Bonjour encore! I hope everyone is well and had a good Anzac Day at the RE. We are very greatful for the emails and updates from everyone by the way, sorry we cant reply all the time, hopefully we will settle down in Hossegor and sort out some regular internet.
So Hossegor is where we are at this very minute, Capbreton to be more precise, but again I will have to rewind to San Sebastian. Also, if there are more mistakes than usual...deal with it! These keyboards give me the shits!
So we stayed 3 nights in San Sebastian, I think I covered our journey there last time but I just needed to add this part in...we went into a cafe that had the menu in both English and Spanish out the front so we went in, and I put on a big smile and said hola to the man serving, and he replied in Spanish...I appologised, said I couldnt speak Spanish and we took a seat. And then...nothing. The rude p#+ck served everyone around us, cleaned tables and blatantly ignored us. Anyone who knows me, knows this is playing with fire, and it took every ounce of strength in me to not yell expletives at him and have a fit. We ended up having to walk out and find somewhere else to go. Would that happen in Australia? I think not, be happy that you just get moderately rude people in Oz, not full blown jerks. phew, out of my system....
So we left San Sebastian, and headed for Biarritz on a sunday. Not an awesome idea, its probably best to travel weekdays when everything is running..We walked the streets and I swear took the longest route to get to our accomm but it was worth it when we got there. Les Alize was a really lovely hotel overlooking the ocean and a popular street. Nice room, but no fridge...we made a makeshift fridge out our window with a plastic bag and some water...its not the first time we`ve used our Macgyver skills to make a fridge. In Paris it was a rubbish bin and water on the balcony for the beer! Anyway, while in Biarritz we saw the local markets. Markets..HAH! They were selling jackets roadside for 250euro! Nothing was under 30euro (60ausdol). Who goes to the markets with 600dollars! The french do apparently. We went to the Museum de la Mer (Museum of the Ocean) and it was worse than underwater world if you can believe it. Ahh, we went to the Chocolate Museum which was moderately amusing because we got chocolate buttons on entry, but the signs were in French, so we were in and out pretty quickly.
One night we went and had an amazing dinner at Le Surfing on the ocean front. I had a salmon fillet and Trent the lamb chops, why am I telling you this? Because things like that are super exciting when you`ve been eating ham and cheese on a baguette day in and day out. But don`t get me wrong, im not over bread yet. It will never defeat me! In fact thats what we had for brekkie this morning, peanut butter on a baguette! Peanut butter!!! A small home comfort.
So yet again, we suffered from bad weather, the winds from the ocean are so cold! We really had to force ourselves to leave the room on some occasions.
We generally enjoyed our stay in Biarritz, we met some lovely people in the shops and restaurants and the town is nice to walk around if you dont mind the odd uphill walk. So moving on again, we took the train from Hendaye near the border of Spain and France to Bayonne (a town that has a chocolate festival soon!) and a bus o Hossegor. We were dropped off at about midday, the worst time to be looking for accommodation! The siesta is common here too, and the shops shut til about 2 so we had a relax in the park til my provider, my man, went and found us a unit on the beach. We have booked for 2 weeks, and the apartment is small, but nice. I can`t believe though, that some people live in these tiny places permenently. You would go crazy, im sure of it. Anyway, we have a kitchenette so we have been able to do some grocery shopping at a place called L.Clerc. Rude sods they are; you have to pay to use the trolley! I dont fink so!! So far we have cooked up some pasta, salads and quiches, and generally saving a lot of money. Hossegor is a really lovely town, and the beaches, when the sun decides to play, will be lovely im sure.
I will update you more on our adventures in Hossegor soon, but right now i need to get off this internet that is costing me 14 dollars an hour!
love you all..xoxo
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Our Spanish conquests
Hola everyone! Its been funny saying hola to people, sometimes we accidentally go to say bonjour, and then hello, and then finally hola. Then other times I cant even think which one im supposed to be saying quickly enough so i just become a waving mute!
We are in San Sebastian on the west coast of Spain right now, but I´m going to rewind and add a few things I had forgotten along the way....
So if you looked at our photos of Spain you might notice some really random images. Like the basin with stickers on it, and the medical equipment. They were from the last hostel we stayed at in Barcelona (Saint Dominic something or rather, not highly recommended). At the beginning it was just random that there was medical equipment stashed in the hallway, and then really unnerving after I thought about it! Erm, black market kidney factory or what?! Were they going to bust into our rooms in the middle of the night and hook us up to machines while they removed our worthy bits? Stupid horror movies...made me sleep with one eye open they did. Only kidding... But in this same el creepo hostel was the basin in our room, that was brand spankin new. And we could tell...because they hadnt bothered to remove any of the stickers! Lame story i know, but at the time I thought it was uber lazy and weird. This same place didnt have any toilet seats, and I dont have weight lifters legs so I was really unhappy about that too. But thats when we moved on to bigger and better things, like our room at Hotel Hawaii in Mallorca. It was so clean and big! Showering was a little slice of heaven. And to have buffet breakfasts made us very, very happy.
