Sorry for the long delay between blogs! We landed in Madrid after a really long flight from Tanzania via Amsterdam. Madrid had to be one of the most beautiful capital cities I have ever seen. The architecture was stunning and even the new buildings were built with historical looking facades to keep the vibe of the city consistent. We spent our first day in Madrid walking through the historical areas and their wonderful public park. Once we finished our walk, we headed to our lunch destination (Botin) which was the oldest continually running restaurant in the world (established in 1725). On our way, we started to hear a lot of noise and chanting. Suddenly, there were thousands of people protesting and marching down the street. Evidently, the government had changed public health benefits and those changes were evidently not going over well with the masses! Unfortunately, the street they chose for their protest blocked all possible routes to get to our restaurant! We walked to try and get in front of the march but they beat us. So, we walked all the way back to cut behind the march. By this time, I was starving so we had to stop for some really fancy donuts before continuing to the restaurant. We finally arrived and ordered the Botin specialty which was suckling pig. I have never had suckling pig but it was amazing! They also served us croquettes that I do not believe we will ever be able to top. It was definitely worth the effort to get to the restaurant! The next day, it started raining and it was getting colder but we made our way to the royal palace which was one of the most grandiose we had seen in all of Europe. The palace had 3418 rooms! Obviously, only around a dozen rooms were open to the public but those dozen looked exactly like one would expect for a Spanish King and Queen. We were not allowed to take pictures but I encourage you to find some pictures online because the chandeliers were breathtaking!
Our next and final destination was Morocco. Given my uncomfortable visit in Jordan, I was not looking forward to Morocco. I told Bill if I hated it for any reason, we would immediately fly back to Madrid for our final days. After a short flight, we landed in Morocco to a much more pleasant experience than expected. To get to our riad (basically small hotels with a courtyard in the center), we had to wind our way through the souk (old marketplace). We expected to be accosted by vendors as we were in Egypt but the vendors would politely say, “Would you come into my shop?” and if we said, “No, thank you,” the vendors would smile, nod and say, “Maybe later”. We were shocked! Our riad was in the center of the historical district. Our host directed us to a restaurant on the square which had rooftop seating and delicious food prepared in tagines. I highly recommend it! We spent the next two days exploring the historical sites including an old boys’ school with wonderful tile mosaics and a huge fort/castle which was really old. There was even a Yves Saint Laurent museum and gardens in Marrakech which was quite interesting. On the third day, we rented a car to head out into the countryside. The main road meandered through the Atlas mountains overlooking the Sahara desert. We arrived in Ouarzazate to find our Airbnb. I told Bill this Airbnb might be sketchy because there were not many reviews online. I was so, so wrong! The riad was one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. It was far more beautiful than any of the Moroccan palaces. Every surface was covered in colorful tiles and the doors were incredible. It felt like stepping back in time on a movie set. Ouarzazate was known as “Little Hollywood of Morocco” due to the Atlas Film Studios. On the tour, we walked through sets of China, Egypt and Italy. It was really cool to be in the Egyptian sets since we had just been in the real places. The replication was incredible! Movies that had been filmed at Atlas included Gladiator, Prince of Persia and the remakes of Cleopatra and Ben Hur. After the studio, we visited Ben Ait Haddou which was a UNESCO site famous for being one of the best preserved adobe villages in the world. This site was also used in filming movies but since it was a UNESCO site, the sets had to be removed after filming. We were surprised to find some of the villagers living in the site and our guide’s family had lived in the village for hundreds of years. Overall, it was a very interesting visit. We rounded out our European and African adventure with a quiet day in Madrid prior to a 10 hour flight back to Atlanta. We were sad for our adventure to end but looked forward to spending time with our families for the holidays. We had a wonderful time and I hope you all have enjoyed sharing the experience with us! We arrived back in St. Maarten this week so let the boat games begin!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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