Welcome back friends. In the previous blog we dove into the history of Motril’s sugar production, visited a rum factory, finished some boat projects and explored the old town of Salobreña. But now the time had come to move on.
We had spend three months in Morocco during the 2020 covid lockdown (https://www.twobatsea.com/tangier-morocco-1/) and would like to return to explore more of this fascinating country, now that there are no travel restrictions. On the 25th of May a weather window opened with Easterly winds that could blow us through the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier.
Passing the rock of Gibraltar with a clearly recognisable “Levante cloud”. This cloud forms when the humid Easterly winds, coming from the Levant, are pushed up against the mountain, thereby cooling down and forming that cloud. Westerly winds do not result in a cloud. The Atlantic is way cooler than the Med with dryer winds.
With about 300 ships crossings daily the Strait of Gibraltar is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The small green triangles pictured above are the AIS (Automatic Identification System) symbols for ships on our chart plotter. There is also increased radio traffic with ships informing each other about their intentions. We planned our trip well with a strong current (orange arrow) in our favour at the narrowest point of the strait, near Tarifa, where we crossed.
We were more confident now, manoeuvring our tiny plastic boat between those steel mammoths, than 4 years ago. I dare say we even enjoyed it! A few hours later we were safely docked in Tanja Marina. Clearing in was as fast and friendly as it was when we first arrived.
We rented a car to go and visit Ceuta, one of the Spanish enclaves in Morocco, the other one being Melilla that we visited by boat in 2020. Yes, we could have visited Ceuta by boat but the marina is a bit expensive.
We parked the car on the Moroccan side of the border, took out our foldable bicycles and crossed the border that was heavily guarded by border police on the Moroccan side. Frits was even picked out from the bushes when he went for a pee. Only a handful of police on the Spanish side. We were wondering who is actually stopping illegals from entering the enclave. Is Spain paying Morocco to keep its border safe?
Construction of the walls started in 962 by the Arabs. In the 1540s the Portuguese began building the Royal Walls as they are today including bastions, a navigable moat and a drawbridge. They remain largely intact, with the exception of some outworks
The outworks on top of the photo and outside the pink “circle” had to make way for urban development. Everything inside the circle is still in tact.
The Phoenicians realised that the extremely narrow isthmus joining the Peninsula to the African mainland made Ceuta eminently defensible and established a trading post there around 1000 BC. After Carthage’s destruction in 146 BC the area became part of the Roman empire.
The Greeks identified the site as the location where the Southern pilar of Hercules once the stood on Monte Hacho. The second and Northern pilar stood on what is now Gibraltar. According to the legend, Hercules pushed apart the two mountains and created a link between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
During the Arab conquest of the Magreb, the Berbers took control over what they called “Septa” based on the seven “peaks” on Monte Hacho. This name slowly corrupted to Ceuta in Spanish. The Moroccans still refer to the Berber name “Septa”.
The city fell under Portuguese control in 1415, and the successful capture of Septa marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire. In fact it marked the beginning of European empire building and colonisation.
The Byzantines already built fortifications on top of Monte Hacho but in the 1770’s the Spanish expanded Fortaleza de Hacho and integrated some of Monte Hacho’s existing medieval fortifications, which account for the towers that stud the fort’s curtain walls. The fort never saw battle.
Spanish customs and Guardia Civil showed little interest when we crossed the border back into Morocco, but on the Moroccan side we had our bags searched. The customs officer showed particular interest in the Lonely Planet guidebook of Morocco. He leafed through the book and suddenly walked off, probably to his superior. Upon return and with angry voice he said that Western Sahara was Morocco and not Western Sahara. I politely replied that the book was titled Morocco and that Western Sahara was inclusive of Morocco, just like the Magreb and other areas. I tried only once because we have learned it is fruitless to reason with Government personnel. He disagreed and tore the Western Sahara chapter out of the book and returned the rest to us. We hope he had a good night sleep thinking his country is a little safer now (LOL).
For those unfamiliar with the Western Sahara; after the Spanish withdrew from North Africa they left control of the territory to a joint administration by Morocco and Mauritania. At present most of the territory is under Moroccan control but the Sahrawi people want their own independent state in the South of the territory.
In our next blog we will visit Chefchaouen, also known as the blue city and a major tourist attraction in the Rif mountains.
We hope you enjoyed the read and see you next time, Liza and Frits.