Photo Post: Meknes, Morocco’s Forgotten Imperial City

Bab el-Mansour

Of the four major cities that have served as capitals in Morocco’s past—Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes, and Rabat—Meknes seems to be the most-overlooked Imperial City for most people coming to visit the country. It’s a mere half-hour train ride from Fez, yet many people pass it over on their way to Casablanca and Marrakesh. Admittedly, there isn’t a lot to see here and the real treat here are the Roman ruins of Volubilis, a half-hour grand taxi drive outside of town. Even Sufyan, a native meknassi I met on the train and who kindly guided me toward my hotel, assured me his city isn’t worth visiting and recommended I check out Marrakesh and Essaouira instead.

Imperial City

I myself would have skipped Meknes had I not wanted to see the Volubilis ruins, which are difficult to get to except as a daytrip from town. Thankfully in my hotel’s lobby I happened to overhear that a group of three Americans were trying to organize an intercity taxi to visit Volubilis, and when I asked if I could join them, they graciously let me pitch in the cost of the grand taxi ride. It was a great experience and I am so grateful I met Alice, Frank, and Nicole at the hotel; it was a refreshing change to hang out with English speakers after struggling through broken French up to that point!

Mausoleum of Moulay Ismaïl

But while in town, I actually kind of liked spending time simply wandering around the old city’s medina (read: not getting lost) and fortified palatial grounds. The city was quiet and untouristy, and I felt very out-of-place as a backpacking white kid from America in this fascinating country. (But that’s a good thing, of course!)

The first night I was there, I attempted to seek out the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismaïl, a Moroccan ruler in the 1600s and 1700s who established the city of Meknes and was an all-around bad-ass warrior king. However, I made one wrong turn and ended up walking all around the cité impériale proper at dusk for an hour. By the time I made it back to the central Place el-Hedim square, the mausoleum was already closed so I decided to come back again the next day. Sure enough, when I followed the signs, they took me straight to it.

Mausoleum of Moulay Ismaïl

A succession of smaller and smaller halls and courtyards culminated in Moulay Ismaïl’s burial chamber, an incredibly lavish room covered from floor to ceiling in tilework and carved marble. I had to take off my shoes before entering out of respect for this important figure in Morocco’s history.

Place el-Hedim

Back in the center of the old town—right outside the winding medina—I climbed a few stairs to a second-story teahouse terrace. There I enjoyed a mint tea from my perch, watching the sun set in the distance and taking in the trading, music, and movement in the plaza below.

What was your favorite picture from this post? Have you been to Meknes before? What other historically-significant yet perennially-overlooked cities can you think of? Tell me in the comments section below!

For more pictures, check out my set on Flickr here.

6 Things to Do in Ourense, Spain: Galicia’s Best-Kept Secret

In early November my flatmate and I took a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip to the city of Ourense. Pronounced “oe-oo-REHN-say” [owˈɾɛn.se], it’s the capital of Galicia’s only province without coastline. However disappointing that may sound to you, it shouldn’t be, because Ourense province is actually one of the most beautiful parts of Spain and even has its own Grand Canyon, the Cañon do Sil. I had little to no expectations about Ourense capital when I came, but I was very, very impressed by this place that no one (apart from my bilingual coordinator who is from the province) ever says boo about when talking about Galicia.

Medieval Bridge

Ourense seems like a city that tourism is just about to uncover, but which is still relatively anonymous. I can expect that the arrival of the AVE (high-speed long distance trains) will bring many visitors from Madrid on weekenders, but for now, it’s got very few visitors so you’ll feel like you have the entire city to yourself. So what to do when you’re there? I recommend you try these six activities, but make sure to take a few hours to relax every day at the natural hot springs (#6)!

