It's hard to believe that it is our last day in Málaga, which means only 1 week left in Europe! Sorry we haven't written in so long but we have been pretty busy. Busy at the beach. Oh yeah, and busy exploring Spain and Africa.
We first went to Granada, which is famous for being the last Moorish city to fall to the Christians. It is also known for its tapas scene and its large university. Because of all these different influences, Granada is a young, vibrant hippie town with a funky Islamic vibe. We spent two days there, the first of which we spent exploring the Alhambra. Situated on a gigantic hill overlooking Granada, the Alhambra is a Moorish creation meant to represent paradise on Earth. It's hard to explain but it's pretty much an area with gardens, a fortress (complete with moat), a palace, and lots of reflection pools. It is also full of tourists. We wish everyone could see the hill/mountain that it is on so you could understand the trek we undertook to get there. But it was well worth it to see the intricate details of the Alhambra and the view from the top was exquisite!
Then, it was time for Africa...
We booked a weekend in Tangier, Morocco through a deal that provided us two nights in an amazing 3-star hotel. This detail is important for later in this story. The journey to get to Tangier proved the old addage "It's the journey, not the destination". Because it took FOREVER to get there. A 4-hour bus ride to Tarifa, Spain (which was only supposed to be 3hours, by the way), then a 2 hour ferry (again, only supposed to be 35 minutes), plus a shuttle to the hotel when we thought we were going to get taken. How do you describe Tangier? As soon as we got off the ferry, we were bombarded by this old man trying to get us to stay in his "hotel" and eat at his "restaurant". Yeah right, old man, we're not fooled that easily. Brian Cole taught us that. We narrowly escaped old-man Moroccan and were taken to our hotel. 3-stars in Morocco is very different than 3-stars in the US. It wasn't too bad since we had beds and a hot shower. But our pillows were so stiff they couldn't be folded in half, our toilet paper was pink and didn't flush, and our TV was probably a good 5 inches. There were also lots of flies. But whatever, we loved every minute of it. Except when we decided to walk the 2 miles from our hotel to the medina (the main market street in Tangier). We didn't love every minute then...
During this walk, we were subjected to a level of verbal assault that neither one of us had ever experienced before. It can be described as this: It was as if the city of Tangier provided a monetary reward for every man who made a female tourist feel threatened and scared. Besides the usual cat-calls and cars honking, we also experienced hissing, suggestive phrases (in Arabic, Spanish and English), a car following us down the street to pull over and yell at us, and a man who followed us around. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant situation and we were made to feel objectified and inferior to the men. We also observed that women were virtually nonexistent on the streets. But we learned that it was uncommon for women to leave the house without a companion, usually a man. We quickly learned to take cabs everywhere.
After we took cabs, the harassment lowered to a non-threatening level as we found that the city center was more touristy and welcoming. The medina was lined with colorful stores and cafes. We had the world´s best mint tea and even bartered with the shop owners. It was a unique experience to be in an Islamic country, both for its culture and religion. We heard the call to prayer sang from the mosque towers and saw the vast majority of women covered in veils. So we just consider Tangier a wonderful cultural experience, and are glad we went. Although, for those women thinking of going, we do recommend taking a man with you.
We made it back to Spain with a new appreciation for our liberties as women. The trek back was long but we made a new friend with the awesome name of Jackson Fellows. Shout out to Jax.
A few days later we ventured to Ronda, a little city nestled in the rolling hills of Spain. Ronda is in the book, 1000 Things to See Before You Die, and we saw it! Life WIN! It is in the book because it is one of the "pueblos blancos"/white towns for all you non-Spanish speakers. The houses and buildings are all white washed to keep the citizens cool in the cruel Andalusian summers. Ronda is also really cool because it's situated on two giant hills separated by a enormous ravine. To connect the town, the people of Ronda built a monsterous bridge that stems from the bottom of the ravine. Google it if you can't imagine what we're saying.
We've spent our last days in Málaga by tanning at the beach, watching plenty of soccer games (Viva Barça!), avoiding Mehdi and Mehdi, reading, and trying to speak Spanish. Tomorrow we go to Sevilla for 3 days, then Madrid for 4 days, and then AMERICA!!!!!!!! hell yeah.
We're super excited to be home and look forward to eating American breakfasts, using real condiments like ranch and ketchup, and speaking English to people besides each other. Don't take those things for granted, people.
That's it for us! Hope you are enjoying the beautiful season of Spring and supporting the Red Wings in their quest to win another Stanley Cup (Alex) and/or supporting the Cavs in their quest to win anything for the state of Ohio (Kirsty).
We love you all! Steer clear of the swine flu!!
-Alex + Kirsty = the future Mrs. Guardiola and Mrs. Valdes.
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A few things...
ReplyDeleteSomeone once told me that pigs would fly if a black man was elected president...100 days later, swine flu.
That was lame.
2nd thing...Wings were screwed by the ref tonight...
3rd thing...enjoy your last days. Eventually they will become just memories hibernating in the back of your head. Every now and then a smell, a scene, or a voice will remind you of your experiences, but it will last mere seconds... enjoy!