We bought open ended tickets last night in Algecera, Spain and found ourselves in line for the 11am ferry to Tanger Med, Morocco the very next morning.
The tickets set us back about $200 roundtrip for our camper and five people.
Headed up to the second floor of the ferry.
Goodbye, Gibraltar. Goodbye, Spain. Goodbye, Europe. See you in a couple months!
Hello, Arica! Hello, Morocco!
Getting through customs wasn’t a big deal but it took some time. The first custom officer asked us if had a drone, which is illegal to bring into Morocco. We stored ours with friends in Spain and told him that we didn’t have one. The next officer asked us the same and then sent us to be scanned through a x-ray machine. After that, customs peeked into our van and created temporary import permit for the van that was valid for 6 months. As tourists, we are only allowed to stay 3 months max. I don’t think we will stay that long but you never know. After we were cleared from customs, we stopped at.the little buildings just past the gates to buy liability car insurance. Ours options were 97 euros for one month or 200 euros for 3 months. We opted for the latter.
All the signs in Morocco so far are in Arabic and French.
And the northern part of Morocco is sooooo GREEN! We didn’t research too much about the country so everything is so unexpected. I love when that happens.
We were sure of our first destination for the night but eventually decided that a city on the Atlantic coast was the right move for our family. We haven’t seen the Atlantic up close since the east coast of US and really missed seeing big waves.
Entering a new country and new continent can be a little intimating on the first day so we opted for a campground across from the beach in the town of Asilah. It was nice to be in a place where the camp host could help out with SIM cards and we could take hot showers after a week of free beach camping in Spain sans proper showers.
The kids were excited to see cats everywhere and play with little kittens as well.
The campground dog couldn’t resist cat treats and wouldn’t leave Ava alone. Ha.
We were thinking of only staying a night but ended up staying three. They charge about $9 for a camper with two people but with kids included, we ended up paying $11 a night.
Dan likes to make friends with the cats as well.
After a night’s rest, we walked into town and wandered the old walkways which are called medina here.
It was nice to get a taste of a new country and culture in a smaller sized city.
Feeling proud of our accomplishments. We drove to Africa! Something that never crossed our minds before as a possibility.
Taking in a the new sights, smells and sounds.
Beautiful rugs and textiles.
Headed back to camp.
Kids are SUPER excited to try out their new boogie boards. They had their own before, always had to share before this moment.
Luka all in blue, just like the campground.
The ran to water and jumped right in.
And caught waves, over and over again.
So nice to see tidal changes again! There is barely any change inside of the Mediterranean Sea.
Not the right place or waves for Dan to surf but he will get his turn eventually.
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Our initial thought was to head down the coast but we decided that it would be smarter to head inland first since it’s getting warmer everyday and waiting to see the Sahara Desert wasn’t the best idea.
So we are packing up the van with a rough plan. Our next stop will be the Blue City of Chefchaouen, Morocco.
Here is a couple videos Dan put together. Enojy!
Thanks for following along,
Marlene
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