Circling through town

January 01, 2011 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Marrakech » Ocha Sushi

With restaurants either selling no or expensive alcohol, and the old town restaurants solely focussing on getting as many tourists in as possible, maximizing their intake with less of a focus on quality, Niamh and I opted for a sushi overload at Ocha Sushi, a newly opened restaurant in the ville nouvelle.
Though, just like the old town, all buildings in the new town are all covered in pink plaster, and the architecture is almost as cosmopolitan as in any other more Mediterranean city, I found the ville nouvelle, without it's tourist trappings, significantly more attractive than a visit to the old town, which amounts to having to fight your way past snake charmers, shoe salesmen and covered up female beggars.

The only real tourist destination in the ville nouvelle the Jardin Majorelle, built up by Yves Saint Laurent, whose ashes were dispersed there, inspired by the work of the previous owner, the French landscape painter Jacques Majorelle, son of the more famous Louis. It's the only place in the ville nouvelle where tourists converge like flies to a honey pot, with all the trappings of the circus that comes with such a venue.
The grounds also house a museum, but access to the museum can only be had through the garden, meaning you have to pay to see the garden if you want to see the museum.

In the old town, the Bahia palace is a slightly older attraction, nut not less overrun with tourists. Here, however, the entertainment value is increased by the lounging kitties. Less interesting in its execution, but conceptually admirable, is Tiskiwin, a museum run by a Dutch anthropologist, where a tour through the museum is the cultural equivalent of physically traveling from nomadic tribe to nomadic tribe, surrounding the western Sahara.

Disillusion

December 30, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Marrakech » Jemaa el-Fna

The last stop on our trip is Marrakech, Hollywood stars’ favorite African getaway, though orphans aren’t too easily picked up in these parts (and certainly wouldn’t trigger the same emotional response those poor undernourished black buggers do). Prices are much higher, both for sleeping and eating, compared to our other stops in Morocco, not in the least because several low cost air carriers now shuttle between Marrakech and different parts of Europe.

Originally, I wanted to complete our circular journey by taking the bus from Fez to Marrakech, at nine hours a rather unpleasantly long undertaking. Fortunately, common sense prevailed, and though I don’t like backtracking, the eight hour train journey, taking us through each of our previous destinations, is shorter, cheaper and more comfortable.
The scenery on the train journey from Fez to Marrakech is also gorgeous. Even now, at the start of winter, the rolling hills and sweeping vistas display gorgeous and superbly green views.
Funnily enough, the train’s automated announcer is introduced by standard samples coming straight out of Microsoft Windows, each time she starts talking being presaged by the sound for a new message arriving in your inbox.

Marrakech, unfortunately, is a disappointment, as far as first impressions go. The central square is so crowded, and predominantly with foreigners, and so busy, in a disorganized kind of way, that it feels like the world is about to end, right there, and that everyone has come to watch.
Not French, but English is the primary language after Arabic, prices, of everything, are way to high, the medina’s streets are open to motorbikes and cars, here the streets are wide enough, and the medina itself feels sterile, with the outer edges particularly characterless. It’s as if Marrakech is the west’s idea as to what a Moroccan medina should look like: selling everything under the sun, but neatly laid out, with here and there a local woman garbed up in head scarves, while the visitors can slosh around in t-shirts and short skirts while ordering food and drink in their own language.
I’m glad we visited these other Moroccan cities first, before coming here, showing us a bit more of the ‘real’ Morocco.

Our first impressions of Marrakech made us want to visit Essaouira, until old friends told us they were gonna arrive in Marrakech just after the new year.

Buying a fez in Fez

December 27, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Fez » Cafe Ferdous

Fez is home to the largest mosque in Africa. Right in the middle of the medina, the complex is so sprawling it absorbs the surrounding houses. The medina, or rather, the vast majority of it, is also the largest urban car-free area in the world.

Were we wondering where all the tourists were while in Casablanca, Rabat and Meknes, it is now obvious where all of them, seemingly, hang out. In Fez. Or it seemed obvious, as we later found out that, really, the tourists in Fez were just a minor spillover compared to the plethora of tourists in Marrakech.
The medina's streets truly are alive with the sound of tourists. There are so many of them, it's not too surprising that hassling invariably doesn't even happen. Though in some occasions it's necessary, like for when finding the best viewing spots for watching the tanners at work.

The Fez medina is what you think of when you visualize a typical Arab old town. A sprawling network of small cobbled streets spread out over a series of small hills where everything imaginable is being sold and bought. Off limit to motorized transport, the preferred way for moving heavy goods being by horse or donkey.
And we bought, what else, a fez.

