![]() On our trip to Europe we had a cruise, three train and 10 plane trips as we visited 8 countries, in just under 7 weeks. So only enough time to gather first impressions of the places we visited. First up was London - but inner city London as we stayed in Paddington and just travelled on the inner tube links. Our impressions of London were that it was clean, multicultural and the people moved with a purpose. We didn’t see any evidence of homelessness or beggars. London looked prosperous. The only sign that the prosperity was not universal was the guy on the tube with the plastic bag of syringes, who after trying to beg for some money, and chatting to himself for a while, jabbed all the used syringes in succession into his arm. ![]() It was a totally different feeling in Brighton. Here it was very down at heel; the pavement was in need of repair, as did many buildings. We saw at least four people bedded down in the main street on our journey from the station to the sea and there were lots of beggars. It was much more mono-cultural, almost everybody we saw was white. Brighton looked neglected, and the prosperity we saw in London, gone. ![]() Onto the continent, and Vienna, the city of culture! Back to cleanliness,though Vienna was a little worn around the edges! Good food, especially the meat and pastries though definitely not cheap. Despite the delicious pastries, people did not seem overweight - until we got on the cruise and suddenly I felt much slimmer! The sight-seeing was much more reasonable than incredibly expensive London, with the churches free to visit (a contrast to St Paul’s!) Not a very multicultural city but very friendly and intensely proud of their Hapsburg Empire past, especially Maria Theresa. After the cruise and a bus trip, we were in Prague, the city of smokers. Alcohol was also readily available and you could buy spirits everywhere, including the equivalent of a Z petrol station. Beggars were in short supply in the city centre and we saw no homeless poeple. While the city was clean, it was a mix of past glory ( here Charles the IV was the big hero), badly constructed communist era buildings and beautifully restored buildings. The older guides were very anti-communist, and felt cost of living was high but we were told by a young guide that the employment rate is 98% and that some people just like to grumble! Whilst the official currency is koruna, euros were widely accepted though the conversion rate varied considerably. ![]() Tapas bars were prolific in Andalucia in Spain, and while they were usually busy, they were especially busy from lunch through to late afternoon. We also noticed that smoking was very common here as well, but the people were very friendly and happy to cope with my almost non-existent Spanish. There were lots of churches in Andalucia, though you either had to pay or sneak in after a service if you wanted to look inside. There were so many paintings of adoring angels and beatific Mary's and Jesus' that we really did overdose on religious paintings after I had dragged Jim into several cathedrals. ![]() New Year’s Eve we spent in a taxi queue. Not sure where it was posted that there was no public transport on New Year’s Eve but we didn’t find the post! Amsterdam really is the city of canals…. 50 kilometres and 1281 bridges! Not mention the nearly 850 000 bikes but there was no lycra in sight. Here the bikers just dress in normal clothes and ride at speeds under the speed limit and stay in the cycle lanes. The red light district was a bit of a disappointment, not nearly as interesting as I had imagined (not exactly quite what I had imagined, just not what we saw). Small red rooms with nobody home, presumably still recovering from the big night - it was New Year’s day. I know it was winter, but the city was a bit drab (maybe the New Year’s Eve rubbish didn’t help with this impression), very grey and uniform. Almost everybody spoke English and they were always very polite though I do feel too young to have people offering me their seats on the tram! It is no wonder that we saw almost no overweight people, the food is so dear that they obviously can’t afford those extra kilos! ![]() We didn’t spend much time in Paris, and our really lasting impression was our garret room…. We had thought there was a lift, but no, just 6 flights of stairs and we were both really sick. The room was missing a few things, like a basin and walls that didn’t slope, so not the most pleasant room! We had just been reading about artist’s garrets in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, I did wonder if it was just karma. We did rise from our sickbed and venture into Paris and also out of Paris, (I was delighted to use my Navigo again). In the towns outside Paris many people did not speak English and I had to use my limited French but they were very considerate. Also the towns were quite rubbish free and actually looked tidier that the area around Gare du Nord where we stayed. Smoking, while more present than New Zealand was definitely less than in previous visits and less than we saw in places like Spain and Prague. ![]() Morocco, though it was touristy was still a bit of a cultural shock. Not quite what I had expected either. Firstly, there was the noise in the towns, especially in the squares and the souks. The bargaining for goods I had expected, but the motorbikes in Marrakech that are ubiquitous and drive at speed through the narrowest of medina alleys, were a surprise. Every scenic spot had its attendant sellers of everything from eye makeup (some kind of metal) to fossils to refilled bottles of water and heaps and heaps of scarves. Like many we went, you paid to go to the toilet but here you paid everywhere even in a cafe or restaurant. Once you had handed over your 5 to 10 dirham, you were given your allocated toilet paper ration. Sometimes flushing the loo was tipping a bucket of water down the loo. The friendliness and openness of many of the people was also unexpected and many people chatted to us even when they weren’t trying to sell us things. The Moroccans we met just seemed to get on with making the best of what they had. I had of course realised that Morocco is part of Africa but hadn’t thought that so many would identify quite as strongly as African. Even in our short stay the tensions between cultures was obvious, in the south many identified strongly as Berbers but in Fes that wasn’t as obvious. Discrimination against “African noir” was also present, perhaps because slavery wasn’t illegal till 1924 and is still carried on informally today according to some reports. ![]() While we saw heaps of spices, the food was subtly rather than strongly spiced, but delicious. Prices varied a lot and mostly depended on how touristy the place was rather than the quality of the food. I had also imagined the desert as sandy, but while we saw sand dunes, most of the desert was just stony. Oasis weren’t a ring of date palms around a spring either but followed a river or a string of springs, so they were long and thin. We went on quite a few drives for several hours and I had thought that it might have been boring but the hills and mountains had subtly different colours and the gorges were really dramatic. There was almost always something to see, often herds of sheep, goats or even camels with their attendant herder. So it was definitely a land of contrasts: high tech with cell phones everywhere and low tech with the same bread ovens that have been used for thousands of years; beautiful with lovely palaces and buildings and ugly with rubbish everywhere; generous people taking you into their houses and people trying to rip you off, but it was never dull and it is still providing food for thought. ~Jeanette Chapman
1 Comment
Kris
1/3/2018 03:28:49 pm
Interesting impressions. You visited an amazing variety of countries.
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