Casablanca

 Casablanca can't be compared with Cairo. It has its positives - it's clean, no pollution, public transport is good, the people are very friendly and we loved speaking in a mix of English/French/Arabic with them. I have to say all those French lessons back in college have come in handy. But the city also has its negatives- it's far more expensive than Cairo (and yet the dinar is about the same as the pound), there are beggars here too, daylight saving started on the first day of Ramadan (no one told us) and the beer is very expensive!

Three days has been plenty to see the main attractions. We spent a day on the trams travelling from one end of the line to the other. Sadly there were not as many attractions along the way as we expected. We have missed the new medina and the sacre coeur cathedral because they are both off the tram track. I wouldn't trust a taxi driver to take us there after our fare from the airport cost 300 Dh to get to the hotel downtown.

Today was the day of the 11.5km walk. We decided to catch the tram to D'Ain Diab Beach and walk back to the hotel along the corniche. Not something I want to share with my physio who has been working to get my knee back in order. However, the beach, the Anfaplace Shopping Centre, the Phare D'El Hank lighthouse and the beautiful Grande Mosque all made the walk worthwhile. What was even better was the beer we had when we got back to the hotel. I'm still waiting for Tony to massage my calves though. Tomorrow we pick up the rental car and drive to a beach called Essaouira down the coast for a couple of days. Goodbye to the big city :-)

No one told us to turn our watches back an hour for daylight saving.
Waiting for McDs to open on the first day of Ramadan.

The Old Medina is much the same as the Khan but not as colourful.

Great tram system!

Tony ordered 1/2 a chicken and got 1/2 the menu. Organized
a doggy bag and gave it to a lady who was asking for money.

No this is not photoshopped. Heineken =50 Dh & Casablanca = 70 Dh

Apparently palm fronds work better in Morocco.

Caught the tram to Plage d'Ain Diab to see the Atlantic

Camel rides at the pyramids, why not horse rides at the beach?

Tony was very happy to get his feet wet.

The lines of umbrellas were mostly empty, maybe because it's Ramadan.

The walk from the beach, in the distance, to the lighthouse

The Phare D'El Hank lighthouse is surrounded by abandoned gun turrets from WW2.

The beautiful Grande Mosque Hassan ll

Summer Holidays Here We Come

Over the next 7 weeks we will cover Morocco, Portugal and Sri Lanka. So excited! Not only will we see these wonderful countries but we'll be catching up with our boys!!
Get out your maps so you can track our little adventure if you want.
Morocco - Casablanca, Essaouira, Agadir, Marrakesh, Beni Mellal, Fez, Rabat, and Tangier.
After ditching the rental car we will ferry to Tarifa (in Spain), bus to San Fernando, catch a train to Seville then cross the border into Portugal, staying at Faro where we will pick up the next car.
Portugal - Faro, Alcacer do Sal, Lisbon, Nazare, Coimbra, Aveiro and Porto where we will meet Jase and Chloe.
After our recoup in Cairo for a few days we are off again but this time to Sri Lanka to catch up with Raymond. We will fly into Colombo and stay there for a couple of days before heading to Hikkaduwa for some "beach time". We'll return to Colombo for a night to farewell Raymond then train over to Kandy to spend a couple of days in the mountains. Then it's back to Colombo and on to Cairo. Phew! I think we'll need a holiday when we get back :-)
I'll post photos as often as I can ... Another adventure begins woohoo!

Idyllic Istanbul

Would you believe I completely forgot to blog Istanbul? It's been over 6 weeks since our return from Turkey so hopefully I give the city some justice in this entry.
We planned to stay for 5 days, which was a perfect length of time to visit the typical tourist areas as well as wander around the old part of the city.
Tony was able to find a last maker among the many shoe makers and suppliers to shoe makers down the back streets opposite the Grand Bazaar. Crossing the language barrier was not easy but he spent 2 hours ducking in and out of buildings talking to the locals, who were very hospitable towards this crazy foreigner who was fascinated with their trade.
I've picked photos that I think cover most of our stay. There were so many beautiful places I couldn't take photos of them all.

Tony in line outside Hagia Sofia while I waited to buy our 3 day passes. Can you see him?

The pulpit inside Hagia Sofia. Stunning!

Outside the Hagia Sofia.

The obelisks at the Hippodrome. 

