On to Barcelona

(Back from Spain.  We didn't have internet the last leg of the trip so I am post-trip blogging now) 

We depart for Barcelona tomorrow. Rota was a placid getaway, since it was in the off-season, the beaches were quiet and the overall area was pleasent to navigate. I managed to catch the sunset over the Atlantic each evening and it was spectacular.

Each night, we also managed to eat roasted chestnuts from the corner street vendor. The absolute best; people would just gather around the cart each night and wait for the chestnuts to finish roasting over the strange-looking (I think homemade) coal-fired, tube roaster.

Day 5: Gonzalez Byass

 I boarded a public bus this morning from Rota station to Jerez. It's about a 30 minute bus ride. Once I reached there, I basically walked around and decided to see what I could see. The city seemed more active than Rota.

I found my way to the Gonzalez Byass (better known as Tio Pepe), one of the largest and well-known bodegas in the region. As it turns out, Jerez makes up a third of the Sherry Triangle. The other two being Sanlucar and Santa Maria. For a wine to be designated as "sherry" it must come from the area within Sherry Triangle.  Overall, it was an interesting experience from the perspective of learning about sherry as well as figuring out how Spanish public transportation worked.  Day 4, I just hung out in Rota.  Caught up on some administration work and sleep.

Moroccan Tea

Overall, the trip to Tangier was a bit disappointing. Being Indian, most the sights and smells were not interesting nor appealing. However, I have to give props to their tea. Our tour guide brought us to a government subsidized arts/crafts place. While we were being given the spiel about how great the rugs are (I may be biased but Indian rugs are so much better) they served us their national drink, tea.

The tea was awesome as was their hospitality for offering it to us. It is a green tea (not like Japanese green tea) that is served warm with lots of fresh mint and sugar.

Market

These are some views of the market place in the Kasbah. Tangine pots, fresh fruits and dates. Overall, the industry in Tangier is hand crafts and tourism.

We hired a tour guide to show us around and it seemed he just had his usual tour route and "shopping" locations planned. Personally, I would prefer to roam around the market on my own.

Africa

Veiw of north Africa from the ferry. From a distance, it looks likes like the images and thoughts that I have romanticized about Africa.  However, Tangier was nothing like I imagined it. It felt just like being in India again.

Day 3: Tangier, Morocco

Day 3: We started with an early morning (left Rota at 6am) road trip to Tarifa. These pics were taken at day break from the car. There are wind-turbines and solar panels everywhere around this part of Spain. The plan was to get to Tarifa for the 9am ferry to Tangier, Morocco.

End of Day 2

Day 2 ends back in Rota, watching another beautiful sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. This was taken outside of Ruta 66 Bar.