Welcome to my travellog. Here you can read about my journeys day by day.
May 14, 2008 06:00 PM Last day in Marrakesh
In the late evening I'm leaving Marrakesh for Zagora - I want to see the dessert. I had to check out from my hotel before noon and had to find a luggage storage for my backpack. It wasn't easy. The only facility that work 24 hours is located in the main bus station. NOTE: Lonely Planet is wrong about saying there are lockers at the train station - actually there are no lockers. You can leave your luggage at Supratours office but it closes at 7 p.m. so it doesn't work for my late departure. It also seems that all - not only international - CTM busses leave now from around the company's bureau located near the train station.
After finally getting rid of my backpack I went for a stroll in the labyrinth of medina's narrow streets and I got lost. It was quite hard to find the way out but finally I managed to get out of the medina walls and caught a bus that took me near the Djemaa el Fna square.
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May 13, 2008 06:00 PM Day trip to Essaouira
I had to get up early this morning to catch a bus to Essaouira, a middle-sized town located on the Atlantic coast. Although the journey takes 3 hours I decided to make this journey a day-trip. There are no individual sights in Essaouira, but the tozn as a whole, and especially its compact medina is really charming. Apart from the medina also the port is worth visiting. Go as far as you can - if you can stand the awful odour of seagulls' feaces and rotten fish - and find yourself among the locals with no tourists around.
Essaouira is much calmer than Marrakesh so you can take rest from ubiquitous motorbikes, that ply the medina, and the smell of fumes.
In the evening I went to Djemaa el Fna again to have dinner and I chose a stall that was advertised by a local guy speaking, among other languages, my native Polish. His command of Polish was limited to the entries of the menu but still I was quite impressed.
Be aware of what you order as very similar things have totally different prices - e.g. one species of fish costs 20 dirhams while a mix is 70 for the same quantity. It's so just to rip off tourists. If they want you to pay more than you should just insist and they usually give up with the lozer price.
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May 12, 2008 06:00 PM Medina and the souqs
I didn't sleep well this night. About 4 a.m. I was woken up by a muezzin calling people for prayer. There are two mosques near my hotel and I'm afraid they compete in loud prayer calls.
In the morning I went for a walk through the medina to explore the souks, i.e. shops scattered all over the place in narrow lanes of the quarter.
I already have tickets for the tomorrow day-trip to Essaouira - 65 dirhams one way - and for the day after tomorrow to Zagora - 120 dirhams o/w. I'm going to spend a day or tzo in the dessert.
In the evening I went to the Djemaa el Fna square again to take a fez shots. It's e great place for taking pics, especially after dusk. The place is lit so well that you even don't need a tripod. It seems I'm carrying my tripod zith no need...
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May 11, 2008 06:00 PM Going to Morocco
I´m just to leave Spain and fly to Marrakesh. My plane departs at 6 p.m. Today I had a nice stroll around the town of Girona with my host Lluis. Girona is a charming medieval town with a beautiful views along the Onyar river that divides the town into two parts. Now ít´s raining here. I´m wondering what the weather is like in Morocco. I hope Marrakesh will welcome me with sun. The plan for today is to find a hotel and look around Djemma el Fna. Bye, bye Girona...
continued:
I arrived in Marrakesh before 7 p.m. and had no problems finding a cheap hotel - only 60 dirhams, but there's only cold shower. The location of the hotel is really great - literally several steps from the very centre of Marrakesh - Djemaa el Fna square. Just after leving my luggage I went to the square to see how the show looks like. The show takes place there every evening qand night. This is the place where you can totally immerse in Moroccan culture and become part of the show. Enjoy!
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May 10, 2008 06:00 PM Beginning in Gerona
Another journey started today afternoon. This is going to be my longest solo trip so far and the destination is Morocco. Now I´m in Girona, Spain from where I have a flight to Marrakesh tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately I was a bit too late to catch this charming medieval town in warm light of the setting sun, but still I managed to take a fewdecent pictures.
Going around the town is much easier for me as it's my second visit to Gerona. The first one was when I was going back from Tenerife with my friends and we spent a fez hours in the town just walking around. Gerona is much nicer now in May than it was in Winter - there are more people in the streets and it's visible the town lives. I was als nicely surprised with the sunny weather as the forecast was a bit moer pessimistic.
In the evening I met my host who gave me accommodation for the night: Lluis was very nice and also prepared a great dinner.
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Dec 29, 2007 09:00 PM Walking for the whole day
After getting to the city centre I first wanted to get to the Musee d'Orsay but the queue was so long that I gave up. Then I tried with the Louvre - I was queueing there for 20 mins and then it turned out this was the queue only to enter the museum and there are other queues to buy tickets. I gave up again. My piece of advice here - come early in the morning or visit at less busy times than I did.
Today I also visited the Museum of Modern Art.
In the evening I returned to the Louvre to take some more pictures and then walked along Chapms Elysees to get to the Eiffel Tower.
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Dec 28, 2007 09:00 PM Again on a plane
Not more than three weeks have passed and I'm travelling again. The flight from Warsaw to Beauvais (80 kms from Paris) takes slightly more than two hours. After landing I took a bus to the centre of Paris (13 euros o/w) and then got to the hostel by metro. It pays to buy a carnet of 10 tickets (the discount is roughly 25% then).
In the evening I went to Montmartre to look around and take some night photos. I also visited the Sacre Coeur Basilica. Then I headed to the red light district to take several pictures of this famous area with Mulain Rouge being the most famous spot there.
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Dec 11, 2007 09:00 PM A farewell to Canary Islands
We got up as early as 5:30 a.m. to pack all the things and fold the tents. All that stuff took us less time than we expected. We had taxis called at 7 a.m. and were obviously given a small look-around drive when going to the airport and were ripped off a bit. I guess taxi drivers are generally all the same all around the world.
We arrived in Girona at 2 p.m. and immediately took a bus to the town. It cost 3.90 euros for a return ticket and the ride lasted half an hour. After having a quick look around in the old part of the town we headed for something to eat. Now I think it was one of the worst pizzas I've ever had, so it's better you never eat at Garbi located in Placa Pompeu Fabre. In the evening we returned to the airport to spend the night there as our flight is scheduled for early morning.
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Dec 10, 2007 09:00 PM A lazy day at beach
Today we rushed to Playa de Las Americas for unceasing sunshine and fine-sand beach. Playa de La Tejita, the beach located just a few minutes of walking from our campsite is not a bad one but it's unbearably windy and thus more suitable for wind and kite surfers rather than those whose prime aim is to sunbathe.
The sun started shining strongly about midday and we enjoyed it till 4 p.m. This was the deserved moment of leisure after several days of early wake-ups getting us out of beds sometimes at 5 a.m.
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Dec 09, 2007 09:00 PM In the realm of the devil
Barranco del Infierno means Hell's Ravine and it was our destination for today. We lost more than two hours to get to Adeje where the track starts. Traffic jams were horrible on both ways there and back.
The first part of the hike along the ravine is marked on one of the slopes of the ravine and is under strong and uninterrupted sunlight during most of the day (that's why you need sunscreen, a hat and a bottle of water). The second part leads through the bed of the ravine which is shady and humid, the ground is slippery so we needed sturdy trekking shoes with good soles (the staff will check if you have proper boots, and if not, you won't be let on the track).
At the end of the ravine there is a waterfall (the highest and probably the only one on Tenerife). It's unbelievable how enormous power water can have and what it can carve in stone.
The name of the ravine is hundred per cent adequate as it's scorching hot on the slope and you're hopeless to hide from sunshine burning your shoulders.
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