A Sojourn

It was a spur of the moment decision to take a trip down to Tarifa, a small town right at the bottom of Spain on the Atlantic. 'So you're going on holiday?' asked our neighbour. !!!

Driving down the Costa del Sol is a clear indication of what uncontrolled development does to a coastline - incredible really. Thousands of cloned half completed condos competing for views of the Mediterranean or one of the multitude of golf courses. I wonder who buys them?

Tarifa was in a condo free enclave and surrounded by lush hillsides and grazing cattle. The tops of the hills were dotted with wind-turbines, hundreds of them, catching Tarifa's famous winds. The beach is clean, white and huge and is world renown for windsurfing and kiteboarding. The town has a prominent surf culture evident with the multitude of surf shops and hip cafes. Nice...

Our first day was windless so we managed our first swim in the Atlantic...brrr - a little chilly, but it was the best beach we had been to in southern Spain and great to get into the water.

Looking across the ocean Africa loomed close. The Rif mountains are only 14km away and the fast ferry beckoned us. So the next day we hopped on the boat for our first taste of Northern Africa - Tangiers. As warned we were surrounded by faux guides the moment we got off - right pesky and I fear there was almost a brawl between drivers at the taxi stop to get our business. Funny really because we later found we only had to travel 500m to the medina! Anyway that was it for the hassling, the rest was a captivating wander through the muddle of narrow streets and lanes of the souks. It is lucky we have no room in the bags, Amber was in agony as we passed lamps, jewellery, carpets and leather - it was a treasure chest of knick knacks...

But she had a camel ride instead, much to the boys amusement!

Naturally we stopped for a sweet mint tea on a little terrace to soak up the atmosphere, and decided that Morocco needed more time. Unamimous vote. Next stop Marrakesh and the Atlas mountains in a few weeks time.

Driving home we passed Gibraltar and mere mention of the word 'monkey' has the boys pleading to visit. So after passport control there were round red letter boxes, bobbies and lots of '£' signs - and corresponding prices!

The rock however is quite a sight, the surrounding land is almost flat and it rises 426 metres out of the ocean. It is apparently one of the most densely populated territories in the world and had traffic to match. However it was monkeys we were looking for and that meant a 16 quid trip (ouch!) to the top of the cablecar. Sure enough there they were, Barbary Macaques Angus informed us.