After chatting to some local’s in Sevilla, we decided to take a trip down to the very south coast of Spain, staying 3 nights in Cadiz and one in Malaga. We arrived in the old town of Cadiz, one of the oldest town’s in Europe, boasting cute paved streets and beautiful beaches. Strolling around the town at sunset was the perfect setting for Kimmie to get some great shots, and to truly appreciate the city.
At the hostel, we asked one of the locals to point us in the direction of a great tapas place. A crazy but very cool chica Toni took us to a local place, which was absolutely deserted but had very yummy tapas of cannelloni, pasta, pork and croquettes. YUM! The next day we took the bus to the most southern town on the Spanish mainland, Tarifa. Tarifa is the gateway to Africa, with ferries continuously leaving to Morocco. From the beach we could actually see Morocco on the horizon, being that it was only a few km’s away! Not only is Tarifa the most southern town, but I also swear it is the windiest town!! Just lying on the beach was a massive chore, fighting one grain of sand at a time! The Spanish have used this natural resource to their advantage, with wind farms as far as the eye can see.
That night we headed out with one of the dudes from the Hostel, an Argentinian guy who took us to a pub with a funky Moroccan theme and super cheap beer. Then we went around the corner to a Spanish club, with reggae music and zero people! Getting home at 3am (super super early in this country!) I went straight to bed in the hammocks we had hired for the night, on the terrace of the hostel. Although it was a little chilly, they were surprisingly comfy, and I even woke to the smell for freshly baked bread in the early morning from a bakery just around the corner!
The next day was one of R & R, we hit the beach in the old town (the most sheltered seeing at it was a bit windy) which was surprisingly packed with families, and chica’s in bikini’s that I wouldn’t actually label clothing, more along the line of thread!
The following day we moved on to Malaga, with a short stop in Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a small piece of the UK in the south of Spain. The British government took over Gibraltar in the 1700’s (I think) and, like a child in a sandpit, never gave it back to Spain. The currency is the pound (what a pain in the butt!!), there are red phone booth’s and fish and chips sold at every second shop.
Probably the biggest draw of Gib, is the wild monkeys which live on the top of the ‘rock’ (more like small mountain) that lines one side of the coast. We arrived in La Linea, the town on the Spanish side of the boarder and walked across the boarder through security. This was up with one of the weirdest boarder crossings I have ever done, challenging the Vietnam and Cambodian crossing, which is saying something!! Although you have to show your passport, no-one actually opens it or checks to see that it is in fact a passport. Just on the other side of the boarder, we met up with Eddy, a friend who we did the Sierra Nevada road trip with. From there we walked across a runway and into Gibraltar.
The Gib airport only has flights to and from the UK, with the runway being the area which stamps the ‘separate’ sign in the sand between the two boarders. Not much love lost there! Eddy has a mate, Jan, from Germany who lives in Gib, and is a professional poker player. Jan said that the laws in Germany are a lot tighter than in Gibraltar about online poker, so it is not uncommon for people to move to Gib to live and work as professional players. Jan lives in a really nice apartment overlooking the marina, runway and La Linea. When we were there, one of the world’s biggest yacht’s was moored in the marina, and apparently the owner of the yacht is unknown, although there are rumours that it is owned by a Russian oil dude.
That arvo we walked for up the ‘rock’, taking about 90 minutes, much of it steps. On the way we met a monkey who ‘stole’ Eddy’s banana (it is illegal to feed them). The was pretty happy with himself, until there was no banana left. He gave Kim the evil eye, then continued on his way!
At the top of the rock was a great view over Gib, parts of the Spanish coast, and we were told that on a clear day you can also see Africa. When we were there, a massive black cloud hung over the city of Gib. Jan was saying that it could stay for weeks, because the rock stops any weather form passing over it!
On the way down, we stopped to watch the feeding of the monkey’s, with the little ones jumping on the roof of the van, and two even jumped onto a ladies head and was hanging off her! Pretty funny! That night we headed on to Malaga. We didn’t realise but the trip from La Linea actually took about 2 and a half hours, so we arrived in Malaga on a Sunday night, with no map and absolutely no direction as to get to our couchsurfers house. After asking 3 different people, a really nice lady bundled us into her car and drove us literally around the corner to the right street! It was there we met Kevin, a dude from Michigan who was teaching English at a school just out of Malaga. He took us out with another couchsurfer to a bar where an Irish guy in his late 40’s who clearly hadn’t let go of the ACDC era was playing covers of some pretty decent songs; from Hotel California to Wonderwall. Having a shot of Scotch in between every song probably helped his confidence also! But he was really very good, and apparently very funny in between songs (he sang in English and spoke in Spanish). After a 4 hour nap, it was time to hit the road once again…
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