Couple more Lombok photos

Here are a couple more. One at Kuta beach with the sarong selling women and at the Sasak village

Lombok

What a wonderful relaxing time we had. Ate too much, lazed too much, read and slept. It was idyllic and obviously what we needed after our very hectic start to school this year.
Lombok is like a less developed Bali. Lovely beaches, green countryside and of course people trying to sell you something. Hard battering was called for – David’s forte, not mine. I just have to say on the quiet yes I really want that or doesn’t matter. So away we come with a couple more sarongs, a couple of tops for me, a dress (yes don’t hold your breath I have a dress), tee-shirts for David and a wooden bowl. Oops forgot a carved wooden frog that you scrape that makes a noise like a croak.
Our accommodation was superb – right on the beach with thatched roofed shelters to sit under as we admired the view or solved the world’s problems. Only ventured out for walks to the local shops and a one day trip to pottery and weaving places and a traditional Asasak village – so very laid back.

MacRitchie continued

Here's the other couple of photos - the hard to see turtle and the swing bridge.

MacRitchie Reservoir Park and trials

Hi just back from a hot and good work out walking aroung the MacRitchie Native reserve.

Thought I'd put some pictures here for those of you who want to check them out - makes email smaller size.
We saw monkeys soon after we started and there was a pretty amazing swing bridge that I couldn't get off fast enough and turtles in the water.



http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=naturereserves&id=49&Itemid=75

End of this travel lot

Hi all,

That's it for this round. Next one starting October - back to Bali or around there!

Cheers Mary

Canterbury

Last full day in England and it was a goodie. Canterbury is one of those very ‘picturesque’ tourist towns that England seems to have in abundance, and the whole place was just full of different ways to relieve you of your money. This place probably did justify the hype.

Beachy Head and Birling Gap

Day 2 is pretty amazing. This is the south coast of England, the end of the South Downs Walkway, and a stunning white cliff landscape. We do something like a 10km walk along here for a few hours, check out potential suicide spots (Beachy Head apparently is the place to do it) and have the obligatory cup of tea after a walk along a beach full of stones and sunbathers (huh?). More of this next time, we think. Great to get out of towns and stretch the legs for a bit.

Rochester

Grey day but this was a great place. We looked at the by now standard castle and cathedral, although the castle is one of the best preserved Norman ones in England and the cathedral was pretty cool too. The main street was full of charity and antique shops and a wander through them, finishing with a cream tea outside the cathedral, provided amusement for us both. David can’t resist buying a pile of CDs and we land a couple of games and other bits and pieces. Thoughts starting to turn homeward!

Tonbridge

Onward and eastward to stay with Debbie and John on their holiday park, where we first arrived. Full circle, and it’s lovely to be back for a few days. Although in a relatively isolated part of the countryside (you have to have a car) in fact it is very close to a lot of great places, and it became a superb base for exploring. Photo of their Oast barns/houses.

Ouarzarzate trip

Sorry can't believe I forgot this one - out of sequence. It was a day trip from Marrakesh. Big part in teh van traveling but so worth it. Winding mountain roads with pretty amazing scenery all around - steep gradients and impressive rock formations. Great range of colours too. The fertile valleys bordering small rivers (dry session) looked slightly out of place amid the barren rocky hillsides.

Romsey and Winchester

Next day, back in the car and to Romsey Abbey and an early morning walk around the Abbey (nice walk, ugly Abbey says Mary) and then on to Winchester, an ancient capital of England. These towns, including Salisbury, all done up neat and tidy for the tourists. Charming, and initially amazing, and then after a while it becomes commonplace but still lovely.

Avebury

Largest stone circle in Europe and (says David) every bit as impressive as Stonehenge, which you can’t really get all that close to anyway. A drive here and a leisurely walk around the place, which is around 4500 years old is wonderful. Nice to see people talking to their favourite stones, too, and playing drums. The personal touch. I wonder if they give them names?

Salisbury

3 nights here, and a chance to explore the countryside. Excellent cathedral, much less decorated than its Spanish counterparts, and an absolutely gorgeous cloister where a cup of tea and a quiet meditation was on the cards. David got caught up in taking photos of a pool of water (OK, it was a baptismal font) and he hopes the photo was worth it! Salisbury itself full of foreign language students all under 19 (it seemed) on a holiday break. Accommodation is a one-room B&B in a small village outside the town – great breakfasts, palatial room and very very comfortable. Local Indian restaurant down the road had good (if bland) grub.

Cambridge

Well, it’s back to England (to Luton international airport!) and a slightly hair-raising drive to our friends Alan and Helen’s place in Cambridge. Not used to driving or roundabouts, get a couple of gentle toots to remind us to behave. Signs everywhere and (apart from roundabouts) people stick to the white lines. Good idea. Nice to be back in green and cool and some wonderful hospitality. Beer and wine tasting and a lovely meal make us feel right at home. Next day we get a personal tour of the town and Alan’s university surroundings. The photo here is of Kings College.

