Hola Amigos!
12:17 AM Edit This 0 Comments »Hello, hello! I'm back. No stories this time, I promise. It's not uncommon for me to think up a crazy idea and give it a red hot go. Ask Glen about my forays into dinner banquets, loom knitting, novel writing, candle making and bonsai growing, just to name a few. Glen calls them my fads. I call them positive skill building opportunities. Whatever they are, there's nothing crazy about this post. This is a proper, normal post, as straighty one eighty as it gets.
In fact, this is probably the simplest, most serious post I've ever done. Minimalist style I guess you could say. In fact if this post were a light (yup, bulb, shade and all), it would be a down light, that simple, no nonsense, pleasant glow you get on your kitchen benches. All the while I'm surpressing the urge to switch on the flashing disco lights, dance under the strobe and crack the glow sticks. Rest assured, that by no means is this minimalist style my desperate attempt to get my blog up-to-date, no, not at all. So here it goes...
In fact, this is probably the simplest, most serious post I've ever done. Minimalist style I guess you could say. In fact if this post were a light (yup, bulb, shade and all), it would be a down light, that simple, no nonsense, pleasant glow you get on your kitchen benches. All the while I'm surpressing the urge to switch on the flashing disco lights, dance under the strobe and crack the glow sticks. Rest assured, that by no means is this minimalist style my desperate attempt to get my blog up-to-date, no, not at all. So here it goes...
21 Days - Spain, Morocco and Portugal
August 2011
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| Visiting a 'champagne' house in Spain. Excpet it's not Champers, it's Cava, only bubbly made in France is allowed to be champs, true fact! |
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| Tate testing |
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| Arrived in Valencia, here's a sotre selling all your Paella making needs. |
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| Some very pretty sights |
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| We rented bikes and rode around for the morning. |
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| We rode to the beach, which was huge in terms of land to water size. |
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| Some very pretty tiles, I have a gazillion of these pictures, it became a bit of an obsession |
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| The cathedral in Valencia, where you can see.... |
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| A mummified priest's arm (mmhmmm, it's true), and... |
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| The Holy Grail! Or what is believed to be that famous cup that Jesus drank out of... |
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| we ate tapas for dinner |
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| And ate some gelato, but definitely not tomato flavour. This is Glen's worst nightmare; he DETESTS tomato |
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| We headed to Granada (still in Spain) and had a wander around the town. I can across this quaint little tea leaves stall and wished very much that I drank tea |
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| We wandered around the little alleys |
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| Marvelled at the old city |
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| And watched on shocked as a car pomped us out of the way in an alley and then proceeded to squeeze through...eeekk |
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| Another day in Granada was spent at the Alhambra. This is Spain's most visited tourist attraction: an old moorish (Islamic) palace, left from times when Spain was occupied by the Moors. The palace architecture embodies the east, so it was really strange to be seeing this in Spain... |
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| Otherworldly |
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| View over Granada |
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| Another look over the city of Granada... |
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| Then off to Morocco |
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| Arriving in the port town of Tangiers, and taking a tour of the city |
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| Pointy toed slippers anyone? |
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| Into the marketplace and the older town |
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| An interesting way to sell your shoes |
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| Looking across the Gibraltar Strait to Spain |
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| This is a restaurant we walked past, looks typically Moroccan and I bet it has an amazing view |
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| Heading to Fes on the bus, we passed though a few villages and this big market. It sold everything under the sun. |
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| Taxi ride to the market |
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| Signage for the horseys |
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| Our hotel room in Fes |
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| I really liked this window (for some reason) |
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| The tajine, our staple diet in Morocco, we had bad ones (with knucles and fatty bits....nasty, but we also had very tasty ones, like this one) |
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| Mint tea. A Moroccan tradition - fresh mint, sugar and water |
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| Palace |
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| More of those amazing tiles, I wish I could mosaic like this! |
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| The entrance for giants, just kidding |
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| A view over Fes city |
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| The local rubbish removal service...they collect the rubbish from the town every morning, donkey power! |
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| Wool yards |
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| Matresses stuffed with the wool, I wonder if Captain Snooze would be interested in these? |
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| Walking tour through the old town of Fes |
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| Moroccan sweets.....very sweet! And the flies and bees loved the sugar too! |
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| Loaf of bread |
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| A lovely bunch of mint.....to be used for..... |
