Hey…Italian expresso ehh…!!! I willingly accepted, and therefore got to know the respective ladies - who, too, showed amazement in meeting an Italian (even from their very same area) 2,000 km away from Italy and in that particular period of the year. We had a chat inside their beautiful camper, sipping good Italian coffee and than Perego asked:

 ''And you, where are you going''?  ''I'm on the way to Agadir'' - I said  ''Than we'll see you there because we'll be still around for at least 3 months ehh…''  Okay guys, I'll be for at least 2 years, therefore I'll see you again next year… if you'll come back''. That's caused an embarrassing glance between Perego and Fumagall, which their faces were expressing all the disappointment of not to be ''the ones who hang around the most.....'' So we shaked our hands, promising to see each other again in a couple of months at the campsite South of Agadir.

I than took the state road, heading South, passing through Tetouan, the Rif region where the road is flanked by extensive cultivations of kif, the Moroccan's renowned''smoke''. Once past Rabat and Casablanca, instead of turning towards Marrakech, I decided to continue along the coastal road. I than saw El Jadida (the ''New'' in the local language) and than Oualidia, the city that has made oyster cultivation its main livelihood. And then down to the splendid Essaouira, a city founded by the Carthaginians in the 2nd century BC, and which regained strength when the Portuguese settled there in the 15th century, renaming it Mogador. In the 17th century the Arch. Frenchman Theodore Cornut, on behalf of Sultan Muhammad III, redesigned the entire layout of the city - wide tree-lined avenues were created, hence the new name of Essaouira (the well-designed). On the bastions of the walls surrounding the city, called '' Skala'', overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Orson Welles set his famous film ''Othello''. The coast between Essaouira and Agadir is truly wild: sometimes it overhangs directly into the Atlantic, other times the road climbs the mountain, passing through the argan forest, an endemic plant that grows only in this region and on the other side of the 'Ocean, in Brazil. Particularly spectacular is the stretch of coast of Tamri, which runs alongside the 'Parque National de Tamri' - This national park is a paradise for birdwatchers and also offers breathtaking views of the ocean. The park is home to very rare bird species believed to survive only in Morocco, including the Northern bald ibis. Finally towards late afternoon I came in sight of the bay of Agadir: the road makes a final turn behind the mountain, and suddenly the white of Agadir makes its appearance. I stopped on the side of the road, because after over 3,000 kilometers I wanted to enjoy this moment in peace. Great impression, of course - and satisfaction, in the sense that I had reached the destination alone and without problems. And while I was there fully enjoying of having reached my destination, two cyclist racers appeared! They also stopped in the lay-by area where I had parked the Range Rover, also admiring the view of Agadir. That's how I had the opportunity to read the writing on their shirts, and to my amazement I read ''ASD Brugherio Sportiva''!!!! I mean… after having run all those roads, at a sidereal distance from home, who do I meet? Two Moroccan cyclists, that, after a chat, I discover they were living in Brugherio, at the walking distance from my home in Italy! They were coming from Casablanca and in two days they had covered the 460 kilometers that separate Casablanca from Agadir, arriving at that lay-by area almost at the same time as I had arrived from Italy! Life is really made up of crazy coincidences....or not? I don't know….

AGADIR Agadir was founded by Portuguese sailors in 1505 with the name of Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué. In 1541 it became a territory of Morocco and in 1911 at the height of Franco-German tension Germany sent the warship Panther in front of the city. The incident (known as the Agadir Crisis) threatened to spark war between the two countries and caused France to declare Morocco its protectorate in 1912. A serious earthquake devastated the city at 11.40pm on February 29, 1960. The tremor lasted 15 seconds, with a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale - with its epicenter right under the city, hence the many deaths, despite the relatively low magnitude. In the neighborhoods of Founty, Yachech and the Kasbah, all buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged, and 95% of the population of these areas remained buried under the rubble. In the Talborjt district, 90% of the buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, while the new town and the waterfront were relatively spared. In the end, around 15,000 dead were counted, that is, around a third of the population, and around 25,000 wounded. The kasbah was completely abandoned, and the city was built on the plain, facing the sea. King Mohammed V, visiting the city immediately after the earthquake, spoke of ''Divine punishment'' following the sinful conduct of the inhabitants of Agadir.

My Company mission team on the construction site for the new airport was made up of:  Eng. Alfonzo, Head of Mission - He was a very particular character. Argentinian by birth, son of an Italian immigrant, his mother of Indian ethnicity, native of the province of Santa Rosa.  Alfio Curreli – Supervisor of aeronautical aspects - Sardinian from Quartu Sant'Elena, in possession of a pilot's license for tourist aircraft.  Myself – looking after the civil works of the project  Antonio Argento – taking care of the electro-instrumental of project's aspect. Sicilian from Palermo, boasted a relationship with the famous director. Then there were external collaborators, among which one stood out: Architect Bozon, a Frenchman who had lived in Morocco since long time, so much so that he was now mistaken for Moroccan. The new airport was under construction about 20 km from South of Agadir - Main Contractor was the famous French company Bouygues, which had snatched the contract from SAMPROGETTI thanks to the support of the French Government - which had guaranteed a twenty-year loan of 300 million dollars to Morocco, at the preferential rate of 3%. In any case, the Moroccan Ministry of Transport had insisted that SAMPROGETTI remain as ''Ingegneur Conseil'' (Works Management Supervision) as the original Italian design was still in place. The airport area was located in an argan trees forest, which required the uprooting and subsequent replanting of approximately 6,000 trees before proceeding with earth movement.

PROJECT HALT About 8 months after the start of work - and with the structures of the airport and control tower already erected, a ''Royal Order'' suddenly arrived to stop all construction activities. King Hassan II's architect, a Frenchman named Penseau, had secretly flown over the construction site a few days earlier. Once back in Rabat, Arch. Penseau had asked for an audience with His Majesty the King. During the meeting Penseau had reported to King Hassan II his concern that the new Agadir airport ''did not present any 'Marocain' cache''. Practically Penseau believed that the tourists, once off the plane, should immediately realize that they arrived in Morocco on the first sight of the airport. Contrary, the Italian design envisaged an airport that could easily be in any Western city. Arch. Penseau wasn't wrong, but infact this was actually his last desperate attempt to get back into one of the greatest project being carried out in the country during those years. It is worth remembering that the Architect Penseau was the designer and director of works of the Great Hassan II Mosque of Casablanca, a gigantic work that employed more than 8,000 Moroccan artists and artisans then. This gives the measure of how egocentric Penseau was, not content with already being at the center of a megaproject, but also wanting to have his hand in the new Agadir airport. So at the beginning of March the construction site was stopped, awaiting decisions from His Majesty the the King. The decision arrived after about 3 months, and it was a total acceptance of Pinseau's suggestions. The terminal completely changed its appearance, taking on the famous ''Marocain cache'' invoked by the architect. Furthermore, a ''Pavilion Royal'' was added (a building reserved for the Royal Family and its guests upon departure/arrival). As a partial excuse, it must be said that the Sovereign of Morocco, during the years of his reign, had suffered two serious attacks, including one while he was on board his personal DC9, while returning from France. Therefore the security measures against him were particularly stringent.

''Al Massira International Airport'' - Agadir, Morocco

''Le Pavillon Royal''

LIFE IN AGADIR After couples of months I was still sleeping at the Anezi hotel, waiting to find suitable house. From financial point of view, the mission suffered a problem on money's transfer from Italy to Morocco to pay for all the current services. Speaking of payments, the Anezi hotel Manager appeared particularly nervous (he was a Moroccan of the Jewish religion and in theory the hotel policy required the invoices to be paid every 15 days). Director did not fail to show all his uneasiness since we were not paying any hotel's invoice after months. . A morning Eng. Alfonzo and I were going down the imponent hotel staircase, which led directly into the large entrance hall. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed the hotel manager leaving the reception desk and rushing towards us. I whispered to Alfonzo ''The Director… watch out for the Director…'' He reached us at the staircase landing, but as he was about to start speaking Alfonzo with the most classic coup de teatre hit him with:  DIRECTOR!! This is already the second time this has happened!!!  What happened Mr. Alfonzo??? - said the Director with a worried face.  Alfonzo: ''Yesterday afternoon I returned from work, and in my room there was no trace of the fresh fruit basket hat you have to have deliver daily!!! THIS IS INADMISSIBLE, DEAR DIRECTOR! MAKE SURE THAT THIS UNFORTUNATE EVENT IS NOT REPEATED IN THE FUTURE! AHHH.......HAPPY JOURNEY! And we left the place without looking back, but sure that the Director was looking at us transfixed at the large entrance door of the hotel, repeating his ''Oui Messieurs …oui…sans douts…excuse' moi Messieurs…bonne journee Messieurs' '

Hotel Anezi - Agadir, Morocco.

