EUROPE BLOG May 24th, 2023 - TANGIER to CASABLANCA

5/24/23- Another lazy day is upon us as Tangier is all but done. Wake up after 10am and eat breakfast (which consist of breads, meats, jelly) and chill in the room until 2pm for check-out. My gold member status gives us 2 hours extra so we take full advantage.

We order lunch at the attached restaurant (I get caramelized cream which I didn’t realize was just flan) and wait at the rooftop before grabbing our luggage and heading out. At the door we see a street performer juggling flaming batons, which catches out attention for a moment, before continuing to the lower street level to find a taxi. I was told to look for the small blue/green one but only see tan (which takes us to the train station for only $4 US so no big deal).

This station is quite nice for the area and impressive. The strange part is no one seems to speak English. Weird that the taxi drivers speak English but not the public train stations. We wait for our track to be called  and board 15 minutes before it departs at 5pm. This is a bullet train taking only 2 hours, which normally would take 7 hours to drive to Casablanca, and the seats are pretty comfortable.

We arrive shortly after 7:10pm, grab some burgers (because it’s time for an actual meal) and realize that our hotel is further out than expected. I thought we could walk 8 minutes but turns out it’s a 10 minute drive. I locate a taxi rank outside and immediately am hounded by drivers, which I walk past because you never take offers from people standing around. Finally find one and quoted 100 MAD ($10 US) which seems a bit high for the area but we’re ready to get to the hotel so we take it.

We check in, get to our room and to my relief it’s very modern. Tomorrow will be our only day to explore before moving on, so we spend the rest of the night mapping out a plan. Also, the daily prayers over the loud speaker are going off every few hours already so I'm fully expecting a wake-up call around the 6am range.

Side note- Appears to be a tram that can take us back to the train station so may explore that route in

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ITALY BLOG SEPTEMBER 9th, 2025 - PORTOFINO

Image
  9/9/25– I wake up to the sound of thunder rolling outside. Thankfully, we have nothing to do this morning and able to sleep in. We check the weather and see it should clear up around 1pm, so we decide to go ahead with our Portofino plans. Our hot water stopped working yesterday and our AirBnb host stops by this morning to check it out. Unfortunately, the issue is broader than what she can handle and calls a maintenance person that won’t be here until later. Good thing is, we ask about how we can call a taxi for the day we leave and she offers to take us herself. Wow, didn’t expect that and greatly appreciate the hospitality. Shortly after noon we notice the rain beginning to let up. I check the ferry schedule and see a 1:15pm time that goes to Portofino so we get ready for our day out hoping the weather holds up. It takes ten minutes to walk to the port (everywhere here seems to take ten minutes), purchase our tickets and take a few photos around the pier before we embark. ...
Read more

ITALY BLOG SEPTEMBER 2nd, 2025 - ROME

Image
  9/2/25– Another day, another timed ticket in the morning. This one is for the Galleria Borghese Museum and gardens at 11am. We’ve missed on previous trips and made sure to include this time around. We eat our pastries for breakfast (that we purchased yesterday) and called an Uber around 10:30am. I am a bit nervous for a moment wondering how close one would be, but only took a few minutes and we arrive at the Borghese ten minutes early. Upon entering the museum, we are asked to check our bags before continuing on. We oblige, get our check item number and proceed to the first room of the gallery. Wow! The room is decked out in marble from ceiling to floor with sculptures in every corner. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is definitely better. We continue to the next room and it’s more of the same, with beautifully painted fresco on the ceiling and gold radiating throughout. Every attention to detail is present, including the elegant chairs and mosaic flooring. The...
Read more

HAWAII BLOG FEBRUARY 6th, 2026 - HAWAII BIG ISLAND

Image
  2/6/26– Wake up, eat breakfast and get ready for our day out… same-o, same-o. Except for one minor detail. We need to get Sharece some long pants and a jacket. Hmmm Jeff, why would you need that in Hawaii? Well, apparently their mountain, Mauna Kea, can get pretty cold and windy and we didn’t think about this coming in. No worries, we leave a bit earlier and Wal-Mart is on the way so Sharece runs in for her warm clothing and presto we are on our way. The drive takes an hour and a half. We can’t ask for a better day as there’s hardly a cloud in sight (unusual for this side of the island). By the time we reach Waipio Valley Lookout, we jump out the car and dart down the short hill to see an incredible view of the valley and coastline. All the greenery is lush, the sky nice and blue and our cameras can’t get enough. It is a touch warm at 80 degrees so we escape to the shade every now and then, but the view is simply amazing. Next up is Akaka Falls which features a 442 foot wat...
Read more