Fes

Fes - home of the funny little red hat with a funny little tassle on the end worn by funny little men - is a fully-functioning medieval medina (marketplace) that is a labyrinth of over 9400 alleyways that stretches out over a few square kilometres. Twists and turns and dead ends await the unwary and baffle the wanderer at every possible opportunity. Leave your sense of direction and the 21st century at the city gate. Apart from being one of the most confusing places on earth, Fes is a step back in time to a place where horses and donkeys still tread streets where no car has ever been. We spent four days stuck in the mayhem of hagglers and hawkers before we found our way to Meknes.


After the confusion of Fes, Meknes was a welcome change of pace. Our second person hunt took place in the city's laid back streets. We were looking for Wayl (pronounced Wah-eel) who housed and fed Dennis for three weeks the last time he was in Morocco. This time round, we experienced success. After seven years without contact (the result of Dennis losing his address book!), it was great to catch up with an old mate and relive our past adventures together. The crazy cab chase and secret alleyway rendevous were some of the highlights of our new adventures together. Whilst in Meknes, we also took time out to visit the ruined Roman city of Volubilis. The city contained some surprisingly intact mosaics and ruins. Pretty impressive considering that they have been sitting out in the African sun for the last 2000 years!


We are now relaxing in Chefchaouen, Morocco's equivalent of Nimbin. Perched high up in the Rif Mountains, it is a beautiful blue city with spectacular views around every corner. Today was the inaugural match of our Chess Championship. We are in for a long, tense tournament - our first match ended in a stalemate. We will keep you posted on future results and the barbaric punishments that await the "LOSER!"


Happy birthday to Mimi. We hope you enjoy your first birthday as a new mum!

And Rosey, we hope the schnoz gets better soon, mate! We hope that this is not the end of your pretty boy good looks!

D-Day (Desert Day!!!)

With the heat of an African summer beating down on our heads, D-Day was met with mixed emotions. We longed to see the desert but feared the inevitable heat. But as the true travellers (idiots?) that we are, we marched on into the Saharan dunes. A 6 hour trip on an overheated, overcrowded local bus took us to Erfoud, where the journey continued for an hour in grand style in a 'Grand' taxi, where 6 of us (plus a driver) were squeezed into an un-airconditioned, vinyl seated 70's Mercedes in 47 degree heat. The word 'Grand' just doesn't begin to even describe the luxury!


Swimming in our own sweat, we arrived in Merzouga: the edge of the Western Saharan Desert. The dunes loomed over us. It was a spectacular sight to see massive yellow sand dunes suddenly appear after days of travelling through flat stony desert. The dunes began about 50m from the door of our hotel. Our 2 days in the desert were spent venturing out of the hotel only in the early mornings and late afternoons as the temperatures soared around 50 degrees after 10am. The rest of our time was spent eating, sleeping, guzzling water and constantly sweating.


The soft yellow sand of the dunes provided us with more than adequate exercise. A half hour hike would lead us to the top of high dunes where we watched sunrise and sunset and a few camel herds go by. The immensity and the power of the desert and the sky left us awestruck. It was a truly enlightening experience to realise how insignificant and powerless we really are as human beings compared to nature.

Gorge-ous

After four days of feasting and relaxing in Marrakesh, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and head East towards the Sahara Desert. Marrakesh was seriously hot, and we knew that the desert was going to be even hotter. Yikes! En route though, we had other fish to fry.


The bus ride from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate took us over the Atlas mountains and through some of the most interesting landscapes we've seen so far on our trip. The eastern side of the Atlas range is stony desert. The desolation was captivating as it was such a contrast to the lushness of Europe. Ouarzazate is the "Hollywood" area of Morocco, where big budget productions come to film their desert scenes. Conversation with the locals consisted of their encounters with the film stars they had met, fed and worked with and the nitty-gritty of film making. Our first person-hunt involved trying to find a man who generously housed Dennis in his last trip to Morocco. Unfortunately, after hours of walking around town and asking the locals, our friend Khandil was untraceable.

