Some nights I just can't sleep. At all. That was the case with Thursday night. I even went out on the sofa bed in the living room to escape Fernando's snoring and that didn't work. That evening I hadn't had any expresso and even had two beers! So in the morning I was dragging myself around and then had an attack of La Turista. I don't know if was the sandwich Fernando and I shared at the Marrakesh airport, or the fat tuna belly I had for dinner, or the tap water I drank here in Madrid (it should be safe, right?). In any case this all put a crimp in our plans to explore Madrid and most of the morning I spent hunting for bottled water and napping.
We finally got off around noon, with a little help from Immodium, and took the Metro into Madrid. First stop was the Museum of America, slightly north of the city center. Fortunately I had bought a large map of Madrid because the normal tourist map doesn't cover that area and there are no signs for the Museum. I think they need a Sophie Masloff for mayor, someone who would put in directional signs for the walking tourist. All their directional signs are for cars and you have to search for the street signs which are placed on the sides of buildings, as in Mexico. I think Fernando was slightly disappointed in the Museum but it was only 3 euros so not a big loss. Afterwards Fernando wanted to see the Ciudad Universitaria nearby, thinking he could pick up a cheap ethnic lunch like in the U.S. But again, there were only large buildings and not much in the way of small stores.
Since we bought the all day Metro card for convenience, we hopped on the metro (although it took us some time to find the station -- again no directional signs pointing the way to a metro station) back to the center of town and began exploring the tourist shops around the Plaza Mayor. The place was hopping with tourists -- mainly Spanish tourists I swear, but we did enjoy a beer and some bread, cheese and salami at one of the tables in the square. You say that's not great for La Turista? Unfortunately there wasn't much of a healthy selection at the Museo del Jamon where we ate!
The rest of the afternoon we spent trying to follow a Frommer's walking tour of the older sections of Madrid which turned out to be quite uninteresting, following major thoroughfares with lots of cars. It's hard to wander through Madrid streets and not get hopelessly disoriented. Maybe I do like smaller towns like Burgos and Logrono. I try to like Madrid but it isn't easy.
One thing I'll say about Madrid: the air is quite clear so that the sky is very blue and the yellow and orange colors of the buildings are quite vivid. The mornings and evenings are chilly but the sun gets quite hot at midday. I should stare at the blue sky for some time before we leave because for sure there won't be much of that in Pittsburgh. On the other hand, there will be rain and greenery.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
Airport Hotels
Thursday, September 12: We weren't expecting much from the Aparthotel Convenciones Barajas because it's just a hotel near the airport. We just wanted a quick place to sleep and get off early on Saturday for our flight home. It isn't bad at all. It has a kitchen with a two burner stove, a microwave and a refrigerator. Then it has a living room with a pull out sofa (in case someone else like Penny wanted to stay with us), a bedroom with two beds and a bathroom with a bathtub and bidet. We are on the fourth floor and there IS an elevator. There is a TV in the living and the bedroom for those who are concerned and there is wifi.
We ate dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, nothing special but it did have draft beer --everybody at the outside tables was drinking beer, not wine. I ordered a salad of piquillo peppers and ventresca. Fernando ordered bocadillos of morcilla, chorizo, torta espagnola and ham iberico. Ventresca is the belly of the tuna and came in long strips -- it was canned just like regular tuna but quite good, not fatty like one would think. Camila, do you remember Mr. Ventresca who gave private lessons in flute? Or was that Vantresca?
After dinner we walked over to the metro station, El Capricho, to check out the one day tourist rates. The area is quite nice, really a residential area, with bike lanes and running lanes, sidewalks and small one-way streets. Not at all what I expected. Everyone was out walking, running or biking. It seems like a very healthy neighbordhood.
Saturday, September 14: Just a few more notes about the neighborhood: there aren't any little stores! You can't run out and pick up a bottle of water or a coke or some tea bags. Yesterday morning I was feeling poorly so walked around seeing if we could find some provisions. I knew there was a mall nearby but with the freeways, it's hard to get from one side to the other. We followed the walking path through a tunnel and were approached by a woman who apparently knew we were lost and asked if we were looking for Plenilunio. I vaguely remembered that the mall had a similar unrememorable name and so she more or less took us there. There was a supermarket in the basement so we could pick up our water and coke but it seems that a mile is a long way to go for a bottle of water. On the other hand, Spaniards are much more used to walking than are Americans but you would think that with all the apartment buildings that have been here for 50 years, some Colombian or other immigrant would open up a little shop for odds and ends. Maybe the city has zoning ordinances like the U.S.
We ate dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, nothing special but it did have draft beer --everybody at the outside tables was drinking beer, not wine. I ordered a salad of piquillo peppers and ventresca. Fernando ordered bocadillos of morcilla, chorizo, torta espagnola and ham iberico. Ventresca is the belly of the tuna and came in long strips -- it was canned just like regular tuna but quite good, not fatty like one would think. Camila, do you remember Mr. Ventresca who gave private lessons in flute? Or was that Vantresca?
After dinner we walked over to the metro station, El Capricho, to check out the one day tourist rates. The area is quite nice, really a residential area, with bike lanes and running lanes, sidewalks and small one-way streets. Not at all what I expected. Everyone was out walking, running or biking. It seems like a very healthy neighbordhood.
