So, after 7 hours on a bus, 5 hours in Chicago, 1 hour on a train, 3 hours waiting, 8 hours by plane, 1 hour waiting, and finally 1 hour by bus, I'm just now waiting to board my flight to Egypt.
Those of you who have read the blog or travelled with me before will understand when I say this trip is off to a good start. To begin, it was pouring on Wednesday night when I went to catch the bus. People had warned me about the people on the megabus (they weren't that bad), but nobody warned me that the emergency latch would break on my window. Keep in mind that essentially all the walls on these buses are window. Every time we'd drive by a semi or anything else that created the slightest bit of a wind tunnel, my window wall would fly open... you know... for easy escape or something. This is when I knew for sure this would be a good trip. :) They couldn't fix it, so about halfway through (in order to keep the kid in front of me from falling from a second story window, I sortof figured out a way to keep it shut most of the time.
We arrived early in Chicago, but thank God for bakeries. I found one that opened its doors at 6, and sat down for a couple hours to wait for the sun to rise and plan a few last details. Then it was off for a nap in the sun at Millenium park before catching the L out to the airport.
The rest went pretty smoothly, until this morning when we landed pretty early in London. I did a little begging and the driver of my transfer bus was nice enough to let me on without paying to change my ticket, so I'm a happy camper. :) England, outside of downtown London, is beauuutiful. Rolling hills, mossy roofs on adorable brick buildings and streams all over the place. I may just have to consider coming back here sometime, but now - Off to Egypt!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Once in a lifetime?
So, life has taken another U-Turn, and I'm about to be on the road (tracks, water, air) again. I'll be leaving on Wednesday, September 22 for a tour of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel for a few weeks. Yes, I am aware that some unpleasant things have been happening in that area since I bought my tickets, but I'll do my best to be safe! I am pretty excited to see the "Holy Land", practice some language, and hopefully make some new friends along the way.
I know that I somehow managed to miss blogging all of Turkey on my last trip, but hopefully I can do better on this one! If any of you have any suggestions, recommendations, warnings, must-sees, etc., PLEASE feel free to share them. There's a lot that I have yet to learn!
I know that I somehow managed to miss blogging all of Turkey on my last trip, but hopefully I can do better on this one! If any of you have any suggestions, recommendations, warnings, must-sees, etc., PLEASE feel free to share them. There's a lot that I have yet to learn!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The land of Adrenaline: Switzerland May 12 and 13
We took the flight from Nice to Basel, Switzerland and arrived around midnight at the train station. We tried to wander around and find some dinner, but quickly realized that Basel was not exactly full of night life, so we settled on ice cream at mcdonalds. Blech. We had to accept it though because this was going to be our home for the evening. We curled up next to some bums on the benches and tried to get some sleep even though it was pretty stinkin' cold. It was definitely a big change from the temps in the French Riviera.
We took the first train we could catch into Interlaken and tried to get a little more sleep on the train. We arrived at the station and tried our best to follow our directions to the hostel, but it turns out they are absolutely awful and we walked about 3 miles in the wrong direction with our bags. Whoops. Finally, we made it to the hostel (and were greeted by the guard: a huge saint bernard), but along the way, we passed hundreds of punks teens and preteens carrying cases upon cases of beer. We were so confused until we realized there was a HUGE punk rock festival going on the weekend we were there. Luckily, we really had no problems with them the whole time... it was just counter-stereotypical of Switzerland for me.
Even though we had only managed about 4 hours of sleep each, Megan suggested we go canyoning on this first day since we couldn't check into the hostel yet anyways. We were able to sign up and ended up only being in a group with 2 other people. After climbing into 2 layers of wetsuits, wetsuit socks, shoes, and cap (we were going to jump down glacial waterfalls), as well as a helmet and harnass, we were ready to go. We took a van up to the top of this amazing gorge and started our trek. We did everything from jumping off cliffs and waterfalls, wiggling down caves and rock waterslides, and rappelling down mountainsides all while seeing views that very few people will ever get to experience. It was amazing, if not a bit terrifying. They always had one of the guides jump first to make sure we wouldn't be impaled on a rock or something. If they got injured, they would climb back up and try to find a different way to jump so that we would be safe. Really... it was a HUGE rush.
They gave us some munchies and stuff afterwards and Megan and I ditched out to get some famous swiss cheese fondue at a cute local restaurant. Then, it was time to pass out.
