Days 21-24, Morocco: Fes, Rabat, Casablanca

Fes

Looking back, we started off the Morocco leg of our trip with the most undeveloped/rustic city. Fes has a walled-off medina (old town) that dates back to the medieval ages, and walking through it with a guide it seemed like nothing much had changed. We hired a guide, but the countless twists and turns, narrow alleyways, made our first experience in a medina a blur. We would stop at a notable sight such as a mosque or shop, stay there for like 10 minutes, then rapidly move on to the next sight through a bunch of narrow alleyways. Our guide was pretty funny, saying stuff like “Moroccan dates are like Viagra”, and also pretty knowledgeable with history which allowed us to learn a lot about Morocco. Reflecting on Fes, the day went by so fast that it’s quite hard to remember all the places we went to – I wish I had taken a video but I was so focused on the surroundings and our guide that I didn’t.

Donkeys everywhere.

Inside of a mosque, but obviously only Muslims could go in.

Typical alleyway, well the narrowness of it at least. Here are some clothes being dyed.

A view of part of the Medina

Used to be a market. The weight in the front was badass.

Yah, that’s a camel head. I debated on whether or not to show this, but it was too cool not to post it.

Rabat

Compared to Fes, Rabat the capital of Morocco was a lot tamer. Nathan and I basically finished looking at the sites in a day when we had budgeted 2 days for it. Nathan also had stomach problems so it was a good time to unwind, chill out, talk to our girlfriends, and taste some Moroccan delicacies as well as common meals.

Challah, remains of Roman-era town/fort. On the top of that minaret to the right are some stork’s nests- pretty cool.

Underground tombs – apparently there are eels in there. Folklore says that woman who are infertile should throw eggs in there so that eels will eat it. (umm…symbol for human’s reproductive system)

View of the Kasbah, supposedly a self contained city, from our rowboat.

That’s rotisserie chicken, fries, rice, sauce, and soda – common meal for them. I had it 3 meals in a row; needless to say I got sick of it. Never thought I could get sick of fries and rotisserie chicken.

A Moroccan delicacy – pastilla. I had it for my main course, and thats powdered sugar on top of a pastry filled with nuts, chicken/pigeon, onions, and other stuff. It was tasty, although kind of weird that I was having a sweet main course.

Casablanca

Casablanca – the notable tourist site is the Mosque Hassan II. Third largest mosque in the world. Highest minaret. Retractable ceilings. Electric doors. Escalators. And yes, it’s a mosque.

We also had a stroll along a waterfront 5 km outside the city center, where expats and rich folk hang out. I was pleasantly surprised to see a TGI Friday’s there – man I love that chain. We didn’t eat there, but got some freshly grilled fish instead, since we were next to the waterfront and it seemed the right thing to do. We stayed one night in Casablanca, and that was more than enough.

Huge Mosque.

Yah, the ceiling is retractable in 3 minutes. Technology and religion mixed together is a beautiful thing.

Had myself some mint tea and chilled. With sugar it was kind of like drinking spearmint gum. Delicious.

Next Up? Marrakesh!

Days 18-20, Spain: Granada and Morocco: Tangier

Nathan and I took the train from Sevilla to Granada, the first time we took it in Spain. Trains kind of reminded me of new things in China – without much character and style. But it was a smooth sailing so there’s nothing to complain about.

Granada

A drastic change from Sevilla, Granada is the lesser talked about Andalucian city but it’s definitely the one with much more character. It’s a much more distinct mix of Islam and Christianity, in terms of architecture and food, the two tangible things I could really see and taste. The basic history lesson that I gathered from my two days is that Arabs used to rule Granada until Queen Isabel and King Fernando decided to take over in 1492, resulting in the mixture you see in Granada.

As soon as we got to our hostel in Granada at around 11am, we realized that there was a free tour of Albayzin, a narrow and hilly area where the Moorish (Muslim Arabs from North Africa) people used to live. Hearing the word free, Nathan and I jumped on immediately. Well, obviously we knew it wasn’t going to be free and that there would probably be some kind of tip involved, but we had nothing better to do. The tour guide had a very hyper/active style that could have been annoying, but it kept me awake. We scaled the streets, listening to his stories and looking around. It sure beat looking at the Lonely Planet guide every 5 minutes so I was content. We ended up at some caves in the Northern bit of the city, which people used to live in, then Nathan and I bid farewell and went to the big daddy attraction of Granada, Alhambra. It was a palace/fortress/garden/everything so Nathan and I spent about 5 hours at – I’ll just post photos.

Alhambra was a damn good site and well worth our money. Great views, cool architecture.

