Tangier has been a trip!

Tangier has been a trip!

Our time in Tangier, Morocco has been a trip. Not one of these “easy” trips for sure. 

Our flight time was changed and then delayed. We ended up as one of the last people off the flight, and the back of a very slow security line. Then we had to get currency. You can’t get Moroccan dirhams outside of the country, for whatever reason. But being that we were one of the last people in the line for the currency exchange, and it was the middle of the night, the seller ended up running out of money. We got just enough in order to get a taxi into town. 

Currency is king here. You need cash for everything, food items, even scuba diving and hotel rooms. Very few places will take a card. It’s a very very weird and unsettling feeling to walk around with a wad of cash in my wallet. Very 1900s! Haha. 

Our taxi from the airport got us to the Casbah and didn’t know how to get us any closer to our hotel, as he can’t drive on the streets of the Medina. After some yelling out of the window, a nice guy offered to walk us to our hotel. Nice guys are in abundance here, even when we arrived at 3 in the morning, although they sometimes want tips. It was definitely a leap of faith to follow this man into the narrow winding streets. But after 15-20 minutes of walking, he got us to our hotel at almost the other end of the Medina. He knew exactly where he was going. There were definitely closer places the taxi could have gotten us to. We booked one night at this hotel, because we knew we would be in late and they had a 24 hour check in desk. We just didn’t know it would be this late!  When we finally got to our location, our nice guy wasn’t that nice because he wanted a bigger tip. Honestly, fair, but did I mention Nathan was only able to get enough cash to cover the taxi? What he had was only a few dirhams left. Then there was someone from our flight in the lobby very upset because the hotel didn’t have her room that she booked! More anxiety over that, but they did have our room! Thank goodness. We got to bed just in time to hear the morning prayers over the city and got a few hours of sleep. With that, and a shower we felt more prepared to face the next day (or really, the same day). 

After finding some breakfast, we set out in search of our hostel, which would be our home for the next two weeks. We found it fairly easily and then went back for our bags, promptly getting lost in the process. We eventually got them and checked out of our hotel. Now here’s the thing. The Medina is entirely made of stone, so gps doesn’t work well, also many things have the same name and similar sounding addresses, and the streets are very confusing when seeing them for the first time. We started off, following what we thought was the correct map.  It took us to the wrong place. So then I tried and we were walking for 15 minutes uphill. Remember our bags are very heavy. Eventually this nice old man (I told you there are a lot of nice guys here) stopped us, and basically said in half English/French “where are you going? There’s no hotels up here” I’m forever grateful for him, because we still had another 15 minutes walk uphill, before we would have found out we weren’t at the right place. We tried to show him the blue line on the map that was pointing us up the hill, but being that he was an old man he couldn’t see it on the phone. Eventually another nice guy came along, took my phone and put it the correct address to our hostel, and pointed us on our way, in the wrong direction. We spent a long time debating whether we follow the new map’s directions, or his oral directions. We eventually chose the technology, which finally got us home. That walk was probably the least fun I have had on this trip so far… until later… One funny thing (to me) was when Nathan was walking, he had his backpack on his back, and Lily’s on his front. He couldn’t see well his feet. There are little metal poles, about shin height, sticking out of the ground at intersections to prevent two wheeled vehicles from going down the really narrow streets.  He caught one of those, and in his words “almost died”. Lol. 

It took about a day and a half, but we are now pretty successful at navigating the Medina! There are a few landmarks, and a few of our favourite places. We have really enjoyed wandering around.  There are still many places here making beautiful things by hand. Weavers, basket makers, leather workers. My favourite was “the tailors street” rows of little stores with one or two men working in each, the store itself big enough only for the man and his sewing supplies. Here they make the djellaba and kaftan, traditional garments that are made to measure, perfectly fitting the wearer. These may take one month to six! From start to finish. I love that there are still people holding their own against “fast fashion”, because that is certainly not fast! I wish this were closer to the end of our trip because I would dump out my bag and fill it with all of these wonderful handmade things! Krystal did do a fair amount of shopping, even managing to fit a beautiful blue handwoven blanket into her bag! I have not bought much. Nathan did buy me a gorgeous handmade silk scarf. What I really wanted, was a handmade leather purse from near the leather tanneries of Fez. But we didn’t make it there. That’s a sad story. For me.