Saturday, September 14: Just a few more notes about the neighborhood: there aren't any little stores! You can't run out and pick up a bottle of water or a coke or some tea bags. Yesterday morning I was feeling poorly so walked around seeing if we could find some provisions. I knew there was a mall nearby but with the freeways, it's hard to get from one side to the other. We followed the walking path through a tunnel and were approached by a woman who apparently knew we were lost and asked if we were looking for Plenilunio. I vaguely remembered that the mall had a similar unrememorable name and so she more or less took us there. There was a supermarket in the basement so we could pick up our water and coke but it seems that a mile is a long way to go for a bottle of water. On the other hand, Spaniards are much more used to walking than are Americans but you would think that with all the apartment buildings that have been here for 50 years, some Colombian or other immigrant would open up a little shop for odds and ends. Maybe the city has zoning ordinances like the U.S.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Shopping the Souks
Yesterday (Wednesday) we had to complete any shopping that we were going to do so we headed out for the souks again. It's actually quite fun since one gets lost every time and you can always find the same thing at another store so don't despair! We met Aydin at 9 am because we wanted to get an early start. But when we got down to Jemaa El fna, most of the stores were still closed: shutters drawn down. That made it quite pleasant and easy to walk but of course crippled our shopping plans. So we wandered up and down, in and out, ending up on alleys (they are all narrow, about 12-15 feet across) where there were no tourists, an indication we were getting away from the Jemaa El fna. Lots of good photo shots but the Moroccans either don't want to be photographed or want to be paid for it, so only Fernando had the guts to go ahead and shoot.
Aydin was looking for Babouches (leather slippers) and we were successful in that, even Fernando bought a bright red pair. Then I got a wooden orange squeezer, appropriately out of orange wood (we'll see how it survives the trip home), and a wooden camel out of juniper root for my Christmas pesebre. I also picked up a miniature tagine of blue and white pottery from Fez for Fernando's Aleppo pepper and a real rustic earthenware tagine for one serving for next to nothing which I hope survives the trip home. But most of the morning was spent wandering (no, merci; no, merci) and learning how not to ask the price of an item unless you really intend to buy it. No pricing of things simply out of curiosity or the store owner will follow you past several stores, gradually lowering the price until it is a quarter of what he initially requested. And still you know that he is making a profit.
Aydin had to be back at the EUSIPCO conference for a poster session in the afternoon so we sent him off in a taxi and we proceeded to the Artisan Complex where the prices are fixed and the goods are guaranteed to be good by the government (if that is possible). We had been there the first day but only bought a map (which has turned out to be the best one so far), although we had seen several things that tempted us. We discovered that there were more shops than we had seen on the previous trip, and no, we didn't buy a carpet but Fernando did get a new leather belt (has he been eating too much?). So we ended up with painted mirrors, wooden bowls out of juniper, a copper lizard for my powder-room collection and a pair of bright orange babouches with sequins for me. In my old age I seem to be buying a lot of bright orange. I might have to change the color of our walls to match!
Eventually we had bought all we could carry and were ready to catch a taxi back to the hotel but a driver of a horse and carriage offered to take us back for the same price. So we got our touristy fix. There must be hundreds of these carriages and though they are much slower than taxis, who is in a hurry with this heat? Now all we need is a camel ride.
Our afternoons are always spent on a shower and a nap and fortunately the hotel is very quiet (except this morning they are mowing the lawn). We met Aydin at his hotel at 6 pm and we let him exercise his little Suzuki car with a trip south to the Carrefour. It's only about 10 minutes away because the traffic is light but there really wasn't much to see. What a disappointment. I still remember the row of French cheeses in Toulon and probably hope to encounter them in other Carrefours. The Carrefours in Colombia are a treat because of all the tropical fruits. Here in Morocco, the produce is much the same as in the US and looked rather tired. They did have a lot of Jerusalem artichokes, sold in the potato section. This Carrefour is in the basement of the Almazar shopping mall which has its food court on the top floor. Hardly anybody was there and apparently it is true that Moroccans eat at home. Most of the Moroccans in the restaurants near the hotel were only drinking coffee or soft drinks.
Disappointed with the Almazar mall and not finding anything in the surrounding area, we headed back to our Hotel Row and ate at a Cafe specializing in fish. Aydin had the fried fish platter, Fernando had swordfish and I had a Sicilian pizza (I could only eat about half of it -- it did have anchovies, so I did my fish part too). A Moroccan nearby was drinking a bright green soda so we asked the waiter, who only spoke French and Arabic, what it was. It turns out that you can have a little pitcher of mint syrup (no, it is not creme de menthe) to put in your soda water. So, of course, we asked for some too. Now I know what we can do with the Old Fedcal creme de menthe at Mother's!
Naturally after dinner we had to stop at another outdoor cafe (they all have outdoor seating areas) for coffee. Naturally I didn't have any coffee because the night before, after an iced cafe mocha, I couldn't get to sleep until 2 in the morning. Fernando ordered an ice cream dish with 3 types of ice cream and espresso poured on top. One of the ice creams was hazelnut and quite good -- I had to help him with it of course.
