Vietnam - Hue to Hoi An/ Hoi An

Vietnam - Hue

Vietnam - Hanoi to Hue

Vietnam - Sapa

Sapa as described by Lonely Planet is "on top of Vietnam" . It is a small mountain town up north. I got to Sapa after 12 hrs train ride from Hanoi. I was travelling with Martin and Chris, we decided to buy "soft seats" rather than "soft sleepers" we paid 160.000 dong = cad$12.00 for a seat. As I get closer to the end of my trip I am getting also "cheaper" I am watching my money, one year is a long time to travel without an income. Vietnam is cheaper than Laos but still money are spend very fast:(

back to Sapa.....I liked Sapa, Except for the people that follow you around trying to sell you stuff. When I am saying follow, yes they do follow for a long time and keep talking and talking and talking until you have to almost shout a NO or give in and buy something.

I was in Sapa for 4 days. I stayed in Queen Hotel for 7 dollars. This is one of the best rooms I had so far, but it is very cold at night and in the morning. As soon as the sun is out, it is very nice and warm, as soon as the sun is down it gets really cold. I haven't felt cold for such a long time, it feels strange....I left my fleece in Nepal, I don't really have warm clothes and I don't want to buy anything as I will be heading down south and I want to keep my back pack a light a possible.

First day I took a day trekking tour to visit the nearby villages. Apparently there are 8 different tribal communities in this area, with their own tradition and way of living. I was with Martin and we met a very nice Danish couple, Bettina and Flemming. They are also travelling for a year.

Martin and Chris decide to leave the next day, it felt a bit uneasy to stay here by myself ( I was travelling with the group of people for a while and it is so comfortable!) but yet at the end I decided to stay for a few more days. I liked the place and it took a long time to get there.

Same evening Bettina and Flemming and I met Peter a dutch guy who is biking from Kuala Lumpur through Vietnam, China, Laos and Thailand. Hmmm I would have loved to be able to do this trip. Four of us went for more trekking around it is so much better to go on our own.

On Sunday we decided to visit the "famous Ba Ha" market.
Four of us got squished on the front seats -Felmming and Peter are very tall, it is hard for them to sit on this minibus. It took 3 hours to make it to Ba Ha which is only 110 km away. The ride is very scenic but the road is in a bad shape, we were sore by the time we arrive in Ba Ha.

Ba Ha Market is very disappointing. It is just a market, same as in Sapa, except that there are much more people. We are supposed to see many tribal communities, but there were only 2 visible ones. We were trying to figure out if there are more and we can't not identify them :)

Back to the minibus and back home, we had enough of the scenery, just wanted to get back. The only highlight of the ride back was to stop at the Vietnamese Chinese border separated only by the Red River. It was interesting to stand there on the Vietnamese side and watch people crossing the bridge back and forth. Also "life' on the other side.

I left Sapa on the night train back to Hanoi. I wasn't happy to take the train again,. but no choice......

Vietnam - Halong Bay

Vietnam - Hanoi to Halong Bay

Vietnam - Hanoi

Laos - Vientiane to Hanoi

Laos - Vientiane

Laos - bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane

Laos - Luang Prabang

Laos - slow boat from Xuay Kai to Luang Prabang

I took the slow boat from Xuay Kai to Luang Prabang. I paid Cad$32 for the 2 days trip, quite expensive considering that nothing else is included, the boat is old and has wood benches. Despite bad stories from other travelers and warning from the Lonely Planet, I found the trip pleasant. The boat was comfortably full, most people on the boat were very nice, we had a good time talking and sharing travel stories. I was surprised again to find out how many people are actually travel for a year. The scenery was on Mekong river was beautiful.

The boat stopped in Pak Benk for the night. For that night Katrina and I shared a room in the worst guesthouse so far on this trip, we had a hard time falling asleep but we survived the night.

I made it to Luang Prabang around 6 pm on the second day. It took us a while to find a reasonable priced gastehouse, everything seemed expensive. We were used to Thailand prices and find Laos on a "pricey" side. Saying that we were laughing because we end up by paying US$12 dollars for a room which is still very cheap. As we walked into the city we were shocked in a good way. This city is really nice, lots of lights, nice looking restaurants and hotels....no wonder is expensive. Looking forward to explore our first city in Laos.

Laos

It has been a long day. I spend the night in Chiang Seam 9 km from Sok Raup (the official Golden Triangle town). I got up in the morning to catch the bus to Chiang Kwong, the border town from Thailand to Laos. The cites are only 50 km apart, between the 2 cities there are only small buses running and they don't have a schedule; they go when they get full. I got at the bust stop at 8 am and left at 10 am. I was the only foreigner, no one around spoke English, I was very frustrated to wait for 2 hours without having any idea when the bus will leave. Finally by 10 the bus was packed full and we left; about 20 km and an hour later the bus stopped for me to connect with an other bus! I had to wait for the bus for an other hour.

I made to the border around 2pm. Border crossing was only 10 min boat ride. Border formalities were fast, I paid my us$43 dollars and here I was in Laos.

As I walked up the street thinking what I am going to next, Katrin showed up. I met atrin back in Chiang Mai when we travelled a bit together and now we want to continue to travel through Laos. I was so happy! She already got a room and tickets for tomorrow slow boat.

Welcome to Laos to me :)

Thailand Oct 31 to Nov 15

India

As I missed my first flight to Delhi India on Sept 27, next flight was Oct 3. On Oct 3 at 17 hrs I landed in Delhi. Yes, excately as everyone was telling me - Delhi is a big shock.

Nepal - Oct 7 to 31

Jordan - Amman

Monday morning at 9 am I was at the Indian Embassy; I handed in my passport and at 3pm my visa was ready. It is a full page visa for 3 month, multiple entries; I paid $30.00 for it.

After I browsed in an artsy part of Amman; books stores, coffees shops, museums.

This evening was the last day of Ramadan. At sun set there were lots of people on the street celebrating. People in my hostel were celebrating too.

It was very interesting to observe Ramadan. At sun set all the places were shut down and everyone was eating. Ramadan didn't inconvenience us at all, there were still plenty of stores, markets, juice bars open for us to get something to eat. People here are very considerate to tourists and they don't get offence if we eat. We tried our best to be discreet and respect people religion and practices.

Israel back to Jordan Amman

I have a very nice and relaxing morning at my friends in Tel Aviv. I had good coffee and breakfast. I would have liked to stay at least one more day, but tomorrow Monday is a holiday in Jordan and Jewish New Year and apparently the border crossing will be a nightmare. As I have to be at Indian Embassy tomorrow at 10:00 am I did not want to take a chance.

