As several of you know, I was out last week travelling..

June 9th, out on Air Plus Comet A7 917 from JFK to Madrid. Shifty Plus Comet has changed our flights nearly three times, and after countless hours on the phone, the New York, Madrid, Buenos Aires office and I agree that the departure time is at 8:30. Onboard we have scant in-flight entertainment (Zorro in Spanish) and only one sweep for beverage refills. The captain gets halfway though his in-flight announcement in English then forgets what language he is speaking and switches to Spanish… only to later realize his mistake and start all over. On the plus side, however, the food was good, wine was free and the flight attendants were beautiful. None of this trans-Atlantic-seniority crap; all of them were in their mid twenties and went though at least 3 outfits during the flight.

Marrakech

After a brief layover in Madrid we arrive (via Iberia/Royal Air Maroc) in Marrakech mid afternoon. As a side note, all Spanish carriers appear to be charging for snacks/beverages in the main cabin, so we don’t have it so bad in the US. Landside, I negotiate taxis to Riad Mozart inside the medina wall where we’re met by our host Al-Miki. Rooms are small, but nice, (miniature) pool is mostly clean and we’re offered mint tea when we get in. Nothing spectacular, but for the price of about ~30$ night each I can’t complain.

Into the Medina we walk east towards Djemaa El Fna through a few souks and into the main square. For a third world country and walking with a bunch of New Yorkers I am pleasantly surprised by how little heckling we get. The majority of what we get is shop owners trying to hawk their crap, which I suppose one can expect.

Shortly after dinner we meet with a local friend of ours who takes us to Pacha, the biggest club in Africa. New York prices, but this is seriously the best club I’ve ever been in. It’s like partying in a castle.


Next day we visit the El Badi palace, a mid 16th century palace built by King Ahmed el-Mansour and the Saadian Tombs, both within walking distance, then take a quick walk out to the Gueliz, the European quarter of town. Have a few drinks from our duty free stash and call it a night.

Later we delve deep into the souks for some shopping, bantering with the locals, world cup and street food. These markets remind me of the bazaars of Istanbul the way the maze is set up, but for less focus on carpets and more on woodworking and ceramics. I buy a bronze horse and probably paid too much, but everybody in the souks was in a good mood because of world cup.

Essaouira

Al-Miki “knows a guy” who offers to drive us to the seaside city of Essaouira for moderate price, so we leave at 9am to make the 2 hour drive through the desert and foothills into Essaouira. For those of you that don’t know, Essaouira is kind of a hackney “Mediterranean” (I know, it’s on the Atlantic) coast city where they make a rough attempt to emulate the life in southern Greek coast. A few buildings are painted white with blue windows; they offer crepes at every other storefront etc etc. Needless to say the mixture of African and Mediterranean culture makes for an interesting setting. We’re staying at Jack's Apartments unit number 9, and after I convince the attendant to let us sleep 8, we find a cozy apartment right against the rampart wall with full amenities, two showers and plenty of space. All at 20$/night each.

Into the city, several of us go the beach while others navigate the souks, looking for cheap useless crap to bring home for our friends. Up on the ramparts among the cannons we stop for the evening to watch the sunset over the Atlantic. Very nice. For dinner we head into the Medina for authentic Tagine and Moroccan food for dinner in a comfortable cushioned setting.

On the return trip the next day we stop at Maison Du Chameau for white camel rides around the outlying Essaouira nut tree forest. 10$ pp for an hour long camel ride on white racing camels. Top notch.


Barcelona

We’re staying in a condo found on VRBO.com called Casalona, a flat owned by a couple out of Atlanta. The pictures on the website don’t do this place justice, it was fantastic. 18’ high castle doors opening straight into the living room right in the gothic quarter, plenty of space, 30’ to a bar, two blocks west of the gothic cathedral, two blocks east of Las Ramblas, perfect all around.

Over the next few days we acclimate ourselves with the city, first going to the Sagrada Familia and then going up to Parc Guell, where Gaudi devoted much of his landscape architecture brilliance. Several of us wander down to the numerous museums, but the only one I make it to is the maritime museum, largely because I enjoy pattering around the condo so much.

Las Ramblas, the main strip in the city is just east, but after going there a few times we find that it’s full of tourists. Rather, we stay in the Gothic Quarter for most of our eating and drinking. Within a two block radius are dozens of restaurants and bars, each with its own character, wine list and tapas menu. One could spend weeks in that area and still have not eaten in all of the restaurants.

At night we head to Sonar, an international music and multimedia festival nearby, where the music fanatics among us tune into the likes of Senor Coconut, Diplo and the Ghostly International. Sonar by Night on the 17th takes us through the night and into dawn, where at 8AM we return to the condo exhausted.

My recommendations for Barcelona:
The Gothic Quarter
Sagrada Familia
Parc Guell
Lots and lots of Rioja wine