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Published: June 27th 2009
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Madrid, Spain
The center of Spain, where all distances are measured from. 3 Countries, 2 Continents, 1 Week
This week started with me realizing that my time in Alicante had just ended. However, it was exciting start also because after a four hour train ride and an hour on the metro, I got to meet Brady at the airport. It has been months since I had seen any family, so it was exciting to see Brady. After dropping off our bags, we went to a Spanish restaurant for lunch before meeting up with two of my friends to go to a Bull Fight. This was a complete surprise for Brady because I didn’t tell him that I had found tickets after he said that he would like to expreince this aspect of Spanish culture. After going to the fight, Brady then had the same view of bull fighting as I do, that it is a very traditional thing that everyone should see, but not something to return to. After this, the four of us went to get tapas, another typical Spanish event.
The next day, Brady and I flew from Madrid to Marrakesh, Morocco with five friends of mine that had studied with me in Alicante. As soon as we landed,
Madrid, Spain
The bull fight. we knew we were in a different place. To begin with, all the American passengers were separated and had to go thru heat scanners and then be questioned by two doctors about when they had last been in the States and how long each of us planned to be in Morocco. I was really worried about Brady because he was in America about 30 hours previous. However, luckily for us since Brady went after me and my five friends who had just finished studying abroad in Spain, so the doctor asked Brady if he was friends of ours, Brady said yes and the doctor wrote on Brady’s card the same that he wrote on the rest of ours. I think that they would have just asked Brady a few more questions, but it was nice to just avoid it in general. After making it thru all of this, we figured out the local transportation (taxis cause we didn’t trust the buses) to get us to our hostel. I had really good directions from the hostel, but it was basically a treasure hunt with directions like, “Go thru the arch on the left of the Arguana Café, then turn around and
Marrakesh, Morocco
Brady on the roof-top terrace of our hostel. take the arch behind you, it is a small U-turn, but don’t worry.” It was quite an experience, but we had fun finding the hostel.
We chilled at our amazing hostel that felt like the Alhambra with a center courtyard, tile mosaics and a roof-top terrace before we went to the main square to buy supper from the food stands. Before you all freak out that we ate from food stands, it is highly recommended by the guide books because it is safe since all the food is fired or boiled in front of you. After a ordering off a French menu since French is the language of the area, we got some amazing couscous with chicken and vegetables, kebabs, soup and a few cokes all for less than $3. From here we returned to the hostel and chilled before calling it a night. The next day, Brady and I decided to do a two day trek into the Saharan Desert. The guide picked us up at 7am and we didn’t arrive at the edge of the desert at 6pm to ride the camels once the road ended. Yes, it was a long drive, but we made many stops
Marrakesh, Morocco
A section of the alley way leading to our hostel as we crossed the Atlas Mountains to take pictures, at little cafes in towns and a long lunch at a cool restaurant, that all together actually made the ride pleasant. We also stopped at Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou, an ancient town that was built out of mud. Look at the pictures, it was pretty amazing and really was a time warp.
I don’t know how many you have ridden a camel, but it is quite an experience; just how they stand-up in four steps that almost causes you to fall off to how uncomfortable the saddle is makes it interesting. We did a two hour sunset tour with the last half an hour was in the dark with the camels following the herdsman. It was really nice to finally make it to our tent camp and had a great traditional supper in a tent. Before calling it a night, we listened to some of the nomadic music as Brady and I and our new English friends looked up at the vast night sky.
The next morning, we were woken before dawn so we could see the sun rise before we had breakfast and had a sunrise camel ride
Marrakesh, Morocco
I didn't really want this disgusting monkey on me, but when in Morocco. back to the van before we made the journey back to Marrakesh. This whole experience was so unique that it is hard to explain, but look at the pictures. After getting back from the trek, Brady and I did some great bargaining for souvenirs before meeting back up with my friends and getting supper.
The next day, we had breakfast on the roof top terrace before we flew back to Madrid. This day, I had planned to go to the Prado art museum, but Brady wasn’t too interest, so we went to the El Retiro, a huge park before getting dinner. The next day, we went to the Royal Palace, which was quite impressive since we don’t have any building like this in the States. We took a nice long lunch before going on the internet and then caught our flight to Dublin.
Dublin was very green from above and was more similar to the Sates than the other two countries we had just visited, but was different in terms of how the cars drive on the wrong side of the street. After getting some help from the locals to figure out the local transportation to our hostel.
Marrakesh, Morocco
One of my 5 friends that came with to Morocco We were exhausted, so we slept well. The next day, after sleeping in, we went for an explored Dublin. We wandered across Trinity College and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, both of which were quite interesting because of the history behind them. After this, we got some good Irish stew before making our way to the Jameson whiskey factory. We then got to know some of the people that were in the hostel before making pasta for supper before we watched two movies. The next day, we went to the Kilmainham Prison for a tour. This prison was used for over two hundred years and had numerous stories within its eerie walls. After this, we grabbed lunch before making our way to the Guinness factory for a long tour before getting our free sample. We then made our walk back to our hostel to chill with some of our hostel mates before going to get our last Irish meal. We ended the night chilling with some people in the hostel before taking a bus to the airport. Brady’s flight back to Chicago left at 6:30 am and my flight to Naples, Italy left at 7:30am so that worked out well. It was
Marrakesh, Morocco
Brady and his monkey. a great week and was for sure a highlight of my time abroad.
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