I left Tel Aviv at noon and I arrived in Amman at 4:30 pm. Customs formalities at Israeli and Jordanian border were very fast; there were very few people. I had to pay us$50 .00 to exit Israel!

Myself and a Jordanian - American woman got a free ride from the border to Amman by a Jordanian - American guy; very nice of him :

Back to my hostel I read more about Amman and decide what I am going visit tomorrow.

Isreal -Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

I was a tourist in Israel for a day, so I would call my trip - Isreal in one day.

I the morning I visited Jerusalem. I was with Susan, her husband and son. They took me everywhere.


In the afternoon my cousin Romana and her husband came and pick me up from Susan's place. We went and visit Tel Aviv.

Late in the evening we went to Jaffa.

What a day! At midnight I was really ready to go to bed.

Jordan to Israel

Amman is an Ok city but not to much to see and to do; as I am stuck here until I get my Indian visa I decided to go to Israel. I have been told that I have have a Syraian visa on my passport Iwill not be allowed to enter Israel but I was thinking that is worth to try.

I left Amman on a service taxi with 2 Palestinian students that I met in my hostel. At Jordanian border we had to get off the taxi and had to go through customs. There was a huge line up of people. A policeman came up to me and told me that I am in the wrong line up. I am a foreigner and I was supposed to be in a foreigner line up. I went to the other line of the buildings; this line up was long as well; many tourists to visit Israel. After about half an hour I got my Jordanian exit visa.

After we got on a blue bus; only blue buses operates between the border, there are no taxis allowed.

First Israeli check point -an officer got on the bus and checked passports.
Second check point - we all had to get off the bus and have our passports checked.

we arrived at Israeli boder, wwe had to hand in our bags and passports. It was very chaotic, people were coming from everywhere with tones of bags; there iwas lots of shouting and pushing around.

Finally I got my bag and my passport checked again; now I was in line for customs and immigration. I was in line for 3 hours; when my turn I was barely asked any questions; I got my Israelei visa in a few minutes.

On the other side of the border I took the shared taxi to Jerusalem. Susan's husband Uzi came and picked me up.

I spend the evening with Susan's family; it was really good to see her and meet haer family. We had a wonderful traditional Israeli dinner.

Jordan - Amman - bad day

Sept 25 was a very bad day :(

I was supposed to fly to India this morning at 4:00 am. I went to the airport at midnight, and try to check in at 2:00 am. When checking in the guy at the counter asked for my Indian visa. I didn't apply for an Indian visa because for whatever reason I assumed that I could get visa upon arrival in Delhi. Apparently India doesn't issue any visas at any border. So I was declined to board the plane.

At 4:00 am I took a taxi back to Amman. All hotels were closed, it took me a while to find a hotel that will open the door.

At 9:00 am I went to the Indian Embassy; it takes 5 working day for a visa. I filledSept out the application and paid 30 Euros.

After I went to change my flight; I paid 78 Euros, and next available flight out of Amman is Thursday Oct 2.

I paid already for India tour that starts on Sept 27, at this moment it looks that I am not going to make it for the tour.

On the more happier note everyone here has been absolutely wonderful and trying to help; the lady at the Indian Embassy, the hotel manager, the airline reservation agent.

Today I am not happy :( I can't believe that I have created all this mess.

Jordan - Amman

Back in Amman for a day; getting ready for my flight to India.

Too many people on the street; spend most on the day on the Internet.

Jordan - Agaba to Amman

I spend the day on the South beach in Agaba.

Took the bus back to Amman.

Jordan - Petra to Aqaba

Three hours bus ride from Petra to Aqaba was spectacular.

Aqaba is a port city by Red sea. It is quite touristy but definitely worth visiting.

Jordan - Petra

I visited Petra the whole day. This time I was hiking on the upper trails and enjoyed the scenery from up top.

Jordan - Petra

Petra is about 4 hours from Amman.

I checked into Valentine Inn hostel with the beautiful view if Wadi Musa and Petra.

Petra is one of the most spectacular places I have seen so far.

Syria to Jordan- Amman

It was a Ramadan Friday morning when I crossed the border from Syria to Jordan; barely any cars on the road which was very nice.

I went to Amman by service taxi; service taxi operates between the 2 countries. The way it works, as soon as taxi has 4 people taxi is full and is leaving. I was with Hiroki, Japanese guy that I met at the hostel; in the taxi there were already 2 guys: a Turkish and a Jordanian guy. Jordanian guy was a doctor and spoke English, He helped us through all the customs formalities. I paid 500 Syrian pounds for my exit visa from Syria and 10 Jordanian Dirham for Jordanian visa. Officers at both customs were very nice. Jordanian customs checked the car and everything inside the car.

It takes 3 hours by car from Damascus to Amman and it costs us$16.00 dollars.

Syria - Damascus

This morning my group has left for Jordan. I stayed behind for one more day in Damascus. Still lots to see!

First thing in thee morning I moved from the hotel I stayed with the group to a nearby hostel.

Hostel was very nice and it was easy to meet people.

I spend the day visiting around and getting ready for my trip to Jordan.

Syria - Damascus

Sept 17 was my last day with the group; from now on I will be on my own for about 9 days, before my flight to India.

I visited old Damascus.

So far I was happy, miserable, tired, hungry, stuffed, stressed, relaxed, belivered, frustrated, content, anxious, ecstatic.
More than 7 month into my trip I am content and grateful for my life.

I took lots of pictures, but a picture is just a pretty image....it doesn't mean nothing compared to actually being there when I took the picture. The most wonderful pictures are in my heart.

Syria - Damascus

We made it to Damascus after a 4 hours ride from Palmyra on the crowded bus on a hot day.

Damascus is the oldest inhabited city in the world. It was busy, crowded, tons of cars, taxis, noise. We stayed in the hotel a few minutes away from the old city.

Syria - Palmyra

Palmyra is a small town in the middle of the dessert. It is famous because the wonderful ruins; the ruins are part of the Unesco World heritage.

We browsed around marvelling of the beauty of the place.

We watched the sunset and the next day sunrise.

In the day time was hot, but at night and in the morning was very chilly.

Syria - Hama to Palmyra

Scenery was beautiful, rugged mountains, grey and dusty green.

In our way to Palmyra we stopped to visit Crac de Chevalier, one of the most beautiful castle in the world.

