Day 3: Tarifa

Today's excursion didn't require taking a ferry; just a short bus journey to the nearby town of Tarifa. This was a place we'd missed on our 2021 road trip around Andalusia, but I'd since read that it was the southernmost point of continental Europe, so I thought it would be a fun place to visit.

The bus from Algeciras cost €2.60 each and after around 30 minutes we were already disembarking in Tarifa. A short walk from the bus station took us to the gate into the old town.

We wandered through the little white streets.

You may not be able to make it out on the photos, but there were oranges growing on the trees that lined the main street.

We found what seemed to be the town's main church...

...and then made our way downhill towards the sea.

From here we were able to walk alongside the old town walls.

We could see land on the other side of the sea and an info board confirmed that we were looking across to north Africa. In the picture below, the small hump of land on the far left is the Ceuta peninsula that we were walking around yesterday  

Otherwise, everything we were looking at was Morocco.

As we made our way around the coast, we passed some large fortifications.

There was a big, traditional-looking castle with a huge tower...

...and also this smaller but more elaborate castle on a hill.

On our other side, the coastal views continued to be beautiful.

There were some gorgeous sandy beaches here.

We were headed towards a causeway which links the town to a small island that is officially the southernmost point in continental Europe. The sand actually turned out to be a problem here, because Tarifa is an exceptionally windy place. You can't see it in the photo, but sand was being blown across the causeway from the beach on the left-hand side and hitting everyone who tried to walk across.

The sand really stung when it hit you, but we persisted and were rewarded with some amazing views.

Because Tarifa is so windy, it's a popular place for sports that require wind and big waves.

Some of the waves today were absolutely enormous.

There were lots of people in the water, doing something which - now I've googled it - I've figured out was kite-surfing.

They were essentially on surfboards attached to kites which, when they positioned them in the right direction, would lift them up high into the air.

It looked absolutely terrifying!

It was fun to watch, though  

From the causeway we had a beautiful view of the bay.

And at times we could even see rainbow colours appearing the spray from the waves.

You can see from my hair how windy it was  

Eventually we made it to the end of the causeway.

The island at the far end has historically been used as some sort of military base, so you aren't allowed to go past these gates.

A sign informed us that we were indeed at the southernmost point.

We turned around and started heading back towards the town.

We saw a ferry heading off to Morocco; apparently it's only a 45-minute trip from here.

By the time we'd finished walking across the causeway we had sand everywhere; it was even coating my face where it had got stuck to my suncream.

It was a really cool place to visit and a lot of fun to watch the kite-surfing, but a bit of a relief to get back to a part of town more protected from the wind.

It was nearly 1pm by this point so to us it definitely felt like lunchtime, although it was still quite early by Spanish standards and some of the restaurants we passed in the town still weren't open. We managed to find one that was and got a table behind a wind-proof screen.

We shared some amazing meatballs...

...and finished off with chocolate mousse.

It was a really great meal and like everything in this part of Spain, surprisingly cheap. Afterwards we just had time for another stroll through the streets of Tarifa and a coffee at a different cafe, before catching the bus back towards Algeciras.

It's been another fun day - and another incredibly hot and sunny one!