Despite staying up late we checked out early, and it was an easy train ride to the airport. As we arrived there we saw thousands of paper tickets spread out all over the ground near the ticket machines – not sure what that was all about. The airport was surprisingly busy as I guess other people know that it is cheap to fly on New Year’s Day. 

We had a quick sandwich (blah) and coffee (meh) and then lined up to check in. As I had bought the next two legs of our trip on Turkish Airlines from two different companies I was anticipating some trouble and sure enough, they only had my information for the first leg. They said we’d need to pick up our suitcase, clear immigration and customs to enter Turkey, and then come right back in and check in for the next leg. But the staff offered to look for my other flight, if I could just provide the tickets.

It sounds easy but it is not. The tickets are actually emails, and each leg is a different email. Each passenger is a different email. I showed the flight reservation code, but that is not what she wanted. Some of the travel companies will not give you a flight ticket number until you log into their sites, and I wasn’t sure off the top of my head which company I had used for which tickets. I searched through all my emails but the answer was not coming up and I was very aware of all the people waiting impatiently behind us. So, I told the staff that we’d step out of line to look for it and come back when I had it. Kuniko was understandably pissed off – why is Bryan so disorganized? Why do we have to wait twice? I just wanted to get out of people’s way instead of flailing under pressure, and once we stepped aside I found the email that had the flight ticket seat number. We lined up in the first class line and luckily we could get the second leg added on and say goodbye to our suitcase until we meet again in Osaka.

Phew! Afterwards the security line was surprisingly long – about a 30 minute wait to get through. A couple in front of us were arguing so I could see how travel stress could affect us all. Finally through the gate we decided to get a little better food at a deli type place. We had a half bottle of Esporao white, a nice piece of quiche, and everything was all right with the world. 

As we headed to our gate, the flight suddenly was marked as final boarding, so we went down the tunnel and got on a bus which took us out to our plane. Despite the final boarding message, it took a long time to fill the plane, with a big group arriving just at the last minute. Maybe due to the security line?

It was four and half hours to Istanbul, easy flight, and a kid with an unusually large head in front of us was enjoying peek a boo with us. Towards the end of the flight I went to use the restroom and was surprised to find some used diapers wadded up in the toilet – those don’t flush! I told the flight attendant and she knew exactly whodunnit – and went after him and his little kid immediately. Yikes!

In Istanbul we did sort of the same thing we had done on the way in – a kebab and beer at one bar, more kefta, beer, and spicy burgers at the sports bar we visited before, walking around stretching our legs, and playing Balatro while waiting. It was a long time to kill. Finally it was time to go to the gate to catch our 10 hour flight to Osaka.

Not much to report after that – I slept seven of the ten hours. The food on the return leg was not so delicious – breakfast was some kind of sweet porridge – but that is the price you pay for cheap flights in economy!

Then it was the familiar slide through Kansai airport – immigration was easy as usual. We had to wait quite a while for our suitcase – long enough to start getting worried that it didn’t in fact make it from Lisbon. But finally it came around the conveyor. We were able to catch a bus. I had bought a ticket for the return bus ride for Kuniko after checking with a staff that it was valid for the future, but on the ticket we found a message that said that it wasn’t. Kuniko had to buy another ticket and we just made it in time. 

Back home we unpacked our loot – the cheese and other goodies all made it safely. What a journey! This trip was our last on our current passports – now we have to stick around Japan until we can get them renewed. Hopefully we’ll be traveling again soon!

I kicked off our second (and last) full day in Lisbon by sleeping in. This was the second time this trip I slept over 12 hours, so my body must need it. We showered up and headed out to try another breakfast place. On our way we walked through the big plaza between the arch and the water, and there was a lot of concert equipment there in preparation for the countdown tonight. The sun was just starting to rise and we got some great photos.

The breakfast place this time wasn’t quite as good as yesterday’s. Here are my raw notes:

“Huge cappuccinos, big avocado toast, one power outage, reasonable prices.”

After a quick stop back at the hotel we decided to go try to hunt down one of those funicular street cars. A google search showed there was one running just a 13 minute walk away, so we hit the hills and started climbing. The neighborhoods here had more tiles to photograph, and we passed a beautiful museum, the Carmo Archaeological Museum, and eventually found the top of the funicular line. Our timing was good to see the car arrive, and then we went next door to take in views of the city from a park nearby. 

On our way back we hit a supermarket to look around. Kuniko found some Moroccan mint tea, made by Lipton. It was weird to me that we were buying Moroccan tea after just having left there, but we tried it later and it was really good. 

We went back to the hotel, packed up and checked out, and then back onto the train heading towards the airport. At the transfer we got off at Oriente station, where we found the weather a little colder. Our hotel was right across the street from the train station, and there was also a shopping center. Beyond the center we could see a ropeway running over the water. 

After leaving our bags at the hotel we took an Uber to get to the National Tile Museum. Surely this would be a great place get my tile addiction taken care of for the long term. We had found mixed results online whether it was open or closed – being New Year’s Eve made things uncertain. But I found a site selling tickets online and they sold me two tickets for today, so we were on. 

But when we arrived we were disappointed to see the place closed. Later I contacted the website and got my money back, but we’ll have to save the museum for another visit. We hailed an Uber and went right on back. Both our Uber drivers were professional and did a great job – big difference from our experience yesterday.

We had the driver drop us off near the water’s edge and we walked along there to get to the entrance of the ropeway. I bought some tickets from the ticket booth – the guy noticed that I had Japanese characters on my credit card and said that he really wants to go to Japan someday. 

The ropeway was fun! As we boarded we politely (I hope) declined the photographer taking a picture of us, but the after that we had great views of the city, the Tagus river, and we could even see the barge that (hopefully) would shoot off fireworks tonight at midnight.

We did a round trip on the ropeway and then got back off and walked through the grounds of a large aquarium, that was doing good business on the holiday. Many other places were closed, and we were starting to get hungry. We went to the big shopping center across from the train station, and found ourselves walking through the big food court and checking our options. We ended up going upstairs where they had more sit-down options, and chose a Belgian beer place that nonetheless sold a local bottled beer. Kuniko had some red wine, we ordered more salt cod confit, and sat in the sun in front of a window overlooking the river. A group of Spanish tourists sat near us so I had a chance to work on my listening comprehension (not good).

For me this was another of those perfect travel moments – comparing and contrasting our current situation to cold days in the Fes riad – we’d come a long way. We had two rounds of drinks here because of the great location, and the staff were again really friendly and helpful. 

Maybe it was because I was under this sort of blissful condition that things went so well at the supermarket. Suddenly all the culinary treasures of Europe lay before us, and the only things standing in our way was a flimsy credit card. Woo-hoo!

We were shopping to stock our hotel room, as our plan was the spend the evening in our room partying until midnight to ring in the new year. The supermarket was a big one, and we weren’t the only ones stocking up. I got four rounds of Portuguese cheese (three to take home, one for tonight), a bottle of Esporao Alicante Bouchet, a bottle of Portuguese sparkling wine, three mini bottles of port (just in case), and then also a salad, some caramelized onion pate, some crackers, and other loot. We hauled it all back to our room with big smiles.

The staff in the hotel opened our wine bottle for us, provided utensils, and provided a lot of extra services for us. So we enjoyed sipping wine, snacking, listening to music, writing in the journal, talking about the trip and remembering the funniest moments. We even got a nap in – staying up until midnight is not something we do often and we needed all the help we could get.

Close to midnight we opened the bubbles and turned off the lights for the countdown. Through our window we could see fireworks off in the distance from about an hour before midnight, and then we had a good view of the fireworks near our hotel when the big moment came. Across the horizon we could see fireworks in other areas of the city – it was a great moment and nice way to finish 2024.

We went to bed soon after, knowing that tonight’s sleep would be the last chance for us to sleep horizontally for a long time. 

We were up surprisingly early after walking so many steps the next day. We had declined the breakfast at this hotel with the hope of going out and getting something a little bit better than “hotel breakfast”. We found a place called “Mil Sabores” that was open early, so we walked a few blocks in the brisk morning air to get there. We passed some beautiful landmarks on the way, and the road maintenance people were out cleaning up from the night before.

The breakfast place was a cafe, not part of a chain, and the lady running it spoke English, so we were all set. We had a ham, egg and cheese omelette (better than Marrakech) and I had a grilled cheese sandwich, along with two cappuccinos (each!) While we enjoyed our hot breakfast the shopkeeper was talking with a couple of what looked like homeless guys. I got a really good vibe from the cafe – it was a nice breakfast place.

We went back to the hotel to get organized and then went outside and hailed a car with the ride hailing app Bolt. Ride hailing was banned in Morocco but it was nice to be able to use an app instead of haggling with taxi drivers over price and having to listen to their sales pitch while driving. 

But we soon found that there are some drawbacks to the app model. Our driver was quiet but most of his attention was focused on his personal phone sitting on his lap – he was either attending a web meeting or watching someone’s presentation. He got us to our destination, but I was surprised how little he paid attention to the road. I’m sure he was getting paid dirt cheap wages to drive, and so I guess we should expect a little more risk for as low as the price was. Still, not a great experience but at least no haggling.

