Travelin' Road Show

Friday, May 30, 2014

Friday May 30th, Cueta

Friday May 30th, Cueta

Rock of Gibraltar - Early morning

Mt Cueta

Downtoen Cueta early.

Beautiful backdrop for the city

More downtown

View across the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean

"Soota" is the correct pronunciation, apparently. As we sailed into Cueta (which is a Spanish enclave on the African side of the straights) early this morning we were really excited to see the rock of Gibraltar across the straights pf Gibraltar which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean sea. What a beautiful sight. As legend has it Hercules stood on the two rocks (Gibraltar and Mt. Cueta) and pushed the continents apart. When we docked Cueta, we disembarked and wandered into town, opting to go it alone today rather than an organized tour. Easy walk into town and we strolled around window shopping and generally seeking out the local sights. The central market, cathedral, town hall, Spanish legion museum etc. We wandered along the road besides the Ribera beach...a beautifully pristine sand with great photo ops and views. We tagged on to the back end of the city walking tour for a few minutes and then found a suitable cafe for a cafe-con-leches. Then on to Macdonald's for the free WiFi...and a beer!!!! Just because we could!!! Decided we would get some "contraband " for the ship and brought it on-board before going back into town. We returned into town to go to a street festival with tapas, bars, music etc. .. packed and fun. In the middle of the crowd we spotted Chris and Tracey and Lucy parked in one of the open air bars; we joined them and indulged in a few sangria and Grand reserve Cruzcampo beers, chatting and laughing and people watching. We tottered to the shuttle to get back to the ship with just 30 minutes to spare. Much laughter and silliness on the way back.

The Med-side view of Mt Cueta

Outside Spanish Legion Museum

Leaving port was very memorable as we sailed west through the Straits of Gibraltar. The sun beaming down on the rock, in a crystal clear evening. We were told that often the rock is in cloud so this was even more enjoyable. After dinner we went to watch a Celine Dion impersonator/entertainer, not a bad singer but rather cheesy impersonating even her accent when she spoke. Then on to join Sammy's music trivia game in the casino bar. Hee hee hee!! we won a bottle of Champagne, (we were second but the winners had won earlier and declined their second bottle! Very nice of them.) What a great end to a lovely day. We really enjoyed Cueta, its quite a modern small town with that Moroccan Spanish mix and a young but mature crowd. Pretty Chic and lots of fun.

Cathedral Santa Maria de la Asuncion

Inside Cathedral

Ceiling in Cathedral

Statue of Hercules

See our BEER on the counter!!!

Derek helping Hercules

Nice man offered to take our photo

Cheers Derek and Chris

Fun street festival

Lucie and Tracy

Rock of Gibraltar in the background (on Balcony)

Handsome guy and Gibratar

Lovely lady (wearing her Moroccan necklace)

Leaving Cueta and the African continent!!!!

Mt Cueta as we sail away

Europe bound - 2 sea days ahead

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Thur May 29th 2014 - Casablanca & Rabat, Morocco

Thur May 29th 2014 - Casablanca & Rabat, Morocco

Typical Morocco many many minarets

What a fabulous day. Other than a strange beginning. We were told that our clocks were to be set one hour back last night.. it was in the news letter with reminders on our bed ... but at 6am the Captain came on and announced that they did not in fact change. Janice happened to be up (at what she thought was 5:45 but it turned out to be 6:45) So we had only 45 minutes to get up, ready, breakfast, ablutions and off on our pre-arranged tour.... The announcement was only in the hall and anyone who was not yet awake would not hear it... hence panic was the order of the morning for many folk on the ship. We were fine, but wondering about a captain who couldn't get the time zones right... LOL.

The old and the new

Minarets call to prayer heard during the day

Army, Police and Palace guard outside Palace

Outside Palace gate..

Derek balancing column on head!! Palace

Our guide Niame

Ancient walls near Chellah

Entering Chellah

Anyway we were lucky to get great seats on the bus and a lovely tour guide, Niame. She gave us quite a good overview of Moroccan history, language and culture as we drove through Casablanca for the one hour+ ride to the capital city Rabat. Arabic and French are the two most common languages. The population is mostly Berber, who are more conservative that the Arab Moroccans, but they seem to live in great harmony and we saw that women wore a mixture of modern and traditions clothes, some with scarves, some without... their choice. The current King, Mohammed 6th and his wife Lalla Salma are very modern in approach and are big supporters of women and equality. The monarchy is very popular here. In Rabat we were taken first to the Royal Palace for a photo op. Turned out to be an event when a police officer started to get his knickers in a twist about one of the people on the tour taking photos in the wrong place and then he started on our tour guide asking her for her I.D. papers and causing quite a ruckus. One call into his radio brought a car and 4 'suits' emerged with dark sunglasses... things started to look a little tense.We were quite excited, but a little nervous. A few Aussies on the trip decided to start booing and heckling...which we felt may not have been the most intelligent thing to do in the circumstances in a very strict Muslim country... but all ended peacefully and we were allowed to leave once the young man had deleted the photos from his camera!!! One of the suits got on the bus and apologised and told us we were very welcome in Morocco. How nice! On to the Chellah Necropolis... a beautiful spot where the remains of a royal dynasty from the 14th century were buried. We saw huge numbers of storks nesting in the ruins and enjoyed a beautiful view across the river. There were roman ruins on the site too. On to King Mohamed 5th Mausoleum. What an amazing example of tile work and art. We were very impressed. Got a few photos inside and of the guards on horseback outside. Also next to the mausoleum, is the

Hassan Tower, the minaret of an incomplete red sandstone mosque. Begun in 1195, the tower was intended to be the largest minaret in the world along with the mosque, also intended to be the world's largest. In 1199, Sultan Yaoub al-Monsour died and construction on the mosque stopped. The tower is 140ft, about half of its intended height. Several walls and 200 columns were left unfinished.
Instead of stairs, the tower is ascended by ramps. The minaret's ramps would have allowed the muezzin to ride a horse to the top of the tower to issue the call to prayer.
It was intended to be one of the biggest covered prayer halls in the world, but the columns remain outside and uncovered adjacent to the minaret tower.

Storks nesting on old Minaret tower

The next stop was an old casbah were we got the chance to enjoy a real Moroccan mint tea... and some almond cookies... wonderful. We walked through the old quarters of the casbah and saw local people who had come to mourn a recent death. Our guide was wonderful and very informative. We returned to Casablanca and went shopping in a "government store" where the price was the price, no haggling and no pressure. Souvenirs, spices, Tangine cookbook, silver earrings and a 'Fatima hand" pendant were suitably acquired. Memories of Morocco (meaning sunset) include the beautiful Jacaranda tress and four vibrant colours of bougainvillea, stories about the Hammam baths and the benefits of Argane oil.

More storks

Ruins at the Necropolis at Chellah

Our guide gave us her favourite Tangine recipe and her favourite way of making mint tea as we drove back to Casablanca. We decided not to explore further as we only had a couple of hours left and were not in to being hassled by vendors anymore. A slice of good pizza and a cold beer were calling our name on the ship. We were very happy with the day and glad we took the tour, despite earlier disappointing experiences with the tours. Our group was a small and lively bunch. We are planning on having dinner and then taking in the show... a singer called Paul Fredericks... fingers crossed he is good.