The Marrakech medina, we found later, is even more the archetypical Arab medina, to the extent where, in Marrakech, it even feels clynical. 

I also shopped around fez, and found, a leather case for my iPad. Unfortunately a tiny bit too small, the case is a bit too much of a snuggly fit, but the price was more than right.
Indeed, here's a tip: buy truckloads of them and sell them on eBay for too much money. Hand made leather iPad cases from Morocco. That's not only globalization at work, but also a sustainable green business benefiting families in developing countries directly.

In the evening, we indulged and feasted on sushi at the reasonable, but a tad too classy looking, Kai Tai restaurant. Formerly only serving Japanese, they have changed their name and our now also serving, can you guess, Thai food.
Reasonable value, and made by a Japanese sushi meister, but also at twice the price of a carpet we bought from a peddler while overlooking the city from the southern hills, next to the ancient Merenid tombs.
The man, what seemed to me, sincerely thanked us for buying a carpet off him, after he had, unprompted, lowered his price several times when I indicated I had no desire to buy. Not because I didn't like his carpets, they were in fact quite nice, but simply because I'm not in a position to own much, having to lug around everything I own in my 20kg checked in luggage.
Anyway, we bought the nice carpet, I'm glad we were able to help the man and if I hadn't seen quite a bit of the world by now, I would have felt guilty for spending so much on our dinner. Nevertheless, another pointer of how wide the world's poverty gap is.
And though most of the diners in Kai Tai were expat, several were local.

The other pleasant dining experience we had was at Cafe Clock. A lovely multi-terraced venue with reasonable enough prices, good food and occasional live music. And a sleepy cat who is willing to drink your milk shake if you can't finish the bulbous glasses they come in.

In Moulay Idriss

December 25, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Moulay Idriss » Tomb of Moulay Idriss

Being chased out of Saudi Arabia, Moulay Idriss, the great grandchild of Hasan, son of Ali, the cousin of the Prophet, settled in what is now Morocco, managing to convert the locals to this newfangled religion called Islam. He promptly became their leader and kicked off Muslim dominance in the region for the next 1000 years.
Starting out as what are the Roman ruins of Volubilis, he decided a more grandiose capital was in order, and had work started on Meknes, one of the country's four imperial cities, Idriss himself the founder of morocco's first royal dynasty.

Idriss was buried in the nearby village of… Moulay Idriss, where his mausoleum is off limits to non Muslims. The village, perched on two adjacent hilltops, is rather cute and doesn't see too many tourists. In part because up to the middle of the last century, the city as a whole was off limits to non Muslims.

Unfortunately for us, the weather didn't cooperate with our visit, and we decided to forego a visit to Volubilis itself, sticking to the town.

In the evening, we had the fortune of, for the first time, tasting a Moroccan wine. Apparently the region around Meknes is the country's primary source of good wines. We had dinner at pizzeria le four, where the menu claimed that 14% tax was not included, though we also didn't get it charged. The pizzas and salad weren't too bad, and the wine, though rather young, was pleasantly refreshing.

Drugs

The next day, waiting for our train to Fez, having breakfast, a bunch of kids were hanging around the train station, slightly zoned out, sniffing what might have been glue and, ages 8 and up, puffing away on cigarettes.

Meknes: undervalued imperial city

December 24, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Meknes » McDonald’s

Meknes is one of Morocco’s four imperial cities: Fez, Rabat, Marrakech and then Meknes itself. It’s also the most undervalued one, or so they say. Though not unpleasant, it does feel more provincial than either Rabat or Casablanca.

Meknes’ medina, or old town, is big, but I feel I’m starting to get medina fatigue. They’re all attractive to some extent, but whether they are in Morocco, Egypt, Croatia or Iran, the differences aren’t that big.

Meknes’ main square, though, on this Friday afternoon, did have the attraction of live musicians, story tellers, kids games and more. A welcome place to spend hours just sipping coffee and watching the world go by.
If only it wasn’t so sodding cold.

Ruins of Chellah

December 22, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Rabat » Ruins of Chellah

Not too far from Rabat are the ruins of lixus, a former settlement already occupied by a sun worshipping people before the Phoenicians set up shop around 1000BC. The site is considered the oldest surviving settlement in Morocco and, according to Pliny the elder, the site where Hercules had to collect the golden apples, tangerines, from the garden of Hesperides.
Our day was spent visiting a less illustrious set of ruins, Chellah, on the edge of Rabat. This, also where first the Phoenicians, then the Romans and then the Almohads set up shop. The Romans left some of the ruins still viewable and the Almohads topped that off with a necropolis. Now, the site is owned by storks and kittens, one being so friendly she literally crawled all over me.

