Madrid Spain
Left Minneapolis at 13:30 PM for Amsterdam via Boston on a DC10. We stop at Boston for 2.5 hours and we leave at 19:20 on same DC10 for Amsterdam.
We arrive in Schiphol at 8:00 AM, my flight to Madrid is at 10:30 I make my my way through the airport, pass through immigration (I am now in the EC) We leave about 1/2 hour late and the flight takes 2.5 hours. I arrive at 13:00 and purchase my train tickets for sleeper for Algeciras for Saturday. I take the Airport Bus dowtown to Plaze Colon, purchase tickets for the Metro and I make my way to Gran Via and I find a little hotel, the sign says they speak English it is Hotel Margarita at 3000 piasters it is located at 50 Gran Via. I take it easy the rest of the day, going out later in the evening to look around a bit along with everyone else in town. Later I meet larry who is also staying in the hotel and he is from Minnesota also and he is doing Madrid except he is duing Tuesday to Tuesday and I am doing Thursday to Thursday, The deal is Northwest Airlines has a deal from Minneapolis to Madrid $205 each way Monday thru Thursday.
Madrid Spain
At 9:30 AM I set out walking for the Palace Real, not far from here. At 11:15 they have an English tour so I sign up. It is a very good tour and they take us through about 20 rooms of the Palace. The have incrediable marble floors and the painted ceilings and magnificant clocks. I also visited the Pharmacy while there. Much of the outside of the building is being renivated. In the afternoon I go to the Famous Prado Musuem much of the collection of paintings belonged to the Spainish crown there are a lot of paintings to see. I stop at the National Biblioteca Nacional which was all in spainish but they did have a very nice collection of manuscripts and books some of which were hand written. On the other side of the block is the Mueso Arqueologico Nacional with a good selection of spainish and other treasures, it was still all in spainish however. I walk back to the hotel checking out several stores and plaza's on the way back. I get back to the hotel but I have checked out already so I hang around in the lobby for a couple of hours. I am leaving my large backpack behind and I am just taking my day bag for the next 4 days. I also realise I did not bring any sox's along. My train to Algeciras leaves at 23:00. I have a upper bunk in a sleeper coach.
Amad our Guide - Tangier Morocco
Market - Tangier Morocco
We are on our way south, there are a total of 4 men in our sleeper compartment with room for 6. At 2AM we stop and one of the guys tell me we have to get off the train for a bath, this must be another strange spainish custom. It turns out that because of heavy rain they have to stop the train and we take a bus to Algeciras. The bus is pain compared to the train. We make one stop in the middle of the night and we also make 2 stops just before Algeciras for a woman who has some female problems, due to this we get in at 9:30 AM and miss the ferry. Myself and Juan (I meet him on the train) go back to the train station and get the Station Manager to refund the differance between bus and sleeper fare ($13). We then get on the 12:00 ferry it takes 2.5 hours to make the crossing to Tangier and we gain 1 hour because of time zone change (they are on GMT) we get their about 13:30. We are inundated by hustlers and would be guides. I meet two young guys from Utah and a lady from Pittsburg and the 4 of us hire a guide more to keep the others away. Everyone has credencials and ID so this means nothing. We agree to pay Amad $3 for an afternoon tour. It is good we did because he knew his way around through all the narrow streets and markets. It was all very interesting with every kind of food and goods available. Of course our tour would not be complete with out stopping at a Carpet store. But I was not interested in buying anything and the college students were not interested either, I bought a leather wallet for $5. At 16:30 we finish our tour at the train station and I find that the train to Fez is going to leave so I buy a ticket and get on. The other 3 are going to take the nite train to Marrakesh. I am in a car with 3 Moslem Women. I have to switch trains at Sidi Kacem which is out in the middle of nowhere. The train is very nice at least in 2nd class it cost about $11 one way. There are hardly any tourist in Morocco at this time of year and it is also Ramadan a holy time where moslems are not allowed to eat, drink, make love between Sunrise and Sunset (aprx 6 AM - 6 PM). I get into Fez about 22:30 and I make a wrong turn and I eventually hire a taxi (about 80 cents) and he takes me to Hotel de Commerce and they charge me 50 Dirhams for the nite (about $6) it has a bed a table and a wash basin, no heat or air conditioning. It is about 45F.
