Day 18 - Athens

Today was fairly a calm day. I woke up late (9:30 am), grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of two slices of bread with butter, a slice of cheese, coffee, and juice. Took my clothes to a laundry place about 10 minutes away. I misunderstood the receptionist when she told me where the laundry was. I thought she had said take a right on the 3rd floor, but she actually meant take a right on the 3rd block from the hotel and keep walking for 10 minutes.

I really wanted to buy a pair of shorts because of the hot weather. I went to the shopping district, and stopped by a few mom and pop stores selling clothes. I bought a pair from one store, haggled down from 15 to 12 EUR. Then I walked through the open market, where they were selling fruits, olives, spices, nuts, fish, and meats. The spices were sealed in plastic wraps, as they should be(!), to keep the freshness, as well as to keep out the dust. The fish sellers and the meat sellers were really aggressive, almost every one of them yelling something to me in Greek as I walked past them. Most likely about how fresh and cheap their goods were. This one guy was really yelling something very loud every so often. I imagined what kind of things I'd say if I were one of these sellers. It would go something like this, as loud as I can without breaking my voice:

"STEP right up and get you some FRESH caught mackerels! FOUR euros per kilo. FOUR euros. FOUR euros. FOUR euros. Salmon STEAAAAAAAK! Yes SIR!  HOOOOOOOOOO!" Sometimes you just make up random sounds just to be loud. You have to catch people's attention.

A different kind of spice stand

Olives in the market

I stopped by a random crepe shop to pick up a banana + nutella crepe and coffee (only 3.70 EUR for both!), and as I picked the only empty seat in the street seating, an old Greek man (maybe 70 years old) next to me started to chat with me, in broken english. I instantly suspected a scam, but decided to go along with it until I felt compromised. He asked me where I was from, and when I said Korea, he said, "What old make, Korea?" I told him they're known for their shipyards and their steel production, as well as cars, and electronics. He said, "Yes, yes, I know that. Samsung, LG, Kia. What old make, Korea? What old?" It took me a minute to figure out he was asking me about the history of Korea. As a Greek, his country is so rich with history, and he wanted to know what kind of history Korea had. I told him there were some palaces and temples in Korea. Not as grand as the agora or the Parthenon. Then told him about the fightings with the Chinese, about how we didn't have our writing system until 1400s. We also talked about Istanbul, Donald Trump, and the Greek Islands. He brought water for me, threw away my trash for me, and was very nice to me. He said he has a hotel business in the Ionian Sea. I kept on waiting for the sales pitch, but it never came. About 15 - 20 minutes later, I shook his hand and bid him farewell. His name was Maki. It felt good talking to a local Greek like that. That's the kind of connection I was looking for that never came when I was in Marrakech.

In front of the National Archaeological Museum. The young girl taking my photo wanted me to do fun poses

Ancient excavation site, graffiti, and a restaurant all in one shot

Day 17 - Athens

Athens is a stark change from Morocco.

- No mopeds racing by you in an already packed narrow streets. No salesman approaching you at every step.
- Instead of signs in Arabic and French, the signs are in Greek. You better learn your Greek alphabet before coming to Athens, because sometimes you only see signs in Greek.
- People are actually wearing shorts (nobody in London, Norway, Paris, Rome, or Denmark wore shorts [and of course, nobody in Morocco wore shorts]).
- Weather is incredibly hot and humid, highs reaching 95 F. I'm considering purchasing a pair of shorts, so that at least my legs won't be covered in sweat the entire time I'm walking around.
- Graffiti is back, and so are the trash on the streets. I didn't realize it but the streets of Marrakech were actually quite clean. I'm guessing it's because the shop keepers constantly clean their shop fronts. Because what else are you gonna do? Nobody's buying your stuff anyway.

At a busy area, where the local souvenir shops meet the Athens flea market

I had to take a break in the late afternoon. The heat was taking a toll on me, so I came back to my hotel to cool down and take a nap. Then went out for dinner and a nightly stroll.

