Cadiz and Gibraltar
We got to Cadiz much later than we planned because we forgot to factor in Spanish time, meaning we didn't plan on eating lunch at 3 in the afternoon haha. We had a long drive, and were running low on gas, the light had come on, but we were so close to our Airbnb, we just wanted to get there and eat before worrying about the car. What we didn't plan on though was Google Maps taking us through the walking part of the city where cars aren't allowed... We started getting dirty looks from pedestrians and then made another turn and found we were driving right in the plaza... We were stressing about running out of gas, hitting a pedestrian, and/or getting trapped in the plaza because there were barricades up. Fortunately a bunch of little boys playing soccer stopped to help us haha. They told Greg how to get out by the path of least resistance and moved the barricades for us. We quickly found a gas station, and called the Airbnb host for directions to park. Being hangry and tired we were both in bad moods at this point, but our Airbnb was nice and Greg was able to find a restaurant right down from the apartment that made the specialty fried fish of the southern region and there was no one else in line so we got the food right away! After eating we were feeling much better and had a good laugh about our insane driving experience. Possibly due to jetlag, possibly due to pregnancy, I was feeling truly exhausted. We'd planned to get up at 5 the next morning, drive an hour to Tarifa, and take a ferry to Morocco. Since we would only have about 5 hours in Morocco we decided it wasn't worth the travel time and lack of sleep so we canceled our ferry tickets. Since we were so close to departure, they were going to keep 3% of the payment which was fine, but then because the conversion had changed in our favour since we originally bought the tickets, we ended up making $6 off of cancelling! We were sad to miss out on Morocco, but we'll have it to enjoy another time. After a great, long night of sleep, we headed to the beach. The water was freezing but the beach was absolutely beautiful!
After packing up, we drove to our next stop in Tarifa. We checked in to our little hotel and then drove to Gibraltar. Driving along the southern coast of Spain was beautiful of course, but also it was so cool because we could see Africa in the distance! I felt pretty disappointed again that we'd cancelled on Morocco, but still felt it was a good decision. We got to just outside Gibraltar and then worried about where to park. We didn't want to drive into Gibraltar and pay money for that when walking across the border is free. Fortunately, parking garages in this part of Spain are crazy cheap. I think we paid like $2 for the whole time we were in Gibraltar. It was pretty bizarre to walk through passport security and then come out the other side and hear British accents everywhere all of a sudden. There's a cool castle way up at the top of the rock that we wanted to check out but thanks to some (a lot of) construction, the most direct route up was closed so after walking a few of those steep switchbacks in the heat, we decided that seeing the top of the castle was good enough for us haha.
So we walked back down into the little town, enjoyed seeing Africa in the distance, and grabbed some fish and chips. It was seriously so strange hearing people rambling in Spanish and then switch to English and back again, but I loved it! We needed to hit the grocery store before it closed on our way back to Tarifa, so we made our way back and then loaded up on some of Greg's favourite Spanish snacks and drinks before calling it a day.
The next morning we wanted to stop at a bakery for some pastries before heading to Ronda, but in typical Spanish fashion, they weren't open an hour after they said their opening time was which was fairly disappointing. But don't worry, that wasn't the only time our food plans were spoiled by Spain's hours!
After packing up, we drove to our next stop in Tarifa. We checked in to our little hotel and then drove to Gibraltar. Driving along the southern coast of Spain was beautiful of course, but also it was so cool because we could see Africa in the distance! I felt pretty disappointed again that we'd cancelled on Morocco, but still felt it was a good decision. We got to just outside Gibraltar and then worried about where to park. We didn't want to drive into Gibraltar and pay money for that when walking across the border is free. Fortunately, parking garages in this part of Spain are crazy cheap. I think we paid like $2 for the whole time we were in Gibraltar. It was pretty bizarre to walk through passport security and then come out the other side and hear British accents everywhere all of a sudden. There's a cool castle way up at the top of the rock that we wanted to check out but thanks to some (a lot of) construction, the most direct route up was closed so after walking a few of those steep switchbacks in the heat, we decided that seeing the top of the castle was good enough for us haha.
So we walked back down into the little town, enjoyed seeing Africa in the distance, and grabbed some fish and chips. It was seriously so strange hearing people rambling in Spanish and then switch to English and back again, but I loved it! We needed to hit the grocery store before it closed on our way back to Tarifa, so we made our way back and then loaded up on some of Greg's favourite Spanish snacks and drinks before calling it a day.
The next morning we wanted to stop at a bakery for some pastries before heading to Ronda, but in typical Spanish fashion, they weren't open an hour after they said their opening time was which was fairly disappointing. But don't worry, that wasn't the only time our food plans were spoiled by Spain's hours!
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