1) Ride the high-speed train from Santiago de Compostela or A Coruña

Soportales by the cathedral

Slowly but surely, high-speed rail is making its way from Madrid to every corner of the Iberian peninsula. High-speed service came to Sevilla in 1992 and to Barcelona in 2008, and you can also take the AVE train to the Mediterranean and the meseta, the central Castilian plateau. More “spokes” of Spain’s high-speed network continue to branch out from the hub in Madrid to places like wild-west Extremadura, the far-northern coast, and eastern Andalucía. Galicia—Spain’s fifth-most populous region—is also set to join the high-speed world…but construction between the end of the northern line and the region has gone very slowly, and it could be until the end of the decade that this part is finished.

However, most of the work within Galicia is already done, and you can now travel between A Coruña on the coast, to Santiago de Compostela the capital, southwest to Ourense in a little over an hour—formerly a 2-3 hour train ride. The train tracks pass through numerous tunnels and cross dozens of canyons on great bridges, making for a quick but lovely journey through the prettiest landscapes in Spain.

2) Enjoy (or endure) the extreme weather

Church of Santa Eufemia

Ourense is different from the rest of the region in that its weather makes you feel like you’re in central or southern Spain rather than in mild, rainy Galicia. Because of its location in a river basin, surrounded by mountains on all sides, Ourense enjoys a distinct “micro-climate” from the rest of the region—frigid and icy in the winter, sizzling hot in the summer—so much so that it’s one of the handful of cities in Spain that vie for the dubious honor of being la sartén de España—Spain’s Frying Pan.

If you get off the train here in the winter, bundle up, and if you come in the summer, bring an, uh, egg…to fry on the sidewalk. (Just kidding!)

3) Eat up free tapas with your drink

Café bombón with a little cookie tapa

Although it isn’t the custom to give free tapas (little appetizers) with whatever you get to drink in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, western Andalucía, or the Basque Country, most everywhere else in (non-touristy) Spain still holds on to this centuries-old tradition, and Ourense is no exception. At lunch, go all-out with a big, two-course menú del día, but then at dinner, go from bar to restaurant and fill up on tapas like a slice of empanada (meat pie), some chorizo and bread, or chunks of fried potato with garlicky ali-oli sauce.

On Saying “Bye!” to Say “Hi!” When Passing Friends in Spain

When I first came to Spain in September of last year, culture shock really wasn’t that big of a problem for me, thanks in no small part to the plethora of resources available online—expat and auxiliar blogs, for example—and in print—books like Culture Shock: Spain, and even the back matter of Lonely Planet Spain. Reading about little (and big) cultural differences beforehand prepared me well for my initial few weeks in the country, from giving kisses when meeting women to eating dinner at nine in the evening instead of five- or six-o’-clock.

Calle Obispo Cobos, Úbeda

Moving to Úbeda, in the northwest corner of the southern Andalucía region, I expected the local accent to be rapid, consonant-dropping, and generally different from textbook or news reporter Spanish. I had studied what made the andaluz accent different from “standard” Castilian, and was ready to interpret what I heard as comotá to mean ¿Cómo estás?—“How are you?”

But already in that first week of getting settled in Úbeda I was hearing taló and taleugo being thrown around in the streets, and it appeared that people were just saying it to random folks as they passed them by. It really threw me for a loop; I wondered, are they really saying “hasta luego,” See You Later, to their friends as they walk past them? It didn’t make any sense for people to say “goodbye” when you’re supposed to say “hi” to someone you pass in the street.

Photo Post: Visiting Alicante, Spain, for the Friends, Not the Museums

Old town Alicante

Some cities you go to for the sights, others for the fun, still others for the friends. When I went to Alicante on the Spanish Mediterranean coast back in March, it was for the friends, and I don’t regret it at all.

Dinner with us international kids

Also called Alacant in the local Valencian Catalan language, Alicante is one of the biggest cities in the country and a big home base for beach bums in the summer. For many years now, it has also been a popular study abroad destination for students at my alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University. So when I learned that a handful of acquaintances and fellow Spanish majors would be in Alicante the same time I was in Spain, I decided to try and have our paths cross at least once! That chance came the first weekend in March when I was visiting Valencia, two hours to the north. On my way back home, I swung by Alicante for two nights and had a great time simply hanging out in town.

