Morocco

Friday:

   Our bus headed out at 130am! We had a 5 hour journey, but to our surprise it included WIFI and TVs with What Happens in Vegas as our English option... but we pretty much slept the whole way. We arrived to Granada and waited outside the only cafe that opened at 7am. We ate a delicious traditional English breakfast and then headed to our next bus at 815am, where we would join our tour company for the weekend "We Love Spain". We had a 2 hour ride to Malaga and then another 2 hours to Cadiz. We met some friends, a girl who was an Au pair in Belgium and one that was teaching kids english in Spain. At 1230 we boarded our bus to Gibraltar, an English territory in the South of Spain. We got to explore St. Michael's Caves, play with the wild monkeys, see the beauty of Europa point, and enjoy a delicious and scenic meal in the square. We hopped back on our bus and headed to Algeciras, Spain where the ferry left from. After an hour ferry ride, we then hopped back on the bus (a lot of bus action this weekend) and journeyed through Ceuta, a Spanish territory in the very tip of Morocco. After 2 hours waiting on the bus in the customs line... WE MADE IT. We arrived at our hotel and ate a quick traditional Moroccan meal of bread, soup, lemon chicken, and flan. We had a 6am wake up call so we went to our room  took a quick shower and PASSED OUT after a long day of travel.

 Saturday:

   RING RING RING time to get rolling! We went down stairs for our included breakfast of unlimited chocolate croissants, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, coffee, and tea. We boarded the bus and were headed to Chefchauen, the Blue City. We received a panoramic Tour of Tangier and stopped at Cape Espartel, where the Atlantic and Mediterranean ocean meet. We then headed to the beach to RIDE A CAMEL. It was a blast and quite the rough ride! We then continued to Chefchauen for another 2 hours through the mountains, and lost a few soldiers along the way with the windy roads. When we arrived we had a beautiful traditional Moroccan buffet awaiting us with patio seating with a view of the entire city. The whole city is painted with different shades of a special blue dye, that keeps away bugs and mosquitos. Todo, our old, yet lively tour guide, who speaks 8 languages, and knows the Obamas and the Clintons gave us a tour of his city. Unfortunately, with such a big group we missed out on a lot of the information... but we do know you can buy a home in Chefchauen for around $25,000. We visited a fabric shop and then had 2 hours to roam around the city. We got our post cards, took a few pics, and then sat down for some Cafe con leche. At 730pm we boarded our bus and headed for our Fantasy Dinner Show in an Arabic Palace. We sat with some fellow Americans from California, two of which are studying in Madrid! We ate LOTS of bread, meatballs, couscous, and for desert we got a cookie and "Moroccan Whisky," also known as mint green tea. After a belly dancer, a wedding ceremony, singing, and dancing it was time to head home. We arrived home at midnight and had a disco planned by our program to start at 130... but we were just too pooped. We also found out that our "late afternoon arrival" in Granada was going to be around 8pm so we would not be making out 630pm bus home to Madrid so we had some investigating to do. With the terrible wifi service we were able to get a general idea of our plan, but weren't able to make anything official.

Sunday:

   7am wake up and another delicious chocolate croissant filled breakfast! We boarded the bus for our guided tour of Tetuan. We visited a Berber Pharmacy and bought some moroccan oil and mint green tea. We then had free time to shop around this leather filled town. After about 15 minutes, we were over it and sat down at a local place for Mint Green Tea. Our waiter set down our drinks and the flies and bees began SWARMING. We gave up on our tea and our journey back to Madrid began. After an hour to the border, an hour in customs, and an hour in the ferry station, we boarded our ferry. We arrived in Algeciras and hopped on our 2 hour bus ride to Malaga. We decided to hop off in Malaga and attempt to find our way home from there. We made it to the train station only to find out all the tourist class tickets were sold out and the man told us our only option was Premium class for $170 per person! So we decided to head to the bus station to get a bus home... and what did we find? No more buses to Madrid tonight. We then got on our phones on goeuro and some how found tickets on the fast train for $110pp and with class in the morning and no where to stay we decided to splurge! We had an hour until our train so we went to look for food and wifi. We stumbled upon a 100 Montiditos, a chain, and it was Sunday so EVERYTHING was 1 EURO! We ordered a few bites to eat and "Jarras" of sangria and beer to take off the edge. We boarded our train only to find out we were in the "preferente" class with outlets and nicer seating. Carolyn and I went and got a few mini bottles of wine and had a mini train party! At 1am we walked in our apartment in Madrid and nothing has felt more like home! 

XOXO,
Tay