Medusa in the Cistern, an underground reservoir.

Inside the harem at the Royal Palace.

One of the many mosques in Istanbul.

The spice market was full of shops like this.

The Bosphorous is lined with many amazing buildings

The Blue Mosque

A two hour Bosphorous Tour up the West side and back along the East side.

One of the bridges which cross the Bosphorous, makes Auckland Harbour Bridge look tiny.

Alexander the Great sarcophagus in the museum - amazing marble work.
(Wasn't really his but he featured on it so much they thought it was)

View out to the Bosphorous from our hotel. We were stunned by the
number of ships we could see.

Dinner at the Cistern Restaurant came highly recommended. 

Inside the Blue Mosque. The Mohamed Ali mosque in Cairo was modeled on it.

Time for a cut-throat razor shave.

The last makers' shop.

The Istanbul Train Station - made famous by Agatha Christie

We loved Turkey. They have really got their tourism sorted - markets, transport around the city, bars and the Bosphorous. Would love to go back and do the Eastern side next time, inshallah.

Cappadocia Here We Come

If you're looking for a geography lesson then come to Cappadocia, mid-eastern Turkey, an hour from Istanbul.
Even though it's not the high season there are still plenty of tourists here. We were here for 3 nights so we had plenty of time to see the place. The first tour day, 28th April, North Cappadocia. It started at the Goreme Open Air Museum, a former monastery from Byzantium times, with some beautiful Christian frescoes. Next was the panoramic view from Uchisar Castle, which doesn't look like your ordinary castle. Avanos is an area known for its pottery - beautiful workmanship but very expensive. Pasabaglari is known for the fairy chimneys and Devrent Valley had rock formations which looked like camels, fish, etc IF you used your imagination. By this time we were a little over rock formations for the day and were looking forward to getting away from the tour guide.

Inside our cave hotel room.

Outside the room

View back towards Urgup

Open Air Museum - close up

Open Air Museum

Pot making display

Can you spot the camel in the background?

Tony waiting, waiting, waiting ...

Fairy chimneys

The next day, 29th April, we had booked for our balloon ride over Cappadoccia. 4:20am wake up call, picked up at 5am and drove out to the site only to be told at 6am that there was too much wind to fly and they would book us in for the next day. The full day tour covered South Cappadoccia. Kizilcukur had rock carved churches, Cavusin had more churches and the underground city which was the highlight of the day. Only 10% of the 8 floors in the underground city is open to the public. It's hard to believe that people would live underground for up to a week at a time. We stopped for lunch at a cave restaurant which was conveniently next to a gemstone showroom. Saw some beautiful black onyx and learnt that turquoise's name comes from originates from Turkey / quartz. Luckily for our wallets I'm not a jewelry collector. Fortunately for us though, our tour guide was the same guy as the previous day so we were able to pursuade him to stop at a winery for some tasting before heading back to Urgup.

Casserole in a clay pot - yummy and cheap

Balloon packed & ready to go

The reason for the balloon being cancelled

The Ottoman Library in Urgup, now a cafe

Hospital monastery

A cave painting in the monastery

Safety always came first

Most grape vines grew on the ground

The cave restaurant we stopped at for lunch

A castle I've forgotten the name of

Dinner on the 2nd night - beef ravioli

Our last morning started with disappointing news. We missed out on the balloon ride because of the backlog of bookings. They had 3 days to catch up on and we couldn't wait another day - disappointing.

So we watched them from the terrace above our hotel instead ... one day we will do a balloon ride. After breakfast we walked up to the little cafe on the cliff top above Urgup that was once an Ottoman library. We took some great photos of the local landscape before heading back to chill out and wait for our transfer to the airport. 

Balloons on the horizon

View back towards our hotel.

Final say - Cappadoccia was well worth the visit. Great place if you enjoy walking and climbing up, down and inside mountains. Would we visit again? Yes, for the balloon ride and to check out Goreme (they have bike hires).

Loved Turkey! Highly recommend a visit if you are heading this way. Stay in Sultan Ahmed, make use of the trams, buy a museum pass for 3 days and use it, ride a ferry up the Bosphorous, eat at "The Cistern Restaurant", wander the back streets for sales, try Raki with Efes beer and eat a fish sandwich for 6TL. If we have time we will return to Turkey - so much more to see.