Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 93/96 - Melilla, Spanish Morocco - We're on the African Continent but We're in Spain?
Today, we woke up in Melilla, a town in Spain, sort of. Physically, it is in Morocco. But Morocco is in Africa, right? And Spain is in Europe, right? Well, as it turns out, Spain still owns a little slice of Africa, in Morocco. That area is known as Spanish Morocco.
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| You can see Melilla midway down that peninsula circled in red |
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| That little part of Morocco is owned by Spain |
Today's tour was a walking tour called Modernist Melilla and Religious Integration. It involved walking around the city, looking at the interesting and varied architecture plus making stops at a church, synagog, Buddhist temple, and mosque. Then, in keeping with Spanish tradition, we stopped for a drink and tapas.
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| We saw lots of interesting modernist architecture |
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| Palace of the Assembly |
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| Casa David J. Melul |
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| Monument to Enrique Nieto - the architect responsible for many of the buildings here |
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| Monument to the Heroes of Spain |
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| A very Gaudi-like structure near the monument |
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| Military Commissary |
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| Kursaal Theatre |
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| Casa de Rafael Rico Albert |
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| Our first visit religious was at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus |
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| The church opened in 1918 |
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| Walking through the huge doors |
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| The other Catholic church in Melilla was being renovated so their artifacts were temporarily housed there, making the church feel a little crowded |
We continued the architectural tour.
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| La Reconquista Department Store |
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| Our next religious stop was the Synagogue of Or Zaruah or Yamín Benarroch |
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| More big doors |
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| The chapel itself was small |
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| The pulpit woodwork was beautiful |
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| Each of the interesting lights hanging from the ceiling marked the passing of a member and was hung in remembrance of them |
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| The Torah is kept behind the maroon curtain |
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| It is unusual to have seats around the outside walls - this was done to honor the local Berber custom of lining their homes with chairs against the walls to create a huge, welcoming space in the middle to greet and celebrate guests |
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| Yet another Nieto building - if you look above and to the right of that right-hand arched window to the right of the wooden door, you can see the architect's signature plate |
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| Casa de Francisco Garcés |
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| Our third religious stop was a Hindu temple |
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| This was quite small for perhaps 100 worshipers in total |
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A plaque representing all the religions in Melilla
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| They were hanging Mardi Gras decorations over the road |
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| Half of a block away, toward the Muslim area, they were hanging similar-style Ramadan decorations |
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| Casa Melilla |
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| Our final religious stop, the Central Mosque of Melilla |
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| This was a very modest mosque |
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| The large central prayer room accommodated men on the carpet and women behind the perforated panels on the second floor |
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| Very cool mosaic tile |
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| The Imam's prayer altar |
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| Worshipers line up shoulder-to-shoulder to kneel and pray while facing Mecca |
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| Continuing our walk |
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| Our tapas stop |
We walked back to the bus stop where our tour ended. Arlona and I continued on our own for a little more sightseeing.
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| Church of the Immaculate Conception |
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| Approaching the Citadel of Melilla, a 15th-century fort |
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| It sits right on the Mediterranean |
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| Arlona loves checking out guard towers |
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| Melilla City Hall |
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| It is built right into the rock |
We left the Citadel and walked back to the bus stop.
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| Old Courthouse Building |
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| Arriving back in Plaza de España to meet our bus |
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| Monument to the Army of Africa |
We rode back to the ship, boarding it for the last time on this journey. It was a little bittersweet. We will scan our ship cards only one more time when we disembark in Barcelona early Friday morning.
We had Name That Tune this afternoon. In a terrific collaborative team effort, we scored 32/40 points naming songs and artists, winning ourselves a second spiffy Seabourn backpack.
There was an early show tonight - the second magic performance from Hector Luiz. It was another terrific show and he cemented his position as the best magician Seabourn brought on for this voyage. He was entertaining and just simply fun.
From there, we went to The Colannade for their French dinner tonight. Martini Asti Spumante to drink. French onion soup for Arlona, escargot for me. Chateaubriand for us both for dinner, Crème Brûlée for dessert. Yum. It was a lovely penultimate dinner.
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Saying farewell to the Sun
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| And saying a final farewell to Africa |
From there, we went to the Observation Bar, since we didn't make it there before dinner. We enjoyed drinks and chatting with other guests until tonight's main show, Martin Kaye. For his second show of the voyage, he featured a show of all Elton John music. The only negative was the extremely rude people behind us who talked non-stop throughout his excellent performance. I finally asked them to, and I quote, "Please stop talking". They got mad at us for being rude. Seriously. If you don't know how to shut up during a show, stay home and watch TV in your living room and talk up a storm. But at a performance venue, shut your pie hole. Wow.
Regardless, it was a great show and a nice finish for the guest performers. We returned to the suite to get some sleep before our final sea day, and final day of this cruise. We'll have the usual sea day activities, interrupted by packing.
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