I love travel, but hate the hassle of dealing with the airlines, let alone the taxi drivers and the people who are supposed to help you get transportation!
A week and a half ago I went to Madrid to attend a conference. Darn. In order to minimize time away from work and keep down costs I booked a flight with discount carrier Ryanair. The price was right, even with having to take a train to the Moroccan capital at Rabat. My info said that I could take a tram from from the train station to the airport. Works for me. Or does it? Let the fun begin...
I get to the one Rabat train station that is supposed to link to the airport and ask the guy in the booth for a ticket for the tram to the airport. Nope. Another train? Nope. Gotta take a grand taxi. Oh, how I love doing that! I hope this isn't the case, and if it is, that the price isn't exorbitant. I don't know what the market is in these parts. I ask a few different taxi drivers how much it will cost to get to the airport. The answers are the same - 200 dirhams. Seems a bit pricey for what I know isn't too long a ride. I happen by a guy who looks like a local, and who seems to be speaking pretty good English. He confirms what the the guy in the booth across the street said about transit to the airport. I ask him what the going rate for a grand taxi is, and he says don't go over 200 dirhams. When he ascertains that I an American living in Morocco, he asks if I could speak to a group of American tourists he is leading. I tell him, if he goes across the street to where a taxi driver is sitting in his vehicle and comes back with a price of less than 200 dirhams, I'll tell them anything he wants me to. 150 dirhams later, I address a group of older ladies...who are from the very same area I am! Small world...
Ryanair advertises itself as the most on-time carrier in Europe. Not so today. Then, I have the usual adventure of trying to get from the airport to my hotel. I am very comfortable speaking Spanish, and I knew my hotel was within walking distance from a major transit stop. I know how to read a map, but when I'm trying to confirm the seemingly simple route I needed to take, the guy at the ticket booth is telling me I'm mistaken. Worse yet, I can't respond the questions that should be as easy for me as A-B-C. While I'm being spoken to in Spanish, my brain is wanting to reply in French. Consequently, nothing is coming out, and the guy is looking at me like I'm a simpleton. A kindly man nearby manages to explain the hard-to-see complication to me, and I am finally on my way.
I get in late (by Jack standards - Madrid is just starting to kick up its heels) and call it a night. After the conference the next day, I walk from my convenient location to some of the city's big attractions. I decide to go see the world-famous art collection at El Museo del Prado. Though, the pics you get today are from a pair of nearby buildings:
The above CaixaForum Madrid is a landmark building, a former electrical power station now a museum and cultural center.
It is not actually a museum, but every bit worthy of the adulation it gets.
Spain has a deep love affair with ham, as do I. Hey, if loving ham is wrong, then I don't wanna be right! I can't tell you the depths of this affection. It's almost like Kent and Kansas ;) Anyway, this kicked off a wonderfully long evening bouncing merrily along from one tapas bar to another. I love pork!!
After the conference ended the next day I made my way to the airport for another (delayed) flight another 150 dhs taxi ride (same guy from 2 days earlier - he said he would be there to greet me, and was), a train ride where I managed to successfully change trains and last, but not least, there was the gauntlet of taxi drivers at L'Oasis train station barking like mad dogs from behind a railing, all waiting to get you into their petit taxi and invent new ways to separate you from your money.
Two days later winter recess is upon us and off to Lisbon I fly. A slight delay (shocking) and my TAP Portugal is off to the Iberian peninsula. A bus and a train later I in a place outside the city center for the next 3 nights. He is a little primer on the capital of and largest city in Portugal...
Lisbon is one of Europe's oldest cities, with roots to Phoenician times. Built on 7 hills, I was enthralled by the view from the airplane of this ancient metropolis at the mouth of the Tagus River on its way to the Atlantic. Romans and Moors had their turn before Catholic monarchs ascended to rule.
November 1, 1755 was All Saints Day in Portugal when a cataclysmic earthquake destroyed 85% of Lisbon. (Tsunamis had an impact all the way to England, Seville, and from Tangier down to Agadir in Morocco).
The rebuilding of the devastated city involved razing the destroyed area and building well beyond the previous borders. Close to the water instead were built a pair of grand squares as part of a visionary plan that modernized the medieval town. The first plaza, at a section called Rossio, was the first part of the city center that I got to see when I took public transit into the heart of the city. I could see the Castle of Saint George from the train station:
This is a most historic area that I spent an entire day wandering around. A pic:
The second, plaza Comercio is at the mouth of the river Tagus and includes the remarkable arch Rua Augusta:
From the arch:
The third photo shows in the distance the statue Christ the King, inspired by the famed Christ the Redeemer one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I didn't quite get close enough for a good pic, but here is one from online facing back toward the Lisbon area:
The exteriors of many buildings were covered in tiles
A friendly animal rights protester. I wanted to tell her that I love animals, also - grilled, preferably...
She wanted me...
BOOM! Photobombing a street performer...
A week and a half ago I went to Madrid to attend a conference. Darn. In order to minimize time away from work and keep down costs I booked a flight with discount carrier Ryanair. The price was right, even with having to take a train to the Moroccan capital at Rabat. My info said that I could take a tram from from the train station to the airport. Works for me. Or does it? Let the fun begin...