View of the Parthenon from the base of the Acropolis

Things are cheap here. At least compared to London, Norway, and Denmark. I might even say things are cheaper than Atlanta. My lunch today was 8.80 EUR at a very touristy place, but I see places selling gyros for 3 EUR and coffee for 2 EUR. Most souvenir magnets and keychains are 1-2 EUR, maybe 3 EUR for really fancy ones. I went into a decent restaurant for dinner, and the main plates were in the 5-8 EUR range. Ice cream is a bit expensive here though at 2 EUR for a single scoop. But they're tasty.

Took a relaxed day today. Visited the Acropolis museum early in the day, and had no desire to climb the Acropolis to see the Parthenon in the blistering heat.

Day 15 - 16: Essaouira, Morocco -> Athens

I took a one day excursion to the coastal town of Essaouira. I've read that it was a quiet little town with less of the craziness of Marrakech, and they have these signature blue painted doors and windows everywhere. The drive over is about 2.5 hours, and there were about 10 of us in the large van.

Markets in Essaouira

Narrow streets of Essaouira

This door had an unusual elaborate yellow border around it

Just when I thought I'd get away from the money grabbing, tourist scamming city that is Marrakech, I encountered more of such antics along the way to Essaouira. First we stopped at a goat grazing site, where the goats somehow climbed onto an argan tree, eating argan. There were also some cute little baby goats, and we could pet it and hold it. They were really cute! I was taking a photo of the goats in the trees, and was about to ask a fellow tourist to take a picture of me with the goats, but one of the goat herder seized the moment and offered to take a picture. Without even thinking about it, I said sure, and he took several good pictures.

Free picture

That's when I realized that I might have made another mistake. Surely, he won't ask for money, right? All he did was snap a few pictures. And besides, we're an hour away from Marrakech now. These money grabbing people aren't all over the entire country of Morocco! No, there's no way he's going to ask me for money.

He asked me for money. My mind was blown at that point. I wanted to ask him if he was serious. I eventually regained my composure, and just said no, I don't have any money. Then started walking away. Maybe it's because I was prepared for this from the previous incidents. Maybe it's because he didn't look so intimidating. Maybe it's because I had my fellow tourists to back me up if an altercation breaks out. As I was walking away, the other goat herder with the cute baby goat in his arms yelled from a distance (he was "working on" another fellow tourist): "Monsieur, give him some money!" I just shook my head and said no, and continued walking. It felt uncomfortable, but I was proud of myself for walking away.

Then we stopped at a rest-stop to take a 10 minute bathroom break. There was a lady at the entrance with toilet papers, and hand towels. It was perfectly obvious to me that you're supposed to pay her to use the toilet papers and hand towels. Ok, legitimate business idea, point granted. However, as I was walking out of the bathroom, with my hands still wet from being washed (because there were no air dryers or paper towels), and the lady saw that, and started saying something in French to me, pointing at the towels. I said no (because I'll just air dry it), but she kept going at it, pointing to the towels, hassling me. I said no and walked out.

At the rest stop, there was a room where old women were grinding argan to make argan paste and argan oil. A lady wearing muslim headwear suggested that we all follow her inside to have a better look, and give us a little tour. Oh no, lady. I'll stay outside, thank you. All the other tourists also caught on to the fact, and refused to go in. The lady seemed a bit confused, and left us alone. Later, we went in one by one, and to our surprise, nobody asked us for money (although I did see a donation tray at the exit).

It's a bit sad, really. I'm sure there are lots of nice, genuine people in Morocco who want to tell us about their life, their culture and history, but because there are so many others who will try every way to extract money from tourists, I will never accept another mint tea or a direction advice from a Moroccan stranger. In the busy, congested streets of medina, I've grown accustomed to random guys yelling "Japan!" to me. I have now started to correct them, saying "Korea!" Upon hearing that, one guy responded, "Welcome to Morocco" and shook my hand.

There was a group of little kids playing next to my riad, and when they saw me, they also yelled out "Japan" and started to greet me with their hands clasped together, in some sort of a praying pose. I corrected them as well. "Annyoung haseyo" and bowed like a proper Korean would when greeting. They all started to mimic me, mumbling in Korean as best as they could, and it was really cute and touching.

