I took this picture from the train. I took a lot of pictures from the trains in Morocco. One of the reasons was because I rode a lot of trains while I was in the country. Train travel was relatively cheap and reasonably quick. It was also relatively comfortable. The trains were modern. The seats were nice. I could get a seat that had a tray so that I could use Continue reading
Djemaa El Fna Night Food Market Marrakesh
It’s something of a long story. This is the short version. I met David in Rabat and we traveled together to Marrakesh. In Marrakesh we got a hostel and that evening we went out to find something to eat. It was my idea to go away from the central square because the shops there looked expensive. After walking, walking, and walking Continue reading
Call to Prayers Rabat
It’s a fairly big tower. At the top are loudspeakers. I’m sure that, once upon a time, a man went up there and performed the Call to Prayer five times a day. Today it’s done electronically. I’d personally prefer that a human being do it. If you go to a country that is predominately Muslim you will eventually be awakened by a Call to Prayer. They happen with regularity and start before dawn. Many of the people I know think that all of the people who live in predominately Muslim countries pull out a prayer rug when calls to prayers start and get down on their rug and pray. I can tell you that Continue reading
Hostel Patio Rabat
I have stayed in many hostels and can tell you that each one of them is unique. I think that’s good. I look for uniqueness in the world and I have no trouble finding it wherever I go. But this hostel was one of the most unique hostels I ever stayed in. Why? Because it’s the only one I have ever been locked into. Now I know that some of the hostels lock Continue reading
Empty Apartments Downtown Tangier
There were a lot of empty apartments in downtown Tangier. To be blunt, there were a lot of empty apartments everywhere in Morocco. I wondered why. Optimistically, it’s for future growth. But the cynic in me wonders if there isn’t something a little fishy about all those empty units. I’m wondering if the construction companies that Continue reading
Ferry Algeciras Tangier
This post is informational only. I am not looking for comments unless they shed some clarity on my statements. This post is about the ferries that operate between Morocco and Spain. On May 1, 2014 I took the ferry from Algeciras to Tangier Med. I am making the post because the information that I found from various sources on the internet were out of date prior to my taking the trip. I did not find the correct information anywhere on the Web before I landed in Algeciras. Not that the information that I found was bad, it was out of date. Continue reading
Ferry Algeciras Tangier Med
I caught the ferry from Algeciras to Tangier Med. Tangier Med is a relatively new port that is about twenty miles from Tangier. They have a shuttle bus that runs every hour from the port to the city. It cost me about $25 to take the ferry and another $3.25 to take the shuttle bus. It worked out fairly well except that I was one of the last people to get my passport stamped while on the ferry. That’s because I refused to be a part of the pushing and shoving to get in line (what line?) to get the stamp for Morocco. I just found a place to sit and get some work done while everyone else jostled in the line. However, once the boat docked it still took me another half hour to get the stamp. Most of that was due to the fact that I had no clue what was going on during the ferry ride and I didn’t even see anyone that looked like they could even begin to speak English. Next time I’ll know.
Rosita Airfare Question
For those of you who are not Rosita, this post is for a friend who asked me a question about flying open-jaw to Asia on her next trip.
Rosita,
I’m honored you should think of me when you are wondering about finding flight to/from Asia. First, I like to fly open-jaw – into one city and back from another – you get to see more because it’s a lot more flexible. If you are making a trip like a circle shape, like circling the Baltic Sea, it’s not important. The problem with open-jaw is that it tends to cost more unless you use air miles. Next, there is no one best web site for finding open-jaw tickets. Each one is different and each one can have the best fare to a particular location on a particular day because airfares change a lot all the time. Also, different sites tend to specialize in differtent areas of the world. Next, it’s almost always better to book with the airlines themselves, if you can. It takes out the middleman who can create another layer if a problem comes up. All that being said, do this: (1) go to skyscanner.com; (2) put in your departure and destination cities; (3) click on depart and then click on Whole Year. Then click Search. This will give you a graphical representation of relative airfares. If you use the “return” option on the first page you get one airline for both ways. If you pick the “one way” option you have to do the whole thing twice – once for going and once for coming back. When you get to the graphical representation you can change months and compare prices for the whole year. If you pick a date for one way you get the prices for one way. If you click a set of dates for return, you get the airlines for the round trip. DO NOT THINK THESE ARE ACTUAL PRICES. THEY ARE ONLY PRICES FOUND WITHIN THE LAST 48-72 HOURS BY OTHER PEOPLE, However, more often than not I find the prices to be good, or good indicators. You can also use kayak.com to do the same thing. Better yet, go to kayak.com/explore and check out the round trips with a couple of clicks. I would think that you could use that to find good one-way costs by calling each airline for depart and return legs of the trip, but I’ve never tried that. I hope this helps. It’s the way I find airfare deals when I’m locked into specific periods of time and I’m going to a specific area of the world. Remember Air Asia and Tiger for flights within Asia, but I’ve use buses and trains in Asia and have no problems with them. Say hi to Bulgan and Rob for me next time you see them. Let me know if you need more opinions about finding airfare deals.
Daily Food Market in Algeciras
When I checked into the hotel in Algeciras Jose, the desk clerk, told me to go to the market on my way to the Maritime Terminal. I said I would and I headed that direction when I left the hotel. What I didn’t expect was a market with quite the vivacity of the market I found. It was a little overwhelming. Of course, I had to stop and pick up some Continue reading
Siege Tunnels Gibraltar
There are two things I find really interesting about Gibraltar. The first are the macaques, or monkeys, that are on the peninsula. This trip I did not see too many. That’s because I did not get to the highest points on Gibraltar. That’s where they like to hang out. The only thing I’ll say about them in this post is that they are not well-behaved. This post is Continue reading