1) How to get from FARO to TARIFA (it’s actually better to start from Jerez or Malaga)
1st take a bus to SEVILLA
- take bus (eva-bus.com) from FARO city (not the Huelga shuttle bus from the airport), busses go to PLAZA DE ARMAS in Sevilla (4 hours)
- transfer to PRADO SAN SEBASTIAN by taxi (less than 10 EUR)
2nd take a LA LINEA headed bus from PRADO SAN SEBASTIAN which goes to TARIFA (4 hours or longer), late night arrival is no problem
2) FERRY TARIFA-TANGIER (it’s fun, but direct flights to TANGIER easy to find)
every two hours, 9am-7pm, 55 EUR round trip, cheap cigarettes, 40 minutes, get passport stamped and some Dirham on the way to TANGIER, rooms starting at 20 in TARIFA, late night arrival no problem, more expensive on weekend, Tarifa Pension Facundo II, +34-956684298, www.hostalfacundo.com)
Beach BELONIA 15 miles West of TARIFA said to be cool
3) MOROCCO
MOROCCO (rooms 5 to 10 EUR, real good food, CTM fairly convenient bus travel, great rides on Grand Taxi = old Mercedes 200s, either “tarif collective” “deux place in front” (best) oder “solo”); any French you speak helps, local dialect differs from Arabic, learn how to greet in arabic
raddan = tommorow, ashra = ten, wahed = 1, “sallem alekum” is followed by a “alekum sallam”, la = no, shukran = thanks, bsjenn = good, bjenn b’seff = very good
expect certain amount of hazzle (guides, shop owners, dope dealers, but only few really bad guys which then speak several languages), sometimes a guide is needed, strategies: accept guide if he looks okay, don’t follow to strange places (shop is okay), keep calm, always have a cigarette or few Dirham and pay only little if you really didn’t want him but couldn’t get rid of, in the end he’ll take it, don’t accept gifts (hash), say you have a ‘rendevouz’, therefore no time + smile, on Tangier’s beach streets it’s best not paying attention at all. don’t share a taxi with a bad guy. don’t believe that some other hotel is closed, Best strategy: make friends among the many good people wherever you are, right from the first minute, show trust (important), chat, introduce yourself, ask for their names, buy something, give a tip .. it’ll create instant protection
4) TANGIER / TANGER
Pension Valencia (right if you walk up Rue Portugal, close to CTM and port, +212-(0)39931299, some English, friendly staff, address: Rue Mokhtar Ahordan 22), excellent view from the roof!, okay rooms (6 to 8 EUR), TANGIER = best place to find alcohol, guys from street will get it for you for enough money or ask around, Grand Socco serves at a good place for orientation, Medina not too big, good if you have a trustworthy permanent guide for running errands and bringing you around
Usual SCAM: bringing you to a shitty restaurant for a 12 EUR menu, even if you’ve already spent some good time
5) CHEFCHOUEN (2008 )
nice rooftop chills, a bit too nice for my taste, don’t hang too long with the pot heads, and if so, find some cool ones. Lot of good rooms and roof tops, excellent food (soup, tagine, grilled brochettes) at a hidden small square if you find the stairs from the Placa, sort of opposite of Hotel Parador (take a taxi there from bus station which is out of town, 7 min). Hash dealers (pushy ones are really annoying) all around the place, so make it clear where you’re at, rather order some drinks at the hotel to satisfy the dealer/housekeeper. Nice rooms at the top of hotel Valencia (north of Plaza). Nice 4 hour trekk: Leave the medina through the western gate, where the spring/cascade is, follow the way to the white chapel (the 30 min walk every one does) but only go for two hundred meters, do so around 9.15 am in the morning, wait for the young boy who walks the goats, which then goes right uphill, very steep, rocky, between the two peeks, the boy is a good guide, the route will finally lead to the a main trekking steet back to the city (1 hour). Grand Taxis at Ville Neuville
6) FES
dusty, huge medina, cold at night, make your way to the hotel you want to, just keep walking, 400 mtr. from bus station, the earlier the better, both CASCADE or ERRAHA (unfriendly but safe) close to BabJaloud (babushlud), buy a guide (with a badge) if you want to explore the huge medina, 25 EUR a day + tip, will take you to the shops anyway, so tell them clearly right from the beginning to lessen it. If there’s no time to talk about what you want, don’t go. Taoufik Moussa (#212-74-31-12-36, moses_tufik at yahoo.de) took me around, speaks French and German only, but will have connections, newcomers might be more eager and less commission-minded
OUED LAOU (wedLá-u), east of TETOUAN, shanti beach town with mountain view, but not for ‘beach holiday’ (Mohamed being the local hustler), nice hotel “Oued Laou”, there might be a posse of Westerners in the restaurant (knock twice if closed), try to get a bicycle, Grand taxis from next to bus station, can’t miss it. Get there from TETOUAN by Grand Taxi (but not from Hamama), or from Chefchaouen (solo, roughly 200 Dirham more or less, cool ride!)
7) TETOUAN
Strange bus station (non_CTM) and very bright one (CTM), grand taxi to TANGIER from ‘Hamama’, nice in a way!
PORTUGAL (bus travel very convenient, 20 – 30 EUR room)
9) FARO – LAGOS easy, LAGOS – SAGREZ: Local bus 1hour, local bus goes from main road (west side, last station, right opposite is a nice hotel, little upstairs), same street leads to bus terminal (other direction) with buses to LISBON (3 hours, eva-bus.com), Sagrez pretty nice, nice rooms on the narrow path to fortress, call +351-91979-8588, strong wind, starting 20 EUR a night in May (pretty empty town then), good surfing, no good swimming, halfway Lagos-Sagrez nice beaches for swimming (takes a 10 min walk), in summer trips to the north (coast), Algarve full of resorts (Brits and Germans), FARO to AIRPORT: hourly bus till 7pm, across the street, right opposite from bus terminal, number 16
10) LISBON: lovely. nice rooms at Pensao du Duque, Calcado do Duque 53, close to Calca do Combro, phone: +351-21-346-3444, watch for posters for what’s going on, other from book: Pensao Globo, Rue do Teixera 37, +351-21-346-2279, Pensao Estrela de Ouro, Largo Trindade Coelho, +351-21-346-5110 close to Ressio Train Station)
quartos = rooms
11) SPAIN (same as Portugal, cheap American Spirit,, much worse spoken english than in Portugal)
Sevilla: full of Hostals starting at 20, taxi cheap, buses to CADIZ, TARIFA, Algeciras from PRADO SAN SEBASTIAN (estacion de autobus), buses to FARO and LISBON and most other destinations from PLAZA DE ARMAS (the big station), 6 EUR, 10 min, taxi between bus terminals, Hostal RioSol is close to Plaza de Aramas, +34-954229038
Coast above CADIZ supposed to be cool, resort free
horarios = timetable, habitacion = room
ITEMS (and how useful they were)
+ native hoody (long) + cloth + sunhat –> a must to protect from sun and draught
- LEATHER SLIPPERS –> started to mould, in Marocco rubber slippers necessary