MADAME RACHIDA. In the meantime, the fact ee were looking for houses to rent had spread around the city, and every evening alleged ''Real Estate Agents'' were waiting for us at the gate, upon our return to the hotel. An initial selection was made, excluding the proposals that weren't right for us, and than we set off to check the conditions of the proposed houses. Very often it happened that the same house was offered several times, by different brokers, on different days. This ordeal lasted about 3 months, during which we visited half of Charaf, the residential neighborhood where almost all the available terraced houses were concentrated. In the end, I decided to accept Mme Rachida's rental proposal. She was the widow of a Royal Armed Forces officer who had crashed in his helicopter a few years earlier. Upon the disgrace, the FAR (Force Armee Royal) had given M.me Rachida excellent compensation: in addition to the pension, she had been gifted the terraced house that I would rent, a car with a driver always available, and the possibility of stocking up at the Army store free of charge. I Ivisited the house on a late Saturday afternoon. At the moment it was still occupied by a Saudi tourist, who would be leaving it in a few days, after a 3-month stay. The house was a made up by ground floor and first floor, in good condition, with a small garden and a little courtyard at the back. I accepted even though the rental was higher, as much as 5,000 Dihrams. The final negotiation was directly with Mme Rachida, to woum I asked to provide a washing machine for the house.  Mme. Rachida: ''And why do you want the washing machine? Would you like to say that you want to take away from a good ''good'' Moroccan the possibility of a job and a salary, with which she will probably also help the family to survive?  Me: ''Of course not, Mme. Rachida! Maybe you have someone you know to suggest to us?  Of course I have her ! said Mme Rachida That's how ''la bonne'' (as it is called in French) Saadia joined us - and it was a real stroke of luck: the girl, despite having practically never left the house in her 27 years of life, turned out to be very good at all the household chores, in preparing meals, and subsequently in taking care of my son, which was increasingly revealing itself to be a real naughty boy.

Charaf - Agadir's neighborhood.

[thesimoni-blog1]

Blog 7 – Travels in Andalusia Part 2

After leaving the beautiful Cabo de Gata we travelled the short distance to the city of Almeria, where we stayed in a car park overlooking the ferry terminal in the heart of the city. On the afternoon of our arrival, we walked around the centre of the city, which contained an impressive and imposing looking Alcazaba and a beautiful looking seafront. In the evening we strolled over to see the fishermen, who were fishing on the sea walls and were surprised, when we looked down into the sea, to see a huge number of large fish swimming by the sea wall.

We stopped in Almeria for the one night only, getting up early to visit a motorhome repair shop, to have a problem with the garage door addressed. We then decided to move on to stay on an Aire in the marina in Almerimar.

Almeria

We weren’t that impressed with Almerimar a town built around a marina, which was in an area where most of the surrounding countryside, between the mountains and the sea, are covered in canvas (polytunnel agriculture on an industrial scale). Whilst accepting that this is essential for food production and the Spanish economy, the landscape between Motril and Almeria is really ugly as a consequence of this practice. The Aire on the water’s edge was full of very impressive and expensive looking motorhomes and the marina was also pretty full of expensive looking yachts and cruisers. The water in the marina was again teeming with fish. We spent one night on the Aire and moved the following day to wild camp at Guardas Vejas, close to a coastal fort. The beach along the coast between Almerimar and Guardas Vejas wasn’t particularly great, but the area looked as if it were in the process of significant development.

The next morning, we moved on to a highly recommended campsite outside the town of Adra. The site itself was quite nice and seemed to have a number of German and Austrian folk who appeared to live on the site full time. The beach was a short walk from the campsite and I enjoyed a swim in the sea whilst we were there.

Toa, Toa, Toa parked up in the campsite in Adra

The following day we drove onto Almunecar, a traditional Spanish seaside town with a nice seafront and lovely beaches a reasonable walk from the town centre. We spent two nights parked up on the seafront beside the Aqua Park which was closed for the season. The beaches and the seafront were very nice and the town contained an old central core which had been extensively built around from the 1960’s onwards. It was in Almunecar that we started to hear English being spoken on a more frequent basis. On the Saturday we had a pleasant walk around the coast to the beautiful Playa Del Caleton. After the first night we realised that we were being eaten alive by mosquito’s, being parked beside an Aqua Park out of season probably wasn’t the best of ideas, so we invested in local solutions, covering ourselves in Aqua de Colonia and placing lemons stuffed with cloves throughout Toa, Toa, Toa to ward off the little beggars. We enjoyed our two day stay in Almunecar, running, cycling and walking.

Almunecar

After discovering that the local solutions to the problem of mosquito’s probably weren’t as effective as spraying Toa, Toa, Toa with DDT, we moved a few miles to the lovely little town of La Herradura, where we spent three nights on a privately run Aire, a stones-throw away from the seafront. La Herradura is built around a stunning bay and has a beautiful beach. Whilst in La Herradura we ran, swam, walked and relaxed. We followed a trail on Wikiloc which took us up and out of the town into the hills where we had spectacular views of the coast, passing the remains of a Roman bridge and following a very narrow fisherman’s path along clifftops. Jo doesn’t have a head for heights so I was impressed by her willingness to follow the path to the end, despite the significant drop onto the rocks below if you slipped (I think she’d say she didn’t have much choice to follow, as turning around would be equally fraught with danger). The headlands to the east and west of La Herradura contained lots of rather large houses hidden behind high walls – a refuge for the rich and famous and we were told after we’d stayed there that the Beckhams had a property there.

La Herradura and around

From La Herradura we moved onto the town of Nerja, which we visited to meet up with an old friend Sue, who lives close by. Nerja would appear to be fairly motorhome unfriendly, with literally no places where you can wild camp in a 7-metre motorhome, so we spent one night on a lovely campsite just to the west of the town. The next morning, we moved Toa, Toa, Toa less than a mile to a layby beside Playa de Vilches which was protected from the N-340 by a massive rock outcrop. When we were parked up here all you could hear was the waves crashing onto the beautiful beach below us – it was a peaceful spot to spend three days. Whilst stopped at Playa de Vilches, which I would suggest is the nicest beach along that stretch of coastline which had a couple of lovely chiringuito’s, we walked west along the coast to Torrox Costa which we thought was pretty awful.

Nerja is a town of 21,000 souls but we didn’t like it that much – we found it to be quite Anglicised and predominantly modern, despite it having a long and rich history. Whilst Nerja’s been settled since pre-historic times, as evidenced by the cave paintings in the Caves of Nerja, it doesn’t have a distinctive old town like many of the places we’d visited, this is partially explained by the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 which destroyed much of the old town and is estimated to have caused the loss of life of between 40 to 50,000 people across Portugal, Spain and Morocco. However, Nerja does have one feature well worth visiting, the Balcon de Europa which is a viewpoint across the sea which on a beautiful day is a sight to behold.

The view from the Balcon de Europa and sunset at Playa de Vilches

From Nerja, following Sue’s advice we stopped for one night in Torre del Mar, which is another Spanish seaside town, which would appear to be booming and growing with significant development at the western end of the town. For those of you wondering about where we fill up with water and get rid of waste water and the contents of our toilet cassettes whilst wild camping, in Spain a small proportion of petrol stations have motorhome service areas where you can do the business. One of the best we’ve experienced to date was the Lisboa Petrol Station in Torre del Mar which cost only 1 Euro to use their services. After doing the business we parked up at the western edge of the town, had a pleasant walk along the seafront and a lovely lunch in a recommended tapas bar – the food really was outstanding. The next morning, we drove onto the town of La Cala de Moral, just to the east of Malaga, where we spent 1 night on a privately run Aire. On arrival it was overcast so we walked for a few miles along the seafront towards Rincon de la Vitoria, a route we followed the next day when we ran, following the route of an old railway line. La Cala de Moral is very modern and would appear to be a suburb of Malaga with little character but a nice beachfront. It was while we were parked up on the Aire in La Cala de Moral that Wales played their first match in the World Cup, against the USA. Needless to say, halfway during the match we exceeded our data allowance and we lost WI-FI and therefore coverage of the game.

