Sunday, January 29, 2012

Travel Week 2: Santiago de Compostela, Madrid, Essaouira, Marrakech

December 24, 2011

Hotel: Parador de Santiago de Compostela

Wind and sun on the Spanish Coast
Today Nick, his family and I transfer accommodations to the notably posher Parador Hotel de Santiago de Compostela which claims to be the oldest hotel in the world. We also decide it's a perfect day to take a drive to the Spanish coast and enjoy the sunshine.

Dining room at the Parador Hotel
Luckily, we make it back in time for our six-course dinner at the hotel. I am delighted to see that the menu is composed almost entirely of exotic foods including scorpion fish and saffron in a mushroom soup, hale loin on black spaghetti, eggplant in crab sauce and marinated salmon with ginger salt, seaweed sauce and dried fruits.

December 25, 2011

View from my hotel room on Christmas morning
Merry Christmas from Spain! Today is a leisurely one spent indulging in our hotel's obscene breakfast buffet which includes caviar, fresh fish and other such over-the-top menu items, wandering the town (most of its residents seem to have had the same idea) and Skyping with my family back home in California.

December 26, 2011

Hotel: Hotel Asturias

Pretty Christmas lights in Madrid
Today it's off to Madrid! Nick and I catch our flight mid-day and manager to make it to our hotel by night fall (after fighting the massive holiday crowds around Puerta del Sol). After dropping off our bags we head to Nick's favorite restaurant in Madrid (and one I've been hearing about for years!). Nemrut Doner Kebab is a hole in the wall kebab place he claims has the best kebab this side of Turkey. I was skeptical of eating Turkish food in Spain but after my first bite of their wrap I became a believer (we ended up returning twice more before our trip finished).

December 27, 2011

I'm so excited to be in Madrid because it has been a 'bucket list' item of mine to visit the Prado Museum. Alas, as Nick and I approach the museum we are greeted with a line that wraps around the building. I panic. I basically came to Madrid to see this museum and now there's a line a million people long (only a slight exaggeration) and we leave tomorrow or Morocco!

Nick and I resolve to return early tomorrow morning before our flight to see if we can beat the crowds.

Pretty architecture in Madrid
That issue at least temporarily resolved, we spend the rest of the day strolling through a rather sad Real Jardin Botanico garden (I seem to have forgotten it was winter), past the Royal Palace, through Plaza Mayor and the bustling wide streets of the city. I am particularly happy to see a huge living wall taking over the side of a tall building near the Prado.

December 28, 2011

Hotel: Riad Lyon Mogador

Today is a LONG day. Nick and I wake up super early to get in line at the Prado by 8:30 am only to see that a line has already formed. By the time we get in, we have just over an hour-and-a-half to visit the museum before rushing back to the hotel to grab our bags and take the 45-minute metro ride to the airport for our flight to Morocco!

Ahhhh...The Prado!
Our flight ends up being delayed by about two hours. This means Nick and I missed the last bus from Marrakech to Essaouria (our stop for the night). Out of desperation, we manage to negotiate a cab ride for the two-and-half-hour drive. It cost us substantially more than the bus and provided us a couple of scary moments (we get pulled over by the hyper-attentive Moroccan police and find out our driver is not supposed to be driving outside of the Marrakech city limits) but in the end, this was nothing some palm-greasing couldn't solve. We make it Essaouira by around 10:00 pm.

But that is not the end of our night. We are staying in a Riad (traditional house) in the middle of the Essaouria Medina where cars are not allowed to drive. Nick, our driver and I spend the next 45 minutes wandering the maze-like streets of the Medina knocking on doors and asking the super-helpful citizens of Essaouira for directions to our elusive hotel.

We finally make it to the Riad at around 10:45 pm. After checking in we rush out to grab a bite of street food before everything closes. We don't make it to bed until well past midnight tonight. Phew!

December 29, 2011


We start our morning with an amazingly carb-heavy breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel, taking in the beautiful weather, ocean scenery and thousands of seagulls.

After our fill of bread, Nick and I start our day-time stroll of the Medina. Both he and I are shocked at the difference daylight makes. Seemingly out of nowhere erupt walls of shops with colorful fabrics, fragrant spices and all manner of wares.

We make our way to the fishing port and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the Moroccan fishermen loading up their boats. We also crawl around the cities walls, forts and other beautiful architectural structures.

