As indicated in the title of this post, I spent the second half of last week on a roadtrip through Ireland with three of my friends here from UNC. Without a doubt it one of the most incredible experiences I´ve ever had and easily the best trip I´ve ever taken. Ireland is beyond amazing, I fell completely in love with it the second I got there. That being said, it was the most jam-packed 4 days of my life. Planning our trip was pretty easy considering my entire family it seems has traveled there before (thanks especially to timmy and chris for your travel advice, it was so helpful!), so going into it Elizabeth, Amanda, Jason, and I had a good idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. Naturally we wanted to see just about everything, so sleeping was very low on the priority list and now I am officially exhausted.
The journey started on Wednesday afternoon. We flew out of Malaga because it was cheapest, so Elizabeth, Amanda, Jason, Lauren, and I had to take a 2.5 hour bus ride from Sevilla. When we got to Malaga we took a bus from the bus station to the airport and then took an 8:40 flight from Malaga to Belfast. Our flight got in around 11:00 because Ireland is an hour behind Spain and then picked up our rental car at the airport. We immediately found out through the woman working the rental car desk that the Irish people are some of the nicest, most helpful people that I´ve ever met. Literally we didn´t come in contact with anyone who was the least bit rude or unpleasant the entire time we were there. Example: when the woman at the desk asked us what our plans were and we told her that we were planning on roadtripping through all of Ireland she gave us a free GPS system for our car because she was afraid that we were going to get horribly lost. In hindsight she was completely right because that GPS saved our lives, there´s absolutely no way we could have made it anywhere without it. After picking up the car we hooked up the GPS and Patty (our name for the GPS voice) got us to our hostel in Belfast around midnight. This was a bit of a low point - the hostel was pretty rough. It´s hard to complain about, though, considering we paid 12 pounds each for the night. Plus we had to get up at 5:45 the next morning anyway. It was a pretty awkward experience though - there were five of us, and we were in a room for six people. When we got upstairs to the room we found that there was another person in there, and he/she was asleep, so we never turned the light on. We just showered quickly and went to sleep for a couple of hours. It´s pretty weird - I can´t tell you anything about the room we stayed in because I never saw it. The other guy/girl (we never found out which because we never turned the light on) must have thought we were nuts.
On Thursday morning we got up at 5:45 because Lauren was going to Dublin that day instead of roadtripping with us and had a 6:50 train, so we had to drive her to the train station. After dropping her off, the journey really began. We all took 22 pounds out of the ATM the night before to pay for the hostel, so we had 40 to burn off before we left Northern Ireland. We found a grocery store and bought 40 pounds worth of food. I´m just going to note that food from the grocery stores here in Europe is significantly cheaper than it is in the US. 40 pounds bought us an obscene amount of groceries, far more that I ever could have bought for the same amount at Harris Teeter. After shopping, we piled back in the car and set off for the west coast of the Republic.
Driving was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. The fact that we were on the left side of the road was not hard to get used to, the only time it got tricky was when we had to turn because our reflexes are backwards - for example, when we would make a right-hand turn it would be hard to remember that we were crossing two lanes of traffic instead of one, so we had to look both ways instead of looking just to the left. Amanda took the first leg of the trip. We set up our GPS to go towards Connemara National Park because of Timmy´s advice that he gave me. The drive was long but so much fun. Because of Patty we didn´t have to pull a map out once and therefore just sat back, listened to music, ate our snacks, and enjoyed the absolutely incredible scenery. Every now and then we would have to pull over to take some pictures from the side of the road because the landscape was so beautiful. As we got closer and closer to County Galway and Connemara, the roads got absolutely ridiculous. You couldn´t even call them roads. Patty had us taking multiple turns onto gravel pathways that were in theory two-lane roads but in reality were not wide enough for our car alone that weaved through miles and miles of green fields and nothing else. Multiple times we had to stop because there were sheep in the road. Again I say, Patty saved our lives, there is absolutely no way we could have navigated Ireland without her.
