Day 43 - Day of rest

Happy Easter all.  The bunny even found me in Warrington (thanks M & J!)

Today was a very relaxed day sitting in the sun in the backyard, listening and singing to 80s music, eating, talking and me making plans for the next stages of my trip (ie after the Royal Wedding, I will head to Ireland for 2 weeks.  I have a hire car arranged, and then after a couple of days back in London, then flying out to Istanbul).

Julien's daughter and her boy friend came over for an amazing roast lamb dinner that Maria cooked, including gorgeous light Yorkshire puddings.  It was a lovely night.

Day 42 - Real Ale Trail

To counter act the benefits of the hike the day before, we decided to go on the Real Ale Trail - basically it is a pub crawl where we drink ale (not lager!), going from one pub to another via train.

First we went to the West Riding in Dewsbury:

where I had a:

Then we went to the Kings Head:

And the Sportsman Arms in in Huddersfield:

For more:

(actually, by this stage I was on the cider!)

We went to the Commercial in Slaithwaite for food and another drink:

And from there the Rivershead in Marsden where we had a drink, food, and was lucky to experience the free entertainment (Brits getting their gear off and swimming in an incredibly cold stream):

The last stop was at the Stalybridge Station for the final drink of the day.

All in all it was a lovely day. I'm not good at drinking the ale but really enjoyed the cider, the landscape between each pub was gorgeous, and I had wonderful company.

 

Day 41 - Good Friday in Snowdonia

Ruins near start of the walk

You can clearly see the path we walked along on the way up

Cheats way up!

View from the top

Just to prove I made it

Maria and Julien

As I said, we were so lucky with the weather so we could see the spectacular views

Yes we must be absolutely mad!  Up really early on Good Friday and out the door at 7am.  We had a 2 hour drive ahead of us from Warrington into Northern Wales, then to Snowdonia National Park so we could hike up Mount Snowdon.  It took us 2 hours 45 min to walk up, most of the way it was quite steep so a very good workout!  The area was previously mined for slate.  The spectacular view made the tough walk worth it...it was a real sense of achievement when we arrived at the top (1085m).  We celebrated with a soft drink – could’ve bought a beer but none of us felt like it. 

After about a 45 min rest and lunch, we headed down.  I was amazed how many people were doing the hike, young, old, families, dogs...but then again the weather was amazing (24c) and it is a public holiday so people are getting out and about.  After about 1 hour 45 min we got back to the start.  Maria and I were definitely the worse for wear after the walk – both of us had sore knees, but Julien looked as if he could go for a run next!

We headed off to Llandudno, on the Great Orme Heritage Coast for fish and chips.  It was about 4pm by this stage and food was definitely needed.  Julien then drove us along the coast of Wales before heading to Warrington.  We had a great sing along on the way to the radio and hearing songs from Blues Brothers and Madness reminded me so much of when I lived in London 19 years ago and we use to go and see a band on Sundays that played the same music.  Memories!!

Back at Maria and Julien’s we had a relaxing night recovering.  A couple of beers, pavlova dessert and a movie later, it was an early night for all.

Day 40 - Off for Easter

What a hangover!  I had the most amount of alcohol I have had since leaving Australia and it really didn’t go down at all well.  Just as well I had a quiet morning at Al’s place before I had to catch a train.  I did wander around Islington for an hour or so checking out the shops and cafes.

I caught the underground to Euston Station as I had a train ticket to take me up to Warrington.  The journey took just under 2 hours and the train was packed with people starting to go away for the Easter break.

Maria met me at the train station at Warrington – Maria and I met on a Contiki tour of Europe in 1992 and have stayed friends since then.  We had a really relaxing afternoon sitting in their backyard, enjoying the sunshine, drinking Pims and snacking.  What a great way to catch up!  She had a lovely dinner cooked as well, so I was really spoilt.

Day 39 - Petersham Nurseries

Self-promotion

Katrina and I

View of the inside of the restaurant - full house!

Ham House Stables - my old home is on the left side of the entrance

Beautiful Richmond

There are loads of these up for the wedding

A friend of mine from Melbourne and I had determined a couple of months ago that we would be in London at the same time - Katrina had been skiing in France.  We had therefore booked 20 April as being a day to catch up in London and do something.

