Gringo with the lingo- traveling the world…speaking its languages

From Lisbon, I took a short flight to Madrid and then connected to an even shorter one hour flight to Barcelona. It is here in Barcelona that I will make my home for the next week or two. Barcelona is a great city. I call it a “small, big city” because it has everything you want (even more) yet it is only about 55 square kilometers (about the size of Washington D.C.) Yet there are about 1.7M people within the city limits-hence “small, big city”. It is very cosmopolitan, with people and foods from all around the world. It is also unique in that there are beaches inside the city (in how many big cities can you find that?) Finally, the climate is near perfect as Barcelona is nestled between the Mediterranean Sea in front of it and the mountains behind it.

The first question-where to stay? Many want to stay on or very near to the world famous shopping street “Las Ramblas”. I prefer not to be swept up in a tidal wave of tourists every time I exit the hotel, so I opted for the Hilton Diagonal Mar hotel, close to the action (10 minutes by taxi), yet not in the action. This is sort of akin to going to Miami Beach and staying in South Beach or staying in Bal Harbour and getting quickly to South Beach whenever you wished to go there.

The Hilton Diagonal Mar is a beautiful hotel. It is about a one block walk to the beach. It has a really nice executive club lounge with a beautiful outdoor terrace on the 15th floor and a rooftop pool and restsurant on the 3rd floor.

The Executive Club Lounge is a nice refuge from the busy hotel. They serve breakfast between 7am and 10am, snacks between 11am and 6pm and then open bar and hors d’oeuvres between 6pm and 8pm. As an added benefit for Hilton Diamond members, I can eat breakfast in the downstairs restaurant if I want (mas Jamón Serrano Pata Negra, por favor)

Speaking of the pool area, it takes up nearly the whole second floor area of the hotel (besides a 24 hour gym). And apart from the hotel guests’ use of the pool, the Hilton partners with Puro Beach Club to open the pool to outsiders and throws weekend pool parties  (like the Nikki Beach club concept which also does this in  chic areas around the world.)

And just in case you forgot something at home (adaptor, bathing suit, flip flops, favorite Dunkin Donuts coffee, slice of pizza) directly across the street from the hotel is the Diagonal Mar Mall, the largest in Barcelona.

For all these reasons, the Hilton Diagonal Mar is a great place to hang your hat when in Barcelona!

 

Lisbon is divided into frequesias or civil parishes. Belém is one of these freguesias. Only about 10 minutes outside of the Lisbon city center, Belém contains a great amount of important historical sites within very close walking distance of one another. One of these is the Torre de Belém. Translated as Bethlehem Tower, it was once an important part of the defense of the port of Belém against enemy invaders. Across the road from the Torre de Belém is O Mosteiro do Jerónimos (St. Jerome’s Monastery).  The monastery/church is a Unesco World Heritage site. It was built by King Manuel I of Portugal in the early 16th century with money from all of Portugal’s colonies in the New World.

A short walk from the Torre de Belém is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos  (Discovery Monument). This was built to celebrate the history of the Portuguese as explorers.

On the same site as the Discovery Monument is a beautiful tiled world map in the center of the plaza.

Looking at the map it is incredible that Portugal was (and still is) a very small country, yet it once controlled a large part of the world (Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tomé and Principe, Guinea Bissau, Goa, Macau, Morocco, Oman,Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Zanzibar, Ceylon, Malaccas etc.)

Finally, there is the Gago Coutinho Biplane Seaplane monument.

This monument celebrates the first trans south atlantic crossing in 1922 by the Portuguese aviators Gago Coutinho and Cabral. They started in Lisbon, Portugal and finished in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although this was 3 years after the first non-stop transatlantic crossing (Newfoundland, Canada to Dublin, Ireland) by 2 British aviators, it was still important as having pioneered the use of artificial horizon.

Belém is full of Lisbon’s historical sites, all of which are extremely close to each other and is only a short hop from Lisbon’s city center. For this reason it can easily be done in a half day.

