Part III: From Spain to Morocco

Part III: Seville-Algeciras-Tangier-Marrakech

The bus ride from Madrid to Seville was not all that great either... Halfway through the bus ride (at around 2-3am), the bus had to make a pit stop for gas, which meant a bathroom break, which meant running outside in the dark/cold to the convenience store. 

this is what it looked like in paris when i left (taken on my ipod) - finally got my ipod back today from my friend after leaving it with her in morocco by accident.

And sleeping on a bus in the aisle seat is not ideal at all. I'd booked a window seat, but of course, the Spanish guy next to me had boarded the bus first, took my spot, and didn't understand my broken Spanish and stayed in my window seat. Sigh. 

landed in barcelona with this! :D

So at 6am, the bus pulled into Seville. Originally, I had wanted to maybe see some of Seville before my next bus left at 930am from a different station, but it was freezing cold and dark. So, this next photo is what I looked at for the next 3 hours after taking at taxi to the next station. 

bus station

i'm not sure if i'll ever do something like that for a while. traveling nonstop on buses and trains is quite tiring, especially when you don't have a shower......

what little i saw of seville on the way to algeciras

hopefully i'll come back to seville sometime - i've heard it's pretty awesome 

but the good thing about taking the bus is the scenery. i'm sure i saw more of spain than lots of other people traveling to spain :P

i saw like three of these on the bus ride...

windmills - pretty nice looking day huh?

out of the last trains and bus rides, the one from seville to algeciras was definitely my favorite. there weren't many people traveling on the bus, so everyone got their own row - which meant catching up on my sleep! and also, since it wasn't an overnight bus or train, you could actually see the scenery. and i have to say that spain is actually quite pretty :)

Originally, I had wanted to go to Gibraltar (which you can see faintly in the picture above), but after thinking about it, it would have been way too much of rush to get there, explore for a couple hours, then take the 30min bus back to Algeciras for the ferry to Tangier. So, maybe next time, Gibraltar. 

After getting to Algeciras, it was about a five minute walk down to the port. Instead of taking the 5pm ferry, which was still a couple hours away and there didn't seem to be all that much to do in Algeciras, I got on the next ferry to Tangier at 2pm. 

the ferry to Tangier 

gibraltar in the background

In the end, i guess it didn't matter that I had taken the earlier ferry, because with all the loading they did (animals and a ton of other stuff), we left an hour or more later than expected. But since I wasn't in a huge hurry (the train to Marrakech left at 9pm and the time in Morocco is an hour behind), it was nice to just enjoy the sun and the water - two of my favorite things :)

finally moving! 

i spy gibraltar!

On the ferry, i met an old frenchman who was traveling to morocco with a group of his friends. he was really nice and ended up being very helpful. The Moroccan 'customs' desk was on the ferry, so to get in the country, you had to get your passport stamped on the boat, then get checked on land that you had gotten your stamp. Otherwise, you had to get back on the boat to get your passport stamped, then get off again (the couple in front of me had to do this).

first look at africa! :D

After getting off the ferry, there was a bus waiting. It waited for about 20 minutes for everyone to get on, then took a 2 min journey to the top of the hill - yes, TWO minutes. There, we passed through metal detectors that were turned off and put our bags through a screening machine. 

hello tangier!

Then, there was a bus to the city, but on the ferry, I met an American couple from DC that was traveling to Tangier for about an hour (yeah, seriously..). And since the ferry had been late, they didn't have much time. The trip to the city was about 30 minutes away from the port. So, we got a taxi together to the city - much faster than the shuttle. We ended up meeting a 'guide' (the guy below) and got a quick tour of about 15 minutes before the couple headed back to the port to catch the last ferry of the day. 

what seemed like a nice tour guide was a guy who took us around for 15 minutes then proceeded to beg us for money for another 5 minutes... after giving like 1€ (he asked for 10€!), i learned not to make 'friends' in morocco...

From the view where I took the picture above, we could see the general area I guess where the Mediterranean Sea met the Atlantic Ocean, which was kinda cool I guess? (It was just a bunch of water) Tangier seemed nice, but every few seconds, someone would come up begging for money or trying to sell something. It was quite overwhelming, and I was definitely ready to leave. Honestly, I was a bit scared for the rest of the trip, kinda dreading it because of the time in Tangier. Good thing Marrakech was WAY better than Tangier. 

don't you wish your local mcds looked like this? :P 

one of the good things about my trip to tangier - the sunset :) 

At the train station, there were two German guys that had also been on the ferry. We ended up traveling together down to Marrakech, where they were also headed. And it was actually a good thing, because one of them had already traveled to Morocco a couple of times before! So, it was great to have some insight on Morocco - I didn't really research much before going, so I didn't have much of an idea about the culture, food, etc. 

the first of many mint teas - so good

yummy chicken wrap - only after eating it did i realize that i shouldn't be eating raw things (salad, etc.) since i'm not used to the water... but i didn't get sick! phew. no more raw stuff after this though..

mcds from the other side :P - in arabic! (adding to mc collection of mcds in different countries..:P)

So after a nice dinner and waiting by the beach, we boarded the train to Marrakech. It was the best night of sleep I'd had since Barcelona! For the first part of the 11 hour journey, we made some playing cards, then slept for the rest of the way. The trip went by in a flash, and next thing I knew, we were waking up about twenty minutes from Marrakech! :D I was pretty excited, because that meant I was going to be able to get a SHOWER soon! :P

travel buddies in the super tiny train compartment for 11 hours..

makeshift cards/poker table

almost to marrakech!

