Salaam Alikum.
This morning went to plan and we were like a well-oiled machine. By 9am, the campsite was packed up into the Landy (which was re-ordered and looking good). By 9.30am we were checked out and on our way to Morocco. We had left plenty of time in case lady Landy wanted to overheat en-route, but she refrained from being a minx.
It was a really lovely drive from Ronda to Algeciras; the views were incredible and I believe, though Gaz disagrees on this, that you can see the Rock of Gibraltar from about 30Km inland. I pointed it out but Gaz said it couldn't be. We shall let you decide if you ever make the trip yourselves!
When we neared Algeciras, Gaz started looking for a new home for Ping and Pong. See the separate blog post (soon to be written) about them if you aren't familiar. Once Gaz had finally found a new home, made sure they were settled and fed, we said our goodbyes and made our way to the port.
Getting on the ferry was very straight forward on the Spanish side and in only an hour, we had crossed the straits of gibralter and docked at the port of Ceuta, a spanish town/territory on the Africa mainland. To get into Morocco, you have to cross a land border at the edge of Ceuta.
Driving on the main roads out of Ceuta, the initial experience was one of slight chaos. The cars were moving in and out of lanes, people were walking in and out of moving cars and after we had left the main town, the streets were lined with single story tiny shops and people milling about shouting at the cars in broken english and french. Cars were reversing and turning around and doing U turns in the middle of the street without any warning. We gingerly moved forward and made it to the Spanish border front, where a guard said "ticket" and was clearly expecting us to produce something.
erm... a ticket to cross the border?
We were confused, but nevertheless, having been turned away we had to find the elusive 'ticket' in order to get into Morocco. Luckily this took much less time than it could have. Gaz remembered hearing someone shout ticket when we drove through the craziness, so back we went. He spoke to a chap who was unofficial but earning money trying to help people. He stopped the traffic, helped us do a u turn and directed us in broken french roughly in the direction of tickets. For doing so he earned €5.
We followed a dutch car who clearly needed the same 'ticket', round a roundabout and up a hill etc... until we spied some official guards and aimed for them. They had taken over a carpark and were issuing laminated QR codes as 'tickets'. We queued up, were given a ticket free of charge and no questions asked, and were then able to make our way to the border, where we gave them the ticket and were able to progress into No Mans Land before going through the Moroccan border.
Our inital impression was good. Every moroccan official we met was chatty and personable and interested in us. They all seemed really pleased that we'd travelled to their country. There was a lot of smiles and it did make us feel really welcome. THere were about 4 different checkpoints over a 300m space and there was much checking and rechecking of passports etc... One checkpoint was very in depth and wanted to go through the car, asking questions about the tent and what else we had packed and checking ownership of the car (having your V5C form and international driving licences is a must) but it all went smoothly enough and then we were free, driving on Moroccan roads with the crazy Moroccan drivers and pedestrians that believe they're immortal.
I'd had a bad feeling about the place we'd booked for the night following some whatsapp messages and calls with the owner, so much so, that I ended up cancelling it on the ferry and booking another place. When we got off the ferry, the owner of the place I'd just booked contacted me to explain that we wouldn't be able to check in until 9pm. This meant we had about 6 hours to wait until we could get in and find our bearings etc... not ideal but so be it. We actually spent some time in Ceuta before going though the border - a final spanish omelette before experiencing new cuisine.
We found the apartment block and decided to kill time by going into Tetouan town to find a coffee house. We didnt find one suitable (men only or no parking) and after driving on small busy slow moving streets, largely uphill, the Landy began to show signs of needing a break, so we pulled over and sat in the shade on a roundabout with local people watching the world go by for 45 minutes. A bit random, but everyone else was there so it wasn't that strange. Gaz was again affected by the car and her unreliability, but I also think it had been a challenging few hours dealing with border officials and getting a sim card sorted and gettting money exchanged etc.... and he'd been driving through it all, so generally I think Gaz had just had enough.
Sadly, things didn't get any better.
Just after 9pm, the owner of the apartment arrived and let us in to the apartment. He was so chatty and smily and rushing saying that he had to travel back to Rabat straight away. We got into the apartment to find the locks being changed. The owner said (using itranslate) that he had lost the keys so had to get a locksmith out to change it. Suspicious.
He showed us very quickly around and then animatedly gave us a very brief opportunity to ask questions. So I asked about checkout etc... I had noticed that the flat was a bit grubby - walls very badly marked etc... and the beds were mattresses on the floor with covers over them, but that's all I'd taken in when he left.
I looked at Gaz and he said 'have you seen it?" so i walked around every room and saw everything that was wrong. The fridge was taped up. I removed the tape to find food in the fridge, there was uneaten bread on a dirty plate with cutlery on top of a unit. There were someone's clothes thrown over the edge of the kitchen door. Someone's shoes in the hallway. The bathroom was disgusting - whilst the toilet looked cleanish, it clearly wasn't and the sink and mirror and shower were vile. They hadn't been cleaned in months. There were hazardous light switches, broken furniture, just a general level of grime and dirt in every room. It was awful.
Randomly the owner came back and I confronted him about it all using itranslate to get my point across and for him to explain etc... This went on for some time, but ultimately produced nothing. He said he would address the kitchen straight away, but what that meant in reality was him throwing the food out and moving the clothes. I said that the property should have been cleaned and ready for guests; he said that it was clean, but the lady had missed a few bits. He offered me an additional night. I refused but said I would accept a refund, to which he replied that he was only being nice offering the add. night and that he'd spent half the fee travelling the country to let us in! SO I think he assumed we should be grateful. If it hadn't been 10pm at night I would have left that minute. But we had few options, so we didn't.
The owner left and tried to leave as friends by moving to hug me. Very odd. And no, he didn't get a hug.
After he'd gone, we realised that we didn't want to touch anything. We couldn't even shower or make a drink. Every surface felt contaminated. So we contacted booking.com to ask them for help. We booked a new place for subsequent nights and made a bed using our own bedding on the floor of the lounge and we slept on the floor in our clothes.
Do Not Stay At This Property:
Paloma Blanca
Doha Marjane, 35000
Tetouan
Morocco
After some back and forth with booking.com, they advised us that they had been unable to get any compensation out of the owner. The booking had been non-refundable because it was same day, and he was unwilling to provide any recompense for our experience. Booking.com apparently have no value at all. They say that they are there to help, but actually their business model enables scam artists to do this with no comeback. If they can't support and protect their customers, what is the advantage in booking via them? We might as well always book direct with a credit card, at least then the credit card company can fight for the money back on your behalf. At this point, no compensation has been provided.
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