Our tour guide. Super hyper. Oh, and also there were probably 25 girls and 3 guys on the tour. It’s like guys don’t go on free tours or something.

Next day Nathan and I looked at our Lonely Planet guide, realized we’d seen pretty much all the big sights in Granada and took a chill day with our only touristy event being the Capilla Real, a church-esque building where Queen Isabel and King Fernando were buried. It was our last night in Spain so we picked a good restaurant and had ox tail stew (which was actually quite similar to ox tail stew I have at home) and a sausage/cheese/pork platter. We slept early, anticipating a long journey the next day to Morocco.

SAUSAGE FEST (hah…)

Tangier/Traveling to Fes

Next day we made a big journey to Fes. Nathan and I didn’t find the idea of staying at either the Spanish port of Algeciras or the Moroccan port of Tangier exciting so we decided to do a 16 hour travel day instead: 4 hours of train, 2 hours of ferry, 5 more hours of train, and time in between. Sounds exhausting, and it was – but I have to say it was a lot nicer than the 16 hours I have to usually be on the plane going to the US from Hong Kong. It was definitely a lot more scenic. At the end of the day, we had a reserved a hotel right next to the train station at Fes, and it was a damn good decision because we were tired.

First picture I take in Tangier – didn’t take this boat but it was similar.

Yeah, they got McDonald’s in Morocco…

On the train from Tangier to Fes, a guy popped up right from underneath the seat in our train couchette/room. Scared the sh*t out of Nathan and I ‘cuz we thought we were alone. He was trying to avoid paying the train fare, but he was dumb enough to not wait until the train fare collector had passed. He got kicked off, which wasn’t too bad for us since he smelled like he hadn’t taken a shower in days.

Next Up? Fes, Rabat, and Casablanca!

Days 13-17, Portugal: Lisbon, Sintra and Spain: Seville

Nathan and I began our backpacking trip with a flight to Lisbon on a budget airline in Europe, Easyjet. I was surprised to find out that we were not assigned any seats. So, just like at the theatres in the US, people started lining up an hour before the flight at the terminal. And, just like at the theatres in the US, the actual flight time was about half an hour later than posted. Anyways, for the price we paid, it was damn good flight.

Lisbon (or Lisboa as they say)

Going into Lisbon from the airport on bus, the city looked bland and unexciting. But as we got closer to the center, the city became a lot more interesting looking. We first dropped off our bags at our trendy hostel. Walking around the city, I felt like we were in a little town. Nathan and I looked around, and became attracted towards a castle on top of a hill – Castelo de Sao Jorge, an icon of Portugal. But first, we went to what we were really here in Portugal for – the custard tarts, Portuguese style, Pasteis de Nata (Nathan learned how to say it before we arrived).

We promised to eat at least 3 of these per day: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Oh, and expect more pictures of these below.

After satisfying the urge for the pastries, we meandered up the hill towards the castle with no map. I mean, it was at the top of the hill so we figured we’d reach it just by going upwards. As we got higher and higher, the view of the city became more and more intriguing. The castle itself didn’t really spark much interest for me, but the views of the city were awesome and unbeatable. It felt like the Peak in Hong Kong.

Capital of Portugal, but it looked like a town to me.

After we left, we ate an Portuguese-Indian restaurant. Tasted like regular Indian food to me. That night, we joined the hostel pub crawl, which was in essence us following one of the guys who worked at the hostel up to a bar area on a hill which was fittingly called Barrio Alto (means higher area/district). We got some of the local beer called Super Bock, which was recommended by my girlfriend. Actually, none of the bars we went to served any other kind of beer. It was pretty damn good beer and not too heavy, a few notches above Busch Light in my invisible beer ratings book. We got to meet some of the people in our hostel, who were from all over. Sweet night.

Next day, we took a modern tram to Belem, an area which had a monastery and apparently the best custard tarts in Lisbon. We got some barbecue for lunch (ribs, of course for me), and resisted the urge to get the custard tarts and headed for the monastery first. We entered a free area first, the church part of the monastery, which was, well a church, albeit a damn nice one. Next we found out that the cloisters area required getting a ticket. 6 Euros for Adult, and Free for students. Everyone, remember to bring your student card to Europe. I went in by myself, did a quick stroll, and came back out. Time for some pasteis de nata.

Later that day, we randomly took a tram because Nathan wanted to just see what being on tram on hills was like. Turned out to be a fun experience and I felt like a little kid on a rollercoaster. Well, a tame rollercoaster. Night came soon after, and we got a bottle of wine (Nathan loves his wine), and we had a more chill night.