We wanted to go to a hammam and we booked in at one close by. It offered the traditional hammam and we each got a little massage. It was nice. Not the most relaxing because you’re not sure of the expectations on you at any point. It was a very naked experience. When my hair was being washed, which is an absolutely lovely experience, the washer absolutely drowned me and just kept running the water over my face, even when I moved to avoid the spray and try to take in a breath, she followed my face, so I ended up taking in a bunch of water. It was at that moment I knew I was done for. And I was. The next day I was completely out of commission, as everything that was inside of my body, tried to escape out of it any way that it could, to put it delicately. Because I couldn’t be more than two steps away from a bathroom, we missed our train to Fez, and I missed the largest reason I was looking forward to Morocco, one of the things that I always listed when people asked what I was looking forward to. I’m still recovering as I write this, additionally from a cold I picked up on the airplane and a very heavy period! When it rains, it pours. Although we have only seen a sprinkle of actual rain twice so far in the five weeks we have been travelling. 

The one day trip we do manage to make it to was to Chefchouen. Called the “blue pearl of Morroco”. It’s a gorgeous little town, with a very blue Medina perched cutely up in the mountains. It was a 2 hour bus trip both ways and it was a great opportunity to see more of Morocco! We enjoyed doing a little exploring, I did not enjoy how boiling hot it was. There goes my idea that mountains = cooler. It was farther from the ocean and lacking the breeze. If you enjoy taking pictures, or need the perfect Instagram picture, it’s the place for you. But you should stay a day or two so you can have a shower before your glamour shot!  

I feel like I have written about a lot of negativity, which is true, this hasn’t been an easy travel time. But it has been enjoyable and rewarding. One of the reasons we are trying to stay for a “long” time in these places we are visiting is to learn and get a sense of what it is like to live here. I think if I lived here a year I wouldn’t get used to the hours that people keep! People don’t go out until 11:30pm. There’s kids playing on the streets of the Medina at 1 in the morning. I mean, I don’t blame them.  It’s incredibly hot during the day. Actually, at all of the time. 

The pace of life is different too. Getting used to this meant that we constantly had to check our selves and remind ourselves that we did not need to move at a North American pace. A simple sit down dinner can take more than two hours. Buying things from the store is a 10 minute conversation. Goods and services do not seem to move in an efficient manner, but prioritizing connection with others seems to be the upmost priority. 

The people we have interacted with as a whole have been generous, kind and helpful. Moroccan people are wonderful. Lily has gotten so many gifts. You can meet your best friend when travelling. We have made a friend who has helped and supported us. He has given us advice and friendship. I am blessed to have met Ahmed!

The beaches have been a bit of a respite from the heat. The waves are cool, and just big enough to play in. We went to one that had camels and a horse walking back and forth looking for riders. It was picturesque until we watched both the camel caretaker and the horse caretaker let their animals poop right into the waves to wash right over to where we, (and hundreds of other people) were playing.

One day we explored the Kasbah museum, which gave us some insight into the complex history in this part of the world.  Also the Casbah is beautiful!!

Another day we walked to see the King’s palace, and Krys got yelled at for sticking her camera through the gate. We also hiked to see the Phonecian tombs and had a lovely view of the city. 

We went to the very lovely Hercules cave. With a beautiful view of the ocean through a hole in the rock. There wasn’t too

much else there, they did have the story of Hercules playing via projection in one of the cave rooms. It was pretty to see, even if the story was in Arabic. Apparently the cave was where Hercules rested between his labours. 

One day Lily, Krys and Nathan went to the Hercules park, which had high ropes, a suspension bridge, zip lines, trampolines and other fun things to play. They all got very hot. I stayed back inside and nursed the cold that I had, by resting, and not getting too hot. 

