A Day in Belem

November 13, 2024October 18, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

This marks my last post about my Europe Trip! After a week in Morocco, we flew back to Lisbon for 1 more day before returning to Canada. Our flight was delayed, so we didn’t arrive in Lisbon until really late at night and stayed in a hostel right outside Rossi Square. Overall, I felt like we didn’t really have enough time in Lisbon. I would have liked to do a food tour and spend some time exploring the Alfama neighbourhood, but we didn’t have time for everything.

On my first visit to Lisbon (12 years previous), I had regretted not going to Belem. I don’t really think Belem is any more special than any other part of Lisbon, but the Tower of Belem seems to show up on lots of travel bucket lists and I’ve always been a little disappointed I never did it. So we dedicated our last day in Lisbon to exploring the neighbourhood of Belem.

First we got up and had a nice brunch in Lisbon city centre, and then we caught the iconic 15E tram line that runs all the way from City Centre to Belem. It’s supposed to be one of the best routes for tourists and it gets really busy as a result. I didn’t find it too bad on the way there, but we forgot to top up our Metro cards and had a hard time getting tickets. The tram runs right through Belem and we got off at one of the last stops to walk over to the Tower.

Emily had purchased tickets online in advance, but they are not timed entry. We thought the tickets would save us from the worst of the line-up, but talk about a scam! The line-up to buy tickets is really short, but the line-up to get in the tower is still really long. It made me mad because once you buy the ticket online, you’re committed to going. You’ve already spent the money and can’t opt not to go if the line is long (without losing your money). I don’t know why they don’t do timed entry like in Sintra.

The line-up wait was forecasted at 2 hours, but it was moving pretty quickly and we ended up getting in after ~45 minutes of waiting. The downside was that it started to rain while we were waiting in line with no shelter. A few opportunistic vendors came by selling umbrellas, but we opted to wait it out in our rain jackets.

Fortunately, the tower is really cool, and because they only let so many people in at a time, it’s not crowded. The tower is constructed on a rock formation on the beach and was built by the King as a military fortification in the early 1500’s. The structure has been expanded on over the years and it underwent a full restoration in the 1990’s, after which it was added to the list of the seven wonders of Portugal. Also on this list is Pena Palace, which we visited in Sintra, and Jeronimos Monastery, which is located just down the street.

We could have made it a double feature and visited the monastery as well, which in my opinion, was a much larger and more architecturally interesting building. But we wanted to actually relax on our last day of vacation and didn’t want to spend another hour waiting in line. Instead, we spent the afternoon walking along the waterfront, where we saw the Belem Lighthouse, the Padrao dos Descobrimentos (a monument to Portuguese navigators), and did a little bit of shopping at a local market.

We walked along the main road to see the Jeronimos Monastery from the outside, and then decided to visit Pasteis de Belem, which is a famous pastry shop. It is absolutely massive, so we didn’t have trouble getting seated, but we also waited a long time to be served. We enjoyed tea and pastel de nata (Lisbon’s famous egg custard pastry), along with a mille feuille for me and chocolate cake for Em. It was all delicious!

We caught the bus back to Lisbon at rush hour, which was extremely chaotic, but also hilarious because I was seated in front of a Portuguese woman who was emphatically chastising her friend Maria for the entire journey. She said her name approximately 10 dozen times and I couldn’t help but feel I had let her down somehow.

We finally made a trip to the local liquor store to stock up on wine to bring home. I ended up getting more bottles than the duty free allowance (which also happened to me in Patagonia), but like Patagonia, no one questioned me or made me pay duties on the extra wine, so definitely don’t be limited by the allowances when returning to Canada (yes, I did declare it)! We picked a nice restaurant in the City Centre and had a fantastic meal before preparing to return home.

It was a long journey home. We flew through Montreal, where my absolutely massive flight to Vancouver got cancelled. Luckily, I got the notification on my way to the gate and I immediately took off running to customer service to be the second person in line. So I immediately got re-booked for the following morning and booked into a hotel. The bigger problem was that they did not release my luggage. I had (even more) duty free wine that I bought in the airport. It had to go in my checked luggage once I left the terminal, so I had to wait around for 3 hours while they tracked down everyone’s luggage. I seem to have inordinately bad luck flying, but I did get a $1200 Air Canada voucher out of it, which I immediately used on 2 flights to Newfoundland, so I guess it wasn’t the end of the world.

