Arrival to Africa - From Ceuta to Fez

You can’t really call that a comfortable sleep but when the sun woke us we discovered what seemed a nice view in the night was absolutely breathtaking in the daylight – try getting a room with a better view and not paying a penny for the night, you’d get arrested ;)

Since it was a really nice morning, before we drove towards the Moroccan border we went off to explore Ceuta a bit. It’s a strange place – a thoroughly European city, an integral part of Spain, but situated on the African land. When navigating its narrow, winding streets we suddenly came to a halt... There was a large family of peacocks in the middle of the street! Those birds are definitely not something you’d expect on a sharp bend of the road anywhere in Europe, so we gazed at them in amazement and took some photos of this phenomenon.

The real adventure had begun when we attempted to cross into Morocco. Absolute CHAOS. Cars honking, parking in the middle blocking the road, people running to queue in front of border checkpoints to get a stamp in their passport, others shouting at each other, “official” guides offering their help for a “small fee”, some even try to sell forms that one can get free in the booths. Try to be smart and understand what is going on... when everybody speaks fluently French and Arabic but almost no English. We have run into problems with car registration documents – luckily we had the original sales receipt. 2 hours of negotiations, £10 lighter, with our passports finally stamped and car papers approved, having even been tested for swine flu, we finally crossed the border. Oh welcome adventure As we moved towards Fez the weather started to change, it started raining.... France and the UK were absolutely packed with snow now but here it was far too hot to snow. The further we went the worse it was getting - some streets in the cities and villages were under water, some have literally been washed away and gaps had to be filled with rock and stones. It was an absolutely gruelling journey - small roads winding in the valleys with pot holes filled with water so much that you stop noticing them, having the car battered with rain, having to overtake slow lorries not seeing much even having the wipers going on the fastest setting. We arrived to Fez absolutely exhausted - we were just thinking about a hot shower and a bed. Led by good experiences from Asia, we brought a Lonely Planet guide with us to Morocco. It claimed you could easily get a basic room for 120 Dirham (£10). Nope – the best we were offered for that price was a rooftop “pigeon-house” with a bed in it. We decided to stop in a small hotel in Fez’s Medina (old town), where for 170 Dirham even a hot shower was included in the price (which often may not be the case – it not always is free OR hot).

Our photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/106661203325099532399/1ArrivalToAfricaFromCeutaToFez#