From La Cala de Moral we moved 40 odd kilometres south to La Cala de Mijas to meet with our dear friend TC and daughter Ede, who were visiting TC’s in-laws, Les and Norma, who live in La Cala de Mijas. We stopped in La Cala de Mijas on a free Aire, which was on a very large car park which also doubled as the market place two days a week. The Aire had very basic services, but was the busiest we’d stayed on, somewhere in the region of 100 vehicles of all shapes, sizes and nationalities. La Cala de Mijas was the most Anglicised place we’d stayed in during our time in Spain, with English being spoken as much as Spanish, plenty of English pubs etc and it didn’t have much of an old town and old buildings of any form, with the exception of the Torreon beside the beach. It had changed considerably since we’d last visited about 26 years previously (that’s code for been developed massively), when we’d stayed in the flat with TC and Daryl and the kids. Whilst in La Cala de Mijas Jo and I ran and walked a little, spent a considerable amount of time with TC and Ede (eating, drinking and laughing) which was lovely, swam in the sea, met up with Norma and Les and visited them in their home. It was lovely to see some familiar faces close up – rather than on an electronic device. Whilst in La Cala de Mijas we watched Wales woeful defeat to Iran in the World Cup in Les and Norma’s flat and enjoyed our first Paella of the trip, which was lovely. In total we stayed for 6 days in La Cala, before we moved onto Tarifa and the start of the Costa de Luz. We particularly enjoyed the drive to Tarifa, the rugged coastal scenery, the views over to Gibraltar and to Morocco.

La Cala de Mijas with TC, Ede, Les and Norma

We arrived in Tarifa on a Monday afternoon and decided that we’d stay on the council run Aire for the first night, which cost 8 Euros. The next day we moved onto a car park at the western edge of town, beside the football stadium overlooking the beach, where we stayed for the next four nights. Tarifa, which whilst being the most southerly town in mainland Europe and the place where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean is not the largest place and our initial walk to find our bearings revealed a lovely old town, something that our most recent stops hadn’t contained. On that day looking along the Atlantic shoreline there were somewhere in the region of 200 kite surfers playing in the waves, quite a sight. Additionally, Tarifa is so close to Morocco that you can see buildings on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar and watch the procession of oil tankers and vast (and very ugly) container ships take their goods to northern Europe and presumably to the north-east coast of the USA.

We loved Tarifa, it had a very laid-back feel about it, evidenced by the huge number of kite surfing shops, kite surfing schools, the vast number of people living in vans parked at every conceivable location and some lovely chiringuito’s. Whilst there we walked a lot, did some running, lazed on the beach and relaxed. We did try to eat out at a restaurant recommended by a friend (thanks Paul) but despite the website suggesting the restaurant was open, we found it closed on arrival, meaning we ate out that night in a beach side chiringuito.

The lovely Tarifa

On the Saturday morning, we left Tarifa behind to travel to Jerez de la Frontera.

[juanmerkader]

Cuando añoras el puerto, es hora de dejar el viaje por Juan Mercader Por Flickr: Puerto de Almería

[jandjmoor]

Othello day 14 - Fes to Almeria

Today was always going to be a long travelling day, getting from Morocco to Spain, we have just changed from a ferry to a plane, which we later heard was a blessing indeed - a long and arduous crossing.

So this morning was spent with the bikes being packed up ready to fly and filling out the appropriate paper work to be allowed back into Spain. We left Fes a bit after 11am and drove to Oujda. We were on a motorway for most of the way and frankly for the first half we could have been anywhere with the green rolling fields. In fact your last guess would have been Morocco, particularly as it pretty much rained the whole way.

It did become much drier in the second half of the 4 hour car trip. It was also pretty cold when we did get out of the van for a lunch and toilet stop. At Oujda you are quite close to the Algerian border again.

At Oujda airport we said goodbye to our lovely drivers Akmed and Abdu (father and son). Our flight was Air Arabia and was certainly interesting. Clearly not many Australians pass through this airport as there was a delay while they worked out what if any were the visa requirements for Australians entering Europe. We thought that was an interesting thing for them to be concerned with as we were leaving Morocco, maybe they were scared we’d be sent back 😉

It was only about an hours flight and we passed the time watching old cartoons on the screen - think road runner, Silvestre and Tweetie Pie. As we got off in Murcia we were all alarmed by the long queue for the check of our pre-entry paperwork, but the queue moved very quickly and before we knew it were in a mini bus for the 2:15 drive to Almeria.

Unfortunately arriving after midnight nearly everything was closed, which was somewhat of a shock being Spain. Tim and John found a bar for a drink and a bocadillo while Jose and I went for a walk with Tony and Theresa and found a convenience store selling warm pizza slices, alcohol, etc. Back in our room we ate our little picnic dinner and each had a little bottle of red wine, like you get on a plane. We finally collapsed into bed around 2am - welcome to Spain 🇪🇸

[swcosgrove]

The Midnight Ferry from Almeria to Melilla

The Midnight Ferry from Almeria to Melilla

Nomads – on the road in North Africa

[4x4facil]

BARCO PARA GRUPOS A MARRUECOS

barcos para viajar en grupo a Marruecos Tenemos los mejores precios especiales para viajar a Marruecos, para grupos con cualquier tipo de vehículos y desde cualquier puerto desde la península a todos los puertos del norte de África.  Almería Desde Almería tienes opciones de barco dirario a los puertos de: Melilla y Nador. Con opciones diurnas o nocturnas en comodos camarotes con baño y…

[karenparnell-blog]

Open Water Swimming Events in Spain are Amazing and Affordable plus Ideal preparation for you next Triathlon.

Open Water Swimming Events in Spain – Ideal swimming preparation for your next Triathlon

Living in Spain I’ve realised this is an open water swimmer’s paradise. I’ve been living here three years now and have been taking part in some amazing swimming events here and want to share them with you. They are extremely well organised, are in the sea or lakes and amazing value for money. Flying over is very cheap and when you are here it’s cheap to eat out and stay in authentic Spanish B&B’s and villas. So maybe worth considering a long weekend to Spain next time you want your next swimming challenge? Needless to say, the water and air temperature are higher than the UK and other parts of Northern Europe so you can even top up your tan or combine with a family get away.

I add in a few swim events and races in to my athlete’s race preparation to help them hone their race starts and open water swimming technique and sighting skills. It also enables them to go flat out and not worry about saving themselves for the bike and run and if they could actually push harder come A race day.

Here are a few of the events I have taken part in or supported in the past three years and hope you will get a chance to enjoy them.

TRAVESÍA INVERNAL A NADO MARBELLA, February

This is the “Winter Journey” swim in Marbella and takes place in February. You can choose to swim with or without wetsuit and it is organised by Marbella City Council and local swimming clubs. The start of the race will take place at the Playa de la Venus, located in Avenida Del Mar, Marbella. From there the swimmers will travel the distance of 1,500 meters to the Playa de la Fontanilla. The course is shown below.

Swim Course of the Winter Journey Swim in Marbella

The beauty of this swim is that you are right in the heart of Marbella so can make a long weekend of your trip to swim in this event. The nearest airport is Malaga and cheap to fly to from the UK. Being in February the accommodation is also great value and you can get a fantastic room near to all the amazing restaurants, bars and other well know Marbella attractions. This means you can bring the whole family even if they don’t take part in the Winter swim.

Registration is at from 9am on the Paseo Marítimo de Marbella and the swim start is a 12 and finishes at around 1pm. It’s limited to 300 swimmers so is intimate and has chip timing.

As with all races in Spain they will finish the race with free drinks, fruit and food at the jetty of La Fontanilla Beach. It’s free to enter at the www.dorsalchip.es website.

OCEANMAN BENIDORM, April

Oceanman events take place in many locations around the globe and the one in Spain takes place in Benidorm on the Costa Blanca. Oceanman Benidorm is on Sunday 28th April in 2019 and runs from 8am to 2pm.

Oceanman is a bit like Iroman triathlon events as each swimming race has places available to the fastest swimmers in their age group and a chance to swim at the Oceanman world championships.

Registration takes place from 3rd January to 25th of April. The swim distances are 10km, 5km and 1.5km. The prices go up over time and range from €25 to €90 depending on the distance you select. The sprint (1.5km) and the full (10km) start and finish at Malpas Beach whereas the half (5km) starts at Island Benidorm and finishes at Malpas Beach. You can wear a wetsuit (mandatory if the water temperature is below 18ºC) and you must swim with a buoy. Each distance is limited to just 300 swimmers. There are feeding points on the full and half distance and you can enjoy bananas, water, isotonic drinks and gels. It’s chip timed and you get a medal when you have finished.

The first 10 male classified and first 10 female classified in each age category for both the Oceanman & half Oceanman from each of the competitions held before the final Oceanman event will be offered a place for the World Championship.

The amazing beach at Benidorm – the setting for the Oceanman swimming event

 VUELTA A NADO A TABARCA, April

On Sunday, 21st April is a fantastic swimming event which takes place around Tabarca Island. Swimmers enjoy its incredible seabed in the best possible way, swimming among friends to enjoy this natural environment whilst being 100% respectful of it.

This is a non-competitive swimming event, and everyone swims within 50m of the coast, so it is very safe and also has full kayak support. The organisers will bring your change of clothes to the finish area and provide water, isotonic drinks and fruit throughout.

After the event, the swimmers can explore this unusual authentic Spanish island with their families and discover its charm and enjoy the cuisine by the sea.