Royal Palace - Fez Morocco
City Gate Fez Morocco
At 10:00 I leave to check out the town, I go through many markets with all kinds of produce and goods. After about 90 Min Mohamad stops me and insists I need a guide. For 25 Dirhams he takes me around to visit many site I had not seen on my own including the tannery (it stinks) and we visit his home and family. Mohad his wife and 6 kids all live in a small room with mats the sit and sleep on. And again we have to stop at a small shop where I buy a couple of small cups, I only have a small backpack and I cannot carry anything, and rugs are no bargin anyway. We pass by a Dentist who has a table set up and he is doing a tooth extraction using Hashish instead of novacane, I am due for a checkup but I think I will wait. Next I take a taxi to Mus'ee du Batha with its display of Morocco craft. I take a Petit-taxis (short and cheap) for about 50cents to the train station and the 16:00 train back to Tangier. We leave about 30 min. late and I need to switch trains at Sidi Kacem again which I miss. I end up in Kenitra and the train conductor says get on 2nd train for Tangier. I meet Qartil on the train and he offers to put me up overnite if needed. I find out the train comes in 40 min. so I do not need to stay overnite. We do go to his house however and I meet his family. He tells me he is #1 in his English class and he does speak good english. The taxi waited for me to take me back to the train station. I have found that the people in Morocco are very generous and freindly - yes there are hustlers however. I get on the next train, they want me to pay a suppliment but train is in and they just let me go. I share a compartment with 2 other men including Abdule. He speaks good english and offers to put me up in Tangier with Mike his roomate a director of a Christian Church. I ask him what he does and he says he is GAY. It takes me a little bit to figure this out, and I decide to stay in a hotel instead. Tangier is known for its Homo-Sexual Prostitution which starts up just after Ramadan. We get in about midnight and he walks me to a hotel about 2 blocks from the train station, they charge me 60D for the nite and give me an extra blanket which I need.
View from on top of Gibralter
Monkeys on Gibralter
I get up at 6:45 to get on the 7:30 Ferry. I get to the ferry terminal at 7:15 and find the gates closed and the police man says wait 15 min. at 7:45 I am ask again and he says I am late. It turns out that it left at 7:15. So I wait for the next one at 9:00 and get on that one and it does not leave auntil 10:20 while they try and get one more truck on. And because we loose an hour we do not reach Algeciras until 14:15 and I was planning on spending the day in Gibralter. After getting off the ferry I head for the Bus station and get on the La Linea bus which goes to the border. I meet a guy from Norway (Matt) He took a train from St Petersberg across the former Soviet Union, into Vietnam and to Singapore where he caught a Freighter to go back to Europe (Germany) it will take 6 weeks and they had a short stop so he is going to Gibralter too. After about 45 Min we are there and many guides and taxis bother us but we decided to walk. I take a taxi $5 to the cable car and take it to the top. It is nice to be someplace where people understand English. I walk around up there and they close the cafe. (I am very hungry after surviving Ramadan) I visit the Monkeys and the WWII military encampments. I visit St Michaels Cave and cafe! I catch the cable car halfway and take it down. I then walk through town and visit several stores they block vechicles in certain areas and it is a pleasant place to shop. Also they drive on the right because Spain does. Walking back to the border they have a gate crossing like a train however this is for the airport runway which cuts across the main road! And when I reach the baracade there is a BA Airbus taking off with not much room to spare. They have built the runway out on a jetty to make it just long enough. I make my way to the Bus terminal and return to Algeciras. After getting off the bus I go the wrong way to the train station and a young gal beg's for money, I fight here off and ask directions and I go back the way I came and she bothers me again this time showing me a Condom. For some reason I dont think she is selling these. I fight here off again, I dont speak spanish and she is caring on in spanish. I make it to the train station to wait for my train to Madrid. About an hour later she shows up at the train station and bothers everyone for money and me again. She evidently needs money for drugs and I have to push her away. We board the train at 21:00 and it leaves at 21:30. I hope we dont have to get on a bus again. I share the sleeper with 2 other guys.
The train arrives 1 hour late and evidently we went around madrid because we are at the north station and did not go through the center of town. I take the Metro back to the hotel. Later I go back to the Palace Real to take some outside pitcures because the sun is shinnimng today. I also visit several plaza's and return to hotel to pack. Later in the evening I go out shopping one more time for gifts and I find a department store and a 1/2 price rack, so I buy a few things.
I get up at 7:45 for the airport shuttle which picked me up at 8:15 We get to airport at 8:45 and the plane does not leave until 11:20. So after killing a couple of hours at the airport I get on the KLM 737 for Amsterdam. At Amsterdam I have about 90 min. layover so I go check out the electronics and I pick up Phillips digital S/W for $55 and a hardrock tee-shirt for $17. I convert all of my spainish money back to dollars. I board the 747 for Minneapolis at 14:40 and we leave shortly after 15:00. Because of the jet stream we are forced to go far north over Iceland and Greenland. I meet several guys on the plane who had gone to the Canary Islands (spain) to promote Ostrich meat. I get into Minneapolis about 18:00 and we have to wait for a gate. Then we pass through immigration and customs and my sister is there to take me home.
steven_t_engelhardt