# Has anyone been to Ceuta?



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

We live near Algeciras and would love to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, but I really don't fancy Morocco with all the hassle from street traders etc. Has anyone been to Ceuta? How was it?


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## Spanky McSpank (Aug 27, 2009)

I went a while back. It was OK, some interesting things to see, and not bad for a day trip. The ride across is cool. There is obviously not the hassle like in Morocco, but I did see a few shady characters.
Not bad for shopping and a general stroll around though.


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## djhep (Feb 26, 2011)

Hi Spanky.
I sail over to Ceuta quite often, and usually spend 2 or 3 days relaxing there.

I would definitely recommend a day trip to have a look around. There are some really pleasant street cafes, and if you enjoy walking there are some nice scenic routes to take.
You will definitely have no problems with street traders.

Cheers.

Dave.


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## djhep (Feb 26, 2011)

Oops sorry Spanky, above post was directed at Alcalaina.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Last I went we did get a lot of hassle from people on the streets ... but to be honest it was quite a while ago


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

I would love to visit too, but certainly in a combined trip to Morocco properly. Only few of the people I know who recently went to Morocco had been bothered by beggars or people trying to sell stuff ; not more than the amount of beggars in the European streets anyway. Guess it pretty much depends where in Morocco you go but beggars aren't exactly on every street corner. It'd be a shame to hop to Africa without even visiting a real African country while you're there, and some of the north coast of Morocco is pretty beautiful and very close to Ceuta.

While I haven't been there myself, I did hear that Ceuta is nothing too special because it looks very Spanish, while Melilla would be more of a cultural melting pot between Spain and North Africa. I am unsure if there's good transport options to Melilla though ; Ceuta only has a heliport, not an aeroport.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

gerrit said:


> I would love to visit too, but certainly in a combined trip to Morocco properly. Only few of the people I know who recently went to Morocco had been bothered by beggars or people trying to sell stuff ; not more than the amount of beggars in the European streets anyway. Guess it pretty much depends where in Morocco you go but beggars aren't exactly on every street corner. It'd be a shame to hop to Africa without even visiting a real African country while you're there, and some of the north coast of Morocco is pretty beautiful and very close to Ceuta.
> 
> While I haven't been there myself, I did hear that Ceuta is nothing too special because it looks very Spanish, while Melilla would be more of a cultural melting pot between Spain and North Africa. I am unsure if there's good transport options to Melilla though ; Ceuta only has a heliport, not an aeroport.


To be honest it is not the beggars but the aggressive street traders that ruin it for me; I've been to Tunisia and Egypt, and I suspect Morocco is the same. I just want to look around without being pestered and having my sleeve pulled all the time. I hate haggling and also those silly kissy noises Arab men make at blonde women.

The scenery is pretty similar on the Spanish side of the Strait, so that's not an issue.

There is a ferry to Ceuta from Algeciras - we'll go over soon and let you know how we get on!


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

I can confirm that on a recent trip to Tangiers, the street traders are a real pest. I actually offered one of them a Euro to ****** off but he refused it. I could probably have bought some of his tat for less...:noidea:


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

You have to be lucky to run into the right or wrong type of people in the Maghreb. Some people I know were harrassed indeed, but I also had some who travelled through the country and didn't come across a single nasty person. I guess it's a matter of luck or not. Usually shouting NO loudly or just ignoring them keeps them at bay. And it is not a typical Maghreb phenomenon really, I've seen my share of beggars on the streets of Barcelona too (and feel quite sorry for them really, but often they refuse help if the council offers them a form of sleeping space)

Melilla is, so I've heard, more African while Ceuta is more distinctively Spanish. That said, Moroccans can cross the border without any restrictions as much as they want, so they can do the begging and selling in Ceuta too


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

gerrit said:


> Melilla is, so I've heard, more African while Ceuta is more distinctively Spanish. That said, *Moroccans can cross the border without any restrictions* as much as they want, so they can do the begging and selling in Ceuta too


Er - I don't think so!!


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

That photo gives a very fake impression. It is true that there is a no man's land (de facto a neutral zone) of about 1 km in theory. In practise there's Moroccan shops and coffee shops in that neutral zone and the Moroccan government says to have no control over people setting up commerce closer to the border than the agreement allowed. And while a fence indeed separates Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco proper, there are border crossing points where people can just walk across the border with an ID check that doesn't even last two minutes. A colleague of mine used to work for the company whose factory produced that fence, and he said that while the fence itself is pretty effective, it will be worthless as long as the border crossings are done with so little custom controls or ID checks. Several Moroccans cross the border daily, the control is very little. The picture you show is a part of the fence with no border crossing but no matter how high the fence, as long as you know the location of the border crossing and with little or no controlling there, people will walk in and out of Ceuta with few or no restrictions.


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