Our first stop in Connemara was Kylemore Abbey, a beautiful old manor house that sits on a lake at base of a group of mountains. We thought about touring the house and gardens, but it cost 8 euro a person, there wasn't a student discount, and we were feeling cheap - so we just settled for admiring it from the outside. After spending some time at the Abbey we headed over to Connemara National Park for some hiking. When we got there the information center was closed, but the trails were marked well enough so we threw the ingredients for PB&J's that we bought at the grocery store into a bag and set off. We picked the long trail that went farthest up the mountain, we just didn't realize at the time that it went literally to the very top. The hike was very challenging physically - at one point the trail gave way to huge steps made out of slate rocks that were each at foot high. Once we got to the top, however, it was well worth it - the view was incredible. The sights were great on the way up but once we were at the top we could really take the whole area in. It felt as though we could see forever, mile after mile of rolling hills, mountains, and sheep fields. In addition to the sights, the park was completely silent. It really felt as though the four of us were the only ones around for miles. It was a very peaceful experience - we just sat down and had a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
After hiking back down we piled back in the car and set off for Galway, where we were spending the night. It took about a little over an hour, so we got in just after 6. We checked into our hostel (which was significantly nicer than the one in Belfast...at least as far as I could tell because I never really saw the Belfast hostel), showered, and then headed out for dinner. My first impression was a good one, and held for the rest of the night - Galway is an awesome place. I don't really think you can call it a city, it felt much more like a bigger town with a very authentic Irish feel to it. I've never seen so many pubs in my life. We stopped at one for dinner. I ordered Shepherd's Pie and it was delicious, especially after the hike. After dinner we went around to a bunch of different pubs. All of them were great - they all had live Irish music and were filled to capacity with some of the friendliest people I've met since being in Europe; everyone seemed interested in having a conversation. We were having a great time, but headed back a little early because we were exhausted.
We planned on getting on the road by 9:00 the next day, so I set my alarm for 7:45. When we woke up the sun was still down, which made it that much harder to get out of bed. We went down to breakfast and then packed up all of our stuff to go check out. At that point Jason checked his watch and saw that it was only 7:15 - apparently I forgot to change the time on my phone, and since Ireland is an hour behind Spain, I accidentally had everyone wake up at 6:45. Whoops.
We started the day by driving about 90 minutes to the Cliffs of Moher. Just as we arrived we heard on the radio that they are under consideration for being named one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Now I haven't seen a lot of the world, nor do I know what other sites are being considered, but if the cliffs received that title I wouldn't be surprised. They were incredible, the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. They even outshone Ronda, and that's a tough thing to do. It's more or less impossible to describe them - hundreds of feet high, made of slate rock washed almost black by the water and covered in green moss, with violent waves crashing at the bases. I felt as though I could have spent hours looking out at them. Unfortunately we were on a bit of a schedule, plus the weather was really cold, so we stayed and walked around the site for a little while before getting back in the car.
Next we set off for the Ring of Kerry. Before the trip Chris had e-mailed me an article from the WSJ about roadtripping through Ireland and it had two distinct days for the Cliffs of Moher and the Ring of Kerry - unfortunately we didn't have an extra day to spare, so we had to do the two in one. We set Patty up to take us to Kilarney, which is where our guidebooks recommended starting the Ring of Kerry drive. Again, we didn't pull out a map, we just listened to the GPS. We got to Kilarney around 3:30 and started the drive according to the National Geographic Ireland travel guide. It ended up being a great source because in addition to the general drive (which was beautiful in itself) it gave directions to a couple of recommended side sights that were all amazing - we saw a great lookout point over a mountain lake, a rocky beach on Dingle Bay, and old stone forts from the Iron Age that were still perfectly preserved. The drive took all afternoon, but it was well worth it. The Ring of Kerry was just as beautiful as everyone makes it out to be.
When it turned dark and we couldn't see the scenery anymore we set off for Kinsale, a small harbor town south of Cork that Chris recommended we visit. This part of the drive was difficult - imagine the same type of "roads" that I described earlier, only at night. We stopped off in Kenmare to get Fish n' Chips for dinner (delicious) and then got to Kinsale around 10:15. We made one more stop off on the side of the road by the lake to take in the night sky because it was the clearest one I've ever seen. It seemed as if we could see every star, shooting stars included.
We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Kinsale - great decision. It was so comfortable, the woman who ran it (like just about everyone in Ireland) was so nice, and the traditional Irish breakfast in the morning was awesome. I didn't realize how sick I am of having nothing but toast every morning until I got eggs and bacon. After breakfast we explored the town a little bit and after about 5 minutes I decided that I want to move there. It was the absolute cutest town I've ever seen - cobblestone streets, pastel-colored buildings and houses, and a small harbor filled with little white sailboats. It was ideal in every way possible.
We left Kinsale in the morning and set off for Blarney Castle - we figured we couldn't go to Ireland and not kiss the Blarney Stone. The castle itself was pretty cool and the grounds were gorgeous; the stone was a little anti-climactic, but I kind of expected that. After Blarney we went to Kilkenny for a late lunch and to see Kilkenny Castle. Again, another awesome town. After that we headed for Dublin and got in around 6:30. We checked into our hostel and ate the rest of our PB&J for dinner. We went out to the pubs a little while afterwards and there were people everywhere, naturally because it was the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day so everyone was going crazy. It was a lot of fun and we went to some pretty cool bars, but I definitely prefer Galway. Dublin more or less just felt like any other big city.