Our destination was The Monument to Discoveries, a dramatic and imposing sculpture in remembrance of historical Portuguese explorers setting out from this point. It was really impressive, even more so with the morning sun shining and backdropped with the blue sky and water. 

From the monument we walked along the river/ocean to the west until we came to the Torre de Belem, a landmark tower with a great view of the Tagus river and the ocean beyond. In this area we started to see a lot of tour buses parked – we weren’t the only ones getting an early start. In the area we also walked through the Jeronimos monastery which had some beautiful exterior architecture in a white gothic style. 

Instead a riding a taxi we decided to walk back and burn some calories. It was not a short walk but gave us plenty of chances to see things that we would otherwise miss. I got lots of photos of tiles, and we passed so many cafes and restaurants that were placed to enjoy the view of the river. We walked over a bridge to a unique platform overlooking the long bridge to the south. The viewpoint was called MAAT, and the modern style indicated that it wasn’t that old. 

Finally we ended up closer to where we started. We popped into a big market that was divided into two sides. The first side we visited was the traditional market – where people would buy ingredients, fish and meat for cooking – but it was about half closed down. However on the other side was the Time Out market, which was packed with small restaurants and food shops selling things that were ready to eat. They had all kinds of local foods, bars that were serving local booze and wine, and some lively music playing. It was a cool vibe, so we thought it would be a good place to take a break. Kuniko bought us some shrimp in a spicy soup with some crusty bread, and I contributed two glasses of Portuguese sparkling wine. The place was full of long tables, and there were big empty spaces, but we were surprised when a group of four people sat right next to us. It felt like someone sitting right next to you in an empty movie theater. 

We continued exploring the city, checking out new areas that we had missed last time. Lisbon is of course a huge city and we were only getting a little taste of it, and the hillsides we went up and down reminded me a bit of San Francisco. Eventually we stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant that was located on a quiet intersection. We sat outside as the day had warmed up, and once again got into the sparkling wine. I ordered a big cheese plate with five or six kinds of cheese and it was fun to taste and compare. We also had salt cod and potatoes, and then some still white wine that I really liked. 

After lunch we checked out local markets, found new year’s traditional roasted suckling pigs piled on a table for the locals. A little grotesque, but I’ll bet they are delicious. We also had to buy some pastel de nata (four of them!) as we had really enjoyed them in Macao and thought it would be weird not to eat them in Portugal.

We spent some time resting our feet and taking a nap in our hotel, and then went back out to get some more wine and food. We went to a wine bar that wasn’t too far away. It was a very stylish restaurant, and the wines they served were all different labels but owned under one wine group. The staff were friendly and fanned out their wine list as a set of cards – we could read about each wine. They also gave some recommendations, and let us taste before pouring our glasses. 

We ate and drank well here, as you might expect. We had two sparkling wines, two rather bold reds, I got a small round of Azeitao cheese (oh yeah) and then we had pork cheeks with potato, mushrooms stuffed with chorizo sausage and quail eggs. We were the only people there because as usual we were starting early, but it was great to try several kinds of wines and eat local foods.

As it was getting dark we wandered the area randomly, turning corners and heading towards things that looked interesting. There were shops selling tinned fish in stylish designs. It was shocking to see that each tin was 9 euros – the price you pay for style! We saw more Christmas trees, some DJs were set up playing really loud music, and again lots of people were just standing around taking it in. 

Finally we went to another wine bar that was close to our hotel, and had port wine for dessert. I had a tawny 10 year port, Kuniko had a white port, and we ate a drunken pear with ice cream on cinnamon sand. Once again the staff were really nice and helpful – we met so many genuinely nice people on this trip. 

Back at our hotel room we realized that the H&M camisole that Kuniko had bought earlier still had the anti-theft tag on it, and so we went back out to get it removed at the store. We waited in line for a cashier – customers were all using their smartphone to look for coupons maybe – so it took a while. But the staff checked our receipt and then remove the tag. She said that next time we don’t need to wait in the line, and I wondered how often this kind of thing happens…

So we headed back (again) to our hotel, and to bed to build up our energy for New Year’s Eve tomorrow.

We didn’t sleep so late this morning, so we had a chance to go to the hotel breakfast right at opening time. 

The same setup as yesterday, although outside the staff were still setting up. The omelette lady was the same one – and she looked just as miserable cooking up our eggs. As we got some food from the buffet we stepped on sticky floors, and then sat down and sipped our cocoa-tasting coffee. The food was about the same, but again I enjoyed the oranges and yogurt. As we ate we had a view of the outside workers, who occasionally ducked behind their work station to use their personal phones. Something was a little off with the vibe of this hotel.

Back in our room we did our final packing and then went downstairs to check out. The front desk got on a radio to a staff member upstairs, who ran and checked our mini-bar situation. I guess they have trust issues with their guests.

The staff hailed a cab for us to the airport. The taxi was in better shape than the ones we used in Casablanca, but our driver spent most of the drive trying to sell us on tour packages. Seemed like an odd thing to do for people going to the airport with their suitcases. As we left central Marrakech we passed an intersection with a group of camels tethered to a tree. It was our first camel sighting in Morocco, if you don’t count the camel burger that we ate.

We had to get through a lot of traffic at the airport, but the driver eventually dropped us off in front of another nicely designed facility. We said that he didn’t have enough change for the bills that I gave him, effectively tipping himself 20% – nice…

We went into the airport and got into the line to check in. In front of us we noticed an interesting relationship – a young Moroccan guy and a much older European woman. They communicated only using translation software on their phones, and we watched as the young man patiently reviewed the pictures of this lady’s cats. It seemed like a temporary international relationship that was wrapping up.

Check in took a long time – some staff that was off duty insisted on walking around to all the agents and they all stopped what they were doing to shoot the breeze with him. Then it was to the immigration line that was packed with stressed, fairly pushy people who were worried about missing their plane. After immigration there was a huge line for the security check, also many highly-stressed people. By the time we made it through to the crowded (and quite small) concourse there was no time for food, so we pulled from the leftover snacks we had been carrying around during the trip. 

Soon enough our flight was called, and we boarded a bus that took us out to our TAP plane to Lisbon. The flight was only half full, and oddly quiet except for a great deal of coughing – I wasn’t the only one fighting off a cold on this trip. The older woman who we had seen earlier with the younger local guy put her bag in the overhead bin and an oddly shaped device was sticking out. I joked to Kuniko that it was a sex toy as the staff struggled to rearrange it and make space.

The flight was just an hour and twenty minutes – and we descended to the airport over the city of Lisbon. There were some beautiful views as we came in. This visit was special as it was the first time we’d ever visited Europe outside of the summer months. I was interested to see if we enjoyed this European visit as much as our summer visits.

We took a bus from the plane to the terminal, had a super easy entry into the EU through automated gates, and our suitcase came right out almost as soon as we got to the carousel. We had been in Morocco so long that we had started getting used to delays – it felt like we had come back to civilization.

We walked to the airport metro station and bought rechargeable cards, then went to wait for the train. It took a while to arrive, and once we boarded there was an angry Santa-esque dude getting off, and soon after that an accordion player looking for tips. We did notice that the stations here didn’t have many escalators, so I had to lug the luggage now and then. We made one transfer, then got off and found our hotel, quite close. 

Check in was quick and our room felt a little like an IKEA showroom corner, but it did have a big space, and seemed comfortable enough. We didn’t stay long, and went right back out to go get some wine at a wine bar I had found online. The place was a few blocks from our hotel, called Wine Bar Antiga. We consulted with the staff to try a few different wines from various areas, and he was very kind and helpful. We started with a white wine and some cod cakes and goat cheese rolls. For a second round we ordered some Port, and a local red along with a cheese platter (Portuguese cheese – just as good as I remembered). It wasn’t until I had the cheese that I realized that I had a good chance to eat more of one of my favorite cheeses ever – Azeitao. I’d have to keep my eyes open.

Behind us a table of three American women were chatting with a white guy who said he was from Hong Kong who was traveling with a much younger companion. The more they drank the more everyone was getting along. 

After our wine break we started walking – all over the place. We walked down to the ocean, the Arco da Rua Augusta, and at the Se de Lisboa cathedral there was some kind of huge event – maybe related to Christmas? As we walked a few guys tried to sell us marijuana – I guess we fit the profile of potential buyers. We also saw the Lifta Santa Lusta, which is an architectural oddity placed right in the middle of the city. Near there we happen to walk by right when a Chinese lady had a freak out. She suddenly started screaming, with nobody around here, and a local guy walking by told her to shut up. Travel can be stressful sometimes.

We had last been to Portugal way back in 2014 – about ten years ago – and I had forgotten just how important tiles are to the architectural style here. I spent lots of time taking pictures of tiles in Morocco, and I had accidentally lined up another tile-focused country on our itinerary. Once again Kuniko had to be patient with me as I snapped away at tile work that caught my eye.