In the morning, we found a cheap scooter rental - and even though neither of us had ever ridden - we decided to check them out for 3 hours with intentions to picnic high up in the mountains. Well, we got on and followed a suggested path into a valley that was supposed to be filled with waterfalls, and we got what we expected.... probably a dozen waterfalls over a hundred feet high just feeding into glacial rivers on both sides of the road. It was amazing. Megan and I decided we could wait to eat and instead took a new path up into the mountains and saw the super stereotypical swiss mountain villages with the cute wooden houses at the base of the mountain with fresh water and blue skies all around. We made one final little trek down to the big lakes in hopes to take some cool reflection pics, but there was too much wind so we just got a bit of scenery.
Then, it was back to the hostel for lunch, killing some time walking around the area, and heading back to the train station so we could catch our flight to Turkey. While I think Morocco has some of the best people in the world, I think Switzerland may have taken the trophy for the most beautiful scenery. :o)
We took the first train we could catch into Interlaken and tried to get a little more sleep on the train. We arrived at the station and tried our best to follow our directions to the hostel, but it turns out they are absolutely awful and we walked about 3 miles in the wrong direction with our bags. Whoops. Finally, we made it to the hostel (and were greeted by the guard: a huge saint bernard), but along the way, we passed hundreds of punks teens and preteens carrying cases upon cases of beer. We were so confused until we realized there was a HUGE punk rock festival going on the weekend we were there. Luckily, we really had no problems with them the whole time... it was just counter-stereotypical of Switzerland for me.
Even though we had only managed about 4 hours of sleep each, Megan suggested we go canyoning on this first day since we couldn't check into the hostel yet anyways. We were able to sign up and ended up only being in a group with 2 other people. After climbing into 2 layers of wetsuits, wetsuit socks, shoes, and cap (we were going to jump down glacial waterfalls), as well as a helmet and harnass, we were ready to go. We took a van up to the top of this amazing gorge and started our trek. We did everything from jumping off cliffs and waterfalls, wiggling down caves and rock waterslides, and rappelling down mountainsides all while seeing views that very few people will ever get to experience. It was amazing, if not a bit terrifying. They always had one of the guides jump first to make sure we wouldn't be impaled on a rock or something. If they got injured, they would climb back up and try to find a different way to jump so that we would be safe. Really... it was a HUGE rush.
They gave us some munchies and stuff afterwards and Megan and I ditched out to get some famous swiss cheese fondue at a cute local restaurant. Then, it was time to pass out.
In the morning, we found a cheap scooter rental - and even though neither of us had ever ridden - we decided to check them out for 3 hours with intentions to picnic high up in the mountains. Well, we got on and followed a suggested path into a valley that was supposed to be filled with waterfalls, and we got what we expected.... probably a dozen waterfalls over a hundred feet high just feeding into glacial rivers on both sides of the road. It was amazing. Megan and I decided we could wait to eat and instead took a new path up into the mountains and saw the super stereotypical swiss mountain villages with the cute wooden houses at the base of the mountain with fresh water and blue skies all around. We made one final little trek down to the big lakes in hopes to take some cool reflection pics, but there was too much wind so we just got a bit of scenery.
Then, it was back to the hostel for lunch, killing some time walking around the area, and heading back to the train station so we could catch our flight to Turkey. While I think Morocco has some of the best people in the world, I think Switzerland may have taken the trophy for the most beautiful scenery. :o)
Monte who? Monaco: June 11
So we hit up Monte Carlo and here's the quick and dirty of the trip. We missed our train and played cribbage on the ground outside the train station for about an hour waiting for the next one. Not a good way to start the trip.
Monaco has tons of underground tunnels and I never knew where I was going to come out.
There are lots of huge buildings built into the cliffs along the water, and you can pretty much see the entire "country" from the beach.
Hiked up the many stairs to the palace which turned out to be pretty mediocre, but there were some good views from that high in the city.
The Monte Carlo casino is not nearly as large as I had expected, but super super fancy. No flashing lights and all high roller tables. Plus, you have to pay a fee just to enter so we hit up the slot machines near the entrance just to say we gambled a bit.
We made it back to Nice and chatted with Simo a bit before catching a bus to the airport where I found out my bag has grown to 19.4 kilos... or about 45 pounds. Oops.
Monaco has tons of underground tunnels and I never knew where I was going to come out.
There are lots of huge buildings built into the cliffs along the water, and you can pretty much see the entire "country" from the beach.
Hiked up the many stairs to the palace which turned out to be pretty mediocre, but there were some good views from that high in the city.
