The Cold Lands

It would be hard to think of two more contrasting places than Fes and Paris, and we are both excited and relieved to be returning to Europe. 

We land at Paris Beauvais airport, about 100km from Paris centre itself. On the shuttle ride in Oli catches his first glimpse of the Eiffel tower at night - a magical sight! 

Eiffel Tower at night

Coincidentally the taxi driver is from Morocco, and takes great pleasure in playing us some tunes from back home on the otherwise peaceful ride in….

Paris is the first stop in the 'Cold Part' of our trip - this is how we have been referring to the forthcoming 3 weeks while we have been swanning around the sunnier parts of Europe. 

We expect Paris to be cold, but our first day dawns blue skied and warm. A perfect day for exploring  Paris on foot, we set off on a mammoth walking mission including all the major sights of the city. 

The Arc - right next to our hotel 

A beautiful day for walking down the Champs Elysees

We tick off the Champs Elysees, the Notre Dame, and the Louvre. A German student sells us her tickets at a discounted rate after she had left early, and we manage to skip the queue to the Louvre. This saves us at least an hour and 10 euro. We put in a valiant effort at the Louvre, but aside from seeing the Mona Lisa we struggle to get excited about the no doubt fabulous art displayed. 

We preferred the outside...

Our walking route takes us down through St. Germain and we come upon the Eiffel tower just as dusk is approaching. A great time for photos, we watch the lights come on and resolve to climb the tower the next day. 

Sadly the following day dawns rainy and cold. Undaunted, as this was more seasonal, we head out for our second sightseeing day, focussing more on food, shopping and this time use the metro to get around. 

Rainy day Sacre Coeur

Best to stay tucked inside bookshops like these

All in all, 3 fantastic days in Paris. So much to do and barely able to scratch the surface, but we will no doubt return soon!

From Paris we take a train to Brussels and from there on to Bruges. Oli's godmother, Teresa has come down from London to meet us and spend a couple of days together in Bruges. 

Bruges by night

And by day...

Just like the movie really, the town is almost too picturesque. We spend a fun day doing the proper tourist thing and enjoy a canal tour, a chocolate factory tour, and we even climb the city tower (which was overrated). The highlight is hiring some bikes and riding to the nearby village of Damme, which is possibly even better looking than Bruges! 

Biking in Bruges

 Heading out to Damme

Damme pretty

The food and beer in Bruges was definitely something special, our favourite being the variations on Flemish stew. Three nights in Bruges pass easily and it was great to be able to see Teresa, albeit for such a short time.  

Autumn colours

Our next stop is Amsterdam, another short train ride away. This time Oli's aunt, Wendy, is flying from the UK to meet us for a couple of days. We have booked at the same hotel, the funky Citizen M.

I am sterdam

Amsterdam is cold and grey, but we enjoy a canal tour and wander around the streets of the Jordaan and the '9 streets' shopping district. We have a couple of excellent meals with Wendy and it is great to be able to catch up! 

Cold canals 

Houseboats on canal

We feel that being in Amsterdam we need to see some windmills and clogs, so we head out to nearby where they still have some functioning windmills and some extra large clogs to stand in. The day is grey and freezing and we are nearly the only tourists there, but they make a mean hot chocolate.

Chips to warm up 

So freezing right now 

Obligatory clog shot

Next stop, Prague, where they consume the highest volume of beer per capita in Europe. 

Moroccan Seasoning

Sarah's previous experiences in the north of Africa (Egypt) have led to feelings of reluctance and trepidation for both of us on arrival in Marrakech!

Rooftop view over Marrakech

Things get off to a good start, collected personally from the airport and dropped off outside the pedestrian area of the old town. We are met by Mohammed (who else), who guides us through the maze-like streets to our riad. We are thankful for his help as we would have absolutely zero chance at finding this ourselves at night, or for that matter in the day.

Riad with central pool 

 Amazing breakfasts in the riad

A riad is a high walled Moroccan house where the rooms are arranged around a central garden or swimming pool in this case. Stepping through the doorway we discover an oasis of calm in amongst the bustling chaos of central Marrakech.

Do we want to leave the riad??

Resident turtle

We pass on heading out for dinner that night and opt for the safety of our room. Turning on the TV, we discover that this evening coincides with the death of Gaddafi in Libya - a country we feel very near to at the moment (geographically speaking!)

Markets for the mornings 

Rooftop for the afternoons

A couple of days in Marrakech pass quickly. We spend our time exploring the medina (city area or market), haggling over prices of trinkets to take home. We take breaks from hustle and bustle in the afternoon to read our books and relax on the rooftop of our riad. Dinners are a treat and tagines quickly become a new favourite food - we try to fit them in to as many meals as possible!

Dinner 1 - poolside at home

 Dinner 2 - slightly braver above the market

Dinner 3  - very brave, streetside market dining, who knows what we ate?

The world cup final coincides with our time in Marrakech. Oli's attempts to find a TV showing the game prove futile, so we make do with our laptop and celebrate as best we can.

Children celebrating the All Blacks' victory

From Marrakech we take a bus to the port of Essaouira, also known as the 'windy city'. It is a popular tourist destination well known for beaches, surfing, wind surfing and good seafood. Unfortunately we did not get to enjoy any of the above.