After castle visit we continue our bus ride to Palmyra. Again we are travelling through the dessert; I found the desert fascinating most people on the bus were sleeping, but I just couldn't close my eyes. Looking out on the immensity of this place I felt at peace with myself.

Syria - Aleppo to Hama

My blogs will get shorter; I don't have a laptop with me and I am on the road a lot, barely have time to rest. The blogs will show itinerary and places that I visited. I will try to download as many pictures as I can.

Four hours bus ride from Aleppo to Hama. We were traveling through the dessert, sand dunes, small bushes, some olive trees; scenery is not pretty, but yet had a surreal charm; I liked it.

We stopped to visit Basilica of St Simeon, one of the most famous archaeological sites.

So far I have seen wonders.

Syria - Aleppo

Aleppo is the 3rd largest cities in Syria; is also one of the oldest inhabitated city in the world.

I got up in the morning; it was a Ramadan Friday morning in a muslim country, there was not a soul around, it seemed that city is deserted. I wanted a coffee so badly....hmmm, nothing I could do, just I was sitting on the roof terrance looking at the city; what a city, everything is grey, only a few dusty green patches.

Around 9 am I decided to go out and browse around; close to the citadel there were a few restaurants and wow! one was open :)

I asked the young waiter if they have Cappuccino, and he said yes; I was so sure he didn't understand me I asked again, and he said yes again. I was soooooo Happy, I have been drinking nesscafe for such a long time....Cappuccino was just perfect, I had such a great morning.

Citadel in Aleppo is something; I took lots of pictures.

Afternoon we visited more of the old city and also the Christian part of the city. Muslim part and the Christian part of the city are very different.

Turkey to Syria

We got up at 6:30 am to catch the bus that will take us to Syrian border.
The tour leader told us that we will cross the border on foot.
So here we were 7 of us with heavy backpacks walking in the blasting sun on a concrete bare road fenced by chicken wire.
Not sure why we had to cross the border on foot, something to do with bus complication and visas that may arise between Turkish and Syrian border.
First there was to turkish check point - everything ok, we all got our exit stamps.

For a while we were walking in no man land, we are in between the two countries, it was really strange to walk on the road which has signs at both sides - "Mine field, keep off" ; hmmm I didn't quite enjoy walking on that road.

First Syrian check point; the officer looked carefully at each passport, gave them back to us, said nothing, just nodded his head to move forward.
Second check point; we filled out forms and handed passports. I was so happy I had my Syrian visa; I read on the Internet that tourists have to wait a long time and the border, but at the end we just waited half an hour, that is pretty good considering that we are a group of 7 people.

Right in front of Syrain border there was a bus waiting for us, nice! in short time we were in our way to Aleppo.

The road is not particulay scenic, everything around looks dusty and dry. Small villages looked poor and colorless. As we were approaching the city there are many unfinished constructions in different stages, the scenery is quite depressing.

Our hotel Al- is centrally located between the new and the old town. I like this location! I remember about Morocco, it is nice to visit the medina, but never chose a hotel in the medina. I like to visit the old, but I prefer the modest comfort of a newer hotel.

In Aleppo there are 8 more people joining our group: two couples and two girlfriends from New Zealand, a French woman that lives in London, a Canadian girl from Alberta that lives in Vancouver.


In Turkey Ramadan didn't have any impact on our trip; many restaurants, coffee shops and juice bars were open everywhere. Not in Syria, pretty much everything was shut down until dusk.

In the evening we went out for a group dinner (by then we were really hungry); food was awesome, traditional Syrain food, mezze, kebabs, some strange coffee at the end.

Turkey – Gaziantep

Sept 10 was our last day in Turkey. It took only 4 hours bus ride to get here for the last town, we were all happy, at this time we all had enough of long bus rides.

I wouldn’t call Gaziantep a tourist town; it is a real Turkish town with very few foreigners. We walked around town for a bit, like everywhere in Turkey people are very nice and friendly.

We had our last Turkish yummy kebab and beer.
It was time for us to unwind, rest and get ready for our new journey in Syria.

Turkey - Mt. Nemrut

During this trip we traveled long distances from one place to next; a second overnight bus from Cappadocia to Kahta a small town in Eastern Turkey. We stopped in Kahta just to be close and be able to take a tour to visit Mountain Nemrut.

Mount Nemrut is at about 50 km from town. The highway to get to the mountain is very narrow, sometimes rough and it is winding up and down the mountains. I was quite scared and worried riding in the minivan. There are many very sharp curves and no shoulders. We made it OK all the way up.

From the parking lot we had to hike about 25 minute to the top where there is a memorial sanctuary. The area is fantastic somehow similar to Utah, I would have loved to trek in this area; it would have been really nice to be there for a few weeks.
Well, I was happy just to visit, do the mini hike and watch a wonderful sunset.

Turkey – Cappadocia

We traveled from Olympos to Cappadocia by an overnighter bus. Cappadocia is a region in the middle of the country, one of the most beautiful places in Turkey because of the unusual natural landscape. As we were appproching Goreme village the sun was raising, the sky is perfecly blue, the scenery was breathing. We arrived in Goreme village around 7 in the morning, it was absolutely surreal!

We checked in our hotel and have a rest on the hotel terrace overlooking the village.

We spend the day walking around, wondering and taking tons of pictures.

In the evening we watched the sunset for the highest hill in the village. The views were absolutely stunning.

We end up the day with Turkish pizza and beer a yummy 10 dollars dinner!

Turkey - Olympos

Dalyan to Olympos bus ride along Mediterranean Sea was absolutely beautiful! 6 hours of wonder. Amazing scenery, a mix of Cote D’Azur, Sea to Sky highway, Canadian Rockies.

The bus stopped shortly in Finike; I would call Finike Monte Carlo of Turkey. Beautiful and impressive buildings, restaurants and coffees shops, wide and clean streets, palm trees, Bleu Sea.

We got to Olympos around 4 pm. Olympos is a small, laid back mountain resort. It is a in a valley surrounded by very impressive mountains, and one side has a rugged path that leads to Mediterranean Sea. It is beautiful! As soon as we got there I went for a walk to see the sea. I walked on the path looked at the trees and some ruins, and all of the sudden in front of me the path opens up and in front of me there if the perfectly blue Mediterranean sea- wow!

As accommodations there are only bungalows and tree houses. Bungalows are arranges around an interior garden with low tables and tons of cushions. Everyone gathered there, the night was so beautiful; it was hard to go to bed….