On Sunday morning we went to Powerscourt House and Gardens on the outskirts of Dublin. I didn't think Ireland could have gotten any greener until we got inside the grounds; the grass was so green it seemed to be glowing. We wandered around the gardens for awhile before heading back to Dublin to see St. Patrick's Cathedral (beautiful, but I've seen a lot of Gothic style cathedrals over the past two months and they're all starting to blend together) and to get lunch. After that we headed to the airport because our flight left at 3:40. This part of the trip got tricky. Our flight was scheduled to land in Malaga at 7:35. The last bus from Malaga to Sevilla left at 7:30, so that was out. There were two trains going back to Sevilla that night, one at 8:13 and one at 8:15 (how that schedule makes sense I don't know but whatever). If we missed those trains, our next option was hanging out in Malaga to catch a 3:15 am bus and then having to go to class about 2 hours after arriving in Sevilla. Obviously no one wanted that so we were determined to make one of the trains. A last testament to how nicely the Irish treated us, when we landed the entire plane let us get off first, which saved us a lot of time, we all jumped in cabs, and made the 8:15 train.
So at the end of the day, I was exhausted yet exhilarated. Ireland is an incredible place, I plan on getting back there as soon as I can.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Granada Weekend
Hello again everybody!
This past weekend our program took us to Granada, a smaller city in Andalucia that sits at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mounains. The good thing about this trip was that Granada is an awesome city. The bad thing was that I was sick so I couldn´t enjoy it to the fullest. One of the best things about the trip was that it was put together by UNC Study Abroad, so we didn´t pay for anything - and they spoiled us. We stayed in a 4-star hotel, had breakfast and dinner provided for us (which were some of the best meals I´ve eaten since being in Spain), got into all of the historical sites for free, and got student discounts at the hotel spa.
We left Sevilla around 10:00 in the morning on Friday and arrived in Granada around 2:00. My impression of the city was that it was absolutely beautiful and unlike a lot of the places I´ve seen in Andalucia thus far. Because it sits on the bottom of the mountains, the city was very hilly with narrow cobblestone streets giving way to big, open plazas. Even from the bottom of the hills the views of the mountains were awesome - most were still snowcapped. We checked into our hotel and, since it was siesta time, took a nap. Afterwards Emma, April, and I explored the city for a little while before going back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner our teachers/tour guides took us to a lookout point on the mountain to see La Alhambra at night. Quick background history - La Alhambra is one of Spain´s main attractions and the third most visited site in the world after the Louvre in Paris and the Coliseum in Rome. Granada was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain until Fernando and Isabel conquered it in 1492 and restored Catholicism there, so La Alhambra is the royal palace/military headquarters used under both periods. It´s enormous and at night it was completely lit up, so the view from the lookout point was great. After seeing La Alhambra, I went with April, Vincent, David, and Andy to a Teteria, which is an old Arab tea shop. It was an awesome place - everyone sits on short backless stools or big cushions, drinks tea out of old silver tea pots, and smokes hookah. We hung out there for a little while and then April and I went back to the hotel because we had an early wake-up call and neither of us was feeling very well.
Saturday morning we ate breakfast and then went to two historical sites. We started at La Capilla Real, the site of the tombs of los Reyes Catolicos (the Catholic King and Queen, Fernando and Isabel). They were the most important royals in Spanish history and we´ve learned more about them than anything else in our classes here so I enjoyed the visit a lot. Afterwards we went to the Cathedral (no suprise there - if you don´t enjoy old churches and castles then you won´t enjoy sightseeing in Europe). The Granada Cathedral, unlike most others I´ve seen so far, was built during the Renaissance years instead of Medieval period, so the style was different but I preferred the Renaissance style architecture.
We finished with the visits by noon and then had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. We walked around the city some more and then went to a tapas bar for lunch. They do tapas differently in Granada than in Sevilla - instead of ordering off of a menu, we just ordered drinks at the bar and they brought us a free tapa with it. It was awesome - I paid 2 euro for a glass of sangria and got a free lunch with it.
Unfortunately I really started to feel sick after lunch, so I went back to the hotel to sleep for awhile. When I woke up April had come back to the room and even though I didn´t feel that great I was desperate to get out of the hotel room, so she and I went for a hike to another lookout point to watch the sunset. It was not an easy hike by any means, especially considering we were both sick in the first place, but it was so worth it - the view was incredible and I was able to get some really good pictures.