The Monte Carlo casino is not nearly as large as I had expected, but super super fancy. No flashing lights and all high roller tables. Plus, you have to pay a fee just to enter so we hit up the slot machines near the entrance just to say we gambled a bit.
We made it back to Nice and chatted with Simo a bit before catching a bus to the airport where I found out my bag has grown to 19.4 kilos... or about 45 pounds. Oops.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Still breathing!
Hey guys, just an update to let you know I am alive. :-D I've just been pretty much without internet since I arrived in Turkey a week ago. I will give a real update on the trip as soon as possible! (Monaco, Switzerland, Istanbul, small village, etc.)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Watch out for the waves! Nice: June 9 and 10
We got up early to try to catch a faster train back to Nice in the morning - it turns out there is no such thing. So - we ended up on the train for about 6 hours again. On the plus side, while we were buying a couple things in Ventimiglia, Italy on the way back, a cute little fruit vendor thought I was French, we chatted a little bit, and he gave me my peach for free. :)
When we finally arrived in Nice, we hadn't booked a hotel. We were wandering up and down the streets checking for availability when a little man asked us what we were looking for. It's super common for people to offer non-legit rooms to people on the streets so I told him we didn't have much money and wouldn't be able to stay in his rooms. As it turned out, he was the manager of a few hotels. He was impressed with my French too - woohoo. Anyway, he brought us to one of the hotels and instructed the concierge to only charge us half price, take care of us, and give us good advice of what to do around town. We checked in, and all was well. :)
We wandered down the streets looking for dinner since it was around 7 pm already, but most of the shops were closing. We ended up ducking into a little sandwich shop and the owners happened to be from where? You guessed it - Morocco! We talked a bit, and Mohammed invited us out to the bars with him. We told him we didn't want to drink, but would meet him later if he wanted. We just wandered around for a while and then the three of us met up to go grab some fresh squeezed orange juice and again hear another perspective on the social problems in France. He walked us back to our neighborhood and sent us on our way.
In the morning, we decided to just hang around Nice and relax. First we had a little picnic lunch in the city. Then, we searched out the Russian church, which was pretty, and ended up really just taking a nap in the grass nearby for a while. Then, we went to go find the chateau. It was on the other side of town, so we ended up walking by the beach for quite a bit. The waves were huge and the colors were amazing. Finally, we made it to the 358 (yes, I counted) stairs up to the chateau in the mountains. We had a great view of the city from up there. Then, it was off to find some dinner, and going to bed eeeearly so we can go to Monaco tomorrow morning. :)
When we finally arrived in Nice, we hadn't booked a hotel. We were wandering up and down the streets checking for availability when a little man asked us what we were looking for. It's super common for people to offer non-legit rooms to people on the streets so I told him we didn't have much money and wouldn't be able to stay in his rooms. As it turned out, he was the manager of a few hotels. He was impressed with my French too - woohoo. Anyway, he brought us to one of the hotels and instructed the concierge to only charge us half price, take care of us, and give us good advice of what to do around town. We checked in, and all was well. :)
We wandered down the streets looking for dinner since it was around 7 pm already, but most of the shops were closing. We ended up ducking into a little sandwich shop and the owners happened to be from where? You guessed it - Morocco! We talked a bit, and Mohammed invited us out to the bars with him. We told him we didn't want to drink, but would meet him later if he wanted. We just wandered around for a while and then the three of us met up to go grab some fresh squeezed orange juice and again hear another perspective on the social problems in France. He walked us back to our neighborhood and sent us on our way.
In the morning, we decided to just hang around Nice and relax. First we had a little picnic lunch in the city. Then, we searched out the Russian church, which was pretty, and ended up really just taking a nap in the grass nearby for a while. Then, we went to go find the chateau. It was on the other side of town, so we ended up walking by the beach for quite a bit. The waves were huge and the colors were amazing. Finally, we made it to the 358 (yes, I counted) stairs up to the chateau in the mountains. We had a great view of the city from up there. Then, it was off to find some dinner, and going to bed eeeearly so we can go to Monaco tomorrow morning. :)
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Rio who? Cinque Terre: May 7 and 8
We got up early to catch one of the first trains from Marseille to Nice. No problems there - it only took a couple hours. Then, we had to transfer for a train to the border of Italy: Ventimiglia. That also wasn't so bad... maybe an hour and a half. Great. Then, we had to take the regional train to Cinque Terre.... for 5 hours. I think I'll be content to avoid mass amounts of public transportation for a while after this trip. So anyway, we arrived in Riomaggiore around 5pm, checked into our hostel, and went off in search of dinner since we hadn't eaten all day on the train. We found a cute little restaurant and got some gnocchi with traditional Ligurian pesto. It was DELICIOUS! :)
We spent a couple hours just exploring the city after that.. hiked up a random trail and found some waterfalls, turned down an alleyway to find an old church and apothecary, and came across little old ladies hanging their laundry out to dry in the sea breeze on our way back. Even though we were in an 11 bed room on our trip, we turned in early because we hadn't slept much and knew we would need energy for the next day.
