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Carretera Nacional 340 Km 79.3, Tarifa, Costa de la Luz, 11380, Spain
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Thermal baths on the western outskirts
Getting closer to the theatre seats & entrances
Aqueduct view approaching from the VC
Streets of Old Tarifa by the castle walls
On the FRS website, it states:
"FRS offers you a bus transfer between Tarifa and Algeciras. The bus is free if you present your ferry..."
Is this bus just available for those traveling from Tarifa to Algeciras, or will it also be available for those traveling from Algeciras to Tarifa?
FRS ??
FRS -
Tarifa to tangier fast : www.frs.es
The service supported by FRS is seperate to the regular bus connection between ALGECIRAS and TARIFA I believe.
This latter service is run by Cadiz province bus operator COMES. The schedules are found on www.tgcomes.es
The bus station in Algeciras is found at San Bernardo bus terminal which is close to the railway station. About 15 minutes walk from the ferry terminal. I believe that the FRS buses also call at the ferry terminal in Algeciras.
Most tourists travelling to the Costa del Sol don't realise it, but the best beaches are on the Atlantic side of southern Spain. Terifa is only an hours drive from Marbella, and from there and west, you find one fantastic beach after the other. The sand is good and not the sticky stuff you find on most beaches on the Med. side. But it can be a bit windy though.
The Holy week has a good tradition over here, so it would be interesting to visit instead of going to the big cities as Malaga or Sevilla, as it will show contrast of diferent styles.
Also the 16th July for the Virgen del CArmen.
More than 2000 years ago, Baelo Claudia was a major Roman settlement along these shores, before its eventual demise and burial in the Atlantic Ocean sands. In recent years the Spanish government has made significant attempts to excavate and explore the site (located only a few kilometres northwest of Tarifa), including the construction of an almost brand-new Visitor's Centre. Our initial explorations the day before had failed because this was one of many attractions that are closed in Spain on Mondays. However, after spending the night further up the coast and inland we returned the next day to really have a close look at the place!
The Visitor Centre definitely had a big enough parking area as well as four nice patios providing different views as we began to see what Baelo Claudia had to offer, with Sue illustrating the point (2nd photo). With an entry fee of only 3 Euros for the two of us we certainly could not complain! After admiring the views out over the stone ruins of this old town we entered the building itself for a closer look at some of the artifacts that have already been recovered (only about 20% of the site has been excavated thus far).
The final photo shows a distant view of the Visitor's Centre taken from the mountain road that leads down to Bolonia and the ruins.
It was not long after we passed the standing columns of the Basilica in the centre of Baelo Claudia before we found ourselves almost on the Atlantic Ocean shore, near both the fish factory that was the town's main commercial industry and another of those 'walking' sand dunes driven by the ferocious winds of the Strait of Gibraltar. In fact, while en route, a sudden gust of wind had torn one of the tourist pamphlets out of my hand and whisked it down into a roped-off excavation hole before I could even blink!
Also on the way there, one of the local cats had taken a liking to us and decided to tag along. As I got into position for a shot by Sue of the fish factory/dune, the cat was determined to get into the scene as well - and it succeeded, with us both hanging on for our lives with claws and hands as the wind blew straight at us!
As for the fish factory, it was one of the main reasons that Baelo Claudia lasted so long because 'garum' was very popular with the Romans as a garnish used with meals. However, one of its problems was the odour it gave off in the process of producing it - fish guts, layered in salt and left to ferment in the sun for a few months in outdoor fermenting pools (5th photo) . Final preparation for shipping was carried out in the factory whose walls remain standing in the background. There, the liquid garum was taken from the top of the mixture and shipped to Rome where it commanded prices similar to what caviar brings in today. The fish-gut leftovers were used too, by the poorer classes of Roman citizens to flavour their meals. Being on the coastline as it was, Baelo Claudio did not have to worry too much about upsetting the neighbours with odours!
We were very happy to see the changeable sky over Tarifa as well as terrific wave action by both the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea as we walked the narrow causeway to Isla de las Palomas - at least it was not raining like it had been a few hours earlier on the Mediterranean coast at Nerja!
Isla de las Palomas is a small island just off the coast but is close enough to shore that a narrow vehicle/pedestrian causeway connects it to Tarifa's harbour area. Because of its prominent position for watching shipping traffic passing through the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, it has long been militarized and is presently off-limits to visitors because it is used as a place to process apprehended illegal immigrants from Africa. During the 1900s it was also used as a coastal defense battery, housing two Krupp 10-inch guns to deal with any seaborne attacks (the 2nd photo shows a now-vacant concrete gun enclosure while waves pound away).
The Mediterranean side of the causeway was not quite as active but its waves too were making quite sizeable splashes as they reached the causeway. A large sign mounted beside the causeway shows Tarifa's location in relation to the Strait of Gibraltar. Once reaching the island itself, we could not go any further so took a look back at the wild weather buffeting Tarifa before retracing our steps. The tiny distant surfer specks close to shore in that last photo give some idea of the size of the ocean waves.
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