I was glad to get out for one last cycle ride with Marianne before she moved back to Scotland. Our timing was perfect to see the fields in full bloom and the weather was pretty decent. We cycled from school, through the dunes up to Keukenhof (the famous gardens), then back down to Noordwijk where we caught a train back to The Hague. Not the usual long-distance ride that we tend to do, but still a great time.
We met up with Marianne’s family to head to Noordwijk to see the start of the Bloemencorso, the Flower Parade, that travels 25 miles from Noordwijk to Haarlem. This year’s theme was Journey Through Europe, which has led to the best floats we’ve seen over the years. The parade started with kids on decorated bikes; our favorite was the Iceland volcano.
As usual, I dragged the kids into a few of the churches in Marbella. This one especially stood out as it’s the first we’ve seen with TV screens behind the columns. Somehow it seems hypocritical to demand silence when there’s TVs involved.
While it wasn’t exactly beach weather, the kids didn’t let that stop them from playing in the sand. Nor did it stop Ashlynn from getting completely soaked. We were all sad to see the great week come to an end and were even sadder that we all managed to come home ill.
Our flight back to Holland wasn’t until evening, so we had one last day to explore the Costa del Sol. We drove into the quaint town of Marbella. We walked along the oceanfront and through a promenade filled with sculptures by Spanish artist Salvador Dali leading into the old city center of Moorish alleyways. Here the kids are enjoying a 3-course lunch in the main square. It’ll be hard switching back to sandwiches after all those excellent Spanish lunches.
Jimmy didn’t belay the whole day as he also got to do some climbing. After they each climbed this rock face twice, it was time to move onto another location.
Can you spot Ashlynn? She’s the blue dot just about in the center of this photo. They didn’t actually climb all the way up this rock, but managed to get pretty high as advanced beginners. While they were busy being daredevils, I went into a small mountain town with Sally’s family for a nice lunch and to stop at an aloe vera farm.
Despite the exceptionally late return from Morocco, Jimmy was able to get the girls up early the next morning to go rock climbing. He hired a British rock climbing instructor who met them at the climbing school to get them geared up. She took turns climbing with the girls while James belayed.
No surprise, but the girls had no fear on their first outing to climb on real rocks. They had complete faith in the equipment and really liked the instructor. They were disappointed that the boys weren’t able to come along, but didn’t let that stop them from having a great day.
Unfortunately, our 5pm fast ferry turned into a 10:30pm slow ferry without dinner. Lucky for us, all four kids are generally good natured and just shrugged it off. While David,Veronica, Sally and John managed to get couches to lay on, Ashlynn, Andrew, James and I slept in chairs. To complicate matters, the ferry took us to a different port than where our cars were parked, so we didn’t get back to the villa until after 3am!
The shopkeepers were very polite, but there were several hawkers that followed us around trying to sell us bracelets and wooden animals. Poor Sally had a horrible time getting away from this persistent hawker. Unfortunately, his obnoxiousness paid off because Ashlynn couldn’t find a better wooden camel.
Our original plan was to tour Tangier until 5pm, then jump on the fast ferry back to Spain. Mother Nature, however, had other plans as her winds were kicking up and the fast ferry was cancelled for the night. Rather than having to wait for several hours at the ferry terminal, we were brought to a nice hotel to hang out and await updates from Said.
Next we ventured into the Medina, Tangier’s shopping area, which is also a maze of narrow alley ways free of cars and bikes. Our stop for lunch was at a local’s restaurant, but as we were the only ones there, it didn’t seem very local. Regardless, the food was excellent, especially the chicken covered in a sweet pastry dough. After visiting an indoor food market, our tour guide dragged us to several crafts cooperatives and a supposedly government-run spice shop. No surprise, but we preferred to wander the little shops on our own.
After the camel rides, we stopped by the Cave of Hercules that has an opening in the shape of the continent of Africa, which was supposedly carved before maps. Then it was time to get out of the van and start walking through the Kasbah, the residential district in the old city center. Here we had a few prearranged stops with some dancers (sorry, no belly dancers on this visit) and a snake charmer (who wasn’t very charming). The viper made a very quick appearance, then the kids each got to pose with a snake around their neck. Sally was especially excited as she’d never touched a snake before.
We thought that the Kasbah was the shopping area, but our tour guide said that the old residential area is actually the Kasbah. The alleys were very narrow and we were glad to have a guide along to navigate. While he said that some areas have no power or running water, it was clear that others had electricity based on the high number of satellite dishes.
No tour of Tangier is complete without a camel ride. The kids sure were surprised. The girls were especially excited when they learned they got to ride the mother of the 4-month-old, who happily tagged along.
James and I had to wait for the next round, which gave us plenty of time to take photos and shoot some video. We were especially happy not to have to wait for a bus load full of tourists to each take their turn.
No doubt, the trickiest part of riding on a camel is the mount and dismount. When they bend their knees, you’re really thrown forward so far that you think you’re going to fall off just before you’re jerked back upright.
It’s definitely not the most comfortable way to ride (or ladylike when wearing a skirt), but it was fun.
Since there was eight of us, it made sense to book a private tour to Tangier, Morocco rather than be part of a big bus tour. We met the tour organizer Said at the ferry from Tarifa, Spain (which just happens to be the most southern point of continental Europe) to Tangier, Morocco. In just 45 minutes, we were stepping off the windblown ferry and stepping on African soil for the first time.
One of Said’s “brothers” was our tour guide for the day. For the first part of the day we were driven around in a very nice mini-bus. We drove past the area called California and to the coast for several view stops, which were lovely.
Although none of us have any desire to ever watch a bullfight, we were happy that Ronda’s bullring is open for visitors when there’s no event. It was built in 1785 as Spain’s first purpose-built bullring. While Sally and I wandered through the museum, the kids filmed another scene for their movie. We ate dinner back at the house, then jumped a fence onto the golf course to play light-up Frisbee in a space between the greens--the kid’s Ultimate Frisbee coach would have been proud.