Intermission to the dreams: some of the roommates come in at 3am, loud as ever, after drinking wine on the beach all night. They talked about nothing in particular for a good hour or so before finally passing out. On the bright side, they pointed out the fireflies in our room. That was the first time I'd ever seen them. :)
In the morning, Megan and I woke up pretty early to hike the trails. We started in Riomaggiore and quickly made it along to Manarola where we bought a little bit of Focaccia for breakfast while we started the hike on to Corniglia (including the 380 stairs up to the city). We explored each city a little bit along the way. I had stayed in Corniglia last time I was here, so I knew of a good deli where we bought some salami, bread, and fruit to have a picnic lunch along the way. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza is my favorite with gorgeous views of the cliffs, plants, and crashing waves. We stopped in a little secluded place to put on more sunscreen ( didn't want to take any chances after Marseille) and eat our lunch. Then, it was onto the beasty hike to Monterosso. There were SO many stairs on this trail... at least a few hundred up and down the side of the mountains. After 12km, and going up and down about 600 feet from sea level at least 4 or 5 times, we made it to the beach in the last city. We drank some water, ditched our stuff on the beach and hopped into the Mediterannean! It was so cold at first, but felt amazing after our long hike.
We finally headed back to Rio to shower, grab some pesto pizza for dinner, and just hang out with some of the roommates for a few hours before going to bed. In the morning, we'd have to get up early again to catch a train back to France.
We spent a couple hours just exploring the city after that.. hiked up a random trail and found some waterfalls, turned down an alleyway to find an old church and apothecary, and came across little old ladies hanging their laundry out to dry in the sea breeze on our way back. Even though we were in an 11 bed room on our trip, we turned in early because we hadn't slept much and knew we would need energy for the next day.
Intermission to the dreams: some of the roommates come in at 3am, loud as ever, after drinking wine on the beach all night. They talked about nothing in particular for a good hour or so before finally passing out. On the bright side, they pointed out the fireflies in our room. That was the first time I'd ever seen them. :)
In the morning, Megan and I woke up pretty early to hike the trails. We started in Riomaggiore and quickly made it along to Manarola where we bought a little bit of Focaccia for breakfast while we started the hike on to Corniglia (including the 380 stairs up to the city). We explored each city a little bit along the way. I had stayed in Corniglia last time I was here, so I knew of a good deli where we bought some salami, bread, and fruit to have a picnic lunch along the way. The hike from Corniglia to Vernazza is my favorite with gorgeous views of the cliffs, plants, and crashing waves. We stopped in a little secluded place to put on more sunscreen ( didn't want to take any chances after Marseille) and eat our lunch. Then, it was onto the beasty hike to Monterosso. There were SO many stairs on this trail... at least a few hundred up and down the side of the mountains. After 12km, and going up and down about 600 feet from sea level at least 4 or 5 times, we made it to the beach in the last city. We drank some water, ditched our stuff on the beach and hopped into the Mediterannean! It was so cold at first, but felt amazing after our long hike.
We finally headed back to Rio to shower, grab some pesto pizza for dinner, and just hang out with some of the roommates for a few hours before going to bed. In the morning, we'd have to get up early again to catch a train back to France.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Did we ever leave Africa?: Marseille June 5 and 6
So, we had a relatively expensive hotel reserved outside of Marseille because it was all we could find online. Well, we took the train from the airport into the city center, had no idea where we were and decided we'd go find internet to see if we could figure out how to get there. We ended up wandering down to the city and found a shady hotel near the train station. We figured "why not?" and found out they had some rooms for only 35 euro per night. Soo... I cancelled our other reservation and we've been staying in the old part of town. It's mostly north african immigrants and moroccan and tunisian restaurants in the area... which makes me miss morocco a little less. (Just a little though - I love that country!)