One of the nicest days we had was when we went up to Rimilat Park. We drove through some very beautiful, wealthy areas with gorgeous houses. Then we walked around a lovely forested area that was (relatively) cool. There were a couple playground/workout areas, and some pretty views and an old house with a kidnapping story that was interesting. Apparently “rescuing” the victim in this case, helped Teddy Rosevelt win his reelection campaign, never mind that the victim, Perdicaris renounced his American citizenship, or that the Sultan of Morocco actually paid the ransom. Details… 

The land around the house was full of all sorts of imported trees and flowers and made for a beautiful walk around. 

Krystal and I did go for a scuba dive out in the Strait of Gibraltar. The water was cold! 14*C at the bottom! We had on 5mm wetsuits with hoods.  Luckily the boat ride out wasn’t long and it was a very calm day, waves wise. Our first dive was on the wreak of a cement boat. There were apparently still bags of cement inside. We had fun peeking into holes. I enjoyed when the ladders was lying sideways as you look in. The current to get down to the bottom was very strong and we had to hold a chain in order to descend, so as to not get ripped off and float away from the group. It took me a bit, because of the current, cold and strong swim I had to do to start, to convince myself that I can breathe underwater. Sometimes on my first dive my body revolts and wants to rip the regulator out and swim to the surface. Mind over circumstances sometimes takes some time. But it was worth it! 

The second dive was shallower with less of a current, but had neat changes in temperature as we moved about. It was in a rocky area with lots of seaweed. Some very beautiful kinds that were fun to look at. Purple swirlies, giant flat pieces etc. there was some fish. Mostly silver, but some colours. Nothing particularly outstanding. Our dive guide pointed out something interesting and made a flappy/wavy motion with his hand. We looked. It was kind of cute. When we were back at the surface, we asked the boat driver if she could ask him what it was, because he didn’t speak English. But he didn’t know the name of it in English, French or Arabic. Ok then, we saw a thing. 

When we went diving, Nathan and Lily went to the Tangier Equestrian centre and took a lesson and a trail ride, mostly in French. Lily had great form, and impressed the instructor. Nathan got beat up by the saddle, but both had a good time. 

Living in the Medina has been like going back in time, but we have been out to various parts to see the rest of the new city.  Even going to a very modern mall, which could have been the Oshawa centre. All of the space between people, and bright lighting was a bit of a shock to the system after living in the crowded stone old city. 

We have been staying in a great hostel, Bayt Alice, which was built sometime in the 1800s, no one can tell me exactly. It’s a traditional Riad design with an open centre column, and rooms off of the side. The roof is the greatest space, especially at night when it cools off. You can see up to the Casbah and down to the water. All the people staying at the hostel gather there and you can have some interesting conversations, while you look at life and laundry on other roofs and listen to the calls to prayer that echo across the city. 

Of course, what would my travel be without food? We enjoyed couscous on Fridays. Because that’s the Moroccan custom. We tried many different tagines, which is stew baked in a clay pot. It was a good way to get meat and vegetables. The best thing though was the chicken pastilla. It’s hard to describe, sort of like shredded curry chicken inside a sweet phyllo pastry covered in sugar and cinnamon. I loved that every single meal came with a dish of olives. Drinking fresh pressed orange juice with no filler!

Overall I adored Morocco and would happily travel back. But I have to say I am so excited for Spain, and AIR CONDITIONING. 

Pastries in Portugal

 Pastries in Portugal

I have really enjoyed walking around in Lisbon, Portugal. The city is like an open air museum with all of the tiles covering all the buildings. The ajzulos (tiles) really took off in the city as a fire suppression system, after the devastating earthquake in the 1700s that flattened most of the city. Now, they just make the city beautiful!  Lily and I took a walk one day with the purpose to find lovely ones. And then took some time to draw them while sitting in a park. It was a nice art activity. And it allowed us to appreciate the details in all of the tiles we were seeing. We realized that one single tile on its own is pretty, but what makes them impactful is the pattern of them all together. 