We went back to the hotel and ate dinner, and then everyone started to get ready to go out. I ended up going out for a little while because I had heard such good things about the nightlife in Granada. I didn´t stay very long and only went to a couple of bars before going back to the hotel to sleep. One of the bars was one of the weirdest/funniest experiences I´ve ever had. Apparently it´s normal in Granada for thirteen year-olds to go to bars, because literally in one of the places we were the only ones over the age of 18. Everyone else was about a foot shorter than us, had braces, and stood in two distict groups, one for girls and one for guys, on opposite sides of the dancefloor. Suddenly I was back at a middle school dance. It was so awkward, but hilarious to watch.
The next day was our visit to La Alhambra. It was a lot of fun and very interesting, but very, very long - we were in there for almost three hours. There were two main parts to the site, the military headquarters and the royal residence. The site itself sits on top of a mountain, so we had great views looking down on the city. Afterwards we stopped just outside of Granada for lunch before heading back home. We got into Sevilla around 8:00 and had plans to watch the Duke/UNC game at Tex Mex Saloon, but 1) they weren´t showing it and 2) we didn´t consider daylight savings time in the US, so we were off on the time by an hour. Emilee was able find a link to stream it online, so I was able to catch the last ten minutes on my laptop. Naturally I went to bed very very happy - ACC Regular Season Champions and a #1 Ranking. We Rule.
This past weekend our program took us to Granada, a smaller city in Andalucia that sits at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mounains. The good thing about this trip was that Granada is an awesome city. The bad thing was that I was sick so I couldn´t enjoy it to the fullest. One of the best things about the trip was that it was put together by UNC Study Abroad, so we didn´t pay for anything - and they spoiled us. We stayed in a 4-star hotel, had breakfast and dinner provided for us (which were some of the best meals I´ve eaten since being in Spain), got into all of the historical sites for free, and got student discounts at the hotel spa.
We left Sevilla around 10:00 in the morning on Friday and arrived in Granada around 2:00. My impression of the city was that it was absolutely beautiful and unlike a lot of the places I´ve seen in Andalucia thus far. Because it sits on the bottom of the mountains, the city was very hilly with narrow cobblestone streets giving way to big, open plazas. Even from the bottom of the hills the views of the mountains were awesome - most were still snowcapped. We checked into our hotel and, since it was siesta time, took a nap. Afterwards Emma, April, and I explored the city for a little while before going back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner our teachers/tour guides took us to a lookout point on the mountain to see La Alhambra at night. Quick background history - La Alhambra is one of Spain´s main attractions and the third most visited site in the world after the Louvre in Paris and the Coliseum in Rome. Granada was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain until Fernando and Isabel conquered it in 1492 and restored Catholicism there, so La Alhambra is the royal palace/military headquarters used under both periods. It´s enormous and at night it was completely lit up, so the view from the lookout point was great. After seeing La Alhambra, I went with April, Vincent, David, and Andy to a Teteria, which is an old Arab tea shop. It was an awesome place - everyone sits on short backless stools or big cushions, drinks tea out of old silver tea pots, and smokes hookah. We hung out there for a little while and then April and I went back to the hotel because we had an early wake-up call and neither of us was feeling very well.
Saturday morning we ate breakfast and then went to two historical sites. We started at La Capilla Real, the site of the tombs of los Reyes Catolicos (the Catholic King and Queen, Fernando and Isabel). They were the most important royals in Spanish history and we´ve learned more about them than anything else in our classes here so I enjoyed the visit a lot. Afterwards we went to the Cathedral (no suprise there - if you don´t enjoy old churches and castles then you won´t enjoy sightseeing in Europe). The Granada Cathedral, unlike most others I´ve seen so far, was built during the Renaissance years instead of Medieval period, so the style was different but I preferred the Renaissance style architecture.
We finished with the visits by noon and then had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. We walked around the city some more and then went to a tapas bar for lunch. They do tapas differently in Granada than in Sevilla - instead of ordering off of a menu, we just ordered drinks at the bar and they brought us a free tapa with it. It was awesome - I paid 2 euro for a glass of sangria and got a free lunch with it.
Unfortunately I really started to feel sick after lunch, so I went back to the hotel to sleep for awhile. When I woke up April had come back to the room and even though I didn´t feel that great I was desperate to get out of the hotel room, so she and I went for a hike to another lookout point to watch the sunset. It was not an easy hike by any means, especially considering we were both sick in the first place, but it was so worth it - the view was incredible and I was able to get some really good pictures.
We went back to the hotel and ate dinner, and then everyone started to get ready to go out. I ended up going out for a little while because I had heard such good things about the nightlife in Granada. I didn´t stay very long and only went to a couple of bars before going back to the hotel to sleep. One of the bars was one of the weirdest/funniest experiences I´ve ever had. Apparently it´s normal in Granada for thirteen year-olds to go to bars, because literally in one of the places we were the only ones over the age of 18. Everyone else was about a foot shorter than us, had braces, and stood in two distict groups, one for girls and one for guys, on opposite sides of the dancefloor. Suddenly I was back at a middle school dance. It was so awkward, but hilarious to watch.