 Next post: Marrakech and the Sahara! :D

Part I: Barcelona

This last week, we had a week off from classes. I took the opportunity to do some traveling to Spain and Morocco. At the start, I was pretty burnt out and tired from school, wanting to stay home, sleep, and watch television shows, instead of traveling. But in the end, I think it was exactly what I needed - lots of SUN. Now I'm back in Paris where it's raining, grey, and cold. :(

Over my eight days of vacation, I traveled more than 3500 miles by air, train, bus, van, and ferry! So instead of compiling my whole trip and more than 1000 pictures into one post, I’m going to try and dedicate a few posts to the entire trip.

Part I - Barcelona

Early on the morning of February 24^th, I headed off to Paris Beauvais airport (not actually in Paris, but an HOUR and a HALF away…). And soon, I landed in sunny Barcelona!

  

After waking up to a cold and grey morning in Paris, it was nice landing in sunny Barcelona :)

After getting off the plane, I took the bus to Plaça de Catalunya, the city centre of Barcelona. Since I had a couple hours to kill before meeting up with the girl I was staying with, I explored a little bit on my own and just enjoyed the alone time, the city, and the sun :)

They have an Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona too! - Arc de Triomf

yumm

The view from the apartment of my host :)

After meeting up with my host, she took me on a walk to the water! It was the perfect tour. After having traveled so much, I'm not super interested in the sights unless they are must-sees. Instead, I love just walking the city and getting the feel of being there and not being super touristy. 

Another fact: I hate walking around with maps like a tourist, so I usually put them on my iPod before leaving for the city or fold up a super small section of the map. Getting lost is the best way to know a city. :)

dulce de leche gelato!

The W Hotel, shaped like a sail, in the background

I'm a huge fan of sunsets and beaches, so Barcelona was the perfect place for me! The two days that I was there were perfect, and I'm hoping to go back again in May :)

A ton of the bars and clubs are under this pier thingy, so the entrances look like this 

Look at that amazing sky!

A little bar with meat hanging from the ceilings - super busy, but no obvious sign of what it was on the outside! One of those places that you just have to know about it.

Some Roman walls

cute little wine bar

My couchsurfing host, Dayana :)

Little sandwiches of goat cheese (chevre) and jam - the only time I've ever liked chevre! 

Sobrasada and bread - so good!!

After taking me around Barcelona on a little food and sights tour, Dayana took me to her friends house where we proceeded to eat lots more food and play some Dance Central on the Wii. We ended up getting home around 3am! 

Her friend sells manga and stuff like that (I have no clue about this stuff), so he had a HUGE room of all this stuff!

I love how a lot of the alleys have trees - these ones are orange trees! :D

The second day (and last day in Barcelona), I was on my own because Dayana and her friends were going out of town. So, I proceeded to explore on my own! 

La Sagrada Familia - started in 1882, designed by Gaudí and still under construction! Anticipated to be completed in 2026.

There were so many people in line to get in that the line went all the way around the block! So I decided to just skip it and hopefully come back sometime in the future!

On this trip, I decided to get a ticket for the city tour bus. I've never done those tour things besides the Seine River cruise with my parents, but since I didn't have anything that I just HAD to see, I decided to just splurge and ride the bus. It turned out to be a great idea - very relaxing :)

Park Güell, designed by Gaudí - the most strangely incredible and beautiful park I've ever seen! 

Caixa Forum

The MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (National Art Museum of Catalonia) 

Olympic Park

Olympic Stadium

World Trade Center Barcelona

Columbus Monument - located at the site where Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the Americas.

After taking the tour bus one round, I stopped by the Olympic village near the water, where the restaurants and bars are located and took a lunch break. The paella and wine were delicious, though I can probably only stand to eat paella like once a month or so... Spanish food is not my favorite..or maybe I haven't found any to my liking, besides the sobrasada and simple bread and ham :P

Paella and wine by the beach - so nice :)

After my lunch break, I got back on the bus, hoping to catch the sunset from the top of Montjuïc, the hill where the Olympic Stadium is located. Unfortunately, because the bus driver took so many breaks (getting coffee, saying hi to friends, etc.....), I didn't get to see it from the top. But it was still nice to see the city in a different view than from the light of the late morning :)

The Columbus Monument by night 

After getting off the tour bus, I grabbed my stuff from Dayana's place and headed off to the train station where I waited a couple hours for my midnight train to Madrid!

Barcelona was amazing, and my trip there was too short! I miss it already! But just those two days were invigorating and worth leaving Paris for, especially seeing the sun and the Mediterranean! Next time I go to Barcelona, I hope the weather will be warm enough to go swimming! Hope you've enjoyed this first post of my trip :) Still plenty more to come! :D