This was the first time me and Emily travelled internationally together since we went to Costa Rica in 2016, so we were long overdue for a sister trip and we had a great time! The Azores were my favourite part of the trip, but Morocco was also a very unique experience and unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The food was also a big highlight, with the seafood in the Azores and the flavours of Marrakesh being particularly memorable. And of course, seeing Taylor Swift in concert is worth every bit of the hype and an experience I hope to repeat one day soon!

Ouzoud Waterfall and Camel Riding

November 6, 2024October 18, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

After a great day at Ait Benhaddou, we had planned a second excursion to Ouzoud Waterfalls. They are also located outside of Marrakech, but seemed to be slightly closer than Ait Benhaddou. For this tour, we went with a company called Marrakech Desert Trips. I definitely wouldn’t recommend them as much as I would Click Excursions. There was no dedicated tour guide, which was fine because you have a local guide once you arrive in Ouzoud, but more concerning, the bus did not have AC. It is so hot in Morocco and everyone in the bus was quite cranky as it felt like we were being forced into a baking tin can for several hours of driving.

The tour guide meets you right at the bus when you arrive in Ouzoud. It’s optional, but I recommend just taking advantage. They only ask you to pay $2 each for their services for the entire day, so please tip them a little more generously! Our guide shared some fun facts with us about the area, but mostly he just ushered us around the attractions. We started with a view of the falls from the top, where there we’re a ton of monkeys hanging around. They looked a lot more like baboons to us, but we did some research and confirmed that they are in fact, monkeys. You can buy peanuts to feed them from the local kids, but honestly, just take your photo and avoid feeding them. This kind of tourism is never good for the animals and I appreciated that our guide advised us as such.

We hiked down to the falls through some of the local Berber villages and learned that Morocco is one of the biggest exporters of olives and olive oil. There are olive trees everywhere that are tended and harvested by the Berber families. We stopped at a nice viewpoint for photos before finishing the walk to the base. At the base, there are several options. You can pay a few dollars to take a “boat” ride up to the falls, or you can just explore on your own. We were much more interested in swimming, so we decided to forego the boat ride and went for a little dive into the pool instead. The water is actually pretty cold, but not too cold for us Canadians!

The waterfall is quite beautiful. I wondered if going all the way to the waterfall was worth it for one view, but it was a pretty low key day and I actually ended up enjoying it quite a bit (aside from the bus ride). After a refreshing swim, we climbed partway up the cliffside to a restaurant with fabulous views of the waterfall to enjoy lunch. We finished by climbing back to the top and hitting a few more viewpoints (and getting some ice cream), and then we packed aboard the bus again to return to Marrakech.

On our last day in Marrakech, I really wanted to go camel riding. I know it’s a bit cliché, but I’ve never been anywhere that camels are native and I really wanted to cross it off my bucket list. Emily was much less enthusiastic (she has a fear of horses, which she has confirmed extends to camels), but fortunately she agreed to accompany me, while reminding me it was a one time thing!

Emily was more interested in visiting Jardin Majorelle, so we decided to do that in the morning and go for a short camel ride outside the city in the afternoon. Unfortunately, our planning wasn’t great. Jardin Majorelle is a major attraction in Marrakech and we didn’t realize it had timed entry. None of the other sites we visited had timed entry and we arrived at the park to realize that we wouldn’t be able to enter for several more hours, meaning we didn’t have enough time. So unfortunately, we had to skip the attraction, but learn from us if you ever go to Marrakech. It looked really cool and we were sad to miss it.

Emily confirmed that her fear of horses does extend to camels, but she was a trooper and I had a great time on the camel ride! We went 30 minutes outside the city with a small group for a 1 hour camel ride. Going in the afternoon wasn’t the best idea because it was really hot, but I still enjoyed the experience. There was only ~6 of us and we walked around the Palmerie. An hour was honestly a bit long and I was pretty bow legged afterwards, but it definitely ticked the box for the experience. My camel’s name was Scooby-Doo and Emily’s camel was Olivier. We were served cold water and biscuits afterwards before driving back to Marrakech and overall, I thought it was a nice experience.

