Belgium: The second country I call home

Living in Belgium for more than a year & a half, I have grown to love & enjoy this small yet wonderful country. And I can't summarize how thankful I am that I got lucky that I managed to get matched in Belgium. It may not be as touristic as France, as lively as Spain nor as charming as Italy - but Belgium for me is one of the countries I can truly and won't regret to call as home. :)

Longer version:

Budapest, Hungary

ohhhhh Budapest!

it's been months since the trip and I kept on postponing on writing a blog entry for it. Practically because I don't know how to start this entry.

I always write on this blog something about the sights you can see on that city, the landmarks, the parks and all those tourist-y stuff. But probably because of the sheer & very complicated Magyar language (the names of places I can't seem to remember) plus the fact that I lost my 3-day old camera a few days into the trip - everytime I ask myself what to write, I can't seem to start.

Though don't take me in the wrong way - I enjoyed my visit to Hungary so much and the city is amazing- but the memories that stayed with me were not of the grand tourist places but the people that I was with and that I have met.

I went to Hungary with three of my closest friends in Brussels, which means that it was a no-holds bar travelling. There were no clashes with where we should go nor what should we do, it seemed that we were all in-sync that we were there not only for the city but for each other. And with close friends, you spent more time talking, chatting, joking, bullshitting than actually doing the sightseeing.

And apart form having my friends over for the trip, I also met some AIESEC Philippine EPs when I was handling OGX. A nice afternoon - with an unexpected yet very typical end to a Filipino day - going to McDonalds for some fries.

Then of course, I have to mention that the Hungarians are one of the friendliests people in Europe that I have met - with my deep thanks going of course to my friend, Csenge's family for their sheer hospitality, for her dad picking us up all the way from Vienna then arriving to their place with dinner that was ready to serve. We were treated like royalty and with care as if they were our own family. Köszönöm, és soha nem fogom elfelejteni ezt a pillanatot.

Here are a few photos from the trip, mostly taken from my friends. I'll try to come back there, and the next time I write a Hungarian related blogpost I should have captured the names.

Rome, Italy

Coming back from our trip to Morocco on June 18, I embarked the next day to fly to sunny Rome, Italy. I was living the life of a jetsetter – particularly the exhaustion. Though, I’m still excited to see Rome (and no, it’s before the Lizzie McGuire movie).

I flew in from Brussels – Charleroi Friday afternoon and landed at Rome early evening. I landed at Rome Ciampino, the low-budget airport, so I needed to take a bus to Rome’s Termini station (Central Station), which luckily were a few footsteps away from my hostel.

It was my first time travelling in Europe alone. I got used to being with friends and their never-ending discussion as to where to go next. And now, I was alone – free to decide where to spend my time in the city.



My first impression of Rome was it was very busy and crowded with tourists. Termini station, for example, was bustling with tourists with their big bags on their left hand, maps on their right. The hostel I stayed, Pop Inn hostel, was quite decent, though I find it overpriced – 35€ per night. Though coincidentally, there were Filipinos working at that hostel which really helped me a lot. Having Filipinos around always give an edge –which for my case, it was through free breakfasts and first choice for rooms.

Rome is heavily populated with Filipinos and usually hangout inside the Termini station. So for any Filipinos traveling, do hangout in Termini and if you need some help.

I shared room with 3 American girl and were friendly enough to invite me to come sightsee with them tomorrow. That’s the good part of travelling alone – you have plenty of opportunities to meet newpeople. And what’s funnier is that when you’re alone and no one knows you, so you can fake out many things. I told them my name is JP and I’m Belgian (btw, this doesn’t mean that I’m not proud of being Filipino, I am very proud). They asked me if I speak French, but I said no because I’m Flemish And of course, hardly anyone knows Dutch, so my new identity was safe.



The next morning, the three girls and 1 other American guy (we met him in the hostel the next morning) went to walk around Rome, starting in the colosseum. The place was packed, which is a common sight in Rome and somewhat removes the feeling that you are in Italy. We didn’t go inside but just walked around the area.

We then stopped at the Basilica de San Clemente, known as the Lasagna Church, known as such because the current church was built on top of a few other churches.



We then went on to visit the Vatican’s Musei Vaticani after a quick lunch. The museums hosts to thousand of artifacts collected by the Vatican itself, which includes paintings, sculptures, interesting ancient maps & scriptures. Of course, the highlight of the museum tour was the Sistine Chapel – and though you’re not technically allowed to take photos – it was disappointing to see that roughly 50% of the crowd did actually take photos. (Did I take a photo? What do you think?)