I get to the one Rabat train station that is supposed to link to the airport and ask the guy in the booth for a ticket for the tram to the airport. Nope. Another train? Nope. Gotta take a grand taxi. Oh, how I love doing that! I hope this isn't the case, and if it is, that the price isn't exorbitant. I don't know what the market is in these parts. I ask a few different taxi drivers how much it will cost to get to the airport. The answers are the same - 200 dirhams. Seems a bit pricey for what I know isn't too long a ride. I happen by a guy who looks like a local, and who seems to be speaking pretty good English. He confirms what the the guy in the booth across the street said about transit to the airport. I ask him what the going rate for a grand taxi is, and he says don't go over 200 dirhams. When he ascertains that I an American living in Morocco, he asks if I could speak to a group of American tourists he is leading. I tell him, if he goes across the street to where a taxi driver is sitting in his vehicle and comes back with a price of less than 200 dirhams, I'll tell them anything he wants me to. 150 dirhams later, I address a group of older ladies...who are from the very same area I am! Small world...
Ryanair advertises itself as the most on-time carrier in Europe. Not so today. Then, I have the usual adventure of trying to get from the airport to my hotel. I am very comfortable speaking Spanish, and I knew my hotel was within walking distance from a major transit stop. I know how to read a map, but when I'm trying to confirm the seemingly simple route I needed to take, the guy at the ticket booth is telling me I'm mistaken. Worse yet, I can't respond the questions that should be as easy for me as A-B-C. While I'm being spoken to in Spanish, my brain is wanting to reply in French. Consequently, nothing is coming out, and the guy is looking at me like I'm a simpleton. A kindly man nearby manages to explain the hard-to-see complication to me, and I am finally on my way.
I get in late (by Jack standards - Madrid is just starting to kick up its heels) and call it a night. After the conference the next day, I walk from my convenient location to some of the city's big attractions. I decide to go see the world-famous art collection at El Museo del Prado. Though, the pics you get today are from a pair of nearby buildings:
Spain has a deep love affair with ham, as do I. Hey, if loving ham is wrong, then I don't wanna be right! I can't tell you the depths of this affection. It's almost like Kent and Kansas ;) Anyway, this kicked off a wonderfully long evening bouncing merrily along from one tapas bar to another. I love pork!!
After the conference ended the next day I made my way to the airport for another (delayed) flight another 150 dhs taxi ride (same guy from 2 days earlier - he said he would be there to greet me, and was), a train ride where I managed to successfully change trains and last, but not least, there was the gauntlet of taxi drivers at L'Oasis train station barking like mad dogs from behind a railing, all waiting to get you into their petit taxi and invent new ways to separate you from your money.
Two days later winter recess is upon us and off to Lisbon I fly. A slight delay (shocking) and my TAP Portugal is off to the Iberian peninsula. A bus and a train later I in a place outside the city center for the next 3 nights. He is a little primer on the capital of and largest city in Portugal...
Lisbon is one of Europe's oldest cities, with roots to Phoenician times. Built on 7 hills, I was enthralled by the view from the airplane of this ancient metropolis at the mouth of the Tagus River on its way to the Atlantic. Romans and Moors had their turn before Catholic monarchs ascended to rule.
November 1, 1755 was All Saints Day in Portugal when a cataclysmic earthquake destroyed 85% of Lisbon. (Tsunamis had an impact all the way to England, Seville, and from Tangier down to Agadir in Morocco).
The rebuilding of the devastated city involved razing the destroyed area and building well beyond the previous borders. Close to the water instead were built a pair of grand squares as part of a visionary plan that modernized the medieval town. The first plaza, at a section called Rossio, was the first part of the city center that I got to see when I took public transit into the heart of the city. I could see the Castle of Saint George from the train station:
This is a most historic area that I spent an entire day wandering around. A pic:
The second, plaza Comercio is at the mouth of the river Tagus and includes the remarkable arch Rua Augusta:
From the arch:
The third photo shows in the distance the statue Christ the King, inspired by the famed Christ the Redeemer one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I didn't quite get close enough for a good pic, but here is one from online facing back toward the Lisbon area:
I love that thing. It is closest to an area of Lisbon called Belem, another very important area, where all the great explorers of the Age of Discovery set out from. The Tower of Belem a former fortified lighthouse, is a big landmark. It was when I was in the neighborhood on Monday:
The Jeronimos Monastery is perhaps the signature building in the area. Today it houses the national museums of archaeology and maritime history. Only an aerial view does it justice:
There is also the awesome Monument to the Discoveries:
I spent much of 2 days just wondering about, trying to ignore the vermin trying to peddle me pot and coke. I finally snapped at one scumbag, and he took off when I screamed at him that I didn't want his drugs. The terrain and the bold use of color made for nice vistas. The rest of the attached pics are just random shots I liked. Nice enough place, but seemed dead, no energy at all...
A flying priest...
The exteriors of many buildings were covered in tiles
A friendly animal rights protester. I wanted to tell her that I love animals, also - grilled, preferably...
She wanted me...
BOOM! Photobombing a street performer...
TAP Portugal tried to postpone my original return flight by 1 day. I did their homework for them and said I'd go for same day to Marrakech, a 3 hr train ride from Casa. The flight is further delayed, the train is late, takes too long...and then the phalanx of cabbies at the train station. I slept very well last night...
Adios for now...
Adios for now...
