Aug 28 Costa to Costa

We've been on Spain's Costa del Sun -- the sun coast.  As we got to Tarifa the sign said welcome to Costa del Windsurf ... we'd seen that this is an area known for wind sports.  We drove the A7 down from Malaga, skipping the AP7 diversions (toll) so it was more interesting.  Still, it was a shortish drive and we were here early afternoon, not surprised this time that we couldn't drive to our hotel; found parking close and walked.

The last few miles of the A7 to here are a winding descent.  At the top there are countless windmills spinning.  At the bottom there is just wind, at this southernmost tip of Spain, where the Med meets the Atlantic.

The first thing that we did was get online and book a trip to Tangiers.  Mistake.  We then walked over to the ferry dock and found that a) the ferry was cheaper at the dock AND included a tour. Ugh.  They couldn't make a change to our reservation, so we went back to the hotel and got the ferriesdirect agent on the phone and they couldn't cancel because they couldn't get hold of the ferry company.  Double Ugh.  So ... I did what I had been looking at anyway, even though it's much more expensive, we booked a private tour -- toursbylocals.com.  Someone is to meet us holding up a sign and we won't have the typical vendors chasing us, visits to rug merchants, etc. that are the complaints of so many in the reviews.

So we are off to the African continent shortly, but just for the day, traveling as light as possible.  I haven't decided yet whether to bring the big camera; could lighten that load by only using the 20mm lens on the camera -- that's what I've done for some other city walking.  In the cities, I find that I'm shooting the zoom lens at 24mm anyway but 20mm is much wider.


After we sorted out the trip to Tangiers, we had some lunch, walked the area, went back to the room for a snooze, had dinner and finished up the day.  At 10pm, as we finished dinner, the streets were full of people.  Some families with small children -- like in high chairs -- were just arriving for dinner.  Amazing. 

It's a noisy environment; boisterous people, wait-staff rushing about and calling to one another; crowded - you'd think that the tables next to you are part of your group, they're so close sometimes.  It's built-in entertainment !  It would drive some crazy.

We've already made a booking for the night after we leave here.  We'll be too tired tonight.  It's on the south coast of Portugal, outside of any city, so it will be quite a change from the city-centric travel so far.  We'll need that relief, I suspect, from the day in Tangiers.

Onward ?!?