5th - 14th Oct
We arrived in Madrid on a glorious morning after an overnight train ride from Lisbon. Our connecting train to the north coast & San Sebastian wasn't leaving until 4.30pm, so we spent the day relaxing by the lake in the large park near the Prado Museum. It was a cloudless autumn day, with lots of people rowing boats across the lake & Jamie enjoying another of Spain's finest brews.
San Sebastian is a 5.5 hour train ride north, so we didn't arrive until 10pm. Jamie had an uncomfortable feeling about the booking he had made at the pensione in SanSeb (it was over the phone), and well, he was right. When we found the place, there was no answer at the door, even though we tried for 20 minutes. Growing desperate & realising that we were at the start of a long weekend for the Spaniards, we started door knocking at different pensiones & hotels, but all were "completo", FULL! I had visions of sleeping at the train station, until the lovely Jose answered the door in his jammies, & because of a double booking he had a room available. It turned out as a blessing as the room was clean, spacious & cheaper than the original one we had found. SanSeb also turned out to be a blessing, with their version of tapas (pinxtos) sitting atop every bar waiting for you to make your choice with a glass of cava (bubbles), blanco/rosado/tinto (white/rose/red wine) or cerveca. No one really gets going until 9pm, so we have adjusted our internal waking/eating/sleeping clocks by 2 hours!
Back in Madrid we hit the ground running & bought a 3-day metro pass, & a 3-day Madrid Culture Card which paid for itself when we realised it allowed us "special access" or queue jumping at the major palaces & museums!! It was Spain's national day on Tue 12 October, so a lot of people were in town for a long weekend, and we found queues a mile long at all the major sites we visited: Palacio Real (Royal Palace, a true gem), Prado Museum & Centro Arte de Reino Sofia (priceless works of art by, amongst others Picasso, Goya, El Greco, Velazquez, Murillo, Dali), Real Madrid (their soccer stadium & trophy room), the major bullfighting ring, and various other cultural sites.
One of our favourite places though was visited through our stomachs. The Mercado de San Miguel (San Miguel Market) was a foodie paradise. Each little stall had a specialty, and you could buy a sample or tapas of all the different foods; cheese, croquetas (like little creamy potato dumplings, but soft & fluffy & cheesy OMG), jamon, bruschetta, & there was even a champagne bar selling glasses of fine french champagne BY THE GLASS. I should devote the next blog entirely to this market, it was that good...
The next stop is Seville, Cadiz & Granada in sunny Andalusia. Thanks for stopping by. And thanks for posting comments, it's great to hear from you, reader!
The Travelling Foxes
Julie & Jamie
xox
Monday, October 18, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Landing in Lisbon
30th Sept - 5th Oct
We were sad to leave Essaouira, as it was a charming seaside village that allowed us to unwind. However the journey continues so we boarded a bus for Marrakech before the (very) long process of leaving Africa on a flight to Lisbon, Portugal.
Landing at roughly 2pm on Oct 1, a little cheer went up from Jamie & myself when we landed in Lisbon at the prospect of eating "normal" food & not having to drink water from a bottle... Lisbon is a gorgeous town on the Tagus River, with lots of hills and ancient alleyways. We soon found ourselves settled at a table with glass of wine & olives etc just watching the very stylish Lisboans go about their Friday evening ritual. Very chic, but not too unlike Melbourne!
Over the weekend we visited the second largest aquarium in the world, plus the Lisbon Zoo set in a gorgeous garden. It was a little cooler & rained a bit that day, but that meant no kiddies & the animals were more active than I've ever witnessed at any other zoo! Jamie was rewarded with cerveza for his endless patience.
Another day was spent visiting the charming & world heritage listed village of Sintra on the coast (think Perth to Fremantle), a bit like the Blue Mountains meets Hahndorf meets Lichtenstein & you get the idea! Most of the time spent in Lisbon however has been focussed around preparing our taste-buds for Spain, with visits to some highly recommended restaurants. Jamie wants to try his hand at some of the dishes we've tried, so if you are lucky enough to score an invite to our place (!!) you are in for a treat.
Adios & see you in Spain!
The Travelling Foxes
xox
We were sad to leave Essaouira, as it was a charming seaside village that allowed us to unwind. However the journey continues so we boarded a bus for Marrakech before the (very) long process of leaving Africa on a flight to Lisbon, Portugal.
Landing at roughly 2pm on Oct 1, a little cheer went up from Jamie & myself when we landed in Lisbon at the prospect of eating "normal" food & not having to drink water from a bottle... Lisbon is a gorgeous town on the Tagus River, with lots of hills and ancient alleyways. We soon found ourselves settled at a table with glass of wine & olives etc just watching the very stylish Lisboans go about their Friday evening ritual. Very chic, but not too unlike Melbourne!
Over the weekend we visited the second largest aquarium in the world, plus the Lisbon Zoo set in a gorgeous garden. It was a little cooler & rained a bit that day, but that meant no kiddies & the animals were more active than I've ever witnessed at any other zoo! Jamie was rewarded with cerveza for his endless patience.
Another day was spent visiting the charming & world heritage listed village of Sintra on the coast (think Perth to Fremantle), a bit like the Blue Mountains meets Hahndorf meets Lichtenstein & you get the idea! Most of the time spent in Lisbon however has been focussed around preparing our taste-buds for Spain, with visits to some highly recommended restaurants. Jamie wants to try his hand at some of the dishes we've tried, so if you are lucky enough to score an invite to our place (!!) you are in for a treat.
Adios & see you in Spain!
