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| Ksar es-Seghir |
Fresh from Chefchaouen, the Vagabond Couple and Shehzadi turned back toward the Strait. Our map traced a compact Morocco leg through Tétouan and Ksar es-Seghir before Tanger Med put the Atlantic-Mediterranean doorway back in front of us.
This was the closing act of our Morocco loop: an Andalusian city, a fortified port on the Strait, one vehicle ferry, and then a very long Spanish drive home. Morocco had been generous with history. Spain was about to contribute mileage.
Morocco was familiar territory by then, although this route was new. On our earlier 2023 journey we had come through Casablanca and taken the train to Marrakech, crossed Tizi n’Tichka and Aït Benhaddou to Ouarzazate, continued through Tinghir and Todra Gorge to Erg Chebbi, and then crossed from Merzouga through the Ziz Valley and Atlas ranges to Fes. The 2025 loop had approached the country from the opposite direction, in Shehzadi and by ferry, which was a considerably larger way to carry the luggage.
Chefchaouen to Algeciras Overland, Morocco to Spain: Tétouan, Ksar es-Seghir & Tanger Med Ferry — Post Summary
This post closes our Morocco loop from Chefchaouen through Tétouan and Ksar es-Seghir to Tanger Med, then follows the ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Algeciras and our long drive home to Pulpí. It covers Tétouan's Andalusian heritage, the fortified Strait port at Ksar es-Seghir, the ferry crossing, and the return across southern Spain.
| What's Covered | |
| 🧭 | Route at a Glance — Chefchaouen → Tétouan → Ksar es-Seghir → Tanger Med → Algeciras, onward to Pulpí |
| 🏛️ | Tétouan — UNESCO Medina, Spanish Ensanche, Nuestra Señora de las Victorias and corrected earthquake context |
| 🏰 | Ksar es-Seghir — fortified Strait port, Portuguese occupation and Tanger Med view |
| ⛴️ | Tanger Med to Algeciras — ferry, Strait of Gibraltar, Jebel Musa and Gibraltar |
| 🚙 | Algeciras to Pulpí — southern Spain corridor, El Ejido stop and home arrival |
From Chefchaouen we followed the N2 about 60 km toward Tétouan, then continued to Ksar es-Seghir and Tanger Med for the ferry to Algeciras. The Morocco side was only about 120 km of driving, but Algeciras was not the end of our day: Pulpí still waited roughly 450 km east along southern Spain. One compact Morocco leg had quietly attached a very long Spanish tail.
| From | Chefchaouen, Morocco |
| To | Algeciras, Spain, via Tanger Med ferry |
| Morocco driving | Approximately 120 km before the ferry |
| Ferry | Tanger Med → Algeciras, scheduled around 90 minutes |
| Onward drive | Approximately 450 km from Algeciras to Pulpí |
| Main roads | N2 in Morocco; A-7/AP-7 corridor in Spain |
| Vehicle | Shehzadi, our 2024 Toyota Tundra |
| Key stops | Tétouan, Ksar es-Seghir, Tanger Med, Algeciras, El Ejido, Pulpí |
Route at a Glance
- Chefchaouen → Tétouan — N2 through the Rif, about 60 km
- Tétouan — central streets, UNESCO Medina context and Nuestra Señora de las Victorias
- Tétouan → Ksar es-Seghir — toward the Strait and fortified port
- Ksar es-Seghir → Tanger Med → Algeciras — shoreline, terminal and ferry
- Algeciras → Pulpí — southern Spain via the A-7/AP-7 corridor, with the El Ejido stop
Tétouan: Andalusian Medina and the Ensanche
Tétouan traded Chefchaouen's blue lanes for white walls, broad streets and an Andalusian stamp. UNESCO ties the Medina closely to Andalusia, especially its rebuilding after refugees arrived from Spain following the Reconquista. The old city and Spanish-era Ensanche sit beside each other, two urban layers sharing one address. It was a useful contrast with Fes el-Bali, whose car-free medina lanes we had walked on our earlier 2023 Morocco journey.
Morocco's Gnawa tradition belongs to a broader musical world, while Tétouan is associated with Andalusian influence. On the street, that history showed in white façades, arches and tiled details. The street plan also kept changing its mind about how much room a pickup truck deserved.
Nuestra Señora de las Victorias stands in the modern center as part of that Spanish-period layer. The Catholic church served the Spanish community during the protectorate era and remains a visible reminder that Tétouan's recent history crossed languages, administrations and faiths. Its modest scale suited the surrounding streets.
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| Tétouan in white: central streets, Moroccan flags and Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Victorias. |
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Northern Morocco adds a tectonic chapter. On February 10, 2025, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck about 25 km north of Ouezzane and was felt across northern Morocco and parts of southern Spain. Tétouan sits within the wider zone where African and Eurasian tectonics make geology an occasional participant in the itinerary. Earth science remains the only travel companion that never checks the calendar.