But others, when I try to engage in some dialog, seem very eager to tell me about other things, whether it's the spices they're selling, or an excursion they know about. As soon as I detect a sales pitch, I literally turn around and start running. Maybe they know that I know what's going on, and they crack up into a laugh. Is it just ingrained into their culture, their lifestyle? Maybe I should just relax, accept it, and just not get caught into it. I still don't know what to make of this country. I'm very glad I visited here to experience this, and to also to discover a side of me that I would not have seen before. But I don't think I would make another visit to Morocco.

Day 14 - Marrakech

I was going to write about a "cute" little "scam" that happened to me yesterday. But today, I got scammed in a similar way, but in a bigger scale. The total damage isn't actually that great, but the process itself of being scammed was very stressful, because for a long time, I knew I was being scammed, but it was very difficult to get myself out of it.

One of the bigger streets of Marrakech

First, the cute little scam. Total money lost: 20 MAD (Moroccan Dirham, about $2 USD). 

Typical spice stand

Yesterday, as I was walking towards one of the many palaces around here, a guy selling spices in the spice market was very helpful and friendly. He told me the palace was closed, and asked me to get out my map (which I had in my bag). He showed me the way back to the main market, which I already knew). Then he showed me what all the weird spices he was selling were. Jasmine, lavender, garam masala, saffron, eucalyptus. He let me smell them, and started to explain what all they were good for. Luckily for him, a friend walked by, and the friend sat me in the seating area of the stall, offered me mint tea, and he was showing me more goodies inside. I was really thankful for the wonderful hospitality shown by these guys, and I thought that the Moroccans were extremely nice people. After talking for a bit, he asked me if I wanted to buy anything and I said no. So as I'm on my way, the friend said I should pay something to the original spice dude. I dug into my pocket and fished out a few dirham coins (about a dime's worth), and they were laughing at that, and said that is nothing, and that I should give them something in paper. I pulled out a 20 MAD (about $2 USD), and they even scoffed at that. Luckily for me, something came up as the spice trader suddenly ran off, still dissatisfied about my 20. I then went on my way, not feeling that much loss, as I thought that I had learned a lot about the stuff he was selling, and well worth the 20 MAD. But I also told myself, ok, no more sitting down with the spice guys. 

And yet, a similar incident happened today, as I was walking towards the Marrakech Museum. Total money "scammed": about $26, plus $35 worth of leather goods.

It was about 6 PM, and from researching the website, I knew I had another 30 minutes left before they closed. Another random guy in the streets (let's call him dude #0) said the museum is closed, and said I should go check out the 'chanery' (later I found out he meant 'tannery'). Luck would have it, his friend (dude #1), who was just walking by, said he could show me, as he was just on his way over there. He even said, "he just show you the way, no need to pay." This should have been a red flag, but my naive self took the lead, and told my skeptical self, "dude, relax. This guy is for real. He's really trying to help. He even said I didn't need to pay!" 

Let me stop right here and talk about yet another small incident that happened earlier that morning. When I'm walking these busy streets of Marrakech, every so often (more like once every 5 minutes), one of the shop keepers would say something to catch my attention. It's either "Excuse me!" or Hello?" or "Japan?" or "Konnichiwa" or "Ni-hao" or "Korea?" I would always ignore these guys. But this morning, a young man who was walking past me carting around something heavy said to me "Japan!" in a very excited voice. I was walking very fast, and as soon as he finished his greeting, we had already passed each other in the busy street. But I turned around, and gave him a thumbs up, and he also turned around, saw my thumbs up, and I saw a huge grin light up in his face. He then said something to his friend who was walking with him, all excited that he got a response from me. That's when I realized that not everyone here is trying to sell me something. Some people also want to connect with me, in the same way that I want to connect with them.

