The Crossing
When an opportunity arises to fulfil one of your unstated lifetime dreams, the answer is YES!
Unbeknownst to Malcolm, Susanne has had a longtime dream of being at the intersection of Africa and Europe, and the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Making the crossing. Malcolm discovered this while we were planning the trip and we made it a centerpiece of our experience.
As we left Morocco on the ferry, headed to Tarifa in Spain, we were excited to be in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar. We've been on lots of ferries and this one was different. Our souls were filled with a spiritual understanding for all who had passed this way. Headed north, south, east or west. Our thoughts to sailors heading out to sea on a flat earth. This strait has seen the rise and fall of nations and civilizations. It has carried the likes of Christopher Columbus. For the Phoenicians, it was the end of the earth. It is truly a special place and our hearts felt it. As ferry rides go, it seemed kind of common. As they go for us, we were riding on a cloud and emotionally so high.
As we disembarked on the other side at Tarifa, we were about 30 miles from Gibraltar. We cleared through immigration and headed outside with our stuff. It was noon. We had a 3:00 pm bus to Cadiz, so we took a cab to the bus station. As we were standing there and after we gathered our wits, we were at the place we needed, only then did we realize, we have 3 hours. What better thing to do than to go see the Rock! A wonderful cab driver drove up. He spoke enough English to communicate with these two souls. We asked how much would it cost to go close enough to Gibraltar to see the Rock of Gibraltar. He gave us a number and we said let's go. A beautiful drive of about 20 kilometers while we talked the whole way. He has lived all his life in Tarifa and loves being a taxi driver because of all the people he meets. We talked about his wife and kids. And then we reached a viewpoint where we could see the Rock. We got out and took pictures and as usual, pictures can't do it justice. It was shaded in some clouds and the angle is different than you would see from the sea. Our driver was running all over looking for the best place to take pictures. He was a saint.
As he drove us back to our bus station, about 10 kilometers outside of town, he reached up and turned off the meter. He was so excited to see the our spirits raised by the Rock that he just shut it down. He dropped us off at the bus station and we shared hugs and said goodbye. I can't remember the last time we hugged our cab driver.
We still had over an hour and decided to catch some lunch. There was a tapas restaurant across the street from the station and we took a seat at the outside tables, with our bags thrown against the wall and at our feet. We proceeded to have a few Tinto de Veranos and some of the best tapas we could find.
Our bus showed up and we headed to Cadiz.
After three wines each we were in love with Tarifa and wanted to stay. But the bus to Cadiz was calling and we had to go. We enjoyed the ride through the marshlands on the southwestern edge of Spain.
Just north of Cadiz, as we rolled along in the bus, we looked at the beach just west of the highway. We saw what we thought at first was a swarm of birds. But they were actually kite-surfers. If you zoom in on the picture above, you'll see that each of those little specs is actually a kite, tied to a person on a small surfboard that was being thrown around so effortlessly. I believe this is one of the premier spots in the world for kite-surfing and today was no exception.
What an awesome day!
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