Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec, ISO800 “The Way Home” Casablanca, 2017
Hello! This is the last day of our Eurafrica trip when we fly back home. 😞
Another long journey, today’s schedule takes us from Casablanca to Montreal, then on to Chicago and finally home to Austin. ✈
We opted to take a pre-arranged taxi from the hotel to the airport, which cost about $25 which was nice since the cab took us door-to-door. At the airport, Mariko finally found some Moroccan wine at the duty-free shop. I guess this was pretty much the only chance to buy some! Ever since she had some Moroccan wine at the Morocco area of EPCOT, she’s wanted a bottle or two. So I guess this was one of her quests for the trip! And happily, the wine made it all the way back home safe and sound, even though they had to scan the wine in Montreal in some fancy contraption in customs.
By the way, for those traveling to the US, you actually pass through US customs at the Montreal airport. It was very convenient, and I was surprised to hear the Customs agent say, “Welcome home, Mr. Fujimoto,” while we were still in Canada! 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
Anyways, we arrived in Austin at about 22:00 and my brother was waiting at the gate for us. See, he had just flown in an hour earlier and would spend the next few days visiting us. It was nice to see him after the long journey!
Oh, when we were in O’Hare, Mariko had to get a Chicago Hot Dog. 🌭 It was pretty good! Welcome back to America, indeed!
Today was another travel day. Since we booked cheap tickets, our flight plan took us back to Casablanca from Barcelona, then overnight at a hotel, and then fly out the next day… so, another long day with long miles!
We started the day with a nice breakfast at Hotel Constanza, then took a taxi to the Barcelona airport. The security and customs process in that airport is pretty crazy, and almost everyone who finished customs took off running to their gate. It would have been kind of funny to see had we not been in a similar situation. But we made it to our flight with a few minutes to spare, and after a short hop over Spain and the strait, we were back in Morocco!
After an hour train ride and short taxi right, we reached our hotel, the Melliber Appart Hotel in the afternoon and settled in. We were pleasantly surprised that our room had an amazing view of the Hassan II Mosque, which is the largest mosque in Morocco. It’s pretty impressive. There’s even a laser on top which shines straight to Mecca. Wow.
After a brief rest, Mariko and I took a walk to look for a market for some last-minute goodies, but we got kind of spooked when we saw a man threaten another man on a scooter with a huge kitchen knife. It was a bit unnerving! We were told that people were cranky in the afternoons because of the fasting, but this was a bit extreme. So we gave up the search for the market and headed to the mosque for a closer look. As you can imagine, it’s huge. As the day was ending, and Ramadan was nearing its close, hundreds of people were coming to pray. It was quite a sight to see.
Dinner was had at the hotel restaurant where we enjoyed beef steak, fish tagine, fried eggs with shredded beef, and a variety of salads. Plus mint tea! I missed the Moroccan mint tea!
One of the major sights we wanted to see is La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s amazing cathedral which has been under construction for well over a hundred years and won’t be completed for another 10 or so. As I mentioned before, I don’t care too much for cathedrals and churches, but this one is truly awe-inspiring. It’s got a modern take, is colorful and the design is intruiguing. That being said, my interest is purely about the design and construction, since I am not religious. Still, there’s enough here for the non-believer to be inspired by the human will to achieve. Amazing.
