Out of Africa - Europe's southernmost tip

Tarifa is literally the place where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. It's full of historic buildings and ruins, there's a Roman settlement close by that supplied the Empire with Garum (a famous spice made from rotten fish) there's lots of the shops that you expect to find in a resort town on the long giant-beached coast line that leads from here straight towards Lisbon in Portugal... okay - there's a few capes in between that make it even more picturesque.
There's lots of seafood on offer in tiny restaurants and bars day and night, there's chiringuitos on the beach that serve PERFECT mojitos... and surf schools galore. and the beaches, but more about that later.

The charme of a historic European walled city is considerable, and all of southern Spain breathes history, from several millenia. Tarifa used to be a small Moorish bastion from which the first Muslim invasion of Europe started. In the 13th century it was taken by the Christians, who from then on successfully defended it... the city experienced several sieges, the last one by French troops in 1812, who had to leave as frustrated as the Moors. See below the western city gate with a royal seal praising the valor of the place and its inhabitants - they're a calm, proud people to this day (and they love their pets, like the guy on the motorbike).

So, here's the central Tarifa market place looking eastwards to the harbor (the statue on the 2nd image above can be found at the harbor entrance, looking south towards Africa, 4 miles away) and a view of the most famous beach of Tarifa, in the west, The Playa de los Lances. There's an explanation for that name, also why the main street of this ancient town is called "Batalla del Salado".

This used to be a battlefield... in October 1340, a mixed army of Castille and Portugal soundly routed the superior Muslim forces of Granada and Morocco, in the area towards the lower hills you can see here. They attacked from the left, 20.000 against 60.000 - while the shot, sun setting in back, was taken from the beach aptly named Playa de los Lances.

Here's some more Playa de los Lances, first pic from where it starts at the outskirts of Tarifa, second pic from out west where it ends (and the next beach starts after a small precipice got in the way). You can just see the town in the lower picture, as a streak of white in front of the Morrocan mountain Jebel Mousa, the one with that wisp of a cloud on top...

Enough for this week... we need to travel on westwards to Trafalgar and Cadiz soon, so let's finish this contemplation of Europe's southern tip with a final tarifeño beach sunset image... See ya ;))