Marrakesh Photos

Orange Sellers and Pork!! Food.

Marrakesh

Food first… take away lamb off the bone to die for - Mary ate most of it! Cold fresh squeezed orange juice, cheap as chips and much less salty! Playing games with 3 orange vendors buying drinks from each of them - by the glassful and 1.5l bottles as well.
Accommodation less palatial but wonderful communal lounges and areas for us to chill out in. rooftop there too but too hot! Great place to chill. Reliable aircon and quiet space.
Just about all our trip purchases made here - carpets for Mary (haha) jewellery and belts for Mary, hats and antique keys for David. Keys causing great excitement at airport security!

Photos soon

Fez

Great trip in taxi to Fez. Took longer to find the place once in the city than the 50km drive - or so it seemed! And that was with th taxi driver asking directions!

As we keep getting told, this is the real Morocco. We had our best accommodation of the trip here, but probably also the most full on and unsettling experiences.

Had a great tour with a guide - through amazing mazes of alleyways etc. the guide tried his hardest to get us out for longer than 3 hours. 3 hours was dh150 anything over was 250. David had to keep him on time coming back so that it was within the 3 hours - bit of a pain but that’s the game played here. Worth the guide though as it would have been hard finding all the places - mosques, tannery and gates in walls.

The tannery was interesting, traditional operation and smelly - crushed mint helped a lot.

Had one funny incident when we sat down for drinks - the guy moved the umbrella to cover Kim fully from the sun and went about getting bread and dips for us thinking that we were eating there. When we said no food he moved the umbrella again so that some sun was on Kim and then took ages to come back for our drinks order.


Yet more fabulous food for our 2 nights in the riad. Just yummy and good company too - a communal meal -1st night there were American and Canadian and English guests and the 2nd a writer for lonely planet, a political journalist and crew filming a documentary on craftwork here. The hosts were lovely, basically leave the guests to have tea together and then join in after tea with drinks and sharing conversation but always in the background letting guests drive the conversation. Quite a unique and lovely concept.

Kim left us here, been lovely having and will miss her and her cheeky comments. -

Still feel totally bamboozled by Fez and the maps and streets.

Volubilis & Moulay Idriss

From Meknes, a day trip to Volubilis, once a corner of the Roman empire (photo) and Moulay Idriss, (white village - photo) a thousand year old pilgrimage centre.

Volubilis city ruins - amazing. Mosaic tiles in tact were astonishing - they must have been something amazing in their day when not faded or dirty. Really hot wandering around here but great to be away from the city too. I had a moments briefish panic when I couldn’t see David or Kim for over 10-15 minutes. Actually I couldn’t see anyone and while that was nice for a change I did feel a little unsettled. However, reunited and continued our exploration - I was able to direct them to some mosaics that they had missed.

Moulay Idriss wass quite a special place too. More narrow lanes and alleyways. We found the viewing point and the restaurant sign but no obvious restaurant door or entrance- tried a couple of doors under the sign that were private homes - poor people, sorry for the invasion but you can’t tell here otherwise.

Great 1/2 day out.

Meknes

One of the old imperial capitals, not all that touristed at the moment. Fantastic place to stay at, got hopelessly lost in the medina and continued to eat well. Great, great salads in particular at one place we found.

David is surprised at how such gorgeous buildings, restaurants and food seem to come out of very humble, and very hidden, corners. You duck down some dark and dingy alley, turn some corners and duck down a few more, and you find some hole in the wall door, with a little sign over it with the name of the place you’re trying to find. Go through the door and you are in another world completely - gardens, fountains, peace and quiet, beautiful arches, ceramics, carvings and on it goes. You’d have no idea at all from the street that it was anything.
Did the usual tourist thing round Meknes without getting too seriously lost. All good.…..
The walk down to the old grainery storage area and the palace - that was not open at any entrance we could see/find was down a long street walled on each side with high walls. Quite something to see. The grain store was pretty amazing too with high ceilings and delightfully cool after the hat of the day.

Tried to follow instructions from 2 guide books to a restaurant, what a mission - had a little help on the way. I was a little reluctant to keep going but David and Kim persisted and boy it was worth it - what a wonderful meal in a cool place! that was. Kim and I decided just to have salad and David had a tajine. Well the salad was a selection of about 8-10 ( 2 carrot, lentil, okra, aubergine, tomato, rice, potato, ..) outstanding! So our little meal was significantly bigger than intended. David’s was very good too. No need for dessert. (Photo)

Photo also of the communal area where we stayed, ate and relaxed - a riad. Stunning place.

