Alison in Andalucia

The Cable Car station is on Red Sands Road and ticket prices vary depending on whether you plan to take a return trip or walk back down and also whether you want to include an Upper Rock Nature Reserve ticket. it’s well worth buying the Upper Rock Nature Reserve ticket I mentioned earlier as this gives you access to several different attractions including the Skywalk, Moorish Castle, Great Siege Tunnels and St Michael’s Cave which are likely to be the high points (literally) of your trip. The monkeys are officially Barbary macaques and, while it’s not unheard of to see them on Main Street or near Casemates Square, you’ll most likely need to head up the Rock for a guaranteed sighting. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click the lock icon to choose another destination If you’d like to receive my occasional newsletter please pop your email address here.

We left from Tarifa and, less than an hour later, were disembarking ready for a short walk to the medina and the riad we’d booked for the weekend. There are museums galore in Tangier including the Kasbah Museum, American Legation and Museum of Moroccan Arts but, as we were only here for a short time (and wanted to use one of our days to travel further afield to Chefchaouen, Morocco’s blue city – watch this space for a blog), we decided to spend our time exploring the city and leave these for next time. On the edge of the medina, dividing the old and new areas of Tangier, is the Grand Socco (big souk) or, to give it its official name, Place du 9 Avril 1947 – home to the iconic Cinema Rif. The restaurant sits on a corner plot overlooking the Petit Socco (little souk) and, while it doesn’t look anything special from the outside, our spot on the roof terrace was perfect for people watching.

Don’t feel too sorry for me though as I only work part-time so, come 1pm, I’m out of work and ready to hit the beach! Used to the very British way of eating my evening meal around 6pm it took a while to realise that, if we went to a restaurant at that time, we’d generally be the only ones in the place. Lunch is normally around 3pm (how does one survive from breakfast until 3pm? ? ) and dinner is after 9pm but usually closer to 10pm or 11pm. In small towns it took me a long time to accept that one couldn’t shop from 2pm to 5pm as all the stores are closed for lunch and siesta.

In fact, I’d go as far as saying that the most difficult part of the trip was actually getting on to the right road in the first place but put Carretera Genalguacil into the satnav and you can’t go wrong. A few kilometres further up the road is a sign for Penas Blancas which is where the road forks – left to Genalguacil and right to Jubrique. It’s a lovely walk with spectacular views down to Estepona and the Costa del Sol and, after about 2.5km, we reached a small parking area (probably room for no more than three or four cars) and the entrance to Paseo de los Pinsapos. Rather than go through the forest we decided to push on and, another 2km or so uphill, we reached a small, but surprisingly busy, restaurant – the Refugio de los Reales.