The next place we visited was St. Peter’s Basilica, with high hopes to see the pope, but nope, he wasn’t there. You can also access just adjacent to the basilica the Tombs of the Pope – where Pope John Paul II & of St.Peter’s buried.

After, the girls asked me if I wanted to go out that night and join the Pub Crawl. It was difficult to decide as to one hand, I haven’t partied in Rome though on the other, I was still exhausted.

But my party spirit kicked in so I said yes.The pub crawl was with a crowd of 90% Americans and hardly anyone from Europe and as expected from Asia. We went home at around 4 in the morning, after exhaustion finally kicked in.

The morning after, I left the girls and went around Rome by myself – which was helpful since I have control of my time. I went around the Vaticani Area again (and saw the pope…. From the big screen), walked through the main street and passed by sites like Castle Sant Angelo, the Pantheon, a few plazas here & there, the Spanish Steps, Fontana de Trevi (WARNING: crowded) and culminating at the Colosseum. With my Belgian residence card, I manage to visit inside the colosseum as an EU student (offering 50% discount).



After, I had a plane to catch in a few hours, so I went to my hostel, took my stuff and went to the bus station. Just a tip, at Sunday night, the lines get busy and the bus service are delayed (I was queuing for more than hour – for nothing). I didn’t want to miss my flight, so I bunked in with an Irish guy for a cab to the airport. It cost us 40euros but it could have been more if I missed my flight.Luckily, I manage to catch my flight amazing race style and spent the whole flight ‘Survivor style’ (ie.dozing off).

Rome was lovely though I find it too crowded and touristy. There are lots of sights to se and if you are interested of traveling to Rome but with not so much budget like me, I suggest you check this blog post by 20 Something Travel – where she shares stunning places in Rome you can visit for free.

Tangier

Finally, the last of the series - 6 months after our trip.

From Fes, it was a 7 hour train ride to Tangier. We originally planned to take the train at night, but since our Fes trip was cut short, we took the one in the afternoon.

From my previous blog entry, I advised to get a seat on first class. But for the trip, we only got second-class tickets since it was unplanned. It was hot and sticky thought it was not as bad as I expected. Yes, it was a grueling 7 hours, but with the comforts of coke, plus a little bit of crazy antics like running on the side of the train made the trip more pleasant.

Tangier is in the coast of Morocco and situated near the Strait of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean Sea. It doesn’t have the “old city” feel of Morocco and Fes because of the towering buildings, coastal roads decorated with palm trees, fancy restaurants, bars & fast food chains.Tangier was “European Morocco” to put it more blatantly.  Yet,Tangier still charms, for me, through its white buildings that blends well with the blue coastal waters.

We were lucky to get a room at Hotel Tarik even though we didn’t book. The hotel is old but well-situated along the seacoast. And we had the comforts that we didn’t have in the past hostels, like our own airconditioned room, with television and clean showers. My only complaint though was that the beds have bedbugs, which made our sleep uncomfortable.

We dropped our bags and headed off to the city to eat (guess where? McDonalds). We didn’t wander the city, since we were tired still from Fez. So we headed off to the hotel, sat near the coast with beers and just relaxed.



The next day, we went to the Kasbah on top of the Tangier medina, the place had a nice view of the Gibraltar strait but the Kasbah itself was not that spectacular. After, we went to the market to get some last-minute souvenirs then head back to our hotel. We decided to swim at the coast, but the water was cold (even at June) and dirty, so not really the tropical beach we were expecting. After a quick dip, we packed our stuff and went to the airport.







To cap off, our Morocco trip was 7 days of action-filled traveling, from navigating the medinas of Marrakesh and Fes, trekking the Sahara desert and the Atlas Mountains, and swimming the coasts of Essaouira and Tangier. We met a lot of people, from our fellow travelers, taxi drivers, guides and those random strangers who are eager to give us a hand. My excellent perception of Morocco still stands, even 6 months after our trip, and perhaps will remain for years to come. That’s why I decided to keep these entries, no matter how naïve or shallow my entries can be, it will help keep these memories alive.



I also discovered a lot from myself, from how I act and I adjust to fit certain kinds of environment with little difficulty.

Fez

The train to Fez took almost 6 hours. If you plan to go, I suggest that if there’s a chance; get a sit on the first class as it will be more comfortable. With 35C outside, an extra 10 euros for first class was not that bad.