Mallorca as I said is a really pretty place, and/but full of Brits! Completely overrun with them in Palma Nova/ Magaluf. But I got the best homemade meat pie, chips, peas and gravy I´ve ever had thanks to a Brit restaurant so I wasnt complaining. In fact, it was a small relief that there were so many english speaking places, it made our stay easier. We could read everything, we knew what to ask for, it wasnt a struggle to communicate. I know i know, thats what you travel for, for the different cultures, but its still nice to be able to communicate with other people every now and then. Oh and apart from that, there were so many horrendously FAT brits that I felt my love handles disappear. They were dwarfed. I saw one girl, around 12 years old, have three sugar buns for breakfast. And the next morning, the young boy beside us had a can of 7up. In comparison, the spanish people that were there were having pastries and cofffee, and still kept slim. Go figure.
We weren´t too adventurous while in Mallorca, I had grand illusions of travelling around the island, but in reality, all we wanted to do was chill. I didn´t want to sit on a bus and travel to the most beautiful beach I´d ever seen, and not be able to swim or tan because it was too cold. But the island isn´t too far away from France, so if the opportunity arises, I´m sure we´d come back. The night life looks like it would get pretty hectic in the summer time. We went out drinking one night after a Chelsea v Liverpool game (im now enjoying soccer! I still refuse to call in football), and went to a few bars. I learnt quickly that they are VERY generous with the amount of spirits they put in to a mixer. About half vodka, half mixer. Awesome. So much better than home. It tastes like dogs balls, but at least its value for money! I went home happy :) Trent gets the best end of the deal with drinking though because he drinks beer, 1 euro for a pint!
Unfortunately for us, the sun didn´t make an appearance for our stay in Mallorca so we didnt make use of the beach. Trent was so sure he was going to have a swim but the weather just didn´t cooperate. We did play a mammoth game of mini golf though! 54 holes! Trent came up trumps, but only just! Ridiculous that it cost more than the Louvre to get in though.
Anyway, not much more to say about our stay, we changed hotels once and stayed at Sol Trinidad which was a good location and nice enough if anyone needs to know where to stay!
I´ll move on to our current location....San Sebastian. We flew in 2 days ago and took a bus from the airport through some beautiful country. Very green and hilly, and I cant be sure but it looked like there were a lot of small, well looked after farms along the way...After we´d driven through the hills (kinda Maleny like actually) we came out on to the coast of San Sebastian.
So now we are staying...somewhere. In something about the size of a shoebox. But its actually turned out to be ok. We have free internet, and the use of a kitchen and all the appliances, which has allowed us to get cooking (nachos), make breakfast (bread and butter) and save some money. We´re in a good location, between two beaches, one a surf beach, YAY!, and the other a cove that´s protected by an island and the headlands. The still beach is amazzzzzing, just what I like...shallow, aqua coloured water that would be fun to play in. And the surf isnt too bad either, good size, but a little straight when we saw it. We attempted a sunbake, Trent more successful than I. I thought it was freezing still, but Trent, impervious to the cold, tanned and even went for a swim! Freak!! He then walked the whole length of the promenade with no shirt on which drew innumerable stares...picture it...the entire population is wearing no less than 3 layers, and this Aussie has no shirt on! But we´re used to the looks, I think he has been the least dressed person in every city we´ve visited so far! I don´t think some Parisians had even seen a strangers toes before!
Apparently San Sebastian is a foodies heaven, plenty of Michelin star chefs in the area, but as we can´t afford that luxury, we´re having fun with pintxos(tapas). We had deep fried bacon and cheese today! Its lucky we´re doing so much walking, because that was something we couldnt pass up! It was everything you´d imagine it to be and more. I had the best salad of my life too....lettuce, tomato, walnuts, blue cheese, bacon, chicken and dressing. Im telling you so I can remember to make it one day.
Trent went for a walk up to the top of the headland this afternoon while I´ve been blogging (aka getting out of walking more) and some of the photos you see will surely have been taken from up there. Its a town with a mix of city and sand, similiar to Barcelona but much smaller. I´ve taken note of a clothing store in the city area that I am DEFINITELY coming back to visit if I have the money. Zara..im not sure if its in Australia, but my girls, its the kind of store we could only dream about. sigh.
Anyway, we went out last night to a local club/bar. IT was pretty sad little place unfortunately. No seats whatsoever, black lights as decoration and was about the size of Fridays pokie room. Actually no, much smaller, and intensely smoky. But we had each other and the young guy that runs our accomm was there and gave us free shots from the bar so all was well and merry.