We were still doing lots of walking, hitting landmarks that we wanted to see but also enjoying the cooler weather and European vibe. Heading north we walked alongside a street lined with trees that led to a large park, set up with a Christmas festival. A big Ferris wheel stood next to a large Christmas tree. Many families and young couples were walking around, playing games and buying food from stands, and I was surprised how many stands were specialized in wine by the glass sales. I guess parents need more wine than most. 

Eventually all the crowds started to grate on us a little so we headed back towards our hotel. As we went we passed many buildings with Christmas displays and projection mapping – they had big crowds watching and listening to the music, filming with their phones. I’m not sure why this was so attractive to everyone – it was basically a Christmas themed commercial – but we had to take more time to thread through these standing crowds.

We took a 20 minute break at our hotel , and then headed out to our dinner restaurant choice. To get there we followed Google maps, which took us down some dark, deserted streets. I was a little nervous – strange cities always seem more dangerous after dark – but we were fine, and I got some good pictures out of it. 

The restaurant was called Floras da Pampa, and it had a stylish interior and cozy vibe. There weren’t so many customers at first, but later they really started to come in. This place was a hit for us – good vibe, food and wines. We ate Hispi cabbage (signature dish?), spicy mussels with cilantro, and a codfish confit. I had missed salt cod – so tasty!

I drank a local IPA, then changed to a red wine that was really good called “Chamine”. I liked that even with the glass wine the staff in the restaurants we visited offered a taste to see if you like it first. Usually in other countries you just take whatever they have.

As we left this restaurant the nightlife was starting to open up – that’s standard for us in Europe as we often eat way earlier than everyone else. Nearby we checked out the Black Sheep wine bar (a recommendation from Nastya at Aida’s place in Rabat) as a possibility for tomorrow, and it was really packed. 

We walked back to our hotel and found a cheesy souvenir shop with a great keychain that we will convert to a tree ornament when we return. Score! The staff at this shop were really nice to us – even though we were doing some drunken keychain shopping. 

I took quite a few more photos on our way back, and then we retired to our hotel to write in this journal and get some sleep. Good to be back in Europe!

I slept a solid 12 hours, surely a sign that I was on the road to a recovery. Still coughing more than normal, but I felt like I had a little more energy. While I slept through, Kuniko was sleeping on and off.

I tried out our shower but the overhead rain style shower head had a significant leak that sprayed most of the water directly upwards into the ventilation fan, causing a subsequent spray of H2O in every direction. A later phone call to the staff was necessary to tighten the head and stop the leak. Afterwards it worked admirably.

Today we had a chance to have the first of our two hotel breakfasts. We had a wide open schedule today and no big travel, so I was looking forward to a slow paced breakfast. When we arrived the layout was a little unusual – they had the usual buffets and coffee machines inside with most of the tables, and outside next to the pool (but in the dark) were some other stations – a flatbread maker, an omelette station, and a fresh juice station. There was a long line in front of the omelette station that I joined later on.

The coffee machine that I used produced only hot cocoa, no matter which button you pressed. We changed to another machine and it dispensed chocolatey coffee that was quite sweet – again, no matter which button I pressed. The food itself was OK but not abundant in flavor – my favorite item was the fresh oranges that were remarkably sweet after I peeled them. The staff seemed friendly enough, but just an overall weird vibe to the place. 

We went back to the room for a short rest and then went out to make our souvenir purchases at Carrefour. We got a load of stuff at the shop, carrying out a big bag of various candy bars and dried fruit local to Morocco. On our way back we found another Carrefour, so we carefully dug out the receipt from the first Carrefour shop, and carried it with us while we shopped at the second Carrefour. We found more of what we wanted to get, so when we checked out I had the receipt ready to show but the cashier didn’t really seem to care. But when walking out the door another staff politely asked us to hold up, and then asked us, “English or French?” We used English to explain that we had done shopping somewhere else and he reviewed the receipt and then gave us a kind farewell. At first I thought it was strange that the cashier didn’t say anything, but now that I think about it maybe they wanted to give us every opportunity to pay before asking us. Interesting experience.

We came back to the hotel with all our loot, souvenir shopping for the trip basically done. I was aiming to head to the famous market square in Marrakech called Jmaa El-Fnaa, but I heard that it changes from a quiet square to a vibrant and lively marketplace from afternoon to evening. So I wanted to time our arrival so we didn’t have to wait too long in the market. We spent about an hour in our room (playing Balatro) and then took a long walk to the medina of Marrakech. We walked mainly in the sun, using shade when we could – it was one of the few times where we could shed our jackets during the trip. 

Near the main square we stopped to visit the holy building of Koutoubia, which had a large tower that was acting as shade for a big squad of pigeons. From there it was just a short walk to the big square that I remembered seeing so often in movies (James Bond) and TV (Amazing Race). A couple of people asked us if we wanted guides but were super chill when we turned them down – a contrast from the guys in Fes. 

The square was starting to get lively, we caught it right in the transition. There were plenty of shops and guys with monkeys, snakes (cobras) and dance groups playing loud music to get attention. The animal handlers would try to get you to pay if you took photos, so we had to sneak around behind. It was a little sad to see this kind of stuff though – the monkeys, the handlers, even the cobras didn’t look too happy to be there. 

There were black guys selling sunglasses everywhere, looking determined and motorcycles criss-crossing the crowds, sort of mildly controlled chaos. I guess this is what people sign up for when they come, Marrakech was delivering. 

We found our lunch place – La Farmacerie – on the outside of the square. Since the square was so big and crawling with so many people it was common for restaurants to be on the upper floors with terraces to look down on the chaos. Our restaurant had a terrace on the ground floor and as I waited for the staff to notice us a guy came from behind me and asked if we wanted to be up on a terrace or on the ground floor. Something about the way he approached and asked seemed fishy – it turned out that he was trying to poach us away to another restaurant upstairs. The staff at our target restaurant were remarkably chill about this – maybe they had some arrangement. Anyway, we found the another staff member who let us sit at nice tables on the ground floor facing the square. 

This restaurant was really good! The location was great, next to a big spice shop that was getting a lot of photo attention. Our seats were in the shade but we had a clear view of the chaos of the square. While we watched some street performers set up a super loud dance routine before a policeman came and moved them along (for some reason). In front of us one of the customers was a twin of Mr. Yamaji back home. And the food was excellent, too.

We started with some appetizers that really hit the spot – garlicky carrots, pickled beets and heavily herbed olives. We had some juices – Kuniko once again had avocado juice with milk – yum! For mains we split some chicken skewers (not bad but not revolutionary), but the big hit was a dish called erghayef khliie – don’t know how to pronounce it. They were spicy flatbreads with beef baked inside, so good!

After eating we decided to walk through the markets. They were wider and cleaner than Fes, but basically the same stuff that we had seen in previous cities. One area was sketchy – with exotic animals that were probably illegal to buy/sell in other countries. They even sold shark eggs in water – hmm…. We circled around through the square one last time, getting our final taste of the Moroccan marketplace, and then headed back on a slow walk towards our hotel.

Along the way we found a museum/community center that featured many of the tiles that I had been so impressed with, so it was a chance to take more photos. Later we stopped at a sports bar to grab a cocktail. The place reminded me of a dive bar back in the USA, a little smoky with an emphasis on cheap booze. 

Not satisfied with that experience we stopped in another place that was also a hotel, it was advertising a rooftop bar. We missed the elevator and ended up climbing five flights of stairs, but found a pool and a bar on top. They had better cocktails (although a little sweet and more expensive) and we also ordered three types of croquettes: chicken, shrimp and cheese. Kuniko and I were in high spirits thanks to the booze and the feeling of wrapping up our visit to this country. The staff were all very friendly and welcoming, and it was a nice stop.

Finally we went back to the hotel, having walked a significant distance. It was still early but we holed up in our room so that I could catch up on my journal writing and think about packing for our flight to Portugal tomorrow.

We slept like a couple of dead bodies, but thoroughly enjoyed the shower in the morning. Looking out of our room we could see the Tanger railway station all lit up. We hustled out of there, and after checking out we walked right across the street to the station. 

As I walked towards Tanger station I called up a song on my phone and played just a little bit of it, “Four Winds” by the band Tangier. I have liked the song since high school and remembered wondering what it would be like to visit Tangier someday. Now the city is spelled differently but here I was listening to Tangier in Tanger. It was a goofy thing to do but I like to think that my high school-aged self would have been impressed.

We entered the modern station and found our way to the high speed rail platform. We went to the boarding gate but when they saw our tickets they directed us to the first class boarding gate on the other side. Here there was a lounge with free coffee and bottled water for the premium passengers. The first class tickets were not much more expensive than the second class ones, so I thought it was totally worth it. We didn’t stay long in the lounge however, we had to walk down to the end of the train and get on the first class car. Our carriage was nearly empty, with just a handful of passengers. We ate some snacks for breakfast while the train pulled out of the station, heading along the coastline southwest towards Rabat and Casablanca. 