Unfortunately, most of the day saw heavy rains and storms limit are maneuverability.

It’s all about the openness

December 21, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Rabat » Tour Hassan

Morocco's train network and it's materiel are in excellent condition and, when possible, the preferred way of traveling. Our first stop after Casablanca was going to be Rabat, not even an hour away.
Here, the medina is not too old, destroyed by the earthquake which also roughed up Lisbon in 1755, but more attractive, and less oppressing, then in Casablanca. The nearby old fort, the casbah, is pretty, almost feeling like a Greek village with it's walls partially painted blue, and has great views of the Atlantic and the town of Sale on the other side of the river dividing the two towns.

Near the end of the day, we stumbled upon a large demonstration in front of the house of representatives. A few thousand mostly young adults, split up in a few groups identified by differently colored vests, were chanting songs and slogans.
Just at dusk, the masses of what mostly must have been students made for some nice pictures. Shooting a few, I was quickly chased down by security guards in civilian clothing: "are you a journalist?", "ehm… A citizen journalist", I responded. "you have to delete the photos. Show me."
I didn't feel that claims extolling the virtues of freedom of the press were going to go done very well at that very moment. And, additionally, it might have been bad to claim to be a journalist, without accreditation.

Playing it again, and again, and…

December 20, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Casablanca » La Sqala

As these things go, Niamh's plane arrived an hour late. However, no one at the airport was able to tell me anything about her flight, remaining on the board with only the cryptic 'delayed' next to it, up until when the plane actually landed.
Not too much of a hassle in itself, as food and drinks at the Casablanca airport are both cheap, at least at airport standards, and pretty darn good. However, I also had to get up at 6am in order to meet Niamh at the airport at her designated arrival time. And that with all my luggage, dropping them off at the hotel we were going to stay at.

My early get up and go and Niamh's lack of a proper night sleep meant that we didn't do much on our first day together in two months besides having a nice meal, followed by the walking tour the Lonely Planet recommends, which shows off the few French built art deco buildings in the area around the Mohammed V square.

A day later, having rested, we checked out more cafes and restaurants, including what is just short of a tourist trap, Rick's cafe, inspired by the movie Casablanca, which wasn't even shot in Morocco. In the evenings, Issam (no joke), plays it again, and again, and again… The place, though really way too expensive, is quite lovely.
It's probably more enjoyable to have lunch or dinner at the nearby La Sqala, just inside the walls of the medina. Also a very nice setting, and with much more reasonable prices. And cute kittens begging for scraps.

Cafe culture

December 18, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Casablanca » Rock Hill Cafe

Casablanca is known for having only a few sights, even though some four million people make up the metropolis. So, after visiting the city's main squares, the Hassan II mosque and the old medina, there was little left but just to stroll around town.

Not that the city is boring or has little to offer in general. Every street corner and in many places in-between, terraces, cafes and restaurants fill the side walk. With the many hip youngsters strutting their stuff, showing off, couples holding hands and departures being sealed with kisses, it's obvious that Casablanca is not only the commercial capital of morocco, but also hosts the most fashion sensitive and culturally adapting crowd of the country.

That’s one big mosque you got there

December 17, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Casablanca » Hassan II mosque

Casablanca, though probably the most cosmopolitan of morocco's cities and certainly the commercial hub, is also a tad bland. The city is very new, with only hundreds of inhabitants when the French embarked on their development spree in the middle of the 19th century. Even so, the old medina, the part of Casablanca within the city wall, was constructed within the last two hundred years, not even making that bit of the city visually appealing.

Perhaps to combat the more practical side of the country, the late king Hassan II embarked on a project that ended up costing some 500 million dollars, mostly funded by the public, building what is now the highest construction in the country and one of the largest mosques in the world.
The minaret stands at 210 meters and, due to the open space around it, feels less impressive from the outside than it actually is. Inside, though, and one of only two mosques open to non Muslims in the country, the building does impress.
With wood carving done by some 6000 craftsmen, the hall with room for, literally, tens of thousands of worshippers, does leave you in a sense of awe. Interesting is that though the motifs ate slightly more moorish, the insides of the mosque could easily be mistaken for a church.
Interestingly enough, it was designed by a Frenchman.