Turkey - Dalyan

We traveled from Pamukkale to Dalyan. In Turkey Bus travel is very efficient, fast and comfortable. There are big buses and small buses, connecting all destinations. Most buses they have one person that takes cares of the sitting and offers drinks and sometimes small snacks. A man can not sit by a woman; during the trip people get moved around to have always man sit by a man and a woman by a woman. This rule doesn't apply to foreigners.

Dalyan is very touristy, lots of nice expensive hotels and resorts; apparently it is the most favorite destinations for the British.
We took a river boat cruise to the Mediterranean Sea; from the boat we admire the scenery and wonder at the tombs carved into the rock face.
We had to pay 2 euros to access the beach. It would have been an other 5 euros just to sit on the chair and have an umbrella. We opted to sit on the sand by the sea; also the water was so tempting warm, clean, big waves, how wanted to sit on the chair anyway? It was a great end of the day.

Turkey - Pamukkale

Next day an other bus ride this time only 3 hours from Selçuk to Pakmukkale.

Pakmukkale is also small town quite touristy. The hotel has a swimming pool and as soon as we arrived we jumped in the pool. It is hot but so far I haven’t really suffered of heat as all buses and hotels have air conditioning.

In the evening we went up to this ca mountain. It looks like there is snow on the mountain but in fact is grayish-white limestone. There are beautiful calcified formations, terraces, falls and stalactites. Everyone has to take the shoes off for the first part to conserve the area.

Up at the top there are magnificent ruins of the ancient town Hierapolis. The view from up top is amazing. We walked around and stayed up there for hours.
Sunset was beautiful!

Turkey - Selcuk

Bus ride was comfortable, but yet I slept very little. I got to Selçuk at 7 am and I was tired; I slept most of the morning.

Selçuk is a small charming town with some famous ruins; I don’t know too much about the ruins, I just went up for a walk and took some pictures.

It is Ramadan in Turkey; restaurants are open but nearly empty during the day; only tourists are eating. Turkish people are very nice they just walk by and smile. I haven’t felt that they will be upset because others re eating. I wasn’t hungry and I did not eat during the day.

I had a very yummy Turkish dinner with the group around 8pm.

Turkey - Istanbul to Selcuk

At 9 am on Monday morning I was at Syrian embassy with the letter of recommendation from the Canadian consulate, 45 Euros and 2 pictures; my visa was ready by 3pm, I was now ready to leave Istanbul and join my group.

At the end of the day I was sitting in Istanbul on a bench in front of the Blue Mosque and I kept thinking: This is what so amazing about traveling: pictures, stories, movies, nothing compares to actually being here…

I took an overnight 11 hours bus ride from Istanbul to Selçuk to join my group.

Turkey - Istanbul

Every morning as soon as I get up I need coffee. At the hostel breakfast is included, so the good news - I could have coffee right away. But the bad news – coffee is very bad, it is always instant coffee, Yuk :) I t is bad but I still drink a cup, I just think that is my medicine for the day, coffee is my addiction….

After breakfast (always white bread, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggs, jam and bad coffee) I head down the street to Starbucks, yes there is a Starbucks, actually quite a few in Istanbul, I am happy! Coffee tastes almost as good as in Vancouver. Coffee is expensive around 4 dollars for a regular tall coffee. Talking about prices Istanbul is a fairly expensive place, but again I had good kebabs for 5 dollars, beer is also 5 dollars. Dark Turkish beer is very good, food is everywhere and it is good.

Saturday and Sunday I visited Istanbul as much as I could:
Grand Bazaar, amazing place, many wonderful things, it was very hard not to buy anything, I found it much nicer that Moroccan medians , even though I have to admit that it is different

Galata Bridge

Istiklal Caddesi – Commercial Street

Taskim square

Sunday night I met my tour leader and fellow travelers. Tour leader is Chloe a young Australian girl; my fellow travelers, a Canadian couple from Nelson BC, an Australian couple and a single Australian man. They all seem very nice.

The group will leave tomorrow morning; I will stay in Istanbul for an extra day to get the visa and join the group on Tuesday.

Turkey - Istanbul

My tour is 19 days Turkey and Syria. According to Lonely planet and some Internet reading Canadians can not get Syrian visa at the border.
There is a Syrian Consulate in Istanbul and Syrian visa can be obtained there. I get up in the morning and head to the Syrian consulate. Syrian consulate in the other part of town, so I have to take the tram, a funicular (it is very cool and fast) and the metro. Sure enough I get lost trying to get there, I had to ask about 10 people, my Turkish pronunciation of the street it doesn’t make it any easier, and finally I get there.
I am told by the visa clerk that in order to get the visa I have to get a letter from Canadian consulate that I am a Canadian citizen (what is the passport for???) and to pay 45 euros. It was already 10 am Syrian consulate works until from 9:30 am to 11 am, it is Friday, my tour leaves on Sunday no way I can make it to Canadian consulate and back and get the visa today! Anyway I took a taxi and went to Canadian consulate. Canadian consulate is on a pedestrian street, the take drops me off in front of the street; still takes me a while to find the consulate, there is a Canadian flag but it is up there very hard to see.

The lady at the Canadian Consulate is super nice, gives me the letter very fast (I had to pay 50 dollars for the letter) and whishes me good luck. Even with good luck I am not going to make it back on time, it was 11 am! Well I guess I am not leaving with the tour, I will have to spend an extra day in Istanbul to get the Syrian visa.

In the after noon I went on a couple of hours Bosphoros cruise. I really enjoyed the cruise; it was very interesting to watch on one side big, luxurious houses, villas, private beaches, boats, parks, restaurants.

The opposite side, old city, beautiful mosques, old buildings, parks and restaurants as well.

If I just looked at this bridge I could think for a moment that I am back home in Vancouver ( hmmm, yes I do miss home)

Istanbul is so different from any other cities I have seen so far, not wonder it is described in the travel book as the place where East meets West; it is fascinating, huge, beautiful, unexpected, clean, and mysterious. Bazars, markets, mosques, gorgeous architecture, parks, flowers, food, Turkish delights, and this city is truly captivating… This city has everything one can dream on.......

Turkey - Istanbul

I arrived in Istanbul after 24 hours train ride from Bucharest. I changed my travel plans so many times, not sure where to go next…. I was never interested to visit Turkey but being in Romania I figured that I am so close to Turkey maybe it would be a good idea to actually visit Turkey. Last minute decision I booked an adventure tour for 19 days Turkey and Syria.

I got the Turkey visa at 4 am in the morning when the train stopped at the border. I paid 45 Euros!!!; the most expensive Turkey visa is for Canadians, don't know why...for Americans is only 20 Euros and for Europeans is even cheaper only 12 Euros! So what is up with 45 Euros visa for us???

