Monday, July 31, 2006

GIBRALTER, MOROCCO AND PORTUGAL

From Costa del Sol, we took a ferry over to Spanish Morocco at Tetouan. Our guide got us through the passport hassle and then we were in African Morocco. What a difference! No wonder hundreds of African Moroccans sit up on a hill at the border looking for a chance to get through. I have read newspaper accounts of them rushing the border as a group and some getting shot.

We were guided carefully through the market area and Casbah. We got a glimpse of the shops and the myriad of items for sale before being hurried on. We went to a former palace and had a lunch to the piping of Moroccan musicians. The meal was a glutinous vegetable soup, tahini meat with vegetables, couscous with beef and mint tea with shortbread cookies. Then we were ushered to a rug factory where a Technicolor display of rugs were brought out for our perusal and some of our members bought. Then it was off to the bus once more. Having haggled in markets all over the world, I was disappointed that we didn’t get a chance there.

Then we went on to the British colony of Gibraltar. For such a small (but strategic) spot, it is a busy place. We got to see some of the Barberry Apes that live in the hills and are supposed to be a guarantee that the rock will always belong to Great Britain. We were at the main square for lunch. Spotting a fish and chips restaurant, I settled for that and was not sorry. A huge screen hung in the main square for the World Cup action.

We passed acres of almond and cork trees as we entered Portugal. I saw parts of it I didn’t see when I visited Ted here in ’83: the medieval section; the tomb of Vasco de Gama in the Hieronymite Monastery; dinner with Fado music and folk dances. We took the optional trip through Sintra, Cascais and Estoril with a lunch stop at Cascais. It was good to get out of the city and by the sea. This area is beginning to get popular with foreign retirees. Let’s hope it never gets as packed as Costa del Sol.

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