Later, I stumbled upon, what seemed to be a dilapidated synagogue. Not too odd, as most of the once thriving Jewish community has left the country. Nevertheless, Casablanca still is home to the only Jewish museum in the Arab world.
Similarly the cathedral of the holy heart, just off the parc de liege Arab, was put out of it's misery already in the fifties, only decades after it was commissioned, and now serves as a cultural center, supposedly.
I tried to get in, but was shooed away for doing so.

That Spanish guitar

December 16, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Morocco » Casablanca » Parc de jeux Yasmina

Though most of the world is familiar with the way in which the Spaniards use and abuse the guitar, it's little else than one of the two members of the Arab-Andalusian branch of classical music.
I was in luck, as the Trio Arabesque was going to perform at the Villa des Arts, which also had an excellent retrospective on the Moroccan artist Andre Elbaz.
Or was I? The three artists were probably Moroccan, but the music wasn't, with tunes by Spanish, Argentinian and French composers. And did I also detect a few dropped notes?

In downtown Casablanca, the Parc the la Ligue Arabe has seen many better days. If the park is representative for the Ligue, it really is no wonder the bickering is more common place than coherence is. The incorporated Yasmina amusement park is less then a shadow of it's former self. The Lonely Planet still lists it as recommended an excursion for when traveling with kids and pegs the entrance fee at 150 dirhams, about 15 euros.
In reality, most of the rides are out of commission and the entrance is now a mere 2 dirham.

To the ends of the world

December 15, 2010 • Blog

World » Morocco » Casablanca » Hotel Oued-Dahab

The Phoenicians pioneered the color purple as a royal color, with Roman royalty being the most ready customers, having exclusive access to the uncommon dye. Though the color purple came from their natural heartland, roughly current day Lebanon, the similar royal blue, or indigo, came from off the shore of what is now Morocco.
Indeed, Morocco has been a prized possession for millennia. First Phoenicians, then Romans, barbarians (called Berbers by the Romans), Mauritanians, Arabs, Ottomen, Portuguese, Spaniards and French, roughly in that order, all tried their hand at controlling the country at the edge of the world. Of course, sometimes also in reverse, during the short reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, Morocco was the springboard for the conquest of the Iberian peninsula, resulting in what was the fifth largest contiguous empire ever, before the Umayyads were chased into what is now Spain.

Though Niamh coined the term militant tourism for my style of travel, I'm much more organized as well as picky as a decade, or two, ago. The interwebs also allow you to, facilitating you researching your destination in any depth you like.
Though I've been recharging my batteries for the last month in Holland, Niamh is fresh out of the challenge that is Sierra Leone, so I wanted to find a reasonable place to stay for our first few nights in Casablanca, our point of arrival.
Surprisingly, though a city like Marrakech has perhaps 100 or so budget hotels bookable online, Casablanca only barely has a handful. And many get the most horrendous reviews, specifically on the quality of staff. I managed to find the two of us a reasonable place (I hope!), but as I'm arriving a few days earlier, getting myself hooked up with a reasonable place without paying too much was tricky.

Due to fog, my arrival was delayed by almost five hours. We had to make a stopover in Marrakech, from where we left hours later. By the time I walked into the arrivals hall at the Casablanca airport, it was nearly 430 in the morning. However, by that time, my arranged pickup was nowhere to be seen and I had to call them in again.
I came prepared enough, with iPad, book and Wired. And I had a whole row of seats to myself. But not for long. Pulling out my iPad, three kids quickly crowded around me, their eyes glued to the screen.
And I wasn't able to get rid of them for the duration of the journey.

Annoying as that occasionally was, the kids constantly asking for my attention, they were also exemplary for the 'failing' (that's sarcasm) of Dutch multiculturalism.
All three kids were born of Moroccan parents. Their parents spoke Arabic with each other, though all kids used Dutch with each other. In fact, this being in-between St. Nicholas and Christmas, their two hottest topics were these very holidays, several times them breaking out in very Dutch holiday songs.
A third important topic was where it was I lived. I explained I currently live in Africa. "Mom, mom", in dutch, "he lives in Africa!" then to me "can you teach me some African?" the oldest of the three, a boy, had been in Morocco before, though he was born in Holland. "You know, in Morocco, they constantly use their horns when they are driving! Even when there is no one around or nothing is happening. Toot toot. It's weird. I don't understand it."
the girl, a headstrong and talkative little puppet, had to tell us that last year she came in first with regional gymnastics competitions and that she's really good. Whenever she couldn't hear or understand something, she politely said so. "excuse me?" (wablief?)
"What is that you're saying?" one of the boys asked the girl. "it's when you don't understand something!" and to clarify even further, "I live in Maastricht." which is in the south of the Netherlands, where people tend to speak a tad more politely.

