Train Crash

On our first day in Morocco we caught a train from Tangiers with the aim of reaching Casablanca. After about two hours the train hit a truck and derailed. Yaz and I are fine and as far as we know, no one was killed in the accident.

Unlike all other blog entries, I’ll write this one from my perspective. Here is what happened.

The day started out unlike any other, because we caught a ferry to Africa. We’ve left the car in Tarifa (but don’t tell any thieves) and are planning to spend about two weeks in Morocco. We arrived in Tangiers around midday and got on the 13:35 train to Casablanca.

After a couple of stops a local woman sat next to me (and across from Yaz) with her young baby. When she asked me in English to lower the blinds, I of course got excited at the prospect of striking up a conversation. A few questions about where she was going soon led to about a 90 minute discussion of life in Morocco and Australia, similarities and differences. We spoke about the age at which people get married, the Arab Spring, attitudes towards homosexuality, religious observance and more.

Because up until this point we have travelled in a car, this was easily the longest and most in depth insight we have had into a country’s culture received directly from a local. After a while, Nejla (our new found friend) moved across the aisle to change the baby, resting him on one of the seats.

I took a moment to tell Yaz how we had been missing this sort of experience by being in a car and that train travel definitely had its benefits. I didn’t finish that sentence.

We felt two sudden jolts within three seconds of each other, the first of which must have been the driver slamming on the brakes, and the second when we hit the truck. I was facing the back of the train, which meant that the chair cushioned any impact and I felt no pain whatsoever. Yaz twice jerked forward hitting her chest and wrist on the table between our seats. She only has a small bruise.

That we were at the back of the train helped, but I would estimate that we were only going about 80km/h anyway. The fact that the driver was able to cut the impact in half by braking probably saved not only his life but perhaps the passengers as well.

After the impact of the truck, the train took a few seconds to stop. Before it stopped Yaz had already jumped to her feet because she was worried about Nejla’s baby.  Her baby had fallen from the chair and she had picked him up before the train had even ground to a halt. Obviously in hysterics, she and the baby were comforted by other passengers. The baby stopped crying within five minutes and seemed to be fine. To cut their story here, they were later taken in an ambulance for checks, and we can only assume and hope that the baby is ok.

After about five minutes we grabbed our bags and jumped off of the train to see the extent of the crash.

The passengers convened on the crossroad and waited. Surprisingly few people seemed injured. My guess is that unless you were standing, or if luggage fell on you, you would have been fine.

Yaz and I had done a one day first-aid course before leaving Sydney and had brought a small first-aid kit with us to Morocco. I took out the small red box and walked to the front of the train to see if anyone with proper medical training could use it. I waved it around and asked if anyone spoke English but received only blank expressions. When I reached the driver’s compartment I saw that the front window had shattered but that he was still trapped inside, trying to kick his way out.

I didn’t find anyone who needed my help, so I took a moment to take a few more photos.

Returning to Yaz and the other passengers we finally found someone to help. The guy pictured below had probably broken his nose and we put a bandage on it. Yay!!

Moments later a woman approached me and said, in English, that a man was on the floor unable to breathe. Could I help? I tried to explain that I had no actual training and was just hoping to give the first-aid kit to someone qualified. She said that he was dying and pleaded with me to help. So what could I do? I walked down the hill to a man lying on his side surrounded by about 30-40 people.

As I approached I continued to explain that I was not a doctor and would not be able to help. She yelled something in Arabic to the crowd, who all stared at me and made space for me to approach the casualty. That was intense!

Since I had done a one day course, I started to provide first aid. Knowing that he was already in the recovery position and not bleeding, the only thing I could think of to do was check that his airways were clear. But first I asked the woman to ask the guy his name.

Well praise Allah (the local god) because the next moment a Japanese tourist arrived, claimed she was a doctor and attended to the man. But I did hold his head still when she rolled him onto his back.

I should mention that before we even got off the train, the area filled up with local townspeople coming to stare, take photos and possibly to help. The first ambulance only arrived after about 30 minutes but from our guess less than 10 people were taken to hospital.

While waiting a young woman who had been sitting across the aisle from us approached us to ask if we would wait with her. The woman, Hajar, was a student travelling alone to Rabat and preferred that we stay with her as she was unaccompanied. As her English was very good, we were more than happy to have her accompany us and explain everything that was going on.

After about an hour, representatives from the rail authority arrived and told us that we would be picked up in minibuses and taken to the next train station. This proved to be rather slow as the road had become clogged with cars either trying to pass the crossing, or offering rides to stranded passengers.

  

We got on the last minibus along with Hajar, a friendly guy who’d lost a tooth in the crash, and the guys who sold drinks on the train. They took us to Sidi Kacem to board a train which left just over 2 hours after the accident.

While at first we were shaken up by the crash, the day turned out to be one that we will remember fondly because of the friendly and helpful people that we met. We were even invited by a few passengers to spend the night at their homes.

And of course, the highlight was getting a free coke in the minibus.

