Fez

We started Monday morning with a big breakfast of soft boiled eggs, chocolate croissants, bread, marmalade [which I thought was apricot jam and didn't like], mortadella, cucumber, tomato, yoghurt, orange juice and coffee. Wow. When we waddled off from breakfast, we had to get organised to meet our guide for the tour of Fez [10am], hoping that the rain would stop.

We walked out of our room at 10 and the guide was there. Very prompt. We jumped in the grand taxi and went to the King's Palace. On the way the guide was telling us all the history of Fez. We got out of the taxi in the rain and looked at the doors of the Palace.

Up to the South Fort, where we had a good viewpoint of the Medina.

Then it was off to the ceramics works where we watched them making crockery and tiles from clay.

After the decision making of what pieces to buy [very hard] it was off to the medina.

We visited the university

 the mosque

the tannery

complete with the mint to block the smell 

lunch [beautiful salad, tajine lamb and chicken cous cous]

carpets

and textiles

So much stuff, and all I walked out of there with were plates, a handbag and a tablecloth. Think I did pretty well.

Tuesday, we had a drive around by ourselves, up to the [where my camera battery died yesterday]

And then wandered the medina for a couple of hours [and I didn't buy anything]

Drive to Fez

We started the morning with cartoons on the tv [IN ENGLISH, yay] and then down to breakfast. As we were the only guests in the hotel this morning, our breakfast of bread, mortadella, cheese, chocolate croissants, orange juice and coffee were served at our table. Pretty impressive.

Matt and I went down to reception, checked the emails and then it was back in the car off to Fez. Matt and I swap seats each day, so today was his day in the front and that meant he was the navigator. We took a wrong turn straight away and went through the centre of Tetuoan but with a bit of backtracking we got out of there [bit tricky as it was market day, very busy] and onto the main road.

Four hours later, after passing many donkeys, roadside stalls and overloaded vehicles, we were in Fez and that's where it started getting tricky. Many of the streets don't have signs, so we went round and out and back in again [only to find that we were back where Matt had directed us in the first place]. Eventually though we found our Riad [the big sign on the roof helped, we'd already been past it twice, but hadn't looked up].

Our host greeted us in the traditional Moroccan way with mint tea and homemade biscuits. Very nice. We organised for a guide to show us around Fez and the medina for tomorrow and went to our room. We had dinner in the Riad, which had tasters of soup, pigeon pie [better than it sounded] and chicken and vegetable cous cous with honey dew for dessert.  So much food, I think I'll be rolling out of here.

Morocco, here we come!!!

Today we made an early start [even set the alarm] as we needed to be packed and on the road by 10am, in order to catch the ferry at 2pm. Since we've had lots of practise now, it wasn't hard to do and by 10am we were down at the bakery buying fresh bread on our way out of town. Then it was off to enjoy the scenery on the way to the bottom of Spain.

We arrived in Algeciras with time to spare [daylight saving finished, so we put our clocks back an hour], sorted out the tickets and had lunch whilst waiting for the ferry. An hour ferry ride and then we were in Ceuta [in the top of Africa, but still controlled by Spain].

We found our way down to the Moroccan border, through the security checks and then we were on our own. [Our sat. navs have no Moroccan maps]. So I sat in the front seat with the Michelin map, an offline Google map of Tetouan and the camera, armed and ready.

Tetouan was easy to find, straight down the highway, but the hotel was another story. We found the street, went up and down where we thought it was, all the way down the other end to the sea, then turned around going back all along the street. Finally we found the sign and our hotel [we just hadn't gone far enough the first time]. Bit of relaxation, update the blog and now waiting for the restaurant to open for dinner. [We had to put the clock back another hour upon arriving in Morocco, so now it's nearly 7pm which would have been 9pm yesterday, and the restaurant doesn't open until 7.30].

Tomorrow we're heading off to Fez for three nights.

Alhambra

We left the apartment at 1.30pm for our Alhambra visit [entry was any time after 2, with the Palace visit at 3.30]. We walked up the street and caught the No. 30 bus, which goes straight to Alhambra [not quite as squishy as Rome, but not far off it]. We headed straight up to the Ticket office to show Matt's ID and get his ticket [as his was a reduced price ticket]. That was all sorted quickly and we went inside the complex and wandered down to Nasrid Palace.