Well, we spent the afternoon being good tourists and wandering around to see all of the landmarks like St. Victor's Abbey (there happened to be a funeral so we couldn't actually go in.), the cathedral, the old port, etc. We also stopped to try the baked specialty of Marseille at a bakery that is like 220 years old. They are called Navettes and kind of taste like a really hard lemon cookie. Ehh.. it was an experience anyway.
We decided to get some food but everything was pretty expensive around the old port so we settled on a little venezia pizzeria. It ended up being a good choice as we spent the evening chatting with the owner about everything from the joys of traveling to the social problems in France. He didn't want us to leave yet, so he gave us a bottle of Limoncello to start drinking... Never mind that we had already shared a bottle of Vin de Provence. We were also talking with his friend Kamel who apparently owned a bakery in the suburbs and told us that if we came back the next day, he would bring us a special dessert. Why not, right? Well, we wandered the city by night for a little bit to check out all of the monuments all lit up and then went to crash at the hotel.
In the morning, we decided to take a bus early out to the Calanques and the bay of Cassis. Unfortunately, our hotel owner recommended we not go that direction since a woman had just been kidnapped while she was hiking there and it wouldn't be safe for 2 girls to go alone. Instead, we went to the Calanques in the south of Marseille. They are these crazy rock formations from when glaciers were cutting through the area. Anyway, when trying to get there, we got on the wrong bus about 4 times, but eventually made it there. Basically we ended up hiking through the mountain-like things. It was ok, but not fabulous... until we got to the top of one of the big ones and found the sea. It was an amazing view of the Mediterranean, little islands off the coast, and the little fishing village where the bus dropped us off. I kept telling Megan how surreal it was - like something out of a movie.
Finally, we hiked back down and decided to take the bus to one of the beaches... I forgot they had topless beaches in France. Whoops. Anyways, we napped there for a while and got horribly sunburnt, and then went home. It went much smoother on the way back. :)
We decided to go back to the city, and ended up trying to grab dinner at the pizzeria again. We were greeted with bises and warm welcomes. Kamel wasn't there yet, but I ended up chatting with a guy who works for the oil industry in Algeria and owns a hotel... so after talking for a while, he told us he would get us a tour guide and a place to stay if we just come to visit. Really, the people are so generous! Kamel never came and we decided to leave, but Christian (the Italian owner) told us he might be by later. Megan and I went to go grab some ice cream for dessert and came back. Kamel still hadn't been by, so Christian insisted we call him... so I had to explain over the phone to this person I had just met the day before that it was okay that he had too much work and couldn't make it out for dinner... as if we'd been friends for like 10 years. Well, Christian felt bad, so he gave us.. more Limoncello. Finally, we took a couple of pictures, exchanged email addresses, and went home to our shady hotel.
Well, we spent the afternoon being good tourists and wandering around to see all of the landmarks like St. Victor's Abbey (there happened to be a funeral so we couldn't actually go in.), the cathedral, the old port, etc. We also stopped to try the baked specialty of Marseille at a bakery that is like 220 years old. They are called Navettes and kind of taste like a really hard lemon cookie. Ehh.. it was an experience anyway.
We decided to get some food but everything was pretty expensive around the old port so we settled on a little venezia pizzeria. It ended up being a good choice as we spent the evening chatting with the owner about everything from the joys of traveling to the social problems in France. He didn't want us to leave yet, so he gave us a bottle of Limoncello to start drinking... Never mind that we had already shared a bottle of Vin de Provence. We were also talking with his friend Kamel who apparently owned a bakery in the suburbs and told us that if we came back the next day, he would bring us a special dessert. Why not, right? Well, we wandered the city by night for a little bit to check out all of the monuments all lit up and then went to crash at the hotel.
In the morning, we decided to take a bus early out to the Calanques and the bay of Cassis. Unfortunately, our hotel owner recommended we not go that direction since a woman had just been kidnapped while she was hiking there and it wouldn't be safe for 2 girls to go alone. Instead, we went to the Calanques in the south of Marseille. They are these crazy rock formations from when glaciers were cutting through the area. Anyway, when trying to get there, we got on the wrong bus about 4 times, but eventually made it there. Basically we ended up hiking through the mountain-like things. It was ok, but not fabulous... until we got to the top of one of the big ones and found the sea. It was an amazing view of the Mediterranean, little islands off the coast, and the little fishing village where the bus dropped us off. I kept telling Megan how surreal it was - like something out of a movie.