City (check). Mountains (check). Was I forgetting something? Ah yes, the sea! With that mind, I set out to visit Cascais, a lovely town by the ocean. Only a 45 minute drive from Lisbon, Cascais is a very easy day trip. As I left Lisbon and got nearer Cascais, I could sense the salty smell of the sea in the air as the landscape opened up to a wide expanse of beach and water.

 

The first thing I did in Cascais was go up the mountain you see in the background to see Cabo da Roca, continental Europe’s westernmost point. The view is incredible!

Boy did all that climbing get me hungry (or was it the salty air?). Whatever! Back down the mountain I went to eat lunch. And where there is sea….there is seafood! And I found the perfect restaurant next to the ocean on Guincho Beach-As Furnas do Guincho.

Not only does this restaurant have incredibly delicious seafood (and meat also!) but you can hear and watch the waves crashing the shore right from your table!

And the food, you ask? Oh, the food! Arroz de marisco?

Sure, I’d love some of that!

Gambas served over white rice with fresh mushroons and champignon sauce? Uh, I’d like some of that too.

After a fantastic meal, I set off to explore some more. I drove along the beach until I came to Boca da Inferno (Hell’s Mouth-great names they have here in Portugal by the way!) Boca da Inferno is a chasm in the seaside cliffs where the sea enters and crashes against the caves.

 

Did I ever tell you that it is a sin to not eat dessert in Portugal? Off I went! And who would ever think that the best ice cream in Cascais, Portugal is made by… an Italian?

One long line and 3 delicious scoops later, I was very happy!

I left the Cascais town center and took the road along the beach back to Lisbon. Along the way, I passed many seaside towns with beautiful beaches!

After exploring the lovely, historic city of Lisbon for a few days, it was time to get out of the city. A quick 45 minute trip by train, car or bus is the small town of Sintra. Sintra is small and quiet (when the hordes of tourists are not there) and is located among forests and mountains, giving it a cool breeze (and with it lots of Portuguese escaping the summer heat of Lisbon). It is most famous for its landmark, the “Palacio da Pena” (the Palace of Sorrows). This castle, sits atop one of the Sintra Mountains and is one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal (thus the hordes of tourists). Originally built as a chapel to Our Lady of Sorrow in the 15th century (because an apparition of the Virgin Mary is alleged to have occurred here) and later as a monastery, it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 18th century and later rebuilt by King Ferdinand II and his wife, Queen Maria II in the 19th century and used as a summer palace. It is multi-colored and a mix of architectural styles from the Gothic to Renaissance, Romantic and even incorporates elements of Islamic architecture. The Palacio da Pena is one of the “must see” things in Portugal. Enjoy the pictures!

 

Many European countries have great food (Italy, France and Spain, we are all familiar with). That said, in Portugal you will probably never have a bad meal-the food is that good. Freshly caught fish, well seasoned meats, fresh fish and vegetables, homemade bread, delicious desserts and great coffee-this is Portugal’s food scene and it can be found anywhere, from the elegant 5* restaurant to the small cafe on the corner. Portuguese people are serious about their food and take great pride in it.

I had one such experience at a restaurant called Cave Real (Royal Cave).

Situated in the Saldanha district of Lisbon, the small family run restaurant has an entrance five steps below street level and it looks like you are going down into a cave.

That is, until you enter and see the cozy dining room.

The owner himself  will take your order. He will start you off with some fresh cheese, olives and bread.

He will offer you different wines before, during and after dinner and the restaurant has an ample supply (and these were just the bottles next to my table!)

One of the specialties of the house is Bife na Pedra (Beef cooked on a stone). First, a stone slab is heated in the oven at several hundred degrees and then brought to your table with a nice uncooked steak on it. The steak has garlic, salt and pepper for seasoning and other seasonings are placed on the side to use if you wish. You will then cook the steak on the stone.

Next, you will brown the steak on both sides.

You will then cut the steak and finish cooking it on the inside to your liking.

For the meat eater-absolutely mouth watering!

