March 29, 2023
Day 42: Catching the Ferry to Barcelona
Goodbye Tajines and Mint Tea, Hello Tapas and Beer
“The wind will be to the back, “Pierre says as we ride out from the terminal toward the departure quay for the ferry. We joined Pierre and Genevieve at Terminal #5 to check in for our boarding passes. Later, we see there is a check in at the port and could have skipped the step at the Terminal. The process for bicycles just changed today and we get conflicting information. Genevieve & Pierre speak French and sort everything out for us. Now, instead of bicycles going on the ferry with walk on passengers, we need to go to the car access area.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
“We’ve done this stretch twice already,” Patrick says as we all are riding to the ferry port. We cycle away a couple of km with the wind to our back and then circle back around to the first check-in point. From here there are multiple checks of passports and tickets. At the giant x-ray machine that cars go through, we are waved ahead to where a dog sniff our stuff, and continue riding around to another checkpoint to the final staging area for our boat.
At the port, we are in the line to Barcelona for the ferry. A majority of the cars are in line for Genoa. The official check-in is between 3-9pm. We get through the process in an hour and a half and 8.4km riding to get about 500 meters from the terminal. Everything is fenced. It’s now 2:30pm and we wait for the ship to come in. There is a collection of cyclists: a Swiss couple who have been cycling in Morocco for three months; a German couple; two single bikepacker guys and the four of us.
The long … long… long … long … wait begins.
The ferry arrives on time and we watch the process of it docking and unloading. Each vehicle that exits the ferry is stopped to show passports. There is one solo female cyclist exits the ferry to all of us clapping and shouting “Welcome to Morocco”. This process takes until sundown, which means when the Moroccan crew takes their iftar everything stops. We figure part of the delay also is the cleaning of the cabins on the ferry. Nothing happens for over an hour and a half at least with exception of loading containers.
The container loading is quite the process alone. Each container is inspected by a dog and people looking under the container, and a police checking that the container seal is intact. Many refugees try to enter Spain from here.
The beauty of the bicycle is we are on the ferry first. There is an alcove where we are directed to park our bikes. We have repacked so that what each of us needs for the duration of the sailing is in a front and back pannier. We are quick to get bikes parked and gear to go to the reception and a key to the cabin.
| Heart | 4 | Comment | 1 | Link |
1 year ago
We are surprised at how nice the cabin is, including an in-cabin bathroom with a shower. “Remember the Kelud” Patrick says, the ferry from Jakarta to Sumatra. We don’t spend much time in the cabin at this point. We head out to explore and see if the Restaurant is open. The ferry is spacious with lots of different public places to sit. A bar near the swimming pool that has no water, a self-serf cafeteria, a gift shop, all closed for now.
We are with the French Canadians, and are told the Restaurant will open in 5 minutes. We are waiting along with some of the motorcyclists, then find out that it is the Cafeteria that will open. Patrick has the paela with clams, Rachel a green salad. Tiramisu for desert, after all this is an Italian ship. It’s now close to 10pm. Patrick put on a sea-sickness patch after boarding the ship and starts to feel the effects.
We retire to the cabin and are asleep when the ferry sails at midnight.
Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 1,477 km (917 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 14 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
1 year ago