My Travels Through Spain

I don’t know about you, but I always find that one of the most exciting things about travelling is the impromptu extra trips you decide to go on at the last minute. Last year during our family holiday to Spain, we realised that a few days into our ten day holiday, we’d seen and done almost everything we’d planned to do, and we were wondering how we’d fill the rest of our stay. Someone at the hotel told us we could get a ferry from the Costa del Sol to Morocco, so we decided to jump at the chance to see another country.

The easiest route to take is from Algeciras to Tangier on the north coast of Morocco. This route takes just half an hour, and didn’t cost us more than €40 each. Our ferry tickets included a bus ride into Tangier from the port, meaning we could easily get into the town centre, and we’d already decided that we’d spend the afternoon in Tangier before catching a train down to Marrakech where we’d stay for a couple of days.

Fortunately our hotel in Spain hadn’t been expensive, so we decided to treat ourselves to a stay in a luxury riad in Marrakech. These are beautiful homes which were once owned by wealthy Moroccan families, and have a trademark layout with the home itself set around a central courtyard. Ours had a pretty little plunge pool to cool off during those hot Moroccan days, and space to eat lunch when we wanted to relax.

Morocco is vastly different to Spain, but we loved it nonetheless. The kids particularly loved the markets with their vast array of food, fabrics and amazing Moroccan souvenirs, and everyone was incredibly friendly. Jemaa El-Fnaa is the central square in Marrakech, and seems to be the hive of activity where most of the interesting characters congregate. In the early evening, the square fills with street performers and musicians, which the children loved.

It was also very interesting to go from a Christian to a Muslim country, as we were able to marvel at not only the cute little churches on the Costa del Sol, but also the incredible, intricate mosques of Marrakech. We’re all cultural buffs, even the little ones, so seeing the prevalence of these two religions made for a fascinating journey, and we even had time to squeeze in a little trip to some museums to brush up on our Moroccan history before we had to return to Spain for our flight home!