The Cosmopolitan Blog

First full day in Spain. Late morning, by the time we were all ready it was 11.30am. Checked out the tiny local community, walked through the streets, walked on the beach, bought groceries. Then we sat down for lunch at 3pm at the local port, watching the yachts come in and out… We were recommended a Chinese restaurant (cuz, you know, that’s the first place you go eat when you’re in Spain) which got the kids really excited, and since the location was so awesome (sun, boats, people watching), we caved. And, to be honest, i don’t think there’s a good Chinese like that in Montreal, these dishes were amazing, including crispy chili beef (a dish i have never had since i left Europe), and sizzling duck. Free liqueur on the house finished the meal quite nicely.

Then we drove West to Tarifa, the South West most point of Spain, where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. On the way, stopped to take pictures of the Rock of Gibraltar, then when we got to Tarifa, we walked around, took some more pictures, looked out over to Morocco which seemed practically at arms length across the water. The village is very small but full of history. All road signs are in Spanish AND in Arabic. The reminiscence of the old city wall can still be seen, in fact it is used as part of many of the buildings, sometimes the back of the building is built in the wall and they’ve simply added a “modern” facade. Sometimes it’s simply 2 different houses joined by the ancient wall. Everywhere was advertised day trips to Morocco, so we gave in and bought tickets ahead of time for a day trip we decided to take the following Sunday. The trip promised a 35min boat ride across to Morocco, and then a day trip in an air conditioned bus around Tangiers (coastal city facing Spain), with enough time to get off and walk around, and with lunch (and belly dancers) included. All that for the low, low price of 56 Euros! We took all the pictures of Tarifa we could before the night fell, and then drove back.