The next day was our visit to La Alhambra. It was a lot of fun and very interesting, but very, very long - we were in there for almost three hours. There were two main parts to the site, the military headquarters and the royal residence. The site itself sits on top of a mountain, so we had great views looking down on the city. Afterwards we stopped just outside of Granada for lunch before heading back home. We got into Sevilla around 8:00 and had plans to watch the Duke/UNC game at Tex Mex Saloon, but 1) they weren´t showing it and 2) we didn´t consider daylight savings time in the US, so we were off on the time by an hour. Emilee was able find a link to stream it online, so I was able to catch the last ten minutes on my laptop. Naturally I went to bed very very happy - ACC Regular Season Champions and a #1 Ranking. We Rule.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Morocco
After 3 very long days of traveling I made it to, through, and home from Morocco. Best way to describe it would be to say that it was definitely an experience.
I took the trip through a travel company here called Discover Sevilla that caters towards American college students with three other girls from my program (Natalie, Emilee, and Jenna). I left my apartment around 4:30 am on Friday morning because our bus was leaving at 5:15 am and I had a bit of a walk. We took the bus to Tarifa, a port town on the southern coast of Spain about 2.5 hours from Sevilla and then caught a 9 am ferry from Tarifa to Tangiers. The ferry ride was a lot of fun, but very bumpy. The boat traveled through the area of water near the Straight of Gibraltar where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, so the water was very rough. The views were great, I was able to get some good pictures. We docked in Tangiers around 9 am (Morocco is an hour behind Spain), deboarded, and got back on the bus. Automatically cultural differences were everywhere - for example, we were not permitted to take pictures at the port (I never found out why); also, the dress was very conservative and the majority of the women wore the traditional head scarves.
We got back on the bus around 10:00 am and then set off for Rabat, the administrative capital of Morocco, situated right on the Atlantic coast. The trip took about 2.5 hours and we got into Rabat just in time for lunch. The trip was all-inclusive, so they had already arranged our meal for us at a restaurant right on the beach. It seemed pretty nice to me, and we got the impression that it was easily one of the nicer places in the city because they had a table of photographs of famous people who had eaten there and one of the photos was of Obama. The food was different but really good - they served us some giant pastry filled with chicken and cous cous and topped with powdered and brown sugars. After lunch we walked around the beach for a little while, which was beautiful. The coast was jagged with large rock walls that stretched hundreds of yards out into the ocean. After the beach, we headed toward the center square of the city, which included the mosque, the mausoleum of Mohammad V, and the tower from which the daily prayer is called. Muslims are supposed to pray at five specific times throughout the day and when we got to the square it was at the time of one of the calls, which was a really cool thing to witness. We weren't allowed in the mosque, but we toured the mausoleum, which was very elaborate and very beautiful.
After our tour of the square we went to an old Castle/Fort in the city that overlooked the ocean. It was all outdoors and walking through the castle led straight to the Medina (old islamic city). The Medina in Rabat was awesome to walk through - it consisted entirely of alleyways of whitewashed buildings with light blue paint splashes and accents. When we got through the Medina we got to the edge of the fort that had some great views of the Atlantic. Again my pictures turned out great. The castle/medina concluded the tour of Rabat. We got back on the bus and drove to Fez, the "cultural capital" of Morocco. The trip took about 3 hours. We checked into our hotel in Fez, which was really nice, and then went straight upstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We ate some kind of green soup that sort of tasted like broccoli cheddar and then a plate of rice, vegetables, and chicken in some kind of weird sauce. Again, different but really good. After dinner everyone was so exhausted that we more or less fell straight into bed.
The next morning Natalie and I met Jenna and Emilee for breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 8 am. The restaurant was at the top floor of our hotel and had glass windows all around, so there was a great view of the city and the surrounding Reef Mountains. At 9:00 we all got on the bus and started our tour of Fez. We started out at the Royal Palace, where the King Mohammad VI was currently residing. The palace was cool, an ideal example of Islamic architecture. After that we walked a little through the old Jewish quarter, which really wasn't anything special. Then we got back on the bus and drove to the Medina, which was the main stop of our tour of Fez.