Barren landscape en route to Essaouira

A lot of rain had recently fallen in the area, turning the sea murky brown, the waves to rubbish, and the streets muddy (and lets not even talk about the smell in the fish market!)

Locals still tried to charge us for the pleasure of sunbathing here...

We did enjoy the usual market activities and continued to indulge in our new-found love of the tagine, but four days here begins to drag.

Essaouira market - spot the odd one out 

Fancy a chop?

We are happy to jump on another bus to back to Marrakech, and an onwards train to the city of Fes, located 6 hours to the north.

Fes from our rooftop

In Fes, we are advised by our riad to take a guide for exploring the medina. As this our third medina now, we felt that we could probably manage this on our own, what could be so different right?
Thank goodness we took them up on their offer, as Mohammed (a different one) led us in to the nightmare that is the Fes medina.

Happy tourists before entering Medina 

The mode of transport within the medina

This is a completely different experience to the more tourist oriented markets in Marrakech and Essaouira. The meat markets, tanneries, and copper works are for real here and the smells are there to match!
We are given handfuls of mint leaves to hold over our noses as we are shown the leather tanneries - needless to say we didn't last long here!

Leather tannery - if only pictures could convey the stench

What was intended to be a day trip exploring the medina was shortened to three hours as our senses were assaulted to the point of overload. We were glad to have been able to see this 'real world' and we realise how lucky we are.

At this point we start counting down to our flight to Paris. We spend most of the next day reading on our rooftop, enjoying the sounds of the medina including the frequent calls to prayer announced through loudspeakers over the city.

Relaxing rooftop

We have enjoyed our experience in Morocco, but it is fairly safe to say it will be a once in a lifetime destination for us!

Never been happier to fly Ryanair

The three best things about Morocco:
- The tangines
- The riads
- Leaving

Obrigado Portugal, Bom Sucesso!

(Written from Prague where it is -3 degrees, dark at 4pm, remembering the sunny days..)

We arrive in Porto where we are picked up at the airport by our driver and dropped off on a shabby side street, amongst a row of rundown and unoccupied buildings.  In front of us was a blue door with no signage, which we were informed was our hotel. Suspiciously, we knock on the door. We are relieved and pleasantly surprised to find a beautifully restored bed and breakfast with wonderful hosts, right in the heart of the old town of Porto.

Blue door hides '6only Guesthouse'

View of the river at sunset

We awake to another beautiful day and spend the morning roaming the streets of the old town. Come early afternoon we find ourselves in a port cellar (what else to do in Porto??) where we are taken on a guided tour. After tasting, we do not need much convincing to purchase a lovely 20 year bottle of Port, which is now keeping our Sauterne wine company in the pack!

Porto Old Town

Basking by the river, post port

We enjoy our time in Porto, and make sure we have plenty of time to fit in the famous local delicacy, the Francesinha. This is the best, and most unhealthy sandwich you will ever taste. Two pieces of white bread encasing 3 varieties of meat. An egg and fried cheese seals it together on top and a spicy gravy surrounds (served with fries).  Heart attack in a sandwich, and guaranteed to cure any hangover!

Meet Fran, the Francesinha

We pick up another rental car in Porto and drive on down to Ericera, a small fishing and surfing village near Lisbon. It is a sleepy village and we are well relaxed after 3 nights here. We spend our days lying on the beaches and surfing.

Ericera main street

Surf beach - three days spent here

Doing this...

And this

It is in Ericera where we hear the exciting news of the early arrival of our new first niece, Juliette! A very special time for Dave and Lana and we are lucky to be able to Skype and receive lots of photos of little Juliette.

Juliette 

Another short drive down the coast lands us in Lisbon. Our well chosen accommodation provides us with a map and a list of sights to see, bars to visit and restaurants to eat at. We follow their instructions to the letter, and have a wonderful few days in Lisbon. 

Old city entrance

Yellow trams, like a rollercoaster ride through the steep streets

The city is larger than Porto, but manages to feel very small and is easy to get around in the yellow trams. There is a fun, young vibe to the city, with every available open space seemingly turned into a impromptu concert area where tourists and locals mingle in the evenings.

Evening sunset crowd

Friendly shadows

Hello moon

From Lisbon we drive up the coast to Peniche. After enjoying the surfing competition so much in France, we have made last minute changes to our itinerary to coincide with next stop on the world surf tour, conveniently in Peniche! 

Bom Sucesso Villas

Evening drinks 

We book a week in a partially completed golf resort on the outskirts of Peniche. It is a beautiful property, and luckily our villa is complete, but there is still a lot of construction going on in the surrounding area. This gives it the feeling of a ghost town as we are quite possibly the only people staying in the whole resort. We are excited to have a kitchen for a week, and get a little bit over excited at the supermarket. 

Healthy looking fridge

Peniche itself is a rather barren, windswept looking town. The beaches, however, are typically lovely and we are more than happy with our seven days here. 

Happy campers 

We have a few days by ourselves before the surfing starts, soaking up the sun and enjoying our home cooked meals. The surf contest is an amazing event, contested in perfect conditions and is all over in three full days. 

Supertubos barrel

Set up for the day

Good turnout

Sunset barrel

Peniche proves to be a highlight on our trip and it is with sadness that we leave. Some say we don't want to go to Morocco, and they would be right! But we go anyway, ever the intrepid travellers, onwards and upwards! (or downwards, geographically speaking)