May 24, 2025
Today we say goodbye to Morocco and the continent of Africa! It has been an exciting and really fun first two and a half months to the trip. One of the parts I have enjoyed about the trip is that we planned each part so long ago that when we arrive it’s a bit of a surprise where we are staying and what we are doing. Morocco was no exception though any expectation we had was by far exceeded. It was a very busy nine days but a really great experience.
We had breakfast and said goodbye to the blue city. Lenny parted ways with his turtle and bug metal figurines that he dreamed of making into squirrel traps and we headed down the many flights of stairs to meet Abdul. After avoiding a herd of sheep suddenly crossing the road we began our drive to Tangier which was about 2.5 hours.
Ollie was thrilled with the drive time and immediately asked to start Harry Potter 4 but we held him off for an hour to listen to some music. We eventually started the audio book and this one is 20 hours long! We will have some driving in France but I don’t know if we will finish this one until Asia.
The drive continued to get greener as we went north. Kayleen and I both thought how wild it was to have such a diverse landscape in a country only the size of California. We eventually made it to Tangier and Abdul took as to two nice lookout points where we could see the Mediterranean meet the Atlantic. The boys enjoyed jumping on Abdul more than ever knowing that we were heading to Spain shortly. Lenny was especially pleased with his shoulder ride.
We had a quick lunch near the ferry terminal with the good luck of juggler preforming right in front of us as we waited for our food. It was too windy for Uno so this was really a big win for Kayleen and I. Ollie gave him some of our remaining Dirhams.
Abdul picked us up to get us to the ferry for our 3PM boat but before that Ollie needed to use the bathroom, #2. We went upstairs to a not so nice restaurant bathroom. After 5 minutes he yelled to me that there was no toilet paper. Sadly for me no one that worked at the restaurant spoke much english so I had to act out what I was looking for... I got it and we made it out to the car for our last drive in Morocco, only 2 minutes to the ferry. We said goodbye to Abdul and the boys gave him a big hug. Hopefully he will come to the US and we can show him around NYC one day as we promised we would.
Once we arrived to the ferry terminal we were told our 3PM boat was cancelled a month ago and it was now a 5PM boat. No emails or anything about the change but 2 hours is really not that bad after all the traveling thus far. The boys were thrilled to have their iPads and sit around for the extra time. Lenny in his trolling nature frequently reminded Kayleen that “this was a wavy boat” knowing her unpleasant history with sea sickness.
Fortunately the ride was only 45 minutes at sea and we all made it unscathed. We crossed a timezone line on our ride so it’s an hour later in Tarifa. The hotel was only a 7 minute walk from the ferry terminal so we cleared customs and were off. We did a quick unpacking and then headed out to dinner and to enjoy the sunshine. It doesn’t get dark till after 9:30PM here.
We found a restaurant down the road with a park outside and enjoyed letting the boys run while we ordered food and a glass of wine. There was a large window next to our table that Lenny loved entering and exiting the restaurant through. The boys came in to eat and play a game of Uno. Ollie crushed some ham croquettes and a few mussels while Lenny subsisted mostly on bread. Then we headed to a nearby gelato shop for desert where Lenny’s lack of hunger at dinner disappeared.
Then a nice walk back to the hotel, something we hope continues throughout our time in Europe. We are going to need to get on the Spain timeline of ending your day late in the evening and starting late in the morning. First breakfast is not till 8AM!
