Traveling by boat is one of my favorite ways of travel. Don’t know exactly why, but I have always found the big blue fascinating. The ferry ride between Tarifa, Spain and Tangier, Morocco is trafficking a route where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. Makes the ride a bit rocky, when two large oceans come together in one strait, fighting for space when the Mediterranean wants out and the Atlantic wants in. The rocky kind of ride that cause a large proportion of the passengers to feel very sick, completely unable to enjoy the ride to any extent, only wishing [View Full Entry]

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We’re on our way back to the little hotel when we notice the party in the backyard. Of course we enter. There are lots of people. It’s some kind of ceremony. Children walk up on a small stage and receive awards of some kind. We have no clue what this event is all about. We don’t really care. It’s nice, and we clap along when the crowd does. Nobody seem to notice us. Rather peculiar, considering I’m by far the tallest guy there, and my friend is by far the blondest girl there. Food is served. We help ourselves. Still nobody [View Full Entry]

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It’s Happy Day in Seville. More on initiative of our group of four than of the calendar. But it’s Happy Day, no sad faces are allowed. The Scandinavian girls in the corner of the Irish pub are surprised when they get their drinks. ”Why?” they ask. ”Because it’s Happy Day”. The US Air Force pilots explain in detail what it’s like being a pilot. ”Just like Top Gun” we nod enthusiastically. ”Yes, like Top Gun” they say, equally enthusiastically. Maybe we shouldn’t make fun of them. After all, they have big, scary fighte [View Full Entry]

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A day in Tangier is not like a regular day at work. Despite serving as a gateway to Africa, with all the tourist traps associated with that, for a European it's a step into a different world. It can be very culturally educational with a couple of open eyes. The semi-Spanish, semi-Arabic guide leads the group through the Kasbah - the old city center, resembling a maze, with seemingly no order or logic. But we do get to a number of interesting locations, and at least the itinerary seems to be planned. A Moroccan pharmacy is nothing like a European pharmacy. [View Full Entry]

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The place reminds us not so little of the place in ”From Dusk Till Dawn”. For those of you who didn’t see that movie; it’s a rather large building with no other buildings surrounding it, outside the city. My friend met this Spanish guy who insisted that we come. Not so much out of friendliness towards strangers, more a faint hope of some action with my friend, a very pretty, very blond little girl. It turns out to be a nightclub, a very large one. It’s location, it’s size and it’s equipment would probably make it an excellent rave party spot. [View Full Entry]

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The port of Barcelona is huge. Probably the largest in the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, it is only fair that they also have the biggest buildings in the port. The aquarium is big, and very good. The new shopping/entertainment center next door is also huge. Huge arcade hall. Huge shopping mall. Huge terrace. Miniature golf in the middle of the roof. Nightclubs and bars surrounding it. Outstanding concept. Something for everyone. This is a good place for post-game analysis... [View Full Entry]

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Nou Camp or Camp Nou. Whatever. It's huge. Probably the largest soccer stadium on the European continent. Once able to hold some 120,000 people at soccer games. The night of the game against the Swedish team it's not exactly packed. "Only" in the neighborhood of 70,000 in the crowd, scattered all over the seats. When the Swedes score in the first minute, there is complete silence. Even the 2,000 or so Northerners following their team cannot grasp that the little club from the North Pole would dare to put the ball in the net in the lion's den. Then Barca wakes [View Full Entry]

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On the top of the mountains surrounding Malaga there's a nice restaurant with a wonderful view over the city and the sea. What would then be the optimal way to reach this restaurant? Helicopter would be one option. Fast, easy, but quite expensive. Car is another very rational alternative, since there are actual roads leading there. For the sportsman a climb or a trek would be good exercise. For us - Tim, Lisa, Miguel, Nico, and me - the mean of transport is - horse. Horses are very useful animals in many fields, but for climbing a mountain...? At the foot [View Full Entry]

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Had the time of my life in Malaga, Spain. Not so much because of the city, but because of the people. We didn’t have much contact with the outside world, so the news that spread concerned each other. True or false, news was spreading with the speed of light. Picked up by all. Contested by few. Towards the end of the first semester, a couple of rather shy Swedish girls come up to me at a party, ask me a strange question: “Have you ever been in a movie?”. “Eh, no, what makes you think that?”. “Well, somebody said so”. The [View Full Entry]

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It's not very entertaining, this southern Spanish landscape. Crop fields, some hills, a few trees. Totally ok with us, if the car would stop, it might not start again. The small airplane at the horizon is pretty much the only thing to observe. It's cruising at a notably low elevation, and it's not climbing. In fact, it disappears behind a hill. Then smoke. Did anyone else see the same thing as I did? The three companions in the car did. Did we just witness a plane crash? Adding the facts up, there is a pretty good chance that we did. What [View Full Entry]

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