In Moroccan trains, you are expected to talk to your seatmates, not like in Belgium, where you just sit, keep quiet and wait. But when travelling for 6 hours, you can’t miss out talking to people. On our train to Fez, we met this man who worked for the Moroccan government and opted to talk to us to improve his English. He was nice to help us around and give us some tips, at the same time, we hoped that we helped him on his English.



Six hours came fast as we switched from talking, eating then sleeping. We got into Fez around 8 in the evening, we planned to go around the city, but as it was raining, we decided to head-off to our hostel.

We stayed in a hostel called Fes Youth Hostel, it was cheap – only 6 euros per person. But you get what you pay for, the beds are plain, the toilet is clean but looked like it was built in the 50s and the worst part was that the rooms smelled like paint. Since it was raining the entire night, we decided to get some rest to prepare for the next day.

We woke up early in the morning, and we got breakfast from our hostel which was hefty amount of freshly cooked bread. We decided to take a tour of the Fez medina and we considered getting a tour guide which our hostel manager suggested. We paid 15 euros each (we were two people)



The Fez medina, a UNESCO world heritage site, is the oldest and the most unspoiled medina in Marrakesh. Walking there felt like walking back in time, you can just feel that the place stand for ages. In Fez, we saw the famous tanneries, the first thing that comes to my mind when you speak about Morocco before. It was more exotic than Marrakesh, with everything looking authentic.





The tanneries for me were the highlight of Fes, so it was of course the place that I enjoyed seeing the most.

But even though we saw some good sites, we felt that we were tricked. Our guide, who brought us to some sites, but most of the time, he brought us to shopping places – to people selling carpets, porcelain, woodwork, metal and leather. As we didn’t have extra money – it never came to our mind that we will be buying 200 euros leather jacket. Our guide looked disappointed as we didn’t buy anything, cause I bet he will get a commission.



Our tour guide, after a few more stops, called it a day and brought us to his car to give our stuff. It was only 12 noon and as we haven’t explored Fes much, we would have opted to go around. But since we weren’t able to leave our luggage in our hostel, we have to carry it, so we decided to head on the station to catch the train to Tangier.



To summarise, Fes is an amazing city and I believe that our trip would have been eventful if we wouldn’t have chosen the wrong path to explore it.

Marrakesh again

We got back into Essaouira that night, so we decided to walk at the square and see Djaama El Fna at night for the final time. It’s really a spectacle at night and this is what I will remember from Marrakesh the most.

We got “drunk” from our usual orange juice stalls in the square. We also went for some short souvenir shopping. Marrakesh is famous for its woodwork and ceramics. I bought some of course, and I’m proud on what I bought (a wooden chest set and a shisha)



We woke up next morning to pack and prepare for our train to Fez. Since we had half of a day in Marrakesh left, we decided to still visit a few museums.







Our first stop was the Ben Yousseft Medersa, a medieval Islamic School, the oldest Islamic school in the world. It was a school that was almost like a maze. I also find it weird that it has rooms that are 10 square meters big, which makes me wonder was it really a school or a prison cell?



We then headed to the Marrakesh museum with a quick stop Almoravid Koubba, the oldest building in the whole of Marrakesh.

We had to quickly run to our hostel after to pick-up our bags. We were so close in missing out our train but luckily we manage to catch it.




Looking back, all I can say was Marrakesh was simply amazing.

Essaouira

After a day in the hot and steaming desert, what better way to cool off than to go to the beach. So, of course, we thought and did something about it.



Essaouira is four hours away from Marrakesh by bus. It was jampacked, half-filled with tourist ride, nevertheless it was comfortable. We got there around lunchtime, so we headed first to get some grub. We enjoyed an excellent seafood feast, though it was very expensive (I think a little less than what we would have paid in Brussels). Still, seafood is seafood and having it fresh is always the key.



We head on after to walk around the city centre, it was filled with shops selling mostly tourist items like in Marrakesh, though generally cheaper. The city is vibrant though as it was surrounded with colour, as well as some paintings and other art designs.

Of course, the most part of the day was spent in the beach. There were not much tourists there, and the beach was not as clean, still it was nice to swim on the slightly cold Atlantic coast.





There was also no babe watching, as Morocco is an Islamic country, most of the girls swam with their dresses. No bikini watching, unfortunately.

Still though, we made the best of the day, just sitting on the sandy beaches and waited until the afternoon when we have to go back to Marrakesh.