Week 12 - Cap Spartel in Morocco to Pisa in Italy

Monday night we packed up as much stuff as possible and went to bed excited at the prospect of moving on. On the whole we enjoyed Morocco, but we were both more than ready for somewhere new.

Tuesday morning we packed up the last of our camp and set off for Tanger Med. We decided to try the motorway this time, as it was still windy and we didn’t fancy the coast road again. Worried about having no ferry ticket as we had booked online and hadn’t been able to print the confirmation, but we just went to the ticket office with our reference number and they printed our boarding cards no problem. Joined the queue and went through passport and customs control. The new Tanger Med port is so much better than the old port in Tanger city, it was even verging on efficient! We followed the cars through the port and were stopped on what we initially thought was a way bridge, but it turned out to be a giant x-ray machine. It was really cool, like a car wash attached to the side of a truck. Unfortunately we were told very sternly we couldn’t take any pics by an official with a gun, so we didn’t argue.

Tied the bike down next to bulk head on the lorry deck and found our cabin. There were lots of people who didn’t have cabins, so there were belongings and blankets taking up every available bit of floor space in the even in the stairwells. That can’t have been a comfortable nights kip. It’s a good job we took our own food, as the boat wouldn’t take Moroccan Dirhams and none of our cards would work in the restaurant. The shop was rubbish too. Needless to say we weren’t very impressed with the ferry.

We had a brief stop in Barcelona on Wednesday night, which looked very nice from the side of the ferry and then we were off again. We were late getting into Livorno and then we had to wait for another hour to get our passports checked before we were allowed off the ferry, but at least we weren’t in a car. I recon we were off at least 30 mins before all the other passengers as they had to unload all the lorries before they could open the car deck. Our first impression of Italians was great. The chap who checked our passport asked where we were going and gave us directions to the nearest campsite! We rode up to customs and said we had nothing to declare and that was it.

We followed the directions out of Livorno and found the campsite straight away, but the gate was closed. I wandered in and chanced to find the owner on her way home. She said we were very late for booking in, but took pity on us when I explained we had only just got off the ferry. We sorted out the paperwork and rode into the best campsite ever. We had a sea view pitch, with it’s own balcony and it’s wasn’t even that cold. We cooked chicken and noodles for tea on the balcony and retired to bed.

Went into Livorno in the morning to get our bearings and find a cash machine for some Euros. We were both deliriously happy to be back in Europe. We sipped coffee in a pavement café and listed all the things we didn’t realise we had missed, like tarmac and road signs and seeing women in the street. Got a map and decided on a route plan for Italy first stop Pisa.

Got some internet back at the campsite and looked for somewhere to stay. Best we could come up with was a hostel in Pisa so we booked in for 2 nights. Packed up camp in the morning and set off for Pisa. The countryside was beautiful, but decidedly wintery looking after Morocco. Didn’t take us long to get to Pisa, but then we got thoroughly lost trying to find the hostel. Eventually we found the train station and I went in to buy a city map only to find we were just round the corner from the hostel! Booked in and discovered one of the best things about Italy, it costs a fortune to park your car but bikes are free.

Walked into town and it was really bustling and lively. The streets still had fairy lights up so it all felt very festive.

Found a little restaurant and had the set menu which included the best spaghetti carbonara I have ever tasted. Back to the hostel feeling very pleased and with our love of Italy growing by the hour!

Sunday we walked through the town, stopped for gelato, and then up to the leaning tower. I know ice cream is probably not the best thing to have for breakfast, but it was really good.

The tower was great and spent a happy few hours wandering around and doing the tourist things.

Stopped for lunch at a restaurant that did good beer. It had been a while, as Morocco was dry so I steered a very happy and slightly wobbly Ant back to the hostel. Pizza for tea and to bed, next stop Venice.