Istanbul was never on my "must see city", but by the time I took the tram and walked to the hostel I was so amazed by this city, I realized that it should have been on the list, Istanbul is definitely a must see city!

I checked in the Bahouse hostel by 2pm. Hostel is located in Hostel in Sultanahmet, in the European part of town. It is a very cool place if I ever come back to Istanbul I will stay in same area.
Hostel has a roof terrace overlooking Mediterranean Sea. I went up and had my first Turkish beer and kebab – yummy.

In the afternoon went browsing in the neighborhood; there are tons of coffee shops, restaurants, stores. I am very close to the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya; between the two there is nice park with colorful flowers and water fountain.

It is wonderful to meander on the streets, see, smell and feel the vibe of the city.


My decision to come to Istanbul was good; welcome to the “city of world’s desire”.

Africa back to Europe

We checked out of the hotel at noon and Mark booked a bed in the nearby hostel.
We had lunch and ice cream and soon was time to head to the airport.

There is a train from city centre Casablanca (both rail stations, Casa port and Casa Voyageurs) to the airport. Mark accompanied me to the airport.
At the airport there was time to say good bye. In general I am really "weak" when it comes to good bye, and this time was Very Very hard. I have been traveling with Mark since March 1 this year sharing the good and the bad, wonderful moments, difficult moments, impressions, emotions. We parted crying.....from that day on our trip had different itineraries.
My flight to Milan was at 8 pm.

I am looking forward to meet Mark again; the latest at the end of the year 2008! we will definitely have the best New Year party.

Rabat to Casablanca

From Rabat we took the train back to Casablanca Post station. We had to got to Casablanca, because my flight to Milan was from Casablanca airport. The train was 5 euros for an hour ride. We got fist class ticket and the train was brand new. It was the most pleasant ride that we had in Morocco, regretfully the shortest one.

We booked hotel Central on Internet; likely the hotel was very close to the rail station; we walked to the hotel and we were happy that we didn't have to deal with the taxi drivers :)

Hotel was nice and we spend the afternoon relaxing and taking care of last minute things. View from the hotel room.

As this was the last dinner of our trip, we decided to go to our favourite place in Casablanca: Rick's cafe.

Food was good, wine was good, we were talking and laughing remembering good and bad parts of our trip, funny, embarrassing, hard, difficult moments, and above all being happy that we have decide to pursue this journey; most important - No regrets.

Visiting Rabat

We were in Rabat for three days. We really liked Rabat, I guess this is our favourite city in Morocco. Our Morocco trip was quite comfortable, but still rough compared to Europe. These three days in Rabat were ending our Moroccan trip and also our five months trip together; good reasons to spoil ourselves, decompress and have a really good time.

We leisurely browsed Rabat. Downtown Rabat had a European flair, buildings are white and well maintained, streets wide and clean.

Rabat has numerous coffee shops, patisseries and book stores. It is the first Moroccan city where we were pleasantly surprised to see many bookstores and many people in the bookstores.

Most Moroccan people on the street were westerly trendy dressed; also we have noticed many expats.

We come across this interesting church.

We visited the Kashba, according to Routard guide the "must see place” in Rabat. It is an interesting place, narrow strets, painted white and blue houses, awesome view of the ocean and the city.


One day we had lunch at Alliance Francaise. Lunch was cooked by French standards and prices same. We paid about 35 euros for 2 entrées, shared dessert and half bottle of wine.

In the evening we walked long ways along the Murrailles. First we passed by numerous impressive houses, all homes of foreign embassies and diplomats.

We ended the evening at Weimar Cafe which is part of the Goethe institute. Restaurant is run by a very nice French couple. Place is very popular with French people and many expats. We were lucky to find a table right away, we had pizza and beer, it was good!

Leaving Marrakech and arrival in Rabat

It is far too hot in Marrakech and 8 days seems good enough to be in this city.
We left our friend’s nice apartment Tuesday at noon.

We had a good time here, made lots of yummy meals, and had nice cold milk, yogurt, and watermelon. The advantage of an apartment over a hotel especially in a hot climate is having a Fridge. Mark had every morning cereal with cold milk. Mark is very particular about his cereal with cold milk. He made such a fuss about having milk really cold. I hope he will eat cereal and cold milk every morning at his home, otherwise he will be in trouble.

Our next and last destination in Morocco is Rabat. We got second class train tickets to save a bit of money; the tickets were 12 Euros each for a 5 hour ride.

The train left half an hour late; the first hour or so of the train ride was very pleasant; in one compartment for 8 people we were just four; Mark and I and 2 ladies, one Moroccan and the other Dutch-Moroccan visiting family. We had a nice conversation in French and English about Morocco, Europe, and travelling in general.

After the train started to get crowded and hotter. There is an air conditioner in the train, but is weak and sporadic. More people came into our compartment and many people stood outside in the corridor. Most people have many, huge luggages and leave them in the corridor, therefore every time the train stops and people have to get on and off there is a big struggle and “bouchon”.

Closer to the end of our train ride I started talking to a guy sitting by me; he was from Agadir and was going to Rabat to get his car registered. He bough his car in Italy and he had all necessary papers from Italy. He showed us the car papers with tons of stamps, but he said that according to Moroccan bureaucracy the papers were not good enough and he has to go to another office and get more stamps. All I could think was that I am really glad that I am not in his shoes! He told us that lots of Moroccan are not happy living here, because of bureaucracy, injustice, bribery, lack of hope for a better life. That is very sad.

He helped us to get off the train in Rabat and after he said “bon voyage”. One of the few people that helped without expecting anything from us.

By the time we got to Rabat we were hot and tired. We had chosen a hotel from the Routard guide and luckily the hotel was walking distance from the rail station and in a nicer part of town. Before we got to the hotel I kept my fingers crossed that we find a room available, I was dreading the idea that we will have to walk around to look for a hotel.

As soon as we stepped in Hotel Splendid the front desk clerk smiled and said, Mais Oui, on a une chambre pour vous!

Hotel is very basic but clean and good shower, this is all we need.

Welcome to us to Rabat.

Marrakech – Osiria water park

As we could barely handle the heat in the city, we had decided on our last day in Marrakech to go to a water park. Yes, somewhere in a suburb of Marrakech in the middle of the dessert there is a water park!

The water park entrance fee is 18 Euros! including the bus from Marrakech to the water park.