All in all, these three overly hyper kids, I'm sure their parents where happy as it was, this guy practically taking care of their offspring for the duration of the journey, made very clear that what is typical for the multicultural society that is the Netherlands. Sure, first generation foreigners will have trouble adjusting, while second generation foreigners will feel stuck in the middle (these kids will somehow have to match their parents and their grandparents worldview with what they grow up with outside of the home), but one generation onwards, these children their offspring will, for all intents and purposes be as Dutch as the next, only perhaps a name and their looks setting them somewhat apart.
Though I doubt even the former. I suspect that, as integration moves forward, foreign families will more and more look for giving their children names that might be indigenous to their culture, but also to their host culture. Case in point, one of the three kids was called Adam, the girl was called Sarah.

Rabat, again, but not

December 08, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Malta » Victoria » Citadel

I’ve had a long standing fascination with tiny countries. Malta, being the smallest country in the EU being no exception. But perhaps even more fascinating than the smallest country in the EU, is the smaller of the two islands that make up the smallest country in the EU.
To be fair, Malta actually consists of a good handful of islands, but only two are inhabited; Malta, that is, the main island, and Gozo. There is a third island of reasonable size, Comino, which apparently has three permanent residents, but taking the ferry from Malta to Gozo, which passes Comino, you can manage to pretty much see that whole island from the boat.

Gozo is famous, well, in certain circles, I suppose, for it’s Ggantija megalithic structure, dating back to some 5500 years ago, making the buildings amongst the oldest freestanding constructions in the world. Built by unknown neolithics, the construction, with some stones over a few tonnes in weight, were once thought to have been built by giants, hence the name. Pronounced as dgeeganteeya, it resembles the northern European word for giant.

Unfortunately, the structure is a bit of a let down, perhaps the reason why at the entrance to the temple, you are given a small map with a dozen or so other sights in the area.
The sight promoted the most, besides the temple complex, is a medeaval windmill. I mean, seriously?
The one site I was interested in was a nearby stone circle, but when we tried to locate it, the location on the map did not correspond with reality, where we found several houses under construction. And no circles.

Gozo, with it’s 30000 inhabitants, has no less than 22 churches, some of which are quite impressive. The one that stands out is the more recently built st. John the baptist church in the unpronounceable Xewkija, which has a huge dome and stands some 80 meters high, visible from far beyond the shores of the island.
Gozo is also known for some pristine bays, but we couldn’t be bothered.

We went to Gozo on the day which celebrates Maria’s immaculate conception, mostly only celebrated in countries with a significant Catholic population. We might have just missed a procession in the capital of Gozo, but at that time, we were still trying to get to Ggantija without losing too much time.

Mdina and Rabat

December 07, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Malta » Rabat » Fontanella

Visiting the silent city, the colloquial name for Mdina, pronounced emdina, and the initial capital of the island, was a bit like wandering through an open air museum. Colossal architecture, imposing fortifications, along, indeed, quiet streets. The town, now with only a few hundred inhabitants, it's claim to fame being the apostel Paul having set up shop in the adjoining suburb of rabat for three months after being shipwrecked on his way to Rome, supposedly preaching Christianity, not accidentally the island's favorite fable.
The bible supports Paul's sojourn on the island, but doesn't mention how the man came to his end. Apocryphal stories recount, though, that the man, sadly, was beheaded, in Rome, after having started to tell the Romans how cool it was to accept Jesus into their lives.
In fact, the stump of pillar on which the man was, allegedly, beheaded, can be found in Valletta, in the church of St. Paul's shipwreck. They also somehow managed to obtain a peace of the man's wrist bone, now encased in a silver semi-open glove and kept behind glass.

Above Paul's cave now stands St. Paul's cathedral, in Rabat, and in the nearby Mdina, another saint paul's cathedral stands on the spot where, supposedly, the then ruler of the island, the roman Publius, met Paul for the first time.
Also an interesting church, though nowhere near as interesting as the co-cathedral in Valleys, Mdina's real gem is the cathedral museum, which houses a slew of wood prints by the artist Albrecht Duehrer.

Nearby both these villages is the fairly modern town of Mosta. That city's main sight is the Mosta Dome, the fifth biggest dome in the world.

Checking up on the Knights Templar

December 06, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Malta » Sliema » Europa Hotel

Malta, at just over 300 square kilometers, is the smallest country in the European Union and also the source of the only semitic language which also is an official language of the EU. The language is a flavor of Arabic, which developed on the islands from some 1000 years ago, even though it was the Phoenicians, also speakers of a Semitic language, who were the first to introduce that flavor of languages to the islands that make up the archipelago that is the republic of Malta.