I made my way via public transport from Islington to Richmond to meet Katrina, after wandering around Islington for an hour or so.  I use to live in the Richmond area when in London in 1992/3 at it was amazing what I do and don't remember.  I couldn't believe that one particular shop (Monsoon), is still in exactly the same location!

Katrina arrived in Richmond at about 11am, then we followed the directions on the website to walk to Petersham Nurseries, which took us about 40 minutes.  It was a great walk through Richmond Common, and along the Thames River to get there....again the weather is fabulous.  What a time to visit a nursery - with spring, tulips are out in amazing colours, as are blossom trees and wisteria.  The reason for visiting this nursery was to have lunch - the head chef at the restaurant is an Australian woman who recently was honoured with a Michelin star.

Lunch was excellent.  Katrina and I had a couple of glasses of wine whilst sharing 3 starters -

1. tomatoes with black olives, purple basil and goats curd
2. pan-fried squid with peas and sage
3. chorizo with chilli-jam, creme fraiche and bruschetta

We then had coffee and desert - I had rice pudding with roasted nespole, divine!!  All in all, with the venue, food, wine, and company, it was amazing.

To walk off the food, I took Katrina on a walk to Ham House, a national trust property 20 minutes walk away, and then to the stables of Ham House - where I use to live as a nanny.  Ham House is still undergoing major restoration, so I will wait til August before I go in and look around.  As for the stables, although it is a private residence I walked onto the property and ended up chatting with a stable hand who told me that the section of the stables I lived in is now owned by an American man who has been doing major renovations.  I took a couple of quick photos then left as the stable hand indicated that the American man was home and unlikely to be happy with me being on the land.

Katrina and I then walked along the river, back to Richmond.  I still can't get over how beautiful it all is with blossoms and spring flowers out in all their glory.  I will come to Richmond again and hope to spend a lazy Sunday at a couple of the pubs along the river in summer.

I then said farewell to Katrina, and headed to Canary Wharf to meet Al.  She took me out with work colleagues for drinks - all on company expense.  Drinks were at a pub on the river in the sunshine which was lovely, and from there she and I headed to Islington for a great Afghani meal. 

Day 38 - First time in London for 18 years

I finally caught up on some sleep and feel great.

Spent morning on skype with family and friends then sitting outside in the sun working on the blog.  The UK is having fabulous weather at the moment, it reached a top of 24c today and I loved it.

Re-packed the bag as heading into London for a couple of days then from there to Warrington (up north near Manchester) for Easter.

Caught public transport to London, first time here since I left in Nov 1993 -  am really excited to be back.

Met my friend Al at her work to get the keys to her apartment in Islington (as she was going out for the night).  It is a balmy evening and the Poms (and everyone else), are out enjoying it either drinking outside the pubs or sitting in parks.

My brother had suggested a place to eat in Islington (Ottolenghi) so I went straight there for dinner.  They have amazing salads and deserts, amongst other things - I had a roasted sweet potato salad with seeds, spring onions, nuts, chilli, mint and burnt aubergine yoghurt.  It was lovely, served with bread and washed down with a crisp white wine - what a difference from tagine and cous cous.  I am craving a mint tea though!!

Day 37 - Farewell Africa (18 April 2011)

Up at 5am, leaving for the airport at 5.30am for an 8.30am flight.  Morocco runs on ïsh" time so better to be early.  Now ready for new adventures - after I download all 2463 photos of Morocco that is!

I will really miss - mint tea, green olives, smiling faces, the Moroccan language, looking out at each town to see what colour the petite taxis are, cheap and brilliant quality dates, sultanas and nuts, the call to prayer, tagines and cous cous.

Flew into Gatwick so made my way via public transport to Farnham.  It really was easy and only took a couple of hours.  Pat (bless him), picked me up from the station.   Then proceded to wash the Sahara sand from all my clothes and start repacking for my trip away over Easter.  I also spent hours downloading the million and 1 photos.

It was a lovely quiet night, Pat cooked dinner and I finally collapsed in bed (yipee - no snoring to keep me awake!)