Another special is Arroz rico a Garoupa (Portugues seafood rice) in this case made with fresh grouper. It is served in an iron pot with shrimp and rice cooked with the fish. It is almost like a risotto and is also delicious.

The typical fried potatoes and spinach are served on the side.

The meal was excellent! I did not eat dessert at Cave Real because one of the restaurant workers at my hotel said they were serving the famous pasteis de nata (Portuguese egg tart) in the executive lounge in the evening.  This was too hard to pass up and was definitely worth it.

 

 

Just to get my feet wet in a new city, I like to get a quick view of the different areas, so I know where I would like to spend some time. Luckily, Lisbon is a smaller city and even better they have Tram #28, a streetcar which passes through most of the main sections of the city (Alfama, Baixa, Bairro Alto, to name a few). So I decided to take a ride. But first I needed my Portuguese breakfast of champions to give me energy for my trip- and a delicious breakfast it was!

I picked up Tram #28 at Martim Muñiz square, a short 5 Euro cab ride away. There was about a 45 minute wait for a tram (there are a few) and at less than 6 Euros for a round trip,  the price was more than right.

I got a nice window seat, which is necessary if you want to take photos (and you will!)

The tram only sits about 13 (thus the wait). You can stand, but mostly the locals do this-after all, they have to get to work and school, not to sightsee.

I would recommend Tram #28 to anyone who wants to get a quick view of Portugal. It is about a 40 minute ride each way, cheap and you will see most of the important sights. And you can hop off, when you get to an area you want to explore further (I did not).

Enjoy the pictures! Not bad for having taken them from my window seat on the tram (just goes to show you how beautiful of  a city is Lisbon!)

 

Farewell to my dear friend Morocco-Hello to my new friend Portugal! I had a great time in Morocco and made many friends there. I also spoke Arabic (and a lot of French) and although everyone understood me, it is very hard for a non-Moroccan (even other Arabs) to understand the Moroccan Arabic dialect. It is called Darija and it is almost completely different from Arabic, mixed with Berber and depending if you are up north (Tangiers) Spanish or further south (Marrakech) French.

But now is the time to move on since the gringo must explore and speak another lingo! Where to go? Someplace close.  Wait, right across the Mediterranean lies the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). Which though? Hard choice….so I’ll do both!

I waited at the Menara Airport in Marrakech  for my ride to come and it soon showed up

A nice, larger plane for the short leg of Marrakech to Madrid  (90 minutes) and in no time we were there. And like many European airports in big cities (London, Amsterdam, Paris) Madrid’s airport is large and busy. Lucky I was a “connecting passenger” (which saved me some of the headaches of navegating the whole airport) but the ride on the air train from one terminal to another seemed as long as from 125th St. to 59th St on the A train in NYC!

Luckily also, there is a great Iberian Airlines Lounge in Terminal 4 (my terminal). I had two hours to kill and it was a great place to do it in.

The layout of the lounge was large, open and airy and its design was modern

The quality of the food and drink offering was very good for lunch and there was ample quantity.

Time to go-boarding!

Até logo! See you in Lisbon!

To escape the heat, hustle and bustle of Marrakech, I decided to take a 90 minute drive to the Ourika Valley. This is in the Atlas Mountains which have Africa’s second highest peak (after Mount Kilimanjaro). The drive was nice and the scenery beautiful. Endless greenery, rivers, and mountains with cool breezes,  which is needed after the heat of Marrakech and its surrounding deserts. There are many small villages, primarily composed of Berbers, who were the first inhabitants of the African continent over 10,000 years ago. Many of the older people do not even speak Arabic or French (since they never attended school) and some have never even been to Marrakech. But they are a very proud people, honest, hardworking and great cooks-their tagine (clay pot) cooking is to die for! The mountains provide the raw material (clay) to turn this:

 

Into this:

The last village in the Ourika Valley is Setti Fatma. The locals take advantage of the beautiful landscape of the Ourika River and its surroundings by setting up rustic riverside restaurants serving delicious tagine.