The city is lovely, and as we got to know the various neighbourhoods we enjoyed seeing how everyone lived. We were in the Bairro Alto neighborhood, which was definitely a party scene. Everywhere sold alcohol! There was a bookstore, with a bar. A record store with a bar. The “Gelato Bar” sold ice cream and drinks. There was even a kitchy little toy store… and bar!  It seemed that drinking with every meal and every activity is quite normal. One thing we did not enjoy was all of the hills and that were around the town. Basically anywhere you wanted to go was up, even if you were walking up and turned around, magically, you were still going up. The hills are very steep. We lived very close to a lovely park with a beautiful view that overlooked the city right out to the water. It was fun because there was always something happening in that park, whether it was musicians, or a little beer market. There was always something to see. 

We spent several days walking along a street that took us beside a church. It was a very unremarkable church from the outside. Basically a flat gray stone building. One day we were having a “rest day”, but our little attic apartment got extremely hot in the afternoon. I was on Google Maps, looking for something close by to walk and see, and that church came up. We decided to head in during its opening hours, and we were absolutely blown away. Inside this unremarkable building, hosted the most remarkable, and ornate interior you can imagine. The roof was painted in the 1500s. And there were 10 different naves, each one in a different style. Some filled with so many gold and jewels that would make a pirate wealthy. The church also housed an innumerable amount of relics from the saints. We tried to go back to a mass there on Sunday. But we misread the sign saying what days the mass were. We really just wanted to hear the 400 year old organ played, and less so hear a Catholic mass in Portuguese. 

In town, there was an old castle, also from the Morrish era. But used for various things throughout the centuries. We enjoyed wandering around, and when we got there, there were some dancers showing off dances probably from the 15 or 1600s. We couldn’t tell, the explanation was in Portuguese. Both Nathan and Lily got pulled in to try the group dance. That was an excellent lesson for “early civilizations, prior to 1550” that is in Lily‘s social studies. My favourite thing that happened when we were in the castle was that we were walking near a terrace, overlooking the city, and it happened to turn 12 o’clock. This means that all the churches across the whole city rang their bells 12 times to mark the hour. I was absolutely surrounded by ringing bells coming from everywhere in the city, bouncing off of the wall to echo back. It was a remarkable and beautiful couple of minutes.

We took a day trip to a town called Sintra, a train ride away. It is a fairytale town, filled with castles and lovely views of mountains. We went to a castle called the Pena Palace, built in the 1800s. It is a monstrosity of various designs, colors, and all sorts of fantastical things. It was made as a vacation palace for the royal Portuguese family. Designed by the self appointed “Artist King”. It combines art styles from European influence, Moorish influence, Arabian influence, and other things that I think are probably just made up. You could stand on one balcony and view about five different architectural styles in one scene. Also, while we were in Sintra, we went to an ancient Moorish castle from the 900s. It was restored by the same Royals who built the Pena Palace as “romantic ruins”. I think I liked it more than the Pena Palace because it felt as if it were an ancient fortress. 

While we were in Sintra, we went to the oldest bakery in town. It has Queijadas da Sapa”, which is an amazing little tart. Apparently the recipe is so old the nuns from that town used to make them and use them to pay part of their rent for the last 500 years or so. Now that I have been to the oldest bakery in Paris, and now in Sintra, I’m thinking that I should make this a regular goal on my trips! 

Two different times over our course of time in Lisbon, we took the train out to a beach town called Cascais. It had a lovely sandy beach, surrounded by dramatic rock cliffs all around. The sand is soft, the beach was clean, but the water was freezing! We spent a lot of time playing skip ball with the water up to our shins.

One day, we decided to take a Hippo Tour bus. Which is an amphibious bus that drives on land and on water. It was an interesting tour that got us out to the farther neighborhoods, and allowed us to see the city from the water. There was a very entertaining driver and tour guide, and Lily had a great time listening to his antics. When we went from land into the water, there was a dramatic splash. I thought we might be going right over.

It’s very interesting how Portugal feels very connected to its colony of Brazil. There are many Brazilian products, people talk about Brazil proudly and there is a lot of shared history that they refer to in a positive way. I wonder if Brazil feels the same way? Across the river from Lisbon in a town called Almada there is a statue called the Christo Rei. He is a Jesus figurine almost identical to the one that sits in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. He is just a couple metres shorter. We went over there one day to look up at him. At the base there is a convent, many olive trees, and a nice view, looking back over at the city of Lisbon.