The Medina of Fez was easily the craziest place I have ever been in my life, if only for the incredible culture shock that it caused. It consists of over 9,600 alleyways, the widest of which were just a foot or two longer than my wingspan, that twist into a dark labyrinth that is absolutely impossible to navigate. Luckily we had a guide, though I still don't know how anyone could ever learn their way around. Imagine the opening scene of Aladdin when he is trying to escape after stealing the bread - I'm convinced now that Disney modeled that scene after the Medina. Stores, workshops, and street vendors were spilling out everywhere and at least once every 1-2 minutes a man pulling a donkey carrying a load as wide as the alley itself would come marching through. It was absolute madness.
We made 4 stops in the Medina. The first was at a carpet store where they served everyone mint tea and showed us all of the differences between different Moroccan carpets. It sounds dull but it was actually really cool. Natalie and I went back into the room where the women were weaving the rugs and they were so nice - they immediately scooted over, had us sit down, and taught us how to weave a carpet. Unfortunately they only spoke French and Arabic (most people that we came in contact with in Morocco spoke at least 4 languages), so we couldn't really communicate with them much. Our second stop was at a fabric store where they made clothing, linens, and scarves. Everything was beautiful, but the salesmen were obnoxiously pushy so I didn't buy anything. After the fabric store we went to lunch at a restaurant in the Medina; the food was awesome here. They gave us so much of it that I won't even try to describe it because that would be a blog entry in itself, and this one is going to be way too long anyway.
After lunch our third stop was at the leather tannery, one of the most famous places in the Medina. We went into the store and straight up 5 flights of stairs that looked over the tannery from above. It was open-air and consisted of hundreds of deep clay tubs built out of the ground and filled with different dyes. After the leather was taken from the animal, cleaned, and tanned it is brought into the store and made into every kind of leather good you can imagine to be sold. After the tannery we made our last stop at a spice store, which was probably my favorite place. The owner demonstrated how they made everything from cooking spices to perfumes to medicinal remedies; it was almost like watching an old witch doctor.
We were in the Medina more or less all day and I left with mixed emotions. When I first got there it was so unlike anything I had ever seen before, which was thrilling in a lot of ways. It turned out to be a very guilded first impression, however, because as the day wore on a lot of the negative aspects started to cloud my initial excitement. For one, the poverty factor was a lot to take in. All of the buildings (if you can even call them that) were completely decrepit. Easiest way to describe it would be to tell you to go see Slumdog Millionaire and pay close attention to the opening scene when the boys are running through the slum; the Medina was the same. There were beggars at every corner and it became much worse in the afternoon when school let out and all of sudden children were asking for money. In many ways I felt I was thrown into a time warp; it was a civilization completely foreign to me. Secondly, the men were so rude and disgusting, the harassment didn't stop all day. It was only verbal and by no means did I ever feel unsafe, it just got so annoying to listen to. By the time I left I felt completely drained mentally.
We went back to the hotel and had about an hour and a half before dinner, during which Natalie and I just relaxed in the room. After dinner we hung out with Emilee and Jenna for a little while before going to bed.
The next day was a very long one travelwise. We left Fez around 8:30 for Assilah, a small fishing village on the Atlantic coast. The bus ride took forever, we didn't get to Assilah until 1:00. Before we got off our tour directors told us something that again painted the reality of life in Morocco- they told us that if we talked to anyone we should not tell them that we were going to Spain because of the probability that they would use us to get on the bus so that they could get out of the country. That said, once we got to Assilah we just kept to ourselves. They provided us with picnic lunches, so we headed straight for the beach. Assilah's coastline was very similar to Rabat's, only more beautiful and more dramatic. We ate our lunches on the rocks that sat high above the water and spent the afternoon exploring the coast and the village. The town itself was very pretty, much like the Medina in Rabat with the whitewashed and blue buildings. I saw two things I've never seen before - a herd of camels and a man with a monkey on a leash.
We left Assilah at 3:30 and headed to Tangiers to catch the ferry back to Spain. On the way there the tour directors warned us again in regards to the possibility that some Moroccans would be trying to sneak out of the country and into Spain and that it could get slightly hectic as we got closer to Tarifa. They weren't kidding - when we were about 30 minutes from Tangiers a group of younger teenage boys started running down the bus, jumped onto the back bumper, and hung onto the outside while the bus was moving full speed down the highway. Every now and then they would have to jump off because of a passing police officer, but the trend continued more or less the whole way there. At one point there were five boys hanging on the back of the bus. It was both absolutely insane and heartbreaking to witness to think of how tough life must be that they would be so desperate to get to Spain. From what we learned on the trip the immigration problems with Morocco and Spain are similar to those of Mexico and the United States.
The trip back had multiple delays that added up and by the time we got back to Sevilla it was after 1:00 in the morning. All in all, the trip was incredible in every sense of the word and I am so glad that I went. It was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life and though it sounds so cliche, it really demonstrated how many blessings I have in my life. I'm not sure if I would go back to Morocco or not but being there made me want to travel to Subsaharra Africa more than ever before. I was completley exhausted by the end of it all - let's just say I didn't make it to my 9:30 class on Monday morning.
