Tarifa
is world renowned for it's wind and prime kite-surfing conditions. We
arrive mid day at the bus stop, and can't find a map our tourist
information booth anywhere. We walk down the main street, and all we
see are wall-to-wall kite-surfing shops, closed for the afternoon
siesta. I stand guard of the bags on a corner while Darrin sets out to
find accommodation. We find out it's a special festiva this week, and
no local busses are running per the schedule. There's also no
accommodation. Darrin returns, nearly 2 hours later, with only one
option. It's a dump, but it's a place to lay our bodies, so we take
it. The rude woman at the reception tells us we need to pay in
advance, and if we want to reserve for more than one night, all nights
need to be paid in advance. We take it for one night, thinking if it's
a dive we'll find something later and move. No such luck, we search
the town until sunset and find nothing, so we pay upfront for an
additional night.
Tarifa
is a small beach community, completely built around the kite-surfing
industry. There are only abut 15% of the 36K coastline that's reserved
for kite-surfing, so as you look out to the beaches, you see a mass of
kites swirling in the sky, all clumped together. Its definitely a
place where the more advanced come to play.
Tarifa
is also a port town, and has the closest locale to Morocco. Had we had
more time, we would have taken the ferry across, but we felt we needed
at least two weeks to do Morocco properly, and weren't sure it was
worth the effort for just a few days. Looking across the sea, you can
see the majestic mountains on the Moroccan coast rising high above sea
level. The water here is a brilliant blue, surprising for a port area,
but the beaches leave much to be desired. It's a bit of a let down,
after coming from the gorgeous, clean beaches of Portugal. Here,
European tourists sit amongst clumps of seaweed, shells and trash,
frolicking in the clear waters. Perhaps further south, into Morocco,
the beaches are more remote and less touristy. Morocco continues to
hold a level of mystery and mystique for me that will cause me to come
back one day, in search of that magic carpet ride.
Tarifa
has a cute "old" historic town that consists of they typical
whitewashed villas and cobblestone roads. There are a ton of quaint
restaurants, cafes and trendy art, clothing and music shops. Once
interesting thing we've seen for sale - actually sold in a bar/shoe
store, are these hard soled five toed socks. Not sure where you wear
them, but the place was full of people drinking chic cocktails, and
trying on these trendy socks.
We
spent our evening trying to catch some sleep, despite the loud street
partiers that didn't subside until the wee hours of the morning.