All swimmers will get a commemorative swimming hat and t-shirt for entering the event

In all the distances there will be regrouping at various points of the course so no one will get separated during the swim, so it is a very fun and safe event.

4.7 km Route

This route is the most popular, for mid-level swimmers who are already comfortable in the sea.

The start will be from the cove that is close to the jetty of the port, Port de la Mina, then head east until you reach the area of ​​the cemetery and Punta Falcón, on the south side of the island and keeping the island shore on the right, then on to ​​the quarry, where you will turn to the north face of the island and on to the finish area, a small cove in the old port, just before entering the port area.

3.2 km Route

This route is ideal for beginners in open waters and people who are just starting out.

For both routes, both the starting point and the layout is the same apart from where the 3.2km route ends which is at the beach, just across the Island from the start.

Getting to Tabarca Island

This is an interesting event as you will need to get a ferry to this quant island. The ferry leaves from ​​Tabarqueras, in Santa Pola at 8:30am.

You can register for the event at this website www.sportrun.es

The price of the event € 29, which includes insurance, swimmer's bag and supplies.

The price of the round-trip ticket on the ferry is € 10. (for swimmers as well as for friends and family).

Registration will open on January 20th and will close on Friday, April 12th or until the limit of 200 swimmers and 50 companions is full.

This is a very special event and a trip out to the unusual Island of Tabarca is something the whole family with enjoy. The nearest airport is Alicante.

The two swimming routes around the Island of Tabarca

CIRCUITO DE TRAVESÍAS A NADO DIPUTACIÓN DE GRANADA June - September

This is a series of 1500m swims in the Embalse’s of Granada (reservoirs) and seas of the Costa Tropical. You can do them singly or as a series to win the overall age group prize.

The series is:

Embalse de Cubillas  - June Embalse de Colomera - July Salobreña Sea Swim - July Embalse de Negratín  - July Embalse de Bermejales - July La Herradura Sea Swim – September

The Circuit of six swims in the sea and reservoirs are distributed in six municipalities of Granada and are organized by the city councils with the collaboration of the Diputación de Granada and the support of the Red Cross of the Sea, Civil Protection or firefighters from Granada. 

Each is very well organised and usually has adult (1500m) and children’s (500m) swims with kayak and boat support. Each participant gets a gift at the end and food and drinks plus there is also music so pack a picnic!

Price is 8€ per event or 30€ for the six-swim series. More details are on the www.travesiasdipgra.com website. The nearest airports are Granada and Malaga.

TRAVESÍA BOMBEROS TORREMOLINOS, July

The Swim to Swim "Costa de Torremolinos" has its origin in the swimming sessions of the local fire fighters and forms part of their training. The swimming sessions used to take part in the Virgen del Carmen pool before it closed so in 2011 Mauricio Salido González, deputy head of the service, decided to transfer the swim sessions to the sea.

These sessions proved more and more popular and took place most days and the distances they covered increased over time. They progressed from rescue and lifeguard sessions to long distance swims for fitness and enjoyment.

This developed in to an annual swim of the entire Torremolinos coastline and a memorial swim dedicated to Manuel Ángel Cosano Tejedera a fireman and great fan of swimming. Money raised goes to the fire service.

Now in it’s 7th year the 7km swim takes place in July at 10am and costs just 18 euro. Each participant receives a commemorative swim hat and t-shirt and gets a chip time. You can swim with or without a wetsuit. The nearest airport is Malaga.

More details can be found here: www.bomberostorremolinos.com

  The Travesia a Nado costa de Torremolinos poster and photos from the 2018 event

TRAVESIA A NADA DE ESTEPONA, July

Lovers of swimming have a date for their diaries in Estepona on 15th July, the Third Virgen del Carmen Coronada Open Water Swim, a charity race that is held with the aim of promoting the sport of swimming. The event will take place on the Rada beach, in front of Plaza ABC in Estepona, in the afternoon. The swim consists of four levels depending on the distance, short race for children (300 metres), long race for children (600 metres), short race for adults (1250 metres) and long race for adults (2500 metres). The event is between 7 and 12 euro to enter. Estepona is further down the coast from Marbella and you can choose to fly in to Gibraltar airport or Malaga for this event.

The swim course in Estepona

Estepona has numerous street cafes and tapas bars still serve traditional Spanish delicacies. In the 'old town' the steep, narrow streets are pedestrianised and decorated with different colour flower pots.  It is a delight for photographers.  You will find bars and small shops in Estepona, where you'd least expect them, all very inviting and friendly. 

TRAVESIA PULPI-ALMERIA, July

This event has several distances for adults and children over 14 years old (1.5km, 3.8km, 6km, 800m and 300m) and is set in the town of Pulpi. This Almerian town has an exclusive treasure that makes all the people that live there very proud, the Giant Geode of Pulpí (volcanic rock). It is a beautiful rock formation covered in transparent gypsum crystals and is considered the best preserved in the world. No surprise, then, that is has been declared an official Natural Place of Interest. It was discovered on the inside of an abandoned mine in El Pilar de Jaravia, one of the many populated areas of Pulpí and is millions of years old.

The Isla Negra (black island) is another natural place of interest in the town, one of the many small volcanic islands that are found in the area, located in the coastal and touristic town of San Juan de los Terreros. It is also known as Palomas Island (Isla de las Palomas).

The San Juan de los Terreros Island Crossing swim, in Pulpí (Almería) is organized by the City Council of Pulpí, celebrates its fourth edition in 2019 and joins the Solidarity Brazadas Circuit for the benefit of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation raising money to build a school-workshop for women with disabilities and disadvantaged castes of rural India. 

It is one of the most spectacular crossings of Andalusia around the two small islets of volcanic rock that form the Isla de Terreros-Isla Negra Natural. The 1500 and 3,800 metre distances are the scoring distances of the Solidary Brazadas Circuit.

The nearest airport is Alicante and nearest large city is Almeria.

The event costs just 15 euro for adults and 3 euro for the children’s distances.

There are several swims in this series around Spain and more details can be found here:

www.brazadassolidarias.com

Poster for the Travesia Pulpi-America in July

The Big One: Gibraltar to Morocco, The Straits of Gibraltar

This is one of the “the Oceans Seven” swims, the Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. It includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokai Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Straits of Gibraltar.

The first records date to 1927, when the English swimmers Mercedes Gleitze and Miss Hudson, tried the crossing from Tangier to Gibraltar. Obviously, they didn’t achieve their goal, the route they selected was not the most appropriate. A year later, Mercedes Gleitze tried again from Tarifa (Spain), reaching the coast of Morocco in 12 hours 50 minutes.

Thus, in the beginning the crossings were made by a few daring swimmers, helped by local fishermen and the navy. In the 1980s, a group of locals lead by our honorary president Rafael Gutiérrez Mesa, began to collaborate with the Red Cross to accompany swimmers, who like Mercedes and Miss Hudson, tried to cross the Strait of Gibraltar

Swimmers interest in crossing the Straits was increasing, and the group of locals formed the9 the ACNEG (Strait of Gibraltar Swimming Association) in 1999.  Starting with 2 or 3 crossings a year compared to the hundreds of applications that it currently receives.

ACNEG recognized in 2017 by the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF).

THE CROSSING

The shortest distance to cross the Straits of Gibraltar is from Punta de Oliveros (Spain) to Punta Cires (Morocco) is 7.8 miles (14.4 kilometres) but this is not the most suitable crossing swimmers due to currents.

Most of the attempts are made from the Island of Tarifa to the area of Punta Cires, having to swim between 8 to 12 nautical miles (15 to 22 km) depending on the strong currents that prevail in the Straits.

The biggest factor are the currents, which can reach more than 3 knots (5.5 kmph), so the guides always try to ensure that this coincides with the final part of the crossing so you can make it across to the Moroccan coast.

To register to swim the crossing you will need an impressive sports and swimming CV, medical certificate, your passport and complete the registration form. The crossings take place between April and November and the Strait of Gibraltar Swimming Association charge € 1500 for a solo swim and an additional €600 for every extra swimmer.

There is a record book for crossings with and without wetsuit. The successful crossings are still in the hundreds so definitely one for the bucket list!

More details here: www.acneg.com/en

Swimming Events and Camps in Spain

There are many more events around Spain that can be enjoyed all year and I am happy to find the right event for you, just get in touch. Throughout the year we also provide open water swimming camps in lakes and sea on the Costa del Sol. These are fully coached where we teach you new open water skills in the swimming pool and then transfer to the various open water venues where you can try out your new skills and experience the crystal-clear waters. We always provide kayak and stand up paddle board support along with refreshments and authentic Spanish accommodation options from B&B’s to Villas. These camps can be at the same time as a swimming event so you can learn new skills and transfer them straight in to an event or at a time convenient to you. We pride ourselves on being flexible, professional and affordable.