The Palace was actually built in the 14th century and it is amazing how much of it has survived. There has been quite a bit of restoration, but the outside areas look gorgeous

and inside, the tiles and ceilings are amazing.

Walking along the outside hallways of the Palace, we also got some awesome views.

We then ventured into Carlos V's palace [he didn't want to live in Nasrid Palace when he became ruler, so he built his own], a round palace inside a square building.  

The best thing about this Palace was the accoustics. If you stand in the middle and make a loud noise, the sound reverberates throughout the whole area. [Matt had a ball clapping in the middle]. 

Then, just for a bit of stair climbing and for the sake of more views, we visited the old 13th century fort.

Then it was back down on the bus to the apartment and out for dinner [the boys were having Burger King withdrawals, whilst I opted for lasagne. We grabbed takeaway and went home to eat, pack and get ready to leave on Sunday for Morocco. [Ferry departs at 2pm from Algercias, which is a 3 hour drive from here]. 

Granada via Valencia

We left Barcelona on Wednesday morning, driving 4 hours to Valencia, where we stopped overnight. We had dinner in the hotel and poor Matt ordered the kids serving of italian pasta. The waiter came back and said what sauce, tomato? Matt had a stunned look on his face and Cameron said Si [yes]. After the waiter had gone, Matt said he hoped it was bolognaise tomato. It wasn't. The noodles were covered in tomato sauce [straight from a bottle]. Lucky he wasn't very hungry.

We had a nice buffet breakfast in the morning and set off Thursday morning for Granada, another 5 1/2 hour drive. This time though, I took some photos along the way.

 
And we had a play with the features on the camera.

whilst Cameron drove again.

We got to our apartment in Granada, were met by our agent, Jaime and set up the apartment. Delighted to find that we had decent wifi again [you've probably noticed the last few blogs are written well after our travels, just trying to catch up. Cam's also using the tablet to book and plan Morocco, and occasionally we have to let Matt have it for some school work. Matt has our phone for internet access, and spends most of the time watching you tube]. 

We went and did some shopping, then came back and cooked tea. Cam went into the bathroom and found there was no hot water. We rang Jaime, he came back and we moved into the apartment downstairs. Apartment downstairs was exactly the same as upstairs, so that was all right.

Friday morning Cameron was going to charge the camera battery, when he dropped the charger onto the marble floor. Of course it broke, so we had to find another one. 

After researching where to find one on the internet, we set off through the wet streets of Granada. [We have done so well with the weather, especially if you've been watching the European weather. When we were in Lyon, we saw Lourdes, in the bottom of France was flooded, and here we see there was a huge flash flood in Southern Spain at the end of September]. 

I bought an umbrella from one of the street vendors on the way, Cameron did the navigating and we walked up and down the streets [sometimes the same street] until we got to a camera shop. That shop didn't have the right charger, but I did ask for directions and we went back up the street [the same street as before] around the corner and found El Corte Inglese [just across from where we were when we turned around before]. They had the right charger, another 30 euros [but it actually charged the old battery that we'd bricked in Paris as well, so now we have 2 decent batteries]. 

After all that walking we needed lunch. So on the way to Burger King [Matt's choice] we saw a place that sold pizza and pasta and stopped there instead [Matt and I had lasagne, Cam had pizza] We then went to see the Cathedral and Royal Chapel, but it was 1.35 and siesta break time. [only open 10-1.30 and 4-6].

So we wandered through the old Silk markets instead and then went back to the apartment. The plan was to go out for tea, but it was still wet, so Cam and I walked to the shop and got some chicken and pasta for dinner instead.

Friday night, where our apartment is, is very noisy. We went to bed at 11 and it was continually noisy until sometime after 5 this morning. I snuck out of bed this morning to do some blogging, only to discover it was 8.50am, Cameron was already on the tablet and Matt had the phone, so I read another book on the kindle until I got the tablet. [Now it's 12.30, updated the blog; time for lunch and then don the wet weather gear to go to Alhambra this afternoon].