Which brings us to now...I think I have updated you with both our major and minor stories. We leave San Sebastian tomorrow for Biarritz, a surfing town in the far south-west of France. And god help them if they don´t have a cheap laundromat. Things are getting desperate!
From your stinky but happy friends/family....
lots of love
xo
Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87884&id=699750387&l=c4d2c356fc
We are in San Sebastian on the west coast of Spain right now, but I´m going to rewind and add a few things I had forgotten along the way....
So if you looked at our photos of Spain you might notice some really random images. Like the basin with stickers on it, and the medical equipment. They were from the last hostel we stayed at in Barcelona (Saint Dominic something or rather, not highly recommended). At the beginning it was just random that there was medical equipment stashed in the hallway, and then really unnerving after I thought about it! Erm, black market kidney factory or what?! Were they going to bust into our rooms in the middle of the night and hook us up to machines while they removed our worthy bits? Stupid horror movies...made me sleep with one eye open they did. Only kidding... But in this same el creepo hostel was the basin in our room, that was brand spankin new. And we could tell...because they hadnt bothered to remove any of the stickers! Lame story i know, but at the time I thought it was uber lazy and weird. This same place didnt have any toilet seats, and I dont have weight lifters legs so I was really unhappy about that too. But thats when we moved on to bigger and better things, like our room at Hotel Hawaii in Mallorca. It was so clean and big! Showering was a little slice of heaven. And to have buffet breakfasts made us very, very happy.
Mallorca as I said is a really pretty place, and/but full of Brits! Completely overrun with them in Palma Nova/ Magaluf. But I got the best homemade meat pie, chips, peas and gravy I´ve ever had thanks to a Brit restaurant so I wasnt complaining. In fact, it was a small relief that there were so many english speaking places, it made our stay easier. We could read everything, we knew what to ask for, it wasnt a struggle to communicate. I know i know, thats what you travel for, for the different cultures, but its still nice to be able to communicate with other people every now and then. Oh and apart from that, there were so many horrendously FAT brits that I felt my love handles disappear. They were dwarfed. I saw one girl, around 12 years old, have three sugar buns for breakfast. And the next morning, the young boy beside us had a can of 7up. In comparison, the spanish people that were there were having pastries and cofffee, and still kept slim. Go figure.
We weren´t too adventurous while in Mallorca, I had grand illusions of travelling around the island, but in reality, all we wanted to do was chill. I didn´t want to sit on a bus and travel to the most beautiful beach I´d ever seen, and not be able to swim or tan because it was too cold. But the island isn´t too far away from France, so if the opportunity arises, I´m sure we´d come back. The night life looks like it would get pretty hectic in the summer time. We went out drinking one night after a Chelsea v Liverpool game (im now enjoying soccer! I still refuse to call in football), and went to a few bars. I learnt quickly that they are VERY generous with the amount of spirits they put in to a mixer. About half vodka, half mixer. Awesome. So much better than home. It tastes like dogs balls, but at least its value for money! I went home happy :) Trent gets the best end of the deal with drinking though because he drinks beer, 1 euro for a pint!
Unfortunately for us, the sun didn´t make an appearance for our stay in Mallorca so we didnt make use of the beach. Trent was so sure he was going to have a swim but the weather just didn´t cooperate. We did play a mammoth game of mini golf though! 54 holes! Trent came up trumps, but only just! Ridiculous that it cost more than the Louvre to get in though.
Anyway, not much more to say about our stay, we changed hotels once and stayed at Sol Trinidad which was a good location and nice enough if anyone needs to know where to stay!
I´ll move on to our current location....San Sebastian. We flew in 2 days ago and took a bus from the airport through some beautiful country. Very green and hilly, and I cant be sure but it looked like there were a lot of small, well looked after farms along the way...After we´d driven through the hills (kinda Maleny like actually) we came out on to the coast of San Sebastian.
So now we are staying...somewhere. In something about the size of a shoebox. But its actually turned out to be ok. We have free internet, and the use of a kitchen and all the appliances, which has allowed us to get cooking (nachos), make breakfast (bread and butter) and save some money. We´re in a good location, between two beaches, one a surf beach, YAY!, and the other a cove that´s protected by an island and the headlands. The still beach is amazzzzzing, just what I like...shallow, aqua coloured water that would be fun to play in. And the surf isnt too bad either, good size, but a little straight when we saw it. We attempted a sunbake, Trent more successful than I. I thought it was freezing still, but Trent, impervious to the cold, tanned and even went for a swim! Freak!! He then walked the whole length of the promenade with no shirt on which drew innumerable stares...picture it...the entire population is wearing no less than 3 layers, and this Aussie has no shirt on! But we´re used to the looks, I think he has been the least dressed person in every city we´ve visited so far! I don´t think some Parisians had even seen a strangers toes before!