Finally, we hiked back down and decided to take the bus to one of the beaches... I forgot they had topless beaches in France. Whoops. Anyways, we napped there for a while and got horribly sunburnt, and then went home. It went much smoother on the way back. :)
We decided to go back to the city, and ended up trying to grab dinner at the pizzeria again. We were greeted with bises and warm welcomes. Kamel wasn't there yet, but I ended up chatting with a guy who works for the oil industry in Algeria and owns a hotel... so after talking for a while, he told us he would get us a tour guide and a place to stay if we just come to visit. Really, the people are so generous! Kamel never came and we decided to leave, but Christian (the Italian owner) told us he might be by later. Megan and I went to go grab some ice cream for dessert and came back. Kamel still hadn't been by, so Christian insisted we call him... so I had to explain over the phone to this person I had just met the day before that it was okay that he had too much work and couldn't make it out for dinner... as if we'd been friends for like 10 years. Well, Christian felt bad, so he gave us.. more Limoncello. Finally, we took a couple of pictures, exchanged email addresses, and went home to our shady hotel.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Would you like a massage? Fes: June 3 and 4
Wednesday morning, I woke up early and just spent a while chatting with Yassine until everyone else woke up. Eventually Sandra (Farid's flatmate) invited me to run to the market to get some food for breakfast while Farid made some more fresh mint tea. It was so quiet and calm there in the morning while everyone was still cleaning out their shops. The only downside was that I almost slipped in a puddles about a half dozen times.
Well, Megan and I took a fancy, air-conditioned, fast train to Fes, and arrived around 3pm. We wandered around for a while, asking for directions, and finally found our hotel. We explored to find some lunch, and then decided we'd ask about finding the old Medina since we were definitely living in the new part of town. The concierge told us it would all be closed, but I wanted to adventure out there anyways. As it turned out, it was nowhere near closed. After walking down probably a good mile of boulevard with a fountain every 10 feet, we could hear the Medina. We wandered around inside for quite a while trying not to get lost or harassed too much and found ice cream and other snacks for dinner for anywhere from 10 cents to a dollar each. Saweet. :) Megan's family requested that she bring back some Saffron, so we asked about it and were led into this labrynth of spices behind a shop front. Really, it was just walls and walls of spices piled up to the ceiling. We wandered a bit more and found a beautiful door in the Medina. I decided to take a picture. Bad idea. As it turns out, it was the royal palace and the police came over and scolded me and made me erase it. Oops. Anyway, it was getting late, so we headed back to the hotel.
In the morning of the 4th, Megan and I decided we would be brave and to to a Hamam. Since the people here usually have only cold water to shower with, they go to this spa kind of thing once a week or so. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into. The guy at the counter told us it was one euro to enter and 4 euro for a massage: would we like a massage? We said sure, paid, and walked into the women's side of the Hamam. You go all the way back to a steam room for a while and then they bring out tons of pails of steaming hot water in the second room where you can scrub up. We looked like idiots wandering around since we had no idea what was going on, but it was interesting anyways. Then came the surprise "massage". An old Moroccan woman comes up with like a loofah mit and scrubs the hell out of you. It was not what we expected, far from relaxing, and hilarious to laugh about afterwards... once we had our silky soft skin. Ayayya.
Finally, we realized we were running a bit low on cash if we were going to take a taxi in the morning, but luckily, we found a sandwich shop selling what seemed like falafel sandwiches for 4 Dirham... which is equal to about 50 cents in the US. Thank you Morocco! Tonight, I think the plan is maybe to relax by the pool for a bit, head up to the old Medina to check out the music festival, and call it a night so we can catch a taxi to the airport early in the morning. Ahh, c'est la vie!
UPDATE: So we did end up going to the Medina and since it is really our first city in Morocco without male escorts, there were some positive and negative aspects. For the negative, there were a tremendous amount of stares and catcalls in every language you could imagine. For the positive, I was out of money so one of the vendors called me over and just gave me a pair of traditional slippers for visiting Morocco. I guess I can't complain too much! :)
Well, Megan and I took a fancy, air-conditioned, fast train to Fes, and arrived around 3pm. We wandered around for a while, asking for directions, and finally found our hotel. We explored to find some lunch, and then decided we'd ask about finding the old Medina since we were definitely living in the new part of town. The concierge told us it would all be closed, but I wanted to adventure out there anyways. As it turned out, it was nowhere near closed. After walking down probably a good mile of boulevard with a fountain every 10 feet, we could hear the Medina. We wandered around inside for quite a while trying not to get lost or harassed too much and found ice cream and other snacks for dinner for anywhere from 10 cents to a dollar each. Saweet. :) Megan's family requested that she bring back some Saffron, so we asked about it and were led into this labrynth of spices behind a shop front. Really, it was just walls and walls of spices piled up to the ceiling. We wandered a bit more and found a beautiful door in the Medina. I decided to take a picture. Bad idea. As it turns out, it was the royal palace and the police came over and scolded me and made me erase it. Oops. Anyway, it was getting late, so we headed back to the hotel.