After Ouarzazate, we headed to explore the two most famous Gorges in Morocco: the Dades and Todra Gorges. The Dades Gorge had some lovely moments but Todra was spectacular. We slept in the Gorge itself and wandered in the surrounding palmeries. The palmeries are the genuine "oasis" in the desert. These things are the real deal, with palm trees, rivers, and highly productive gardens springing up out of what seems to be a barren land of stone. It is amazing to stumble upon such paradise after driving through hours of stony hills and plains. A true welcome for anyone lost in the desert!




After a few days of procrastinating in paradise, it was D-Day: Desert Day!

Happy Birthday to Suzi, Mateo and Alana (1st Birthday!). We hope you all had a great day. We would have called from Morocco but extortionate telephone rates made it impossible. Love you guys!

Halfway!

Happy Anniversary to us! We have survived our first 6 months of travel and amazingly, are still on talking terms... just. Hip Hip Hooray! We celebrated this momentous occasion with a fantastic meal at a restaurant overlooking the medina. It was nice to eat really good food, a bit of a rarity in Morocco!

PS We would love to hear about the success of Tim and Treen's wedding. Can someone update us?

The Rockin' Moroccans

Well, we made it across the Strait of Gibraltar and landed on the African continent in the country of Morocco. Crossing the 15km stretch of water has taken us into a completely different world. Alien cultures - gotta love them.


We landed in the Port of Tangier. Renowned for its sleazy and shady nature, we were a little apprehensive about staying there, but we found it to be hassle free. The most offensive part of our visit was the smell from the port - burffff! We whiled away the hours indulging in what they call "Moroccan whisky" (a.k.a mint tea) and the kilos of nougat found at the markets. Somebody call a doctor - Three hours into Morocco and we were already going into diabetic comas! These people sure know how to party with sugar. Everything is saturated with sugar.


We worked our way down the coast to Rabat - the capital city. Rabat is a hip and happpening mixture of old and new: the architecture, the culture, the food. Here you will find men and women in traditional wear, executives in suits and local surfies all cruising the medina and hanging out in the afternoon looking over the beach.

Then came Casablanca! Ahhhh, we finally made it to Bogart and Bergman territory. Anyone who has been inspired to visit the city of Casablanca because of the film: Do Not Go!! It is a stinky hole with nothing to offer, except the Hassan II Mosque which was mighty impressive. The city is nothing like the film and I doubt that it ever was. It was filthy and sleazy and we couldn't get out quick enough.

Heading into the desert, we have stopped in the intoxicating city of Marrakesh, with it's mesmerising medina full of snake charmers, acrobats and stalls selling anything from shoes to spices to sandalwood. During the day, the marketplace is the place to be. But it really comes alive at night. Once the heat has died off, and the food starts cooking, the locals come out to play. It is actually that time right now... we're off to eat and be entertained. See ya.

Espana

We landed in Spain to meet up with one of Andrea´s long lost cousins, Pablo, who met us at the airport and patiently waited for us for an hour due to our delayed baggage and then again while we watched Australia bow out of the World Cup as Italy cheated their way in. No hard feelings! Want a safe bet.... Put $100 on Italy to win Gold in diving at the next Olympics.


We stayed with Andrea´s aunty and uncle in Madrid, while we visited almost every single museum possible, where we saw the works of Picasso and Goya to name a few. The Spanish love their art.


We left Madrid and headed for the south of Spain which is full of medieval towns such as Toledo, Cordoba and Seville. They are all very beautiful to look at and wander around, but the best part is the locals' way of life. Early morning starts, midday siestas, late nights, and party on! Great food and drinks make for a perfect lifestyle in the summer heat. We think that Australia should adopt the Siesta! What a great idea!


We are heading for Morocco today for three weeks. We are unsure of the communications status there so may not be able to update for a while. We will do our best.