Now it is Thursday morning, we have had our last buffet breakfast -- our last croissants and cafe au lait -- and we are waiting until 10:30 am when Aydin will come and take us to the airport for the 1:40 pm flight to Madrid. The Aparthotel in Madrid has wifi as well so hopefully I will be able to post there as well. We've had a good time here in Marrakech. Hasta Manana!
Aydin was looking for Babouches (leather slippers) and we were successful in that, even Fernando bought a bright red pair. Then I got a wooden orange squeezer, appropriately out of orange wood (we'll see how it survives the trip home), and a wooden camel out of juniper root for my Christmas pesebre. I also picked up a miniature tagine of blue and white pottery from Fez for Fernando's Aleppo pepper and a real rustic earthenware tagine for one serving for next to nothing which I hope survives the trip home. But most of the morning was spent wandering (no, merci; no, merci) and learning how not to ask the price of an item unless you really intend to buy it. No pricing of things simply out of curiosity or the store owner will follow you past several stores, gradually lowering the price until it is a quarter of what he initially requested. And still you know that he is making a profit.
Aydin had to be back at the EUSIPCO conference for a poster session in the afternoon so we sent him off in a taxi and we proceeded to the Artisan Complex where the prices are fixed and the goods are guaranteed to be good by the government (if that is possible). We had been there the first day but only bought a map (which has turned out to be the best one so far), although we had seen several things that tempted us. We discovered that there were more shops than we had seen on the previous trip, and no, we didn't buy a carpet but Fernando did get a new leather belt (has he been eating too much?). So we ended up with painted mirrors, wooden bowls out of juniper, a copper lizard for my powder-room collection and a pair of bright orange babouches with sequins for me. In my old age I seem to be buying a lot of bright orange. I might have to change the color of our walls to match!
Eventually we had bought all we could carry and were ready to catch a taxi back to the hotel but a driver of a horse and carriage offered to take us back for the same price. So we got our touristy fix. There must be hundreds of these carriages and though they are much slower than taxis, who is in a hurry with this heat? Now all we need is a camel ride.
Our afternoons are always spent on a shower and a nap and fortunately the hotel is very quiet (except this morning they are mowing the lawn). We met Aydin at his hotel at 6 pm and we let him exercise his little Suzuki car with a trip south to the Carrefour. It's only about 10 minutes away because the traffic is light but there really wasn't much to see. What a disappointment. I still remember the row of French cheeses in Toulon and probably hope to encounter them in other Carrefours. The Carrefours in Colombia are a treat because of all the tropical fruits. Here in Morocco, the produce is much the same as in the US and looked rather tired. They did have a lot of Jerusalem artichokes, sold in the potato section. This Carrefour is in the basement of the Almazar shopping mall which has its food court on the top floor. Hardly anybody was there and apparently it is true that Moroccans eat at home. Most of the Moroccans in the restaurants near the hotel were only drinking coffee or soft drinks.
Disappointed with the Almazar mall and not finding anything in the surrounding area, we headed back to our Hotel Row and ate at a Cafe specializing in fish. Aydin had the fried fish platter, Fernando had swordfish and I had a Sicilian pizza (I could only eat about half of it -- it did have anchovies, so I did my fish part too). A Moroccan nearby was drinking a bright green soda so we asked the waiter, who only spoke French and Arabic, what it was. It turns out that you can have a little pitcher of mint syrup (no, it is not creme de menthe) to put in your soda water. So, of course, we asked for some too. Now I know what we can do with the Old Fedcal creme de menthe at Mother's!
Naturally after dinner we had to stop at another outdoor cafe (they all have outdoor seating areas) for coffee. Naturally I didn't have any coffee because the night before, after an iced cafe mocha, I couldn't get to sleep until 2 in the morning. Fernando ordered an ice cream dish with 3 types of ice cream and espresso poured on top. One of the ice creams was hazelnut and quite good -- I had to help him with it of course.
Now it is Thursday morning, we have had our last buffet breakfast -- our last croissants and cafe au lait -- and we are waiting until 10:30 am when Aydin will come and take us to the airport for the 1:40 pm flight to Madrid. The Aparthotel in Madrid has wifi as well so hopefully I will be able to post there as well. We've had a good time here in Marrakech. Hasta Manana!
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
A Day without Shopping
Yesterday Fernando and Aydin had their presentation in the morning so I stayed in the hotel, napping, planning the afternoon, reading, etc. waiting until 1 pm when I would go over and meet them at the Palais des Congres. It was a long morning so at 11:30 I finally decided to take my book and go down and sit by the swimming pool. I got all arranged in a nice chaise lounge and then checked my watch: Wait! it said it was 12:30!! I had been looking at the time on the laptop which sets itself but has the Marrakesh time an hour behind what it really is. Needless to say I had to pull myself out of my comfortable chaise lounge and go get ready for the walk over to meet them. Now I have set the time manually on the laptop.
I was able to eat lunch with Aydin and Fernando at the conference (the woman said "no problem") so we got a free lunch, with the normal dishes: tagines and couscous. The fish was quite good although it seemed more like tuna or swordfish rather than the salmon they said it was. The various cooked Moroccan salads were OK but they had some lamb or goat jerky on top of the lentil salad and I ate it without realizing what it was. I didn't know whether to spit it out (my first inclination) or chew it down. Since I was a guest, I did the latter. And I'm still here a day later without any ill effects so I guess it was OK.
