From the moment we thought about the trip, we imagined crossing the Straits of Gibraltar to be this grand romantic moment — moving from one continent to another across the sea.  But the more we read about the logistics of actually schlepping to the boat, getting tickets, the horror stories about the buses and taxis we’d have to take, we tried desperately to find another way to cross (i.e. Google “Direct flights from Lisbon to Tangier”).  At the end of the day, we remembered our original romantic ideal and we committed to the crossing.  It turns out it’s a helluva lot easier than the internet makes it sound.*  Here is our ode to crossing from Europe to North Africa by ferry — an hour and a half journey that truly transported us into a different world.*Here’s the easy way to do it.  After a comfortable stay in Seville, take a quick taxi to the train station (about 6 dollars), rent a one-way car to Algeciras from Eurocar or Hertz (about 28 dollars), then take the gorgeous two hour drive through Southern Spain, passing the churning wind farms by the coast, drop off the car right outside the ferry dock, walk-up to the ticket booth, pay 10 Euros each for the one-way crossing, and marvel at how remarkably close the two continents actually are to each other (less than nine miles).