Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cadiz, Spain
After getting back from Spain, we spent two days in Cadiz visiting Chelsey. The city is a really small, laid-back beach town. It was nice just doing nothing and relaxing for a change. We went out to a bar one night and had tea with Chelsey's host mom one afternoon, but other than that just walked around the city and chilled on the beach.
Tanger, Morocco
From Madrid, Bo and I met up with our friend Chelsey and her friend Gio who are studying in Cadiz. We took a bus down to Tarifa and then caught the ferry to Morocco for the weekend.
We got in late Friday night and just found our hostel, ate at a local restaurant, and then took it easy and went to bed. Bo and I had been traveling for about 12 hours already that day and by the time we were ready to explore it had gotten dark, and we didn't think it was a good idea to wander around not knowing anything about the neighbourhood we were in.
Even though Morocco is only a 45 minute ferry ride from Spain, it is completely different culturally. Here is the initial view from the ferry:
Overall, Tanger felt relatively safe (although I didn't spend much time there), but the the language barrier made it a bit difficult and times, and there were a lot of big cultural differences. For example, it seems like women had very little respect and almost no rights there. Sometimes when asking for directions, the people would only talk to me and not the girls I was traveling with. I don't think it would be easy to travel there as a girl, but I know people that have done it. Also, alcohol is completely illegal (although apparently not too hard to get). This meant that there is basically no night life or bars anywhere in the country.
Our "hostel" was basically just a converted out apartment that we could stay in. However, it was really nice and had a very authentic Moroccan feel to it, so that made it fun.
The building also had a rooftop terrace, which had a great view of the surrounding city:
We ended up calling a guide that we met right after getting off the ferry, and he agreed to give us a walking tour of the city for about five Euro apiece. We got to see lots of markets and sights around the city, and it was overall a pretty good tour.
Tanger was the first country after the American Revolutionary War to recognize the US as a sovereign nation (they did just before the French, who aided the US in the war, but Tanger was controlled by the french at the time so this is largely the reason), so the oldest US embassy in the world is located in the French district of the city.
Here are a few more pictures from the city:
The Caves of Hercules:
And of course, we couldn't resist riding on camels...
We got in late Friday night and just found our hostel, ate at a local restaurant, and then took it easy and went to bed. Bo and I had been traveling for about 12 hours already that day and by the time we were ready to explore it had gotten dark, and we didn't think it was a good idea to wander around not knowing anything about the neighbourhood we were in.
Even though Morocco is only a 45 minute ferry ride from Spain, it is completely different culturally. Here is the initial view from the ferry:
Overall, Tanger felt relatively safe (although I didn't spend much time there), but the the language barrier made it a bit difficult and times, and there were a lot of big cultural differences. For example, it seems like women had very little respect and almost no rights there. Sometimes when asking for directions, the people would only talk to me and not the girls I was traveling with. I don't think it would be easy to travel there as a girl, but I know people that have done it. Also, alcohol is completely illegal (although apparently not too hard to get). This meant that there is basically no night life or bars anywhere in the country.
Our "hostel" was basically just a converted out apartment that we could stay in. However, it was really nice and had a very authentic Moroccan feel to it, so that made it fun.
The building also had a rooftop terrace, which had a great view of the surrounding city:
We ended up calling a guide that we met right after getting off the ferry, and he agreed to give us a walking tour of the city for about five Euro apiece. We got to see lots of markets and sights around the city, and it was overall a pretty good tour.
Tanger was the first country after the American Revolutionary War to recognize the US as a sovereign nation (they did just before the French, who aided the US in the war, but Tanger was controlled by the french at the time so this is largely the reason), so the oldest US embassy in the world is located in the French district of the city.
Here are a few more pictures from the city:
The Caves of Hercules:
And of course, we couldn't resist riding on camels...
Madrid, Spain
My first stop in Europe was Madrid. I met up with my girlfriend Bo while I was there, so it was really nice to see a familiar face again. She had been there staying with a friend for the past few days, so by the time I got there she already reasonably knew her way around the city and the metro. I unfortunately got sick on the plane ride over so I didn't get to go out and drink much in the city, but from what I could tell the night life in Madrid seemed like it would be pretty sweet. I fly out of Madrid back to Seattle, so hopefully I'll get a second chance to experience that.