The passenger sitting across from us suddenly had a sneezing fit while working on his laptop – after ten sneezes I was worried that there was going to be a medical stop for the train. But apparently it was normal for this guy. He kept working as normal despite spraying his sneezes through the cabin. Another passenger did his prayers in the center section between cars – laying his prayer mat across the entranceway facing Mecca. 

It wouldn’t have been Morocco if there hadn’t been a delay – our high speed train stopped suddenly for about 15 minutes with an explanation only in Arabic. The train was stopped in front of a construction zone and the workers were watching us with some curiosity so it must be a little rare. Once the train restarted it wasn’t far to Casablanca, where we started this trip a week ago.

Today we were going off script a little bit. At the start of this whole trip the original plan was to arrive in Morocco at Casablanca airport (check), take the train from the airport to Casa Voyageurs station (check), then take a taxi to see the Hassan mosque. Aida had advised that we’d have very little time to do the mosque and also get to her place at a reasonable hour (she was right – even though we skipped the mosque we got to her place late), so we decided to catch the mosque on our way back through Casablanca. 

So we gave up our pre-purchased express tickets to Marrakech and instead went and grabbed a taxi to see the mosque. We negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to the mosque, and he wanted to show us around all over the city. He said that he could wait for us with our suitcase to take us back to the station, but in the end we thought it better not to be separated from our luggage as there were plenty of taxis around. It was the right call as we found out later.

The pretty banged up taxi got us to the mosque via some undercity tunnels, and seeing the mosque in its position on the coast was really impressive. Even though it was a cloudy day it was a beautiful sight. The driver let us off, we paid him 100 MAD, and he drove off (a little unhappily). 

It turned out that we needed tickets to enter the grounds around the mosque. I didn’t really want to go inside, but only to get close enough to see the tile work on the exterior. But we still needed tickets. Inside the ticket office it was a total madhouse. Chaotic lines, broken ticket machines, nobody knew what line leads to where, group tours standing around inside waiting for their guide to buy tickets. As we got closer one staff member tried to make it easier by announcing that this line is for cash and that line is for credit, instantly mixing up the two existing lines into a free-for-all. 

To make a long story short it took a long time to get our tickets, and I was glad that we weren’t rushed thinking about our taxi driver outside waiting for us (and raising his prices). We left our suitcase with a ticket guy who kept talking with other visitors while holding our suitcase – at one point leaving our bag behind – so I had to go back and guide him over to the suitcase storage area.

But finally we could take our time and enjoy seeing the mosque, which was just as impressive up close. We also had a chance to look out across the ocean – what a great location. I walked around taking pictures of tiles, while Kuniko patiently indulged my interest. Around one side of the mosque they had set up some gates and rope – behind that was perhaps my favorite tile design yet – I managed a picture of it but I couldn’t get very close.

I’m glad we made the stop here – it was costing us a bit of time and money, but totally worth it in the end. We picked up our suitcase (we just grabbed it – no staff available to return it to us) and then negotiated with a taxi driver to take us back to the station. He charged 20 MAD more than the guy who brought us here, and his car was unbelievably more crappy than the previous one. The passenger seat had the headrest torn off and I saw that the odometer had 933,000 km on it. That can’t be right, can it?

Back at the station we had to figure out the best way to get to Marrakech. There were a lot of trains running – and the ticket machine’s next available tickets on first class had us waiting two and half hours. There was an earlier train but first class was sold out – we waiting in line to confirm that second class tickets were reserved seats. The staff said they were, so we took the earlier train out – it was a good decision.

The train arrived (only a few minutes late) and there were mostly women in our second class compartment. The later next to me was speaking to her friend in English quietly, but got embarrassed about saying something and left to explain it in privacy. 

The ride to Marrakech was on a regular train – the high speed line hasn’t been extended that far yet. The scenery was empty desert most of the way, with just a few farms. I was sad to see so much trash spread out everywhere, but there were also scenes of beauty with mountains in the distance or the occasional cliffs overhead. Mostly I read my book, and Kuniko and I shared snacks, water and cough drops across the aisle to each other. 

After two and a half hours we arrived in Marrakech, at another very modern station. We walked through the station and found our hotel, practically across the street. Our hotel was very clean and modern, but actually sort of Islamic-modern. The hallways and corridors had a sort of empty feeling – we were trying to put our finger on it but couldn’t. But our room was very comfortable – and it looked out over a big swimming pool in the center of the hotel. On the ceiling was a sticker that pointed to the direction of Mecca so we could pray pointed in the right direction – nice. There was also a towel warmer/drying rack which came in handy for a little hotel bathroom laundry session.

We struck out to check out the town, and started with a wine shop that Kuniko had found online. It looked much better on Google maps, but I was definitely interested in trying more Moroccan wines. Maybe somewhere else…

The area we were walking through really reminded us of Bangkok – the way the buildings were constructed and the chaotic mess of the sidewalks and streets. From the wine shop we walked to our target restaurant, called Azalai Urban Souk. The atmosphere was cozy and a little stylish, they spoke English and were super-friendly, and they were serving food even at 4 pm which can be weird time to eat for most. I liked the chill vibes in this restaurant, and their food was really good. We had a starter of smoked eggplant with mango and goat cheese and crispy chickpeas. We also had a beef tajine – the staff burned the lid off the tajine and then poured the cooked meat and gravy through the burned portion, together with cous cous it was so good. Also we had lentil risotto with coconut cream – delicious! With two freshly blended juices it turned out to be a great meal. 

After our meal we went shopping, hitting several markets (including Carrefour) to look for some snacks that we can bring back to Japan for our students and friends. Surprisingly we found quite a bit of stuff – so I think we will do our actual shopping tomorrow during our last day in Morrocco.

Back to the hotel we had a cocktail and some wine at the pool bar. We were still full from our meal but snacked on some tasty (but super-salty) olives while we sipped our booze. I tried the white version of Medallion wine, but I was less impressed than I was with the red that we had last night in Tanger. 

Hard to believe we were all the way in the north of the country this morning, and here we were in Marrakech sipping drinks by the pool. We headed to bed sort of early, to play Balatro and get some sleep.

We were up super early at 6 am, in a pretty good mood because this was our last stay of the trip in a riad, and we were leaving Fes. 

Riads were very beautiful but a little bit too traditional (and chilly) for our tastes long term. And looking back at our stay in Fes it seemed to me that we didn’t need to spend two nights there, but the alternative was to spend Christmas Day on a bus traveling up the country – which was to be our fate today. 

So we took one final shower in the very wet bathroom. Our toilet paper ran out so I had to run downstairs – only two cooks were working in the dark hotel, but one of them could understand “toilet paper” and gave us a package of four to bring back to our room.  Toilet paper was surprisingly sparse – one little cardboard core had just a few spins of paper around it, meaning it took just two or three visits to kill a roll. Since we were riding a bus into the unknown today I popped a spare roll of TP into my backpack.

We lugged our suitcase down the dark, historic stairs – Kuniko hit the lights for me as we descended. Nobody was down there, still dark, and we heard our taxi driver buzzing the outside door. I let him in and then managed to find a cook to hand over our room key. She gave us two bags of snacks for our breakfast to go – and remarkably their contents were almost exactly the same as what we bought at Carrefour yesterday. 

Our taxi driver took us smoothly to the bus station, and it was a very easy system to use. Two staff were standing around greeting visitors and explaining how to buy tickets for our luggage, and pointing out where to wait. One of the staff was really into Japanese, and we heard him practicing his Japanese with some passengers enthusiastically. 

We waited next to quite a few other passengers in a comfortable waiting room not unlike an airport boarding gate. The bus was five minutes late in leaving, which to me felt like a minor miracle after waiting for delayed trains so many times. The bus itself was fairly modern and comfortable. We had assigned seats and so we settled in for the drive out of Fes and to the north for Chefchaouen – the Blue City. 

The road out of town had several major accidents causing traffic problems and slowing us down at first, but the driver was not afraid to step on the gas later, passing other cars aggressively. We didn’t feel like we were unsafe, but I was surprised at some of the passing locations. We made up time quickly.

North of Fes we hit open country, with beautiful views of the mountains to the northeast, some occasional lakes tucked away, and farmers using donkeys to work the land. The road was not an expressway, so we had to stop at various points for roadblocks, police inspections, and chickens running across the road. Passengers on our bus were quiet and patient – perfect for a long ride.

A couple hours out of Fes we stopped for a 15 minute break at a little cafe, and then the driver fired up the bus, did a headcount, and left promptly. 

At one point we passed crowds of school kids who were arriving or leaving school – walking on the side of the road, squatting in a circle talking to each other, in fields with scattered trash everywhere. Occasionally we passed what I thought were wild donkeys – just munching away along the side of the road. There were also many citrus groves – citrus trees were a big deal in Morocco – and oranges rolled around on the ground underneath them. But most of all what I remember from this first leg of the trip was that we saw lots of people standing around doing nothing much. Just watching things go by.

