A quick note: It seems like ages since I’ve written here. Back when I was actively traveling, I couldn’t keep up with writing about all the places I’d seen so I decided to wait until I was back ‘home’ to catch up on everything. Well, since I’ve been back it seems I’ve turned into a lazy slob…. when it comes to writing, anyway. While I travel, I have a sense of urgency to get everything down in writing before moving on. Without that sense of urgency, it would appear the lazy slobbery sets in. I still have a few more cities and experiences in Spain I’d like to share with you so I’ll try to be a bit more mindful about keeping up.
Thanks and now on to Tarifa.
Yours,
The Lazy Slob

Goodbye, Tangier…..
….hello, Strait of Gibraltar. That’s Europe on the left, Africa on the right.
Good morning, Tarifa.

Ah, if only it had been that simple! If only I hadn’t got screwed up on the time and missed the first ferry. But, honestly, it really is pretty easy to make your way from Africa to Europe by ferry here. However, by the time I finally caught the next available ferry, arrived in Tarifa, looked for and found my hostel and got settled in, all I could think about was getting something to eat! So, it wasn’t until the next morning that I went out to explore and took these pictures around Tarifa.
That’s Africa off in the distance with the sun rising beyond.
I so enjoyed that morning walk and made it a habit to do every day I was there. After the craziness of Morocco – some wonderful, some downright scary – this peaceful place was just what I needed.

I took a lot of pictures along the coast. I just couldn’t get enough of it. Being a California beach lover (who could never afford to live anywhere near the beach), I was determined to soak up as much of this beauty and the accompanying serenity as possible.

That’s a busy port on the north coast of Africa with the Atlas Mountains beyond. It was mind-boggling to me to be standing on one enormous continent and to look across a relatively small waterway to see another enormous continent. So cool!

A few morning companions (you can click on each picture to see them more distinctly).
It’s abandoned, can I move in? Can you imagine what it must have been like to live here……
….. and look out to this every day?
Tearing myself away from the shore, I went to explore the town.
I love the way the sky becomes a ‘jigsaw puzzle piece’ when juxtaposed against the building shapes.

The neighborhood watchdog….
….keeping an eye on things from the rooftop!

When I saw this row of houses (maybe rentals?) I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I could live here. I could just about make do.’ It would be lovely.

 

The local fish market just as it’s opening.

There’ll be more photos around town in my next post, but I couldn’t help being drawn back to the sea.
Just your random castle by the seashore.

Here we are….
…just me and my tremendously lovely toes (you thought I was going to say tremendously long toes, didn’t you?) enjoying the water of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Looking left (below) toward the Strait (which leads into the Mediterranean)……
…. then looking right at the last little remnant of the European continent – this jetty, beyond which is the Atlantic. Isn’t the rock strata beautiful?
Here’s a sort of overview of the whole thing – the Strait of Gibraltar to the left, the Atlantic to the right.
And here’s a little local map to let you know where you are!

So, of course, after sticking my feet in the water of the Strait, I had to wander over to the Atlantic to do the same….
…and passed by remnants of an old fort along the way.

I caught sight of one of the ferries that run between Tangier and Tarifa.

 

Such a beautiful color of water.

And, yes, here are my feet in the Atlantic.

The Atlantic coast of Spain.

As I said, in my next post there’ll be more pics of the town and there’ll be more pics of the ocean, too, because I couldn’t resist.
But no more pics of my feet.
I promise.