Andalusia and Morocco

Andria and I on the terrace of Abaco

Recently my friend Andria and I took a week-long trip to Malaga and Granada, Spain and Chefchaouen, Morocco. Now, this trip was organized with the intention of finding some sunny, warm weather which had been seriously lacking in cold, wet and rainy Pau. The trip met these expectations for the most part, except for our third day of vacation in Granada. It just hurts a bit when you're visiting the Alhambra, what should be a remarkable historical jem, under a constant cold rain and you have to decide whether it is more important to take photos or save your poor hands from the cold. To top it all off, this was in April. Highlight of Granada though: having delicious tea on the terrace of a cool cafe with a beautiful view. That's why it's the best to have friends who are from the area!

Chaouen- the blue city

From Granada, we traveled to Chaouen (as it is known by the locals), which was an experience in and of itself. It took pretty much a full day, leaving Granada at 7AM on a train to Algeciras, taking a ferry to Ceuta in Africa, and from Ceuta after getting our passports stamped at the border, carefully making our way to Tetouan and then Chefchaouen, after a very cosy taxi and a quiet but bumbling bus ride. When most people heard that my friend and I were travelling to Morocco, they assumed that we would be going to a larger, more touristy city such as Marrakech. When it came down to it, because we would only have about a day and a half there, we decided to go for a city easier to get to after crossing with the ferry, and a city that was tourist friendly, without being really touristy, if that makes sense. With the market that many visit Chaouen for, tourism definitely plays a role in the city, but you don't have to step out far from the main square to see parts of the city that really represent Morocco.

Can you spot the little white mosque on top of the hill?

Chaouen is a beautiful little blue city of marvelous scenery, good hiking, and markets with inhabitants eager to sell beautiful blankets, teapots, tea glasses and spices among other goods. Andria and I stayed in a beautifully decorated guest house with incredibly welcoming staff, eager to help us however they could from arranging to have breakfast served earlier for us when we left, to getting bus tickets for us ahead of time. One of the things that surprised me most about our quick stay in Morocco was that in Chaouen, most of the residents we interacted with spoke more Spanish than French. Even though Morocco was a former French colony, with Chefchaouen's proximity to Spanish Ceuta and the many Spanish tourists who visit, Spanish is more used than French there.

Sunny and warm Malaga :)

We reversed the intense bus, taxi, ferry process and ended up back in Malaga for the end of our trip. We really only visited Malaga because the cheapest flight from Toulouse landed in that airport, but when all was said and done, Malaga was a really charming beach city with some really famous former residents to its name, such as Pablo Picasso and Antonio Banderas. Who knew?

Antonio (unofficial statue)

Overall, I really loved our vacation. Andalusia was incredible. With the atmosphere, the ambiance, the food, the landscape, the language... it really is a little paradise. While I'm at home this summer, hopefully looking for a job and then working, figuring out what I want to do in terms of grad school, I would really like to work on my Spanish in my spare time. Being able to chat with people of the countries you visit really enriches your experience, and Spanish is a language that I would love to be more at ease with. With three days and three nights left in Pau faithful readers, on this note I will take my leave. A+

Picasso chillin' on a bench at Plaza de la Merced