Apparently San Sebastian is a foodies heaven, plenty of Michelin star chefs in the area, but as we can´t afford that luxury, we´re having fun with pintxos(tapas). We had deep fried bacon and cheese today! Its lucky we´re doing so much walking, because that was something we couldnt pass up! It was everything you´d imagine it to be and more. I had the best salad of my life too....lettuce, tomato, walnuts, blue cheese, bacon, chicken and dressing. Im telling you so I can remember to make it one day.
Trent went for a walk up to the top of the headland this afternoon while I´ve been blogging (aka getting out of walking more) and some of the photos you see will surely have been taken from up there. Its a town with a mix of city and sand, similiar to Barcelona but much smaller. I´ve taken note of a clothing store in the city area that I am DEFINITELY coming back to visit if I have the money. Zara..im not sure if its in Australia, but my girls, its the kind of store we could only dream about. sigh.
Anyway, we went out last night to a local club/bar. IT was pretty sad little place unfortunately. No seats whatsoever, black lights as decoration and was about the size of Fridays pokie room. Actually no, much smaller, and intensely smoky. But we had each other and the young guy that runs our accomm was there and gave us free shots from the bar so all was well and merry.
Which brings us to now...I think I have updated you with both our major and minor stories. We leave San Sebastian tomorrow for Biarritz, a surfing town in the far south-west of France. And god help them if they don´t have a cheap laundromat. Things are getting desperate!
From your stinky but happy friends/family....
lots of love
xo
Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87884&id=699750387&l=c4d2c356fc
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Hola!
So we pick up our journey in Barcelona. I wish I could say we arrived happy and healthy. But screw it, we were miserable and sick. And I said stuff it at the thought of public transport, and we paid a cab from the airport into the city, lucky I did because it was raining on our arrival. We stayed at Hostal Rembrant (def reccommend), which has the perfect location off Las Ramblas (a long street with bars, restaurants, shops). It was more than amazing to have a good shower here as we´d boycotted Grot Hostal showers. Trent was started to feel better on our first night in Barca, but I was still really, really ill. We´re all friends here...so I was suffering from diarrhoea pretty bad, and I got no sleep yet again. I was hoping to awake squeaky clean and new feeling, but it wasnt to be. I choked down half a piece of toast and made camp in bed for the day. My lovely fiance (thats still weird) went foraging and checked out the local streets, markets etc and bought me back a mini fruit platter. What a legend. He then force fed me, for which im now thankful. Trent was still really exhausted from being sick too, so really, our first day was a major write off :(
I did wake the next day feeling much better/super skinny (thank you immodium) and decided it was time to hit the town. For about an hour we walked around and saw the sites. We ended up at the beach and it was really nice actually, I wasnt expecting it to be so clean looking for such a big city. Actually, ignoring the ocassional pee smell, I think the whole city is clean by city standards. The metro was great too. After a few hours of walking around I decided I really liked Barcelona. The people are lovely and there seems to be plenty of great places to eat/drink/things to see. We did some site seeing, but not much. We saw some Gaudi building and visited the Sagrada Familia which is just so ugly/beautiful/interesting. I really dont know what I think about that building! Gaudi seemed to want 3409835 different elements included in his work so he just found a way of putting it all together!
We were in Barcelona at the start of easter weekend, and we have seen several street processions held by the various churches in the city. I had forgotten just how religious the rest of the world is, you dont bare witness to many religious ceremonies on the Sunshine Coast! I wish we had the camera at the time of one procession, there were people cloaked in black with tiny eye holes, carrying the cross. It was a bit freaky to be honest.
So major kudos goes to Lach for telling us about Txapela! It was the highlight of our stay in Barcelona!! Txapela everyone, is a tapas restaurant that has a huge menu of finger food, and you choose as many as you like to become a meal. so so awesome, we had cod fritters with aioli, mini cheeseburgers, salami things, tomato and cheese thingies!! maybe google it and check it out...
The shopping in Barcelona looks epic. There are so many cool fashion shops that arent too expensive. Ive already told Jodie that it would be a good girls holiday! Plenty of bars, food and shops! Trent also had a good night out to watch Barcelona v Munich one night and he said the pubs seemed fun, although we didnt have a boozy night out here...I think we were still wrecked from being sick...Im sure we´ll make up for it along the way...
Id like to visit Barcelona again one day if I have more money, and although we havent visited many places, it is my favourite so far....but all good things have to come to an end, and we left Barca for Mallorca.....
