Barcelona: Whimsy, Art, and Catalan Identity

view of the city from in front of the MNAC (sea off to the right)

Last weekend I went to Barcelona for 4 days to fulfill several needs/desires: 

•  I had to leave the country before early December to renew my tourist visa
•  I was meeting up with two friends from Carleton U. I haven't seen since 2008 and 2009 respectively
•  I wanted to visit this beautiful, historic, famous city
•  Lastly, I wanted to do a bit of shopping before going to Berlin (needed winter appropriate footwear!)

Dorit and I tried the cava our first night there

Number 1 was easily done, got the stamp in my passport leaving Morocco and a new one upon my return. Hopefully no problems arise as I leave and return another 2 times before the end of my internship.

I hadn't seen Dorit, who was my suitemate in Res at Carleton in my last year for a semester, since she finished her term abroad and when back to Israel. We've kept in touch over the years, and this was a perfect opportunity to meet up in an architect's (she's one) dream city. I'm planning on visiting her when I finish my internship. 

Megan is currently interning in the Netherlands, but I hadn't seen her since I graduated Carleton in 2009 (or maybe at a Carleton-McGill game when Gill was still playing in fall 2009). We played on the Carleton women's rugby team, both lived in Res first year and love travelling. 

This was a great opportunity to catch up with two fabulous friends!

Barcelona - living up to expectations

Everything magical and amazing I've heard about Barca is true. We lucked out with the weather - between 14 and 24 while we were there and we didn't get rained on while we toured the city. Kudos goes to Shiv, a friend living in Spain, for her great tips and general advice for things to visit while there. 

mini-Carleton reunion (Park Guell)!

Dorit and I rented a quiet apartment in Barri Gotic through airbnb, which was perfect. Our host also gave us lots of advice when he let us in Thursday evening. We spent the rest of the night wandering around the neighbourhood, which was the medieval city, and visiting the port (my first time on the Mediterranean!). The Barcelona Cathedral was beautiful at night, the narrow curving streets quaint, and the marina area calm but pretty. 

Friday, Dorit and I travelled up to Montjuic Hill, then down past the Miro museum before going in the MNAC (national art museum of Catalonia) which was a palace and overlooks the city and Placa d'Espanya. We then grabbed a fast lunch in the Mercat St-Josef (Boqueria market) on Las Ramblas - seemingly along with every other tourist in the city. A free walking tour courtesy of Travel Bar gave us a good overview of the city's history, after which we met up with Megan before wandering back over to the Mercat Caterina (which we'd visited earlier) with its crazy, colourful roof.

the musicians at the flamenco show

Supper in Placa Reial, followed by a half-hour flamenco show (not nearly long enough!) at Tarantos was very enjoyable. Spaniards (and Catalans) eat quite late in general. We tried the Tapas - patatas bravas, oxtail sandwich, salad; everything was good, including dessert and sangria! I don't think I would have realized that Flamenco shared so many roots with Arabic music if I hadn't been in Morocco all this time  - the singing style is very similar to what is heard in North Africa or the Middle East. Very melodic and haunting, but not native to Catalonia. 

the nativity facade of the Sagrada Familia, to be completed in the next 20 years

Saturday, we met up bright and early and visited the Sagrada Familia just after it opened. We didn't have to wait to get in and it wasn't very crowded. I can't imagine being there in the summer. Needless to say, it is a masterpiece of modernism, combines several different styles and photos cannot do it justice - thought I tried with over a hundred on my camera. A true example of how Gaudi has left his imprint on the city, and was inspired by the natural world.

the pillars are modeled after a forest, the ceiling = the canopy

Casa Batllo, another Gaudi creation - inspired by nature

We then headed up to Gracia, where we wandered into a public awareness campaign to build a new school, around a local neighbourhood and had great tapas at a hole-in-the-wall. Walking down Passeig de Gracias afterwards we saw several examples of modernist architecture - La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, Casa Amatller, etc. Beautiful, whimsical buildings. A few hours of shopping followed (new leather boots- yay), then ate some more excellent food at a Catalan restaurant. 

a bench in Park Guell

Sunday we didn't have a lot of time before I had to head to the airport, so we headed up to Park Guell (via the outdoor escalators-definitely the way to go) and again got there before there were too many tourists. What a beautiful natural space; the mosaics were lovely. We spent the last bit of time in the Port/marina area before I had to run back to the apartment and then to the airport. 

Beautiful blue-green Mediterranean sea!

We definitely didn't see everything there is to visit, but I would put this city on everyone's must-see list for Europe in general. Can't wait to return one day and continue exploring. We were there just before some very important elections for the region (which has some autonomy from Spain, and a very strong independence movement [echoes of Quebec...] especially now that the economy is so poor). Actually arrived the day after the Europe-wide anti-austerity 14-N protests which brought out 1 million people in Barcelona alone, but no damage was obvious.

