Wait, What Country Am I In? - Ceuta & Gibraltar

Our last hour in Morocco was spent riding in a taxi to the border with Ceuta, Spain. Most people taking them split one car between up to six customers to lower the price (and wait to leave until the cab is full), but as tourists we thought it would be worth the extra cost to have the cab to ourselves. From the train station in Tangier, Morocco we negotiated with a cabbie until we settled on a price we were OK paying. We were momentarily taken aback when he pulled out an "official" document that had the price of the ride to Ceuta written on it as 500 dirhams (about $58 US), but after a little negotiation, including walking away at the right moment, he was willing to lower it to 300 dirhams (about $35 US). Guess the price wasn't too official if he was willing to knock off 40%! 


The taxi wasn't allowed to drive us across the border, so when we got there he dropped us off and we made the crossing by foot. I've made some border crossings by foot before (Peru/Bolivia, Ecuador/Peru), but this one was by far the most confusing. On the Moroccan side there were probably at least 50 people wandering around trying to sell us "official border crossing papers." Even after ignoring them and saying no for several minutes they continued to hang around, I guess waiting for us to change our minds? The weirdest part was the Moroccan policeman standing around watching this happen and not doing anything to stop them. That made me wonder whose side they were on.


When we got up to the official windows there was one for Moroccan citizens trying to go to Spain (with a bunch of people crowding around) and one for everyone else. Only the window for "everyone else" had no-one on the other side, so we ended up just huddling with the rest of the mob around the first window. While waiting for them to choose who they would help next we met a nice Spanish guy also making the border crossing who let us know which paper to fill out (which we got for free from the office, not from the shady dudes hanging around outside). 


Once through the Moroccan side, the Spanish equivalent was pretty easy (probably due to our US passports) and there was a line of taxis waiting for border-crossers like us. I wish I could have snapped some photos of the border, but we read ahead of time that it is generally bad to be taking pictures of government operations/buildings in Morocco... and probably in most countries these days. 


If you're wondering what Ceuta is, maybe this map will help. Ceuta is an autonomous Spanish city (not a colony or territory, but a part of Spain that has the same democratic rights and responsibilities) surrounded by Morocco. It has been ruled by Spain or Portugal for over 600 years, and was first established as a fort because of its strategic position across from Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean. Still, Morocco isn't too excited that Spain still rules here and in the similar enclave of Melilla (and a few scattered islands and forts along the coast), and there have been problems recently where large groups of migrants from across Africa try to swim over the border and get into the EU.

 

Once in Ceuta we were instantly struck by how "Spanish" everything seemed. I think I expected a little more mixing of Morocco and Spain, but once we showed up at the hotel it was clear we were back in España. There were Christmas trees in the lobby, nativity scenes in the plazas, and the types of wide pedestrian walkways you see in Madrid and other Spanish cities. It was almost as if Ciudad Real had been lifted up and plopped down in North Africa. It was pretty weird for us, especially after the border crossing and having recently been in the desert just two nights before. 


Here is a photo of the Plaza de Africa that was right in front of our hotel, complete with Christmas lights. 

They have a ton of shopping in Ceuta because it is tax-free, and they get a lot of visitors from Southern Spain who come across on the ferry to take advantage of the savings. Here's one of the pedestrian streets full of shops. 

In the main plaza we came across this funny spectacle: a bunch of people under a stage walking around. From the looks of the people involved we figured this was some sort of hazing ritual or maybe a public art project... but who knows. 

I think after having dinner we started going a little crazy - maybe we were just excited to be back in Spain! Here's me with a couple of statues. 

And WP conducting (or trying to, at least) a water symphony: 

The next day we did a little sight-seeing in Ceuta before heading out on the ferry. From this spot up high in the city along the old fort walls you can see straight across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain! The big rock on the left is Gibraltar and the rest of the land around is Spain. Pretty nuts that it is so close.  

This was a nice piece of street art we found, love for my sister Lala! 

After a morning of sight-seeing it was time to head out on the ferry. We realized we were running a little late and didn't think we'd have time to stop for lunch before leaving, so we stopped at the ferry terminal vending machine to grab a snack. Sadly, there was a chip fail:  

So after rushing to make our ferry and having a vending machine problem we ended up at the gate and realized it was completely empty. No one else was there lining up to get on and there was no ferry boat in sight. After waiting around for a few minutes we finally put it together that there was a time zone shift between Morocco and Ceuta, so we were showing up almost an hour late for our boat. The vending machine was not our biggest fail of the day. The next boat wasn't leaving for two more hours so we had some time to kill. In the spirit of the 3rd grade "Fortunately/Unfortunately" book I wrote: 

Unfortunately, we missed our boat. Fortunately, we had time to get some more food. 