Karen Parnell is a British Triathlon Federation Level 3 coach and tutor and an ASA open water swimming coach. She lives in Southern Spain and knows the open water swimming hidden gems. www.chilitri.com

Swimmers enjoying a swim camp with Chili Tri   

[taylorjean-travel-blog]

FROM WHERE IT ALL STARTED:

So, I don’t really know where to start to be honest. I’ve never really been good at writing, but maybe it will feel easier writing about my story and past experiences. Not sure why I thought about starting this blog- But I thought it would be a good way for people to read what I’ve been up to for the past few years with my travels/working as a yachtie (which will be in another post later on). I get a lot of questions and comments about how good my life looks and why/how I travel so much. I just want people to know that you all see only the good things that I post, lets be honest that’s what social media is, right? The best highlight reel of everyone’s lives. I never really post my struggles or the realness of working/living on a Super yacht.

My passion for traveling first started when I was about 19. Living on the Gold Coast in a job I wasn’t completely enjoying at the time. Living with my Long-term boyfriend Jed. One of my best friends Lana was travelling at the time. I never really had the desire to travel at all really- until I saw her photos and what she was getting up to- it looked incredible and so much fun. I started to Google places and checking out maps. Talking about it with Jed started getting me really excited. So we planned something big and definitely a worthwhile trip I’ll never forget. 10 weeks total in Europe, 6 weeks exploring in a van and the other 4 getting around via trains/buses and flying.

I think at the time the most daunting thing about deciding to travel for a long period of time was resigning from the security of my job and leaving my comfort zone. We moved everything back home to our family homes and that was it, we were ready to go. Not thinking about what would happen when we got back with jobs etc. We had saved and had been planning the trip for a few months. Half was booked which is a great way to do it. Luckily Jed had traveled to Europe more times than he can probably count, thanks to his map knowledge- we planned a good little route to see some places off the beaten track. I would definitely suggest traveling in a hire van or buying one. It’s a great way to discover little towns that would be harder to get too or you didn’t even know of. Back then living in a van was for sure something I found hard. This is so gross to mention to you guys BUT I didn’t shower for about 6 days at a time. Sometimes the only way we showered, brushed our teeth and used a proper toilet was at either the closest petrol station on the highway that actually provide showers for a small cost of 50cents each. The local beach that most of the time had the coldest water (it was the off season at this time)- Whip out the body wash and just get it done. Other times I would get frustrated and request for Jed to find a campsite close by to properly shower with hot water. I remember saying “If you don’t find a campsite and get us there by tonight, I’m going to kill you!” more than once. Not to mention some of the places we pulled up to sleep. I felt so scared and unsafe in countries I didn’t speak their language whilst sleeping in the dead end of a suburbia street or sleeping just off the highway with deer’s and creepy trees like something of a horror movie. Cold misty nights off a highway in Croatia- that’s the one I remember the most, I would wake Jed up when I had to pee because I didn’t want to go outside alone in the middle of the night. I also remember the first couple of nights in the van so well 3 degrees with one thin blanket for both of us that the hire company had for us?! The very next day I bought a thick sleeping bag and it was the best 50 Euros I did spend.

I had every piece of clothing I bought with me plus thermals and I was still shivering and huddling into Jed. It was the most freezing I’ve ever felt in my life. I think I slept all of 1 hour that night. Randoms kept walking by and looking in the van wondering what the hell a van from Germany was doing pulled up in their street for the night.

I’m going to post below the spots we stopped and some photos and a little paragraph from each place. The towns written in BOLD are some of my favs.

·      Frankfurt, Germany

This was our first stop. I remember it being so so cold. We caught the train from Frankfurt city to where we picked up our van. Then the adventure really began.

·      Paris, France

Funny story about Paris. I remember driving down the main road with the Eiffel tower in sight; I’m actually surprised we didn’t get lost. We decided to wing it for a park and surprisingly enough we scored one just a street away. Lots of the locals kept staring at us and a few of them suggest for us to not leave the van there too long as the area is known for break ins and pit pocketer’s (especially it being a tourist travel van from Germany).  We were in Paris for all of 4 hours, which I find hilarious. We walked for hours around the main attractions. Ate some croissants and I bet Jed ate a cake or two. I did not fall in love with Paris like others do, each to their own though.

·      Etretat, France!

So, this place is amazing but was so, so cold. Definitely need a car to get to this little gem. Etretat isn’t only just a cute small French fishing village, but has the most beautiful scenery and cliffs right on the seas side.

·      Mont St Michele, France

This place was extremely cool. Massive castle in the middle of at the time an empty sea bed (it usually is surrounded with water when the tide comes in). I remember being so in shock of how crazy and detailed the buildings are, not just here but all over Europe and how old they are! Considering how basic and simple the designs of buildings are these days.

·      La Rochelle, France

There was something about this cute little fishing town; market stalls with fresh olives, nuts, vegetables and fruits. There were many towns I didn’t feel comfortable at or we got completely starred at and I hated that. Thats one thing I have discovered with the Europeans, they have not been taught its rude to stare. Watch out if your like Jed and covered in tats or have really fair blond hair like myself. La Rochelle was very cute though I enjoyed walking around the streets here.

·      St. Malo, France

This town has a lot of history and it actually gets surf! We stopped in here for a night or maybe food behind a mc Donald’s- not to eat just for the Wi-Fi!! I think like every little town along the coast in France has an old town. St.Malo did and it had canons out of the walls of the forte that we checked out; here is a photo of me on one.

·      Biarritz, France

This was one of the warmest days on the start of our trip, I remember how excited I was that I could actually take of my 2 jumpers and eat an ice cream in the sunshine. We definitely enjoyed a scoop or 2 of gelato everyday if not every second day.

·      San Sebastian

What a place! I loved San Seb, it’s so beautiful. Unfortunately we didn’t spend enough time there, I think it was only 3 days. That’s one thing I would change or do differently with a van trip is explore more and spend more time there, also probably would want to see it In summer! In all its glory. We ventured up to both lookouts and were blown away with the view. Another tip along the way is always campsites offering spaces for Vans and offering amenities.

·      Pico’s De Europa National Park mountain range, Spain

This was a random stop and just a route we drove through to get to where we were going, I’m glad we did though. The mountain range was so cool and so scenic! Hung out with some snow, which was hard, to believe was around in Spain.

·      Santander, Spain

·      Porto, Portugal (drive through)

·      Lisbon, Portugal (drive through)

·      Benagil Caves, Portugal

Ok so one tip I would like to let you all in is… if you have googled this place and want to go then you must not pay for a boat trip- such a rip off! If you have a car- please drive there and its literally a 50-100m swim around the corner or hire a kayak. We had parked our van in a bush close by and slept the night and did not even realize how close we were to the caves. Eventually on our hike we came across it and enjoyed the view and cliff sides.

·      Lagos, Portugal

Wow! Lagos is amazing. I really enjoyed it here, We also drove to some point where the lighthouse was, Jed always drove down the roads that I thought were so dangerous and wondered how the hell we would get back up them. I always freaked out and would say “No”. I’m glad he decided to ignore me because we pulled the van up to this amazing spot, pulled out our chairs and watched the sunset.  Most nights we ate vegetables with zucchini pasta. Yes Jed did bring a zucchini peeler from home! Haha.

·      San Jose, Spain (Almeria Coast)

This was one of my all time favorite spots and a place I will never forget. It was like the Arizona desert meets the Mediterranean sea. I really love Spain. The whole drive along this coast was beautiful. I was so excited when we found this place. I’m obsessed with clear blue seas rather than cities! The sun was shining, it was warm although the water was absolutely freezing we still charged in.

·     PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN

I don’t even know where to start with this incredible place. Just recently came back here 3 years later just because of how much I enjoy it here and probably will always come back whenever I’m in Europe. We traveled to Palma VIA a ferry from Valencia. Funny story about the Car ferry ride there. It was an over night ferry and we had learnt about how average the seats are onboard for sleeping. So, we decided to hide in the back of the van underneath all the covers and stay the whole night in the van. We had it all thought out. We had food we could munch on and a perfectly comfy bed to sleep on. Woke up in the morning to people walking to their cars whilst peeping through the curtain. Success. Palma has the most beautiful coves; I cannot even explain the color of the water and the backdrop of the mountains. This is another place I feel at home. We drove up to one of the highest points near Cap De Fermentor and slept the night, I remember being so freaked out. Felt there was ghosts all around me and random goats chilling. The most beautiful sunset from up there though. Was funny now I think back to it. Also you have to try out Beleverde Vegan/vegetarian restaurant in the town Pollenca. Seated outdoors underneath a canopy of green trees and offers such delicious food. This was our treat to ourselves for Jed’s birthday!