Then, since Aydin rented a little car in Casablanca, he wanted to make use of it and we drove over to the Menara which is nearby. It is a big olive grove fed by a pool which is fed by water brought down from the Atlas Mountains. Unfortunately it was not much more than that, except for the camel rides out in front, and it was 2:30 pm and awfully sunny and hot. We jumped back in the car and headed over to the new city to visit the Majorelle Gardens, created by a French painter in the first half of the 20th century, and then rehabilitated by Yves Saint Laurent. The buildings were painted Frida Kahlo cobalt blue and there were loads of tourists there. There are many tourists in town, most of them Europeans. Majorelle had planted a lot of cacti and agaves from the Americas, as well as euphorbias from South Africa and bamboo from east Asia. In Marrakech you have to water everything or it dies. I think they get less rain than Fillmore because they had a rubber tree there whose leaves looked like they had never been washed off. At least the Majorelle Gardens were shadier than the Menara, although they were enclosed in walls and there wasn't much of a breeze. One needs a lot of breeze with the heat they have here.
After the gardens we wanted to get to the Saadian Tombs on the other side of the Medina but there is a slight problem with driving in Marrakesh. There are NO street signs. None at all. Or at least none in English or French. So you have no idea what street you are on. We finally made our way around the Medina (you can tell it's the Medina because it is enclosed by walls) but when we finally arrived at 4:50 pm, we couldn't find a place to park and the tombs closed at 5 pm. So we decided to skip it and just go look for a place for dinner in Gueliz, the new city. Aydin's car, a Suzuki, is very tiny so we soon found a parking space. Unfortunately we didn't realize they had pay stations like in the US where you get a receipt to put on the dashboard and so before we knew it, two guys were putting a boot on Aydin's car! He ran back and paid a 50 dirham ($6) fine/bribe to them and then got a paid parking receipt (2 dirham an hour).
Now about dinner. You know that Fernando is trying to be a vegetarian. But he is also trying to taste all the meats on the six continents that he has now visited. So he had chameau (camel) tagine for dinner. It was chewier than beef but much the same. Aydin had lamb (agneau) tagine and I had a 7 vegetable couscous (although I only counted 4: eggplant, turnip, carrot and zucchini). The tagines are really quite good, especially the ones with prunes and almonds, although we haven't tried one with chicken. I even got myself a little rustic tagine at the market today, but that's another story!
I was able to eat lunch with Aydin and Fernando at the conference (the woman said "no problem") so we got a free lunch, with the normal dishes: tagines and couscous. The fish was quite good although it seemed more like tuna or swordfish rather than the salmon they said it was. The various cooked Moroccan salads were OK but they had some lamb or goat jerky on top of the lentil salad and I ate it without realizing what it was. I didn't know whether to spit it out (my first inclination) or chew it down. Since I was a guest, I did the latter. And I'm still here a day later without any ill effects so I guess it was OK.
Then, since Aydin rented a little car in Casablanca, he wanted to make use of it and we drove over to the Menara which is nearby. It is a big olive grove fed by a pool which is fed by water brought down from the Atlas Mountains. Unfortunately it was not much more than that, except for the camel rides out in front, and it was 2:30 pm and awfully sunny and hot. We jumped back in the car and headed over to the new city to visit the Majorelle Gardens, created by a French painter in the first half of the 20th century, and then rehabilitated by Yves Saint Laurent. The buildings were painted Frida Kahlo cobalt blue and there were loads of tourists there. There are many tourists in town, most of them Europeans. Majorelle had planted a lot of cacti and agaves from the Americas, as well as euphorbias from South Africa and bamboo from east Asia. In Marrakech you have to water everything or it dies. I think they get less rain than Fillmore because they had a rubber tree there whose leaves looked like they had never been washed off. At least the Majorelle Gardens were shadier than the Menara, although they were enclosed in walls and there wasn't much of a breeze. One needs a lot of breeze with the heat they have here.
After the gardens we wanted to get to the Saadian Tombs on the other side of the Medina but there is a slight problem with driving in Marrakesh. There are NO street signs. None at all. Or at least none in English or French. So you have no idea what street you are on. We finally made our way around the Medina (you can tell it's the Medina because it is enclosed by walls) but when we finally arrived at 4:50 pm, we couldn't find a place to park and the tombs closed at 5 pm. So we decided to skip it and just go look for a place for dinner in Gueliz, the new city. Aydin's car, a Suzuki, is very tiny so we soon found a parking space. Unfortunately we didn't realize they had pay stations like in the US where you get a receipt to put on the dashboard and so before we knew it, two guys were putting a boot on Aydin's car! He ran back and paid a 50 dirham ($6) fine/bribe to them and then got a paid parking receipt (2 dirham an hour).
