Ash & Tash

La vida és bona

The trip really got cranked up a notch over the last few days. We arrived in Barcelona, the heart of the Catalonia, and met up with Ash's parents 3 days ago. It has been so much fun to have traveling companions and get to see other perspectives on the city's sights. We loved exploring the city and stumbling upon local tapas bars, where we ate some of the best food we had in this city for €1. The parks and architecture were incredible. Of course the highlight of the city was seeing Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece the Sagrada Familia. This church was unlike any I've seen, it's amazing to think of all the years spent creating only 60% of the vision. We have now added seeing the completed version to our bucket list (if possible). We also were blown away by the Picasso museum, his range of styles and seeing the progression of his art as he aged. Another highlight of the last few days was our day trip up the mountain to Montserrat and the surrounding vineyards. It was a perfectly (if not slightly too cold, in the mountain) peaceful and relaxing day. The hike up to the quiet mountainside church give us time to think about life and then seeing the passion in the winemaker and his respect for the land made it a truly revealing day. We leave tomorrow, back to reality. Time to start planning our next trip.

Tonight we embraced the square, and got to love Jemaa el-Fnaa.

The carpets, lamps and dyed yarn… And where we relax.

Jardin Majorelle, a beautiful garden filled with cacti and its own hue of blue. Also the resting place of Yves Saint-Laurent who once owned these gardens.

Souks and stuff

How do you sum up Marrakech? This is where Ash and Tash's descriptions would be as dichotomous as the city itself. It's a busy, noisy chaotic city (that seems to have no driving laws, lane division, traffic lights and definitely no 'right of way' for pedestrians), but when you make it across the roads and through the maze of shops and enter any ornate doorway lining the simple earthen walls you will find a tranquil oasis. Everywhere we've gone has been beautiful and filled with hospitable people. The food has been incredible, tagines, couscous, tabbouleh, and Moroccan mint tea. After relaxing in gardens and rooftop patios, the noise and bustle of the streets always comes a shock to the senses. Walking around the streets, you seem to find craftsmen and artists in every other doorway. Today we watched a man weaving a Berber carpet, it takes 3-4 days to make each creation by hand. He uses sheep or camel hair depending on the style he is creating. Apparently camel hair blankets are very warm, better than sheep... Who knew?!? We also explored the dye district where they use saffron, mint, cinnamon and other things to dye the wools. It's nice going back to our new hotel 'Villa des Orangers' to relax by the pool and enjoy the 37 degree sun. It's amazing how cool you feel walking around the souks at midday but as soon as you leave the tiny alleys filled with vendors and head to the central squares or main streets the sun hits you and having a nice pool to lounge by really makes it feel like a vacation.

Today we did this.

A whole new world

We bid farewell to Seville after a final morning stroll through town and a couple glasses of tinto de verano. A short wait in the airport and an uneventful flight landed us in Africa around dinner time. Our driver brought us to town then handed our bags to a man with a wheelbarrow explained that cars couldn’t navigate the old town and this man would bring us to our riad. Tonight and tomorrow we will be staying in a riad, which is a traditional Moroccan house with a central courtyard. Samir greeted us with tea and cookies and pointed out all the key areas on a map for us. He then walked us to a neighbourhood restaurant where we had apricot and fig beef tajine for dinner. The meat was so incredibly tender and the combination of spices was so delicious we kept ordering more. After declining an invite to our server's birthday party at a local club, we walked to the central square, Jemaa el Fna, ‘the Times Square of Africa’. What a sight! After about 5-10 minutes of being too scared to look up or stop moving, in fear of being harassed and forced to buy things; we relaxed and took it all in. The smell of spices and fresh citrus filled the air, groups of people performed songs and danced all around. It was the perfect introduction to Marrakech.

After a day of shopping and snacking, we decided it was time we experienced some Flamenco. Seville is famous for its flamenco scene, being the capital of Andalusia, where this music and dance originated. We debated between all the big nightly performances that showcase flamenco for the tourists at around €30-40/ person, the decided we wanted to be more authentic. We took a local bus for 30 minutes then walked down a few alleys to the unsigned doorway, at 52 Calle de Castellar. We paid the €6 and put our names down on two chairs then hit the bar. The place soon filled up with a mix of long haired young Spanish men and beautifully dressed serious faced women. The front row was reserved for flamenco instructors at the local school. Flamenco is a powerful mix of guitar, singing and dance. They clap a rhythm and stomp along with just the right amount of finger snapping. Crowd of locals called out 'Olé' throughout. Watching the faces of fancy old Spanish men in the crowd who radiated an appreciation and respect for the art, the main singer who's voice alternated between sounding like a strangled goat to being so loud and clear it must have been heard for blocks and the dancer who's sweat flew off him as he spun, stamped and snapped in an emotional rage around the stage...those were the highlights of experiencing traditional flamenco.

Alcázar of Seville

Parque de María Luisa and the Plaza de España

The people here sure know how to live. Everything is beautiful, the wine is delicious and seems to always cost under €3, and everyone is always napping. We need to start having siesta time back home, it just makes sense. Of course we are constantly doing it wrong and using those hours to drink poolside (what else can you do, not our fault it's also prime sun time),then we still go out late and just sleep the mornings away. Today we finally took in some culture, we explored the beautifully tiled Plaza de España and got lost in the gardens at Alcazar Palace. The palace is a world heritage site and walking around its courtyards got us even more excited for Morocco.

First night in Seville