6 Euros to walk around in circle. Well, a square. Obviously I told Nathan not to waste his money.

Modern tram and Monastery all in one picture. And an ad for Coca Cola.

Told you these were coming. Crispy on the outside, and warm and custard-y in the inside.

Who knew public transportation could be fun?

Sintra

On the recommendation by fellow hostel-ers, Nathan and I took a day trip 45 minutes north by train to a town where the Monarchy used to take their summer holidays. We went to the remnants of an Islamic/Arabic castle on a hill (Castelo dos Mouros), the summer palace of a king (Palacio da Pena), and lastly a historically rich family’s mansion with a humongous garden (Quinta da Regaleira). A lot of hiking was done – the castle and palace were both on a hill. Very nature-y and tranquil area – well it’d have to be or else the kings and queens wouldn’t be going there to hang out I suppose.

Like I said, a lot of hiking was done.

The summer palace of a king - looked kinda like a fortress on the outside – but inside (couldn’t take photos) was a very homey place.

The mansion and its garden. The garden is much bigger than this photo shows and is like a small little wonderland in itself, with caves, watch towers, gardens, tennis courts etc. Felt like I was in an amusement park.

Seville

Nathan and I took an overnight bus from Lisbon to Seville, arriving at 4am in the morning. We sat in a park until the hostel opened – I watched Weeds on my computer to pass the time. Fun times. This is getting to be a long post so I’ll keep Seville to photos. Anyways, neither Nathan and I found Seville to be a terribly exciting city – with only Alcazar (ALLLLCAZAAAAR as I would say to Nathan), a humongous fortress/palace, and the cathedral of Seville being really notable.

ALCAZAAAAAAAAAR – a palace, fortress, garden all in one complex

Super bustling tapas bar that we went to

A hip hop/freestyling concert outside our hostel. Yah. Where all the cool kids in Sevilla were.

I ordered a goat cheese salad and I got goat cheese. I think those are carrots and lettuce in the middle.

Next up? Granada and then Morocco!

Days 10-12, Spain: Toledo, Madrid (Part II)

Toledo

From Cuenca, my family, my brother’s girlfriend Cecilia, and my friend Nathan drove to Toledo, a town south of Madrid. The drive was relatively quick, and the day started off leisurely. As we drove into the city, it was pretty obvious why Toledo was an UNESCO World Heritage Site – the medieval town was perched on a hill, was a former capital of the Spanish Empire, and had a mix of Christian, Jewish, and Moorish building. Walking around, I felt like I was brought back to the Medieval ages, and was tempted to purchase a sword from one of the many medieval stores. Too bad I would have to carry it for 1.5 more months. There were many cathedrals, convents, churches, synagogues spread out over the town and I soaked it all in. Didn’t go in all of them, but a few were intriguing enough for me to go into. Remind you, this was the 10th day of our trip and by now we’d seen about 6-8 grand cathedrals already. More importantly for a cathedral-ed out person like I, we had some good paella for lunch. I had a black paella, meaning there was squid ink on it, which adds an interesting seafood-y taste to the paella and was quite good.

That night was a disaster. We arrived at a hotel situated in between Madrid and Toledo that we had booked the day before only to find that they didn’t get our reservation. We basically stayed in the hotel lobby from 8pm – 1am waiting for no-show rooms. Sucked horribly, but at least we got a few hours of sleep and a free dinner I suppose.

Black Paella – tastes similar, but if you like squid ink (unexplainable texture), it’s damn good. I like squid ink.

The BIG cathedral of Toledo. I tried walking back as far as possible to take a picture of the whole thing, but it was impossible.

El Greco’s The Burial of Count Orgaz in one of the churches. Good thing I’d taken an art history class 2 yrs ago otherwise I would’ve just dismissed it as a weird and dark painting. It’s much more awe-inspiring in person than in a textbook.

Maybe I should’ve gotten one.

Madrid (Part II)

After a horrible night at the hotel, the group headed back to Madrid to return our beast of a car and to rest before everyone would leave Nathan and I to ourselves to travel. Old Madrid was old news to us so we didn’t spend too much time there. My parents, Nathan and I went to the Prado Museum, while my bro and Cecilia went to a bull fight. The Prado is probably the most famous museum in Spain with loads of famous Spanish, Italian, and Dutch art. Excuse my ignorance, but I’d never heard of it – although at least I knew some of the pieces and could identify the eras and origins of the artworks, all skills I had picked up from art history class. That night we had some great Spanish food in the area called Chueca – the group shared so everyone got to try the food.