The remainder of the day is spent on the suprisingly impressive beaches of the city and devouring my first Moroccan tagine and cup of mint tea (the subsequent culprit in my 5-pound weight gain on the trip).

December 30, 2011

Hotel: Hotel Ryad Mogador Gueliz & Spa

Goodbye Essaouira!
Nick and I spend our last morning in Essaouira taking in the relaxed Moroccan city before our afternoon bus ride via Supra Tours to Marrakech.

After arriving in this metropolitan Moroccan city at around 9:00 pm, Nick and I set about arranging some train tickets for later in our trip and prepping for the start of our camel trek tomorrow! So excited!

*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, its employees or affiliates.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Travel Week 1: Lisbon, Porto, Santiago de Compostela

Greetings All!

I am officially back from my three-week vacation to Portugal, Spain and Morocco! Before I jump into my first week back as a full-time student, here's a summary, in pictures and timelines, of what I did while overseas. I will divide my trip into three parts (week 1-3) so as not to overload you all with information.

December 17, 2011

Nick arrives early in the morning from his red-eye flight to Boston. He sleeps while I rush around like a mad woman finishing errands. We board our plane to Lisbon, Portugal at 5:50 pm.

December 18, 2011

Hotel: Evedencia Tejo Creative 


After hours of traveling we make it to Lisbon and, of course, the first, highly exciting thing we do is sleep and sleep and sleep.

We do manage to wake up long enough for an afternoon stroll by the water, taking in the lovely architecture of the Praca do Commerico, peruse the pre-Christmas shop displays and consume a delicious dinner of fish, pork and sweet wine (I like this county already).

December 19, 2011


Today I convince my boyfriend to participate in a lovely act of tourism: The Yellow Bus tour of Lisbon. Yes, I know it's cheesy and that I should be ashamed, but I'm not. It's super relaxing and takes us to all of the sites one 'should' see including the Monument to the Discoveries, Parque Eduardo VII and the Tower of Belem all for 15 Euros. We even visit the Forte do Bom Sucesso where I see a model Super Hornet on display! Super dork alert (pushes glasses up nose). Nick and I, of course, stop often for cappuccinos and pastries.

That evening we decide to take one of Lisbon's ancient wooden trolley cars up the hill to the Castelo de Sao Jorge. We make it in time to see the admission gates closed on us. But no worries, this is nothing some sweet wine and pastries can't fix!

December 20, 2011

Hotel: Pao de Acucar

Today is a boring day of travel. We walk through the meandering streets of Lisbon to our bus stop before boarding the 3.5-hour bus to Porto. I just sit back, enjoy my Brazilian Guarana soda (a childhood fave that is hard to find in the states) and take in the scenery.


We arrive in Porto early enough to sneak in afternoon tea at the historic Cafe Majestic (it was amazing) and some wandering around the UNESCO world heritage site of the old city. We stop by the water and snap pictures along the way. By the time we're done with that, I've worked up an appetite so we head to dinner at Cafe Guarany for Porto's famed Franchesina sandwich: a heart-attack inducing concoction of five types of meat and white bread, covered in about a pound of melted cheese and drenched in gravy (for good measure). 

December 21, 2011


For our first full day in Porto we visit the markets, peruse the bustling streets of holiday shoppers, revisit the old town, Porto Cathedral and then stroll across Ponte D. Luis I Bridge over the Douro River. There we catch the Teleferico de Gaia (a gondola) that takes us down the hill over Gaia and the port wine cellars.

 
We, of course, visit a couple of Port wine cellars. I am happy to say that my first ever wine tasting takes place at the Sandeman Port Wine Cellars where Nick and I indulge in a private tasting of Port wines and come away with a couple bottles for our journey home.

December 22, 2011

Hotel: Costa Vella


Today it's off to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain to meet up with Nick's parents for Christmas. We board yet another bus (this time on InterCentro) for our journey.

When we arrive we have fun catching up with his parents who have been driving through Spain for about a week. We end the night strolling the small town of Santiago de Compostela (another UNESCO World Heritage site) and grab a late dinner of monkfish, duck and wine.

December 23, 2011



For our second day in Santiago we decide to take in the city's most famous site: The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. This impressive church is the end point of the famed El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage that can takes months to walk.

That night's dinner is a Spanish staple: Paella! Yum!

*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, its faculty, employees or affiliates.