Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The Costa Rican colón (CRC) has been the official currency of Costa Rica since 1896, when it replaced the peso at a one-to-one exchange ratio. Named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish, the currency’s symbol is ₡. The colón is divided into 100 centimos, and its plural form is colones. The banknotes show the animals of the country and on the ten thousand colones bill you can find the iconic sloth.
Continue reading “Colones”
The Guatemalan quetzal (GTQ) is the official currency of Guatemala, named after the resplendent quetzal, the country’s national bird. Introduced in 1925 during the presidency of José María Orellana, it replaced the Guatemalan peso at a rate of 60 pesos to 1 quetzal. The currency’s name has historical significance, as quetzal bird tail feathers were used as currency in ancient Mayan culture. The quetzal is divided into 100 centavos, and its plural form is quetzales.
Continue reading “Quetzal”
It was a rather spontaneous decision to spend the end of the year on Tenerife, enjoying the warmer weather in contrast to central Europe. Tenerife is the largest of the Islas Canarias located in the Atlantic ocean close to Western Sahara and Morocco. The island has the shape of a tilted Y and was formed 12 million years ago by volcanic activities. First human traces can be dated back to the 10th century BC; interaction with European cultures started in the 14th century CE followed by a colonisation by the Spanish after massive fights with the indigenious people.
Continue reading “Tenerife”
When the days are getting shorter and colder, a part of Hyde Park close to Speakers’ Corner turns into the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland – a crazy mix of a Christmas market, the Oktoberfest and a fun fair. Winter Wonderland began at London in 2005 and was ever-growing since then (if you ignore the Covid-19 times). It combines good music, festive lights, fun rides and overpriced food and drinks. A funny adventure letting you taste unexpected food creations and experience the joy of amusement parks.
Continue reading “Winter Wonderland”
That was one of the very good questions my first tour guide at Casablanca discussed with me. A question that is easy to answer geographically, but culturally? At Morocco, the Arabic history mixes up with Portuguese, French and Spanish influence. It is a country oriented pretty much towards Europe but with a fascinating past and heritage that makes a tour through the North African country an endeavour that one must do once in a lifetime.
Continue reading “Is this Africa?”
The Moroccan kitchen has a lot to offer: beginning with the national dish couscous, via pastilla (a pie filled with meat and vegetables) to harira, a soup made of lentils, chickpeas, rice and onions. Bread is incredibly important and traditionally food is eaten together from one plate only with the fingers of the right hand. As a tourist you’ll for sure most often find knife and fork in restaurants – with street food it is different.
Continue reading “Tajine”
When people visit Morocco, they typically visit the four villes impériales: Fès, Meknès, Marrakech and Rabat. These four have been capital cities throughout time for different dynasties of rulers: Idrisids (Fès), Almoravids (Marrakech), Almohads (Marrakech), Marinids (Fès), Saadis (Marrakech, Fès) and Alaouites (Fès, Meknès, Rabat). They shaped their favorite cities, contributed new buildings to them and left their traces.
Continue reading “Villes impériales”
When I decided to visit multiple cities in Morocco I also took the decision to do the round trip by train. It is a pleasure you can’t have in many countries, but in this case you see the strong influence of the French colonialization: the high-speed trains are the same model like the TGV trains at France and the doors even close two minutes prior to departure like only in France. The rail network is suitably good, the stations have a great quality, you can buy tickets online upfront and travelling with locals and foreigners through the country is an absolutely nice experience.
Continue reading “En train”
The city of Casablanca is two-faced: first of all it is the economic powerhouse of Morocco. If it is about business in Morocco, it is most probably at Casablanca. That’s a factor that shapes the modern parts of the city and influences infrastructure. From a touristic point of view, the city attracts visitors with something virtual, an illusion created far in the past. If you say the name Casablanca all around the world people immediately see Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergmann sitting at Rick’s Café in Casablanca struggling with the German influence on the Vichy-regime-controlled Morocco during World War II.
Continue reading “Here’s looking at you kid”
Morocco is a multi-language country. As parts of it were Spanish and French protectorates until 1956 you can use these languages while travelling. Especially in the north nearly everyone understands French. Official languages are (Moroccan) Arab (المملكة المغربية) and the berber language Tamazight (ⵜⴰⴳⵍⴷⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵎⴰⵖⵔⵉⴱ) – two languages with a unique characterset typically undecipherable by Europeans; but typically signs are tri-lingual.
Continue reading “Arabic”