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| Our noses at the leather dying pits. The smell here was indescribable. Something along the lines of rotten food and what goes into the toilet. That's pretty much how it smelt. The leather is treated firstly in pigeon poo to make it supple (????) then tinted in the various colouring pits |
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| I suppose work is work... |
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| And the final products |
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| Silk weaving factory |
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| Bread and dips for lunch, followed by....you guessed it, tajine, one of the best ones |
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| More of those tiles, I just cant help myself |
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| And at the carpet seller, the one on the right is second hand, vintage and worth thousands...not my style |
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| Volubilis, Roman ruins. What an empire the Romans had! |
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| The Romans used this as a decorative symbol through out the city |
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| And another tajine |
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| Mint tea pouring acrobatics |
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| Henna night |
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| Leaving Morocco. Our bus was chased by children whose intention it was to climb up into a cavity under the bus and hitch a ride over the Gibraltar Strait to Europe. Each boy for himself! no mum or dad waiting on the other side. Our bus went through the scanner at the ferry terminal before leaving and 2 stowaways were found. Back in Spain when we stopped off at a petrol station, we came across a skinny, dirty and sad little boy sitting on the side of the road who had managed to hitch a ride under a truck, undetected and had made it to Spain!!! He was about 7!! Such desperation, to leave your country for somewhere unknown, life truly must not be great for the poorer class in Morocco. This was a real shock for us, it is obvious that they country is not a wealthy one, but the people we saw looked generally happy. Obviously our experiences didn't even scratch the surface of life in Morocco. |
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| In Seville, and it's a Seville orange tree! |
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| The home of flamenco |
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| At a very old bullfighting stadium. This archaic and cruel form of entertainment is being banned in many parts of the country. Stabbing the bull behind the head, making it charge and lunge, weakening it, then finally slitting its throat should not be recognised as any form of entertainment. Awful! |
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| Famous cathedral, its name evades me, but it's famous for... |
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| Christopher Colombus' tomb |
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| Flamenco accessories |
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| Vintage reporduction of bullfight advertisements |
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| Dinner with a handsome guy |
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| On to Portugal. This is the capital - Lisbon. This bridge looks familiar as it's made by the same man who did the Golden Gate Bridge. |
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| Another giant Christ statue. These Portuguese speakers love their 'larger-than-life' Jesus statues. |
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| A museum of painted tiles, Glen was very bored |
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| A cityscape of Lisbon in tile! |
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| The Discoveries Monument |
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| Portuguese custard tarts, yumo! |
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| A little village outside Lisbon, and the most famous Pena Palace |
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| On the way to the Castle of Moors (8th and 9th century ruins) |
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| And we come across archaeologists digging up....a skeleton!!! |
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| A precarious hike, in thongs! |
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| Looking over to Pena Palace |
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| The pretty buildings in Porto |
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| The traditional way Port was carried in and out of it's founding city of Porto |
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| And a port wine with dinner....it was strong! |
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| And here we are in Madrid, ready to go out with friends |
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| Some of our lovely tour group |
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| Real Madrid Stadium, Gleno's favourite |
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| Glen's on the bench, waiting to get his run... |
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| Quirky find, crustless bread! |
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| Segovia, an aqueduct, there're those Romans again |
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| The Prado museum, Madrid |
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| And on to San Sebastian, the beachside town that never sleeps. We named ourselves the Fellowship of the Bling, ha ha. |
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| Churros! Yum, and real melted chocolate...mmm... |
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| The beach, popular despite no sun. Luckily the sun showed its bright face in the afternoon. |
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| Our stay in San Seb finished with a fireworks show |
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| The first time I've ever seen a smiley face firework |
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| The spectators |
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| Back in Barcelona, dinner of tapas at Catalan, amazing! |
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| A mini hamburger tapas |
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| Gaudi's famous Segrada Familia |
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| Gaudi's park. His unique style is very obvious here too. |
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| Final dinner with friends, more amazing tapas |
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| Outside my favourite store, El Corte Ingles. Ready to head home. |
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