Day 36 - The tail end

Djemma El-Fna - nuts and dried fruit stall

View of Djemma El-Fna from terraces

Food stalls at Djemma El-Fna

Mint tea stall at Djemma El-Fna

We had a morning to do final exploration of the city and shopping.  Because I wanted to avoid being tempted by more shopping I went walking early with another of the girls along the beach to check out the windsurfing (Essa is well known for this sport).  Just our luck....no wind!  We had a lazy breakfast of coffee, oj and a croissant, then I spent an hour or so typing up my blog (I am so far behind!)  It was great using an english keyboard for the first time in weeks - amazing how hard it is to type when letters aren't where you are use to.

On a local bus headed back to Marrakesh.  I am so sad to leave Essa - do yourselves a favour and visit this place!  This is the second last day of our tour.  I am looking forward to a home-cooked meal and sleeping soundly without the sound of snoring.  Apart from this though, I would love to stay in Morocco longer.  Oh well, other amazing places to visit.

We had the afternoon to repack our bags and relax before heading to the square for dinner.  A group of us hung out in my room drinking gin and tonic and telling stories as it was so hot outside, none of us wanted to venture out.

At 9pm we headed into the square (Djemma El-Fna) to enjoy the nightlife for one last time.  It was a great place to finish the trip for a number of reasons - it is a thriving hub of food, people and action.  It was also a chance to be reminded of how confronting Morocco can be- my friend was harrassed by young man which was unpleasant, people man-handling you trying to entice you to their food stall, our tour leader was ripped off by the owner of the mini-bus we accessed, there were fist fights on the streets between Moroccan taxi drivers spruking for business, and the entertainment in the square was  little disappointing - mainly musicians, men telling stories to men and people with monkies, not the acrobats and jugglers we were expecting.  At least I did not see a snake!

Our tour leader said goodbye to us over dinner, then we wandered around the square til about 11pm.  By this stage we had all had enough, and just wanted to go to bed.

Farewell to those on tour - a few of them I will keep in touch with.  I have absolutely loved being in Morocco, and hope to come back again one day.

Essa

Day 35 - Essaouria

Local hammam

Locally made wooden products for sale

Ramparts

Where there is fish, there is seagulls

Freshly caught seafood

Fishing trawlers

Deep in conversation whilst sitting on fishing nets

Some of the seafood is bizarre looking

Guided tour of Essaouria first to orient ourselves.  We were taken to the mellah (Jewish Quarter - currently only 5 Jewish families live in the area now), then through the medina to the ramparts where cannons are lined up, and to the port where the fishermen were arriving with their catches.  An absolute kodak moment!  We were then taken to a wood and silver jewellry cooperative (employ local people to produce the goods and sales go back to the community).  I could've done some serious damage to the credit card but since I have only been travelling 5 weeks to date, I restrained myself!

Lunch was a seafood feast at the port consisting of bbq'd shrimp, sardines, scampi, calamari, 2 types of fish, Moroccan salad, bread and lemonade.  It was full of flavour and so fresh.

After lunch I wandered around with 2 of the girls...more shoping and looking out for a hammam.  The plan was for a final one before leaving but we decided to leave it as there were too many streets to continue to explore.

Gin and tonic for happy hour, then out again for dinner and to experience the night life.  The Moroccans are night owls - they start later in the morning and eat their dinner about 10pm.

Dinner for us this time was not with the group.  Four of us took off in search of another good seafood meal.  After consulting Lonely Planet we ended up at a restaurant called Le 5 or After 5 and it was perfect except they played western music and we wanted more Gnawa.

We all had a couple of drinks - cocktail and wine.  My meal was pastry filled with fresh goats cheese with a fig sauce, and then a main of salt-crusted bream with a ratatoui of vegetables.  Fabulous meal then finished with mint tea.

After wandering around the city after dinner we got in quite late.  Was a great final night in Essa.

Day 34 - Sun and surf

Picturesque accommodation

Agadir beach

Shelling argan nuts for the fruit

Essa coast

Funky staircase and painting in the restaurant

Lighting outside the restaurant

I had the best night sleep ever!!  We had rain which was lovely on the roof and the night was fairly cool.

We went back into Taroudant town centre for a brief look around and the atmosphere was so much more relaxed than the night before.  This time no one was really trying to hassle us and the store owners allowed us to take our time shopping.  The jewellry was spectacular and so was the leather work.  I got a pair of leather thongs/shoes for $15 - good to replace my Birkenstoks that smell and are worn out!

On the road again.  I started the "Are we there yet" catch phrase when we started our tour and it has stuck, especially with a few who were on the first leg of our trip.