Rabat

Soooo…. Now in Morocco. We knew we were up for a huge day travelling by bus to Tarifa, ferry to Tangier, walking/taxi to bus/train, then 4+ hour train/bus to Rabat, then taxi t hotel, but in the end worked out very very well and the hassle we were expecting didn’t really happen.

And, of course, if we eat well, then all’s well. Our encounters with Moroccan food have been superb. The sighs of relief and pleasure from Mary were audible for kilometres. She writes: Moroccan food - YUMMY. Boy what an amazing difference to that of the Spanish. Just divine flavours!

Rabat easy to navigate and a few things to see. Photo here of Kasbah in the old town - blue walls said to keep mosquitoes away. Hmmm… Got caught by a tout - oldest trick in the book (“just want to learn some English, let me show you where to go…“ etc). Anyway all a good learning curve. We went to both the mosque and the palace I think and later to the museum of archaeology. Had the traditional refreshing mint tea at a café over looking the river and david and Kim had pastries. All very nice.

Seville

Last place we go to in Spain and we’d booked ourselves in for 6 nights so a chance to rest and recuperate from our holiday. before hitting Morocco. Sigh…

Memories of Seville? Hot nights, hot days, lots of sangria, wet pants on the bus (perspiration, we hasten to add) and discovering the joys of Spanish supermarkets with all kinds of lovely stuff, including ginormous sweet red peppers, olive salads, smoked and stuffed chicken etc. funny how travel stories tend to focus on the food, lol. We made far better salads than the restaurants!

After the other places in Spain, perhaps we were a little jaded by the architecture. Seville has a huge cathedral but perhaps not quite as spectacular as other places; there were quite a few places that looked somewhat derelict (such as the 1992 expo park and a number of other grandiose public works schemes, gardens etc). maybe a once grand city that had fallen on hard times. David was impressed that the Spanish ran South America from here, though a few hundred years ago..

.Did a walking tour to Triana - the old craft and dodgy part of the town where all the wicked flamenco dancers hung out. Not bad. Didn’t see any, although David offered a place on one of the flamenco courses (politely declined, owing to my schedule).

One night we thought we’d scored a wedding as the cathedral was closed and only those with invites of a sort were admitted. There were people of all generations and generally dressed up - - but must just have been a mass service that obviously was restricted. [David says it must have been a mass mass].

great to have Kim join us here.

Granada and general travel

Trip to Seville was by bus and, apart from us, noone seemed to think there was anything to look at! How wrong!!! Huge fields of sunflowers all in a row, facing the same way - quite amazing really. As far as your eye can see sometimes. Also even larger areas of olive trees - once again all in a row - but stretch for miles on end. Quite neat geometric patterns really.

Wind power - windmills through some areas and then large banks of solar panels in others.

Many large stretches of nothing much to see but then you go up a hill and hello there are a number of settlements with many houses painted white and shining in the sun (is this a song?) usually with an old cathedral or walls of a city and then mountains.

Found the adult form of a dummy on our last bus trip! A toothpick. Some elderly gentleman sucked on one for the whole 3 hour trip. Respect!



Travelling from Cordoba to Grenada we met an American couple about our age. He’d been in the military and flew for free from USA to anywhere in the world a military plane happened to be going. She was from Taiwan. He had a bad back and a loopy knee, so she carried both of their packs. Is this a trend? David was impressed.

Anyways Grenada was hot but cool. Main attraction is the Alhambra, which we were both very taken with. Built by the Arabic (Moroccan) Moors, it was quite a contrast to other buildings we have seen. Rather than images, lots of very intricate carved patterns on walls and ceilings; beautiful fountains and gardens, perched high on a hill inside some impressive walls. The whole thing was stunning.

Walked around Granada quite a bit as well - cool place with probably more than we gave ourselves a chance to see. Great having the mountains and snow in the background, although temperatures where we were were in the mid 30s. Lots of liquids to be consumed. Oh well…

Cordoba

An extremely long walk (wrong direction) to get to our accommodation!) - it was rather hot and food and drink was much in need. But what a really cool spot we had - courtyards or patios they would be called with stone mosaic on the ground and really nice eating areas. Sangria went down really well after our haphazard approach to the location. A short stroll around the area and then tea before bed. The alarm woke us both 7:45 - for breakie and off to the Cathedral which had been a Mosque. It was very different with an open courtyard of orange trees and red striped columns. I loved the expanse of columns and the lack of height in the ceilings as compared to other cathedrals changed to atmosphere as well - well, contributed to it. There was a mass celebrated while we were in there - heavily guarded but security on camera duty - no photos of the congregation or officiating priests. Did love that cathedral or rather mosque converted to cathedral.