And Tadaaa, here we are. The coast where we are staying is beautiful....crystal clear water, palm trees...typically tropical looking....but bloody freezing damn it!! Im a bit annoyed at myself for choosing to come here now, but its still beautiful, and its the first time we´ve relaxed and done absolutely nothing but eat and drink....a real holiday! There is enough bars here to never visit the same one twice...and a shit load of brits! The prices for food and drink are very reasonable, and as we plan to be here for just under a week, thats a relief. Our hotel (hotel hawaii) is good, although it resembles a nursing home! That must sound terrible, but we are surely the youngest couple there haha, but as we´re only playing cards, having afternoon drinks and naps, its really not that bad!
Anyway my lovelies, its time to try and get photos up. We´d love to show you what we´re talking up. Fingers crossed I Can get them up soon. Til next time. love love
PHOTOS (Scroll down and you will now find more links to other albums!)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87884&id=699750387&l=c4d2c356fc
I did wake the next day feeling much better/super skinny (thank you immodium) and decided it was time to hit the town. For about an hour we walked around and saw the sites. We ended up at the beach and it was really nice actually, I wasnt expecting it to be so clean looking for such a big city. Actually, ignoring the ocassional pee smell, I think the whole city is clean by city standards. The metro was great too. After a few hours of walking around I decided I really liked Barcelona. The people are lovely and there seems to be plenty of great places to eat/drink/things to see. We did some site seeing, but not much. We saw some Gaudi building and visited the Sagrada Familia which is just so ugly/beautiful/interesting. I really dont know what I think about that building! Gaudi seemed to want 3409835 different elements included in his work so he just found a way of putting it all together!
We were in Barcelona at the start of easter weekend, and we have seen several street processions held by the various churches in the city. I had forgotten just how religious the rest of the world is, you dont bare witness to many religious ceremonies on the Sunshine Coast! I wish we had the camera at the time of one procession, there were people cloaked in black with tiny eye holes, carrying the cross. It was a bit freaky to be honest.
So major kudos goes to Lach for telling us about Txapela! It was the highlight of our stay in Barcelona!! Txapela everyone, is a tapas restaurant that has a huge menu of finger food, and you choose as many as you like to become a meal. so so awesome, we had cod fritters with aioli, mini cheeseburgers, salami things, tomato and cheese thingies!! maybe google it and check it out...
The shopping in Barcelona looks epic. There are so many cool fashion shops that arent too expensive. Ive already told Jodie that it would be a good girls holiday! Plenty of bars, food and shops! Trent also had a good night out to watch Barcelona v Munich one night and he said the pubs seemed fun, although we didnt have a boozy night out here...I think we were still wrecked from being sick...Im sure we´ll make up for it along the way...
Id like to visit Barcelona again one day if I have more money, and although we havent visited many places, it is my favourite so far....but all good things have to come to an end, and we left Barca for Mallorca.....
And Tadaaa, here we are. The coast where we are staying is beautiful....crystal clear water, palm trees...typically tropical looking....but bloody freezing damn it!! Im a bit annoyed at myself for choosing to come here now, but its still beautiful, and its the first time we´ve relaxed and done absolutely nothing but eat and drink....a real holiday! There is enough bars here to never visit the same one twice...and a shit load of brits! The prices for food and drink are very reasonable, and as we plan to be here for just under a week, thats a relief. Our hotel (hotel hawaii) is good, although it resembles a nursing home! That must sound terrible, but we are surely the youngest couple there haha, but as we´re only playing cards, having afternoon drinks and naps, its really not that bad!
Anyway my lovelies, its time to try and get photos up. We´d love to show you what we´re talking up. Fingers crossed I Can get them up soon. Til next time. love love
PHOTOS (Scroll down and you will now find more links to other albums!)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87884&id=699750387&l=c4d2c356fc
To the glue factory!!
Well Im really starting to wish I had updated this more regularly now! We have so much to update you all on! Lets start in Marrakech.....
Brilliant place, it is as the travel books say...a melting pot of cultures, sounds, colours, tastes.....
We caught a taxi (a mercedes) to ´the square´, and got dropped off god knows where, the driver pointed, mumbled and shuffled us out. Luckily there are hordes of locals whose day job is too suss out blank stares on tourists faces and offer them a ´friendly, helping hand´. Someone escorted us to our hostel which was just around the corner and then of course, asked for money....nothing comes free in Marrakech, but thats ok. We stayed at Hotel Assia, which we can now recommend to others, if you are willing to pay for the quality. (perfect location, nice rooms, nice brekky etc) Anywho, we had a squiz at the streets and souks and had our first tagine (chicken and lemon mmmm). The french influence is all around...there is free bread with all meals here as well. I mean, i like carbs, but europe really pushes my bread boundaries...never thought I would say that!