Pretty neighborhood in the old town

Visiting college friends in Alicante was a nice change from the usual monument-museum-eating pace I had gotten accustomed to in my travels: we got coffee, hot chocolate, and ice cream together; had Indian food and pizza; strolled the beachside esplanade; and even went to the local Protestant church, an anomaly in nominally-Catholic Spain.

Is It Blasphemy to Dislike Granada, Spain?

(Disclaimer: I’m fully aware I’m about to step on approximately 11,920 toes with this post…)

Patio de los Leones, the Alhambra

Granada is:

one of the biggest cities in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía…home to the Alhambra, a beautiful Moorish palatial complex built in the Middle Ages during the last Muslim kingdom in Spain…a center for generously-big free tapas with your drink…the burial place for the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella…a home base for going skiing in the snowy Sierra Nevada…a great place to study abroad in…the last city in Spain to be “re-conquered” from Muslim rule in the 1400s…full of interesting neighborhoods like the winding, hillside Albaicín…a popular place for the springtime Cruces de Mayo festival…and an essential stop for almost any trip to Spain.

Granada is nice and all, but…

Tilework in the Alhambra

Don’t get me wrong, the first time I visited Granada back in November of last year I loved it. I had been very anxiously looking forward to wandering around the city’s Alhambra palace for years and it was merely two hours south of my adopted-home-for-eight-months, Úbeda. Going with two new American friends in town, we saw the sights, got soaked in the rain, woke up at an ungodly hour to wait in line for Alhambra tickets, drank Moroccan tea, and strolled down the Gran Vía at night together. (We also discovered the wonder that is the tortilla sandwich, but that’s a story for another post.) It was a really great trip and at the time I looked forward to returning again soon.

And so I went back for a second visit. A short jaunt down to Málaga the first weekend in May left me with a long layover in Granada on my way back home. I took advantage of this opportunity to see the Alhambra again, this time in spring. It was still just as stunning the second time around, and I felt like I was seeing it with new eyes: the seasons had changed, I was now a seasoned traveler across Andalucía and Morocco, and it would be the last major trip I would take in the region before heading back home to America. Flowers were everywhere—purple, perfumed wisteria hung from every post and beam, roses enlivened the Generalife gardens, and the intoxicating aroma of azahar, the orange blossom, drifted from orange trees within and without the palace grounds.

Wisteria in the Generalife gardens

Although I relished the chance to experience the Alhambra in the sweet-smelling spring, I think the city soured on me when I went back. Granted, I did happen to visit during the Cruces de Mayo festival in which the various cofradías and hermandades—Catholic brotherhoods known for carrying around religious floats during Holy Week—construct massive crosses of flower planters and set up open-air bar-restaurants. Let me tell you: the city was insane. People (rather loud and slightly-buzzed granadinos, mostly) crammed the streets from just after siesta until who knows when the next morning.

The charming atmosphere I enjoyed when I first visited was gone. Perhaps it was because stupid, slow-walking tourists had packed the Albaicín, because I had experienced what a Muslim/North African country is actually like, or because FREE TAPAS!!! were no longer restricted to just Granada, but were also served in much of the rest of the country. I soon concluded that apart from the Alhambra, Granada as a city just isn’t worth the time of day for me.

Culture Shock at a Supermarket in Spain

If you’re going to be spending any amount of time in Spain, chances are you’ll end up at a supermarket, whether for a late-afternoon snack or ingredients for dinner if you’re cooking for yourself. And when you do end up going to one, you’ll inevitably experience culture shock since some customs in Spanish supermarkets are a bit different from those you may be used to. You won’t be falling on the floor in shock over them, but if you’re aware of these small but significant differences in the way you go about doing things, your shopping trip will go much more smoothly.