Now about dinner. You know that Fernando is trying to be a vegetarian. But he is also trying to taste all the meats on the six continents that he has now visited. So he had chameau (camel) tagine for dinner. It was chewier than beef but much the same. Aydin had lamb (agneau) tagine and I had a 7 vegetable couscous (although I only counted 4: eggplant, turnip, carrot and zucchini). The tagines are really quite good, especially the ones with prunes and almonds, although we haven't tried one with chicken. I even got myself a little rustic tagine at the market today, but that's another story!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Arrived in Marrakesh
After hours and hours at JFK, Madrid's Barajas airport and up in the air, we arrived in Marrakesh yesterday around 2 pm, although the exact time was hard to figure out because we didn't know what time zone we were in. It turned out that Marrakesh is one hour behind Madrid so we are only 5 hours ahead of the east coast, not 6, even though my computer has the idea that it is two hours behind that. The airport is very small: there was only one other jet there, until the 12:35 pm flight behind us from Madrid arrived within minutes of ours (the 12 pm flight). And you'll be happy to know that the little regional company that flew us for Iberia, Air Nostrum, charged for everything, including water!
Luckily there was a shuttle bus from EUSIPCO waiting for arrivals, so it took us to the hotel and we didn't have to hassle with a taxi. Le Meridien N'Fis, our hotel, is a garden hotel, with only 3-4 story buildings surrounded by gardens filled with citrus trees, olive trees, apricot and peach trees, banana trees, yuccas, and lots of Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet), which, like the Land of Buddha, they mislabel as Datura... Our room is nothing particularly special and the balcony is too narrow to stand on but the bathroom has nice tiles in it plus a bidet. Supposedly we have wifi but it must be over a dialup connection since it is very hard to get the images on a page to load. I'm not even going to try to upload photos and I hope I can publish this post to the blog!
Last night we ate at a restaurant nearby since we were way too tired to go exploring. I had a selection of Moroccan salads which were cooked eggplant/tomato concoctions, cooked carrots, beets and potatoes, and the typical Moroccan salad of chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. Fernando had a beef tagine covered with whole roasted almonds. He was going to order a lamb tagine but there was a Moroccan family beside us in which one of the fathers had ordered the beef tagine and it looked so good that Fernando decided to order it too. The family was two brothers from the Canary Islands and their wives and children. They were Moroccans but were touring the country so they spoke Spanish as well as French and Moroccan. We had beer but had to be seated inside to drink it.
Last night we didn't make it down to that crazy square near the souks whose name I can never remember, Jemaa El Fna. We were too pooped and went to bed at 7:30. Of course I woke up at 12:30 am thinking it must be morning... I guess I need my sleep in increments of 5 hours. Fortunately I had little trouble falling back to sleep until 7 -- there is no Muezzin around here to wake us for prayers!
We had the breakfast buffet at the hotel and it was wonderful! Wonderful coffee with hot milk, fresh fruits, fresh orange juice, croissants, breads, cheeses, lunch meats, cereals, poached dried fruits, eggs to order, Moroccan crepes. Of course it won't be as exciting tomorrow since I know what to expect. Afterwards we met up with Aydin Akan from Turkey and walked into the Medina or old town. We stopped at a government-run artisan shop so we'd have some idea of what we'd find in the souks and the prices and then headed towards the Jemaa El Fna but ran into this government worker who was going to take us there but somehow we ended up in a carpet store in the souks instead... We looked at a few carpets and were able to wiggle out of the store before the tea came but couldn't avoid the owner dropping us off at an herbal store where we finally bought 3 bags of spices just to escape! After that we managed quite well on our own, except I asked the price of a dozen shish kebab skewers, the guy said 250 dirham, then came down to 200, then 250, then 80 and so made a sale. Then we found them elsewhere for 30 dirham, so Aydin bought a dozen of those. Tourists never can win!
We had lunch at the Chez Chegrouni that is in every guidebook and it was OK but I think I am already tired of meat (and Fernando is the one that is supposed to be a vegetarian, not me). Juan will be happy to know that I am drinking plenty of bottled water, and I have sworn off beer because it is really too expensive and of course they have no craft beer movement here in Morocco. We will wait until Spain for that.
This evening there is a welcome reception for EUSIPCO here at our hotel. That will be our dinner, assuming they let the wives in too, like they did in Turkey and Lausanne and not like they didn't in Glasgow! Wish us luck!
Luckily there was a shuttle bus from EUSIPCO waiting for arrivals, so it took us to the hotel and we didn't have to hassle with a taxi. Le Meridien N'Fis, our hotel, is a garden hotel, with only 3-4 story buildings surrounded by gardens filled with citrus trees, olive trees, apricot and peach trees, banana trees, yuccas, and lots of Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet), which, like the Land of Buddha, they mislabel as Datura... Our room is nothing particularly special and the balcony is too narrow to stand on but the bathroom has nice tiles in it plus a bidet. Supposedly we have wifi but it must be over a dialup connection since it is very hard to get the images on a page to load. I'm not even going to try to upload photos and I hope I can publish this post to the blog!
Last night we ate at a restaurant nearby since we were way too tired to go exploring. I had a selection of Moroccan salads which were cooked eggplant/tomato concoctions, cooked carrots, beets and potatoes, and the typical Moroccan salad of chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. Fernando had a beef tagine covered with whole roasted almonds. He was going to order a lamb tagine but there was a Moroccan family beside us in which one of the fathers had ordered the beef tagine and it looked so good that Fernando decided to order it too. The family was two brothers from the Canary Islands and their wives and children. They were Moroccans but were touring the country so they spoke Spanish as well as French and Moroccan. We had beer but had to be seated inside to drink it.