So there wasnt a boat load of things for us to see or do in Marrakech because of our money restraints...you can definitely go and see some nice gardens, mosques etc but I think the majority of the time you would shop here! There is a LOT of nice homewares that I would buy..lamps, tagines, rugs, tea sets etc and also beautiful jewelerry. (Rhonda, I saw some jewellery for around $1-$5 but I was really trying not to look..you and Glen would have a lot of fun in the markets). The one thing that really stood out to me was the quality of mens jeans. They are INCREDIBLE. I think theyre rip offs of every major fashion house in europe..so so stylish. and only around $30. All the men here dress very well actually, again, very stylish.
So for the few days we spent in Marrakech we mainly walked the streets while dodging the traffic (very similiar to Asia, except here there are donkeys and carts that dont move for nobody!) and ate. A perfect few days! We decided to move on and go to the coast for a few days. We chose Essouira and then let the wind take us there. We tried to get on the bus but god sidetracked and eneded up bargaining to ride in a van. And then the waiting began. Waiting for the guy to sucker in 7 other tourists to get in the van with us haha. Then the bargaining again. and again. and again until we got the trip for 100 Dihram each. The country side was desolate, with a few towns (and random people in THE MOSTrandom places) popping up in between destinations.
Essouira was awesome, we got out of the van and just walked around asking about accommodation when a young man helped me and we ran around together looking at rooms. The last one he showed me was epic. We got a little aparment to ourselves with a rooftop terrace and the most lovely owners...It was called Les Bastion and we would definitely reccommend this place (again, more money than we could have paid. oopsy, my bad). Essouira is a laid back town (think offerings of hooch, hash, opium kind of laid back). We walked around the town and the port and got whipped by the wind that is never ending apparently and booked ourselves a horse ride on the beach. WORST MISTAKE...EVER.
Now I love horses (ok I dont ride them, but have an appreciation for them) and was really excited about this. Apparently this excitement and confidence didnt translate to the horse, and the bastard animal tried to kill me. There´s no two ways about it, this horse had a vendetta against me. For what, I do not know, but it did. We strolled leisurely from the complex without so much of a safety/instruction run down (or a hello actually, for that matter, very unhospitable) and went out on to the beach. Trent and I were actually starting to get bored after a while, and I was looking forward to a little trot (maybe telekinetically the horse sensed this) and all of a sudden, my horse LOST HIS SHIT. (His name was Prince by the way) Prince decided he´d had enough and galloped down the beach and tried to go back the way we had came, lucky I had ridden a few times before and actually knew how to TRY and stop the beast (Beast=formerly Prince) but he wouldnt have a bar of it. He kept running and turned again and finally stopped and I relaxed on the reins (mistake) and he reared up and bucked me off! What a shit! I landed hard on my hip, luckily on sand, and was temporarily stunned. Its freakin scary being on a runaway horse! I practically refused to mount Beast again so I rode a different horse. ACtually now that I think of it, Im so greatful it was only trent and I doing it together and not a group....anyway, I rode Zine for approximately 3 minutes until it joined its bastard friend and reared up and HIT our guide! No joke, this horse hit him in the head! ( he was off his horse at this point) And luckily Id become rodeo queen by this stage and I stayed on, god I wish I had a photo of it! So anyway, that was the bulk of the story...I ended up with the most frayed nerves, a painful hip/ass and a disliking of two very beautiful animals. I will ride again, but it will be in Australia, with calm horses, and an english speaking guide. I have totally left Trent out of this story (sorry baby!), but his horse was a legend, only freaking out a little bit instead of a lot. Maybe it was Trents zen persona that kept that horse calm?
Anyway, we left Essouira after 2 nights so we could come back to Marrakech and do a Sahara tour. We made if back to Marrakech and stayed in the grottiest hostel (I think it had the name Palace in it, so dont book here). We left for the Sahara at 7am in the morning and boarded our minibus...Two long days in short...we stopped every now and then to have a look at Berber villages, snow capped mountains, Kasbahs, towns etc. I wasn´t doing brilliantly being on a bus for so long, but eventually we made it to our camels at 5.30pm that afternoon. The camels are cute (when theyre not foaming) and I trusted that they would remain calm for me! We rode out into the desert with our other tourist friends at sunset, and it was a really fun experience. It was one of those ´heh, I´m doing something really random´moments.
We rode until we hit our camp and had a fabulous dinner. The dinner tent was beautiful, it was lamp lit and full of rugs and pillows and we sat down and had mint tea, soup, a shared tagine and awesome oranges for dessert. I was stuffed after travelling all day, and we went to sleep in our tent, which were super comfy I thought! We woke early, but not early enough for sunrise unfortunately and had brekky. Another odd moment was brushing our teeth on a sand dune in the Sahara Desert. not everyone gets to do this I guess!