(Source: Nacho Pintos)

1) Putting your bag in a locker before entering

At the entrance to most supermarkets there are always a couple dozen cubbie-hole-sized lockers for you to stow your backpack/heavy belongings/shopping bag from another store in. This is nice because you don’t have to lug your crap around with you all over the store, but the lockers are probably there to prevent shoplifting, so make sure to lock up your large bags before shopping or the cashiers and/or security guards at the front will yell at you.

It’s pretty simple: just find an empty locker, open the door, stuff your bag inside, drop a 50-cent, 1-euro, or 2-euro coin piece inside the slot, close and lock the door, and remove the key.

2) Weighing & pricing produce at the stand, not the checkout

Mercadona in Úbeda

In a big change from American stores where the cashier punches in the code and weighs your produce at the checkout, in Spain you bag your fruits and veggies and take them to a central scale where either you or an employee weigh your items and print out a little sticker with a barcode to put on your plastic baggie. Then you take these pre-priced baggies to the checkout lane where the cashier can fly through them like they were any other item with a barcode.

3) Making change for your total easier

Let’s say your groceries cost, say, 15,02€, and you hand your cashier a 20-euro note when it’s time to pay up. I would be willing to bet that 20 euros that they would ask you if you happen to have two cents so they can instead give you ten- and five-euro notes—because otherwise, they’ll have to crack open a roll of pennies and leave you a pile of metal including a 50-cent coin, two 20-cent ones, a 10-, a 5-, and two 2-cent pieces. What a mess. So if you happen to have change with you (and you should, since you’re carrying it around in your pocket-sized coin purse like it’s the manliest thing since the Euro man-purse), everyone involved will have a much better day.

This isn’t restricted to just pennies, though; if your ingredients to make tortilla add up to 6,37€, you can hand over a ten-euro note and a one-euro coin to get a pretty, green five-euro note back with much less spare change.

Photo Post: The Sierra de Segura Mountains in Eastern Andalucía

Tranco Reservoir

There’s a lot to love about the province of Jaén, a cozy corner of eastern Andalucía in southern Spain. You’ve got the lovely villages of Úbeda and Baeza, graced with Renaissance architecture, as well as countless other sleepy towns scattered amongs the endless olive groves. There’s the capital city of Jaén, with its charming, Moorish-style old town and free tapas scene. Although there’s no doubt that people here talk with a thick Andalucían accent, it’s not nearly as difficult to understand as that of Cádiz, for example, on the coast. And who could forget that the best olive oil in the world is made in almazaras (factories) in every village’s industrial park?

Sierra de Segura

But while I’ve expressed my love for the region in many posts on this blog, I haven’t written yet about the sierra, that unmoving wall of mountains that serves as the eastern limit of the province and the region. Countless sunsets seen from Úbeda’s eastern lookout point made me wonder what these hills were like up close and personal, so I made it my goal—as a Mountain Person, rather than a beach bum—to explore the Segura mountain range at least once during my time in the south.

Olive tree, with Segura de la Sierra in the background

I finally got that chance in February when a handful of teachers and I went on a little excursion after work for lunch and touring in two pueblos (villages) in the Sierra de Segura: Hornos de Segura (“Ovens of Segura”) and Segura de la Sierra (“Segura of the Hills”).

Hornos de Segura

In Hornos, we had a long, delicious dinner of various raciones—appetizer platters of cheeses, meats, sandwiches, and other little bites that added up to a full meal. After a quick pick-me-up of coffee, we wandered around the old town, stopping at the lookout point over the Tranco Reservoir to enjoy the beautiful lakeside scenery before seeing the local castle and parish church.

Castle of Segura de la Sierra

To get to Segura de la Sierra, we drove about 15 minutes through olive grove-covered fields up the steep hill that the tiny village is situated on. My bilingual coordinator, Pedro, told me that he used to work at a school here that was built over the old medieval walls. So cool! The sun was setting fast, though, so we all parked and hurried up the hill to the castle, from which we got to take in the surroundings at twilight.

What was your favorite photo from this post? Are you a Mountain Person or do you prefer the beach? Either way, these mountains are only a few hours from the Mediterranean coast!

For more pictures, check out my set on Flickr here.