However, the Phoenicians did leave something of a legacy. A type of traditional boat, a gondola resembling the venetian kind, are derivatives of Phoenician originals.

The cross, prominently displayed on the country’s flag, is in fact the St. George Cross, awarded by Great Britain for Malta’s heroic resistance during the second world war.
The country was a British colony until 1964 and only joined the EU in 2004, introducing the euro a mere four years later. And that is of course mightily convenient. And with my upcoming trip to morocco, it was surprising to find that it was easy to book cheaper accommodation here than pretty much anywhere in morocco.

Besides this personal link between Malta and Morocco, there’s also a more geographical, or perhaps cultural, one. Well, besides the Phoenicians, ottoman, Spanish, Brits and others occupying both countries. The capital of Gozo, the smaller of the three islands which make up Malta, is called Victoria, but used to be known as Rabat, also, of course the administrative, but not de facto, capital of Morocco.
Victoria is the name the British colonizers gave to the city, in celebration of their queen, but also perhaps to avoid some confusion with a town on the main island also called Rabat.

Wikitravel claims that ‘Rabat’ means suburb, from the Arabic, but sources on Morocco claims the name derives from the Arabic for ‘fortified camp’. In either case ,it’s surprising that there aren’t more towns called Rabat in Semitic language speaking countries, though Afghanistan seems to have three small ones. Then again, Pashtun, the second language of Afghanistan after the Farsi dialect Dari, is a Semitic language as well.
Also surprising is the rather long list of Dutch synonyms which match the word Rabat.

Gozo’s claim to fame is being the home of the Ggantija (the first g is a soft g, like dz) complex, a megalithic structure built from some 5500 years ago, ranking it amongst the oldest still standing structures in the world.

Valletta, the Maltese capital, was named for Jean Parisot de la Valette, a French nobleman who was Grand Master of the Order of St. John and leader of the defenders during the Ottoman siege of Malta in 1565. How many cities, let alone capitals can claim to be named after a foreigner?

And the fact that the Frenchman defended the country against invaders is also relative, as the whole population exists because of the island suffering consecutive invasions. Then again, perhaps the Turks were a bit more special, once carting off the inhabitants of Gozo as slaves.

Though prices, on the whole, are comparable to other northern Mediterranean destinations, the cost of accommodation is surprisingly reasonable. My mom decided to join me on my trip to the former crusader stronghold and our twin room, though sleeping three, in the town of Sliema, only came in at some 25 euro per night. The Europa hotel offers basic but large rooms, ours even with a sea view.
Though Internet isn’t free, in fact quite expensive at 2.50 euro per hour, the English style pub across the road on the waterfront offers free wifi, which I can pick up, even from within the room.

Malta is an interesting mix of British and Mediterranean styles, where English is the second language by design, but the cuisine is sourced from the region. A big plus, though fish and chips seems to be a staple too. Then again, it is wherever Brits go on holiday.
For our first dinner, mom was adventurous and ordered pizza, but I went for one of the local specialties, rabbit stew, which was enjoyably tasty.

Interesting enough, with the country’s Christian foundations, many of the regular houses, most of near monumental proportions, are decked out with the typical Ottoman treat of having one central upper floor window sticking out, so that Muslim women, restricted to living in doors, still had the ability to keep track of everything happening in their own street.

Valletta

Valletta is a pretty little town with lots of interesting history. And the main streets and sights are completely overrun by tourists. By far the number one sight and site is the St. John Co-Cathedral (there is also a pro-cathedral, but there doesn’t seem to be an actual cathedral in town). On the outside, not a very imposing church, but decked out in extensive baroque decorations on every bit of wall inside.
Also, the tour’s audio guide taught me that the Maltese cross has eight points because they represent the eight langues, or chapters, of knights who had set up shop on Malta after being kicked out of Jerusalem.
Defending the faith required knights from similar background to flock together in their own langues, which indeed were originally, but loosely, grouped around similar languages. For example, the Dutch joined the Germans, but so did some of the Nordic knights. It’s specifically in the co-cathedral, where each langue competed with the others to outdo them in creating the most elaborate chapel, where these langues, and the eight pointed maltese cross, are the most prominent.

It’s surprising that even with the influx of so many Europeans and their languages, Maltese is still the primary language of the island, with english the second only because of the country being an English colony until a few decades ago.
With all the knights speaking indo European languages, I can’t imagine Maltese was the lingua Franca, during their prominence, so it’s interesting it managed to stay put.