The next day, my brother and Cecilia left, and my parents, Nathan and I walked around the big park in Madrid, Parque del Retiro. I’d been there a long time ago, and coming back I enjoyed it a lot more. We strolled around the park for almost 2 hours before having lunch. That afternoon, we all took a siesta. Nathan and I went to a phone store so that he could pick up a phone which would receive calls cheaply in Spain. 1 bar phone was for 19 Euros, and 2 bar phones were for 20 Euros, each with 6 Euros of credit. Obviously Nathan got 2 phones.

That night, we had a good dinner outside and headed to a flamenco show. Dinner was great – I finally ordered the cochinillo de asado, roasted pork. And the flamenco show was fantastic – to me it’s like a step team performance with guitar and vocals all mixed together. Powerful stuff.

My parents went back to their hotel and Nathan and I said goodbye to them, meaning that our backpacking trip had began.

Puppet show in the park. Kids loved it.

Sweet building in the park.

Cochinillo de Asado - Good lord it was good.

Flamenco

Next Up? Lisbon, Portugal

Days 5-9, Spain: Barcelona, Valencia, Cuenca

Barcelona

Barcelona, what a sweet city. Cool and artsy buildings, great tapa and wine bars, lot of variety in tourist spots, and excellent dining choices. I'm usually not that into artsy stuff, but there was a lot of cool stuff in Barcelona. No wonder it's listed on the Lonely Planet website as the #1 Best City in Europe.

First day there, our group plowed through the major attractions. Lucky for us, Nathan had already been to Barcelona and knew the most worthwhile places to head to. We first headed to Antoni Gaudi's La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. For those of you who don't know who he is, he was an avant-garde architect (a style of art that was popular in the early 1900's). Don't worry, I didn't know who he was either.

Outside of Casa Batllo and the rooftop of La Pedrera - funky stuff that even a commoner like I can appreciate

Next, we hit up yet another Gaudi soon to be masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, another funky piece (I know, my artistic vocabulary is broad). Afterwards, I dragged the group to a very fancy and still operating hospital nearby.

Looking up at the Sagrada Familia – my mom comments in Chinese: “These figures are weird and too skinny”

A hospital any GERM would love to work at

After a pretty full morning/afternoon, the group winded down by resting at a bar and having some beers, before going to a relatively early dinner by Spanish standards – around 9:30 pm. What a tough life they lead.

Next day – our group split up after a lunch having some tapas, Northern Spanish style. Basically tapas are little dishes that are like appetizers, and Northern Spanish style means they are on bread. Nathan and I wandered around the southern end of the city, on a hill called Montjuic – it had a nice castle at the top with splendid views. On a side note, I ran into my friend Joanna, who is studying abroad in Barcelona. It was a crazy coincidence that was crazy.

After a couple hours of marching through the city, Nathan and I decided to start drinking while eating dinner. After some beers at dinner, we went to a wine bar and I tried some wine that the bartender recommended. I wasn’t sure it was worth 5 euros, but it was decent. We later split a 20 euro bottle of wine which my amateur taste buds told me was pretty money. A little tipsy, we rumbled over to a bar that Joanna was supposed to go to, L’Ovella Negra. The bar was like some kind of underground Spanish college bar that felt like I was in a castle or something…I enjoyed the college feel of the bar. Sigh. Sadly, Joanna didn’t make it – but Nathan and I decided to just get a beer there before heading out. Bad Choice. Nathan’s assessment of the house beer : “Tastes like puke”.

Northern style of tapas – called Pincho. Super good and quite filling.

Ugh. Busch Light is so much better.

Valencia

Third most populated city in Spain. Not the most interesting for the tourist, but it had a few good sites. While we were there it was a big celebration there – it was like Sevilla weekend. From talking to people there, Friday through Monday was a holiday. Damn long weekend.

Ceiling of one the churches – I think I remember it from art history class so I think it’s famous. Regardless, I think it’d be pretty cool if the sky were really like that.

Street food for lunch – paella and snails and KAS orange soda. I felt pretty local and badass.

Cuenca

Cuenca is not well known. Well, I didn’t even know it until I was looking on the lonely planet guide searching for somewhere to stay in between Valencia and Madrid. Boy am I glad I found out about it. At Cuenca, there is an old town that is on a hill that dates back pretty damn long ago. It’s famous for houses that hang off cliffs – but I found them pretty well, meh. I found the views of the quaint old town a lot cooler and the rustic small town feel meditative.

I think the pictures speak for themselves – I really liked Cuenca.

Next update? Toledo, and Madrid Part II!