Back to the incident at hand. When this guy offered to walk me to the tannery, I remembered back to the morning's event, and thought, "Here's another friendly Moroccan, who just wants to help!" So I follow him, and along the way, we have a very nice chat. I ask him his name, how old he is (29), and if his parents live here. He asks the same for me, and I thought I had made another friend. I even wanted to ask to take a picture with him, because he seemed like such a friendly guy. He eventually leads me to the tannery, and hands me off to dude #2. He has a big spring of mint in hand, gives it to me, and says to smell it, so that the smell of the leather chemicals don't bother me so much. So I take the big sprig of mint, and follow him around the tannery, as he explains what all the chambers are filled with (ammonia) and what kind of leather they're preparing. He mentions that there are 50-100 Berber families all gathered around to make leather goods. He then takes me to another tannery nearby, where there's even a bigger operation going on. He also takes me to another shop where there are 3 guys (let's say dude A, B, and C) working to make leather handbags. Then he takes me to the leather shop, where he hands me off to dude #3.

Tannery. The buildings in the back are supposedly occupied by the leather working Berbers.

Bigger tannery. Dude #2 said I should take a pic, so I did.

Dude #3 has me sit down in the shop, and by this time, I knew I was in some kind of a scam, not sure what exactly though. He shows me his wares, like carpets, leather jackets, leather chairs, and I didn't want any of that. Suddenly I realize that I was kinda maybe somewhat interested in a wallet, so I ask if he has any wallets. Of course he does. I pick out one. Then he shows me some belts. Ok, my belt is kinda wearing out, so sure why not. With these two items, the real action begins. We go to another room, where he attempts to sell me some more carpets and towels, and I try to let him know I'm not interested. So with the wallet and the belt, he takes out a notepad, makes two columns. One for himself (forgot his name), and one for me (Mustafa). He said I looked like a Moroccan, so he'll name the column Mustafa. Under his name, he writes down 620 (roughly $62). I think to myself, I really don't want to play this, because I don't really want that belt, but whatever, I'll play along. And write down 300 under my column. Which was too high, in my opinion. My first offer should have been in the 200s. Anyways, he's like "oh no no no, that's very bad." He comes down to 500. I try to stick very firm, and mention that I don't really want the belt. He scratches out my 300 and insists I write a new number down in my column. I still hesitate for a bit (I'm good at doing that), and he writes down 400 under his column. Then he says to me to write down something. I cave, because I'm feeling very uncomfortable, and write down 350. We have a deal, and he promptly bags up the wallet and the belt. I pay him, in exact change, because I don't know what more shenanigans he's got up his sleeve if I need change back. I tried to be discreet in reaching for the money, but I may have shown him that I had more money in my wallet, which could have been my downfall.

So as I exit the leather shop, dude #2 is promptly there, waiting for me. He takes me back to the main street, and asks for money for his services. I am annoyed, but because I thought his leather tour was pretty decent, I reach into my pocket, hoping that it'd be a 20 or a 50 MAD, but it turns out to be a 100 MAD bill. I give it to him, and he's like no give me 200! He says it's not for him, but for all the Berber families, and all the leather working people. At this point I'm extremely annoyed, but I didn't know what to do. I say no, and say that's all I've got, but he's insistent. What's worse, is that there seems to be yet another random dude just standing around (dude #5), who tells me, "You should pay him 200." I get a bit nervous, as I wonder just how many people are in on this elaborate scam. I reach into my other pocket for change, and it's really a wadful. I fish out 3 coins, each 10 MAD, and after another back and forth, he finally seems to be easing off. He shakes my hand, and asks if I'm happy. I tell him no, I'm not happy. He says I should be because I'm helping out the Berbers. Then he asks again if I'm happy. I say no. We say good bye and I start walking back.

But another dude (possibly from dudes A, B, and C from before) comes up and says I also need to pay him for the Berber people as well. This guy looked extra intimidating (the other dudes, not so much). So I gave him the rest of my dirham coins (about 30 MAD, I'm guessing). 

At this point, I'm getting a bit scared. As I'm walking back towards my riad, I look behind me, and notice the original dude #1 not too far behind. I stop walking to let him pass, and he acts like he doesn't notice me, but then when he's about to pass me, says he'll show me the way back to the main square. I know which way to go, so I say he should just go without me. But he insists, and asks if I'm looking for trouble, or if I need to call a taxi. I say no, and follow him. But I walk very slowly, and try to lose him in the crowd, but he always waits for me every so often.

