by Michael
After an afternoon of shopping around in Marrakech, we booked our trip to the desert. We don’t usually book group tours – we try to travel the way locals do – but this ended up being much more efficient (in both time and money).
We joined a van with six other travelers, and we were off through the mountains. Before lunch we made it to Ait Benhaddou.
by Michael
[Due to poor Internet connections, we’ve fallen behind on our posts about Morocco. We’ll get those up as soon as we can. In the meantime, we thought a quick update about where we are now would be nice.]
Plans? What plans?
One of our three main targets on this trip is the Camino de Santiago. For those who are not familiar, it’s a centuries-old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. There are about a dozen routes with branches, but the most commonly walked route is from St. Jean Pie-de-Port in France, over the Pyrenees mountains, and across Northern Spain.
No, we didn’t cancel the Camino.
As I write this, we are on the train from Madrid to Pamplona, where we will catch a bus/taxi to St. Jean. We had originally planned to make our way there while enjoying various sights along the way, including crossing the Straight of Gibraltar and visiting the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Our tentative plan had always been to make our way through Morocco and cross the Straight of Gibraltar by ferry (Tangier, Morocco to Tarifa, Spain) then make our way across Spain in steps to the start of the Camino de Santiago. We got as far as Chefchaouen in Northern Morocco, but it seemed like too much: bus to Tangier, ferry to Tarifa, bus to Algecerias, then bus to Malaga, stop by the Picasso Museum, train to Madrid then Bilbao (or flight to Bilbao), Guggenheim Museum, bus to San Sebastian, 1-2-3 enjoy beach, bus to St. Jean. This would have taken a minimum of two days, probably more to enjoy it. And booking connections in Morocco can be difficult — everything is a negotiation and sometimes you still don’t get what you agree to buy. So we went the other way.
We took a bus four hours to the Southwest to Rabat and flew from Rabat to Madrid. It was not without difficulty at the Rabat-Sale Airport, but it’s a relief to be in Spain. Morocco is fun, but everyday interactions are more challenging. Spain is easier, especially since I can understand a lot of Spanish (and speak a little).
My ticket to prosperity.
This morning we did laundry, put about 1/3 of our stuff in a box and shipped it to Santiago de Compostela (to a service that holds shipped stuff for pilgrims — my compliments to El Correos (the post office) at Plaza Prosperidad in Madrid for being so helpful). Then we made our way to the train station and after a few failed negotiations with the ticket machine, we bought our tickets to Pamplona, a sandwich, and a beer. We are now on our way to the Camino.
On a train in Spain.
Update: As it turns out, wifi along the Camino has been a bit spotty. I was finally able to upload this post at the end of our second day on the Camino (in Larrasoana). We’ve had an easier time uploading pics to the Instagram feed in the meantime.
by Michael
In Morocco, some fruit juice stands have avocados. And some list avocado juice on the menu — though the menu is typically in French and maybe Arabic, so I can never be sure. But the idea of avocado juice, or maybe even an avocado smoothie, seemed interesting. I wanted to try it.
We sat down at a juice and sweets shop just off of the Souk in Marrakech. Jus d’Avocat was on the menu. Before we ordered, Elizabeth mentioned to me that she thought Avocat was the French word for lawyer. Were we about to order lawyer juice? After some difficulty, Elizabeth placed the order. I didn’t really think Elizabeth had so much trouble with the language that she ordered lawyer juice, but maybe the word was causing the confusion. Anyway, here it is:
by Elizabeth
After arriving back in Marrakech on our early morning bus from Essaouira, we turned around and hopped in a private van headed for Imlil. We had identified Imlil, a small town in the High Atlas Mountains, as a good base for trekking in Toubkal National Park. Although we typically prefer hiking on our own (and had a particularly odd experience using a guide in the Indian Himalayans), our limited research suggested that organizing and navigating a multi-day hike on our own would be difficult.
The wonderful view from the terrace of our first riad in Imlil.
by Michael
We escaped the busy streets of Marrakech for the quiet seaside city of Essaouira (pronounced Essa-Weera by French speakers, and Es-SAW-ruh by Arabic speakers). I had first heard about Essaouira because HBO filmed part of Game of Thrones there. But the city had much more to offer, particularly in food.
Astapor from Game of Thrones?
by Michael
The most popular sights in Marrakech are the Jemaa el Fna and the Souks, especially in the evening when Moroccans are out and about. During the day, we took the opportunity to see several of the older sights, some of which now house museums.
The Jardin Majorelle, located a short walk outside of the Medina (old city) was built by French artist Jaques Majorelle. The gardens, designed by Majorelle, are now more famous than his painting.
by Elizabeth
In a complete change of pace from cold, orderly Stockholm, we set off for Marrakech, Morocco. The difference was apparent from the moment we boarded the plane — individuals did not board in zones or by row number, instead, everyone rushed the gate as soon as it opened and pushed their way to the front of the line. The flight itself was the loudest that I’ve ever been on; everyone chatted loudly for the duration of the five hour flight.
After scrambling to get to our riad (Moroccan hotel with inner courtyard) on our own (as the pre-arranged transport did not arrive), we got an overview of the city from our host and set off to explore (and eat our way through) Marrakech.
Courtyard of our riad. In contrast, our room was very plain.
by Michael
We spent our last day in Sweden visiting the royal palace on Gamla Stan Island in Stockholm, walking around a trendy neighborhood of Sodermalm, and visiting the Nobel Museum.
The Swedish royal family has been mostly without power for centuries, but retains several estates. Although nobody lives in the main palace, it hosts diplomatic and royal functions, so most of it was closed in preparation for the King’s birthday celebrations — our tour guide apologized many times. The guided tour in the morning was helpful, especially for people like me who don’t know much about the Swedish monarchy.
Our guide explaining the formal meetings that take place in this room between the King and the Cabinet. (According to Elizabeth, our guide was adorably formal.)
After months of (not actually) planning, our trip has finally begun!
Obligatory airport departure photo
Stockholm has been a great city to explore on foot — which is perfect training for the Camino. We arrived in the afternoon following an uneventful 10+ hour flight and took advantage of the Wednesday evening hours at the Vasa Museum. The museum celebrates one of Stockholm’s greatest failures: the sinking of a huge warship in the Stockholm harbor due to a small gust of wind within 10 minutes of it first taking sail in 1628. Of course, the museum plays off the failure as being of great benefit to today’s visitors — if the ship had not sunk, it would not have been preserved in the cold Swedish waters for future generations to appreciate (a clever, but valid spin). The ship was definitely restored with an eye towards the future. In order to prevent the wood from drying out after having been under water for centuries it was sprayed down for seventeen years with a mixture similar to lotion and then left to dry for another nine years.
The Vasa ship. It’s hard to tell, but it was massive — approximately four stories tall.
Our flight leaves tomorrow and we are (almost) ready to go. We have a few more details to take care of, but on the whole I’d say that we’re ready.
A lot of people have asked us what we’re planning on bringing for our yearlong adventure. We took a few snapshots of what is currently in our packs to share. In some respects, packing for a longer trip is the same as packing for a week-long trip. However, we’ve also thought a lot about making sure that our clothing will work well in multiple combinations, climates, and cultures.
Michael’s Clothes
My Clothes
two backpacks, no plan 