Andalucia

Trip Start Nov 29, 2006
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51
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Trip End Jul 23, 2007


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Flag of Spain  ,
Saturday, June 2, 2007

After Portugal, I headed east to Spain.  Well, I tried anyway, but learned that there are no trains or buses from Portugal to Spain (this far south) that run on Sundays.  I also learned that even more so than in Spain, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g- in Portugal closes down on Sundays.  But nevermind, I hopped a bus the following morning, with a general plan of heading to the southern tip of Spain and spending about 9 days in Morocco.  I took the bus to Tarifa, Spain, which is on the southern tip, down near Gibraltar (but much less expensive than Gibraltar).  I found a hostel and after a walk around the small surfing town - it's famous for kiteboarding and windsurfing - I met my roommate from the hostel, who relayed a harrowing story of his 48-hour trip to Morocco.  He was taken for a ride ... literally .... stepping off the ferry and into a taxi, he asked the driver to take him to a place, but the driver suggested an alternative town near the beach to see "the real morocco" for only 10 euros.  The guy said yes, and off they went (of course, mistake #1 agreeing to this, and mistake #2 being that he actually told the driver how much cash he had on him when the driver asked.....but on goes the story) 100 kms later the driver dumps the guy out on the street of some seedy town nowhere near the water and demands 50 euros instead of the agreed upon 10 euros Granada - Alhambra inside
Granada - Alhambra inside
 .  When he balked at the price, he was shown a knife.  He spent the next 30 hours trying to get back to Tangier with no money. 
So .... I decided to wait one more day to reconsider my trip..... and then the following day I heard of a German girl traveling on her own who returned from her 3 week trip there after only 3 days because it was too much.  I took another day to consider things, and decided that a santized day-tour of Morocco may just be what I need, and if after going, I was still interested and could handle myself, I would go.  The tour was .... I don't want to say awful, so I will use the word "structured".  We had no time to ourselves to walk around the Kasbah or the market areas, unless you count the time that I refused to go into the spice shop to learn about spices and then be subjected to overwhelming salesman pressuring me to buy buy buy!! (I had already survived the carpet shop demonstration).... but nevertheless, the tour was fine, and I decided that though it was hardly an authentic experience, I was also okay with leaving Morocco for another time, and perhaps when I have a travel partner.
Left with 9 days to fill before heading to London, I went to Malaga, on the southern coast of Spain.  It is the birthplace of Picasso, and probably has the most aesthetically beautiful people in all of Spain (I think so, anyway) who can make one feel quite dissheveled simply walking down the street. :) but I digress.... It was a nice visit, went to the Picasso museum and the beach, but it was a bit lonely, as my Spanish is awful and not a lot of people speak English -I went for days without speaking much to anyone - and tapas for one isn't that much fun.  I remember thinking this before: of all of the countries I have traveled in, Spain is probably the most difficult in terms of meeting people - both locals and other travelers .... I don't know why .. granada - culinary delights!!
granada - culinary delights!!
 . perhaps I haven't found the right hostels, or perhaps this is more what travel in Europe is like, but I find that it's odd (I don't mean to say locals aren't nice, they are, it's just that they aren't overly interested in talking).  However, on my last day I met a nice Greek vet who is working/studying in Malaga, who was struggling with Spanish just like me, and we hung out for the afternoon - a breath of fresh air!
Next I went to Granada, probably my favorite city in Spain.  I was here 9 years ago and was so happy to come back! On the bus I met Mark, a dutch guy going to Spanish school in Grananda, and we hiked around and found a cheap hostel, walked around the town, and sampled a lot of Spanish food and went to a flamenco show ....it was amazing!!  a friend I met traveling introduced me to www.couchsurfing.com which is a free website for travelers who arrive in a town/city and want to meet up someone who lives there ... either to crash on their couch, or just to meet for coffee or something.  I did it, and met up for lunch with a nice Spanish guy named Daniel and his girlfriend Fatimah who directed me in the way of some interesting sights and streets in Granada.  It is a great service, and I wish I would have discovered it earlier!!  Anyway ..... the Alhambra was also fantastic ... and I was eventually sad to leave Granada.    Off to Madrid for one day to see a friend, and then it's off to London, and I cannot wait to see my friends there!!
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