Monday, July 21, 2008

Vacation Part 4 - Road Trip to Tangier

So, where to after I left Istanbul?

Well, since it was still not possible to return to Beirut at that time (mid-May), the company instructed SOMETHING & I to head to Casablanca, apply for Algerian visa, then go to Algiers to wait out till the situation in Beirut gets better. (Which of cos didn't turn out as plan cos the crisis in Beirut cleared up by the end of May, so I end up staying in Casablanca for 2 weeks then headed on back to Beirut)

During the 2 weeks stay in Casablanca, SOMETHING & I obviously haven't gotten over our "vacation mode", so we decided to make a road trip up to Tangier over the weekend (160508~180508) together with our colleague & his wife.


TANGIER
A city @ the northern point of Morocco, just below Spain

Shortly after we got back to our hotel from the Casablanca office, we packed our clothes & toiletries into a small backpack, picked up 4 burgers from the nearby Mac Donalds, and we were off on our road trip to Tangier! :D

It took around 4hrs drive from Casablanca to Tangier, plus 20mins or so of getting lost within Tangier city while looking for the hotel. By the time we arrived and checked-in to our rooms, it was already way pass midnight.

HOTEL DAWLIZ

Our Hotel in Tangier for 2N


THE ROOM

Looks very old & dingy right? Can you imagine this is suppose to be a 5 star hotel and we're charged around 100USD/ night (supposedly a corporate rate) ?!!?!


ALONG THE CORRIDOR


VIEW FROM THE BALCONY
@ least the view from the room is nice, so no complains


On the way to Cape Spartel we stopped @ this beautiful beach, apparently, this is where the Mediterranean Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean.

COOL!

MEDITERRANEAN MEETS ATLANTIC

Everything's So BLUE!

That's was our RIDE...

Nah... just kidding, this was our real RIDE! *bleh*


CAPE SPARTEL

Too bad we weren't able to enter Cape Spartel . . . no idea why cos non of us were able to read the sign which was in Arabic! *hahaha*

There was only one restaurant around that area - CAPE SPARTEL RESTAURANT

How original -___-


Food wasn't nice and was way over-priced, but the view was amazing.

Seafood Soup

Grilled Calamari

Grilled Sardines

LtoR: Karla & Felix (Our Salvadorian Travel Mates) + SOMETHING

A random pic from the streets to further emphasize SOMETHING & his obsession with farm animals. (There's a whole bunch of pix with close-ups of these goats but I refuse to post them all!)

SHOPPING @ THE GRAND SOCCO
'Socco' is a just a spanish word for 'souk' or 'market'. It's called Grand Socco in Tangier becos of its Spanish heritage.

A narrow street within the souk

Traditional handmade Moroccan shoes...so colourful

Ahh... Moroccan pottery!

If only I have enough luggage space to carry them all!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Vacation Part 3.2 - Istanbul

Sharing more pix from my unplanned vacation in Istanbul . . .

Taking a cruise along Bosphorus
A narrow strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (Approx. 30km long)

In the map above, you'll notice that the strait forms the boundary between the European (left) & Asian (right) part of Turkey.

This picture below, is a picture of the Bosphorus Bridge - the bridge that links the European side & the Asian side.

Imagine visiting 2 continents within a matter of minutes just by crossing this bridge! Pretty darn cool eh! *woot*

Bosphorus Bridge


Rumelihisarı
A fortress located on the hill at the European side of the Bosphorus

Other random pix as seen from Bosphorus


Grabbing a bite along Eminonu

Munching on mouth-watering Balik Ekmek (Grilled mackerel sandwiches) on the waterfront by the ferry docks like the locals do.


Roasted chestnuts anyone?


Döner (somewhat similar to the Middle Eastern fast food, Shawarma)


Topkapı Palace


Taksim Square

The city center of the European side. Also where my hotel was for the remaining few days in Istanbul.

This part of the city is filled with bars, restaurants, clubs, good shopping... and is always full of people no matter how late in the night it was.

Some friends we made while asking for directions . . .

Guess where we wanted to go? ? ?

Beyoğlu Flea Market (fantastic place to dig for good buys! I bought 2 uber cute tees for just 2.50~3.50YTL each!) :D


My only regret . . .
Didn't get to try Dondurma (Turkish Ice cream) cos every time I get the chance I'm either too full or it's not the right time to have some...
*Note to self*

I'LL BE BACK FOR SOME AUTHENTIC DONDURMA!