los reyes magos

Three Kings Day is celebrated in Spain (Jan. 6). Presents are given on this day instead of Christmas day. The night before there is a parade with the Kings.

gibraltar

On our way back to Spain we had some time leftover so we stopped in Gibraltar for the day. This is in the south of Spain but the city belongs to the UK. It was raining so we strolled up the main street, which looks very tourist like. I can imagine that there are many shoppers here in the summer. Gibraltar is like one big duty free shop. There are monkeys on the mountain which we didn't get to see this time.

more morocco

• It’s forbidden for foreigners to enter the mosques, with the exception of a couple, but even these ones have a place where the tourists are not allowed. Mosques can be identified by their square towers, they are plenty, and they have a microphone towards the outside so everyone can hear, it doesn’t matter if its 3 in the morning. The biggest one is in Casablanca; it’s also one of the biggest in the world.
• Beware of hustlers! Morocco is full of them. These people are very nice to you at first and make friendly conversation. They offer to show you the medina or to find a hotel or restaurant. If you follow anyone in Morocco, they expect money, even if they initially say they don’t want any. After their services they expect a tip and a pretty big one, like 10€! They can get a little aggressive after. It is best to say you want to be alone from the beginning, but even then it is difficult to convince them. We learned the hard way. It is best to ask the police or the people who work in stores for directions.
• We saw numbers on the walls in public places a lot. We asked someone what this means and it is to let the public know about elections and who is in power at the time.
• There are also a lot of drugs. Everyone tries to sell you drugs. Even on one road in the mountains we couldn’t drive past anyone without them making a signal. Someone told us that it is best not to stop on this road.
  
  
  

About Morocco

• The currency in Morocco is Dirhams. 1€ is around10 Dirhams.
• The language is French and Arabic. Many people in the north speak Spanish and overall there is a lot of English as well.
• Pictures of the King can be seen everywhere. In hotels, shops, and stands.
• You need to bargain everywhere. The price they tell can probably be divided by 2 or 3.
• Hotels and eating can be cheap. We had hotels from 10€ to 30€. Of course we didn’t stay in luxurious hotels. Restaurants were also cheap, around 5€ to 10€ for the both of us.
• We liked the food. We ate a dish called tagine a lot. This is a ceramic plate with a cone shaped lid. They cook potatoes, veggies, lamb, or chicken inside and you also eat from it. They use coriander and cumin among other spices. Mint tea is the national drink, and they sweeten it a lot. The orange juice is fresh and costs around 30cents. Round bread is sold everywhere, also dates, dried figs, nuts, and fruits. Strawberries and mandarins seemed to be in season. Moroccan people eat with their hands, but the restaurants have cutlery for the tourists.
• The cities have an ancient part which is called the medina. This is like a maze of markets and little roads; it’s pretty easy to get lost. The biggest and most ancient one is in Fez.

Our Route

Some of you may know that me and Juan went to Morocco over christmas and new year....

• We took the ferry in Algeciras over to Ceuta. Ceuta belongs to Spain so it isn’t Morocco yet. (Melilla also belongs to Spain). There is more than one place to take the ferry; our ride on the ferry was almost 1 hour, not bad for going to another continent.


• We started in Tetouan and went down the east side where the Atlas Mountains are. The roads on this side are not good, and you need more time, a lot more time, than usual to go somewhere. For 300km we needed almost 7 hours, this road was windy and dangerous.


• Morocco is a cold country in winter, especially in the mountains. Most of the places we stayed at didn’t have heat, so the nights were very cold, despite all the heavy blankets they give you.


• Fez was probably the craziest city in terms of traffic. The roundabouts seem to have different rules than they do here. The traffic is a mixture of cars, people, bikes, and donkeys. People also walk where ever they want; sidewalks, streets, intersections, and sometimes even highways.


• We went as far south as Marrakech, which was the city with the most tourists. Only here did it start to get warm and we could walk outside without a coat during the day.


• We started going back up north by the coast passing by Casablanca (the biggest city) and the capital, Rabat. The coast is less crazy, the roads are good. They have double lane pay highways in superb condition. The cities here are modern and seem to have less chaos.