We rode our camels back to our van, jumped in, drove and drove and made a stop for lunch. The tour group split up and ol Trent and Andy went foraging for cheap, local food. WHY?! WHY?! Why couldnt we have eaten at the expensive place they dropped us at?! We ate at some random, back alley, random, lame, random, crap place and at the time were stoked with our meals. But now its hard to even type about them. It took me about 1-2 hours to become terribly sick. I had to ask the bus driver to pull over. At the time I thought it may have been motion sickness because travelling through the mountains is a nightmare, bends and curves everywhere. It wasnt until I had to stop the bus to be sick again that I realised it was food poisoning. We made it back to our grotty hostel that I had stupidly booked for our return and everything just got worse. Trent bought a bucket for me which was a godsend, the communal toilets were horrendous. Then Trent ended up getting sick, and then it was all on. Both of us were sick in more ways than one, all night...and we were supposed to fly the next day! I dont even know how, but we made the flight to Barcelona...
I wish we hadn´t have fallen sick in Morocoo because it has really made me bitter towards the place! I cant even say the word Berber Pizza, Morocco or Tagine without feeling like Im going to munt. Trying to put that aside though, it is a great country to visit. All the unconventionality of some Asian places Ive been to, mixed with European influences too. I have to disagree with some of the advice I received about it before I left. A lot of people tried to say how much of a shock it would be to me, that I wouldnt handle it initially bla bla bla, but I didnt find that at all. The men definitely didnt stare as much as I thought, if you wanted to wear shorts it was fine, everything was great! OH! Except one thing!!! I totally forgot to say....our whole stay in Morocco was sober!! No alcohol in the medinas! Maybe thats why we got sick...and are you changing your mind about visiting now Glen?! hehe.
anyway, Im going to leave this post and start the next one with beautiful Barcelona! and hopefully get some photos up for you all soon.
love you all xoxo
comment or email us lots!
PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87873&id=699750387&l=d3ac4770e9
Brilliant place, it is as the travel books say...a melting pot of cultures, sounds, colours, tastes.....
We caught a taxi (a mercedes) to ´the square´, and got dropped off god knows where, the driver pointed, mumbled and shuffled us out. Luckily there are hordes of locals whose day job is too suss out blank stares on tourists faces and offer them a ´friendly, helping hand´. Someone escorted us to our hostel which was just around the corner and then of course, asked for money....nothing comes free in Marrakech, but thats ok. We stayed at Hotel Assia, which we can now recommend to others, if you are willing to pay for the quality. (perfect location, nice rooms, nice brekky etc) Anywho, we had a squiz at the streets and souks and had our first tagine (chicken and lemon mmmm). The french influence is all around...there is free bread with all meals here as well. I mean, i like carbs, but europe really pushes my bread boundaries...never thought I would say that!
So there wasnt a boat load of things for us to see or do in Marrakech because of our money restraints...you can definitely go and see some nice gardens, mosques etc but I think the majority of the time you would shop here! There is a LOT of nice homewares that I would buy..lamps, tagines, rugs, tea sets etc and also beautiful jewelerry. (Rhonda, I saw some jewellery for around $1-$5 but I was really trying not to look..you and Glen would have a lot of fun in the markets). The one thing that really stood out to me was the quality of mens jeans. They are INCREDIBLE. I think theyre rip offs of every major fashion house in europe..so so stylish. and only around $30. All the men here dress very well actually, again, very stylish.
So for the few days we spent in Marrakech we mainly walked the streets while dodging the traffic (very similiar to Asia, except here there are donkeys and carts that dont move for nobody!) and ate. A perfect few days! We decided to move on and go to the coast for a few days. We chose Essouira and then let the wind take us there. We tried to get on the bus but god sidetracked and eneded up bargaining to ride in a van. And then the waiting began. Waiting for the guy to sucker in 7 other tourists to get in the van with us haha. Then the bargaining again. and again. and again until we got the trip for 100 Dihram each. The country side was desolate, with a few towns (and random people in THE MOSTrandom places) popping up in between destinations.
Essouira was awesome, we got out of the van and just walked around asking about accommodation when a young man helped me and we ran around together looking at rooms. The last one he showed me was epic. We got a little aparment to ourselves with a rooftop terrace and the most lovely owners...It was called Les Bastion and we would definitely reccommend this place (again, more money than we could have paid. oopsy, my bad). Essouira is a laid back town (think offerings of hooch, hash, opium kind of laid back). We walked around the town and the port and got whipped by the wind that is never ending apparently and booked ourselves a horse ride on the beach. WORST MISTAKE...EVER.