I think one of my favourite things that we did while in Lisbon was we went to a Navy museum that was just simply two old ships sitting in a dry dock. One was a frigate from the 1850s fully outfitted as if it was ready to go off on a mission in 1850. It was very interesting to see all the tools and the layout of the ship. It had little scenes with Navy figures working away at their various jobs. The other was a 1960s Portuguese navy submarine. It was fascinating to see how they used space to the maximum and it reminded me of the way everything is fit into a motorhome or a camper. The neatest part about the submarine was that you could look up the periscope and see the city of Lisbon from where we were down in the water. I enjoyed seeing how they fit all of the beds in to the limited space. One bed was even one hanging directly underneath the torpedo storage. It was amazing the difference technology of 100 years. I was also so impressed that people who are working and living on the submarine would know what every button and dial and crank would do. There was an absolute uncountable number of things to turn.

The place that we stayed was very interesting. We were on the fifth floor of an apartment that was older and than the country of Canada. The last set of stairs to get to our place was basically a ladder. The roof was angled down at a very sharp degree and so we spent time counting how many times we bumped our head. Our laundry hung in a line outside, the farthest of which I was not brave enough to reach, and our window from our kitchen looked out onto someone else’s roof. Lily enjoyed climbing out of the window and onto the roof to see what was happening in the neighborhood.

Things we enjoyed eating: Pastel de Nata! (Little amazing egg custard tarts) 

I enjoyed: Bacalhau de Bras (shredded cod with potatoes) And green wine! I had never heard of green wine before, but it was very refreshing and similar to white wine. 

Impressions of Paris

 First impressions:

Oh my gosh everything is so beautiful.

This city looks like the old quarter of New Orleans.  Wait, that’s called the French Quarter… ooooh… *lightbulb*

The stereotype of the French sitting around smoking is so accurate.

What do they have against air conditioning?

We really made good use of our time in Paris. We saw a bunch of the important tourist sites. And found special places of our own. I could go on and on about everything we saw and did. This city is absolutely steeped in history. And everywhere you turn there’s something beautiful to look at. How your life must be to be surrounded by beauty all of the time. Maybe it encourages the slow, grateful life of sitting in a cafe reading. Or it encourages you to put together chic outfits so that you match your surroundings. I wonder if you grow numb to it and it’s just normal city life. If so, I encourage those Parisians to travel, maybe to North America. They will be jarred by enough rectangles that they will appreciate every monument, curled ironwork, and church spire when they return. 

Seeing the Eiffel Tower was a surprising highlight for me. It really is a magnificent building. We could see it from our room (if you opened the window and leaned out). We booked tickets to go up to the top floor in the elevator.  It was in fact a dizzying height! Wonderful views at the top of the entire city. One evening Krystal, Deb and I went out to see the tower light up and watch it sparkle, as it does every evening for five minutes on the hour.  It was a very busy place with lots of people enjoying a nice evening view. 

We went to the Chateau du Vincennes. Where Nathan taught Lily all about medieval history of the Kings and the educated people who would be living within the palace walls. The castle itself started as a hunting lodge in the 1300s and grew to be a residence of Kings of France popular between the 14th and 15th centuries. It was at other times a porcelain factory, an industrial bakery, a treasury, a fortress and a prison for political dissenters. This was a great time to cover part of her social studies curriculum on early societies before 1500. She loved seeing the latrines (poop shoots) and I was amazed by the wooden panels still hanging in the King’s wardrobe room, having there in the 1400s, and when they were harvested, the wood was already 250 years old! My North American brain has trouble comprehending the vastness of the history. 

One day we went to the Catacombs of Paris.  An underground tour of the final resting place of some 6 million Parisians who died anywhere between 1100 and the 1800s. It was created as a place to visit loved ones, an artistic view of remains and a place to ponder mortality. It was neat to start above ground in one place and emerge back several blocks away. There were headphones with a guided tour talking to you. It went through the history of the lime stone quarries, the overflowing graves spilling into people’s basement’s and the decisions leading up to creating the catacombs. It was all very interesting and respectfully done. I would highly recommend the tour to anyone interested. 