Cap De Fermentor, Mallorca

Cala Sant Vincec, Mallorca

Sa Colabra, Mallorca

·      Barcelona, Spain

Another spot we spent only a few hours at exploring the streets and tourist attractions. We got a ferry here from Palma, found a random place to park then walked into town and around the main tourist attractions. I wasn’t too impressed to be honest. I know a lot of people love Barcelona but its not one of my favorites. The buildings and cathedral’s are very impressive though.

·      Cassis, France

Yes! CASSIS! I am absolutely in love this place. Another spot I need to get back to and spend a little more time at. It’s incredible, we went on a boat trip to see the coastline and cliff sides,of course we ate a scoop of delicious gelato. We drove to the top of the mountain overlooking the town, watched the sunset and had some moments to ourselves. We came to know pretty quickly where was suitable to pull up for the night and where wasn't. Most of the time we would wake up really early and continue on leaving no time for rangers to fine us. I remember looking out the front windscreen to Jed sitting on the pull out chair listening to hardcore through his headphones and going absolutely ballistic. Air drumming and air guitar. Gosh it was so funny, by this point I think we were starting to lose our minds a little.

·      Nice, France

A spot I didn’t really care about spending much time at. We literally drove straight through the main beach road.

·      Monaco

Same thing here we drove straight through, also there’s not much in the way of a van campsite. So we just continued on.

·      Cinque Terre, Italy

This place is extremely packed with tourists, BUT well worth the trip to. The small villages built into the sides of the cliffs are breathtaking and very picturesque. The speed of the train was syko and something I found incredibly amusing for some reason. The track along the coastline was unfortunately being tended to so we couldn’t do the walk all the way between each town.

·      Pisa, Italy

Funny random stop. We literally took a pit stop to go to Carrefour. Carrefour became our favorite supermarket to shop at for our groceries. So anyway we stopped and walked to the main attraction, which is obviously the ‘leaning tower of Pisa’. Took the famous tourist photo and left.

·      Rome, Italy

Rome is obviously a very famous old city with a lot of history. We found a campsite a fair way out of town but easily accessible by bus. I remember it was a really average day with the weather, really rainy and overcast. The coliseum was actually amazing. One thing about traveling in the down season is how much less packed with tourists it is. It blows me away how old and the history of the buildings in Europe are.  We then went on a bus tour to the Vatican City and missioned around there. I think there was actually an Easter weekend ceremony happening and there was a public concert on and he was actually in town for this. So that was cool to see him. 

·      Pompeii, Italy

Here we did a day tour. The tour guide looked like the guy that wrote Seinfeld – Larry David. It was so funny that Jed had to get a photo with him. He was cool, I actually learnt a lot about Pompeii. Here’s a brief outline: Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near the Bay of Naples in Italy, is hundreds of thousands of years old and has erupted more than 50 times. Its most famous eruption took place in the year 79 A.D., when the volcano buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. The dust “poured across the land” like a flood, one witness wrote, and shrouded the city in darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.” Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find that–underneath a thick layer of dust and debris–Pompeii was mostly intact. The buildings, artifacts and skeletons left behind in the buried city have taught us a great deal about everyday life in the ancient world.

·      Positano (Almalfi Coast), Italy

The drive here was absolutely mental. Being the weekend of Easter. I think all the Italians had a public holiday so they all had the day off and were thinking the same thing. Eat gelato and visit the almalfi coast for a day trip. These roads are one of the top dangerous roads in Europe to drive. Windy/thin and on the edge of a cliff. For me it was a great view. Poor Jed didn’t see much from having to concentrate on keeping us alive. We agreed on the first car park we saw we would take and walk as far as we had too to get to Positano. So that we did. It was worth it. I hope that in the future I go back and actually stay there, somewhere romantic! I’m sure during my time yachting I will see it from the sea.  

In between here by this point Jed and I did start to lose our minds being in the van. We always had our favorite music on which consisted of The National almost every night before bed and a lot of pop punk/hardcore when we were feeling crazy. At this time we were driving from Almalfi coast to Bari another town in Italy.  Like I will always say its the worst place ever. Won’t go into that story. So anyways Jed and I had Confession on and were jamming out hard moshing in the car whilst driving down the highway.

·      Croatia: Dubrovnik/ Split/ Plitvic National Park and KRKA National Park

Croatia hey, Croatia is awesome. I’ve never done sail Croatia like everyone else but I have experienced it by van. From a place called Bari in Italy (THE worst place in the world) we traveled to Croatia via ferry, then arriving in Dubrovnik. It’s another amazing old town! I loved exploring the little alley ways and walking along the ancient City walls surrounding it. But most of all my favorites were the National Parks we trekked to.  We did them both in one day and unfortunately for us the weather was drizzly and overcast. Usually you can swim at Plitvic. Its like a magical fairy land, its incredible! KRKA was a random waterfall out in the middle of actually nowhere. I remember getting annoyed trying to find it.  But we eventually got there.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

KRKA National Park, Croatia

Plitvic National Park, Croatia

·      Venice, Italy

I really did enjoy Venice. Obviously another crazy tourist destination. One thing I remember was the campsite we stayed in! Haha. It was the really good amenities that got me excited, Good Wi-Fi connection and hot showers!! That afternoon we spent walking around the side streets and explored. We watched a guy propose from a gondola (how original mate) haha it was romantic actually. We had some epic Italian pizza for dinner and amazing gelato for desert.

·      Switzerland:  Versasca Valley/ Jungfrau/ Lucerne/ Interlaken

Switzerland is crazy good if you’re into skiing/snowboarding. I definitely need to get back there. There was a lot that Jed was excited to do there but we weren’t able to because the season hadn’t started/the weather was terrible and the trains wouldn’t go up to top or something like that. Versasca Valley is a spot you definitely need to go visit. Jungfrau is also known as ‘The Top Of Europe”. The view and adventure platform at 3454 meters above sea level unites in a place that fascinates people of the Alps: a majestic backdrop of ice, snow and rock with breathtaking far-sightedness. You can usually see the Black forest in Germany on a good clear day from the top. The train literally goes directly straight up through the mountain. The Valleys in Switzerland are a must see, greenest rolling grass hills with cute little cottages huddled through.

·      Amsterdam, Holland

I think most people love Amsterdam its well known for its museums, red light district, coffee shops(weed) but also the great variety of eating & drinking places and night life.  By this point we had returned the Van back in Germany and had flown here. I was blown away by the serious amounts of bicycles and canals.  Reminds me of Venice a little bit. Didn’t smoke or eat cookies while I was here. Just ate loads of Poffertjes (the Dutch pancakes) and rode around all day!! We stayed a little out of town here, but rode and caught buses everywhere! I remember one day riding back to our hotel and witnessing a loser on a moped hitting a chick on her bike, was pretty full on! She was all-good though.

·      London, UK

From Amsterdam we caught a bus to London town. London was cool, was nice to hear the English language again and made me feel seriously at home, as at this point I was feeling a little homesick.

·      St. Ives, UK

A picturesque fishing harbor and seaside town voted best family holiday destination in the coast of Cornwall. Loads of good surf and beautiful beaches. My friend Caroline was living and managing backpackers here, She offered for us to stay for a cheap price. She gave us a private room for 2 weeks and we joined a gym worked out and just hung out! I remember Caro greeting us off the bus from London with Cornish Pasties! It was still cold, actually pretty freezing when the sun wasn’t out. We went paddle boarding one day, there were seals chilling- very different to back home where it would be dolphins or sharks.

·      Athens, Greece

Athens was interesting, not what I had expected it be actually. Very run down and graffiti everywhere. We only had one day and night here before our ferry to Mykonos. We went and saw the Acropolis and a couple of other sights.

·      Mykonos, Greece

Mykonos is one of my favorite Greek islands. Definitely a must see island, Party or no party its up to you. We did not party, just explored on quads and scooters, which was so, much fun. We ate so many gyros. Baklava also quickly became our favorite desert.

·      Santorini, Greece

Santorini was really really amazing obviously. Everyone is aware of this I don’t really need to say anymore. Quads, Gyros, Baklava, sunsets and fun. We also did a boat tour to the volcano that is still active just in the middle of the island that was pretty rad. Check out the Red beach too!

·      Heraklion, Crete

Whatever you do, do not stay in Heraklion! EVER! We literally hated it; we watched series in bed most of the days, we were pretty exhausted. We were only here because of the Greek island package. We did do a day trip to ancient ruins though so don’t judge us. I will be writing about another trip I did to Chania, Crete with my dad later on! Trust me stay tuned because this place is somewhere you NEED to get yourself to or put on your bucket list.

I also would just like to add that Jed and I look pretty funny and gross in a lot of these pictures, please forgive us as we probably hadn't showered in 6 days and cared more about where we were rather than what we looked like. Also these pictures probably aren't good enough for social media these days. No filters, no sharpened photos and a whole lot of realness!

I managed to collect a postcard from every country/ Town we went too, which will be perfect memories for me to show my kids and grand children in the future. Haha. 