Now I love horses (ok I dont ride them, but have an appreciation for them) and was really excited about this. Apparently this excitement and confidence didnt translate to the horse, and the bastard animal tried to kill me. There´s no two ways about it, this horse had a vendetta against me. For what, I do not know, but it did. We strolled leisurely from the complex without so much of a safety/instruction run down (or a hello actually, for that matter, very unhospitable) and went out on to the beach. Trent and I were actually starting to get bored after a while, and I was looking forward to a little trot (maybe telekinetically the horse sensed this) and all of a sudden, my horse LOST HIS SHIT. (His name was Prince by the way) Prince decided he´d had enough and galloped down the beach and tried to go back the way we had came, lucky I had ridden a few times before and actually knew how to TRY and stop the beast (Beast=formerly Prince) but he wouldnt have a bar of it. He kept running and turned again and finally stopped and I relaxed on the reins (mistake) and he reared up and bucked me off! What a shit! I landed hard on my hip, luckily on sand, and was temporarily stunned. Its freakin scary being on a runaway horse! I practically refused to mount Beast again so I rode a different horse. ACtually now that I think of it, Im so greatful it was only trent and I doing it together and not a group....anyway, I rode Zine for approximately 3 minutes until it joined its bastard friend and reared up and HIT our guide! No joke, this horse hit him in the head! ( he was off his horse at this point) And luckily Id become rodeo queen by this stage and I stayed on, god I wish I had a photo of it! So anyway, that was the bulk of the story...I ended up with the most frayed nerves, a painful hip/ass and a disliking of two very beautiful animals. I will ride again, but it will be in Australia, with calm horses, and an english speaking guide. I have totally left Trent out of this story (sorry baby!), but his horse was a legend, only freaking out a little bit instead of a lot. Maybe it was Trents zen persona that kept that horse calm?
Anyway, we left Essouira after 2 nights so we could come back to Marrakech and do a Sahara tour. We made if back to Marrakech and stayed in the grottiest hostel (I think it had the name Palace in it, so dont book here). We left for the Sahara at 7am in the morning and boarded our minibus...Two long days in short...we stopped every now and then to have a look at Berber villages, snow capped mountains, Kasbahs, towns etc. I wasn´t doing brilliantly being on a bus for so long, but eventually we made it to our camels at 5.30pm that afternoon. The camels are cute (when theyre not foaming) and I trusted that they would remain calm for me! We rode out into the desert with our other tourist friends at sunset, and it was a really fun experience. It was one of those ´heh, I´m doing something really random´moments.
We rode until we hit our camp and had a fabulous dinner. The dinner tent was beautiful, it was lamp lit and full of rugs and pillows and we sat down and had mint tea, soup, a shared tagine and awesome oranges for dessert. I was stuffed after travelling all day, and we went to sleep in our tent, which were super comfy I thought! We woke early, but not early enough for sunrise unfortunately and had brekky. Another odd moment was brushing our teeth on a sand dune in the Sahara Desert. not everyone gets to do this I guess!
We rode our camels back to our van, jumped in, drove and drove and made a stop for lunch. The tour group split up and ol Trent and Andy went foraging for cheap, local food. WHY?! WHY?! Why couldnt we have eaten at the expensive place they dropped us at?! We ate at some random, back alley, random, lame, random, crap place and at the time were stoked with our meals. But now its hard to even type about them. It took me about 1-2 hours to become terribly sick. I had to ask the bus driver to pull over. At the time I thought it may have been motion sickness because travelling through the mountains is a nightmare, bends and curves everywhere. It wasnt until I had to stop the bus to be sick again that I realised it was food poisoning. We made it back to our grotty hostel that I had stupidly booked for our return and everything just got worse. Trent bought a bucket for me which was a godsend, the communal toilets were horrendous. Then Trent ended up getting sick, and then it was all on. Both of us were sick in more ways than one, all night...and we were supposed to fly the next day! I dont even know how, but we made the flight to Barcelona...
I wish we hadn´t have fallen sick in Morocoo because it has really made me bitter towards the place! I cant even say the word Berber Pizza, Morocco or Tagine without feeling like Im going to munt. Trying to put that aside though, it is a great country to visit. All the unconventionality of some Asian places Ive been to, mixed with European influences too. I have to disagree with some of the advice I received about it before I left. A lot of people tried to say how much of a shock it would be to me, that I wouldnt handle it initially bla bla bla, but I didnt find that at all. The men definitely didnt stare as much as I thought, if you wanted to wear shorts it was fine, everything was great! OH! Except one thing!!! I totally forgot to say....our whole stay in Morocco was sober!! No alcohol in the medinas! Maybe thats why we got sick...and are you changing your mind about visiting now Glen?! hehe.
anyway, Im going to leave this post and start the next one with beautiful Barcelona! and hopefully get some photos up for you all soon.
love you all xoxo
comment or email us lots!
PHOTOS:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87873&id=699750387&l=d3ac4770e9
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