So we haven’t heard about the great European walkabout yet!
We’re leaving for Spain (Andalucia) in two weeks and I’d love to hear about your highlights from that part of your trip. We’re also thinking about a day trip to Tangiers… how did that go for you?
Bumping this up 'cos I want to hear all about it too, especially the Morocco part.
Gee! it’s nice to be wanted! I’m sure I wrote most of this in other threads, but just in case I didn’t…
In short we had a wonderful time.
The long version: Stayed with my folks near Fuengirola/Mijas on the Costa del Sol for a few days before we headed over to Morocco.
We only had a month, so we stayed only 2 or 3 nights everywhere except Amsterdam. All our travelling was by train, unless otherwise specified.
We got the ferry from Algeciras to Tangier, it takes about 2 1/2 hours, and was quite pleasant really.Tangier (the port) is not so nice. Too many people hustling you for money, trying to get you into their taxi, grand taxi or to follow them somewhere for some purpose or other. Get away ASAP.
We managed to avoid them and got a taxi to the bus station, where we waited for 2 hours for the bus to Chefchouen. After 3 hours on the bus we finally arrived, irishfella with sunstroke, me tired and grumpy. Freaked out a little when a guy jumped into our taxi and offered to sell us hash, freaked out more when my door wouldn’t open from the inside, so we jumped out and walked 1500m up a hill to our hostel instead.
Easier said than done in the mid-afternoon heat with backpacks!
Apart from the people contantly begging or hustling for cash, and trying to sell you carpets, drugs or slippers, we had a great time. I made life a little easier for myself by covering up (despite the 46C heat) and wearing loose clothing, as well as a fake wedding ring. Although I got looks and comments (in Arabic, never English or French), no-one laid a finger on me.
The scenery is fabulous, and every city or town we stayed in (Chefchouen, Fes, Marrakech, Casablanca) was so different. The Medina in Fes is amazing, we hired a guide for a few hours to see it properly. Another highlight was Djenna el-Fna in Marrakech, a huge Square filled with food stalls, snake charmers, acrobats, bare knuckle boxers, fortune tellers, dancers and story tellers.
Unfortunately I lost my credit card in Marrakech and then came down with some kind of gastro enteritis in Casablanca, so I was trapped in our room while we were there. Immodium and pain killers helped make the 16 hour journey to Ronda (via Tangiers and Algeciras) bearable.
The culture shock in Morocco was quite hefty, it was a bit of a relief to be back in Spain, even though our Spanish is much worse than our French!
Ronda is a very pretty town, although we only stayed one night.
From there we moved to Seville, my favourite Spanish city. We stayed in the Barrio De Santa Cruz, and in retrospect could have spent more money on accommodation…I got bitten by Bed-bugs! The Cathedral is spectacular, if you visit make sure to climb the Giralda for the views. We also stopped for lunch at the nearby Irish pub, just to feel at home! The tapas we had (in the cheapest tapas place in the world, in the Barrio de Santa Cruz) were amazing.
After Seville came Madrid, on the wonderful express train. Our hotel was a little family-run place, charmingly located above a strip joint! It was still in the low 40s heat wise (ie 100F), so we cut back on our sight seeing a little. Los Retiros Gardens are amazing, with gorgeous lakes and trees, nice to sit under and relax. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is also a great place to visit, everything from Michealangelo to Picasso and Lichtenstein. The patented bravas sauce at Tapas Bravas is not to be missed, and the craic at the Irish pub kept us going into the wee small hours.
After Madrid, Barcelona. We spent our days seeing the sights, the Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, Passeig de Gracia (where we had some great tapas), walking down the Ramblas from the Placa de Catalunya to the sea. Our nights were spent eating kebabs and felafel and drinking beer in the Placa Real, just off the Ramblas and near our hostel. This time irishfella got bitten by the Bed-bugs!
We camped in Avignon, at the famous Camping Bagatelle-all the backpackers stay there. It’s a very pretty Provencal town, with quaint shops and a nice atmosphere. It was nice to relax for a couple of days after the noise and hurly burly of the cities.
From Avignon we got the TGV (doesn’t match up to the Spanish trains) to Paris. We stayed between the Gare de Lyon and the Bastille. It was my third time in the city, but irishfella’s first, so we did all the touristy things. We climbed the Eiffel tower at night (too busy, too expensive, too many queues), saw Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomph, and spent all Sunday in the Louvre. It was still over 40C and although cooler than we had been for several weeks, still too hot for much activity.
From Paris we made our way up to Bayeux, where we stayed at the eccentric “Family Home Guest House and Hostel”, a great place to meet people (we stayed up until 3 am talking to, and drinking with, some fascinating people). We went on a tour of the Normandy beaches, expensive, but well worth it. Our guide was knowledgable and enthusiastic, and it was very informative. The trip to the American Cemetery was particularly moving.
From Bayeux, we went to Belgium, unfortunately via Paris, as there is no direct service. We spent only one night in Brussels, but it was our 2nd anniversary, so we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Belgian beer and waffels are second to none, and their chips are second only to the ones in Amsterdam.
We arrived in Amsterdam on the Thursday, and stayed in the wonderful Prinsenhof Hotel on the Prinsengracht, but unfortunately only for 3 nights as they were fully booked. The staff are friendly and their breakfasts superb. Our last 2 night were spent elsewhere, adequate, but not worth mentioning.
By the time we reached Amsterdam, we had almost no money to our names, after accommodation, we each had about 10 euros per day to live on.
Thus, no musems or art galleries for us! We lived on chips for lunch and dinner, varied with felafel one night, and a blowout meal at wagamamas on our last night. This left us with just enough for a daily bag of m&ms, a small bag of Northern Lights every other day, plus coffees in the coffee shops, and one trip to the Tuschinski cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Dutch people were amazingly friendly and polite, it was definitely the right city to be broke in!
We are possibly the only people ever to have walked through the red light district and failed to see any prostitutes, I don’t think we were paying attention properly!
The trip was fantastic, I loved being with my guy and exploring new places together, we saw a lot, and met a lot of great people. I wouldn’t change anything (except the bed-bugs and the food poisoning). If anyone has anything specific, I’ll be happy to answer, otherwise, I hope all the other travellers have/had fun!
Sounds like you had a great time (bed bugs and intestinal issues excluded, of course).
We’re going to be staying in Marbella for a week, but our intention is to use the condo just as a base and pretty much travel around the area to different destinations each day. If you know of any “must see” highlights, let me know (we’re already planning on Ronda, Seville, and the Alhambra as definite destinations).
We’re also thinking about heading over to Tangiers for the day. Originally we hoped to spend more time in different parts of Morrocco, but the schedule just didn’t work out. Is Tangiers that bad that we should not even bother?
Cheers!
The Alhambra is STUNNING! Definite must see. You could also go to Gibraltar, it’s not far away.
I’m not sure whether Tangiers is worth going to or not really, I didn’t stay there long enough to see the sights, but didn’t like what I did see. It’s probably much nicer away from the port. Alternatively you could go to Ceuta or Melilla, they’re supposed to be much nicer.