Congratulations to Tim and Treen who, apart from being responsible for this website, are going to be married this weekend. We are sorry that we could not be there but be sure that we will be thinking of you and having a glass or two of Moroccan something to celebrate.

The Bloody Romans

Rome was a step back in time that saw us visiting the ancient city and learning about the ancient ways. It was amazing to walk through all the history, history that has shaped the world that we live in today. We were pretty awestruck by the ingenuity that these old buggers had back then. The most amazing thing was that the ruins of Ancient Rome are integrated into the new city. It is literallly a step away from the bustling, vibrant (and above all, way cool!) city of modern Roma. It was great to wander the streets and discover things like the Colloseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and the Roman Forum. The most hilarious thing that we learnt at the Colloseum was that they used to have entertainment during the Gladiatorial bouts. These entertainers performed plays, told jokes, played musical instruments to keep the blood thirsty audience at bay. At the end of the show, these same entertainers were then fed to the lions! Anyone up to train as an acrobat?

We also visited the smallest country in the world - The Vatican! We almost missed out on seeing the Sistine Chapel but a stroke of good luck (divine intervention perhaps?) and a two hour wait later, we managed to see it. For Free!!! For the two ours that we stared at the ceiling and walls, our senses were overloaded during an experience filled with beauty and grandeur. A definite must see. It should not be missed.


We whiled away our spare time by eating! Each and every day we ate our MANDATORY athletes diet of: Caffe Latte, Pastry, Pizza and .....Gelato! What a life. We also found the best restaurant in town, called L'Archetto. It is run by a lovely Italian man called Angelo. It serves the best food, so when in Rome, give him a visit.

Wé are off to Spain! Ole!

Ferraris, Nonnas and Primadonnas

Although we wished that our little blue Fiat was a Ferrari, it did the job well and got us to Pisa, where Andrea climbed the leaning tower. It was very interesting to see a building coming out of the ground at the wrong angle. It gave us the feeling we had had one too many bevvies on the drive there. It was also interesting to imagine Gallileo up there dropping cannon balls off the top. There was not a whole lot else to do in Pisa, so we hit the road again and headed off through the Italian countryside to...


Florence is a world famous town and has been, ever since some little known artist called Michelangelo carved a guy called David out of a chunk of marble. Some people told us not to bother with the two hour queue to get into the Galleria D´Acedemia, but we were both astounded by the workmanship of the five metre monster which towered above us. We stood and stared for a long long time. It was definitely worth the wait. And as if this dose of culture was not enough, we visited the Uffuzi Museum down the road the following morning. The Uffizi is home to original artworks from Da Vinci, Botticelli and Raphael, just to name a few other no namers. They were OK. Nothing special, really. We´ve both seen better stuff at garage sales. NOT. The three hours we spent in the gallery was nowhere near enough. But we had an important date to keep in...


Pompeii is in the running for the medal for being the filthiest, seediest city that either of us have ever been to. That is a big statement considering some of the things we have seen in our adventures. No wonder the guidebook recommends it to be done as a day trip from nearby Naples. Uncollected mountains of garbage, graffiti, car wrecks, pollution and rampant prostitution made for a less than pretty city. We managed to get out alive and see the amazing ruins of the old city of Pompeii, which managed to get itself buried by the fallout from the eruption of the nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius. This tragic event left the world with a perfectly preserved historical record of the life of the ancient Romans. It was getting close to lunch time, so we thought we´d have lunch in nearby...



Naples is the birthplace of PIZZA. We´re sure you´ve heard of the stuff. The Margherita was invented here a couple of hundred years ago (how well researched is this blog?!?). We decided to do our own investigation. We were in for a rude shock. We managed to spend over one hour in bumper to bumper traffic watching the following offences take place: people driving on the footpath, people driving on the tramlines, people not double but triple parking, people driving over median strips to get where they were going. These are just a few examples of what we saw from inside our nice, blue, unscratched, shiny hire car. We abandoned the investigation post haste and headed for...

Rome.