Franchu’s lair

Edu me acaba de mandar un video en el que se hace un repaso a muchos recuerdos míticos de nuestra infancia. Aquellos maravillosos años en los que nuestra mayor preocupación era poder salir con los amigos a jugar a la calle o ver si Oliver conseguía marcar un gol en el capítulo de la tarde, … e incluso cuando se aprobaba sin estudiar porque con leerte la lección una vez ya te bastaba.

Seguramente viendo este video recuerdes esos momentos y tengas flashes de cosas que habías olvidado

In the beginning of February I went to Morocco for five days with the people from the Arabic course. We had been flirting with the idea of a trip to Morocco to practice what we have learned in 3 years but so far had never managed to find the right opportunity.

This opportunity was suddenly clear when we discovered that Easyjet would be opening a new route from Madrid to Tangier in Morocco and the initial fares were quite cheap. We talked a bit about it and we started to plan the trip. With all this talking the fares went up a little bit, but we still managed to find tickets for 50€ return, which is rather cheap compared to the usual fares from legacy carriers such as Iberia or Royal Air Maroc that would have costed at least 4 times more.

Once we landed in Tangier we were greeted with full honors: traditional Moroccan music and dancers, tea and biscuits. Even the TV reporters were there to cover the event and our teacher was interviewed on national TV! You can see him in the following video around minute 1:25 (I’m the guy in the white pullover behind him on the left of the screen ;)) and then on minute 1:50 you can see our group slowly moving out of the security zone (Domi is the guy with the red jacket, then it’s me with the white pullover and Tamy following shortly behind).

After managing to get out of the airport we met our drivers for the stay as we had rented two minibuses to move around without having to depend on taxis nor risking our life driving in the city

The hotel we stayed at was the Chellah Hotel in the center of Tangier, within walkable distance of the main sights of the city and a very friendly ambience. The party room with a small bar is decorated in a moorish style and although the age shows it is worth spending some time to feel transported to another world. Breakfast was fantastic with pancakes made on the spot and a buffet fully stocked for a continental breakfast (no bacon though).

For eating we hit the non-touristic places that our teacher knew and thus we managed to experience the real moroccan food and ambience. You should try couscous, harira, tagine and grilled meat served on skewers. Salads are also tasty, and I’ve been told that fish and sea food was tasty as well. I cannot comment on that as I’m not a fan of sea food and having enough alternatives I skipped it

Another thing that you cannot miss while in Morocco is going for a green tea. I normally don’t like tea, but I have to say that the taste is excellent and the combination of the sweet tea with the mint taste works wonders on a tired body and soul after a whole day walking around

In order to finish with the gastronomical section of this post I have to mention that you won’t be able to find pork in Morocco as it is a sinful (and thus forbidden) animal in muslim countries. For similar reasons it is difficult to find places were alcohol can be bought and consumed. Those places exist but have special licenses and prices are extremely high compared to the average Moroccan prices (eg. we were able to have dinner till the point that you were totally satiated for the price of 1 beer!). If you manage to find one of these places, you can try the Moroccan beer called Flag which is not bad

In the pictures above you will be able to see some of the pictures that I took during the trip to Tangier, Chefchaouen, Tetouan, Asilah, Cape Spartel and the Hercules’ Cave.

Chefchaouen is an amazing place to go because everything is blue and is so different from all the other places I’ve visited that will stay in my mind for a long time.

Tetouan is also nice, although it was so crowded (as one of the girls from the group said: “I’ve never seen so many people together on the street!”) that it was a little bit too much. Nice to get an idea of what a crowded souk looks like though.

Tangier is a nice place to have a walk, the center is nice, but what I will always remember is the drink we had in the bar on the cliff overlooking the northern coast and the feeling that Spain was just across the water. It is surprising to think that over such a short distance, life can be so different…

Asilah is a place you have to go to experience what a little city next to the sea looks like. All the pictures that you see on the travel guides are easy to spot and they still don’t manage to convey the feeling you get when you walk in the narrow streets on a bright day.

If you are fluent in croatian you can take a look to the posts that Tamy wrote on her blog:

• Putovanje u Tanger, Maroko
• Maroko, ostale posjete
• Morocco in pictures

Frustración es lo que siento cada vez que se me ocurre una idea sin haber leído acerca de ella y cuando busco en Internet para ver si se le ha ocurrido a alguien más me encuentro con que se han publicado papers en revistas científicas en el último año acerca de ello.

Otra cosa es cuando estás trabajando en un proyecto haciendo I+D. En estos casos es más sencillo tener ideas que no se hayan publicado, pero lo que me interesa es lograr tener ese tipo de ideas en cosas en las que no estoy trabajando todos los días!

Sin embargo, no tiraré la toalla y seguiré dando rienda suelta a mi imaginación para ver si consigo tener alguna idea que todavía no se haya publicado y razones para el optimismo hay; porque antes los papers en los que aparecían las cosas que se me ocurrían tenían más de 5 años y ahora ya hace 1 año o menos desde la publicación