But that pretty much concluded our time in Morocco. In hindsight, 5 days in Marrakech was a bit too long. I think I would have preferred to have more time, but to explore more of the country. I’m sad we didn’t have time to visit the Sahara, or other cities. I preferred to have a central base because I was a little bit nervous about traveling to Morocco, but I would feel more comfortable returning in the future. The busy-ness of the medina felt overwhelming at times and I didn’t like being out after dark, but otherwise, I never felt unsafe in Morocco. I would definitely love to return to tick sand dunes off my bucket list in the future, though if Emily is involved, I did promise no more camels!

Exploring Marrakech

October 23, 2024October 18, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

I paused my posts about my trip to Portugal and Morocco to post about some summer backpacking trips, but it’s time to get back to the Morocco part of my holiday in June! After a week in the Azores, we kicked off the second part of our trip, a week in Marrakech. This was my pick for the trip. I’ve wanted to go to Morocco for a while because it seems quite different than anywhere else I’ve ever been, so we decided to spend a few days in Marrakech and the nearby attractions. Morocco could easily have been a whole trip on its own, but we just did a little taster.

Unfortunately, it was a long day getting there. We left the Azores in the morning and then had a long time at the Lisbon airport before our flight left for Marrakech. We flew with Easyjet and they only run a few flights a week, so it was cheap, but it didn’t leave until evening and ended up being delayed several hours.

I’ll admit I started to feel a little bit weary waiting for our flight. I realized that it was my first time travelling to an Islamic country and we had not packed the appropriate clothing. While waiting for our flight, we read that it’s polite for women to cover their shoulders and avoid short skirts and shorts. It ended up being a bit of a moot point because most of the tourists walked around dressed however they pleased (which is honestly fine), but we didn’t want to attract attention as two women. So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and we seemed to be the only group of women on the plane.

It all ended up being totally fine. For the most part, we felt safe in Marrakech. I was expecting to witness some petty street crime, such as purse or phone snatching, but we didn’t see any. We did keep our shoulders covered and tried to wear dresses that went to at least our knees, but we didn’t get many comments aside from the odd marriage proposal (which I experience when I lived in Malawi as well). The only thing I didn’t like was the location of our riad.

We arrived in Marrakech pretty late. Our riad sent a car for us, but it was after midnight when we arrived. We stayed in the medina, which is the central part of the old city of Marrakech. The old city is walled and dates back to the 11th century, while the new city is a lot like any other city you’ve been to. The medina is quite chaotic in the daytime, with lots of vendors and tourists, but at night it’s pretty quiet. The medina is filled with riads, which are small hotels with a series of rooms centered around a small garden courtyard. Our riad was central, but it was down a side street and required walking through a few narrow alleys. We didn’t have any incidents, but as two solo females, I would definitely be more cognizant to book directly on a main road in the future.

We immediately went to bed and slept in on our first day in the city. The breakfast from the riad was excellent and we ate it around the small pool in the courtyard. The riad has lots of outdoor space and a little rooftop lounge, so it was a nice place to hang out after dark.

One of the things that immediately surprised us about Morocco was the language. Moroccans speak a lot of languages. I knew that Arabic was the official language and most people speak Moroccan Arabic, also known as Darija. What I didn’t know is that a lot of Moroccans also speak French due to the period of French colonial rule between 1912 and 1956. On top of that, a lot of people also speak English, as well as some form of Moroccan Berber. We were able to get by mostly with English, but it was really nice to have our French to fall back on for a change.

Our main plan for our first day was to go on a walking tour and to find some cash. Our walking tour met at Koutoubia Mosque, which is one of the most central places in the city. By law, none of the buildings in the city can be taller than the mosque, so you can see it from pretty much everywhere. Like the city, the mosque is over almost 1000 years old, though it has been rebuilt several times and sustained damage in Morocco’s most recent earthquake in the Fall of 2023. It only recently re-opened, but we couldn’t enter as it’s used strictly for prayer.

