Morocco continued

We took a day trip out to the Atlas Mountains, in theory only an hours drive, but after numerous  photo stops where there was always a shop selling local wares or a man on a bicycle with a portable shop.(even though we said no shopping).it took a couple of hours. The mountains are very rugged and steep and covered in snow in winter which must be a sight to behold. We took  a walk to a waterfall up the side of a ravine...however the side of the track was covered in more shops selling everything from cooked tagines to fossils...not quite the wilderness experience we are used to.

The last day we wandered the streets looking for a palace we never found...but did locate the tomb of past rulers(Saadin Tombs) that had lay hidden (entrance blocked by the next ruler who had a grudge) for 300 years and was only discovered in 1916 by air....it would have been something in it's day when the carved ceilings were covered in gold and not overrun by 200 Italin tourists.

Then went to Yves Saint Laurent's garden Jardin Morelle..a riot of colour and exotic plants and a real haven from the heat and bustle of Marrakesh.....back through the souks to the riad and some much needed time out...it is a pretty challenging and exhausting place

Morocco

Ben arrived in Granada on Sunday(Maris went back to the UK the same day) and after a visit to the Alhambra we headed off on the Tuesday by bus to Algeciras on the Straits of Gibralta for the ferry to Tangier...this took all day and some of the night ...we arrived about 8pm..
Ben has been able to access cut price hotels for us along the way on his laptop...wi -fi seems to be everywhere..Morocco is no exception. So we have been living in style for not a lot of money!

Tangier was a busy port city...with a transient feel to it....but still the walk through the old medina the next morning was like stepping back in time and a shock to the senses....spice,herbs,veges and meat all crammed into narrow crumbling alleyways full of Moroccons in Arab dress...sat in the square drinking mint tea from a glass taking it all in. Now there is a mosque on every corner and the call to prayer echoes through the city via a multitude of  speakers set in the minarets.

Did a bit of a Beat trail as we had to wait until the end of the day for our train to Fez. So checked out the hotel where William Burroughs wrote 'The Naked Lunch' and was visited by Jack, Alan et al...and had a cuppa in the literary hangout The Cafe de Paris...frequented by Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Capote and Tenessee Williams to name but a few.
The food has vastly improved in quality and price...tagines and Moroccan salads to die for

Arrived in Fez late at night and thanks to Ben's internet skills and lastminute.com we were amazed at the extravagance of the 300 year old riad (old upper middle class townhouses set around a tiled courtyard and fountains)we had welcoming us in Fez. Just step outside the door and the steet is full of rubble and rubbish and looks like all the rest.
The next day we took a guide with us to navigate the maze that is the medina...12,000 alleyways with no street names and crowded with people and donkeys...and mosques of course....a great experience...

Tanneries in Fez

Our riad  had a terrace on the roof with an amazing view of the whole medina and the call to prayer from mosque to mosque was almost deafening. The people are very friendly and helpful and we are managing to negotiate most things without any French or Arabic.

The next day we took a train (the trains are excellent and very modern...make ours look very second-rate) to Marrakesh and after a very long journey of 8 hours we managed to be ripped off by the taxi driver and porter in the first half hour...the guard is now up and we are now very careful....'very democratic price' holds no weight here!
Our riad is in the old part of the city on the edge of the medina and is very nice indeed (could be straight out of one of those Moroccan interiors books we have had at work)...again Ben's find , although the little Moroccan man who runs the place is a cross between Basil Fawlty and Manuel (not very helpful at all) no doubt because he works 14 hour days for not much pay ...

Djemaa el-Fna at dusk

We have to walk through the souks (market stalls) to get to the main square, Djemaa el-Fna, where it all happens..dance troups,snake charmers,acrobats,magicians,food stalls and hustlers....

Granada: The Alhambra

Finally we have made it to the bottom of Spain and The Alhambra it´s crowning glory....The hotel is a short walk up a steep hill to The Alhambra Palace and extensive gardens...so it´s very handy....
Once through the gates the temperature drops a few degrees as there is parkland and channels of water running in a torrent down to the river below.

The Islamic palace dating back 700 years has weathered well considering the changes that have occured in the history of Spain. It is very very beautiful, breathtaking in fact..even though much of the colour is gone from the interiors. The archways,fountain filled courtyards, delicate yet elaborate stucco covering the walls and the honeycombed ceilings are exquiste. Water fills the whole place in fountains and channels and pools and niches in each wall for water jugs each with it´s own poem or set of poems. Cool breezes fill the palace as it is open to the weather and was designed to have cross ventialtion so it a pleasure to be able to escape the hot summer heat. FANTASTIC!!!

The gardens are enormous and beautifully looked after..including the original 700 year old vege garden and orchard. Quite formal with lots of hedging encasing the flower beds and lots of water again flowing through fountains and ponds...just beautiful!!!
We were lucky enough to encounter an English speaking guide by chance in the Alhambra museum this morning whose knowledge was so extensive it really enabled you the visualise life in the palace under muslim rule....it made such a difference to have the meaning and context of the artifacts explained..(usually the commentary is in Spanish only and you don´t have a clue as to what is what.).