Disneyland and Disney Adventure world were a blast. Disneyland was practically empty by Florida standards. One cool thing was seeing Maleficent in her dragon form under the Sleeping Beauty Castle. We got to almost every ride, and did some of the big ones twice! We even left early, because the fireworks were canceled due to the heat. Adventure World was fun! It was busier and had a ton of shows. We enjoyed watching Together, a live orchestral show with the Toy Story crew interacting with other Pixar characters. It had music sheets flying, and giant streamers.  

The whole Pixar land was fun with a slinky dog ride, army man parachutes falling and a crazy RC racer rocking ride. A new land, Arendale just opened and it was beautiful! There was a show on the lake with the characters. Lily also met Jessie, Bo Peep and got taken away by Alice and the Mad Hatter. 

One day Lily thought that she was being taken out for a birthday celebration I promised her of macarons and going to the Jellycat Patisserie. There was more to that! We had arranged to meet up with a school friend who happened to be in Paris at the same time as us! She was actually speechless when her friend walked into the restaurant. The friend was also surprised! We even managed for them to be wearing the same shirt! 

The girls enjoyed walking around the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, with its incredible domed roof and outrageously expensive brands. Who actually shops here? And doesn’t just walk around starstruck!? Unfortunately the Patisserie wasn’t running, but the Jellycats were still there for sale! Lily decided on a croissant instead of a macaron, which makes sense as she’s eaten at least one a day since we have been here. We stuck together and went on a walking tour where we marvelled at  some glass covered arcades (walkways), with lovely little stores underneath. We went to the oldest bakery in Paris, which has some lovely wall paintings in it that are original to the building in 1725! And found a little park to play in where the girls took over a cave and set up a bird watching society run out of it. 

Our last full day in Paris, we went to both the Louvre and Notre dame. My eyes were bleeding from the beauty of it all. The palace museum that the Louvre is in is worth its own trip, outside of the incredibly antiquities that are inside it! Lily really wanted to see the Mona Lisa, so we got in the huge crowd. It was pretty well organized, get in the back of the crowd, shuffle forward. A museum staff opens the front of the barricade and the front line of people step out. Shuffle forward. Just keep shuffling Just keep shuffling. Eventually you make your way to the front for your minute to do what you want.  Some people decided to use that minute to take selfies. I guess you get cred for standing in the shuffle. It was much easier and less crazy than it is made out to be online. I enjoyed the tiny Nonna who was standing near us telling her family about how different it was in 1950 when she came the first time, “you could walk right up to it!” 

It turns out that I loved the statue galleries most of all and I could have taken 30 thousand pictures in them. Unfortunately Michelangelo’s works were not on exhibition. 💔 but there was more than enough to occupy us. Venus de Milo, The Three Graces, Hermaphordite, “and then, Mommy” (not the real name) were among my favourites 

I could go on and on about all the art.  But you really should go see it yourself. 

We hiked over to Notre Dame, passing the used book seller market on the way. I really wanted to buy something, but it was all in French!  I feel like I’ve navigated around quite well with my basic French, but I couldn’t do a novel. I was really happy to see them. During the Nazi occupation of France, messages were passed between resistance soldiers in the pages of these used books, on the same ledges new used books sit now. 

Notre Dame and its stained glass windows were almost overwhelming lovely. There was so much to see in the church that I don’t even know what to describe. My favourite part though was the nave dedicated to Saint George the dragon slayer.  It’s worth a trip in. The line looks long but moves pretty fast. 

My feet hurt. We have done so much walking. I’m never walking again. Also my backpack is too full. On to Lisbon. I’m looking forward to hopefully being more comfortable in our living space. While I loved our hostel, Oops! Because it was available when our other hotel cancelled on us, it had a great location, easy to use wall plugs and a useful shared kitchen, it was small, as I know many living spaces in the old part of Paris are. We had two bunk beds for the four of us, a tiny private bathroom with a comically small shower and just enough floor space to put our bags and for two of us to stand up at once, while the other two got to sit hunched over on their bed.

Final impressions:

Oh my gosh everything is so beautiful. 

I love cafes and patisseries. 

Parisian Pigeons have no concept of personal space. 

I love the metro!

I don’t want to leave.