Chefchaouen, Tangier, & Barcelona
“Espresso” - E-scare quotes, added.
What better way to unload some Dirhams.
Tanger Airport
Today was our longest, most ambitious day of travel: a 2-hour drive by grand taxi to Tanger, a 1.5-hour flight to Barcelona. Our morning activities included searching for stamps to send postcards from Chefchaouen and matching our dirty socks before packing up our room. 😅
A new guest checked into the hotel as we were leaving and we all enjoyed a spot of tea (nothing close to Rachid’s mint tea) and talked about travels in Spain and Morocco. Apparently, Dorne from Game of Thrones was filmed in Seville so, Yennie face-palmed herself in regret, as we decided to cut it out of travel itinerary out of headache and sticker shock. Next time!
Our flight on Air Arabia was uneventful, except for its descent into Barcelona, which the pilot had warned would be turbulent. Suddenly, as the plane tussled in the sky, women started screaming and shrieking throughout the plane. Mind you, we have just been coaching ourselves out of being worried about flight travel around Europe (ahem, #EgyptAir) and we had a plane full of people screaming like they’ve never been on bumpy flight before. So unnecessary, and yet, so apt.
When we landed, we hopped into a taxi and checked into our hip little budget hotel in Barcelona - Pol & Grace. We crossed the street to get a bite of eat at Casa Varela, where we caught the last 19 minutes of the Copa del Rey 🇪🇸⚽️ and subsequent overtime. Patatas Bravas, Padrón Peppers, Estrella Damm - so glad to be back in Spain.
The restaurant closed at 23:30, so we had to finish the game next door, at the sandwicheria. Dos más Estrella Damm, por favor. We had to dust off our memories of soccer rules and players to follow the game in overtime. Admittedly, we hadn’t had to pay this much close attention since the World Cup in 2014. Messi and Neymar Jr. on the same team?! Offsides Rule? 2-0, FC Barcelona! #fútbol, not #football.
Our last challenge of the day was to pay for our beers: we only had €6 on us, so we crossed our fingers, hoping our tab would be less than that. €3,60 for two beers?! You can’t make this sh*t up. 😎
P.S. Go Warriors. 💛💙🏀
Estrella Damm Beer
Tris Tras, Plaça Molina 8, Sant Gervasi
