Hola…..
Admin on May 31 2009 at 9:23 pm | Filed under: Culture, Travel
Anyone who has travelled with me will probably tell you that the one thing that can cause me a great deal of anxiety is a ferry…..yep, those little ones that cross the Zambezi, can’t stand them, bigger than that even worse!!!
But since arriving in Morocco we have travelled to Spain a few times and I have grown familiar (still not entirely comfortable) with the 45 minute ferry crossing from Tangier to Tarifa and no longer require a bottle of “Rescue Remedy” to do so!!! So on Thursday morning we packed ourselves into the car for the drive to Tangier and the “quick” crossingto Spain…
Ah, the gale force winds about an hour from Tangier should’ve been an indication of what was to come!!! All fast ferries cancelled due to the strong winds…what…but there is one, the big “slow boat”….three hours…how bad can it be???
Well with all indications for a not smooth crossing, we downed a few anti-nausea tablets and proceeded to board the slow boat with everyone else. The indication should’ve been when the crew were handing each passenger two or three sick bags. My whole family proceeded to pass out and were oblivious to the whole 2 ½ hours of what I can only describe as the most hair raising, terrifying ferry crossing ever!!! For me it is not good when you look out the one window and see water and look out the opposite window and see the sky, and the waves are going over the front. Hercules must have been having a bad day!!! I think we were the only ones not being sick, miraculously (thanks Valoid!!).
Anyhow, we all arrived safely and made our way up the coast with a quick shop to stock up on supplies and settle the stomachs! We headed up towards Coin, north of Marbella and beyond to a little finca (country house) in the hills of Andalucía between the two small towns of Yunquerra and Alozaina.
Sunrise over the valley
So here we are safely tucked away at our little finca, we have seen sunsets, sunrises, watched a Feria Parade in Coin, had a ninth birthday celebration and done our obligatory dash to check on the local medical facilities (never been to a doctor armed with a dictionary and phrasebook before!!)…
So all settled now, I should get onto posting some photo’s, festivals and hopefully some good food in the next few days……
Have a great week everyone……
[...] Ola….. [...]
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!
Oh no! I thought our last ferry ride was bad! We were so sea sick, but your trip sounds WAY worse! Did you all have a sick child? We know a really good hospital if you ever need one for future trips! (We had our third baby there and our son’s broken arm mended!)
Haha..it was indeed the ferry trip from hell!! Fortunately the return was all smooth sailing!! I ended up needing a doctor and luckily we were referred to the USP hospital in Marbella which was great. Will keep you in mind next time we head across though!!