Last night we didn't make it down to that crazy square near the souks whose name I can never remember, Jemaa El Fna. We were too pooped and went to bed at 7:30. Of course I woke up at 12:30 am thinking it must be morning... I guess I need my sleep in increments of 5 hours. Fortunately I had little trouble falling back to sleep until 7 -- there is no Muezzin around here to wake us for prayers!
We had the breakfast buffet at the hotel and it was wonderful! Wonderful coffee with hot milk, fresh fruits, fresh orange juice, croissants, breads, cheeses, lunch meats, cereals, poached dried fruits, eggs to order, Moroccan crepes. Of course it won't be as exciting tomorrow since I know what to expect. Afterwards we met up with Aydin Akan from Turkey and walked into the Medina or old town. We stopped at a government-run artisan shop so we'd have some idea of what we'd find in the souks and the prices and then headed towards the Jemaa El Fna but ran into this government worker who was going to take us there but somehow we ended up in a carpet store in the souks instead... We looked at a few carpets and were able to wiggle out of the store before the tea came but couldn't avoid the owner dropping us off at an herbal store where we finally bought 3 bags of spices just to escape! After that we managed quite well on our own, except I asked the price of a dozen shish kebab skewers, the guy said 250 dirham, then came down to 200, then 250, then 80 and so made a sale. Then we found them elsewhere for 30 dirham, so Aydin bought a dozen of those. Tourists never can win!
We had lunch at the Chez Chegrouni that is in every guidebook and it was OK but I think I am already tired of meat (and Fernando is the one that is supposed to be a vegetarian, not me). Juan will be happy to know that I am drinking plenty of bottled water, and I have sworn off beer because it is really too expensive and of course they have no craft beer movement here in Morocco. We will wait until Spain for that.
This evening there is a welcome reception for EUSIPCO here at our hotel. That will be our dinner, assuming they let the wives in too, like they did in Turkey and Lausanne and not like they didn't in Glasgow! Wish us luck!
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Clear with a Chance of Rain
That's the Wunderground forecast for Madrid on Friday, September 13th -- maybe the rain is forecast because Friday the 13th is an unlucky day, although in Spain rain should be lucky. There was no extended forecast for Marrakesh on the Weather Underground - just the current temperature so I couldn't put a Marrakesh weather sticker on my blog. I had to go to Weather.com for a 10 day forecast, which predicted highs of 88 degrees and lows in the lower 60s, without a chance of rain.
I'm waiting for my Top 10 guide to Marrakesh so I can start planning for that city. I'm not sure how far out from the Medina the hotel really is and whether the route into the old city is walkable. Many of the locations are not marked on the Google map and there are few bus stops - they must depend on user input for much of the data. Yet supposedly Marrakesh is the top tourist draw in Morocco.
I looked at a question posted in the Frommers Forum on Morocco and the respondents answered that the best place to stay was in a Riad, not a hotel. Whoops. Too late to change now! We'll scope them out for the next trip. The Guardian has a 2006 (!) list of the 20 best places to stay in Marrakesh, which says that 10 years before there were 25 riads and now there are 500. (I've heard that figure before. It's nice and round.) But maybe after the craziness of the Medina and the souks, we'll want to come back to an international luxury hotel outside the old city.
Conde Nast Travel has a guide to Marrakesh, with a list of riads and also where to eat. The links to the longer reviews are broken but can be found at "Where's medina? Restaurants in Marrakech". Should we try Chez Chegrouni, facing the main market square, Jemaa el-Fna? On Trip Advisor you can page through 72 photos of the restaurant and its food -- to see if you'd like it... Oh, but look at this one: Patisserie Amandine. It's number one on Trip Advisor and I wouldn't mind a few French pastries for breakfast or supper! They have Moroccan pastries as well, including the Pastilla with chicken. Trip Advisor has a lot more restaurants but the top rated ones are a bit expensive.
Maybe we could go to the Henna Cafe, learn Arabic and get a henna job. These photos of Henna cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor.
Or maybe the Souk Kafe.
Or maybe Eveil des Sens which is in Gueliz, just north of the hotel, where supposedly they have a three course meal for 70 Dh . I can see ourselves going there to eat rather than to the Medina. It's not easy to add these restaurants to the google map, since they often aren't listed.
I'm waiting for my Top 10 guide to Marrakesh so I can start planning for that city. I'm not sure how far out from the Medina the hotel really is and whether the route into the old city is walkable. Many of the locations are not marked on the Google map and there are few bus stops - they must depend on user input for much of the data. Yet supposedly Marrakesh is the top tourist draw in Morocco.
I looked at a question posted in the Frommers Forum on Morocco and the respondents answered that the best place to stay was in a Riad, not a hotel. Whoops. Too late to change now! We'll scope them out for the next trip. The Guardian has a 2006 (!) list of the 20 best places to stay in Marrakesh, which says that 10 years before there were 25 riads and now there are 500. (I've heard that figure before. It's nice and round.) But maybe after the craziness of the Medina and the souks, we'll want to come back to an international luxury hotel outside the old city.