Ksar es-Seghir: Fortress on the Strait
From Tétouan we continued toward Ksar es-Seghir, where the road met the Strait. The town was smaller, the sea larger, and the old fortifications sat close enough to the beach for salt air to continue the work of centuries.
The firm historical footing here is medieval. Ksar es-Seghir occupied a strategic position on the Strait, and Portuguese forces captured it in 1458. They held the town until 1550, adapting its defenses while using the site as part of Portugal's North African foothold. That record is interesting enough without assigning imaginary galleons a cargo manifest from China, Timbuktu and Toledo. Its Strait position made the settlement useful to rulers managing movement between Africa and Iberia.
We walked the rocky shoreline and the fortress remains, then ate grilled sardines beside the walls while looking across the water. From Ksar es-Seghir, Tanger Med was visible nearby: a huge contemporary container complex facing a coast where military and commercial traffic had mattered for centuries. The contrast required no mythology. A very large port tends to make its own point.
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| Ksar es-Seghir on the Strait: Shehzadi at the shoreline, the old fortress ruins beside the beach and Tanger Med visible across the water. |
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Tanger Med to Algeciras: Ferry Across the Strait of Gibraltar
The next stage began at Tanger Med with aggressively sweet mint tea, trucks rumbling through the terminal and Shehzadi joining the ferry queue. By the time of our crossing, Tanger Med was Africa's leading container port, so the traffic made sense. Trucks and ferry lanes set the rhythm while we waited for our turn to board.
Once aboard, we left Shehzadi on Deck 5 and watched Morocco recede. The Strait narrows to roughly 13–14 km at its tightest point, though the Tanger Med–Algeciras ferry route is longer than that headline number. Our crossing was scheduled at around 90 minutes, enough time for Africa and Europe to occupy the same horizon without agreeing on who had the better weather.
Jebel Musa rose behind us as one traditional candidate for the southern Pillar of Hercules; Monte Hacho at Ceuta is another historical identification. Ahead, the Rock of Gibraltar supplied the northern counterpart with considerably less ambiguity. The mythology survived because the geography already had excellent stage lighting.
Gibraltar itself remained across the bay rather than becoming a stop on this leg. From the ferry, the Rock was the useful landmark: a British Overseas Territory, a strategic limestone promontory and home to Europe's only free-ranging wild population of Barbary macaques. We admired all of that from a sensible distance, which also prevented any monkey from acquiring our snacks.
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| Across the Strait of Gibraltar: Shehzadi queues at Tanger Med, Jebel Musa recedes behind the ferry, Gibraltar appears ahead and Algeciras closes the crossing. |
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Algeciras ended the sea crossing and reunited us with Shehzadi. The port ramp was the point where Morocco became the rear-view mirror and the odometer resumed its argument.
Algeciras to Pulpí: The Long Drive Home
From Algeciras we turned east along the A-7/AP-7 corridor across southern Spain. Estepona, Marbella, Málaga, Nerja and Almuñécar became route markers rather than sightseeing stops. The Mediterranean stayed close for long stretches, mountains crowded the inland side, and traffic supplied the usual reminder that scenic roads remain roads.
The coast gradually gave way to the drier character of Almería. Inland, the Tabernas area is the only desert area in continental Europe and holds many film locations that helped turn southern Spain into the American West for generations of spaghetti Westerns. We were heading home rather than location scouting, so Clint Eastwood was allowed the evening off.
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| Shehzadi parked at Carrefour at El Ejido, Almería, Spain |
At El Ejido we stopped at Carrefour for groceries and McDonald's. Shehzadi, a full-size American pickup from San Antonio, Texas, once again demonstrated that European parking spaces were designed by people with a more restrained view of personal transportation. The truck fitted. The geometry filed a complaint.
About an hour after sunset we reached Pulpí. We were tired, dusty and back at our Spanish base with Morocco still fresh enough to feel attached to the tires. The exit had a different shape from 2023, when our earlier Morocco journey had finished with the Fes-to-Casablanca leg; this time Shehzadi had carried us out across the Strait. Somewhere in the glove box, there was still sand from Morocco. That seemed like a better souvenir than another refrigerator magnet.
This crossing closed the Morocco loop and reset the route for the next European leg. The later 2025 expedition summary places this short North African detour inside the much larger overland journey, which is useful because by this point even we needed a diagram.
After a couple of quiet days at Mar de Pulpí, we would turn north with Chetak and the Odyssean Journey through Valencia, Tarragona, Barcelona, Reus and Lleida, then climb into the Pyrenees toward Andorra.
- The Vagabond Couple and Shehzadi
