On The Road To Morocco

To get to Morocco is an ordeal but very much worth it if you are into adventures!!! You literally do three countries in one day (UK, Spain, Morocco). We first tried to find the tourist office in Gibraltar who told us we had to go to a travel agent. She gave us a list of agents and off we went with our Map of Gibraltar. First agent we found would put us on a list for the tour but if not enough people signed up then the tour would be cancelled. We didn't like that option so we went to a second agent. Yes, she could book us on a tour for 59 Euros each. You get the Ferry from Gibraltar to Cueta, a Moroccan lunch and the English speaking guide. We booked for the next day. So the next morning we woke up early, caught a local bus to the Spanish border. You get off the bus, walk across the border to find a taxi...you are now in Spain again. You take a 20 minute ride to the Ferry Terminal, find the "Guide" who puts a sticker on you (now you are labeled a tourista), takes your passports, and tells you to wait here. We could tell we were the only Americans on the tour by the colors of the other passports. So our English speaking tour consists of Ahmad (the name of our guide) telling everyone else the tour in Spanish or French and then we get a revised version of that (it seemed it was a quarter of what he told everyone else). The ferry only took about a half hour, then we were herded off to the bus. We were a bit confused because we noticed all the signage was in Spanish but we thought we were in Morocco. We did learn that there is a small part of Northern Africa that is still owned by Spain. So the bus heads to Morocco but you have to go through Spanish Customs/Immigration AND Morocco Customs/Immigration. We were told that there were to be No photos until after both border passings and No photos of the policemen. No problem at the Spanish border but we were held for quite a while at the Moroccan border. Plus...we had a doctor board the bus and take EVERYBODY's temperatures. The only thing we could figure out was it had to do with the Swine Flu. I guess everyone passed and off we headed. They have many round-abouts and every single one has policemen there who stop cars at random. There are also the big red Moroccan flags at every round-about. John and I thought it was a bit much to have the policemen at every round-about but maybe they have a problem with drug trafficking and that works to keep it to a minimum. The countryside was beautiful...beaches everywhere and very mountainous elsewhere. Over an hour later we arrive at Tetouan.