Our last night in Morocco was spent at Martil a seaside resort near Tetouan.
We especially got up early and drove along the coast to get to Ceuta – part of the African mainland but belonging to Spain. The coast between Martil and Fndiq was full of luxury villas, appartments and manicured gardens. We must have passed the royal Summer residences in M’Diq judging by all the police, military and royal guards dotted along about 500 metres of high wall. We stopped at Fndiq for some breakfast and I had a typical Moroccan one – two kinds of round bread, three
different cheeses and a friend egg all drizzled with olive oil and what was like shredded polony – I left that but the rest was delicious. Maurice was boring and had a “pain au chocolat”.
We had to go through all the customs and passport formalities of first Morocco then Spain including a look into the van to see we had no illegals. Ceuta was like being on mainland Spain except for some Moroccans wandering around in their traditional dress. We could just spot the top of Gibraltar from Ceuta as we meandered around the coast. It was a very crowded looking city with buildings on
top of each other and no parking to be had by the time we arrived. They even had a jail on top of a hill. We left plenty of time to get back through the Spanish and Moroccan customs and immigration procedures again.
The Moroccan customs officer just wanted a quick look in the back of the van and asked us if we had any guns or pistols! We then drove over the Rif mountains with lone police standing on every hill and to Tanger Med – the new ferry port. Here they xrayed every car. We had to get out of the car and they did about five at a time with an enormous machine that moved over the vehicles. Inside were three people watching the screen. Probably looking for illegals.
A couple of words about Morocco – we were a bit apprehensive before we arrived with all the media attention given to any Islamic country however we found the people very friendly and helpful and never felt threatened in any way. Camping sites were secure with gates that were shut at night and someone on duty at all times. Parking was easy with men in fluoro jackets who would find a parking spot and who looked after the vehicle for a few dirhams. There was massive construction underway or
recently completed of roads and new appartments and official buildings all over the country as well as beautification of entrances to nearly every city or town with fountains and gardens.
We especially enjoyed the out of the way backroads and villages where the people made us feel very welcome and who were interested to know where we came from. The only pressure came from a few of the stall holders in the medinas who wanted us to buy their products. Any slight interest shown in anything and they would pounce from afar.
Morocco is a very long and large country. We covered nearly 3,000 kilometres in three weeks and only got to about half way down the country but we were happy with everything we saw and the lovely people we met. We would have stayed longer but we had to get back to Spain and up to Barcelona for Maurice’s 70th birthday celebrations on the 18th September.