We also had time to see this awesome wave sculpture outside the ferry station:  

So after a couple more hours of sitting in the sun we came back to get on the ferry! Here it is pulling up to the gate: 

After about 45 minutes on the boat we were back in Spain! You might be able to tell from the photo, but there are no outdoor observation decks (lame), so I couldn't get any good photos of the crossing. It was pretty cool to be able to look back and see Morocco in one direction and Spain in the other though! We took a short bus ride to where we were staying, La Linea, which is the Spanish town that borders Gibraltar.  Gibraltar is technically a "British overseas territory" (basically a euphemism for colony, but they do have a lot of self-governing rights, especially Gibraltar), and walking from Spain to Gibraltar you definitely feel like you're walking into England. 

Our hotel was just a block off this main promenade along the beach, so when we got in we had time to walk outside and see the Rock of Gibraltar in the setting sun. Amazing!

The border crossing between Spain and Gibraltar is very relaxed, a welcome change from the Moroccan experience. Going both directions, the authorities glanced at our passports, but didn't even bother stamping them. One hilarious part about going into Gibraltar is walking across the airport's runway. The only flat part of Gibraltar is located right after the border, so that's where they had to put the airport runway. Once when we were making the crossing all cars, buses and pedestrians were stopped to let a plane land! Here's the crazy sign they post going both directions: 

Right after you exit the border crossing they have this telephone booth - in case you had any doubt - you're in a part of the British Empire! They also had a red double-decker bus like the ones in London that operates as a city bus. 

Our first night in Gibraltar (or "Gib," pronounced "jib," as the locals/Brits call it) we went to one of the many British pubs in the main square. I was so happy to order a jacket potato with baked beans and cheese! It was a kick to walk into restaurants and hear the majority of folks speaking English with British accents. At this pub the group at the table next to us was speaking a special hybrid of Spanish and English, so we were guessing they were locals. It seemed like they mostly spoke British English until a word was more convenient in Spanish like venga or vamos. 

This one is for WP's brother Campbell and his girlfriend Lauren: the LONG CHICKEN meal! This silly ad is all over Spain, but we were surprised to also see it in Gib.  

On our second day in Gibraltar we went up the rock to visit the monkeys, who are technically "semi-wild" Barbary Macaques who live all over the summit of the mountain.  Before we went up the rock inside a cable car, we were bombarded with warnings: 

The view from the top of the rock was incredible! 

On the way up in the cable car we spotted a couple monkeys and got excited. Little did we know that we'd be seeing many more at the top! 

Here's a parent and baby hanging out with the view of Spain behind them: 

 

The little ones were pretty crazy with one another. Here's a couple playing or fighting (hard to tell which): 

We also got this video of these two running around on some wires: 

Here's a shot of me and one of the monkeys. Despite the warnings about not feeding the monkeys, some tourists there the same time as us were giving them water bottles. I think in this photo I'm watching this monkey slowly pour out the contents of his bottle. Silly guy. 

This little one was probably my favorite - he was tiny and adorable and clearly the runt of the family. 

Here's another shot of monkeys at play: 

This big guy was a little scary - he moved very quickly and I saw him snatch a bag of chips out of a woman's hands. After he got a hold of them he sat high up on a cement wall and proceeded to open the bag and eat them all. I guess that's what they mean when they call these animals "semi-wild". 

Ok, one last monkey shot. Believe it or not, I narrowed down which monkey photos to include in this post - we took so many pictures of these furballs! 

And here's one of a couple of (slightly) more developed monkeys: 

We had a great time in Gibraltar - between eating Indian food, drinking real British beers, visiting monkeys, and seeing the rock we had plenty of fun things to keep us busy. But WP had another one planned!  


Before we arrived in Gib, Will kept telling me there was a surprise for me there but wouldn't even let me try to guess what it was. On our second night hanging out in Gib we went on a walk around the city and ended up at this awesome old castle-like building toward the edge of town. The Gibraltarians have converted this old fortress into a "leisure center" - meaning movie theater, arcade, ice skating rink and (drum roll please), bowling alley! It was an awesome surprise because I love to bowl and we haven't been since moving to Spain. And yes, we were basically hanging out with all the 13-year-old Gib kids, but who cares, it was fun! Oh, and did I mention it is a black-light bowling alley that projects music videos too?   

Final scores - Kelly: 93, Will: 89. Just because I love it doesn't mean I can break 100... that's only happened a couple times. 

After bowling and then seeing a movie in English (another rarity for us), we headed back to the hotel to get packed up for the next adventure to the Canary Island Tenerife. 

Here's our room with clean laundry drying everywhere. Finally had to do laundry after a week and a half of travel! 

Next post will be all about our time on the island of Tenerife: New Year's Eve, hiking at the foot of a volcano, and relaxing in the sun! Here's WP with a dragon tree, native to the Canary Islands and a couple other places nearby: