Morocco

WARNING: This blog post is extremely long and bursting with pictures.  You may feel the need to travel, explore, fly in an airplane, or make unwise spending choices after reading this.  Proceed with caution. =)

Last week I had the lovely privilege of hosting my very first visitors in Spain! Miss Hanna Niccum and Miss Brianna Primmer made the adventure down from Ireland to spend the week with me and accompany me on a journey to Morocco.  Here's our day-by-day adventures::::::::::::::

Day 1:
Hanna and Bri arrived late on Tuesday night.  I had told my teachers at my school that two American friends were coming to visit me and they insisted that they would love to have them come visit the school. So bright and early Wednesday morning, Bri, Hanna, and I made our way to meet Marcos for our ride to school.  Lucky for Bri and Hanna they didn't only experience a regular school day, it was Halloween!  If you missed it, CLICK HERE to see what we did at our school Halloween celebration!

After a long day at school, we took the boat ferry home, siesta, and went out on a tapas tour that night.  I was able to try many new foods with Bri and Hanna.  They got the chance to experience some real Spanish Sangria and try some awesome seafood.

Day 2:
We slept in.  What else would we do on our day off? After rolling out of bed, we explored Vigo going to the Monte Castros, having some more Spanish food for lunch, and then spending the rest of the afternoon packing and relaxing before our big trip to Morocco.

I would have loved to show them a little more of Spain, but unfortunately Nov. 1st is Samain, a holiday.  So all the shops and business were closed for the day.  The girls got to experience what Spain is like on a holiday.

Day 3:
We had an exceptionally long travel day.  Woke up at 5:00am.  Took the bus to A Coruna (2 1/2 hours from Vigo) to catch our flight to Sevilla (1 1/2 hours from A Coruna).  Once we arrived in Sevilla we had about 3 hours of free time before meeting our group.  We stumbled upon a festival of nations where we sampled some Spanish empanadas and Paella.  We then made our way to the Plaza de Espana.  This was one of the sights of Sevilla I haven't had the opportunity of visiting so I was glad to have the chance this time around.

The Plaza de Espana has a tiled design for every providence in Spain.  Here's me with the Pontevedra Providence, where I live now.  The tile work is gorgeous.  

After our exploration of Sevilla, we met up with our group and off we went to Africa! 

From Sevilla all the way to our Ferry in Tarifa it rained.  Once in Tarifa, we went through customs, got a couple new stamps in our passports and ran to the boat.  Our ferry was so big that they were able to drive both of our coach buses onto the boat.  

This is my first view of Tanger, Africa.  

As if we didn't have a long enough day, after taking the ferry, going through more security checks and getting to our hotel, we had a group dinner planned for that evening.  It was my first taste of Moroccan cuisine.  

Couscous anyone?
The food was delicious, and following dinner we had an interesting presentation by a Moroccan pharmacist.  He talked about different spices and blends that supposedly cured different ailments through inhalation, creams, and perfumes.  By this time, it was Midnight and I was beyond impressed and ready for a good nights sleep.  

Day 4: 

Our day started with an interesting breakfast bar and a short bus ride to one of my favorite parts of the trip.  Camel rides.  Apparently we didn't ride true "camels" but a distant cousin.  But I say, close enough.  They were cute and it was a fun experience.  

This was half of our group.  Our group consisted of 2 coach buses, 100 people total.  

After riding the camels we headed to the Grotte D'Hercule.  It was supposedly the Home of Hercules.  The cave was fairly big with a large opening that looked out onto the Atlantic ocean.  There were also several venders set up along the path to the cave.  They had everything from plates to jewelry to knick knacks.  

Soon we hopped back onto the bus and headed for the meeting point of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.   We made a quick camera/bathroom stop here to see the lighthouse that sits on the point where the two bodies of water meet.  Then we scrambled back onto the bus to head to Lunch.  

Following Lunch we headed to the coastal town of Asilah.  This town on the Atlantic Ocean was once a Portuguese city, but due to economic crisis, Portugal abandoned the city and Spanish Morocco took over control until the late 1970's when it became apart of the nation known as Morocco today.  

Each city in Morocco has an old part of town with fortress walls called the medina.  Inside the medina, the towns have a specific color scheme they paint their streets.  Asilah's color scheme just happens to be blue and white.  This made the streets gorgeous to stroll down.  The city wall were also covered in some spectacular artwork due to an art festival that is held in the city each year.  The participants paint a wall in the medina.  The winning paintings of the contest have the privilege of being displayed on the city walls for the following two years.  

My lovely travel companions.  

Some of the street art.  

