A Ralph’s Eye View: Excerpts from Ralph’s Diary to Date

Capbreton, France, 19th April

The French take their food VERY seriously.  In comparison to the British, on a school food comparison (because there isn’t a meaningful average), their lunch break is four times as long, there are twice as many courses and the food is twice as good.

Pamplona, Spain, 22nd April

Today, after the Titanic fail of city choice yesterday, I couldn’t sleep, so at 3am, I wrote yesterday’s diary, cleaned my feet, brushed my teeth, packed my rucksack and then read until everyone else woke up.

Avila, Spain, 25th April

I wasn’t sure what to eat for lunch, so I ordered a burger.  When it arrived, it looked like it had been run over by a guy in a large truck, way too many times.  The actual burger meat was too large for its bun, however it actually tasted pretty good, considering its appearance.

Hacienda la Indiana, Spain, 27th April

Mine and mummy’s horses were chestnut brown sisters and both great for beginners, Laurie had a pony so stubborn that it practically needed towing.

Tarifa – Tangiers, 28th April

The ferry, a medium-sized catamaran, was renowned for unusually bumpy crossings, which turned out true.  I was nearly sick on the ferry and afterwards as well.  When we got to Morocco the scenery changed instantly: instead of churches it was mosques, bustling markets selling fruit and spices, instead of supermarkets, and most ladies wore a headscarf, and some covered every part of their body except their eyes.

Azrou, Morocco, 2nd May

Today, after a sleep with a constitution of sounds: donkeys, dogs, Mr ****** Minaret Man at 9.30pm and 4.40am for calls to prayer… Seven hours’ sleep is not enough.  Anyway, for breakfast we had: two rather hard “dippy” eggs and toast and jam, for a quick easy breakfast before a long drive to Zizi Gorge.

Erg Chebi, nr Merzouga, Morocco, 4th May

Riding a camel is easy, on the saddle there are handlebars which you can hold on to while someone else leads the camel train.  When we got to the top of the dunes, the camels had a rest, and I played with a Spanish girl and tried to speak French to her.  She replied in Frogspanole which really confused me.

Todra Gorge, Morocco, 5th May

Along the way to the gorge, we passed some of the many, formidable High Atlas Mountains.  After we got there, we blessed ourselves with a cool pool. I mean, I mean, how do you get a pool that cold in the Sahara? Then, after retreating to our car in the still 25C heat we decided to rest before we, well, cooked some veg and chicken along with some curry powder labelled “EPIC CURRY POWDER” to make an “EPIC CHICKEN CURRY”.  Which in matter of fact was perfect for the situation.

Skoura – Marrakesh Morocco, 7th May

Then we drove through a hilly, contrasting part of the High Atlas with red rocks and green spruce trees.  I don’t think you could find this scenery in any other part of the world.  

Essaouria, Morocco, 9th May

We went to a seafood place that declares itself “Shrimply the Best”, however, it was tasty except for the deep-fried frozen prawns, that we declared “nothing special”.  I didn’t have any as I ordered the calamari.  Then after a rather standard lunch at said plaice (heehee), we made a bunch more fish jokes, like “you’re so unclammy” and “oh cod, what is wrong with you” and “this is a nice plaice”, before heading down to the beach.

Tangier, Morocco, 13th May

Today was potentially the only three country day of the trip.  After a prompt start in Tangier, we drove to customs for the ferry.  After queueing as normal (for 1.5 hours) we were allowed to drive on to the ferry.  After our last look at Morocco, we swung around on our boat and pointed north to Spain.

Gibraltar, 13th May

We went to a taxi at the bottom of the bubble lift and asked him where the best place en-route to the border for lunch was.  He pointed out the mini-market, which made sandwiches fresh for us.  We bought four pretty good baguette-style sandwiches.  When we arrived at the border, he dropped us off and asked for 26 pounds (not Euros) in payment.  We hadn’t changed any pounds, so we had to pay by card.  This must annoy the Spanish…

Oran, Algeria, 15th May

Something quite extraordinary is that we docked backwards, meaning that we had to turn around inside said ferry, or reverse out.  We chose the latter, which was rather hard considering everyone else needed to do the same thing.  The ferry then quickly filled with a mix of diesel fumes and cigarette smoke which smelled like I don’t know what.  It was like putting your noise inside a giant car exhaust without a catalytic converter.

Algiers, Algeria, 17th May

We started our tour in Algiers’ old Kasbah, built by the Ottomans.  First we went round the 10th century mosque, still in use even though it is over a thousand years’ old.  The inside is full of painted tiles from Italy, a chandelier with the 99 names for Allah (God) and protruding wooden beams, to help detect earthquakes. Then we went to the octagonal gunpowder factory, a large room roughly 15x15 metres squared.  There are pits in the floor for storing gunpowder and water, with a fired liner to stop the gunpowder from getting damp.

Bou Saada, 19th May

After walking up some narrow, cobbled streets, we found a traditional mosque made of wood and plaster, similar to the one we saw in Alik last night.  These little mosques and their imams are usually much friendlier than the huge mosques that we saw in Algiers and Casablanca.  The imam was really friendly, and as interested in us as we were interested in him.

Ghardaia, Algeria, 20th May

Our guide, Ibrahim, is a totally crazy old chap, saying, well shouting “Photo! Photo!  OOO-OO! OOO-OO!”.  Our translator, as our guide Ibrahim didn’t speak any English, says Ibrahim makes people cross as he is like another call to prayer, at totally random times.

Timgad, Algeria, 22nd May

We had a (relatively) short drive of two hours 20 minutes to Timgad, one of many towns of Roman ruins.  The ruins are extraordinary.  The Byzantines “destroyed” them in the 8th century, at the fall of the Roman empire. However, all of the arches, parts of the temple and most of the pillars were still standing, just part smashed instead.  The nice thing about said Roman ruins in Algeria is that you can climb on them.  In Italy, everything is fenced off thoroughly. It was like a giant climbing site.

Also interesting, the design for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is a copy of one of the Roman arches here in Algeria.  French archaeologists were originally going to move the arch, until a worker was killed by a falling stone and it was considered bad luck.