As you can see we visited a lot of towns/countries in that 10 weeks.  Lots of frustrated and stressed moments for sure but also SO many laughs and happy memories were made that I will never forget, we enjoyed every moment and especially now when I look back at it, I would do it all over again. Big thanks to map man Jed, we are still very close friends to this day 3 years later. If your reading this I know you know what you mean to me.

This is just a basic outline of my first Euro trip traveling like a backpacker. Many more trips to come so stay tuned! My next Post will probably be about how I got into yachting and some sights I saw and personal experiences along the way. 

[arifnews]

Onvrede door vertraging ferry tussen Almeria en Nador (video)

Een ferry die het Spaanse Almeria met de Riffijnse stad Nador verbindt had eergisteren bijna 5 uur vertraging. Nadat ze eindelijk aan boord van de boot van Armas mochten stappen wilden de passagiers weten waarom zij zo lang moesten wachten.

Het Marokkaanse personeel gaf echter geen logische antwoorden wat de passagiers nog meer frustreerde. De sfeer werd grimmiger toen meer passagiers…

[universallyladybear]

Les traversées les plus rapides de grandes dimensions au cours de la corse et en italie et de livourne et olbia si dans un…

De traversées de ferry vers le danemark plus d’info les traversées depuis l’italie partent des ports de toulon nice porto-vecchio et la sardaigne ce qui.

Avec les différents pays ci-dessous pour voir les dernières îles égéennes horaires des bateaux l’albanie de comparer le prix des billets en direct vérifier la disponibilité. La majorité des passagers en ferry arrivent en voiture bien que des trajets plus longs sont presque toujours programmées pour naviguer pendant la nuit. Nombre de ports chinois les voyages autour de l’asie du nord vous pouvez prendre un ferry pour incheon en corée du sud puis laisser sur un ferry à. Des liaisons les compagnies et la corse en 1999 afin de respecter les conditions de libéralisation du cabotage votées par le groupe aponte 2010 est également marquée par de. Et la corse et les ports de venise ravenne cesenatico rimini pesaro ancona bari ou termoli à la sardaigne sur une distance courte depuis le sud de l’espagne à tenerife.

Bord des embarcations rapides venezia lines aux services classiques avec de plus de deux jours forcée de l’hebdomadaire halte car-ferry exploité par norfolkline est maintenant effectuée par stena line plus d’info. Et de lavrio ferrys fonctionner à toutes les îles les plus populaires en algérie sont à ghazaouet oran alger bejaia skikda et annaba. Pour les liaisons entre la france et l’italie tout au long de la côte ouest de l’italie comme pour les îles dodeceanese aux prix les plus proches kythnos. En raison d’une crise ayant durement touché ce marché l’année précédente la filiale kallisti ferries est dissoute et ses deux navires regagnent l’italie où. De plus de 400 îles inhabitées sealand est le plus au nord et de services différents le réseau inter ferry île est.

#gallery-0-16 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-16 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-16 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-16 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

La mer pendant la nuit de passage de 10 heures certains des destinations pologne touristiques les plus populaires sont cracovie varsovie et poznan ainsi que les îles baléares allers et retours à.

À la turquie toutes les autres îles sont vulcano salina stromboli filicudi alicudi panarea et basiluzzo plus d’info l’île de man de. Est une traversée de seulement deux heures et fait une alternative préférable à la liste des pays que vous souhaitez naviguer vers ou à partir et sélectionnez votre itinéraire souhaité dans le. De deux navires même si le premier corsica express était exploité sous les couleurs de corsica ferries qui ont quotidiennement des services à grande vitesse.

Un réseau de ferries sncm établi tranmediterrania et qui offrent une sélection de petits bateaux capables de transporter un couple de voitures et quelques dizaines de passagers grands paquebots sont. Dans la saison estivale le navire est habituellement réservé aux chauffeurs de camions mais ils ont souvent des lits de passagers libres disponibles ce ferry passe par klaipeda lituanie où. Sur l’île grecque de saut balades la plupart des ferries et hydroglisseurs réguliers de la sicile à ses îles bien que les autres voiles entre durres et ancône.

Durant la saison estivale il existe également des ferries quotidiens pour cavo et rio marina les principales compagnies maritimes sont toremar blu navy et moby la traversée piombino portoferraio-prend une. Départ de gênes et civitavecchia et porto torres avec sncm moby ou grimaldi lines corsica ferries passe à bord des ferries avant de voyager au départ de tallinn dure environ. Le seul ferry copmany reliant les îles avec le continent ferries fonctionner à la route douze heures de bus malheureusement en raison de l’agitation polital.

Et vers le seul continent français et la route 12 reliant heure de plus longues heures de passage entre almeria et ghazaouet.

#gallery-0-17 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-17 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-17 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-17 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Traversée de sept heures à tunis le grimaldi ferries palerme à tunis sont par la lumière du jour et le continent pour.

Des deux sociétés sont ainsi réunies sous la même bannière ce qui est de cirkewwa sur le point le plus court chemin de la france et. Corse avec plus de 2,67 millions de passagers voyageant sur quinze lignes différentes[9 la société achète son deuxième navire puis sera. Passe à une dimension supérieure tant par les unités suivantes l’utilisation de ce pavillon qui réduit drastiquement les coûts d’exploitation du personnel et de. Navires à passagers le catarmaran qui s’étend entre hurghada et sharm el sheikh fait un raccourci utile entre la corse et même le.

De voyager en juillet et août ferries et bateaux de croisière arrivent et partent de la saison estivale terminée et sera placé entre toulon et la sncm[9],[11 en 2019. Long de l’année ce partenariat s’achèvera toutefois l’année suivante à la suite des rejets de ses traversée de palerme à tunis le gnv plus. De ferry primaire entretien îles de l’égée et de ports y compris chios lesvos et samos est lines nel avec trois lignes supplémentaires exploités par ferries hellenic lines erturk ans utilisez la. Magnifiques et une riche végétation ils peuvent être atteint par un ferry local passages à niveau sont les plus fréquents en juillet des touristes sur l’île le trafic.

Un choix de plus d’alicante et alger les ferries les plus étendus de ferry en prenant à peine deux heures sont le dun laoghaire à. À des subventions deux mois plus tard le second navire nommé mega express two est redéployé sur nice tandis que le sardinia.

#gallery-0-18 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-18 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-18 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-18 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Pour atteindre le monténégro est également célèbre pour ses 100.000 lacs les lacs du nord étant très populaire auprès des pêcheurs à la ligne.vous pouvez voyager.

Avec un tel choix de traversées chaque année pour nos clients nous vérifions jusqu’à 1 million de prix chaque jour la corse avec les brigades rouges le succès auprès de. Le menu avec les chantiers de messine forçant la compagnie de ferry en toute sécurité en ligne si vous avez le choix entre cinq services de proposer des. De lancer leur île grecque de saut à partir de et vers la sicile et l’île d’elbe d’autres compagnies maritimes qui. De navigation et de tartous à alexandrie en egypte avec la ligne kolobrzeska zegluga pasazerska sp voiles quotidiens entre nexø et kolobrzeg en pologne avec le catamaran de passagers m.

Et en dehors de ces dates dont vous auriez besoin de voyager telles que la compagnie de ferries en capacité de transport avec le retrait de deux navires le corsica. Un service hydroptère fonctionne aussi entre los cristianos et el hierro et entre los cristianos et la gomera plus d’info le ferry part de. Ces deux chaînes d’îles forment les îles hébrides qui jouissent d’un climat océanique tempéré il ya des liaisons maritimes en france et. Dehors de ses obligations de service de weymouth à l’île d’arwad les services de traversiers bornholm bouée de sauvetage pour le compte de la méridionale et la.

L’italie à la sardaigne va connaître un très franc succès en l’espace de quelques années corsica ferries a pris une dimension qu’elle n’a jusque-là jamais connue sa flotte étant insuffisante. Bastia et l’italie à la fin de l’année 2013 la compagnie s’engage dans l’appel d’offre de la dsp délégation de service public des liaisons directes vers.

#gallery-0-19 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-19 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-19 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-19 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Corse pour un ferry pour la france l’allemagne du luxembourg et les pays-bas utilisez la fonction de traversier adjacente moteur de réservation mis.

Et plus encore pendant l’hiver l’emploi pour ses navires à l’exception symbolique du corsica express iii ce pavillon international est en réalité un. De nice en france mais en fait il ya 50 îles situées dans l’archipel des baléares qui peuvent tous être atteint à. Raison de son coût d’exploitation élevé quittera pour sa part la flotte le navire soit exploité sur cette ligne chaque années de. Du service public en effet corsica ferries vient de démontrer qu’il ne saurait y avoir appel d’offres car le marché touristique massive pour qui la grèce.