As I'm walking behind him, I constantly check my back to see if anyone else is following me. And I do recognize one shady guy who seems to be following me (dude #6). I keep an eye on him by constantly turning around and checking up on him. I wondered what would happen if I just took off running. Or if I intentionally lost dude #1 in the crowds. Will dude #6 come after me? Can I fight dude #1 and #6? At the same time?

We reach the main square, and sure enough dude #1 asks for money. I did not want to open my wallet to show him the 200-300 MAD I had in there. However, I did have some euro coins in my bag, so I ask him if he'll take euros. He said yeah, and when I gave him the coins, he said no coins. I don't think he realized these were 2 euro coins, and I had about 8-10 euros worth in coins, which is like 100 MAD. He eventually took it, and even had the balls to ask for my fitbit that I was wearing. I said no. As I fended off this last guy, I walked straight to my riad, still turning around to see if there were any more people following me. 

The whole ordeal was so stressful, I just sat in my room, going over everything that happened. I should have told them to take me to the police station, or ask anyone walking by for help, or even just saying no, maybe curse them out, or make a scene, but I was really intimidated in a strange city where I didn't know anyone, and I didn't know who else was in on this scam, who else was standing by, strolling around the corner, crouched inside the shops, all watching. At the moment, it felt like it was me vs the entire city of Marrakech, and I just felt disgusted by the city and its people.

After I regained my composure, I walked back into the streets, because I needed food, badly. I go into a pretty big restaurant, the one right in the main square, at the high terrace. I order a 45 MAD pizza. When asking for the bill, he said it's 50. I said it was 45 on the menu. He said 5 for service charge. Exhausted from the previous incident, I didn't even argue and just gave him the 50, just disgusted at the city. Afterwards, I walked straight into the main square, just daring people to come at me, because I was ready to tell them "no." They did, and I was ready. It released some built up tension in me.

Ziggy asked if I regret coming here. And my answer was no. This series of incidents made me realize how vulnerable I am. Things could have turned a lot worse at a bigger scale in other countries. I also learned that I lack courage to tell people off. But maybe I can get a pass on this one since I'm at a foreign country that I know not too much about. 

View from the rooftop terrace restaurant

Now for the positive things. There's a lot of people selling pastries out in the open market. These are almost always swarming with wasps. I guess it's better than being swarmed with flies. But there are some bakeries and pastry shops indoors. I happened to come across one yesterday, and the girl working there was so friendly and nice, I went there again today. 

Some cheese filled pastry (6 MAD), with fresh squeezed orange juice (10 MAD). 

Croissant (2.5 MAD) and a sugar donut (unfilled, 3 MAD)

Her english wasn't so good. I thought maybe we could converse in Spanish, but her Spanish wasn't so good either (and her english is much better than my Spanish, so I don't know what I was thinking). We chatted a little bit, and before I left, I asked to take a picture with her, and she was so willing.

Met a very friendly girl working at a local bakery.

The breakfast at the riad is amazing. I had always wanted to try this crepe thing I see some ladies selling in the streets, and I was so glad when I saw it at my breakfast spread. The texture is very soft, and the flavor is slightly sweet and eggy. I love it. The hosts are so very nice, and I can't find anything wrong about this my riad, except that it is super noisy at times. It's almost midnight, but there are kids outside playing soccer, and occasionally you hear the sounds of the mopeds flying by. There's a rooster nearby that crows at random times. The call for prayer is loud. But since I'm always tired anyway, I have no trouble sleeping.

My breakfast at my riad. Left to right: fried egg (with some curry powder), apricot jam, peanut butter, orange slices with banana and some cinnamon, Moroccan bread, Moroccan crepe (coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice).

Today, when I wasn't being scammed, I visited the Bahia Palace. Maybe it's because they took out all the furniture, but I thought it was rather plain, compared to the palaces that these fancy pants people had in Europe or China.

Palace Bahia

Palace Bahia

Palace Bahia

A weird variant of checkers. Couldn't figure out the rules. The old guy on the left was schooling the guy on the right. After the game, he looked at me and pointed at the chair. I declined.