Sevillian Civilians

Our odyssey continued to Seville where we spent a few days before we head down to Morocco. Once a great city at the centre of trade with the New World, it is now a vibrant and energetic place with busy streets, late night tapas and of course flamenco.

Often the most memorable cities are those with a "thing". Lisbon had tiles all over its buildings, Jerusalem has its stone and Seville has its streets lined with orange trees.

We visited the Alcazar, which is a Moorish fort turned royal palace turned exploration headquarters turned tourist attraction. It was here in 1494 that the Spanish and Portuguese divided all of the Americas between them (prior to actually discovering them).

The other major sight is the Seville Cathedral, the 3rd biggest in the world. (Stay tuned for visits to 1 and 2). Those that built it wanted people who saw the size to "think we were mad". So in addition to their belief in invisible spirits and supernatural miracles, we concluded that they were indeed mad.

Inside the cathedral is the very elaborate tomb of Christopher Columbus. He is held by the four kings of medieval Spain.

We also took some time to do a few self-guided walking tours through the narrow alleyways. On the tour of the Jewish quarter we saw four churches, three crosses on pillars, two convents and one nice patio.

In every city so far, we've seen people wearing weird costumes expecting to get money from tourists. This is the first guy who actually got some from us, because he was floating in mid-air.

After Seville, we went to Tarifa which is the Southern-most point in mainland Europe.

The Mild West

Coimbra university was founded in 1290, which as you all remember was the year without a winter in Britain and mainland western Europe. In 2012, it received a visit by Josh and Yaz.

The most impressive thing about the university was its awesome Baroque library which contained loads of old books which we weren't allowed to read. To keep bugs from eating the books a small colony of bats live in the ceiling.

We went to Lisbon Oceanarium which is the best one anyone named Joshua Nerden Dolin or Yasmin Boers has ever been to. It is located in the new district of Parque das Nações as seen below.

Our second day in Lisbon included a trip to Belem to try some of the best pastries in the world, to catch a glimpse of the Tower of Belem and to check out Jerónimos Monastery as seen here. 

Legend has it that Lisbon was founded by Odysseus when he left Troy. Upon the location of foundation now stands the Castle of São Jorge, built originally as a Moorish fort. We went there to see the sunset and some old objects. 

Less than an hour from Lisbon is Sintra, where palaces, castles and estates have been built since the 8th century. 

Pena National Palace

The Moorish Castle

Monserrate Estate

The scariest point of the day came when an evil woman captured Yaz and put her in a tower. So the brave Josh climbed her hair and she was rescued.

Our last stop in Portugal was the historic town of Évora where the streets are paved with cork.  

They also have a chapel of bones...

...which as you can see is delightfully covered in human bones.

We also made a quick stop at Cabo da Roca, the Westernmost point of mainland Europe where the weather was mild, hence the blog title.

From now on, everything is Eastern Europe, and every day we will drive off into the sunrise.

From Minho to Duoro

Country 11 since leaving home is and always will be Portugal.

We arrived in Braga late on Saturday afternoon just in time to catch the celebrations of the city being European Youth Capital 2012. This mainly involved some strange costumes and some singing.

We arrived too late to get a good view of the show, but it was clear the rest of the crowd were enjoying themselves.

One thing that Portugal is known for is it's pastries based on age-old recipes developed by nuns. This is our typical Portuguese breakfast.

Known as the religious centre of the Iberian Peninsula, Braga's most impressive site was the Bom Jesus do Monte, put simply a church on a hill. 

To get there we took our first feniculi fenicular. It's the oldest feniculi funicular in the world which is moved by counterbalancing water. Water is loaded into the car at the top which weighs it down so it sinks to the bottom, at the same time drawing the lighter, drained car up the hill, where the process starts all over again.

The church was alright, but the view was spectacular. 

And we got some exercise by taking the stairs down.

We spent a few days in Portugal's only national park, Peneda-Geres. Perhaps the best thing about it was that, being winter we did an entire 5 hour hike without seeing another hiker, just a few old ladies doing their washing in a village near the end.

We stopped along the road at Guimarães, which this year is a European Capital of Culture. Like most medieval towns it has pleasant squares, friendly people and old buildings.   

The last stop in the North was Porto, the city of you guessed it, Port wine.

We did a couple of tours and bought a couple of bottles and dranj a but of winne andd now   werre ehcsperts .

Speaking of wine, later that day we sobered up and took a segway tour. It was really fun, we had a really good guide and we got to see the whole city without lifting a leg.

Of course, when travelling, fine cuisine is very important. Which is why Josh had to try the local Francesinha. A sandwich containing ham, chorizo, steak and ham, with a fried egg on top, covered with melted cheese, smothered in a spicy tomato sauce and surrounded by chips. It was as it looks, amazing!

 Also on the menu was some mighty fine Porto chicken, best served with Peri-Peri sauce.

One of the best things about this part of the world is just seeing people live out their daily lives, especially in Porto which is proud to be known as a working-class city.