We made a very short stop at a small town to pick up some more passengers – the bus area was surrounded by food stands cooking skewers of meat. Passengers from our bus who got off to try to take a smoke break were quickly herded back onto the bus – no chance to look around.

And then after a short while we turned the corner and saw the dramatic sight of Chefchaouen on the hillside. I hadn’t realized the city so high up – and as we got closer we could see the frequent use of blue paint. Even on the outskirts of town near the bus station there were blue buildings sprinkled around.

The bus station was at the base of the city, with all the tourist attractions up at the top. First we found a place to store our luggage – a very kind man in the office wrote out a receipt by hand. Then we went to find a taxi but despite a bunch of empty taxis around we had to wait for a “petit taxi”. That had us standing around for like ten minutes waiting – we were aware that our bus out of town was leaving in less than three hours and we’d hate to get stuck here tonight.

Eventually a taxi arrived and we got in back, and as we were leaving the driver saw a lady he knew and gave her a ride in the passenger seat up front along with us. She got a free ride, but we had to pay. The driver dropped us off and then we made our way through the bluer part of the blue city. 

We started with lunch – we’d hate to be waiting for our food later if time was tight. I’m glad we did – it took a while to get served. We went to the Clock Cafe, a place famous for its camel burgers, but they also had some other tasty dishes. We went up the narrow staircase to the rooftop and had some nice views of the city from up there. There were plenty of people up there already, and I enjoyed people watching while we waited for our lunch.

The food was good! We enjoyed a couple of juices, an appetizer sampler with various veggie based and fried foods – a roasted eggplant mash-up, and very garlicky coleslaw.  Of course we had the famous camel burger. The camel meat was quite good – sort of a combo of lamb and beef. After lunch we left – there was no tag to bring to the cashier to pay but somehow they knew which tag we were by sight. Mysterious!

From there we went off to explore and take pictures of the Blue City. There weren’t too many Instagrammers around and so it was easy to take it all in. The blue made for some nice photos but also a different vibe. It reminded me a little of Santorini. There were many cats walking around, some friendly and some not, and even a dog or two lounging. Lots of tourist shops, but that was to be expected. After a while the blue doors and buildings started looking the same, and that was our cue to wander on down the road to our bus stop. 

Since we had plenty of time we walked, and together with our GPS and a few helpful locals we found the bus station quickly. It makes a big difference that we were walking downhill the whole time. We thought we should use the bus stop restroom as we didn’t know how long we’d be on the next bus leg. The bathroom was not a nice one – and I had to pay some coin to a guy who was managing the facility. Kuniko was brave enough to use the women’s toilet – not the nicest one we’ve ever visited.

So we grabbed our suitcase and took it outside, but forgot that we needed to buy a luggage ticket. We waited in line at the window until a guy was available – they were serving other bus route passengers first – and then we could get the ticket. This bus stop was much less organized than the one in Fes.

So here we were waiting for our bus – it was a little unnerving because we couldn’t read the bus indicators and other bus companies were coming and going. I had this nightmare that our bus would come and go but we didn’t get on because the color was different from our company’s buses. 

While we waited we watched a stray dog shit in the middle of the bus yard and then play with an empty plastic bottle. We waited in the shade and inspected each arriving bus carefully – but ours ended up being about 30 minutes late. 

Once we got on we made swift progress out of town, climbing up some big mountains, and even spending some time on what seemed to be an expressway under construction. At the top of the mountains there were stunning views across a long valley to even taller mountains on the other side, some capped with snow. This leg had a lot more greenery – trees and even forests with more agriculture on the hillsides.

Some of the construction of the expressway slowed us down further, but finally we arrived at a transfer stop in Tetouan on time. Tetouan was not on my radar before the trip but it looked like an interesting city. There were caves hidden away underneath city parks, and a long riverside promenade that looked like it would be fun to walk down. Here we picked up a few more passengers and then headed through exceptionally heavy traffic to Tanger. 

We had arranged with our hotel to have a driver pick us up at the bus station, he ended up having to wait an hour or so after the delay of our bus. I guessed that maybe as a Moroccan he was used to it, but we felt bad for keeping him there so long. He drove us to our hotel, the Hilton Tangier City Center, which I name here to indicate that we were definitely not staying in a traditional place this time.

Kuniko was happy – this is civilization! Huge room, modern heating, beautiful view of the city! It was good to be in a place that was clean and warm with modern facilities. Since we were running late we decided to just have dinner in the hotel restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. The sign mentioned a dress code in the front but in the end it just meant no swimsuits or robes.

We started with a glass of two Moroccan wines – both reds. Kuniko had one called Eclipse (OK) and I had one called Medallion from Meknes (quite good). We snacked on olives while we waited. Behind us some Americans came in and sat down, and the guy was just non-stop talking loudly while they ate. They had ordered pizza and pasta, and five minutes after their food arrived they left, saying they were tired. We clearly heard the American guy asking about the high price of the bill, and refusing the staff’s offer to box up their food for later. 

We avoided the pizza and each ordered a lamb tajine – in two different styles. Mine was steamed and served with a small bowl of cumin powder, while Kuniko’s was roasted with some lamb bones. Both were good, but I thought mine was undersalted. We were hungry after our long bus ride, and together with the nice wine it was an excellent meal.

We went back down to our room to get our jackets, and then went outside to look around a little bit. We’ll be leaving Tangier early on the high speed train tomorrow, so it was our only chance to get a (very abbreviated) feel for the city. It was very cold – we walked to the beach from our hotel which was not far. We passed quite a few beggars or people selling small items, mostly from the sub-Sahara. At the beach kids were riding vehicles (coin operated?) and the wind was blowing strong and cold from the ocean.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible by I looked out across the ocean far to the northeast – but there was no sign of Gibraltar. Mentally I put it down on my list of places I’d like to see someday. Someday I hope to write that I was on the other side of the pillars of Hercules.

We walked back towards our hotel, stopped in at a shopping center to look at souvenirs, but eventually I just got bushed from the long day and we went back to the room.

It was great to sleep in a huge bed in a warm room – I was still fighting a cold and this hotel stay was a turning point that really helped me start to feel better.

We woke up on Christmas morning in Fes, having slept pretty well in the slightly warmer room. Our bathroom and its shower was a little hard to figure out, and by the end of my shower there was water everywhere. Luckily the design of the floor was such that the water stayed in the tiny bathroom, but we needed to use our towel to create a safe surface to walk for the time being. 

Downstairs they were setting up breakfast, and we had some fresh squeezed juice in a big room decorated in traditional Moroccan style. There was a plate of mini-tajines that contained olive oil, honey, olives, jams, and spicy sauces to slather over our flatbreads and rolls. Also the owner(?) cooked up some eggs with cheese which was a nice warm way to start the day. 

So we were eager to explore other parts of Fes besides the old town, and so we scoped out on google maps the location of the royal palace, a historic gate, and a Carrefour – all in the same area. Let’s go!

It was about a 20 minute walk to the area of the royal palace. As we went we got some attention from the locals – kids sometimes shouted out to us and old dudes stared, but for the most part it was an easy trip. Near the palace was a gathering of a Japanese tour group, checking out the palace gates and doors that were beautifully decorated. We took some pictures there, and then walked along the big open square away from the palace. But after we had traveled a bit some guards started whistling at us, and waving us back – apparently it was a “no go” zone. I saw that one guard looked sheepish because we must have walked right past him and he failed to stop us. At least we didn’t get shot.

We saw the historic gate and then started down a road towards the shopping center with a Carrefour. We could see it, so we walked down a road that was under construction – but as it turned out it was pretty torn up and a risky crossing. In fact, crosswalks were hard to come by, and we didn’t like our chances so we walked back up the way we came and had to approach from a different direction. We kept passing squads of three soldiers – they nodded at us coolly as we passed.

Despite being next to the shopping center it still wasn’t clear whether there was access or even if it was open. Finally we followed some day laborers who were walking through the debris of the road and found the entrance. I guess most people arrive by car.

Inside the shopping center there were security guards pointing the way and it seemed like most stores were still closed. We took the chance to use the toilet but Kuniko returned with reports of no toilet paper or toilet seat. Eventually we found the Carrefour on the bottom floor – wide open and ready for business. Kuniko was super-happy: Civilization! Credit cards! Let’s go nuts!

Then we did some shopping for the next day’s long bus ride, getting snacks, throat lozenges, and bottled water. This Carrefour had an interesting spice section – looking like a spice market you’d see on the streets. Staff were stocking shelves but they didn’t seem to mind blocking customers from the products – customer service was different here.

From there we walked back, braving the busy streets but taking some photos of the buildings, tiles and a family of storks that were living in the fortifications of the palace. It was really nice to walk around in the wide streets after the maze of the old town.

But after dropping off our stuff back in our room it was back to the maze to do some more sightseeing and get some lunch. Plenty more “helpful” advice, questions about where we were from, and all the while trying to follow the map on my phone while doing threat assessments. Of course we were safe the whole time – but avoiding the attentions of the touts and “guides” was a little stressful.