There was no exact indication where the shuttle bus will stop to pick us up, just the name: Plaza El Harti. Plaza El Harti is a big place with a roundabout; there are about 5 large streets intersecting into this place and about 5 corners where the shuttle could stop. We had to stand right in the middle of the plaza in the burning morning sun so we can see the water park shuttle. Once we saw the shuttle arriving we started running and guessing where the shuttle will stop. That is easier said than done, traffic in Marrakech is absolutely insane, it took us a while to be able to cross the street and make it to the shuttle, but finally we were on our way.

We knew from the Routard guide that there are restaurants and snack bars in the park; initially, we were thinking to bring some water and snacks, but later on in the morning we changed our mind. When we got to the park we were glad that we did not bring any food or drinks, because the clerk at the gate actually checked our bag! The water park really wants our money, beside the entrance being so expensive they want us to spend extra money on food and drink. It is impossible to be there for the day without buying something, this park is making good money!

But we had fun! It was a hot day, so it was nice to be in the park. The park is big, with a kids area, wave pool, swimming pool, water slides, restaurant and concession areas, even a pool bar with Coca Cola and juice, but to our disappointment no fancy cocktails or beer.

Mark went for the water slides gradually moving on from the gentle ones to the steep ones. Every time he was plunging in the water and coming out he had a very puzzled expression on his face! He was funny, I guess for the moment he didn’t know where he was. I was sitting on the grass listing to some techno funky music and looking at Mark and all the other crazy people sliding down and had a good laugh!

I was scared to go on the slides, but finally seeing how much fun everyone was having I decided to give it a try! After the first time I kept going and going and going, yes it is was lots of fun, even though I have to admit that I slid only on the green slides, the easier ones.

At 6: 30 pm it was time for us to go.
We got out of the gate to wait for the shuttle bus. There are only 2 shuttle buses one for Plaza Jemaa-El-Fna and one for Place El Harti. As it is almost closing time for the water park, many people were waiting for the shuttle. As soon as the shuttle showed up people start running, pushing their way around to get on the shuttle. We looked at this and decided that is no way we can fight like this to get on the bus. But we were tired, hot, hungry and want to make it home. Another shuttle arrives and Mark is getting a seat, but I am still outside and the shuttle is now full. This was absolutely crazy!

We don’t understand why the water park doesn’t have a civilized system to get people on the bus; something like handing people a number so when shuttle arrives people can get on the bus according to the number; or even easier to have 2 signs, and 2 lines (something similar to the airports line ups) one for place Jemaa-El-Fna and one for Place El Harti.

Regretfully after this good day we had a bitter feeling like many other places/business in Morocco the water park cares only about the tourists that brings money in; once they got your money they don’t care about you, customer service, reputation, good will and so on; that is sad for Morocco.

Marrakesh - Jemaa-El-Fna at night

Marrakesh - Jemaa-El-Fna at night
We got to Jemaa-El-Fna around 9 pm – wow what at place, my first reaction – shock and terror! I read about this place before hand on Routard guide, but yet any descriptions of it can not possibly describe reality, the tumult, pulse, vibe, craziness of this place.

There are thousands of people Moroccan and tourists alike and all possible vendors; everything is for sale from “normal” things to all kind of weird looking stuff (we had no idea what they were). Some people just have a small blanket with a few strange things on it and sit there in the middle of crowd trying to make a few pennies. There are women that offer tattoos and henna paintings on hand and feet.

Also there is music, dance performances, monkey wranglers, snake charmers. I couldn’t take pictures at night, this is a picture of the snake charmers in the day time. In the middle there are two cobras.

Right in the middle of the plaza there are many “only at night” small outdoors vendors restaurants and Moroccan patisseries; (these vendors are not there is the day time, only at night); all restaurants and patisseries are pretty much same and they all have numbers.
For restaurants there are long plain tables where everyone can sit as long as there is room. Every restaurant has one or two guys in charge of getting customers to their restaurant. As we walked by many of them come to us showing up the menu right in our face.
That night we had already dinner so we decided to come back and eat here in couple of days mostly because of the atmosphere and “the experience”. The smell of the “grillades, tajines, spices, cakes was very enticing.

We went back a few days later; as all restaurants are the same, after shaking off some of the restaurants touts, we choose to sit somewhere not too crowded. I had poulet tajine, and Mark poulet grillades, about 6 Euros, plus French fries and grilled aubergines (eggplant). Before our order arrived the waiter brought a small plate of olives and some spiced sauce. The food was just OK, when we had to pay our bill we realized that the waiter has included also the food that we have not ordered and we have assumed that was free. In Canada if you are given a little something that you have not order before your meal that appetizer is from the restaurant and it is free.

The extra amount was very little, but yet we learned that in Morocco if we ever get food that we have not ordered we will ask first how much is going to cost.

That was our night experience in Jemma-El-Fna. As I recognize that maybe most tourist find this place very exiting, for me was again once in a life time experience. I am not planning to ever go back to this place.

Marrakech, nouvelle ville and Jardin Majorelle

Today we have visited Marrakech “nouvelle ville”. It is the newer part of town, there are many beautiful buildings, trendy restaurants and coffee shops, it seems that is the Yale Town of Marrakesh. Also there is a brand new stretch with a shopping area, there are some store names that I am not familiar but also stores like Zara, Clio, Etam.
There are water fountains and benches, at night the place is packed with people – walking, eating, or just sitting around “people watching”.

Jardin Majorelle is a beautiful little garden right in the middle of city. It costs 3 Euros to get in.

As usually we walked to the garden, after a long walk in the sun, it was sure very nice to be in the garden and in the shade.

This garden used to be home of the painting studio of Jacques Majorelle in 1924, the studio is now a museum.

After Jacques Majorelle died, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge have brought the garden, renovated and maintained. There is a memorial for Yves Saint Laurent in the garden.

The garden is small but very nice with exotic plants, cactus, bamboo trees, palm trees, a small pond with lily pads.

Marrakech is very Hot

Marrakech is Very Hot, I don’t really know the temperature and I rather not know. We can go out early morning and late at night. It is almost impossible to go out between noon and about 8 pm at night.

Marrakech is a big city with large boulevards. Architecture is very interesting, many beautiful buildings. The traffic is very busy and it is a challenge every day we have to cross the street, even at the intersection with lights. There are lots of coffee shops, restaurants and parks. City is relatively clean compared to other cities, the municipally here puts a lot of effort to keep streets and parks clean.

There are lots of constructions going on, it seems that the whole city is under renovation and constructions, it would be interesting to see this city in a couple of years.