Now I'm back in Sevilla and the weather is cold and rainy again, so everyone is pretty much spending their time being lazy, myself included. I'm going to Granada, another city in Southern Spain, this week through a trip that the UNC program arranges for everyone. My roommate, who is in a different track of the program, went a few weeks ago and had an incredible time so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be back to update after that. Miss and love you all - adios!
I took the trip through a travel company here called Discover Sevilla that caters towards American college students with three other girls from my program (Natalie, Emilee, and Jenna). I left my apartment around 4:30 am on Friday morning because our bus was leaving at 5:15 am and I had a bit of a walk. We took the bus to Tarifa, a port town on the southern coast of Spain about 2.5 hours from Sevilla and then caught a 9 am ferry from Tarifa to Tangiers. The ferry ride was a lot of fun, but very bumpy. The boat traveled through the area of water near the Straight of Gibraltar where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, so the water was very rough. The views were great, I was able to get some good pictures. We docked in Tangiers around 9 am (Morocco is an hour behind Spain), deboarded, and got back on the bus. Automatically cultural differences were everywhere - for example, we were not permitted to take pictures at the port (I never found out why); also, the dress was very conservative and the majority of the women wore the traditional head scarves.
We got back on the bus around 10:00 am and then set off for Rabat, the administrative capital of Morocco, situated right on the Atlantic coast. The trip took about 2.5 hours and we got into Rabat just in time for lunch. The trip was all-inclusive, so they had already arranged our meal for us at a restaurant right on the beach. It seemed pretty nice to me, and we got the impression that it was easily one of the nicer places in the city because they had a table of photographs of famous people who had eaten there and one of the photos was of Obama. The food was different but really good - they served us some giant pastry filled with chicken and cous cous and topped with powdered and brown sugars. After lunch we walked around the beach for a little while, which was beautiful. The coast was jagged with large rock walls that stretched hundreds of yards out into the ocean. After the beach, we headed toward the center square of the city, which included the mosque, the mausoleum of Mohammad V, and the tower from which the daily prayer is called. Muslims are supposed to pray at five specific times throughout the day and when we got to the square it was at the time of one of the calls, which was a really cool thing to witness. We weren't allowed in the mosque, but we toured the mausoleum, which was very elaborate and very beautiful.
After our tour of the square we went to an old Castle/Fort in the city that overlooked the ocean. It was all outdoors and walking through the castle led straight to the Medina (old islamic city). The Medina in Rabat was awesome to walk through - it consisted entirely of alleyways of whitewashed buildings with light blue paint splashes and accents. When we got through the Medina we got to the edge of the fort that had some great views of the Atlantic. Again my pictures turned out great. The castle/medina concluded the tour of Rabat. We got back on the bus and drove to Fez, the "cultural capital" of Morocco. The trip took about 3 hours. We checked into our hotel in Fez, which was really nice, and then went straight upstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We ate some kind of green soup that sort of tasted like broccoli cheddar and then a plate of rice, vegetables, and chicken in some kind of weird sauce. Again, different but really good. After dinner everyone was so exhausted that we more or less fell straight into bed.
The next morning Natalie and I met Jenna and Emilee for breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 8 am. The restaurant was at the top floor of our hotel and had glass windows all around, so there was a great view of the city and the surrounding Reef Mountains. At 9:00 we all got on the bus and started our tour of Fez. We started out at the Royal Palace, where the King Mohammad VI was currently residing. The palace was cool, an ideal example of Islamic architecture. After that we walked a little through the old Jewish quarter, which really wasn't anything special. Then we got back on the bus and drove to the Medina, which was the main stop of our tour of Fez.
The Medina of Fez was easily the craziest place I have ever been in my life, if only for the incredible culture shock that it caused. It consists of over 9,600 alleyways, the widest of which were just a foot or two longer than my wingspan, that twist into a dark labyrinth that is absolutely impossible to navigate. Luckily we had a guide, though I still don't know how anyone could ever learn their way around. Imagine the opening scene of Aladdin when he is trying to escape after stealing the bread - I'm convinced now that Disney modeled that scene after the Medina. Stores, workshops, and street vendors were spilling out everywhere and at least once every 1-2 minutes a man pulling a donkey carrying a load as wide as the alley itself would come marching through. It was absolute madness.
