This is part of the twelfth section of our around
the world trip.
Complete Trip Overview &
Map
Coming from the Canary Islands or read our previous visit to Spain
11/10/06 The ferry arrived on time at 8am and we
rode
off into Cadiz. Choosing the inland route to Alicante, heading
initially
for Seville and then onto Grenada it was great to be on good roads of
length. Four lanes almost all the way and the two day plan quickly
turned into one of 700 km as we rode into Alicante late evening. It was
one of those almost perfect riding days that come along occasionally.
The cool morning was complemented by midday riding in the Grenada
mountains returning to the coast on evening. Rolling hills of olive
groves gave way to fruit
trees and intensive small farm agriculture. Straight to the port area
to see what the ferry schedule to Oran in Algeria was.
Transmediterranea
had cancelled its service from early October to almost the end of the
month but Algerie Ferries was still running about twice a week and had
Ramadan specials of about 360 Euros for the motorcycle and us.
A cheap, by European
standards, pensione accommodation right in the middle of this
magnificent historic city with its citadel overlooking the, now private
boat packed, marina port. A promenade along the wide ocean front,
internet and collapsed into bed after a great day.
12/10/06 The Spaniards have a reputation for all
night parties but this Wednesday night we were a little surprised to
have our accommodation's street rock on till after 4 am. It wasn't till
the Algerie Ferries office, the tourist office, and finally the
Algerian Consulate
were still closed late morning that we realised it was a public holiday
and we could not get started getting our visa till tomorrow. A boat
leaves
today, and another one in four days time, the one we are aiming for. A
tentative boat booking, necessary for the visa, an explanation letter
to the consul explaining the need for an urgent visa, and we are ready
for tomorrow.
In Africa the population is young, few truly old people are seen. In
the
middle of European cities the population is old, children do not wander
the streets off to school nor play in the streets. Old people with
their
portable wooden folding chairs sit in the parks in the early evenings
chatting
with friends or
playing cards and dominoes or just watching time pass. Another party of
younger revellers lasted to the early morning hours as
we slept with earplugs against the boom boom music.
13/10/06 Today we received an email from a couple,
travelling with their small child, that I first met in Turkmenistan
last year, that have been taking a similar route to ourselves through
the islands off the East African coast. They had planned to leave
Madagascar from Mahajanga
for the Comoros but arrived just after the boat, "Al Moubarak", had
left
port. Later they learnt that it sank with 30 people missing. Apparently
it was only partially loaded, expecting more cargo at the next port,
and
rolled over whilst sailing there in a storm. This boat was also in port
in
Mahajanga when we were looking for transport but was leaving a couple
of
days later than the boat we took. It was considered by locals to be the
safest
boat as the owner was also the captain and the vessel was well
maintained.
Whilst we had heard of other small vessels sinking in the region this
is
the first one that we had seen and had contact with. Our friends
decided
to fly to Tanzania. We were at the Algerian embassy
early but there were
many Algerians renewing their papers and a long line out into the
street had formed. Our application for a transit visa
with its covering letter was readily received and despite it normally
taking one week to issue a visa we were invited back in the afternoon
and received a seven day double entry visa valid for a month for 33
Euros each, despite only requesting a five day single entry visa. We
are not sure why we received such preferential treatment but it is a
great welcoming to a country.
14/10/06 It's been 25,000 km and eight months since
we have had an opportunity to visit a Harley-Davidson shop, the last
one
being in Saudi Arabia. Ray has recently opened his premises in
Alicante,
an area where motorcycling is a year round event and growing in
popularity.
With this trip having been extended by six months we needed to have
more
guide books, and used Ray's address to have them posted to,
unfortunately
they haven't arrived yet, hopefully by Monday before we leave for
Algeria.
We have travelled almost exclusively using Lonely Planet guides. They
might not be the best for some areas of the world and are not perfect
but
we find the accommodation and map sections particularly beneficial
when
arriving in an unknown city and looking for cheap accommodation. They
are also good for background history, sites of interest and are our
starting point when looking for visa requirements. We haven't had a
guide book since leaving Cape Verde and find we are missing it's
information. Ray was incredibly welcoming and it felt like going over
to a friend's place for a coffee. He also gave us Harley T-shirts
displaying the Costa Blanca region and is following up on the posted
package for us. One Spanish custom we really enjoy is the Menu de Dia,
(Menu of the day). Usually a basic, economical three course meal with a
half bottle of wine and coffee, served at lunch time and eaten in a
relaxed manner as lunch extends from 2 pm till at least 4 pm and it's
often 5 before anyone is back at work. I am not sure if the wine at
lunch time is good for the country's productivity, it certainly isn't
for ours as we relax in the hotel room wearing off its effects. This
late lunch means a late finish to work, late dinner and the all night
parties continue in the bar beneath our hotel.
15/10/06 Castillo de Santa Barbara overlooks
Alicante
and port from its prominent hillside location. A few paths twist back
and
forth upwards and we walked up one,
more for
the exercise, missing in our schedule lately, to get the magnificent
views of the city in the morning. It is a popular haunt for tourists
escaping the beaches and bathing in a bit of history.
16/10/06 Collected our ferry tickets this morning,
ended up being 355 Euros. Posted home a package of mostly paperwork and
finished with guide books, plus some souvenir gifts we had received.
Back to Ray's HD shop but the Lonely Planet guide books hadn't arrived.
After they phoned the UK office for us we found our books had
been mistakenly sent to New York but were now heading for their correct
destination and would arrive in two days, a little useless for us.
Lonely Planet agreed to redirect them to Treviso, Italy, where we
should be in about ten days time. We felt we had already moved to
Algeria when entering the ferry terminal at about 6pm. Everyone, except
us, was of Arabic appearance. Most of the people were heading home for
the end of Ramadan festivities, starting in a few day's time,
taking with them presents and gifts showing how profitable their time
in
Europe had been and they were cramming new goods to be resold back home
into
already overloaded cars.
The
departure hall was filled with empty shoe boxes, a preferred resale
item, or clothes wrappings. All goods had to be removed from anything
indicating they were new, or might be for resale, or customs duty would
be payable on arrival in Algeria. We moved to the head of the vehicle
line and were loaded first, meaning we should also be unloaded first in
the battle of a
few hundred cars to pass through Algerian customs tomorrow. We had
purchased seats but armed with our bedrolls we found some deck space at
the top of a stairway where the doors were locked and set up a bed. The
repackaging continued on the boat, now cigarettes, bought duty free,
were emptied from cartons to individual packets and placed into a
variety of different bags to spread and hide their quantity. The ship
finally left three hours late at 1 am, by which time the corridors were
strewn with rubbish and the toilets were already flooded as the
drainage was blocked. We caught snatches of sleep on the smooth
crossing.
Move with us to Algeria
or go to our next visit to Spain