We woke up early and headed to the Jemma-El-Fna which is the main plaza in Marrakech. We walked all the way from our place to he medina, about an hour walk. We are ok walking, we just find it difficult to cross any street because here traffic doesn’t have any rules; Especially the motorcycles never stop even at the red light.

Jemma-El-Fna is a big place surrounded by coffee shops, restaurants, hotels.

Right in the middle of the plaza there are many orange juicer stands and dry fruit stands and as soon as someone walks by all vendors start to wave and ask to go to their stand for the juice or fruit.

A glass of orange juice is only 3 Dirham, a glass of grapefruit juice is 10 dirham.
The juice is very good, fresh, we will have lots of orange juices.

After coffee and people watching (there are lots of foreigners) we decided to go to the medina. Wow!!! tons of stuff, everything one can imagine, clothing, jewelry, shoes, bags, carpets……..

I like to look around but as soon as I stop to look I am approached and Invited in the store. I am not used and I don’t like the pressure, this makes me uncomfortable and usually I pull away right away. Also by now we have been in Morocco long enough to know that if someone invited you in the store for tea and to look, is because they want us to buy something.

Finally I found a store that had clothes with price tags and I decided to buy some Moroccan traditional clothes, mostly because I was very hot.

I bought pants (they called pantalon climatise I guess just because the pants are very large and they allow air circulation) and a blouse. I paid 10 Euros for both, not a bad price considering that I have done very little negotiation. BTW – Mark and I hate bargaining, we always like to buy stuff that have a price tag.

This is my Moroccan outfit.

Leaving Essaoiura and arrival in Marrakech

We were in Essaoiura for about 14 days, it was time to move on. We enjoyed our stay in this little town, Essaouira is like Vancouver of Morocco! on the Atlantic ocean coast. Temperature was very pleasant not too hot and always a nice breeze.

Going to the bus stop having our luggage in the push cart.

Bus ride between Essaouira and Marrakesh takes about 3 hours and costs 6.50 Euros. We left Essaoiura at 3:00 pm on a tourist bus with air conditioning, much much better bus trip than the one before.

The bus was almost full, mostly tourists and few Moroccans. When Mark and I got to our seats we could not even get to sit because the people, father and daughter in front of us leaned their chairs back to the maximum. I asked politely to be so kind to put the chair in the up right position so we can get in and sit comfortably. In a very defensive voice the father said that he wants to be comfortable and he is entitled to lean the chair back. Whereas I agreed with him I tired to explain that it would be nice for us to feel comfortable as well and is that particular situation it was not possible. He was really mad and rude, I decided not to carry the conversation anymore. Also in the same time a girl who was sitting across of me went to the back of the bus and waved at me to come over.

I end up sitting by her on the only 2 empty back seats on the bus. She was Moroccan and she spoke English very well as she studied Business in Philadelphia for 3 years. She went to visit friends in Essaouira and now she was going back home to Marrakesh. We talked about Morocco and travel, people, climates, Marrakech, food. She offered me very yummy Moroccan home made cookies.

At the end the bus ride was very pleasant. Mark sat in our seats and he told me that the father told the daughter that we are rude because we are “Americans”!

Sometimes we wonder why people travel and what in fact they learn from travel. Most people learn to happily agree to make a bit of adjustment on their comfort to accommodate fellow travelers – win , win situation, everyone is happy. Also most travelers learn and treat others with planet earth human respect that doesn’t have anything to do with one “place of birth”.

We were sad for this man and father and especially for his wife and kids. We don’t know where the man was from and where he was travelling but to us so far he is been wasting his family money.

We got to Marrakech around 6:30 pm. It was Hot!

I called Maria in Marrakech (Maria is the neighbor and friend of our friend from Montpellier) and the key for the apartment has arrived just that morning. We were so happy, we have an apartment to stay in Marrakech.

We took a taxi (again we were cheated and charged more) and moved in the apartment. The apartment is beautiful!

It did not take too long to settle in!

This is the view from the apartment.
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Essaouira and the hamman experience

Mark got me a little gift for Canada Day, but I know that in fact he was a bit worried about me getting so home sick and he was thinking that I needed a pick me up; so he bought me a “Moroccan beauty” at the “hammam” = that means a facial and body exfoliation and massage with Moroccan special “savon noir” and oil d’argan.

Savon noir is not really a soap but a black paste; can be bought only in a hammam and kept for a month or so, after which it cannot be used anymore. It is an exfoliator and it is supposed to be the best.

Oil D’argan is an oil that we ever heard of before--in Essaouira it is famous and everywhere; apparently this oil can be bought only here and it is considered a “miracle oil”. It can be bought as a cooking oil and as cosmetical oil; also used as main ingredient for many cosmetic products.

I am really curious about this oil’s properties so got myself a small oil bottle and a soap.
1824
Back to the hammam = bath, the one I went to is was called Lalla Mira.

Hammam is a made of stone, small, low ceiling, dark, steamy hot room. The room is completely empty besides a water troughs and a few very thin white mats on the floor.

I lied on the mattress on the floor; this woman came up and poured a bucket of warm water on me. After she started rubbing me with a glove dipped in savon noir; she is not very gentle, she flips me around rather abruptly. She is not talking just concentrating on her “work”; despite the abruptness the rubbing feels good. At the end another bucket of water is thrown on me.

Now there is the wrapping in something muddy. Once I am all wrapped up she leaves me lying there on the mat for about half hour. It feels really good all wrapped up lying motionless in a quite hot room.

Another bucket of water; then there is washing – hair, body, oooo that feels really good.
At the end there is massage with the d’argan oil. That is the best part, I could have been there for a longgggg time.

An hour and something later I am perfectly clean and stress free; my skin is oily and soft.
Oooooo I really enjoyed the hammam. I will have to do it one more time before I leave Morocco.

In the dressing room I struck up a conversation with a woman; she was my “bath mate”. Her name is Elisabeth and she is from United States, just visiting Morocco for a week. We made plans to meet for dinner.

At 8pm we met Elisabeth and her friend Joe; we went to Sirocco restaurant. Everything on the menu looked really yummy, hmmmm hard to decide what to eat.

I had Moroccan salad, Tajine Sardines and Chocolate cake, lots of food, but I managed to eat everything because it was too good to leave on the plate.
Tanjine Sardines

During our dinner a magician came to show us tricks; he was very good, he did all the tricks asking us to help, we looked at him in wonder as he was so close to us, but yet we did not see how he was able to manage the tricks.

