Return to Spain

Day 46
We were up early once again to catch the train to Tangier. I screwed up the time though and we just missed the first train out. Because of me we had to wait about 3 hours for the next train. It really put our whole day behind. While we waited I spent our last dirhams on snacks for the ride and Al returned to the Medina to see if anyone had any patches.

On the train we passed some pretty run down little towns. It was really quite sad. When we got to the ferry terminal we were shocked to learn that we couldn´t use our credit cards. We ended up paying in euros, but we didn’t quite have enough. I made up the difference with a 5 pound note I had kept from the UK. We got a bit ripped because of it, but at least we were getting out of Morocco.

The ferry wasn´t long, but Spain is two hours ahead of Morocco so it seemed to be very late. We didn´t have a map and out of sheer luck found the hostel I had booked for us in Tarifa with no problems.

It was too late to do much and we ended just picking up cold cuts for dinner and going to sleep. I did however, get one picture of some ponies in a field.

Chellah

Day 46
We managed to find a cute café close to our hotel where I could finally get some mint tea and yummy pastries.

The main reason we had picked Rabat and not Casablanca was to visit Chellah. This was where humans first lived in Rabat. There are the ruins of a mosque as well as some Roman ruins. The entrance gate was quite impressive. Right when we were arriving a tour bus was also pulling up. A guy who had been resting came out in traditional Moroccan clothing and started banging on a drum. When the package tourist walked by he held out his hat for money.

The gardens were wild, but they were beautiful. I´ve started to enjoy taking pictures of flowers and had a field day here. On the way down to the ruined mosque thousands of birds sat in the trees. Some of them seemed to be fighting.

Al and I climbed around the mosque and took loads of pictures. Our guidebook had told us that there would be a pond full of eels. We found the pond, but it had been drained the bottom was filled with mud. I wonder what happened to the eels.

The Roman ruins weren’t much, but we could make out what had been houses and walls and bits of street. It looked a little like Jeresh in Jordan, but in a much more advanced state of decay.

As we wandered the mile or so back to Rabat we passed the Royal Palace. It was funny to think that we had just seen the king two days before.

After lunch and some questionable oj, we decided to head back to the souk. Al wanted to try and get a patch from Morocco. Unfortunately we didn’t have any luck.

After some time on the internet and booking some hostels in Spain we decided to try again for a movie in English. The guy at reception suggested that we go one town over, to a place called Sale. We asked if there would be shops and something like a mall. He said yes.

The place he had recommended was not a mall, it was a resort hotel. We found out quickly that the cinema had closed. There was a dance club on site and Al thought from the neon girls dancing on the front that it must be a strip club. He asked the security guy by asking “girls dance” and pretending to pull up his shirt. The guy laughed and blushed saying no.

We ended up having some decent pizza at one of the hotels restaurants and playing a few rounds of poop before heading back to Rabat.

Uno Rabat

Day 45

After a four hour train ride we checked into Hotel Central. It was by far one of the grossest places I have ever stayed. However, the price and location were right, so I couldn´t turn it down.

I was dying to see a movie in English and we spent some time looking for a theatre. There wasn´t anything that wasn´t dubbed or in French. Instead we wandered the medina for a bit. We were not hassled here like we had been in Fez, in fact, no one really noticed us.

We had been recommended a place called the Goethe Institute for dinner. I was under the impression that we would be drinking German beer and eating German food. It turned out to have a more Moroccan and Spanish menu. It also seemed to be a trendy place for expats and tourists.

Neither of us were feeling like a night out so we played Uno in the room for a bit before calling it a night.