Arrived in Agadir - on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.  It is the place to come in Morocco if you want a beachside holiday.  The water looks lovely, there are plenty of seafood restaurants to choose from, and warm sunshine.

We stopped at the supermarket first to buy things for a picnic - bread, cheese, meat, tomatoes, olives and beer then stopped in a shady spot at the beach to enjoy.  Afterwards we had a cafe nous nous in a restaurant - best one I have had since Rabat.

Note: dental hygiene is a huge issue in Morocco because the people eat so much sugar!  Mint tea s frequently served sweet with sugar, chldren love sugar cubes as lollies, and sugar sachets contain a tablespoon of sugar, not teaspoon sized portion.

We are only stopping in Adadir so we see what the place is like.  It is very popular with surfers, boogy boarders and hippies.  We are all very excited to be staying in Essaouria the next couple of nights - it is also on the Atlantic Occean, so we have the sea (not for swimming though), seafood and a chilled atmosphere.

We have just arranged to have a little party tonight as 3 of the ladies on this trip just turned 50 years and the tour of Morocco is their present to themselves.

3 hours later, after stopping at an argan oil cooperative, we arrived in Essaouria, a seaside town that is packed full of character.  A cool wind is blowing - not unusual for this place.  We had men with carts carry our backpacks through the streets of the medina to the riad we are staying in.  What a place!  It is beautifully decorated and the view of the ocean and the roofs of homes in the town, is spectacular.

After "chillaxing" for an hour we headed out to dinner to a place that provide plentiful seafood, alcohol and gnawa music (slave music with great african beats but very hypnotic), amazing views over the ramparts and the Atlantic Ocean, and stunning decor (brilliant pink wall offsetting a wrough iron spiral staircase).

Drinks were on the terrace to enjoy the view then 3 of us decided to get a couple of dishes to share (calamari and turbet?? fish) that was so fresh and delicious.  We finished with crepes and managed to consume a couple of bottles of white wine.  The whole group then danced the night away to the music with the locals joining us in our celebrations.  Overall a fabulous night.

Day 33 - Hot French Quad Bike Rider

Our 4WD drivers

Wild donkeys

My favourite photo to date

Ready to go

Local village

Goats in trees eating argan fruit

We woke up at 6am to watch the sunrise but it was not spectacular. 

After breakfast and packing up camp we had another bone jarring 3 hours in the 4WD's.  We stopped a couple of times to take photos of wild donkeys and camels before then stopping for coffee at this remote drink and toilet stop.  The landscape now is incredibly flat, hard base with very light sand.  Whilst having cafe nous nous we heard a sound that indicated quad bikes were around.  Quad bike and dune buggy riding is very popular in the area.  A group of guys on quad bikes arrived at our stop so I asked if I could look at the bikes and before I knew it one of them asked me if I wanted a ride.  I said yes straight away and it was the most amazing experience!!!!  We were only out for about 5 minutes but he went fast.  It was brilliant, and to top it off the driver was incredibly good looking.  Our Moroccan 4WD drivers were laughing because I was jumping around like a kid afterwards - pumped full of adrenalin.

At the end of our 4WD trip we all had lunch in a small town then said goodbye to the drivers - they had limited english so communication was difficult but they were great and I think they enjoyed our company also.

The next stage was a mini-bus drive (5 hours) thorugh the Anti Atlas Mountains (runs parallel to the High Atlas but more south).  The journey was broken up with a visit to a saffron cooperative - I had no idea the actual flowers are purple in colour!!

We were then in Argan country - lush landscape again but with many argan trees that bear a fruit which is crushed to extract the oil that is used by Moroccans for cooking, cosmetics etc.  Goats love the fruit, and the big thing in this area is looking out for the goats who climb into the trees to get at it.  We stopped a couple of times to take photos of the goats (unfortunately best kodak moments where when we couldn't stop at the side of the road for safety reasons).

Tonight we stayed in a lovely quiet riad outside of town - we are in Taroudant (known as little Marrakesh).  The pool was heaven after 8 hours on dusty and rough roads, and I am still suffering frojm the camel ride.

Dinner was sedate - we went into the town square.  To be honest, I am a little over tagines, cous cous and moroccan salad, so really looking forward to fish soon.  The town was busy til about 10pm when shops were shut and people headed home.  We did the same.