July 3 was a good day! the trip goes on :)

Essaouira, on July 1

Today is Canada day, also 4 month anniversary of our trip! We left Vancouver on March 1. I can’t believe that it has been already 4 months, we have done soooo much in this time.

Today I am sad, I miss home, it is one of these days that I just wanted to be home. I want to go to the airport and buy a ticket to Vancouver.

If I was in Vancouver, I would have had a long weekend and most likely I would have been hiking or biking in the mountains I love. I miss everything about Vancouver, the air, the rain, the sun, mountain, ocean, English Bay, Stanley Park, my street, my place, my friends.

Essaouira, moving to new place

Today we moved for an apartment to another. The new one is a bit cheaper, nicer and better fridge and kitchen.
Stairs to go up to the apartment are very narrow and steep – scary!

Living room

View from the terrace

We will be here for one more week; we didn’t really want to, but we were kind of being sweet talked by this guy and agreed to stay; now, we will see….

About “sweet talk” – what we find frustrating is that we can never tell if someone in being just friendly or want something from us, or taking advantage of us. Also Mark and I are very poor “negotiators”; we don’t know how to bargain and we feel uncomfortable. The very few times we wanted to buy something, we end up by giving up just because we didn’t want to be bother.

We are wondering why people here don’t realize that putting pressure on foreigners is not a good sales tactic.

Essaouira, end of the festival

Today was the last day of the Gnaoua festival.

In the morning I went for my walk along the ocean. I like to get up in the morning and go for a walk; I enjoyed the first hours, when the stores are not yet open, streets almost deserted and few people around. It is not too hot, there is a cool brezze from the ocean. In other words a good time to be out on the beach.

But for the last 3 days because of the festival in the morning there are tons of people around; lots of young guys sleep on the becah and they are just waking up; also there is a area where the city has set up huge tents for people to sleep. People are coming out of the tent, stretching, going out for a walk as well.

I guess for people for here is an event to come out to this festival; also maybe some of them have never seen the ocean, sometimes I can tell by the excitement on the faces when they rush for a dip in the ocean.

This Sunday morning is really busy, I didn’t enjoy my walk too much, lots of young guys sitting around and saying stuff when I walked by. I know they don’t mean harm, they are just young guys trying to play cool when a foreign woman walks by, but still tends to get annoying….

At noon I went back to Alliance Francaise Marocaine to watch “Return to Goore”. It was an interesting movie as well, a musical documentary in regards to slavery and how some famous black people living in United States tried to trace their ancestry through music.

In the evening we went to watch the closing concerts. First band was a Moroccan band, we got there almost at the end of their show.

Second band was the National Orchestra des Barbes; we didn’t know what to expect, but we decided to stay and watch just to see what is all about, and to our surprise we really liked this band and the music. We were there for couple of hours dancing or tapping away; it was hard to stay still with all people around dancing and having fun.

Altogether I enjoyed the festival. We watched concerts every night for a couple of hours. However I had a hard time to manage and be in the crowd. Apparently 200,000 people were in Essaouira for the festival. This city is very small, indeed we were absolutely overwhelmed by the number of people!

We were happy that the festival was over and looking forward for city to go back to “normal life” for our last week.

Essaouira

Essouira is a fairly small city, by now we know the place pretty well, this is the main plaza.

Lots of coffee shops

The medina

The nicest part about the medina, beside that is cleaner than any other medians, is that merchant here are less aggressive than anywhere else, we can actually look at the stores. Stores are wonderful, leather goods, bags, shoes, scarf, dresses, silver jewelries, cosmetics, spices….It is very hard not to buy anything. At the beginning I said that I am not going to buy anything on this trip, but now I kind of change my mind, so I will see……
By the tourist information centre

Alliance Françoise Moroccan

As part of the Festival Gnaoua there are films at the Alliance Francoise Moroccan ; we have seen 2 movies so far :
“ Ali Farka Toure, le miel n’est jamais bon dans une seule bouche » life story of the african singer nick named Bluesman du desert.

Made in Jamaica – documentary movie about reggae music and its importance in Jamaican life from hunderds years ago to today.

In the evening we watched outdoors concerts ; there were mostly Maroccan bands playing morcoon folklore music. Around 11 pm Wayne Shorter Quartet started palying but by then we were tired of standing up for a long time, also I couln’dt stand the crowd moving continuasly around us. The music was beautiful we would have enjoyed a lot in a different setting, maybe a jazz longe sitting on low confortable chairs and sipping on Martinis 

Essaouira

We have been in Essaouira for a few days. There was a black out in the city for almost 3 days. We were OK with the black out because the days are very long, we don’t really need light. However the reason we have rented an apartment was to be able to cook at home and if there is no power, therefore no electricity and no fridge :( we were not happy about that.

Mark walked all over the city looking for generators and signs that electricity people are working on the problem. He checked almost every single electricity box at the buildings, to the point that I was afraid that we may get arrested for suspicious activity!

He didn’t have any faith in the Moroccan electricity office that the problem will be solved in a few days. He dragged me all over the city to ask tourist information, electricity office and others the time frame when the power will be restored. I felt like a fool, but I went along just not to make trouble. The only answer we got is that “we are working on it”. On the other hand Mark keeps reminding me all the time that here we are dealing with “African time” – go figure!

I was a bit more optimistic that eventually power will be back before the festival starts, at the end we end up by having a bet as when the power will be on. I won the bet! the power was back before the festival. The bet was a scarf, now I have a brand new beautiful scarf.

Power is back on and the fridge is working, everyone is happy!

There is a festival in Essaouira for 4 days, June 26 to 29; it is called “Festival Gnaoua” (www.festival-gnaoua.net); we are looking forward to see the concerts.

Essaouira

Hotel Maison des Coleurs is wonderful!

We got up in the morning refresh and ready to explore new city; but first here I am in the hotel lobby enjoying the colors and pictures.

We found an apartment, it this on the last floor in a building in the medina, it has a downstairs and upstairs, a big terrace with the roofs view and the ocean.


The apartment is 30 Euros per day. It is old and a bit moldy, I guess the German owner doesn’t come here too often. But here all the buildings are very old, sometimes it is unsettling when I look up the stairs case.
This is our street

This is our building

The apartment was very dusty, we had to clean and wash dishes but didn’t take too long; same morning we were already installed in our new place!

Essaouira is a former port town, now a fishing town resort, very different than other places in Morocco that we have seen so far.


Town is small and relatively clean, medina is clean, pollution free.

We will be here for 2 weeks, plenty of time to explore the city and around.