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Happy Halloween!
It's been a hot minute since my first entry, I haven't had a ton of free time up to this point. Also, I should note that uploading my pictures using my iPad has been a huge pain thus far and so I will be investing in a small and cheap labtop soon to remedy the problem. I won't be making this purchase in Switzerland however, as prices on everything here are STEEP.
Since my last enty I traveled for Morocco for three days, Granada in Spain, and Nice and Cannes in France and I arrived in Zurich Switzerland last night.
Morocco was amazing to say the least and definitely an experience like no other I've had so far. I booked a guided tour through an organization called We Love Spain!, which was definitely the way to go because our transportation, sleeping accomodations, meals and guided tours were set up for us. Doing all of this on my own would have been very time consuming, costly and frankly not as safe. While the Moroccan people we encountered were very nice for the most part, there is some truth to the "safety in numbers" strategy. We were still westerners traveling in an African country that is predominantly Muslim. Though for the record, I never really felt unsafe or threatened.
We took the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta which took about an hour across the straight of Gibraltar. Ceuta is an autonomous Spanish city located right next to Morocco. Entry in and out of Ceuta has serious border security, as 90%25 of hash that enters Europe comes from Morocco via boat. Mostly though, it is transported via small, fast cigarette boats across the straight and not tourist buses. Some of these boats are valued at a quarter million dollars and 1 in every five is siezed by the Spanish navy. The Morocco-Europe hash industry is valued at some 11 billion dollars a year, so losing a few boats doesn't really hurt the bottom line.
We left from Ceuta to Tetuan, a very beautiful, sleepy town on the Moroccan coast. I met a Dutchman in his early 20's on the ferry over named Lucas, and he and I became quick friends, as we were the only younger people on the tour traveling by ourselves and we had quite a bit in common. He and I hung out in the hotel bar our first night, where it was mostly Moroccan men with the exception of two very beautiful Moroccan women that got the attention of all of us when they danced to the husband-wife tandem that played and sang arabic music with a 21st century kick.
The next day we took I guided tour through Tetuan. We walked through an authentic Moroccan market that I can imagine hasn't changed very much over the last few centuries. Just imagine, very narrow streets with every possible overpowering smell and people selling everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, from their little shops, store fronts, and literally right on the ground. We ended up at a very old and ornate restaurant where I got to experience Moroccan cous cous. So nice they named it twice, indeed.
After lunch, we got back on the bus and headed for Tangier, our scheduled camel ride and a tour of the Cave of Hercules. The camel ride, was right on the coast and pretty much your cliché touristy picture opportunity lead by a very enthusiastic Moroccan. There were 5 camels available and everyone took their turn, to ride in a circle for 50 or so yards allowing all to get pictures taken and say we rode a camel in Africa. The Cave of Hercules (I will spare you the details and let you Google it) was a very cool cave formation right on the ocean. We arrived about an hour before sunset and so the pictures I took were pretty amazing. Basically, in the right light and with the right angle, the mouth of the cave leading to the Atlantic looks like a backwards outline of the African continent.
We checked into our hotel in Tangier just after dark and I walked with a group of students that were also on the tour down to the beach. We came back to the hotel for dinner and after, a group of us took a little stroll to a nearby hookah bar. I'm pretty sure the girls in our group were the only women in the place, and were definitely getting a lot of looks from the local Moroccan men.
We had to get up VERY early the next morning for our bus ride to Chefchaouen, also known as the blue city, or what some of us deemed Smurf City. This was by far my favorite stop in Morocco because not only was a large portion of the city's streets and buildings painted every shade of blue you can imagine, but it's located at the foot of some very imposing and beautiful mountians. Our tour guide for the day was pretty much the coolest old guy ever. It felt like we were walking around with the mayor, and we endearingly nicknamed him Papa Smurf. Oh, and did I mention that he sounded like Master Yoda when he spoke? He also was quite hilarious. When he asked us all where we were from, a group of girls answered with New York and he responed, "Ah New York, beautiful beaches!" But with his accent, it didn't sound like he said beaches, but the other b-word. I was in stitches for at least 10 minutes and have adopted the line as one of my all-time favorites that I will be using for probably the rest of my life.
We stopped by a Moroccan rug shop before we broke for lunch, where I made my biggest purchase of the trip so far. An authetic white and blue Moroccan rug, that I had them ship to Colorado and hopefully it makes it. The Moroccans are notorious for bargaining and so when they asked for 600 euros, I said I would go no higher than 200. This back and forth ensued for at least 10 minutes, where everytime I said I'd go no higher than 200 euro, the shopkeeper would tell me that I bargained more than the Berbers (again, Google Berbers if you want to know who they were). Eventually we settled on my price, with the agreement that I would give the guy 20 euro "under the table". I feel like it was a victory.
