Andalucia 2022 (3/9) – Ceuta & Algeciras: Day Trip to Africa

1. Introduction
2. Sevilla: Cool Before Dorne Was Cool
3. Ceuta & Algeciras: Day Trip to Africa
4. Cordoba: Capital of a Caliphate
5. Granada: Memories of a K-Drama
6. Malaga: Bonus Content Day
7. Stuff We Ate
8. Stuff We Drank
9. Uncategorized Thoughts

Ceuta

This tiny city is one of Spain’s two enclaves in North Africa. I first learned about it in Johnny Harris’s Borders episode titled “Europe’s most fortified border is in Africa“. It taught me a lot about geopolitics and humanitarian issues, and the idea of “EU in Africa” really caught my attention. Then, as our trip planning shifted focus to Southern Spain, I learned that it was easy to visit such a place. Via a one-hour ferry (or a 10-minute helicopter ride), we could sail across the Strait of Gibraltar from one continent to another. The physical experience probably wouldn’t differ much from Bainbridge Ferry in Seattle… but the awesomeness factor, though, was at a different level.

It did feel awkward, though, to think about a major former colonial power still owning pieces of land within another country such as Morocco. Not only that, it poured a lot of resources into securing this border to prevent migrants from crossing through Morocco and getting into Spain. So… random Americans on vacation could take a leisure boat ride to this place, but refugees fleeing terrorists were kept out with barbwire, water cannon, and bullets… chilling thought about privilege…

Legend had it that Europe and Africa used to be a single land mass. Hercules split them apart and created the path connecting the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. One of these “pillars of Hercules” was Ceuta, and the other was Gibraltar, UK’s enclave in Spain directly north of Ceuta. It’s rather ironic how Spain gained one pillar (Ceuta) in the 17th century and immediately lost the other (Gibraltar) less than a hundred years later.

The ferry to Ceuta took merely an hour from Algeciras, and there were three operators providing frequent service. Although it went from one Spanish territory to another, though, somehow there was passport control in both directions. Our boat was spacious and fairly comfortable, although it got pretty choppy when we got into the open ocean. Hong and Ting got sea sick.

Ceuta was a fairly modest beach town, but there were neat tourist attractions worth spending a few hours checking out. Hong even did some downtown shopping and got herself a dress! Do you have an outfit from the continent of Africa? At the end of the day, we covered all of the top attractions found on TripAdvisor within a few leisure hours. My favorite – for which I don’t think major travel sites do enough justice – were the royal walls. It was a large, fairly complete and well maintained fortification separating the Ceuta peninsula from the African mainland, that came with some nice explanation of the city defense innovations in the 16th century.

Algeciras

To get to Ceuta, we had to board the ferry from Algeciras, a busy port city that was not at all a popular tourist destination. A quick glance at its Wikitravel page explains it all. The article begins with:

Most travellers come to Algeciras for its numerous ferry connections to Morocco and don’t spend more than a few hours in the city. A shame, given the town’s quiet charm.

But scrolling slightly down the page, there are a total of 16 words under “get around”, “see”, and “do” sections combined… so is there anything worth spending time on, or not?

While I wouldn’t recommend going out of the way to visit Algeciras, reachable only via slow regional train, we did in fact enjoy our stay quite a bit. Because there were virtually no tourist in town (I tried and could not find a single souvenir store), we were able to walk around and witness how locals lived their lives. We walked by a party Friday night where dozens of people were dancing in the street, experienced the most vibrant produce market where folks did their weekend shopping, and saw a wedding. In this city there were also fewer people speaking English, giving Hong the opportunity to have more in-depth Spanish conversations.

Beyond the things to see and do, we also enjoyed some of the most memorable meals here in Algeciras. We went with two of the hotel’s recommendations and had excellent food among locals. The first one was Las Duelas. Its expansive outdoor seating was fully booked up at 10pm, and we were offered the remaining bar space inside. Their grilled octopus leg was by far the most excellent out of the half dozen we ate in Spain, and their eggplant-garlic sauce that came with the croquet was worth licking the plate. The three waiters, while extremely busy, were full of positive energy and had nonstop conversation with one another and with other patrons. Although I didn’t understand any of it, seeing their interactions put me in a wonderful mood. The kids loved sitting at the bar and were fascinated watching the bartenders pour beer out of the tap. The next night we went to Taperia Lola and got the last table in a narrow alley. Around us were nicely dressed people going out with friends, as well as little children playing right outside their homes.

Algeciras reminded us a lot of Genova. Both were non-touristy and gritty cargo port cities with lots of hills. Both had large Muslim immigrant populations. We even bought doner kebab to eat at the hotel in both cities.

Hotel

Hotel Octavio, apparently already among the nicest in town, was a no-frills place providing comfortable accommodation. It was steps away from the train station and half a mile from the ferry terminal, logistically more efficient than most airport hotels you can find. The two ladies working on the dining car on our train checked in here right after we did. While super plain, the “family room” we got was a spacious two-bedroom suite with four full beds. The kids, who haven’t been spoiled to a point of demanding luxury, considered this one of their favorite hotels.