Trading cards digitized

November 30, 2010 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Netherlands » Delft » Bot-Boender residence

As a kid, like many, I collected several sets of trading cards. Three complete sets of those I recently chugged out, but not after digitizing them.

Garbage Pail Kids

Surprisingly, perhaps, Garbage Pail Kids are still going strong. Fansites still exist and an official site still panhandles whole sets of the buggers.
Truth be told, plenty are quite clever.

This set, collected in the late 80s, is interesting for it includes a relatively hard to get first series in Dutch.

Inspector Gadget

Back in the early 80s, when I watched the Fun Factory sometimes two mornings long during the weekend, my favorite show was, beyond a doubt, Inspector Gadget. This was on Sky Channel, so not on the Dutch national television.
Nevertheless, somehow these Inspector Gadget trading cards were available in Holland, but I forget how. As proper trading cards? With chewing gum?

Of course, I collected the trading cards, all 45 of them and even went so far as to copy and enlarge them onto A4 sheets of paper. I even went so far as to send some of these to the show and got a mention, on screen. Ah, fame.

For some reason, the cards were distributed with French signage. Sure, the creation of Inspector Gadget was a cooperation between broadcasters from six countries, including France and Canada, but for a kid, used to the English names, to be confronted with Sophie instead of Penny and Finot instead of Brain must have been a bit disorienting.

Boris Vallejo

Originally hailing from Peru, Boris Vallejo moved to the US long ago and has been creating hyper realistic and beautiful art ever since.

The man is still going strong.

The matrix of cards is constructed from a series of trading cards I acquired some 20 years ago.

Vallejo’s art is truly stunning, with its art nouveau influences, many of his works resemble post-modern, often futuristic, interpretations of Alphonse Mucha paintings.

I always figured that if Don Lawrence would take his time, Vallejo’s work is what Storm would look like.

Coming up for air

November 26, 2010 • Blog

World » Netherlands » Delft » Bot-Boender residence

The Casablanca airport looks like any other European airport, but though the girls working there are clearly Moroccan, the men could easily be confused for Italians. Unfortunately, though overall quite efficient, getting through customs and immigration for departure was awfully slow.

Because of the sizable Sierra Leonean population in the UK, flights on BMI, around Christmas, going against the flow, come at a discount. Flying at the right times will get you from Freetown to London, and back, for 700 USD. Unfortunately, my desired dates didn’t fit and I had to go through Morocco, to save because of Niamh and mine upcoming holiday there, the total cost of my journey, from Freetown to Amsterdam, ended up being around 850 euro. Add to that the cost of getting to and from the airport in Freetown, a cool 40 USD each way, and you’re well on your way to bankruptcy.
And the Royal Air Maroc flight leaves at… 430am. With the last shuttle leaving at 11pm. The joys.

Outside of the airport terminal in Casablanca, arriving in the early morning, the morning was bright, blue and shrouded in a crispy cold. After the singeing heat of Freetown, a welcome change. Holland, on the other end, was cold and wet, with the cold getting into my bones immediately after disembarking from the AirArabia flight.
First stop: Burger King, to wolf down a Whopper.

In Holland

In Holland, though cold, after only three days of work, I was able to do more than what I would have been able to do in some three weeks in Freetown. Overall, the excellent connectivity, as well as the availability of whatever I fancied, made me realise I was mentally re-inflating during my first few days back.
Then again, having done the bulk of the work, I also quickly started to long again for warmer climes, resulting in my getting a cheap ticket to Malta for a few days.

Freetown online in 2012

Getting conclusive information about the future is challenging in most of Africa and more difficult in some places than others. Whenever the ‘new’ undersea (internet) cable will come online for Sierra Leone, no-one seems to really know, and trying to search for that information online, while in Freetown, is like wading through a barrel of honey. And not even tasty. So perhaps that should be like wading through a barrel of sludge, which also sums up the joy felt with browsing the web in Sierra Leone.

Nevertheless, the current estimate for Freetown coming online, unequivocally, is the second quarter of 2012. More here and in this image.

Indeed, no chance of connectivity getting better while Niamh and I are still based there.

Pesky foreigners

Talking to the owner of the gym I go to in Delft, he mentioned that since they installed a video surveillance system which included coverage of the bicycle parking area, they caught four guys stealing bikes. “And it’s always these foreign looking individuals.” (“En het zijn altijd van die buitenlandse types.”) Was that an invitation to pick up an extra bike?