In the morning of the 4th, Megan and I decided we would be brave and to to a Hamam. Since the people here usually have only cold water to shower with, they go to this spa kind of thing once a week or so. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into. The guy at the counter told us it was one euro to enter and 4 euro for a massage: would we like a massage? We said sure, paid, and walked into the women's side of the Hamam. You go all the way back to a steam room for a while and then they bring out tons of pails of steaming hot water in the second room where you can scrub up. We looked like idiots wandering around since we had no idea what was going on, but it was interesting anyways. Then came the surprise "massage". An old Moroccan woman comes up with like a loofah mit and scrubs the hell out of you. It was not what we expected, far from relaxing, and hilarious to laugh about afterwards... once we had our silky soft skin. Ayayya.
Finally, we realized we were running a bit low on cash if we were going to take a taxi in the morning, but luckily, we found a sandwich shop selling what seemed like falafel sandwiches for 4 Dirham... which is equal to about 50 cents in the US. Thank you Morocco! Tonight, I think the plan is maybe to relax by the pool for a bit, head up to the old Medina to check out the music festival, and call it a night so we can catch a taxi to the airport early in the morning. Ahh, c'est la vie!
UPDATE: So we did end up going to the Medina and since it is really our first city in Morocco without male escorts, there were some positive and negative aspects. For the negative, there were a tremendous amount of stares and catcalls in every language you could imagine. For the positive, I was out of money so one of the vendors called me over and just gave me a pair of traditional slippers for visiting Morocco. I guess I can't complain too much! :)
The twin cities: Rabat-Sale June 1-2
Tarik made us a quick breakfast in the morning and drove us to the train station before he had to go to work. We took second class from Casa to Rabat and it was a bad idea since it was really stuffy, hot, and crowded. By the time we got off the train in Rabat, we felt DISGUSTING.
We didn't see our friend waiting for us, and we weren't positive if we were even at the right station in the city, so we tried to use the phone. Luckily for us, our friend showed up right behind us as we were calling them. Yassine had brought Farid and another friend with him, and since Yassine was busy getting ready for his first screening of his documentary, he sent us in a taxi to Farid's house. It was in the old part of the city, at the crossing of Rabat's river and the ocean. It was founded by pirates - basically all of the Muslims who were kicked out of Spain came and claimed the area. Anyway, the house was amazing. It was pretty big and had a gorgeous terrace with an overshelming view of the ocean and Rabat's twin city: Sale.
Megan and I went to wander along the river for a while to try to get a feel for the city. The shopowners are much less pushy here. Well, we grabbed some delicious crepes for dinner and headed back to meet Farid so we could all go see Yassine's documentary. People started taking pictures of us right as we walked in. Apparently, it was a big deal with lots of press... and we were slimy, un-showered, and casually dressed. Unfortunately, they wanted "an international perspective" and interviewed us to be aired on the news in Morocco. So, if you see a pasty white girl talking about the disparities between the tourists and the local people in the town of Ifrain, you'll know how I spent my time in Rabat. Ha. ;)
Anyway, we met a bunch of Yassine's friends and all decided to go to Rachid's house where we ended up just chatting quite a bit and having 13 people eating veggie tagine (cooked by the men of course) around a small table. We talked a bit more, and then Yassine, Eunice, Hamza, Rachid, Abdel, Farid, and another friend all walked us back across town to Farid's house where we ended up staying that night.
In the morning, we slept in pretty late, but Farid still bought us some traditional bread from the market and made us some yummy mint tea for breakfast. Then, we went out to visit the Mozoleum, the big Mosque; and the roman ruins at Chellah. The ruins were crazy - this huge labrynth of old bricks, beautiful flowers, and almost a jungle-like atmosphere. It seemed even more so because they had these huge nests full of nasty giant birds cackling away the whole time. After walking all over town, Megan and I decided to take a taxi back to Farid's in the old part of town. That was an adventure and a half to explain to the driver who only spoke arabic and broken french since it is so far north it is not on the map.