One interesting spot was a large mosque that was actually built into the old town, and only open to Muslims. We walked around the sides and at one point we accidentally entered an area that was restricted – but nobody freaked out and some genuinely helpful people gave us directions back to the regular area. From one spot we could peek inside and take some pictures of the beautiful tile work. 

Our next sightseeing destination was a tannery – the sights of the pools of dyes where leather is treated are pretty interesting. As we approached some locals sitting around asked us if we were looking for the tannery, and when we said yes they sent along a young kid who would guide us there – “no money” they assured us. Of course this rang alarm bells for me but I decided to just go ahead and go with the flow, and I’m glad we did. He got us right to the tannery entrance, and then passed us off to a guide who handed us handfuls of fresh mint sprigs, which was to cover up the smell. The smell wasn’t all that bad really, but I’m guessing in the summer it is worse.

With our sprigs in hand he walked us along the ramparts above the tannery. They had a few exhibits, he talked about how leather was made there, and let us take our time checking things out. 

As we left he steered us to a store, and then when we didn’t want to buy anything asked for a tip directly, and I was happy to give him some money as he had certainly earned it. 

Afterwards we followed our map to find our lunch target, but when we finally arrived after all the windy streets it turned out to still be closed – we’d have to wait 30 minutes among the street vendors, or find someplace else. I had a backup destination so we went off to find it. We got lost several times, at one point coming out onto a dead end with two little kids as surprised as we were to find someone else. The older boy said, “closed!” in English, and asked us what we wanted – a guide in training. Eventually we found our way to the place I was looking for, called Riad Fes. The sign said that the rooftop terrace wasn’t open, but once went inside the staff said that they could open it for us. There was a voucher system – we had to prepay for two vouchers that would be used against our lunch bill – I guess in a bid to keep out folks who didn’t buy anything. 

Once we bought the vouchers a female staff member was assigned to lead us to the rooftop. She led us up two flights of stairs, and then disappeared – we wandered through a different area, and then finally found the rooftop. It was a luxurious spot with a dramatic view – it was set up for the upper crust – and it was empty except for us. We were still holding clumps of mint from the tannery and looking a little harried, but it turned out to be a good stop for us.

We had some local wine, some champagne, Casablanca beer, 3 mini-burgers, and a colorful veggie bowl with various sauces to dip into. The server was very kind and patient and would could finally sit down after so much walking through narrow alleys.

We lounged for quite a while, relaxing and trying to find our own hotel from the view that we had. This was a really nice break. 

After our lunch we went back to our hotel to clean up and get a little rest. I was cold and still coughing, so I tucked into the bed and slept for two solid hours, leaving Kuniko to play Balatro. When I woke up I was surprised that I had slept so much – I guess I needed it. I felt like I was at a tipping point – we could just stay where we were, warm in bed, and rest up for the big travel day tomorrow, or we could go back out into the medina one last time to get some more food – which would actually be our Christmas dinner. In the end we made the right choice, and headed back out.

We went to the same restaurant that we had attempted to visit earlier for lunch – Fondouk Bazaar. Once more through the maze, but for this trip we were walking at night and so it was a different vibe. I liked the feeling, and I could tell that we were getting better at navigating the streets of Fes. When we arrived at the restaurant the manager said that while we could come in and sit down, the staff were on a 20 minute break so we’d have to wait. But we were here and so we said sure and took a table. 

Rather than the rooftop we took a corner table, and had some hot drinks. I had a honey ginger infusion, and Kuniko had hot thyme lemonade. They were extremely effective for my cold.

For dinner we had orange chicken (nice texture, not too sweet by very orangey) and another version of the kefta with egg – this one was better than the previous night’s version. I thought the food here was really good if not completely traditional. Once we got up to pay the bill we saw a super happy cat stretched out on a chair in the lobby – there were so many cats in Morocco!

On the way back to our hotel we stopped to buy some Orangina to keep my vitamin C up. At the hotel desk we talked with (maybe) the manager who arranged a taxi for us the next morning, promised to make up some breakfast in a sack to go, and gave a bad review to the restaurant that we had just visited. 

In our room with spotty WiFi we attempted a Christmas phone call with Ray, Bonnie, Nancy, Lynn and Kinsey in Arizona, and although they came through clearly I think our side wasn’t easy for them to understand. Not too long after that we went (back) to bed to get ready for the long travel day tomorrow. 

I slept very well in the comfortable bed, but Kuniko said she tossed and turned during the night. It might be a sign that she finally has gotten enough sleep. Good news!

After the comfortable bed and very modern shower we went downstairs to get some breakfast. There was a dining room with some guests, but we didn’t see any staff, so we just picked a table and started grazing through the food. There were some interesting breads/pancakes, harissa (yum), tomatoes, jams and plenty of hot coffee. There were some other delicious foods too, but it was a little hard to identify them as they were unlabeled.  

Eventually a staff member came by and offered to cook us some eggs – yes, please! Around us the other guests were whispering like we were eating in a library. Where was that whispering last night while I was trying to sleep? Just kidding – it was a very peaceful breakfast, though.

We went back to our room and packed up our stuff, and then we went to take the elevator downstairs. It was a tiny elevator so Kuniko used the stairs while I and the suitcase waited patiently for the elevator to come up. Despite pressing the button it never showed up, so after a few minutes I gave up and carried the suitcase down the narrow and slightly dangerous steps. But in the end we checked out, and everything was fine. The bill was a little pricey, but I was very satisfied with the stay – very comfortable.

Thanks to our walk last night we knew the best way to get to the station, and there were far fewer people on the streets this early in the morning. At the station we showed our electronic tickets to a police officer who let us beyond the gates. We went down some long staircases, and started waiting on the platform. It was cold down there, and overall the temperature so far was a little colder than I expected. Luckily we had plenty of layers beneath our jackets.

The train ended up being delayed. Announcements were in Arabic and French so we couldn’t figure out much, but eventually the train arrived about 15 minutes late. Apparently late trains are pretty common around here – something difficult to get used to after coming from very punctual Japan. While the train pulled in we noticed that our carriage was at the end – so we did a mad dash to get there before the train left again. We made it in time though, and found our compartment. Two people were already on board, one of them sleeping, and I put our suitcase up above us and settled in for the ride.

As we left Rabat the train ran mainly through dark tunnels under the city, and eventually emerged into a foggy countryside. Soon the fog started burning off, and the train was moving pretty fast for a regular train – it wasn’t high speed rail fast but it felt like maybe they were trying to catch up with the original schedule.

It took a couple of hours to get to Fes, through mostly desert and empty spaces. We sometimes saw a village in the distance, the occasional donkey and plenty of scattered junk/trash. Near the end of the ride a guy sat next to me, and suddenly introduced himself (Mohammed) and asked where we were from. When he heard Japan he showed me lots of pictures of a family member living in Japan. He offered his services as a tour guide while we were in Fes, and I politely declined. He stuck with us for a while though, but luckily he gave up once we got off the train and walked through Fes station.

Kuniko and I had made the decision to set up a driver to pick us up and take us to our hotel which was beyond walking distance from the train station. It was nice to find the driver and go right to his car, rather than thread the needle of all the suspiciously friendly taxi drivers that lined the street outside the station. I had heard that taxi drivers tended to disable the meter and quote outrageous sums, and that they had worked together to kick out any ridesharing companies like Uber and Bolt. That made it the Wild West for taxi rides, and it was nice to pay a little money and bypass the (potential) stress.

The driver wasn’t too far to the medina, where the car suddenly stopped and met staff from our hotel. The staff took our suitcase and started walking down a narrow alley, so we followed him and luckily could read the name of our riad on the back of his uniform. Our riad was called Le Grand Calazaar, and I think it would have been hard for us to find on our own. We were able to check in immediately, and the staff prepared for us a welcome drink of hot mint tea with some cookies. We sipped the tea in a grand room – the hotel was beautifully decorated in tile and artistic touches. It was much more traditional than the previous riad and I took quite a few photos during our stay.

Our room was again on the top floor so there were a lot of steps to get up there. Luckily the staff lugged our suitcase up the steps. Our room was beautifully decorated in a traditional style, smaller than our previous room, and really cold. I had read previously that Morocco winters could be tough inside the riads – this room was almost icy. We closed the windows for starters, and then went out onto the sunny rooftop to enjoy views of the city and the mountains in the distance. It was a great place to warm up, but we were thinking ahead to how cold everything was going to be later once the sun went down.

So from there we decided to go take a look around the Fes medina. Our riad was within the old town area, but not in the center. This allowed us to dip into the busy area when we wanted but also come back to the relative quiet in the area around our place. The medina was more touristy, livelier, and narrow than our previous experience in Rabat. There were shops lining every street, pretty aggressive vendors competing for our attention, and of course plenty of cats roaming the narrow streets. Some vendors were grilling skewers that smelled fantastic, and shops were filled with colorful goods to catch the eye of people walking by.