Days 11 - 13. Copenhagen -> Rome -> Marrakesh, Morocco

The past three days have been hectic, to put it lightly. I was flying in and out of airports at wee hours in the mornings or late at nights, figuring out how get to my hotel from the airport and vice versa (public transportation doesn't run at 430 a.m.), and frantically trying to fit in as much as I could at a given location until my next flight. I planned poorly, and I paid my price with lost sleep and fatigue. Previously, I tried very hard to update this blog every day, as I feel like this will be the most prized 'thing' that will remain from this trip. But the fatigue caught up with me, and I just couldn't do it.

I spent one night in Copenhagen, and on the next day, I had almost a full day to explore the city. I took two free walking tours. One was a 2.5 hour grand tour of the city, covering the major landmarks as well as learning about the Danish culture. Our guide was a Danish native (named Daniel), so he could pronounce all the names in perfect fluent Danish, and it also gave him the license to make fun of the Swedes. I didn't realize there was a rivalry between the Danes and the Swedes, (probably most likely due to hundreds of years of fighting) but the rivalry is still there in a good natured form, most often displayed during sporting matches. It's similar to how the Americans make fun of Canadians. The tour was soured with rain. It started off as a light drizzle, but eventually it became heavier and heavier, and the cold weather didn't help matters. I actually started to dread it, feeling cold and miserable, but I stuck with it.

Our guide

After the tour, I dried myself at a cafe, getting me some (you guessed it) danish pastries and some coffee. After a few hours, I went for the second tour, given by the same group, and luckily, I got the same guide as before. This tour focused on the free town of Christiania. After the end of the tour, the group was going to go inside the town, but I had a flight to catch, so I couldn't join them. It was a pity, because I wanted to see what it was like there. The free town of Christiania is like this social experiment where they're kind of on their own as far as governing themselves. They're still part of Denmark, but there's activities that go on in there (such as mind enhancing drugs), and the government, for the most part, turns a blind eye.

The Danish government, almost a socialistic one by American standards, provides a lot of benefits to their citizens. Free healthcare, free education (even a decent monthly stipend for college students), retirement, unemployment pay (90% of your previous salary, for up to 2 years!), and maternal and paternal leave. Income tax starts at 37% minimum, and for a typical middle class earner, will probably be at 53%. And yet, it seems like the Danes are pretty happy about what they're getting.

People are more orderly here. When you're at a cross walk, even if there are no cars in sight, people will wait until the light turns green. This was a stark contrast to what I was seeing in London (which is actually nothing compared to what I'm seeing in Marrakesh...). Bike lanes and walking lanes are strictly adhered to. And it didn't occur to me until I got to Rome, but the streets and buildings were really clean.
I can see why a lot of people say they like Copenhagen a lot. But for me, I didn't feel a connection to the city. I merely felt like a tourist. I have a strong conviction that the reason for this disconnect is not speaking the mother tongue of Danish. In Paris, I tried a little. I began the conversation with a "Bonjour" whether I'm buying something or asking someone to take a photograph. I'd add a little "sil vous plait" here and there, and felt like I was part of the city. And the fact that most French just responded to my english with French just strengthened the notion that I really needed to speak French in Paris. But in Copenhagen, almost everyone spoke English very well, so there was no need. And it seemed like the Danes weren't so set on speaking Danish to everyone. And because the exchanges happened in this second language, the connection to the people, the city, and the culture, was never developed.

The classic Copenhagen pic

That's my Copenhagen experience, in a day.

Rome was next. Technically, I spent two nights, but it's more like one full day, because the first and the third day was just getting to and from the airport. I don't have much to say about Rome, except that I was disappointed in the food department. I tried a pizza from a hole in the wall cafe (against my friends' warnings), and it was so-so. I tried lasagna from a well-reviewed restaurant, and I was underwhelmed. I tried some pastries from a grocery bakery, and was disappointed. The McDonald's, however, had a separate cafe/sweets section. So I had that going for me. I ordered a slice of cheesecake, and a latte, in perfect Italian accent, because I'm in Italy. Yeah, latte, I know what I'm doing! To my surprise, I'm given a giant glass of milk. Yeah, latte means milk in Italian. At least it complemented my cheesecake well.