The Travelling Foxes
xox
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Marrakech, the souqs & getting lost in it all!
25-29th Sept
On Saturday 25 Sept we caught the "Kesh Express", which wasn't really express but it got us to Marrakech in 3 hours for $18ea, first class. We checked out the famous market square Djemaa el-Fna which has seen activity for the past 1000 years! We got lost then found our way out of the labyrinthine souqs and had dinner overlooking the square as the muezzin called the faithful to prayer. The following morning Mustafa, our very jovial guide delighted in showing us the sights of his city. We explored tombs, palaces, a traditional organic pharmacy and led us through the souq once more where he seemed to know everyone. A few pairs of slippers later (think Sex & The City 2) we were ready for lunch & again we perched ourselves on a terrace watching the Djemaa el-Fna weave its magic.
Catching a bus to Essaouira on the the Atlantic Coast, we were met by a very cool & laid-back Ahmed, the antithesis of Mustafa of Marrakech. Ahmed was Essaouira personified, as "Ess" has been known as a hippie-hangout since the sixties. Jamie & I found ourselves just chilling by the beach, watching the kite-surfers & sailboarders utilise the winds that whip up from the Atlantic (apparently there's 7 different types of winds, the Sirocco & the Mistral being two of them). We finished our day enjoying fresh calamari & grilled lobster, washed down with a bottle of white wine overlooking the sun sinking into the ocean behind us. Bliss.
Miss you all!
The Travelling Foxes
xox
On Saturday 25 Sept we caught the "Kesh Express", which wasn't really express but it got us to Marrakech in 3 hours for $18ea, first class. We checked out the famous market square Djemaa el-Fna which has seen activity for the past 1000 years! We got lost then found our way out of the labyrinthine souqs and had dinner overlooking the square as the muezzin called the faithful to prayer. The following morning Mustafa, our very jovial guide delighted in showing us the sights of his city. We explored tombs, palaces, a traditional organic pharmacy and led us through the souq once more where he seemed to know everyone. A few pairs of slippers later (think Sex & The City 2) we were ready for lunch & again we perched ourselves on a terrace watching the Djemaa el-Fna weave its magic.
Catching a bus to Essaouira on the the Atlantic Coast, we were met by a very cool & laid-back Ahmed, the antithesis of Mustafa of Marrakech. Ahmed was Essaouira personified, as "Ess" has been known as a hippie-hangout since the sixties. Jamie & I found ourselves just chilling by the beach, watching the kite-surfers & sailboarders utilise the winds that whip up from the Atlantic (apparently there's 7 different types of winds, the Sirocco & the Mistral being two of them). We finished our day enjoying fresh calamari & grilled lobster, washed down with a bottle of white wine overlooking the sun sinking into the ocean behind us. Bliss.
Miss you all!
The Travelling Foxes
xox
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Casablanca Cool
Wed/Thu/Fri 22-24 Sept
Back in Cairo, we visited one of the oldest market places in the world, the Khan el Khalili markets & souq. Jamie tried puffing on a sheesh-thingy with mint-flavoured tobacco along with his morning coffee (too early for me) after which we tried our bargaining powers (we suck!). However we came away happy & proud owners of some silverware, gifts, beach cover-ups (I won't say kaftan!) but no pyramid or Tut statues! That night we said farewell over a typical Egyptian meal & a few laughs (remind me to tell you about the Listerine-flavoured soda water).
So excited to be going to Morocco at Thu lunchtime, we got to the airport, oh about 4 hours early. However, there are no coffee shops, or seats for that matter before you go through to baggage check, which of course they won't let you in until about 2hrs before your flight... It's a 5hr 50min flight, and on landing in Casablanca we went to our hotel on the Corniche, just out of the old town on the Atlantic Coast. On Friday morning we wandered along the Corniche (quite St Kilda-esque in look & feel) and had deux cafe s'il vous plait (testing out my high-school french). We caught un petit-taxi to the train station & bought our tickets to Marrakech for the following day. Another taxi back to the hotel, but we asked the driver to recommend a lovely restaurant for dinner. He suggested a seafood restaurant called La Mer, and that night Jamie & I had a wonderful meal & a bottle of gerwurtz-traminer. Went home full & happy, ready for the train journey to Marrakech the following morning.
Back in Cairo, we visited one of the oldest market places in the world, the Khan el Khalili markets & souq. Jamie tried puffing on a sheesh-thingy with mint-flavoured tobacco along with his morning coffee (too early for me) after which we tried our bargaining powers (we suck!). However we came away happy & proud owners of some silverware, gifts, beach cover-ups (I won't say kaftan!) but no pyramid or Tut statues! That night we said farewell over a typical Egyptian meal & a few laughs (remind me to tell you about the Listerine-flavoured soda water).
So excited to be going to Morocco at Thu lunchtime, we got to the airport, oh about 4 hours early. However, there are no coffee shops, or seats for that matter before you go through to baggage check, which of course they won't let you in until about 2hrs before your flight... It's a 5hr 50min flight, and on landing in Casablanca we went to our hotel on the Corniche, just out of the old town on the Atlantic Coast. On Friday morning we wandered along the Corniche (quite St Kilda-esque in look & feel) and had deux cafe s'il vous plait (testing out my high-school french). We caught un petit-taxi to the train station & bought our tickets to Marrakech for the following day. Another taxi back to the hotel, but we asked the driver to recommend a lovely restaurant for dinner. He suggested a seafood restaurant called La Mer, and that night Jamie & I had a wonderful meal & a bottle of gerwurtz-traminer. Went home full & happy, ready for the train journey to Marrakech the following morning.
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