January 8, 2004

Tangier to Granada, Spain

We left Tangier this morning for Spain. As we hauled our luggage up the stairs to the ferry station, I think some of the girls wished they had not packed quite so much. The ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar was filled with beautiful scenery - mountains of Morocco looming in shadows of early morning and clouds looming just off to the east. At one point, you could see both the coasts of Morocco and Spain from the ferry. We also passed both sides of the Rock of Gibraltar, where Europe and Africa split.

We spent the next five hours on a bus to Granada. With the Sierra Nevada mountain range to our right, we drove past





 

miles of rolling foothills covered with olive trees. The rows of trees created a geometric patterning effect that was amazing.

In Granada, we went on a walking tour of the city and saw the cathedral (once a mosque) lit up at night. There were many interesting characters in the square in front of the church: several guitarists and a pair of guys doing a sort of vocal jazz improvisation. After dinner, we found more music in a "tapas" bar. Ten of us went out to a small local place and soon found ourselves being serenaded by a guitar player