Weekly quiz nights in Freetown at O’Casey Blues Bar

November 10, 2010 • Blog

World » Sierra Leone » Freetown » O’Casey Blues Bar

Starting tomorrow, Thursday November 11, myself and Eva Kirch will host a weekly quiz night at the O’Casey Blues Bar in Aberdeen in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Six, or so, rounds of ten, or so, questions, including a picture round and a music round.
Entrance fee will be 5000 Leones per person. Prizes are to be won. Star is on tap.

I’m working on a website for everyone to keep track of both the scores and past questions. 

On a related note, ‘blue’, in Krio, the language spoken by 97% of Sierra Leoneans, means ‘sex’. A fine bar indeed. 

Update: The winners were the Pipe Liners, with half a point difference over the St. Pauli All Stars. The turnout of about 30 was, given the rather short notice, excellent.

A trip up country

November 07, 2010 • Blog

World » Sierra Leone » Bo » Countryside hotel

Moyamba Junction, halfway between Freetown and Kenema, operates as the one, almost obligatory, stop when traveling between the two cities. Food, here, is affordable, and expats don’t get short changed, too much, though the price they pay is being harassed the more for it.
Having secured a fresh baguette with freshly grilled meat, we were happily munching away in our car, when one of the local girls repeatedly almost squashed a newborn muskrat, squealing away, against the car’s windows, either trying to sell the animal, or getting us to pay for some food to feed it. That is, the girl said it was a muskrat, but Wikipedia claims the animal doesn’t thrive in Africa. Perhaps it was some other form of Arvicolinae, or even Cricetidae.

We were on our way to Bo, which was to be followed by a Sunday visit to Kenema, for a weekend-long outing of the Freetown hash.
Nice to be out, staying in the reasonable Countryside hotel, on the Bo-Kenema road, we also learned that the Freetown Hash’ outings regularly suffer from emotional, sometimes almost violent, moments when some of the local women clash over adolescent issues. At least this time it wasn’t over who got to sleep with whom, though that probably would have been funnier.

Saturday afternoon finally saw me seize the opportunity to eat mashed up cassava leaf. Resembling spinach and served with rice and fish and/or chicken, it’s probably the yummiest west African dish.

On the Sunday, on the way back, we stopped for lunch at Sab’s, in Bo. A Lebanese fast food joint that serves very decent food at very reasonable prices.
This year, for the first time since the early nineties, Peace Corps volunteers have returned to Sierra Leone and quite a few are posted around Bo. Visiting Bo, for them, typically constitutes the highlight of their month and a visit to Sab’s toilet the equivalent of being in the presence of a higher being. The toilet is missing its seat.

Bo, although untouched by the war, has very little to offer, showing that Sierra Leone was doing fine in its downwards spiral, war or no war.

Developing?

Cocorioko claims that Sierra Leone moved up dramatically in this years Human Development Index listings, now at 158th place. This is, indeed, slightly remarkable as the country is amongst the poorest four in the world (according to the IMF, milage varies).
However, Wikipedia can confirm that in 2007, Sierra Leone was also at the 158th spot, one spot lower than the year before.

Apparently, Cocorioko reports, president Koroma promised during the presidential campaign of 2007 that if Sierra Leoneans elected him President, he would ensure that the country would move up the United Nations Human Development Index.
Cocorioko goes on praising the president, but it seems the praise is uncalled for. True, it seems that in 2009, Sierra Leone was listed as 180th, but that was two years after Koroma took office. Two years after they already were in the 158th spot.

Crowdsourcing my next profile picture

October 21, 2010 • Blog

World » Sierra Leone » Freetown » Home

You can pick my next profile picture. The two candidates are right here. Pick your favorite, or not, in the form below. My current profile picture dates from perhaps some five years ago, maybe even more, so it’s more than time to update to a new one. And, hey, aging makes men only look *more* attractive, right?
I can go and stand in front of a mirror and take pictures of myself until I find the perfect one, but as this is the age of crowdsourcing, I thought I’d try something different. With your help.
Both photos were taken by Niamh, in Brighton, earlier this year. The statue, located next to the Brighton pier, is officially called The Big Green Bagel, but colloquially is called both The Seasick Doughnut as well as The Big Green Bagel and was a gift from the mayor of Naples. Apparently, the statue is rather controversial amongst Brightonians, but I quite like it.

That’s all folks

Deer in the headlights

Results

Current results are shown below. If you just voted, it might take a few minutes for the chart to be updated. Reload the page when you’re ready…

And the winner is…

With a clear lead, “Deer in the headlights” is a winner with half the votes to its name (10/20), more if you include the ‘Either one’ option. Interestingly, unprompted, all three votes for “Other” suggested the current picture (made by Nico several years ago).

×