We have had two lovely relaxing days in the Mazagan Beach Resort, on Tuesday we decided to get the  courtesy coach to the nearby city of El Jadida – hmm that was an education, the courtesy coach dropped us outside the old Portugese city so we had a look around there it was very old, and marked as a world heritage site, but sadly it did not appear that there was any restoration work happening, there were people living all through it and they have no concept of putting rubbish in bins (in fact the whole El Jadida city, that we saw, was like this).

We then spent the next half an hour or so looking for a toilet – the lack of public toilets in both Spain and Morocco is pitiful, but (in spite of the fact I don’t agree with having Macdonalds, KFC, Starbucks in these places, they are great for toilets :D), but none of these chains have made it to El Jadida, yet.

The smell of this city is dreadful, it is a fishing port so think hot, smelly, rotting fish, fruit, etc. We had four hours to kill before the shuttle came back to get us, we wandered around, and found a cafe selling fresh fruit juice, so decided to sit for a while, we ordered orange juice. Whilst we were sitting there with our juice, I watched them make another juice for someone else – the poured a big glass of tap water in with the juice!!! OMG I had already had a couple of mouthfuls of mine, thinking that their oranges didn’t taste as good as the southern hemisphere ones, so I didn’t have anymore. Thankfully the shuttle was on time and we headed back to the resort and laxed on the beach and by the pool 🙂

Hmmmm don’t think their water is too good, I haven’t ventured too far in the last 24 hours but feeling a bit better today. Just about to head to the airport in Casablanca and start the long haul home.

The trip has been fabulous, we have learnt a lot and have thoroughly enjoyed the contrast between the two countries.

cya at home x

 Yesterday we spent the morning at the Riad’s pool and garden – a courtesy coach takes you to their garden and large pool 15 mins away from the Riad itself, weird, but really nice, you can spend the whole day there, they serve you drinks and lunch. But we headed back because I had booked to take a cooking class, they have a cooking school at the Riad, it was really good and we had Morrocan Salad and chicken Tagine that I had prepared for dinner that night.

Today it was time to say good-bye to Marrakech the people were lovely, very talented, most of the ones we came across could speak at least three languages: Arabic, French and English. The photo above is of the square next to the Souk where they have buskers and food stalls every night and a million people. We never felt unsafe, they don’t drink alcohol so there were no drunk people around, just happy sociable crowds. Below is our lovely Riad, it was exceptional both in style and the staff were absolutely superb, we couldn’t have asked for better.

 The drive to El Jadida (near Casablanca) was interesting, to say the least, our driver (after stopping to get money from his boss for fuel, stopping to get fuel, stopping at some hick town to get coffee) took the back roads we are sure, they were really narrow and it was nerve wracking at times, but he seemed a nice chap and pointed out interesting things along the way. We had to make a pit stop and he tried to stop at a nice toilet (ummmm er, it was ok) Luckily we weren’t travelling this way 🙂

The temperature here is a lot cooler around 27 degrees so we spent the afternoon on the lovely beach and worked on our tans 🙂 before adjourning to the pool for cocktails before dinner, lol. (the pool is really warm, like a bath)

We then wandered into the Souk and Square to look at it at night.

 Today, we went for a trip to the Atlas Mountains and amongst the Berber tribes (the people that make carpets). There are four different varieties of Berber, according to where they live.

 We then headed up the mountains and visited an Argan Oil co-operative, this is a government initiative and it employs Berber women who are divorced and have no other form of income. This was in a ski town here are pics of the resort and its café’s!!!

 Because it was Saturday here, the children finish school at 12 noon and when they see a tourist vehicle (we were in a Toyota landcruiser) they come running for lollies. We were told this the day before so we were prepared. We also brought along pens, crayons, paper etc to give to the schools, but we got to the village school too late today so our guide will give it to them on the next trip.

 It was forecast to be 41 degrees in Marrakech today, so a good day to head to the Mountains where it was cooler and a nice 28-32 degrees.

Our Riad is beautiful, exceptional service and in a way similar to the Hotel in Seville, where it is three or four ‘houses’ joined together to create the whole Riad, we are very well looked after here, our every wish is catered for. They make up your room twice a day and it is beautifully cool and soothing after the madness outside.

Yesterday when we arrived we hit the streets and headed straight for the Souk.

It is an assault on the senses, smells, sounds (didn’t want to taste, anything) and sights all ‘in your face’. We looked at carpets and negotiated to buy two, one for the table and one for the floor, I enjoyed a mint tea with the Rug man and Trevor did the bargaining, it took a while, they thrive on this and the man was very pleasant, finally we arrived at a price that we were all happy with and they packaged it up for us.

We thought we had the exchange rate right, but was relieved when we got back to the Riad to check that we did indeed, phew, could have been more expensive than we thought lol.

Ironically, this Riad has the best internet speed and connection out of all the places we have been so far!

After the stress of the bullfight, we had a nice drink and dinner in the centre of Madrid.

Today we left Madrid and travelled to Granada, off to the Alhambra Palace tomorrow and on to Seville, where we have to surrender our wee car.

 Hmmm Bullfighting, we had no idea of what was involved ……. We certainly do now! Here is a website that pretty much explains it in layman’s terms.

 We got the bus and stayed on it for most of the afternoon, until it got too hot and we had to get off and find a drink spot.

Just by chance we happen to be staying in the Remuera of Madrid!! (Actually Remmers would not be this flash). So funny it is very, very upmarket shopping etc, the cars and people are very sophisticated and dress immaculately (you should see how they dress their kids) – here is us slopping around in our jandals – so funny, hence we don’t spend much time in the area but get the metro to the more basic areas, lol. Off to a Bull fight now, and tomorrow hit the road again to Granada.

Arrived in Madrid at 7pm 31 degrees!! But we have noticed that Segovia and Madrid’s heat is not humid, its more like ours – so whilst its hot it is very bearable. Will probably stay here for three nights, getting sick of all the driving and just need to stay put for a couple of days, we loved Leon and Segovia, so hopefully Madrid isn’t too much hustle and bustle.

Today we woke to rain again and we were up, packed and on the road by 8:30am heading to Leon. We wanted to go to the massive caves near there so decided to go on the way to Leon, rather than going through Leon and on to the caves. Hmm Miss GPS had us way up in the mountains, very remote, got to a little village where the front door of the houses opened onto the road. There were a mother and son (elderly) leaning outside their house and we stopped – absolutely no English and our Spanish is non-existent, I showed them a picture of the cave in our guidebook and I managed to understand that we were to keep going along the road, we eventually found it (and discovered that we had taken a very remote road instead of the more mainish one).