Our guide took us around to many of the central attractions, including some of the many souks. A souk is basically a market and there are all kinds of them all over the city. There’s meat markets, spice markets, and textile markets. We walked through the Kasbah and the Jewish Quarter, and past the Bahia Palace, which we later re-visited. One of the most well known attractions is the Jemaa el-Fnaa market, which is basically a huge square in the medina for commerce, and is recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. In the day, it seemed to be mostly fruit drink vendors, but it expands a lot in the evening with small restaurants and performers.

I seem to have had bad luck with money this year, because after a very challenging time finding cash in Argentina, we had similar bad luck in Morocco. Similar to Argentina, it’s not possible to get Moroccan currency (the dirham) in advance of your trip. But unlike Argentina, this is because it’s a closed currency, rather than a volatile one. There’s not the same problems with conversion rates, but some of the banks do charge hefty transaction fees. We read that the only bank that doesn’t is Al-Farid Bank, so we were keen to find an ATM.

We did exchange a little bit of money in the airport to tide us over. There is an al-farid bank right in Jemaa el-Fnaa, but we were dismayed to discover that one of the ATMs was out of cash (it was a Sunday), and the other was rejecting transactions. I was even more pissed to discover when I got home that the bank charged me for 2 cash withdrawal transactions, even though the ATM never dispensed any money. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around through the market, but not purchasing anything, until we finally found another ATM and were able to put our money woes to rest.

Shopping in the medina is definitely an experience. If you’re going to shop there, you have to haggle, and it can be a bit of an overwhelming process. I used to haggle in Malawi all the time, but I was a poor student back then. I’ve gotten more and more uncomfortable with it the older I’ve gotten and the more financially secure I’ve become. It seems stupid to haggle with someone over $1 or $2, when it will really make no difference to me in the long run, and potentially make their lives easier.

But you can’t be a pushover in Morocco. The gulf between an item’s starting price and its worth is quite large. We read that whatever someone starts with, you should aim to pay half, and therefore you need to go down to a third of the price with your first counteroffer. This seemed somewhat accurate to our experiences, although we weren’t great at negotiating the price in half and generally ended up somewhere closer to 60-70%. It just feels so insulting to try and negotiate the price down so low, and the vendors always act insulted too. It’s all part of the dance, but it’s exhausting. Definitely don’t ask someone the price of something unless you’re ready to barter, because once you express interest in purchasing, the vendors are relentless.

Our very first experience was probably the worst, the seller was extremely pushy, and we worried the whole experience would be that way, but fortunately most vendors would back off after some light negotiation if you want to walk away. The most useful advice I read is to never buy something if it doesn’t feel right. It’s easy to get pressured into a sale once you start to engage, but it’s still your choice and you can always choose to walk away. You don’t owe anyone anything.

While Jemaa el-Fnaa is a central location, the entire medina and beyond seem to be one big market, broken into smaller souks. We spent a lot of time in Souk Semmarine, which is the textile market, but also explored down towards the Bahia Palace. We didn’t buy much on our first day, but we scoped out what we were interested in. Later in the trip, we ended up each buying a purse, I got some pants, and we both got a lot of knick knacks, like painted dishware. Some things were weirdly expensive (likely we got the white person rate), while other things were really cheap.

We picked a nice rooftop restaurant for lunch and had probably the best meal of the trip. The food in Morocco is delicious and extremely flavourful, although it does get a bit repetitive after a while. The most common dish is Tajine, which is basically different types of meat, and sometimes vegetable or egg, cooked in stoneware. Meat kebabs were also popular and it was pretty easy to eat vegetarian if you wanted, but the meals seemed to be either very meat heavy, or have no meat at all. At this restaurant, I had a chicken tajine where the chicken was cooked with caramelized onion, fig, pear, walnuts, cinnamon, and it was sooo yummy.

The timing of our trip, during the first week of June, was definitely not ideal from a weather perspective. Morocco is in the desert, so it receives little rain, but it gets really hot in the summer. It wasn’t as hot as it would get, but it was still mid 30’s most days, so I would definitely recommend going a bit earlier in the Spring. Most days, we returned to the riad in the late afternoon for a dip in the pool to cool down before dinner.

I think I’ll end the post here for now as I’ve covered a lot of information about the city. After the first day, we did a few day trips outside the city, so check back for that!