Pretty poor pizza

Another surprise for me was the amount of trash and graffiti in Rome. When you see pictures of Rome on the internet, it's something very pretty or picturesque. What you don't see are the ugly parts. This was apparent as soon as I reached my hotel. If you take out the graffiti, the place looks like a paradise. But if you add in the graffiti, you have second thoughts on whether you want to get in or not. As you enter the city center and the touristy areas, though, there is less and less of the trash and graffiti.

What's with the trash and graffiti

A welcoming sign

A welcoming sign with graffiti

The buttons to press to get in

Speaking of getting in. Every big building in Rome has these things on the side of the building. You press it and they'll let you in. I didn't realize this when I first got to my hotel at 1 am in the morning. Locked out of my building, I didn't know what to do, until luckily, a family who was staying there unlocked the front gates, where I promptly tagged along and went in. But even though I was inside the front gates, there were still more of these huge locked doors with no obvious ways to get in. I finally noticed these panels, pressed the button that was labeled with the hotel's name, and I was let in.

Obligatory colosseum

Obligatory view from Palatine Hill

Then Marrakesh. This place is nothing like anything I've been to. It's exotic, unique, a bit scary, but fun. More on Marrakesh later. Also featuring: how I got scammed (sort of).

Koutobia Mosque

Jemaa el Fnaa

Day 10 - Fløyen exploration (Norway) -> Copenhagen

I mentioned that on my first day here, I did a quick hike up the mountains, towards the brightly colored houses that sit upon the cliffs. Today, Soj and I hiked up in a similar direction, heading first to Fløyen, then went further up to the Ulriken Mountain. The plan was to take the Funicular up to Fløyen, but I decided it'd be much more fun and scenic to walk it. It turned out to be the right decision.

Our destination: The top

Starting the hike from the bottom

The hike took about 4 hours, 3 hours up, taking pictures and rests along the way, and about 1 hour down. This hike is probably my favorite (beating out the waterfall hike the day before, and the Yosemite Falls hike few years earlier), simply because of its uniqueness. As you walk up the mountains, you are surrounded by verdant fauna along the way. The really tall tress providing shade, with a cool breeze cooling your warm back. It is almost like a normal mountain hike -- except that when you look to your horizon, you see the ocean and the cute little houses of Bergen all along the coast. You look to another direction, and you see the magnificent cliffs of the mountains. The composition of these things makes this hike really unique, and I don't think I'll see anything like it (although Soj says hiking around San Francisco has a similar feel -- I'll need to try that).

I'm currently sitting in my hotel in Copenhagen. I arrived late, so no time to explore (and even skipped dinner). I'll start early tomorrow, and then I'll head to Rome.

View going up

View from Fløyen Lookout

Coming down from Fløyen

Had 2 hotdogs from here. One reindeer sausage (with lingonberry sauce, fried onions, and mustard), and one curry sausage (mustard, ketchup, and fried onions). Reindeer sausage was really good, with rich flavor and tender meat. No gamey flavor at all. Each hotdog was 58 NOK (or about $7 USD).

Had to take another photo of Bryggen once we were back down.

In case anyone was wondering, my travel pack - Farpoint 40 (only for going to and from airports)

Day 9 - Waterfall hike in Flåm (Norway)

Flåm is a very small town, with maybe 3 hotels, a few restaurants, and couple of shops. To get here, we took a 1 hour train ride to Voss, then another hour bus ride to Gudvangen, then a 2 hour boat ride here to Flåm. The short history of the town is that it used to be a tourist village for salmon fishermen, and when the fishing became good, the main dude of the town set up a hotel, carriage services, dug up some tunnels for the railroad, and eventually it became a stop for the Fjord trips today.

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, consisting mainly of some ham, cheeses, smoked salmon, and bread. The bread here was surprisingly good. I think after my Paris trip, I've also become a bread snob (along with coffee snob and pastry snob). Then we headed for the hike for the nearby waterfalls. The water comes from the melting snow from the top of the mountains. The hike was fairly steep, and is probably a quarter way to the top of the mountain itself. The view from the top was amazing, but the view is equally beautiful in every direction you look. Pictures really don't do justice, and you really have to be here to experience the Nordic scenery. 

Every direction you see is so quaint and charming

Crystal clear waters flow at the base of the mountains

View from the waterfall.