Every now and then young men with meticulously sculpted hairstyles would offer advice (for free?) on which direction we should go. They would walk with us, asking us where we were from, and giving us information that we didn’t ask for, making a simple wander turn into a slightly stressful walk. As soon as you escaped one guy there would be another one waiting at the next block. 

Using the GPS on our phone was essential – you truly could get lost in a matter of moments. Sometimes the narrow walls interfered and had us make wrong turns – then the “guides” would insist that we should have trusted them rather than the map. Eventually we decided to head back to the hotel and get some rest before going out again for dinner. We found our way there, but our room was still super cold, so we sat on the roof at a table and tried to warm up. 

I was starting to develop a cold, which felt unfair since I had just gotten over a cold before we left for this trip. Expecting that my antibodies from the previous cold would still be in effect – but this was a completely different bug. I thought it might be a good idea to get some rest, so I tucked myself into our bed with plenty of layers, and tried to stay warm. It was just after I got in bed that I noticed above the door to our room – is that a… that’s an air conditioner! Hallelujah … it saved our lives. We promptly set it to 32 degrees C and waited eagerly for it to kick on. It took a while but it started running, although we didn’t feel any appreciable change for another hour or so.

For dinner we went back out, and found a place that looked good online. It was called Dar Khabya – a tiny place specializing in traditional Moroccan food. I liked the colorful decor, and the overly-talkative owner guided us through the overly-complex menu system, but in the end we could order just what we wanted. We started with mint lemonades, then a plate full of olives, harira soup (with a few pieces of candied fried dough), and a lamb kefta and egg tajine. The food was great – the hot food especially hit the spot. 

The owner was busy trying to line up more customers, touting his food and TripAdvisor rating to potential customers. A Canadian couple negotiated for a reservation for six people later on, and watching that provided our dinner entertainment. The owner was also a little curt with his kitchen staff (a young woman) – hopefully they weren’t married…

Back to the hotel to try to rest and enjoyed the leftover Turkish Airlines chocolate and snacks that we didn’t eat on the plane. It was a nice moment to sit up there as the sun crept down, looking over the city and the taste of chocolate on our tongue. I took some photos of the evening horizon as the cold started to set in, but by the time we returned to our room the heater was kicking in. I’m glad that I’m not the one paying the electric bill this time. We went to bed early to help fight off me cold – can’t believe that tomorrow is Christmas Day.

We slept hard until around 8:30 am, and then slowly checked out our surroundings. Having come in late at night we couldn’t appreciate the beautiful views across the valley – grassy knolls, olive trees and herb gardens. I noticed some horses across the way, and far in the distance some green mountains. We both enjoyed the first shower in nearly 48 hours – it really hit the spot.

When we came downstairs it appeared that we were the only ones up, except for some noise in the kitchen. The house was big and we padded around in our socks, enjoying views from different sides. There was a big infinity pool in the back next to the big glass windows that enclosed the large space where we had dinner the night before. There was a homemade drying rack filled with various herbs, and plenty of comfortable furniture to lounge on. 

I made a short expedition to the kitchen and found Aida’s partner who cooked most of the food the previous evening and was working on our upcoming breakfast. There was a big language block here – she mostly spoke Amazigh (a Moroccan form of Berber) but she could understand a little French. I typed out some thank yous in Google translate, and somehow I think we got the message across. 

Soon people started to get up, and we had a good conversation with Kiana. She was happy to speak English with us, and told us all about her recommended places and foods. I asked her to write down everyone’s name from the party, and she was kind enough to give us the information that we should have absorbed the night before. We got a Jenga game going with Adam, and together they taught me how to say “It’s your turn” in French. 

Aida served a really big breakfast – there were several kinds of pancakes (some sweet and some savory) with some homemade herbed butter and a garlic yogurt sauce, roasted tomatoes with yogurt and cinnamon, some really delicious mint tea (this set out mint tea standard way too high at the beginning of the trip), eggs with spices and coriander seeds cooked in the Turkish style.

It was nice to talk with people again, this time with a clearer head. Nassim especially had some great impressions of Japan and we talked with her quite a bit. She mentioned that she would also be in Lisbon for new years and said she might be able to score an invitation to a party with the UK ambassador. This sounded like something we’d have to upgrade our travel wardrobe for, but as it turned out we didn’t hear from her again while we were in Portugal so no worries.

We walked around the outside of La Finca, enjoying the beautiful views, meeting their donkey (Sam) and avoiding the occasionally growling dogs who didn’t really get along with each other so well. 

Finally it was time to hit the road – Aida gave us a wonderful going away present of some honeys and herbs from Morocco which was very kind, and we said goodbye to everyone. It was a whirlwind visit, but we were trying to stay out of their hair – they are a busy group!

Othman was nice enough to drive us back into town with Nassim and Kiana. We passed two accidents on the way back – driving in Morocco looks pretty chaotic. I’m glad I wasn’t behind the wheel. He drove us along the seaside, pointing out the sights, including good surfing spots, and the newly built Four Seasons resort. He got us right to the edge of the medina (old town) and let us off and said goodbye.

That was the last we saw of Aida and Othman, but I’m sure they have a great future together. They were so kind to host us and I hope we’ll see them again, either in Morocco or here in Japan.

So now for the rest of the trip we were going to be on our own, which is how we usually travel. It felt good to be set free in a new country. We walked through the chilly narrow streets to find our riad (traditional type bed/breakfast) called Dar Shaan, recommended to us by Aida. We just dropped off our bags because it was still early, and then went off to look around a bit. 

We started with the Kasbah, on the northeast edge of Rabat. Near the entrance a talkative guy tried to steer us in a particular direction, asking where we are from, which in our experience means that they are trying to steer you into some form of payment somehow. So we kind of brushed him off and went the direction we wanted. This turned out to be pretty common for the rest of Morocco and we were always brushing off overly friendly people. I know that by doing this we are running the risk of missing out on an actual friendly encounter, but I just like doing things on our own.

Through the Kasbah there were many shops selling traditional and touristy goods, plenty of cats everywhere (which reminded us of Istanbul), and some pretty doors ornamented with tiles. We enjoyed views of the ocean for a while, then walked back down into the medina to check out the shops and food situation. The streets were narrow but lined with many shops, and above some beautiful wooden slats providing shade seemed like a good idea for summer. My phone had a sudden malfunction and so I had to futz with it a bit – turns out that it did an accessibility zoom and I had to restart the phone to get it back to normal.

The square with lots of food stands seemed a little dirty to me with an off smell from somewhere, so we decided to skip buying fried fish from the vendors here. The shopkeepers around didn’t really put on a lot of pressure and were fine just letting us walk by – this was one of the good points of the medina in Rabat. 

By this time we could check in at our hotel, so we went back and got our room. On the third floor, we accessed it by a super narrow elevator. The doors were a little scary as there was nothing stopping you from touching the outside walls as they went by. But the room was quite nice, and being on the top floor we had easy access to the patio overlooking the city. The staff served us a welcome drink – we chose Moroccan wine, a white and a red – and we munched on olives while sipping wine and enjoying the view. Now it felt like we were on vacation.

We did a little research into what restaurant to check out first. I had found one place that seemed like it served traditional food more for locals than tourists, so we set our sights on that place for dinner. It was a bit of a walk from our hotel, but that gave us a great chance to see more of Rabat. Also, as it happened we could pre-walk our route to the train station for the next day, so it was a win-win. 

Passing through the old town and out the other side we could see that it wasn’t really that touristy. Many people were walking around but mostly local people rather than tour groups, and of course so many cats – everywhere.

We walked through a slightly more modern area, with more westernized buildings, and busy traffic circles. There were shoe shiners, construction workers, and a surprising amount of soldiers (with rifles), but it didn’t seem like there was any tension around them. Eventually we passed Rabat Ville station and marked it in our memories for tomorrow, and then finally our target restaurant, facing a light rail line with very modern train cars. 

Outside the restaurant there was a bouncer, definitely a bad sign, but we went in anyway, and there was a really weird vibe. More of a bar than a restaurant, the room was dark and some live music was playing in the corner. All the patrons were old guys, drinking beers served in buckets. A cleaning lady looked up at us but turned her head away, and nobody approached us to see what we wanted. I was guessing that Google was out of date on this one. With everyone still watching us curiously we ducked out.

An emergency Google session led us to another restaurant nearby. This one was pretty touristy but we were getting hungry and thought it was best just to sit down and eat. We got a table outside and it was a good place to watch people walk by – and it was interesting that those people watched us just as much as we watched them. One lady even said “Bon appetit!” as she walked by.

Our waiter gave us menus and said that he didn’t speak English but asked if we spoke Spanish. I responded in Spanish and thought we’d be OK, but I guess my response wasn’t very clear because a new waiter came next and handled everything in English. We drank some juices (no booze on the menu) and Kuniko’s avocado “juice” was a big hit – it was blended with milk and so creamy… wow!