We made 4 stops in the Medina. The first was at a carpet store where they served everyone mint tea and showed us all of the differences between different Moroccan carpets. It sounds dull but it was actually really cool. Natalie and I went back into the room where the women were weaving the rugs and they were so nice - they immediately scooted over, had us sit down, and taught us how to weave a carpet. Unfortunately they only spoke French and Arabic (most people that we came in contact with in Morocco spoke at least 4 languages), so we couldn't really communicate with them much. Our second stop was at a fabric store where they made clothing, linens, and scarves. Everything was beautiful, but the salesmen were obnoxiously pushy so I didn't buy anything. After the fabric store we went to lunch at a restaurant in the Medina; the food was awesome here. They gave us so much of it that I won't even try to describe it because that would be a blog entry in itself, and this one is going to be way too long anyway.
After lunch our third stop was at the leather tannery, one of the most famous places in the Medina. We went into the store and straight up 5 flights of stairs that looked over the tannery from above. It was open-air and consisted of hundreds of deep clay tubs built out of the ground and filled with different dyes. After the leather was taken from the animal, cleaned, and tanned it is brought into the store and made into every kind of leather good you can imagine to be sold. After the tannery we made our last stop at a spice store, which was probably my favorite place. The owner demonstrated how they made everything from cooking spices to perfumes to medicinal remedies; it was almost like watching an old witch doctor.
We were in the Medina more or less all day and I left with mixed emotions. When I first got there it was so unlike anything I had ever seen before, which was thrilling in a lot of ways. It turned out to be a very guilded first impression, however, because as the day wore on a lot of the negative aspects started to cloud my initial excitement. For one, the poverty factor was a lot to take in. All of the buildings (if you can even call them that) were completely decrepit. Easiest way to describe it would be to tell you to go see Slumdog Millionaire and pay close attention to the opening scene when the boys are running through the slum; the Medina was the same. There were beggars at every corner and it became much worse in the afternoon when school let out and all of sudden children were asking for money. In many ways I felt I was thrown into a time warp; it was a civilization completely foreign to me. Secondly, the men were so rude and disgusting, the harassment didn't stop all day. It was only verbal and by no means did I ever feel unsafe, it just got so annoying to listen to. By the time I left I felt completely drained mentally.
We went back to the hotel and had about an hour and a half before dinner, during which Natalie and I just relaxed in the room. After dinner we hung out with Emilee and Jenna for a little while before going to bed.
The next day was a very long one travelwise. We left Fez around 8:30 for Assilah, a small fishing village on the Atlantic coast. The bus ride took forever, we didn't get to Assilah until 1:00. Before we got off our tour directors told us something that again painted the reality of life in Morocco- they told us that if we talked to anyone we should not tell them that we were going to Spain because of the probability that they would use us to get on the bus so that they could get out of the country. That said, once we got to Assilah we just kept to ourselves. They provided us with picnic lunches, so we headed straight for the beach. Assilah's coastline was very similar to Rabat's, only more beautiful and more dramatic. We ate our lunches on the rocks that sat high above the water and spent the afternoon exploring the coast and the village. The town itself was very pretty, much like the Medina in Rabat with the whitewashed and blue buildings. I saw two things I've never seen before - a herd of camels and a man with a monkey on a leash.
We left Assilah at 3:30 and headed to Tangiers to catch the ferry back to Spain. On the way there the tour directors warned us again in regards to the possibility that some Moroccans would be trying to sneak out of the country and into Spain and that it could get slightly hectic as we got closer to Tarifa. They weren't kidding - when we were about 30 minutes from Tangiers a group of younger teenage boys started running down the bus, jumped onto the back bumper, and hung onto the outside while the bus was moving full speed down the highway. Every now and then they would have to jump off because of a passing police officer, but the trend continued more or less the whole way there. At one point there were five boys hanging on the back of the bus. It was both absolutely insane and heartbreaking to witness to think of how tough life must be that they would be so desperate to get to Spain. From what we learned on the trip the immigration problems with Morocco and Spain are similar to those of Mexico and the United States.
The trip back had multiple delays that added up and by the time we got back to Sevilla it was after 1:00 in the morning. All in all, the trip was incredible in every sense of the word and I am so glad that I went. It was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life and though it sounds so cliche, it really demonstrated how many blessings I have in my life. I'm not sure if I would go back to Morocco or not but being there made me want to travel to Subsaharra Africa more than ever before. I was completley exhausted by the end of it all - let's just say I didn't make it to my 9:30 class on Monday morning.
Now I'm back in Sevilla and the weather is cold and rainy again, so everyone is pretty much spending their time being lazy, myself included. I'm going to Granada, another city in Southern Spain, this week through a trip that the UNC program arranges for everyone. My roommate, who is in a different track of the program, went a few weeks ago and had an incredible time so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be back to update after that. Miss and love you all - adios!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