After my purchase and another quality Moroccan lunch, we had to head back to Ceuta and another intense border crossing and our return ferry back to Algeciras. Lucas taught me and some of our group a card game called Jungle Speed on the ferry, that once you get the hang of it, it's actually pretty fun. Once back in Algeciras I had to say hasta luego to my new friends and headed back via bus to Malaga.
The next afternoon I got on another bus and went up to Granada, city of Flamenco and the Alhambra at the foot of the original Sierra Nevada mountains. I stayed in a pretty low-key hostel called El Granado, that is owned by a really cool Swedish guy named Freddy. I went for low-key, because at this point I had had maybe one decent night of sleep and needed to recharge the batteries. I went to the Alhambra the afternoon I arrived in Granada, which was definitely a winning decision because the weather was perfect, as sunshine and warmth, turned into cold and rain the next day. The Alhambra is definitely something to behold and just the sheer historical significance is mind boggling on it's own, much less the gardens, architecture and engineering feats it took to build it, plus its massive size. Beware though, it is the definition of a tourist destination. I was battling people from all over the world for the perfect picture pretty much the entire time I was there.
The next day the weather turned a bit, and that evening me and a few Aussies I met at the hostel went to a gypsy cave suggested by one of the girls that worked at the El Granado for some authentic Flamenco. This was hands down, one of the most mind blowing experiences of my life. It was the four of us, with maybe another 15 people (all Spaniards and mostly locals, so you know its a good place to be) in very close proximity to the male guitar player, singer, and female dancer. The sound, intensity and skill of these three was simply amazing. I'm pretty sure they were all around my age (29) if not younger, and very, VERY good with the Flamenco art. Especially the dancer. She was hands down the best tap dancer I've ever seen, and I actually have seen a few professionals in my life. Her skill, coupled with her Flamenco outfit and the intensity of her eyes and overall beauty was almost more than I (and probably every other guy in the place) could handle. We caught the late show, so we didn't get back to the hostel until 2ish and I had to catch a bus back to Malaga at 10am and then onto Nice in the early evening from Malaga.
I arrived in Nice, via a 13 hour layover in Dusseldorf Germany and checked into the Meyerbeer Hostel, which according to Hostelworld is the highest rated hostel in Nice. When I checked in, I met a really cool guy also staying in my room, from Buenos Aires Argentina. He's been living in Mexico City for the last few years and decided to quit his job and tour Europe for a few months. Mariano and I became quick friends and he and I were partners in crime during my time in France. The weather was cold and rainy the day I arrived, but the next day was absolutely fantastic and why I decided to come back to Nice at all. (I visited Nice for the first time more than 10 years ago for a high school trip) The addage that Nice is nice is an understatement when the weather is good. It is unbelievably gorgeous there. Me, Mariano, a couple of Aussies and a couple Americans all staying at the hostel walked directly south to the beach which was only about 5 minutes away. The beach is rocky, and the undertow is pretty serious too, but the water was warm enough still and quite refreshing. I think that will probably be my last time in the Atlantic for the rest of my trip.
At night, we went to a bar in old town Nice, called Wayne's that is a popular spot amongst travelers, students and young locals that specializes in french cover bands playing American music. VEEEEERY interesting to hear songs you know very well being sang in broken french english. The next day me, Mariano, and a girl from San Francisco that was staying in our hostel named Lailani all went to Cannes for the afternoon. After what seemed like a never ending bus ride, we arrived to chilly, but sunny conditions and walked the boardwalk and took pictures. Cannes is very pretty as well, and about half the size of Nice. We took the train back as it was much faster and more comfortable and called it an evening.
The next day, I went on a guided bike tour through Nice, which was definitely the way to go as far as seeing the city is concerned. In fact, I think from here on out, depending on the size, weather conditions and geography of a city I will be taking bike tours to see them from here on out.
I was going to go to Monaco the next day, but realized my flight to Vienna and then Zurich was earlier than I thought, so I ended up just walking around and posted up on the Nice boardwalk and sat in one of the many chairs lining it and soaked up some rays.
I arrived in Zurich last night, via Vienna and HELLO winter! Yeah, not expecting to be warm outside until I leave for the Middle East, but hey that's fall in nothern Europe.
Lessons learned so far:
1) It can be hard/next to impossible to sleep in some hostels.
2) Meeting people from around the world or from your own country on the other side of the world is awesome.
3) A lot of international folks have an interesting opinion of America and Americans until they go there or meet one.
4) Listen to your body and it will treat you well, don't and suffer the consequences. Hungry? Eat. Tired? Sleep. Thirsty? Drink. Need excercise? Do it. Need some JoJo time? Take it.
5) I miss my bed.
6) Europe is EXPENSIVE.
Pictures to come hopefully sooner than later. That's all for now folks!
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