Maybe we could go to the Henna Cafe, learn Arabic and get a henna job. These photos of Henna cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor.
Or maybe the Souk Kafe.
Or maybe Eveil des Sens which is in Gueliz, just north of the hotel, where supposedly they have a three course meal for 70 Dh . I can see ourselves going there to eat rather than to the Medina. It's not easy to add these restaurants to the google map, since they often aren't listed.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Madrid in 14 Hours
Do you think we could last from 9 am to 10 pm without a rest back at the hotel?
Maybe a nap in a park would suffice?
Frommers has four walks in central Madrid online. The second one, La Latina and Lavapies, might be the most interesting -- fewer monumental buildings. Or maybe we should just head for the pedestrian zones that are marked on the map, which I assume are meant for walking.
Frommers also lists some tapas bars that I've added to the map. I saw a Dave's Been Here video on Casa Mingo which looks interesting but I don't know if we are ready to attempt cidra again, after our experience in Barcelona. Well, we don't have to order a pitcher, a small glass will do, or some beer. I always like roast chicken and they say that at the hour of dinner from Monday through Friday, they serve cocido upstairs. I'm assuming that would be from 2-5 pm. I could have the chicken and Fernando could have the chickpeas.
On the other hand, we really should stop by the Ham Museum, El Museo del Jamon, although I'm not sure I really like that much pig. I wonder if they have salads, or a nice bocadito de atun.
As I was wandering through the google maps, I ran across Apartamentos Turisticos Matute 11, which are located in the center of town near the Museo del Jamon and the Mercado Anton Martin and look like a good place to stay if one wanted to spend a week in Madrid. They are bookable as Matute 11 Suites through Booking.com. It would be worth staying there just for the front door and it seems to be on a tiny street that couldn't support much traffic. Obviously I'm preparing for more than one day in Madrid! And we could do day trips to Toledo and Segovia.
Maybe a nap in a park would suffice?
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| Casa Mingo |
Frommers also lists some tapas bars that I've added to the map. I saw a Dave's Been Here video on Casa Mingo which looks interesting but I don't know if we are ready to attempt cidra again, after our experience in Barcelona. Well, we don't have to order a pitcher, a small glass will do, or some beer. I always like roast chicken and they say that at the hour of dinner from Monday through Friday, they serve cocido upstairs. I'm assuming that would be from 2-5 pm. I could have the chicken and Fernando could have the chickpeas.
On the other hand, we really should stop by the Ham Museum, El Museo del Jamon, although I'm not sure I really like that much pig. I wonder if they have salads, or a nice bocadito de atun.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Madrid
I'm looking for places to eat around the aparthotel Barajas outside Madrid. The pickings are pretty slim and nothing comes up in a "search nearby". We might have to stop by a supermarket and pick up something or eat at Bacadilleria Pans & Company. I wonder if we'll need a car to get there...
We might have to take the Metro into town for dinner. Or into a closer neighborhood with restaurants, like the area around the bull ring (Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas), which has bull fights on Sunday so we'll miss them. There are some restaurants in that area that serve bull meat but some of the reviews accuse them of only wanting to make money. There is a Basque restaurant, Ordago, which might be good. And there is an Andalucian restaurant called Rincon de Jaen with several branches that looks like it would be good for tapas. Yes, I think Fernando might like that one with Gamba Andaluza, Chopitos Andaluza, Calamares Andaluza, Chipirones Plancha con Ajito, Pijotas Andaluza. Even if it only has a 3.8 rating on google maps. I wonder if I should look up some of those words or if we can point to what looks good. Chopitos are cuttlefish, chipirones are squid (also spelled txipirones), pijotas (or pijotitas) are young hake. And then there are Carabineros (shrimp), Pimientos de Padrón (where did I run across those in the US recently? San Diego?), Berberechos (cockles), Trigueros (asparagus), Mojama (salt-cured tuna), Chuletitas de Lechal (baby lamb chops). Oh my! And we're only spending two nights in Madrid? But I notice that they don't have any txitxardinak - baby eels in garlic (anguilas). When we were in Pamplona in 2007, all their eels were artificial (like are fake crabmeat) -- they'd eaten up all the baby eels.
On Friday we plan to visit the Museo de America, which is located near a university -- Fernando should like that. We'll have to figure out the best way to use the Metro. It's supposed to take 25 minutes to get from El Capricho (where the hotel is) to Ventas (where the bullfight ring and restaurants are). That seems like a long way to go for dinner. And to go from El Capricho to Moncloa (Museo de America) takes 40 minutes. Oh, my. I guess we are nowhere near downtown! It's sort of like getting from Silver Spring to Downtown DC. Fortunately all the travel is in zone 1 so we shouldn't be charged extra for staying out by the airport. On the other hand, it would take 20 minutes to walk from the aparthotel to Pans & Company in the shopping mall across two major highways. But I need to check out the shopping malls too...