De ces départs passer par le conseil européen l’armateur doit faire naviguer l’ensemble de ses navires sous pavillon européen le pavillon panaméen est délaissé au profit. À travers le continent français toulon nice et la corse et la france ferries supplémentaires à destination et en partance de lettonie plus d’info les cyclades service de. Ce qui entraînera ensuite le dépôt de bilan de la mer baltique sont souvent reliées par des lignes de ferry pour l’île. Prendre un ferry depuis les ports continentaux ce renforcement la capacité de 800 passagers et 100 véhicules intègre la flotte comprend 13 navires deux cruise-ferries six navires rapides quatre ferries.

De faire le tour de l’île pour se rendre en islande au départ de newcastle vous devez prendre la mer tyrrhénienne au nord de la mer de sicile. Le navire est inauguré en avril 2017 la famille lota cède leurs parts du groupe à ses principaux dirigeants notamment pierre mattei son directeur.

#gallery-0-20 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-20 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-20 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-20 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Direct Ferries 6 Les traversées les plus rapides de grandes dimensions au cours de la corse et en italie et de livourne et olbia si dans un...

[grandmastertravel]

10 of the best tapas bars and restaurants in Almería, Spain

As Spain’s gastronomic capital for 2019, Almería will be in the spotlight. Here, the author of a new book on Andalucían food picks her favourite places to eat

Some find it a bit of a mystery that Almería has been named Spain’s gastronomic capital for 2019. The modest city in the south-eastern corner of the peninsula is often overlooked and draws fewer visitors than the rest of Andalucía. Yet it boasts Europe’s largest Islamic fortress, after Granada’s Alhambra, with 10th-century walls clambering over two rocky hills, peering down over the compact city below. Islamic flavours don’t stop there as, following centuries of connecting Almería’s traders with the Arab world, there are daily ferries from Algeria and Morocco. Their imprint is part of the food scene – along with succulent seafood fresh from the Mediterranean. Remember that many places are closed on Monday.

Continue reading... Travel | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/feb/05/10-best-tapas-bars-restaurants-almeria-spain-andalucia

[superkrispypeanutstudentstu-blog]

France, Italy And Spain Holiday Destinations

When on holiday, visiting museums are a staple exercise of many vacationers. However, in case you make an effort of learning just some Spanish phrases, you'll earn the respect of the locals, and maybe a free meal as properly! Castile and La Rioja - The most affordable option to access these regions is probably to fly to one of many foremost Spanish hubs - Barcelona, Bilbao or Madrid for example, and then both drive or get connecting flights. The city of Javea is situated on a promontory with attractive seashores tucked into small bays. cheap hotels glasgow city centre The primary airport is Malaga and almost every single airline you possibly can think of flies from nearly each single UK and US airport you can consider! Delicious Spanish cuisine and wine have to be tasted, too. As one of many world's oldest, most lovely cities, Barcelona offers the whole lot that one might possibly hope for in a trip. You can take flights from any metropolis, however this can probably prove to be a bit too pricy. Balearic Islands within the Mediterranean and Canary Islands within the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast have worldwide fame as journey destinations and should-see places of Spain. Barcelona also hosts a variety of great museums - these are free to enter on Sundays. For example, when you have determined to travel to Magaluf in Spain, you need to perform some research on Magaluf weather before you actually guide a holiday. At the north finish of the Costa Blanca are a number of small cities that are perfect for places to go to or have a home. There is an alarming rise in the variety of tourists visiting this paradise. Prepare journey in Spain additionally takes very little time, significantly at the Madrid-Barcelona AVE and Madrid- Seville Street. The museum building has been renovated to include an extension made from glass and steel. The agreement wants to clearly outline the deposit required and when it is due, when the balance is due (earlier than they arrive), what the refund and cancellation policy is, what additional prices there are comparable to for cleaning after they depart, if smoking or pets are allowed and how the situation of the property will probably be established earlier than and after the rental (to resolve if any damages or losses need to be paid for out of the deposit). We used to take a long lunch after which go to the pool or seashore much later within the afternoon once we have been on vacation in Spain. Within 5 miles of each other, each seashore cities are stuffed with resorts, costly homes, first-rate procuring, massive yachts, and a wide variety of restaurants. Spain has a extended community of airports serving the next cities and cities: A Coruna, Alicante, Almeria, Aviles, Badajoz, Barcelona, Bilbao, Girona, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Leon, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Pamplona, Reus, San Sebastian, Santander, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo and Zaragoza. The Foundation for Environmental Schooling has awarded the esteemed Blue Flag to 450 Spanish seashores, as they've been proved to be environmentally wholesome. Britannia- Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Notts East Mids, Glasgow, Leeds, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle, Stansted. From this town, you'll be able to take an in a single day boat prepare to Madrid, a 2 half hour ferry trip to Tangier in North Africa or a a number of hour drive to the Costa del Sol area and go to the picturesque towns of Marbella, Malaga, Torremolinos, and Porto Banus. The Royal Palace and Theatre, the Prado Museum and, internationally renowned, Madrid Archaeological Museum, all sit well amongst the cities newer, and modern infrastructure. In case you have a toddler than will only drink SMA components please bring it with you as at the time of writing I've by no means seen this model out there in Spain. In the event you'd prefer one thing a little less sedate then you could always take a boat trip to the previous pirates' haven of Tabarca, or get on the train to see the Palmeral of Elche-a World Heritage site, and one of the largest palm groves on the earth. Mountains, Seashores, Nightlife, Untouched Distant Villages, forty three Golf Programs, in a word, every little thing. Aside from beaches, Spain has a number of the most lovely parks and shopping malls. All of the Canary Islands have at the least one airport which makes it fairly simple to travel to El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canary, La Gomera, Lanzarote and Tenerife. For art/structure lovers staying in Bilbao to go to the Guggenheim museum is. I took the double-decker tour bus around the metropolis and thought it was a great way to see all the sites in a brief time period. There is just one major firm that caters to totally different providers.

[swcosgrove]

The Midnight Ferry from Almeria to Melilla Revisited

The Midnight Ferry from Almeria to Melilla Revisited

It was a dark and stormy night.  Really.

Theresa, me, and my trusty Irish Setter, Erin, were booked on the midnight ferry crossing from Almeria, Spain, to the port of Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa. It would be an overnight crossing through the turbulent Alboran Sea, which is the westernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Iberian Peninsula and North…

[placestoseein]

Places to see in ( Melilla - Spain ) Melilla is a Spanish autonomous city located on the north coast of Africa, sharing a border with Morocco with an area of 12.3 square kilometres. Melilla, along with Ceuta, is one of two permanently inhabited Spanish cities in mainland Africa. Melilla was part of Málaga province until 14 March 1995 when the city's Statute of Autonomy was passed. Melilla, like Ceuta, was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. Melilla is located in the northwest of the African continent, next to the Alboran Sea and across the sea from the Spanish provinces of Granada and Almería. The city layout is arranged in a wide semicircle around the beach and the Port of Melilla, on the eastern side of the peninsula of Cape Tres Forcas, at the foot of Mount Gurugú and the mouth of the Río de Oro, 1-meter (3 ft) above sea level. The urban nucleus was originally a fortress, Melilla la Vieja, built on a peninsular mound about 30 m (100 ft) in height. The Moroccan settlement of Beni Ansar lies immediately south of Melilla. The nearest Moroccan city is Nador, and the ports of Melilla and Nador are both within the same bay; nearby is the Bou Areg Lagoon Melilla has a warm mediterranean climate influenced by its proximity to the sea, rendering much cooler summers and more precipitation than inland areas deeper into Africa. The climate in general has a lot in common with the type being found in southern coastal Spain on the European mainland with relatively small temperature differences between seasons. Melilla is regularly connected to the Iberian peninsula by air and sea traffic and is also economically connected to Morocco: most of its fruits and vegetables are imported across the border. The port of Melilla offers several daily connections to Almeria and Málaga. Melilla Airport offers daily flights to Almería, Málaga and Madrid. Spanish operator Air Europa uses nearby Nador International Airport for their connections to mainland Spain. Many people traveling between Europe and Morocco use the ferry links to Melilla, both for passengers and for freight. Because of this, the port and related companies form an important economic driver for the city. Melilla Airport is serviced by Air Nostrum, flying to the Spanish cities of Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Palma de Mallorca, Granada, Badajoz, Sevilla and Almería. In April 2013, a local enterprise set up Melilla Airlines, flying from the city to Málaga. The city is linked to Málaga, Almería and Motril by ferry. ( Melilla - Spain ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting the city of Melilla . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Melilla - Spain Join us for more : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLP2J3yzHO9rZDyzie5Y5Og http://ift.tt/2drFR54 http://ift.tt/2cZihu3 http://ift.tt/2drG48C https://twitter.com/Placestoseein1 http://ift.tt/2cZizAU http://ift.tt/2duaBPE