We returned, hung out on the terrace, talked with Farid's flatmates a bit, and then found out Yassine would finally be coming to meet us. When he arrived, the guys proposed that we go see some local dance performance. No big deal, right? Well, we forgot Yassine was a photographer and Farid was a journalist. So, we had to sign in as the press, walk down a red carpet (again dressed like bums) and hear questions like "pardon me, but have you met the ambassador?" Apparently it wasn't just some small dance show, it was symbolising some kind of partnership between Europe and Morocco, with the president, ambassador, etc. Whoops. The guys snapped some pics after mingling a bit and decided they would rather take naps than watch traditional European dance, so we ducked out the back door.
The guys wanted us to make them dinner, but we didn't know what we'd be able to find there, so they agreed to make dinner and we would make them traditional american dessert: cookies. :) We spent quite a while walking through the market picking up everything we would need and eventually made it home to start cooking. We spent maybe an hour preparing, and then the whole group of like 7 of us decided to have dinner by candlelight on the terrace since the view of the lights reflecting on the ocean was just amazing. I think it was after midnight by the time we finished eating and cleaning, so we all went to bed pretty soon after.
We didn't see our friend waiting for us, and we weren't positive if we were even at the right station in the city, so we tried to use the phone. Luckily for us, our friend showed up right behind us as we were calling them. Yassine had brought Farid and another friend with him, and since Yassine was busy getting ready for his first screening of his documentary, he sent us in a taxi to Farid's house. It was in the old part of the city, at the crossing of Rabat's river and the ocean. It was founded by pirates - basically all of the Muslims who were kicked out of Spain came and claimed the area. Anyway, the house was amazing. It was pretty big and had a gorgeous terrace with an overshelming view of the ocean and Rabat's twin city: Sale.
Megan and I went to wander along the river for a while to try to get a feel for the city. The shopowners are much less pushy here. Well, we grabbed some delicious crepes for dinner and headed back to meet Farid so we could all go see Yassine's documentary. People started taking pictures of us right as we walked in. Apparently, it was a big deal with lots of press... and we were slimy, un-showered, and casually dressed. Unfortunately, they wanted "an international perspective" and interviewed us to be aired on the news in Morocco. So, if you see a pasty white girl talking about the disparities between the tourists and the local people in the town of Ifrain, you'll know how I spent my time in Rabat. Ha. ;)
Anyway, we met a bunch of Yassine's friends and all decided to go to Rachid's house where we ended up just chatting quite a bit and having 13 people eating veggie tagine (cooked by the men of course) around a small table. We talked a bit more, and then Yassine, Eunice, Hamza, Rachid, Abdel, Farid, and another friend all walked us back across town to Farid's house where we ended up staying that night.
In the morning, we slept in pretty late, but Farid still bought us some traditional bread from the market and made us some yummy mint tea for breakfast. Then, we went out to visit the Mozoleum, the big Mosque; and the roman ruins at Chellah. The ruins were crazy - this huge labrynth of old bricks, beautiful flowers, and almost a jungle-like atmosphere. It seemed even more so because they had these huge nests full of nasty giant birds cackling away the whole time. After walking all over town, Megan and I decided to take a taxi back to Farid's in the old part of town. That was an adventure and a half to explain to the driver who only spoke arabic and broken french since it is so far north it is not on the map.
We returned, hung out on the terrace, talked with Farid's flatmates a bit, and then found out Yassine would finally be coming to meet us. When he arrived, the guys proposed that we go see some local dance performance. No big deal, right? Well, we forgot Yassine was a photographer and Farid was a journalist. So, we had to sign in as the press, walk down a red carpet (again dressed like bums) and hear questions like "pardon me, but have you met the ambassador?" Apparently it wasn't just some small dance show, it was symbolising some kind of partnership between Europe and Morocco, with the president, ambassador, etc. Whoops. The guys snapped some pics after mingling a bit and decided they would rather take naps than watch traditional European dance, so we ducked out the back door.
The guys wanted us to make them dinner, but we didn't know what we'd be able to find there, so they agreed to make dinner and we would make them traditional american dessert: cookies. :) We spent quite a while walking through the market picking up everything we would need and eventually made it home to start cooking. We spent maybe an hour preparing, and then the whole group of like 7 of us decided to have dinner by candlelight on the terrace since the view of the lights reflecting on the ocean was just amazing. I think it was after midnight by the time we finished eating and cleaning, so we all went to bed pretty soon after.
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