I hope spring is in full flight and the Labor Party can stop being poll driven and undemocratic and work with the greens and independants.

Sorry still no usb port to insert photos with... Kathie

Seville

We stayed in amongst the narrow laneways of Barrio de Santa Cruz for 2 nights and really got the feel of the place. We could walk to the Catedral and Alcazar Palace. The Islamic influence in the architecture is strong here and very appealing. As usual the Islamic rulers were usurped by the Spanish Catholic monarchy in the late 1400s but the moorish influence has not been totally obliterated and disregarded. The palace was very beautiful with intricate plaster work and Islamic archways everywhere, exquisite ceilings and fountain filled courtyards. It contains a room where Vespucci and Magellan organised their expeditions ...The catedral is massive and ponderous...the 3 largest in the world....and of course very Catholic.

We managed the next day to get a local bus very cheaply to visit Italica just outside Seville...it was the site of the first Roman settlement in Spain and the birthplace of both Emporers Hadrian and Trajan...so we have come full circle with Hadrian (he now seems like an old friend). It was VERY impressive...many mosaic floors and a beautiful Roman road, enormous bathhouse and one of the biggest Roman ampitheatres ever built. So in the arvo I went to the Museo de Arqueologico in Seville which had room upon room of Roman finds (not the piddly little stuff you get on Time Team either).....
We did manage to have a really good meal last night in an Italian place...naturally it was not Spanish!
The weather here is a lot more manageable ...about 32 degress so the siesta has been abandoned.

Glad to hear things have settled down at home and that the Greens will have some say in policy

Toledo and Cordoba

These are the places you imagine Spain to be like....miles of cobblestoned narrow laneways with 3 storied houses whitewashed or stone with wrought iron balconies enclosing the streets. Vey atmospheric and very Spanish....

and of course the obligiatory Catholic church on every corner keeping (well they did in the past) a tight control on the population.

The further south we go the hotter it gets. It is 6pm and now 37 degrees as it was yesterday so a siesta with a good book and air con is mandatory to keep ones cool so to speak...sightseeing really has to be done in the morning before 2pm if possible.
 A lot of the shops close for a few hours close in the middle of the day and restaurants don´t serve dinner until after 8pm ...a bit of a challenge for me who likes to eat and hit the decks early...

The Mezquita Mosque is the feature here in Cordoba with it´s world heritage listing...unfortunately the Catholic monarchy have ravaged it somewhat by placing a bloody great church in the middle a few hundred years ago..the mosque is about 1000 years old and the islamic mosaics thankfully left by the christian infidels still sparkle after all that time (it helps that they contain 1600 kg of gold).

In Toledo we went to the Alcazar made famous as a propaganda tool by Franco after he relieved the beseiged Nationalists early in the Civil War...he had it rebuilt as a military museum and it presents a very sanitised version of Spanish history ....after 40 years of tight control by the fascists I´m not sure that they are still getting the truth 30 years on...it is all very interesting and the History of the Spanish Civil War I brought with me has been invaluable...

Adios
Kath
PS Still no government after 2 weeks...what a debacle!

Madrid

Madrid has some of the best art gallerys in the world and yesterday we went to 2 of them.

The Cetro de arte Sofia where Picasso´s Guernica is on display after it was returned to it´s rightful place after Franco died.The whole floor where it is displayed is dedicated to anti-fascist art of the Spanish Civil War...very moving....and then of course there were rooms of Dali, Miro,Gris,Leger etc
Then to The Museo del Prado ..certainly the best art gallery I have ever been in and all those pictures that you recognise from the art textbooks we had at school....to see them in the flesh is just wonderful.

Madrid is a very elegant city with lots of parks and plaza and apartment buldings with wrought iron balconies and large and very grand public buildings and palaces (built in large part with Inca gold I suspect)...
Still very expensive to eat and the food is not great either...we are so lucky at home to eat so well for about half the price.
Still no government at home I hear!

Barcelona

Gaudi's Casa Baillo

Very very hot and busy is Barcelona......but Gaudi is everywhere and truely amazing. Having been gazing at his work for decades in books it was no substitute for the real thing...he was a genius.

Barri Gotic laneway

Marion arrived safely by train from France and we stayed 3 nights in Barri Gotic..the oldest part of Barcelona but also the part with the most tourists and there was an awful lot of them...getting some summer heat I suspect because you sure don´t get it in the U.K. It was a maze of medieval alleyways and squares (placas) and of course a Catholic church every 100 metres it seemed. Fantastic
Note Tom that we saw the hotel that George Orwell stayed in for the duration of the Civil War.
Spain is not that easy as very little English is spoken and most signs are on in Spanish or Catalan..
.....no photos as yet as this computer in the hotel does not have that facility.
We arrived in Madrid about an hour ago on the very fast train ...at times we reached 300kms ....less than 3 hours to travel 600 or so kms from Barcelona. Very smooth and comfortable.