Traveling in Europe feels wayyy different than travelling in South America. Everything feels really safe and protected and from what I can tell, pickpockets seem to be the worst of your worries. It feels like much less of an adventure, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun still. I just need to get adjusted to being here.
Here are a few of the pictures I took in the few days that I was there:
Now that I'm in Europe, I'm probably only going to be spending 2-3 days in each city and moving at a much faster pace, so these posts will be a bit shorter but (hopefully) more frequent.
Traveling in Europe feels wayyy different than travelling in South America. Everything feels really safe and protected and from what I can tell, pickpockets seem to be the worst of your worries. It feels like much less of an adventure, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun still. I just need to get adjusted to being here.
Here are a few of the pictures I took in the few days that I was there:
Now that I'm in Europe, I'm probably only going to be spending 2-3 days in each city and moving at a much faster pace, so these posts will be a bit shorter but (hopefully) more frequent.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires is an insane city - it was basically just a party the entire time. I don't think I got to sleep before around 6am on any of the nights that I was there. All of the clubs and bars were amazing, and the restaurants were equally good. I had some of the best steak that I have ever had there before. Some of the $10 steaks I had were easily comparable with a $50 steak in the states. The city itself was very pretty (at least in the center area, but outside of that it's pretty poor) and had a very European feel to it. Unfortunately, I only really took photos of the city during the day, and that only tells half the story of my stay there, but here are a few of them:
The congressional building:
The president's house, la casa rosada:
Navy ships in the port:
Rooftop view:
I really enjoyed my stay in Buenos Aires and I would definitely like to return some day, but I don't think I could ever see myself living there for a long period of time. It's a bit too crazy and dangerous at times for me.
The congressional building:
The president's house, la casa rosada:
Navy ships in the port:
Rooftop view:
I really enjoyed my stay in Buenos Aires and I would definitely like to return some day, but I don't think I could ever see myself living there for a long period of time. It's a bit too crazy and dangerous at times for me.
Cordoba, Argentina
Cordoba was definitely one of my favorite places so far. As far as the city goes, it wasn't anything particularly special. However, I was staying with the family of my friends Coti and Virginia that I met in Rio last summer, and that was an awesome experience. The family consisted of the two parents and six daughters (Caro is missing here):
They were absolutely amazing hosts. It was a nice change from the hostel life - every day I got home cooked meals, my own room, laundry, etc. Here is where I slept:
They knew all of the best areas around the city to see and they had a car that we could use to get there. Cordoba is a very old city with a lot of history, so it was interesting walking around. Here are some sights from the city:
Having a car also meant that we could drive around to see some of the landmarks and towns just outside the city. There are a lot of German towns with immigrants that came to escape Europe after World War II (think like a Leavenworth, WA). That meant great scenery and even better beer:
And of course, we went out just about every night...
Coti, if you or anyone from your family reads this, thanks a ton for everything!
They were absolutely amazing hosts. It was a nice change from the hostel life - every day I got home cooked meals, my own room, laundry, etc. Here is where I slept:
They knew all of the best areas around the city to see and they had a car that we could use to get there. Cordoba is a very old city with a lot of history, so it was interesting walking around. Here are some sights from the city:
Having a car also meant that we could drive around to see some of the landmarks and towns just outside the city. There are a lot of German towns with immigrants that came to escape Europe after World War II (think like a Leavenworth, WA). That meant great scenery and even better beer:
And of course, we went out just about every night...
Coti, if you or anyone from your family reads this, thanks a ton for everything!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is a beautiful city located in the foothills of the Andes in the northern part of the country, and is the wine capital of Argentina. About two thirds of all Argentinian wine are produced in the surrounding region. I arrived about a month late to go to the annual wine festival here, but I still had a lot of fun going around to the different Bodegas and sampling all the wine. A really nice bottle of wine could be had for around $5 US, so I got to drink a lot of good quality stuff. Also, Argentinian meat is AMAZING. For about $10, you can get what would probably be a $40 steak in the US, with appetizer and wine. Even the quality of the meat at the grocery stores is really high, and super cheap. Not a whole lot more to say about the city, but it was really chill and laid back. Here are a few pics:
Trying some absinthe (hard to see, but the sugar is on fire):
Trying some absinthe (hard to see, but the sugar is on fire):
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