Another major aspect of my trip to Morocco is the shopping.  In Morocco there is no such thing as a fixed price.  For example, anything from hotel rooms to meals at restaurants to scarves at a street shop can be bargained for a lower price.  Since Morocco is a fairly poverty stricken country, people will take as much as they can get from you to earn a little bit of money.  I found this really cool, but also a frustrating part of the trip.  I liked the fact that I could buy a scarf or souvenir for a fraction of the original price, but did not like the process that went along with this.  

Our tour guide, Benni, gave us a crash course in bargaining in Morocco.  

Step 1: Offer 15-20% of what you actually want to pay for the item.  

Step 2: When the shopkeeper lowers his price try to meet him in the middle.  

Step 3: If the price is still not where you want it to be, put the item down and walk away.  The shop keeper will 9 times out of 10 chase after you down the street and offer you the price you quoted.  

Step 4: Never feel pressured to buy anything you don't want.  It is your money and you have the power to spend it as you please.  If you are not happy with the bargain, do not be afraid to walk away.  

 

After a couple hours of free time to shop and explore the medina of Asilah, we hopped back on the bus and headed back to our hotel, Hotel Intercontinental.  We ate supper and hit the hay, ready for another adventure on Sunday.  

Hotel Intercontinental

Day 5: 

We started our day out at 8am.  We picked up a local tour guide who told us a little bit about the traditions and beliefs of islam, history of Tanger (the city we were staying in), and about the city we were headed to, Tetouan.  In Tetouan, we had some spectacular views of the Rif Mountains.

In Tetouan we got to see the Royal Palace.  Apparently the King has a house in every large city in Morocco.  We had a quick look at the palace, listened to a short description of the history and hopped back onto the bus, destination: Chefchaouen.  

Halfway there we made a bathroom stop where I took, in my opinion, one of the coolest pictures of the trip.  

Chefchaouen, Morocco is situated 3 hours from Tanger, where our hotel was in the Rif Mountains.  The city streets are painted blue, and the entire medina is located on the side of the mountain.  While it was a bit of a workout walking around, the views were totally worth it.  I would love to say that I had the opportunity to really capture the beauty of this place in my pictures, but honestly the pictures don't do it justice.  

Our first stop was Restaurant Aladdin, which had a rooftop dining area with views of the mountains and the city.  

Next we went on a walking tour of the city.  We were able to see so many different small streets and we walked down by the freshwater spring that comes off of the mountains.  The locals use this fresh water from the mountains to wash their clothing.  

Unfortunately at the end of our walking tour we were only able to have about 45  minutes of free time to go shopping and explore.  Hanna, Bri, and I did some hasty shopping to spend the rest of our dirham and we headed to the bus.  The rest of our trip consisted of a 3 hour bus ride to Tanger, an hour wait for the ferry, an hour ferry ride, and finally a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Sevilla.  We arrived in Sevilla at 2am, headed to the airport where we waited until my 6am flight back to Galicia.  I would have to say the trip back was pretty long and I'm not sure I ever want to "sleep" in an airport again.  

Overall this experience was pretty awesome.  The culture in Morocco is like no other culture I have experienced.  Women generally wear modest clothing, personal space is a foreign concept, bargaining for your shopping is routine, and small children are running through the streets at all times.  I learned an immense amount of not only history and facts, but simply about an entirely different culture.  If you would like to see my full album of all 233 pictures I took in Morocco, check them out on my facebook page.  I'll be posting them soon.  

OKTOBERFEST! ..... In Spain?

That's right people.  While the real event happens in Germany a few hundred miles from where I live, I was still able to experience the fun, excitement and nature of this German tradition.  Only with a Spanish flare.  For an entire week there was an event called Oktoberfest happening in Plaza del Rei (about 3 blocks from my piso).  On the last night, some friends talked me into checking it out, and I am so glad that I did.  That night was also a big Soccer match in Vigo.  They had played the game on a big screen in the tent earlier in the night, so when I arrived there were tons of people decked out in baby blue and white (Vigo's team colors).  I found my friends sitting at a table close to the middle.  There were people dressed up in german outfits all over the place.

Now you may be thinking to yourself that since this is an Oktoberfest event, that the people that were participating in this event were all adults.  18 or 21 + years old.  That was definitely not the case.  And while I know that some of you may not entirely understand this and think that this is something that is "wrong" or "bad", this is an aspect of the Spanish culture that I really admire.  The entire population of the people in the tents ranged from probably 2 years old to mid 80's.  Everyone was sitting around tables, having a beer, socializing and spending time with their families and friends.  There were college aged kids chugging pints in the corner while a group of kids were running through the crowds of people.  I loved that this type of event could be enjoyed by people of all ages and that a person's age isn't a big deal.

