May 26, 2019 - Aaaaf-Riii-Caaaa!

26th May - Sunday We had visitors in our room last night – mosquitoes! We had the window open because it was so hot. We both have several bites, and Tony got bitten near his right eye, and it is nearly swollen shut. Not a pretty sight at all, that will give a few people a laugh. We leave for the port a bit after 8am, cutting it fine, we have to check in at 8.30. We miss the gate into the port and have to back track, but we are there in time. There are crowds of people about, three or four tours going over, and no clue as to which is ours....

Feb 21, 2019 - Morocco Trip: February 21-February 25

On the morning of February, the 21st, I quickly ate my leftover pizza, ran to the library to print my boarding pass and met my friend Alex at the bus stop. Him and I headed to MOROCCO!! This was a crazy tip to plan and some people had their hesitations when I told them that I was going. How this trip initially came up was at the end of last semester I was talking to Alex and I was like “I’m gonna head to Morocco but I don’t have anyone to go with if you want to go with me!” And he said yes! So over winter break we called each other and...

Nov 2, 2018 - Westward Ho - Azores and Bermuda

OCTOBER 22: Our Moroccan venture over we are now on one of those wasted travel days. While it is nice to have been able to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast we must wait for our noon pickup. Oh well, \time to post the final Morocco blog. Our flight back to Lisbon is at 4:30 pm and we have managed to move things between suitcases to be within the weight allowances. We can all hardly wait to get on the ship unpack for the next 13 days and actually find out what we brought with us …and do some laundry! I am able to post the last Moroccan...

Oct 22, 2018 - Tagine anyone and a much nicer side of Casablanca

OCTOBER 19th - Today starts out as a beautiful blue-sky day. We have a morning of trinkets shopping, yes, some trash mixed in, and then a Cooking class. I can hardly wait for the latter. Colin, hearing the word ‘shopping’ as opted to stay back at the hotel and later on emails a picture of his burger and fries poolside. The first shop is not great a giant Walmart, but without the quality. And of course, as happens in these places they follow you around pointing out things you have no interest in … just trying to get you to buy anything....

Oct 20, 2018 - Marrakesh Express

OCTOBER 18th - Our hotel is very nice with a lovely pool area, hopefully we will be able to squeeze some time in for it. Our first impressions of Marrakesh are very positive. It is vibrant, modern and clean. The king is in town so that all you see down every boulevard is the colourful Moroccan flag. It is so much nicer than what we experienced in the city of Casablanca. Slightly smaller at 1.2 million people, the town of tourism for sure. Don’t get me wrong we will certainly see the poorer sections on our visit, particularly the Medina and...

Oct 20, 2018 - Midnight at the Oasis

OCTOBER 14th - We are off on what will be 3 days of a lot of time in the bus. We are heading to the Sahara via the Mid Atlas Mountains. So, time to reflect on a few observations. Cafes, and there are plenty, seem only to be used by the men. We have yet to see any women in them. Second, why, are they all there and not working. The other thing you see is groups of men sitting on the stoop of the homes just watching the traffic go by. When they speak it sounds like they are almost yelling at each other. The women on the other hand, if they say...

Oct 19, 2018 - The amazing Medina of Fes

OCTOBER 13th - Today we will spend the majority of the day in Fes El-Bali, or a portion of the Medina. The Medina is the old town a labyrinth of 9,000 narrow streets of which 1,000 are Derbs or dead-ends. Our hotel is on one of the Derbs. Here you should not venture out alone or you find yourself lost and needing to pay someone to get you back. Our morning begins with a much better breakfast, although a lot of breads of all kinds. Zack, our waiter from last night, is here again. Amazingly, he knows all our names as he apparently has a great...

Oct 18, 2018 - On the road to Morocco

OCTOBER 11th - The next day will be a long day of travel, after all we have an hour-long flight to Casablanca. The typical travel day always seems long, a lot of hurry up and wait. After an initial panic that we did not have plane tickets as everyone else had them in their Colette book and finally found it buried amongst the dozens of notes from Carly. The one where she spelled my name wrong. One of many painful things dealing with her. Breakfast and the wait for an elevator to check out. A long lineup for that. Then the ‘confirm your...

Oct 15, 2018 - come with us to the casbah

Tangier is in a unique location in the northwestern corner of Africa, just across the straits of Gibraltar from Europe. At times this was a bummer when various European countries decided to take over pieces of Morocco because it was so easy to get to, but today this close proximity leads to a steady stream of European tourists who come here to work on their tans and buy cheap souvenirs. It is a Muslim country and most residents follow Muslim practices, but this closeness to Europe gives the country a more liberal, open-minded approach to it...

Jun 13, 2018 - Casablanca

The romance and mystery of Casablanca was somewhat offset by the issues of finding the right visa line to stand in and getting out of the airport. The nearly two hours wait (at least one hour unnecessarily) gave plenty of time to check out our fellow travelers dressed for the holiday Ramadan. I snapped a photo of some way cool traditional red shoes. After leaving the airport, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam delaying our arrival to the city made famous by Ingrid Bergman and Bogie. The drive through town didn't do much to improve my first...

Feb 25, 2018 - Morocco

Hi All The ride from Ronda in Spain to Algeciras was fantastic scenery lots of small town up in the hills, dropped from 1063m to 165m over 30km of downhill. We are having a great time in Morocco.. We are in Chefchaouen heading towards Ouazzane today, the country side is awesome very green, hilly lots of climbing- olives, citrus and almonds grown. From Ouazzane we will head towards Fez then on to Rabat over the next few days. Wifi is unpredictable and …we haven’t found time to do the blog…just letting you know we are safe and happy. Hope all...

Feb 11, 2018 - One Week On

A lot better today so after lunch we took a taxi back to the scene of the crime at the Medina. Didn’t jog any memories though. We did wander into the narrow lanes of the Medina & I did get to see the famous leather dyeing pits. Also found out that someone had videoed some of the aftermath of the attack & it had been shown on local TV that night. Apparently I was famous! Pretty tiring so soon got a taxi back to the hotel.