And many of the local villagers live in other smaller mountain villages and walk down the mountain paths to get to Setti Fatma to trade or sell their crops or to shop. To do this, they must cross this:

To get home:

And no matter how high up the mountain or remote the village is, its central mosque can be seen from far away.

Even the mountain goats were friendly (thank God there was no goat tagine on any of the menus!)

There are even 7 waterfalls (one higher up the mountain than the other) that you can visit. These waterfalls provide the abundant, flowing water of the Ourika River.

The Ourika Valkey and Setti Fatma were one of the best experiences I had in Morroco!

 

Just outside of Marrakech is the rocky desert area known as the Palmeraie. It is called the Palmeraie because amidst this rocky desert are about 100,000 date palm trees-a virtual palm tree oasis which stretches for 140 square kilometers. Legend has it that during the Almoravid berber dynasty (long  after the Arabs brought the Islamic religion to the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), the Sheikh’s troops were eating dates after battle. They spit the dates on the ground and eventually the seeds ended up in holes in the soil pierced by their lances. From this, the Palmeraie was born. Nowadays, many people ride quads and camels in the Palmeraie. I took a camel ride for a few hours through the area and my legs were hurting (and blistered) for 3 days. All in all, it was a good experience, the highlight of which was a mid-point stop in a small village  (tiny is a better word) where the locals served us moroccan pancakes (like crepes) and delicious mint tea (aka “Moroccan whiskey”).

 

All in all, a great day!

 

You cannot visit Marrakech without visiting its medina, or old city. This is comprised of the central Jemaa al Fena square, the medina itself which is the old city within the fortified walls and the market or souq. No matter how battle tested you are, this is definitely an experience for all of your senses. As you approach the old city, you will first arrive at the Jemaa al Fena Square. In Arabic, this could be translated as “Execution Square” as this is where public executions were carried out (and no, not last week, many years ago). I chose to visit in the day when the square was mostly orange juice, water, and dried fruit sellers and there were not many people. But at night this place gets crowded: snake charmers, monkeys, boys dancing, and all kinds of food including tagine, kebabs and plenty of roasted sheep’s head. And plenty of people!

The medina is where the locals live and carry on their daily activities and also  there are many riads, tradtional moroccan houses where all rooms are built around a central garden. Many of these are now small hotels owned and run by Europeans. And by local accounts there are about 900,000 people living within the medina and its 19 square kilometer walls. Many of the people living in the medina do not have kitchens or running water so they must depend on community ovens (where for a monthly or weekly fee, they can have some one cook their seasoned meat or fish,  roast their nuts or bake their bread) and public hammams or baths.

The medina also has a beautiful collection of doors on the older properties. Many of these doors are hundreds of years old and are made with solid wood and designed with intricate tile work. By looking at a door, one could tell not only who lived in the home, but also their social status, occupation and religion.

There are also caravan sarai which were places where the traders from the sahara desert could stop to rest, leaving their camels below in the stables and central courtyards and they would sleep upstairs.

From the medina we reach the souq or market. Besides the shops selling souvenirs, there are skilled artisans selling brass, copper and silver items, tanneries where leather is cut, cleaned, dyed and finished into beautiful leather goods and berber pharmacies where the peoplr go for their local remedies (got stomach problems, drink a tea made with natural plants, herbs and flowers-they have being doing this hundreds of years and many pharmacies are in their 5th generation of family operators.) They sell items like argan oil for the skin and hair, black soap for exfoliation,  amber (as a scent and also to freshen clothes), rose hips and crystals. You name the ailment, they have a natural remedy.

There are also many shops selling dried fruit, nuts and spices.

And after a while your ears, eyes and nose will be on sensory overload and you will want to get out of here as quickly as you came. But unless you have a great memory (nearly impossible) or a guide, you are certain to get lost in this maze. Just string together a couple of of where is the central square questions every 100 yards and eventually you will find it.

But treat yourself to a horse and buggy ride back to your hotel. It is only about $10 and after this experience you deserve it!

And this will also give you great views (and photo ops) as you leave the old city!