Next up on the list was to do a bit of shopping – specifically to pick up a suitcase that we saw the night before so we could haul our loot back home. This included the food we would be buying from the Spanish supermarket, the paella pans, and non-breakable souvenirs. Plus our dirty laundy. I that gross to keep that with our canned goods? I wonder… oh well, too late now, right? 😛
Anyways, we bought the suitcase, dropped it off at the hotel, and made our way to lunch, which was on the way to MACBA: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, or the Museum of Contemporary Art. For our third paella of the trip, we visited Paelleria. We learned that paella is not as crispy on the bottom as we always thought, but that it was moister. The first paella we got was moist and we thought it was odd. But after the second and third one, we figured that is the way it is supposed to be. Anyways, the paella at Paelleria was delicious, and we also had to order a few other tapas. And beer. And sangria. 🍺🍷
After MACBA, we strolled to the nearby art supply store to check it out, then caught a taxi to Barceloneta Beach for another one the highlights of our trip: touching the Mediterranean Sea. I was so stoked to dip my feet in! The water was cool, but not too cold, and very clear even though it was a pretty crowded beach. Maybe it is silly, but walking barefoot in the waters was something I was looking forward to the whole trip! 🌊
Near the beach were a lot of really nice-looking restaurants, and by this time, we were getting pretty hungry. We checked Yelp and found a restaurant that looked good, but when we got there, it didn’t seem like our kind of place. So, we tried a nearby restaurant which normally you need a reservation for, but we got lucky (and we were early) so we got a table. The menu at Somorrostro was pretty fancy seafood, and we took advantage of our last night in Barcelona to have a nice, upscale feast. We had skipjack with pistachio and sour cream, black rice with smoked sardine and rabbit, shrimp taco with spring onion and avocado, zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese, and octopus with potato and chorizo. Plus beer, cava, and water, of course! It was kind of funny, but lots of the agua that the kids ordered at the different tapas bars come in uniquely fancy bottles. Never saw the same glass water bottle twice!
We were pretty tired after dinner, but of course we had to have our second dinner, and that would mean taking a taxi back to Tapa Tapa (thanks, Bay!) for drinks and tapas. 😄
Hi! Well, as you may have figured out, we love to eat on our travels. In fact, eating and drinking is one of the main activities that we look forward to and plan for. So, without further ado, let’s get started with brunch:
Just around the corner from our hotel is Alsur Café, where we sat outside and enjoyed coffee, hot chocolate, a smoothie, avocado-bacon waffles, eggs Benedict, and another waffle sandwich of what I don’t remember. I do remember, however, that it was all excellent. A good start to the day!
We made it to the museum and enjoyed the drawings and paintings. The collection is mainly of his earlier work so if you are expecting to see a great expanse of his production, you may be disappointed. But, I thought it was good, and worth the visit.
The rest of the day was spent wandering the streets of Barcelona and shopping. Eventually, we landed at our first restaurant, Ciudad Condal. Yet another fun and delicious meal, and even Koa is expanding his palette! He’s becoming a fish-lover. In fact, when we were eating clams in Granada, he had the whole plate in front of him and was powering through those little suckers!
As became our tradition in Spain, we have two dinners… and in Barcelona, that meant going back to Tapa Tapa. I would have wanted to try another place, but Bay is crazy about Tapa Tapa for some reason! Well, he was the main driver for this vacation, so we let him indulge. 😄
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/140 sec, ISO200 “Sunset from the Bus” Spain, 2017
Today was a day spent in transit. We took the ALSA bus from Granada to Barcelona, which left at 10:00 and arrived in Barcelona at 00:15, or quarter-past midnight. Yes, 14 hours on a bus! 🚌 But, our preference of traveling by train was impossible since tickets were sold out. The other choice (which wasn’t extraordinarily expensive) was to take a plane from Malaga to Barcelona, but that would involve buying another bus ticket from Granada to Malaga. Plus the transit from between the bus stations/airport/hotel.
So, we sucked it up and prepared for the long bus ride, which would only involve taxi from hotel to bus station, the bus ride itself, then either an 18-minute walk or taxi ride to our hotel in Barcelona. It actually wasn’t too bad because it was a big bus and there was spotty Wi-Fi or slow cell speeds. Plus it was the cheapest of the transit options at about €70 per ticket.
The bus stopped at several places (including a lunch place) along the way to Valencia, where we had a break to pick up some food and switch buses. From Valencia, it was a non-stop haul into Barcelona Nord bus station. We arrived at around midnight, then took a taxi to Hotel Constanza, where we’d be staying the next couple days.
Check-in at the hotel was quick and the room was nice. Koa decided to call it a night, but Bay, Mariko, and I were excited to be in Barcelona so we decided to head out on foot to look for… tapas!
Before going, we asked the hotel staff where we should go, but they told us that most places’ kitchens would be closing soon (it was almost 01:00) so we just decided to head to one of the main streets to check it out. After encountering a couple places that were closing, we found Tapa Tapa, which was open until 00:200. They didn’t have a full menu available but the tapas they did have were yummy, the beer was cold, and the cava was refreshing.
