The alarm clock rang at 6 o’clock this morning. We left the hotel at half past eight and drove to the ferry port in Tarifa.
Despite the strong wind and pleasant, fresh temperatures, we arrived at our destination feeling relaxed.
It wasn’t particularly far and it went very well. We were there at 10:20 am. We looked around to see where we had to get on the ferry later. We booked the trip at 2 pm.
The nice lady at the harbor said we could change our ticket and take the 11 am ferry.
As we wanted to get some cash from the ATM first, we drove back into town. But we actually managed to catch the 11 a.m. ferry. Perfect for us, it saved us time.
While we were waiting to get on the ferry, Alex had a chat with the gentleman in the background. He has been touring Europe on his Harley. Now he’s going home. To Rabat/Morocco. He gave us tips on where it’s nice to go. Big cities like Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh are far too expensive and there is far too much tourism. He advised us to accept offers from people in the country who would like to invite us to eat or even sleep with them. We talked about the problems of traveling in Morocco and safety. He said he is a policeman from Rabat and knows that nothing will happen to us and we will certainly not have any problems with the police, customs or others. He gave us the tip to get a prepaid card from INWI.
A very nice person.
Boarding the ferry went without any further problems. We showed our tickets in advance and that was that. The motorcycles were well secured so that they wouldn’t fall over.
The escort boat takes us out of the port of Tarifa.
During the one-hour crossing, passport control was carried out on board and the vehicles were approved for import into Morocco.
We were the last to leave the ferry. Everything went without a hitch.
Then we went through customs control.
The customs officers were calm and we were patient. Alex had attached his GoPro to his helmet. The officials wanted to know what exactly was being filmed to make sure that we weren’t filming the border or the officials.
This time we were lucky that the GoPro didn’t always do what we wanted. It didn’t want to start properly. The officer was probably taking too long so he let Alex start the GoPro in peace. What he didn’t know was that because Alex had forgotten to film the driveway, he then filmed the exit. By the time the officer came back, Alex had enough time to delete the video.
Another officer happened to see pictures of our children in Alex’s wallet. The men immediately struck up a conversation and made small talk.
The customs dog had probably sniffed out something on me. I was asked several times if I had a drone with me. Finally, the officer wanted to have a look in my suitcase. However, after a quick look in one of the three suitcases, everything was done.
So everything went well and the men at the border were all very nice.
We drove on and after just a few meters, several people came running towards us, waving something wildly in their hands.
Alex immediately noticed that they were selling prepaid cards from INWI. So now we have an unlimited prepaid card for 4 weeks for €50. Let’s see if that’s really true.
When we asked if we could exchange money somewhere here, the young people from INWI wanted to give us black change at a bad rate. We declined with thanks and preferred to go to the exchange office next door.
After we got back to the motorcycles, the man who had sold us the prepaid card gave us his name and phone number in case we ever needed help. Thanks for that!
These Moroccan stickers for the suitcases are a must.
Good for the seller, probably bad for us, but we took these stickers for 5 instead of 8 euros.
A few kilometers from Tangier, we decided to spend the night in a hotel, arrive and discuss what to do next.
A short visit to the beach is a must.
Unfortunately, not a nice place for everyone.
And a short walk through the town.
As almost no alcohol is served in Morocco, we are looking for a “beer” substitute.
Do you remember those fizzy sweets with apple filling from the old days?
This apple drink here tastes just like those sweets. The sweets were delicious back then but we’ll never order the drink again.
It is said that the muezzin calls to prayer 5 times a day. We are excited.
In the evening, we had a delicious dinner at the hotel, including Moroccan beer. What an irony!