We had some couscous and pfasa. The pfasa seemed similar to what we ate at Aida’s place, but according to locals it was a different dish. The food was good – not as spicy as I expected, but tasty. There certainly was a lot of food there – we probably could have split one dish and been OK, but it is good to try various things.

We finished with some mint tea and paid the bill – a little pricey (180 MAD) but we were happy to fill our bellies. Walking back to our hotel the streets seemed a little busier now, and this time we saw more stray dogs to go with all the stray cats. The street now had lot of food stands open, but most of them were pizza, burgers, fried snacks and so we didn’t feel like we would have wanted to go there anyway. 

Back at the hotel we were pretty tired and went to bed super early, still trying to get equalized with the exhaustion and jet lag. The neighbors came to their room a bit loudly, but we couldn’t really complain as we were in bed by 6:30 pm. We were eager to get on a train and see more of the country tomorrow.

As usual our longer trips begin with a very busy schedule wrapping up work before the trip. I had our departure day off, so I could put the finishing touches on our packing, straighten up the house and turn everything off, and then take a leisurely ride by train and bus to the airport.

Kuniko, however, was super busy and had to work even on our day of departure. After work she rushed to the airport using an express train from her job in Osaka. By the time she arrived a pretty good line had formed at the Turkish Airlines counters, and so we waited patiently for things to start to move. 

Turkish had only two counters available, and they had some confusing signage above. One said “Online Check-in” and the other said “Bag Drop”. I had checked in online already and I just wanted to drop our bags – which line should we use? I asked the staff and she pointed us towards the longer of the two lines.

But as we approached the front of the line, Kuniko suddenly felt faint, and as I struggled to hold her up she completely passed out. I guided her slowly to the floor and told her to keep breathing – after about ten seconds she came to. She was still shaky so we got out of line, I got her some water, and we went off to the restrooms to try to freshen up. As I waited outside the women’s restroom for Kuniko, I realized that I had no good way to check on her. The longer it took the more I worried, but eventually I shouted her name from the entrance and she was fine. 

There was a time when we were wondering whether to go on with the trip or to head back and just focus on resting, but ultimately Kuniko said she wanted to do it.

Once Kuniko was feeling a little better we went back to the line and had to wait from the end – it took a long time to get back to the front, but check in was easy and we rushed through security and immigration in time to make our flight. Kuniko bought me some curry bread for dinner, and then we boarded our plane – on our way. I was hoping that what brought Kuniko down was just exhaustion – and spending the next 13 hours on the airplane in the dark seemed like the best way to deal with it.

I guess we were both tired out – we slept through most of the flight. Before sleeping I saw the time remaining clock at 13 hours, and the next time I woke up it said 3 hours. That was a new record for me – and in economy class, too! The only down side was the guy in the seat behind me poking his toes into the back of my elbow now and then – gross… Kuniko got some rest and was feeling much better, and so it seemed like it was the right thing to go through with the trip.

So soon enough we were back in Istanbul airport with lots of time to kill. We had been here a few months ago for our summer trip, and we were wary of the 36 euro prosecco. We did have a couple of coffees at a cafe with a cheese sandwich that really hit the spot – even though it was pretty greasy. We also discovered the airport “NapZone”, and so we got even more rest while stretched out in a very comfortable recliner – nice!

Believe it or not we got hungry again, and went to a sports bar for Turkish kofte, a great cheeseburger, a Turkish sparkling wine (expensive but really good) and an Efes beer (or two).  While enjoying the food we were talking and Kuniko said that our next country will be the sixtieth country that we’ve visited. Wow!

We headed off to the gate, got our boarding passes (which had been changed due to a plane switch). Waiting by the boarding gate a guy across from us was snoring so loud – his family looked embarrassed but didn’t wake him up. It was so loud as to make you worry for his medical condition. 

On the plane we sat next to a nice guy with his family, and ate a dry chicken dish. We did get a bag of Turkish snacks, which came in handy later – I just threw them in my backpack. Kuniko slept through most of the five hour flight to Casablanca – it was a lot of sleep to catch up on. Out the window I could see the southern coast of Europe but unfortunately couldn’t see the rock of Gibraltar – too cloudy or too far away. 

Once we landed at Casablanca we had two events in the tunnel coming off the plane. First, a guy next to me suddenly vomited against the window, and second, there was a group of policemen checking passports at the end of the tunnel. Not sure if these two events were related, but it took a while to get through the tunnel and off to immigration. We picked a long line in immigration and got our first taste of the slow and steady delays that come with a developing country. While we waited the immigration staff frequently looked up from their work to glare at people in line, they sometimes got up and helped other people cut in front of us, and generally worked very, very slowly.

Near us a group of Chinese people came in and were acting really weird – they tried to cut into the front but were sent back to the end of that line. Our line was so slow that we watched the Chinese guys make it all the way the front of their line again – it was another hour before we got through with our passports stamped.

We had a long wait for our suitcase – another hour watching the carousel – until we finally left the airport. We caught a train from the airport – we had considered a taxi to save time but it seemed from the internet that it would take about the same amount of time for a much higher price. So we waited about 20 minutes for a train, and we were off to Casablanca’s main station (Casa Voyageurs) from the airport. Finally! Our train was really old, and it made its way slowly to the station, so by the time we arrived we had missed the next express train to Rabat where we were hoping to spend the night. We instead walked around the station killing time until our train would arrive. The station itself was quite modern and beautiful – all the train stations we saw in Morocco were very nice. The trains weren’t modern but at least the stations were cool.

Originally our plan was to take a taxi from Casa Voyageurs to see the Hassan mosque, but from our messaging with Aida and her husband Othman it seemed like it would be better to come directly to their place and save the mosque for later. So we caught the next train to Rabat, but we had to change trains at Casa Port via another slow train. Casa Port had lots of people changing trains – some running across the tracks – and the port must have been nearby as there were flocks of seagulls swirling overhead.

The next train was a little bit faster, and in first class we sat alone until a family of four came in and sat right near us. The kids were super noisy, the parents let them scream and yell, and it seemed like the air conditioner was stuck on the maximum setting so we were really cold. It was turning into a real ordeal – poor Kuniko pulled her hood over her head and just sort of checked out. 

Finally a staff member noticed the cooler was not set correctly and fixed it. The conductor was sitting behind us as we traveled, playing with his smartphone. When he checked our tickets Kuniko had accidentally shown the old ticket, but the conductor didn’t seem to care at all.

Meanwhile I was messaging Othman who was waiting at Rabat station to pick us up. Our train was running about 45 minutes late, and he was nice enough to wait around for us. Finally we arrived, and he took us to his car and got us on the road to La Finca, Aida’s facility/home in the countryside. It took another 45 minutes or so to get there by car, through the darkness and down country roads. Othman was really nice to answer our questions and chat with us – he owns a restaurant, does computer programming, and also helps Aida with La Finca. 

We drove past the king’s residence complete with soldiers out front, and then past a big area of BBQ stations built out of truck trailers – that seemed like a place I’d like to try out. Then we went down a dirt road and finally arrived at La Finca.

Othman used a remote control to open a gate, some dogs came out from inside barking (and sometimes growling at each other), and then we could finally get our stuff inside. We kicked off our shoes at the door and had a chance to greet Aida, and meet some of her friends that were also there for dinner. Luckily they are used to eating late, but we felt bad for making everyone sit around while we tried to manage the Moroccan train system.

There was a big group there – we met Shashi and Nastya who gave us lots of information on places we should go and foods we should try. Also there was Aida’s friend Nassim with her daughter Kiana, who spoke English with us and made us feel welcome. Nassim was really into Japan after her stay there, and she was also friends with Pico Iyer which was pretty surprising. Also there was Zineb (Aida’s cousin) and Imane (Aida’s friend) and their kids: Adam, Yanis, and Ilyan. Mostly they spoke French, so we didn’t get a chance to talk much. 

Aida welcomed us with dates and milk as a Moroccan traditional greeting, and then gathered us all into a circle to welcome everyone together, and in a very kind gesture she spoke in English to help us out. She also made a big announcement that caught everyone by surprise, and so it was an even more special evening. Afterwards they served a real feast – Moroccan flatbreads cut into paper thin strips (like kottu roti) and served with lentils and a big roast chicken on top. There was also nettle soup, cucumbers with sesame oil (to give a refreshing Asian splash). She also served a really nice salad that was so light that I felt like I could eat it endlessly. 

Everyone was talking and eating around a long table inside the very big house, and we struggled a little to follow all the languages being spoken. Still, everyone made us feel welcome and chatted with us, even though at this point we were totally shattered from the long travel day. 

Dessert was an excellent lemon cake, I had lots of great wine, and after some cookies came out on a plate it was time to call it a night, at least for us. We begged off to bed, Aida gave us a big bottle of water for hydration, and we retired upstairs to our room. It was a huge place and each group had their own bedroom and bathroom – so spacious. 

We pretty much just conked right out – one of our longest travel days ever. If the party went on downstairs without us, we were both completely unaware. What a day!