After sitting around the table for a few minutes listening to music (which is almost all american pop music you hear on the radio back home, with one or two spanish songs thrown in every now and then), a tall man in a lederhosen outfit climbs up onto the stage in the middle of the tent.  He introduces himself, and then began to sing.  The songs that he sang ranged from tradition favorites of the Spanish community to 80's rock-n-roll, to gangham style.  The funny part of it was when a song in English came up he had no idea what the words were and just said random words he knew in spanish to the entire song.  The crowd loved him! Apparently he's a local "celebrity" and does this type of thing a lot. There were moms and dads hopping on tables to dance while he was singing, everyone was joining in the songs and he even pulled a group of kids on stage to help him as backup singers.

I don't have too many photos that turned out spectacular from this night, but I still wanted to share this experience.  I was home by 1am (my earliest night out in Spain) and had an amazing time.

When in Spain - Do as the Spaniards do.... Oktoberfest =)

Inside the Oktoberfest tent.  

Our entertainment! 

Me and Alex! 

Siobhan and Maria! 

Alex and Zoe! 

 Me and my 1/2 Pint! 

Pontevedra

 This past weekend I had nothing planned.  So my friend Siobhan and I decided that we needed to take a day trip somewhere close.  We finally ended on, Pontevedra.  Pontevedra is actually the "captiol" of our providence.  Even though Vigo is a larger city, it is situated in the providence of Pontevedra.  The city of Pontevedra is approximately 15-20 minutes north of Vigo.  While the terrain around Pontevedra is extremely similar to that of Vigo, it is not built on the side of a mountain, therefore is generally flat and easily walkable.  I enjoyed this since in Vigo you are always walking up or down a hill.  The city has a great feel to it! The old part of town was precious, and we stumbled upon the Mercado as well! Luckily my friends Anna and Fabian lived in Pontevedra last year so they were able to show us around town.  Check out some of my pics and video!

Capela da Virxw Peregrina - The church of the pilgrim

See that shell? That is the symbol for the Camino de Santiago.  In case you've never heard of it, the city Santiago de Compostela in Galicia has one of the largest, most beautiful cathedrals in Spain.  I am hoping to visit soon.  It is legend that the remains of St. James are buried there.  Out of respect to this saint for thousands of years people have been walking to this Cathedral from all over to pay their respects.  There are several routes of the Camino de Santiago, but one of the most famous goes across the entire northern part of Spain from France.  This sign is part of the camino that goes from Lisbon, Portugal all the way to Santiago.  Some people will walk for weeks, or even months on these pilgrimages.  Today, they aren't so much a religious thing as much as an adventure.  I have heard of many people making short pilgrimages from Vigo to Santiago (which will take about a weekend) for the pure thrill of saying they did it and also being able to meet other people on their way.  If you're interested, here's a link to some more information on the Camino de Santiago.

After arriving, we sat down in the city center for a class of Orange juice, some croissants, and some relaxation.  It was a Saturday morning so all of the families were out and about, taking their kids for a walk, enjoying the sunshine and spending quality time with each other.   

Next we walked down to the Mercado.  This place was so cool! I've heard that there are Mercados  in Vigo all over the place but I haven't found anything like this one.  Check out the video below to see what it was like! 

Mussels, Prawns, Shrimp, Crab.... Basically any seafood you can imagine.  

And several different kinds of fish I had never seen or heard of before.  I have this urge to go to a place like this and buy some fresh fish.  But unfortunately I would have absolutely no idea how to prepare it.  

Calamari - Can't get any fresher than that! 

And this is Ria de Pontevedrea Lerez.  This is the oldest bridge in Pontevedra.  The Ria goes through the center of the entire town.  

On a Saturday afternoon, people can be seen walking around in small hidden squares such as this, relaxing and enjoying the nice weather.  

This is an old church in the Praza da Ferreria.  

Xardins de Vicenti - There were lots of beautiful parks/fountains.  

Catedral de Pontevedra -  We wanted to climb to the top, but it was closed due to mass. 

Siobhan making friends as usual.  

We had a little bit of fun with all the random statues in the streets!

Ruinas de Santo Domingo

Ruinas de Santo Domingo

Ruinas de Santo Domingo

This house was for sale.  How cool would it be to live in a house like this!? The front door was open and we thought about exploring for a second, then got too scared! 

Palm Trees! When moving to Spain I thought there wouldn't be any palm trees at all.  BUT they are everywhere and these were too beautiful not to capture.  

And this was our group in Pontevedra!