Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
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.
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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.
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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.
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The Dirham is the historic Arab silver coin unit introduced in the year 698 CE. Some countries in the world still use this name as a reference to that and one of them is the Moroccan Dirham (MAD), with prices often shown with the abbreviation Dh. The MAD is not freely convertible. You can’t get it outside of the country, even importing and exporting it is forbidden. A maximum amount of 1,000 MAD (a bit less then 100 Euros) is typically accepted at the border.
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San Marino was founded in 301 and is probably the oldest still existing republic with the oldest still used constitution (established in 1600). The country only has 30,000 inhabitants – much less then most European cities – and is fully surrounded by Italy. Official language is Italian, currency is the Euro; but the country is not part of the European Union (only of the United Nations). The legend says that quarryman Marinus fled from Rimini because Christians were prosecuted in the Roman Empire and went up to mount Titano to build a monastery there.
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I’m unfortunately not a big fan of the music made and performed by Swedish Pop group ABBA, but I acknowledge the global phenomenon that created one of the best-selling bands in music history. Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid ended their band project in 1982, their last concert in London was in 1979 (at the Wembley Arena, todays OVO Arena). And then they surprisingly returned in 2022: as a virtual band in their own ABBA Arena at London‘s Pudding Mill Lane.
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On my mission to visit the remaining microstates in Europe, Andorra was probably the hardest nut to crack. It is located secluded in the Pyrenees mountain without having an airport or a railway station. Your only chance is to fly to Barcelona or Toulouse and do a long bus ride into mountains. I decided for the latter and made my way up to the small country I only knew as a tax haven and from Max Frisch‘s book title. Was it worth it? Sure, but not for the shopping-oriented city of Andorra la Vella – more for the history, the ancient city center and for the nature of the Pyrenees.
Continue reading “Up in the mountains”
Andorra is potentially the country in Europe that is hardest to tick off your travel wish list. It is just a tiny country with under 80,000 inhabitants on 468 km² in the Pyrenees between Spain and France. There is no airport and no railway station, your best chance is to fly to Barcelona or Toulouse and take a bus ride into the mountains which lasts 3-4 hours. It is a bit unusual that the capital city Andorra la Vella is so complicated to reach but the trip through the mountains is very scenic and well worth the effort.
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I hadn’t seen much of North America so far and never been to its western coastline, that was one of the very good reasons to visit Canada for the very first time. So far the country was linked in my head only to maple syrup, ice hockey and the fictive character Robin Scherbatsky from How I Met Your Mother. That was about to change but first I had to get a heavy jetlag caused by nine hours of time shift out of my head. My first stop was Vancouver where I had to discover some truth about my holiday location.
Continue reading “O Canada”