Fez

Fez is a much larger city than Chefchaouen, with a population of almost 1 million people. It is considered the imperial capital of Morocco and the center for true Moroccan culture. The city's medina is the largest car-free urban zone in the world and is a winding mess of narrow streets. When we arrived to Fez, we went to a hostel where we saw some other travelers hanging out on a balcony. As it turned out, one of the travelers on the balcony was on of Tom's classmates from his University in Prague. She was an erasmus student in Aix en Provence, France and was with two other erasmus friends from Poland. We all ate dinner at a delicious restaurant across the street and got to know one another. The next day, we set out on a tour of the city. We went looking for the old Jewish quarter and found a guide that agreed to take us around. He showed us the old Jewish cemetary, a communal bakery, and other interesting sites. He then took us to a guesthouse he knew of to get a panoramic view from the roof. The guesthouse was operated by a man named Adel who also owned a carpet store that was underneath his house. He had traveled all around the Mediterranean and spoke fluent Spanish and French and a good bit of English. He sat us down and poured us some mint tea and began telling us about the different types of rugs he had and how they were made. After some minor pressure to buy, Joel was the only one who purchased, buying a nice yellow camel blanket. Adel invited us to come back to his house that evening for dinner, as long as we brought the food to cook. So, we went through the market streets of the medina seeing was the farmers had brought to town that day. We bought some chicken and lots of vegetables and brought them over to Adel's around 8pm. His sister prepared the food, and while we waited we talked with Adel about his travels, listened to music, and smoked shissha (tobacco smoked out of a hookah). When the dinner was ready, Adel's sister served the food and left. We had a large pot of Tagine with chicken and vegetables that were delicious. After we let the meal settle, we talked some more until Adel began to lead us out of his house. He proceeded to take us into the room where we had spent about an hour earlier that afternoon looking at rugs and again pressured us to buy some from him. When we told him that we still weren't interested he quickly said goodbye and led us out. It was kind of a shame overall because it made us wonder whether he really wanted to be hospitable to a random group of travelers, or if he was just looking for another customer. Regardless, being welcomed into his home and eating a meal was a great experience and a good first-hand look at Moroccan life. The next day, we hopped on a train and headed for the capital of Morocco, Rabat.

Morocco 2

Chefchaouen is a beautiful city of about 50,000 people located high in the Rif mountains of Northern Morocco. The air is fresh and the entire city is painted in a sky blue and white, which is supposed to keep the mosquitos away. The coloring of the city really makes the narrow streets of the medina seem less smothering and is quite charming. When we arrived to the city, there were several "guides" there to meet our bus. In Morocco, a lot of people make a living by being "guides" which basically consists of them being overly friendly to you and following you until you either agree to let them take you somewhere or tell them to buzz off. So, as we approached the city from our bus, we were followed by a guy who spoke fluent spanish, english, and french. He seemed pretty legit, so we let him take us to our hotel. We gave him a small tip and he went on his way.

The best part of traveling in a country like Morocco is that you don't have to follow a rigid checklist of must-see landmarks and museums. In Morocco, the sights are on the streets. We spent the next 2 days in Chefchaouen exploring the streets, surrounding areas, and delicious restaurants before moving on to Fez.

Morocco

Long overdue entry, I apologize to all my readers I've kept waiting (hopefully you exist)! Morocco was easily the most interesting and adventurous trip I've ever taken. It's amazing how crossing just 20 mi. over the Straight of Gibraltar brings you to another world. Overall, the trip was a great learning experience and adventure and really gave me a new-found appreciation for my life in Spain and the U.S. This is how the trip went:

First, I flew from Barcelona to Tangier to meet up with my two roommates who would be my companions on this journey. They had left a few days before me, traveling through Andalucia (Southern Spain) before taking a ferry to Tangier. Before they left, we arranged a meeting point "Atlas Restaurant at La Petit Socco" and agreed to meet at 10:30PM once my flight got in. So, I left around 9:00PM from Barcelona on a Royal Air Moroccan flight to Tangier. The flight was only 2 hours but they still served us a full meal of Moroccan food that was really good. We landed in Tangier on time and customs only took a few minutes. After customs, I rounded the corner to about 100 Moroccans waiting for friends/relatives. Not knowing any Arabic or French, I needed to find a taxi. There was no information desk, so I had to ask a few different people until I found a security guard who pointed me in the right direction and told me it would be 15 euros (luckily Julien, my French roommate here in Barcelona, taught me the French numbers before I left). **Side note: Morocco's primary language is Arabic, but most people speak French as well, as the French have a long history meddling in Morocco.**
Once I got in a taxi, the taxi driver drove a few feet and then was waved down my a police officer standing in the middle of the road. After talking back and forth for a few moments, the police officer finally let the taxi driver go on. The taxi driver (who was able to speak to me in Spanish) then told me that the police officer wanted the driver to bring him a sandwich on his way back to the airport. Of course, why not.
Then we continued on away from the airport and stopped at a store briefly so he could go in and order the sandwich. Looking out of the cab, I realized that I was clearly not in Spain anymore. There was a police officer standing at every intersection (we passed about 20 on our way to the city) so that "people don't try to rob you" in the words of the cab driver. Already feeling a bit uneasy, I really wanted to meet up with my friends.
I told the cab driver where I wanted to meet them and he told me that the cab wouldn't fit on the streets that lead to Petit Socco (small market/plaza) since it is in the city's "medina", or, old part. Instead, he would take me to Grand Socco. When we arrived he pointed to the entrance to the medina and said that was the way to Petit Socco, but that he wouldn't advise walking their at this time of night. Instead, he pointed me to a hotel and told me to get a room and meet my friends in the morning. I checked in to the hotel, which was literally a roach motel (but what can you expect for 7euro a night?), left my stuff, and went to find an internet cafe. After walking around the city for about 30 min looking for internet, I realized that there was absolutely no way I could blend in. I realized that it was quite a new feeling for me. I finally found an internet cafe and was able to get up w/ my friends via Skype. We were able to rendezvous at a spot very close to my hotel. They had already found a hotel and we agreed on a meeting point for the next morning.
The next morning, we got up and found a tea room to have a small breakfast. I really needed to use the bathroom and discovered the squatter toilet. I'll spare you the details, but it involves squatting, a spicket, and a bucket. I was glad I brought hand sanitizer. After breakfast, we took a short trip around the city before catching an afternoon bus to our next destination, Chefchaouen.

Time for another adventure

Well, I only got back from spring break on Monday, but tomorrow (Friday) I'm off for another week! I'll be in Morocco from tomorrow until the 25th of April! I won't be able to post any pictures while I'm there, but if I get the time I will try to drop a line on here. If I don't, then be on the look-out for pics when I get back! Ma Salaam!