 

Marrakech: "the daughter of the desert"

Last weekend, Elena and I decided to make a day trip to Marrakech (French spelling), the third largest city in Morocco but one that gets millions of visitors every year due to its multiple attractions and unique location at the edge of the Atlas mountains and the desert. 

By train this was a day-long adventure, trains run every 2 hours from the main Casablanca station, and 2nd class tickets (economy) cost only 90 Dirhams one way, about $10 CAD. The trip is about 3 and 1/4 hours long. 

Want to play Sardines?

At the train station many travellers, tourists and Moroccans alike, were heading to Marrakech. We'd been warned that there is no limit to the number of 2nd class tickets sold, so it is always possible that you will have to spend the entire journey standing, crammed into the small hallway that edges the compartments in each train car. 

It turns out that day was one such day. 

We crushed onto the train, peered into already full compartments, then, resigned, settled in for the long journey with little air and nothing to sit on. Despite trying to upgrade to 1st class, we were informed all the tickets there were sold out (limited number of tickets if you're willing to pay more for the privilege). 

It was so busy because the folks that go home for Eid-ad-Adha return anytime over a period of about 2 weeks surrounding the holiday. Additionally, the term vacation for students happened to coincide with our travel date. Sigh. 

Needless to say, Elena and I were very hot and tired by the time we reached Marrakech, although we saw some great scenery on the way there which we would have missed in a squished compartment (the only advantage is sitting). We also played a game of "things that could be worse"  which lightened the mood and put things in perspective (ask me if you're curious).

Majorelle Gardens

We decided our first stop in Marrakech would be the Majorelle Gardens, owned and renovated by Yves Saint-Laurent. Once we got a taxi to the gates we sat down and had lunch at a trendy (read: tourist pricey) restaurant. The chicken tagine was good, but the servings and prices were steep compared to Casa!

One of the neat things about Marrakech in general was the massive numbers of tourists present, even this late into the fall. Instead of being "one of these things is not like the others" we actually fit in. Quite different even from Rabat and Casa. 

The gardens are beautiful. Upon entering, the peace and quiet of the walled gardens surrounds and washes over you. The winding paths past different types of palm trees, cacti, and calm ponds transport you to a different place. The birds welcome you with their melodies. 

There is also a Berber museum within the gardens, a cafe and an exhibit of all of the LOVE card designs YSL sent to his friends and clients each new year. Very pretty!

Jemaa-el-Fnaa

Deciding we could easily walk to the Medina next was not a good idea.  Miscalculated that one by a couple kilometers... But we eventually found the Koutoubia Mosque and the Jemaa-el-Fnaa square. Originally the place where public executions were held, it has been a marketplace for hundreds of years. In particular it has an overwhelming number of entertainers (musicians, snake charmers, monkeys in chains, storytellers, folks wearing traditional garb for photos, etc).

We quickly bypassed the snake-men, and wandered through some of the narrow streets of the souks. There are multiple souks specific to each type of good you are looking for, like olives, spices, carpets, jewelry, lanterns, and many more, but right around the square you can find a great variety of stalls. The merchants are impressive polyglots too - perhaps not perfectly fluent, but they can shout their wares in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, even some Italian and German here and there! 

After a-wandering, we followed sound advice and found a hotel that had a rooftop café overlooking the square where we took a break, watched the sun set and the stalls in the square start to light up. 

A bit of purposeful shopping followed, then we had the headache of trying to find a taxi willing to use their meter (required by law, ahem!) to take us to the train station during rush hour. No luck. Ended up getting a grand taxi willing to take us for 30 Dh.  It seems food prices aren't the only inflated things in Marrakech. 

First Class, best choice

With only a few minutes to spare we decided on first class tickets for the return journey and some surprisingly speedy McDonald's take-out from the train station. It was a pleasant journey back to Casa sharing the compartment with a family and another young woman. 

If anyone knows why Marrakech is referred to as the "daughter of the desert" please let me know!  

Next post probably will focus on my weekend in Barcelona - I leave Thursday, can't wait!
 

Another taste of Morocco

I've already posted about some of my experiences with food here in Morocco, but I've had a couple more I thought I should share before they get too far past to write about. I had planned to write exclusively about Eid-al-Adha in this post, but I don't have as much to say as I thought I would so it'll be just one part. 