We might have to take the Metro into town for dinner. Or into a closer neighborhood with restaurants, like the area around the bull ring (Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas), which has bull fights on Sunday so we'll miss them. There are some restaurants in that area that serve bull meat but some of the reviews accuse them of only wanting to make money. There is a Basque restaurant, Ordago, which might be good. And there is an Andalucian restaurant called Rincon de Jaen with several branches that looks like it would be good for tapas. Yes, I think Fernando might like that one with Gamba Andaluza, Chopitos Andaluza, Calamares Andaluza, Chipirones Plancha con Ajito, Pijotas Andaluza. Even if it only has a 3.8 rating on google maps. I wonder if I should look up some of those words or if we can point to what looks good. Chopitos are cuttlefish, chipirones are squid (also spelled txipirones), pijotas (or pijotitas) are young hake. And then there are Carabineros (shrimp), Pimientos de Padrón (where did I run across those in the US recently? San Diego?), Berberechos (cockles), Trigueros (asparagus), Mojama (salt-cured tuna), Chuletitas de Lechal (baby lamb chops). Oh my! And we're only spending two nights in Madrid? But I notice that they don't have any txitxardinak - baby eels in garlic (anguilas). When we were in Pamplona in 2007, all their eels were artificial (like are fake crabmeat) -- they'd eaten up all the baby eels.
On Friday we plan to visit the Museo de America, which is located near a university -- Fernando should like that. We'll have to figure out the best way to use the Metro. It's supposed to take 25 minutes to get from El Capricho (where the hotel is) to Ventas (where the bullfight ring and restaurants are). That seems like a long way to go for dinner. And to go from El Capricho to Moncloa (Museo de America) takes 40 minutes. Oh, my. I guess we are nowhere near downtown! It's sort of like getting from Silver Spring to Downtown DC. Fortunately all the travel is in zone 1 so we shouldn't be charged extra for staying out by the airport. On the other hand, it would take 20 minutes to walk from the aparthotel to Pans & Company in the shopping mall across two major highways. But I need to check out the shopping malls too...
Marrakesh in four days; Madrid in one...
Talk about whirlwind tours!
Fernando has a EUSIPCO Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco the second week of September. Since it is at the beginning of the fall term, we have to limit the visit to one week, as usual. Last year I didn't attend the conference with him when it was in Romania because I didn't have much vacation time left. This year I have no such excuse. We are spending a day in Madrid since our flight from Marrakesh connects there and the layover is 18 hours -- not one I'd like to spend in an airport. So we are spending two nights in an apartment hotel close to the Barajas airport and then taking the metro into the city.
In Marrakesh, we are staying at the "highly recommended" hotel on the EUSIPCO website called LE MERIDIEN N'FIS. I can't find it anywhere else so I hope it really exists... It looks like a swimming pool resort but it is only a 10 minute walk to the Palais de Congres where the conference is being held so I think we will survive. It has wifi and I have a Cadogan guide from the library called Marrakesh, Fez & Rabat, and a cookbook called A Month in Marrakesh (so we'll know what foods to look for) and I just ordered the Eyewitness guide: Top 10 Marrakech (it better arrive by Thursday like they said). That's all we'll have time for, if that, but the Top 10 should include a map. I just hope we can walk to places from the hotel. I tried locating places on Google Maps but unfortunately they don't offer a street view so I can't see what the neighborhood around the hotel looks like.
I watched the Jamie Oliver Food Escapes TV episode on Marrakesh on Amazon Prime and made Fernando watch it too because I found it very interesting -- naturally Jamie talks a lot about food.
What can we see in a day in Madrid?? I have a list of mercados de Madrid -- we have to visit at least one. And we picked up a map and another Eyewitness Top 10 guide to Madrid at Barnes and Noble this evening. And I used to scoff at those New York Times 36 Hours In... columns!
Fernando has a EUSIPCO Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco the second week of September. Since it is at the beginning of the fall term, we have to limit the visit to one week, as usual. Last year I didn't attend the conference with him when it was in Romania because I didn't have much vacation time left. This year I have no such excuse. We are spending a day in Madrid since our flight from Marrakesh connects there and the layover is 18 hours -- not one I'd like to spend in an airport. So we are spending two nights in an apartment hotel close to the Barajas airport and then taking the metro into the city.
In Marrakesh, we are staying at the "highly recommended" hotel on the EUSIPCO website called LE MERIDIEN N'FIS. I can't find it anywhere else so I hope it really exists... It looks like a swimming pool resort but it is only a 10 minute walk to the Palais de Congres where the conference is being held so I think we will survive. It has wifi and I have a Cadogan guide from the library called Marrakesh, Fez & Rabat, and a cookbook called A Month in Marrakesh (so we'll know what foods to look for) and I just ordered the Eyewitness guide: Top 10 Marrakech (it better arrive by Thursday like they said). That's all we'll have time for, if that, but the Top 10 should include a map. I just hope we can walk to places from the hotel. I tried locating places on Google Maps but unfortunately they don't offer a street view so I can't see what the neighborhood around the hotel looks like.
I watched the Jamie Oliver Food Escapes TV episode on Marrakesh on Amazon Prime and made Fernando watch it too because I found it very interesting -- naturally Jamie talks a lot about food.
What can we see in a day in Madrid?? I have a list of mercados de Madrid -- we have to visit at least one. And we picked up a map and another Eyewitness Top 10 guide to Madrid at Barnes and Noble this evening. And I used to scoff at those New York Times 36 Hours In... columns!
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