Prague

Prague was the last stop on our journey, and truly my favorite. We had great weather, it was sunny and about 80 degrees the entire time. The oldest part of Prague looks like a Fairytale city complete with cobblestone sidewalks and streets. In Prague, we were able to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel and it was really nice to have a real bed and real pillow for once! The first thing we did was go to a restaurant that my Barcelona roommate from Prague recommended. Luckily, I had the piece of paper he wrote on, so since the menu was only in Czech, I was still able to order correctly. I got Goulash, which is basically beef tips in a very tasty sauce w/ dumplings. We washed it down with the Czech Republic's most famous beer, Pilsner Urquell. According to our "Beer Challenge" guide in Munich, the Czechs brew Pilsner since the Czech region is "land of the pills" meaning they have very soft water. That night, we had a couple drinks at a pub my roommate recommended, then rested up for the next day. Our first full day in Prague, we did another bike tour. Our tour guide was a cool young Czech guy who kept it interesting. He showed us almost every major site in Prague and had a good story for each one. We did some more walking around during the day and that night went on an organized "pub crawl" which takes you to three bars and then a discotec. The people who run it do it in partnership with this restaurant called "Bohemian Bagel" in Prague. We ate at this restaurant everyday we were there and it had delicious American style food (Bagels, Sandwiches, Burgers, FOUNTAIN Coca-Cola!). The next day, we met up with a few of Matt's friends that he knew from Miami and walked to the Prague Castle with them. The Castle is just across the river, and is a huge complex of buildings built by previous Czech rulers. On the way across the river, we used the famous pedestrian "Charles bridge" and touched the statue of St...somebody that is supposed to protect you from drowning (tip from our bike tour guide). After the Castle, we went to a tea house and had some tea followed by some Goulash soup in a bread bowl. That night, we went to the "largest club in central europe," which was this five floor dance club right on the water. It was a pretty cool place, but it still doesn't hold a candle to the clubs here in Spain. The next day we were pretty tired and had a fairly lazy day eating, walking, and sitting down for drinks. We had sushi for dinner and I attempted to fall asleep, but it was useless as I had to wake up at 4:00 to catch my 6:00AM flight at the airport. This was easily the best spring break ever. I enjoyed the good beer, good food, and most of all, the good company!

Vienna

After Munich, we arrived in Vienna and after a round-about walk found our hostel. Once we reached our hostel, we realized that apparently Vienna has a bit of a "red light district" and our hostel happened to be right in the middle of it. Apparently, prostitution is legalized in Austria. Well, I guess you learn something new everyday. Anyway, we grabbed some dinner and then took a metro to where the hostel lady told us was the happening spot. But, on a Monday night it appeared pretty empty, so we just hung out in an Irish pub for a couple hours. The next day, we walked through the center of Vienna, which contains a ton of beautiful large government buildings and museums. We ate some Shnitzel (a famous Vienna breaded meat plate) and then went out to find something to do. This night, there actually were people out and some people pointed us to a nice discotec in Vienna called Flex. It was a pretty nice club, but for 15euro you come to realize that nobody really does clubbing like Spain! The next day, we did some more random walking around Vienna and went to a large art Museum. The Museum had a lot of great pieces, with two of the more famous names being Rembrandt and Velazquez. That night, we layed low and watch UNC win the national championship! It was great to see them win and a part of me couldn't help but wish I was in Chapel Hill to celebrate. Although Vienna was a very beautiful place, it was my least favorite of the three cities we visited. I'm glad we saved the best for last though, Prague!

Munich

So, before leaving on this trip, I did not even realize that me and my friends would be visiting two of the most famous beer capitals in the world, Munich and Prague. The first stop on our trip was Munich, home to the famous Oktoberfest. The first night we were there, we went to the famous Haufbrauhaus, which is a very old, massive beer hall and restaurant. I had some delicious piece of pork w/ dumplings and my friend Matt got the pig knuckle. It was delicious and so was the beer (which is only served in 1 liter Stein mugs). We met up w/ my roommate Mike at the hostel, since he was on a separate flight, and went to a local bar. We met several Americans there and had a good time talking with them. The next day, we were on our way to meet a bike tour when a man named Lenny approached us, telling us all about his free bike tour and pointing to his spot in Rick Steve's Munich book (page 33 if I remember correctly). We were weary at first, but the bike tour ended up being amazing. Lenny had a great attitude and mixed in jokes w/ actual history to make the tour really fun. In the middle of the tour, we stopped at a beer garden and had beer and another delicious meat and potatoes meal. Once the bike tour was over, we took a nap and went out to a Munich club with some people we met at our hostel. That night, we were able to watch the UNC-Villanova game between 3-5AM in the next door hostel lobby (since their internet worked). The next day we went on a "Beer Challenge" which is a guided tour through the most famous beer halls in Munich. In total, we visited 4 places, and learned about each type of beer we drank along the way. We also learned the official German toast, it's history, and the most famous German drinking song. That night, we got some rest and in the morning got on a train to Vienna.