Yes, I know Africa's not in Europe!

Our penultimate European trip included our first and only foray out of Europe...we spent a week in Morocco with a good friend from back home, and it was definitely NOT Europe.

Nate arrived in Barcelona in early October, so Eric road-tripped up there from Granada to meet him and begin their week of climbing. I don't know the names of all the places they actually went to, but I do know that it rained - a lot. Now, I think this is rather uncommon for that area of Spain at that time of year, so I'm not exactly blaming Nate for bringing the rain with him, but you'll have to draw your own conclusions. We even had a rainy day in Granada, which of course happened to be a day that Coco's school was closed for 'holiday' so that was extra special for mom :) Thankfully, I've managed to meet a few very nice (English speaking!) moms and we get together a couple times a month, so we threw all the kids into the playroom and got to catch up.

Once the boys made it back to Granada, Coco was near bursting with excitement over seeing Uncle Nate, and we gave him the 1-day whirlwind tour of the city. The next day we hopped the bus down to Algeciras (across the bay from Gibraltar) and caught the ferry from Spain to Morocco. It was smooth sailing and we snagged a good bottle of booze from the duty-free shop on board. Good thing, because alcohol is HARD to come by in the Muslim world, although we did make some valiant efforts! We got our tiny little rental car at the Tangier ferry port (which had some mega-security, perhaps because 40% of the world's cannabis is grown in the nearby mountains) and hit the road. It was about an hour drive into town, with basically no gas in the tank and no cell service for GPS (gasp!!), but we made it despite one missed exit. As we were driving from the outskirts of the city, we were all a little surprised at how clean and well-kept everything looked. They drove a little maniacally (Eric fit right in!) but besides that, it didn't feel nearly as rough as we expected. We just spent one night in Tangier at a cozy guesthouse right outside the walls of the medina - no frills, but there was a nice rooftop terrace for the grown-up's to enjoy once the kiddo hit the hay. The next day, we had our standard Moroccan breakfast at the guesthouse (bread, rolls and more carbs, along with some coffee) and took a wander around the medina, which is basically the old city that was walled and has the narrow, winding streets.

From Tangier, we hopped in the car and headed south to Fes, one of the imperial cities of Morocco that also has history way way back. In Fes, our guesthouse was inside the medina, so we had to park outside the wall and a local guide who hangs out in the area showed us the way to our place. He was giving us his sales pitch, so we took him up on the offer for a guided tour of the medina the next day. We got to see an old Koran school, the neighborhood communal oven, the market, the rug shop and the tannery - this was probably where the differences from European cities were the most stark. Everything was rough and gritty and it was totally normal to squeeze to the side of the narrow street to let the donkey cart pass while you brushed against the camel head that was hanging outside your neighbor's shop and the geese nibbled a bit at your ankles. One evening, while discreetly asking around for a place to get a bottle of wine, we were directed to a restaurant just inside the city gate and seated at a rather prominent table right out front. I sort of figured there must've been some language barrier, since I couldn't imagine them plopping a bottle of wine down on the table for everyone to see. After about 10 minutes, they brought out 3 bottles of Coke filled with red wine, which was pretty clever - we winked and enjoyed them thoroughly.

After Fes, we had a long drive down to Marrakech for our last stop. Unfortunately, both Eric and Nate were having some tummy trouble by this point, despite how careful we were being about what we ate/drank. Passed along the outskirts of Rabat and Casablanca, two other imperial cities, but didn't have time to stop and explore either. Again, our riad was in the medina, and this medina was quite a bit larger than the last two, so we were at the mercy of the local guys to lead us (the long way) to our lodging. Once we finally arrived, the Moroccan hospitality was very welcoming, with a sugary sweet mint tea for each of us, extra sugar cube for Coco. By this time, I was not super enthralled with the idea of another dusty, crowded medina where I was alternatively watching for pickpockets and poop on the ground, while trying to keep an eye on Coco and make sure she wasn't getting run over by a rogue scooter or donkey cart. So when Nate and Eric prepared to head out of town for some climbing in the mountains, Coco and I went right along with them (she with her Dramamine, of course!). It was such a change to get up into the hills and breathe some fresh air and see no one but the local shepherds and hear nothing but the echo that Coco kept testing out. Another day, we wandered from the medina up to the 'new city' and I would tell you about our somewhat lengthy mission to find the liquor store, but you're going to start thinking we're alcoholics pretty soon... By the end of the week in Morocco, we were pretty accustomed to hearing the call to prayer 5 times daily, eating 4 varieties of bread and calling it breakfast, alternating between couscous and tagines for every other meal, trying to understand French by pretending it's Spanish, being sober, and searching for that one shop with the caged turtles out front to remind you which alley you should turn down to get home. I don't think I'll be staying in a medina again any time soon, but I do hope to get back to Africa and see at least a few of the 50+ other countries.

From Marrakech, it was a quick flight back to Spain and suddenly our warm sunny weather was gone and the chilly rain was back. We had one night in Madrid with Nate before he broke Coco's heart and headed back to the US...she's already asking how long before she can see him again. The rain didn't really quit over the next 3 days, but we tried to get out and explore anyway. Coco and I toughed it out at the zoo one day while Eric enjoyed the warm and dry art museums like the Prado and Reina Sophia that Madrid is best known for. As in Granada, dinner is a late-night affair, so we probably didn't get to experience the great dining scene like we would've if a certain 3-yr old wasn't in tow.

We capped off the trip with a few days in Lisbon, Portugal, which was just lovely. The weather was much better than we had in Madrid, and the city seemed to be cheerier and much more accessible. We waited in line for 1.5 hrs to ride the iconic #28 streetcar (which Coco pretended was Trolley from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood), had lunch at a cereal bar, rode the ferry to the other side of the river and checked out some old boats, went to the Oceanarium, and rode a tuk-tuk up to the hilltop castle that survived the devastating earthquake/fire/tsunami of 1755. The city surprised us a bit by feeling like the San Francisco of Europe, and it's a place I definitely hope to visit again in the future.

Now that we're back in Granada, it's sinking in that we're nearly done with this European adventure. As I go to the florist and renew the contract for our rental car and pay our internet bill at the internet store, I realize this is the last time I'll do these things - it feels so surreal to have parts of this life behind us already. While we're all looking forward to the new and exciting things that will happen in the coming months, there's no question that we'll probably never again get to spend so much time together.