Camel for lunch

in a local neighbourhood of Casa

Three Saturdays ago, I went to explore Habbous, the new Medina area created by the French during the Protectorate in the 1920's, with my friend and her boyfriend who was visiting from Canada. We walked through Maarif in the general direction of Habbous, then up through a very local neighbourhood that included several butcher shops with huge chunks of raw meat (or indeed most of a cow) hanging in front of the shops. We also passed numerous flocks of 20 or so sheep every few streets. These had arrived all over the city about 10 days before Eid (October 26th), including a flock that was installed in the garage next to my apartment building. 

This is because Eid-al-Adha is the Festival of Sacrifice - to commemorate Ibrahim (Abraham)'s willingness to sacrifice his son (with the son's permission) to God. As a reward for his faith, God switched out Abraham's son for a ram, so Muslims celebrate this event by sacrificing a sheep, goat or cow, and share the meat with neighbours, family, and supposedly the homeless as well (I didn't observe this but I did read about this). So this means, going out and selecting a ram for your family ahead of time from one of the flocks shepherds bring in to the city, and bringing it home a day or so before Eid. We're talking millions of sheep being sacrificed on a single day in Morocco, let alone across the Muslim world. In fact, half of the sheep in Morocco are slaughtered on this single day (according to the daily newspaper).

some of the olives for sale in Habbous

Back to Habbous - we finally took a taxi to get the rest of the way to Habbous as we were turned around from exploring this small Moroccan neighbourhood, and we promptly arrived about 10 minutes later. The walled area is clearly newer, and is next to a royal palace (always closed to the public), a park and a mosque. We browsed the shops, the olive souk (barrels and barrels of numerous varieties of olives), and continued to the area past the walls that is the only market where you can buy camel meat in Casablanca. 

We bought it some ground camel meat (it is unclear whether it is mixed with beef or not) straight from one of a street of butchers - while we stood next to the furry head of said camel hanging from the awning, which was flanked by the camel's bare hump. Sorry - no photos of that! Then we walked around the corner, to a row of small "restaurants" that cook your meat for you, and serve it to you with cooked onions and tomatoes and bread. We had a couple pots of mint tea too. The meat was surprisingly good! You sit practically in the street, with the smoke from all these little restaurants blowing in your face.

ground camel meat formed into long strips to grill

We then headed back through the market area and had a look at the carpets and clothing stalls before walking back to Twin Centre (a good 25 minute walk at least), through a nice neighbourhood and park. 

Eid-al-Adha

garage with a flock adjacent to my building, smelled a bit sheepy for a while

So, seeing all these sheep chilling out (AKA unknowingly awaiting their imminent deaths) on every second street, I figured the actual sacrifice on the feast day would be equally visual, possibly in the street (my street is filled with apartment buildings - where else would you do the act itself? I thought). Especially since entrepreneurial folks started selling charcoal, rope and knives, or knife-sharpening services, all over the place suddenly. 

Friday morning, Eid, was a holiday, so I woke up a bit later than usual, but to a much quieter street than usual. The "bah"ing I'd heard all week was gradually silenced, over the course of the morning, but not in an obvious way. It was raining as well. There were virtually no cars driving by on the busy road behind the building - I think it was the quietest I have ever heard Casablanca - even at night. 

From my balcony I could see a couple sets of families up on the rooftop larger balconies off their apartments who were obviously going about the sacrifice business, although I couldn't see much looking up, but there were few people in the streets.

A co-worker invited me to come to her family's place in the late afternoon for the holiday, so I left my apartment just after 1:45 pm to try and locate a rare taxi. As I went past my building I saw families working on cutting up their sheep carcasses in the basement/parking garage of my building - aha, this is where they must be doing it! I also saw the carts of sheepskins that men were collecting, most people don't tan their own sheep skins anymore, they give them away. The taxi ride through Casa was eerie - very few people and very very few cars. The smoke from the charcoal fires used to cook the sheep heads on street corners wafted down the empty streets, making me think of an abandoned city in a war  zone perhaps. 

deserted on the Sunday after Eid, the ocean is @ the end of the street

The meal at my co-worker's was much more informal than I expected - I had visualized something akin to Thanksgiving or Easter - lots of family, lots of food. But we ate a late lunch of tripe, bread, onion-tomato salad and french fries, with tea and homemade cookies accompanied by fruit to round it off. I had to leave before supper was served in order to get back to my apartment on one of the last trains (within Casa) and I was a bit worried about the number of taxis that would be available. Perhaps supper is the larger meal with more dishes. 

Those who know me well know that I'm a picky eater - I don't like or eat fish, seafood, sushi, hardly like eggs, and rarely eat weird things. There was even a year or so when the only meat I would eat was chicken. So I would like to congratulate myself for trying both camel meat and sheep tripe, within a week. I only managed one mouthful of tripe, and did not find it my liking, but I think it is likely something you have to grow up on to enjoy.