Weekend break in Marrakech

Hi everyone,

Lany and I got back into London just before midnight on Monday night (our plane was delayed a little), but fortunately our cabbie was waiting so as soon as we grabbed our bags we rushed home to try to get some sleep before working Tuesday. Poor Lany had a workshop to present, so she was quite dead!

The weekend was fabulous however and getting some sun on our skin was priceless (never mind that the airfares were super cheap!).

Lany flew out last Thursday early in the morning, so it was a bit dicey with all the snow etc around, but there were no delays for her. I then flew out Saturday morning (my flight was about the same time, 7:45 in the morning which means a 5am taxi to the airport!), so got in around midday. It was pretty warm despite being the middle of winter, with all the locals walking around in thick coats. I arrived at Lany's place to the smell of cous cous being prepared, which I absolutely destroyed for lunch!! (I was starving after being up so early).

After lunch I got changed into jeans, thongs and a t-shirt, and we headed to the souk to do some shopping. Sars, I got you some little candle things, but nothing large (we were wary of not having much luggage space), mum - got your pants and dad - got you a couple of shirts (not tshirts, moroccan shirt thing - you'll get the idea when you see them on Skype camera or something). We also did some shopping for ourselves and our new apartment, specifically picking out a number of large blanket-type things for couch covers and accompanied cushion covers, a big bowl and serving plate, and some small stuff like a jar, salad servers etc. No pashminas this time, does anyone still want those things? (as I'm sure we've delivered at least 20 to Aus over the last few years).

That night we headed out of town to the 'resort-retreat-house' in Tahannout. I've taken some pics of the changes but it's getting more established now and the amount of food they're getting out of the garden is amazing. They're growing lettuce, parsnip, beans, eggplant, oranges, olives, some spinachy-type thing, figs (well soon, they are growing), carrots, herbs, tomato, capsicum, passionfruit, plus some others are in the works. The view of the mountains is absolutely spectacular at the moment as they've had quite a lot of snow lately, so they are white, contrasting with the red/brown (warm) earth on the plains below. Sorry, but the camera just doesn't pick it up so I don't have any good photo's to put up.

The cutest thing is that they have a little pair of owl's who've made their home in the cactus garden mound, so they are on the wall all the time. For some reason one decided to stand on the other! (hard to see in the picture, but it was funny).

That night we sat around the fire and snacked before having a late (fairly small) dinner. I was completely dead so we weren't up late and hit the sack early. In the morning Lany's dad took us for a drive to a valley near the house which is very pretty. It's a little bit touristy as there seems to be a lot of hotels and cafe's etc, but with the river running through it it's fantastic to see. I loved the bridges that had been built, and the cafe's next to the water - plenty of photos to take! A lot of the cafe's have lines of tagine pots sitting on coals, ready to cook lunches, it's great to see.

On the way home we stopped at a cafe place near the house to get takeaway..... it was tagine! Takeaway Tagine! It was a vegetable tagine because they already had a meat dish ready for lunch - a roast thing that was just AMAZING. It tasted so amazing, I have the recipe and now need to learn to cook it.

In the afternoon the temperature was 25 (or so) in the shade, hotter in the sun - and this in the middle of winter! Lany and I tanned for a while before I jumped into the water for a quick dip. While the water was still cold (17 degrees) so I couldn't stay in more than 10 secs or so, it was fine in the sun. It was the middle of winter, so I can't complain.

Sunday night we headed back into town to the apartment before heading into town to have a look around. Marrakech is changing SO fast, there's stuff being built everywhere. We also experimented packing in case it didn't all fit and chilled with Lany's folks.

Monday was another trip to the souk to get a few more items before going home for lunch with Lany's parents and cousin, and final packing. While it was fairly busy at the airport, we didn't have any major issues and got back ok to England's 5 degrees (warm by the recent standards).

Snow is expected in the next day or two, with it getting colder again next week. Why did we leave the sun?


Oh, Lany's cat - Looky - is very cute when he eats... rather than put his feet on the floor and reach his head into the bowl, he leans in with feet on the bowl edge. It looks cute so here's some pics.


Anka

Slovenia - Ljubljana

Happy New Year everyone!

We had a really good break over Christmas and New Year with Fatboi and Susan coming down from Manchester. It was great to have some time off work as things have been mental lately, I even had to work the weekend before Christmas break..... We've also been busy searching for somewhere new to live and luckily we've found something and we'll be moving in at the end of Jan - lots happening this year!

To make the most of the break, Lany and I decided to go to Slovenia. We didn't have any particular reason to go to Ljubljana, it was a bit of a punt, but it was totally sweet. The only downside was that we had to leave very early in the morning for our flight, which was a little tiring. We didn't have any problems getting away though which was a bit lucky as there were all sorts of issues for people over Christmas.

Upon landing in Slovenia we were pleasantly surprised to have warmer temperatures than London! The downside is that the warmth was because it was raining, but it wasn't particularly heavy. We got a bus into town for 5 euro each (bargain) and as it's not a huge place, the walk to the hotel was pretty short. The buildings in the outer areas of town are not exactly grand, and remind me of Austrian-type townhouses (basically square with a very slanted roof). Once you get into the middle of town however, it's much nicer.

Oh, the hotel wasn't particularly grand, but it was literally 30 meters from the main town square, so we were very happy. The most important thing we did upon arriving was sleep! (We were both dead after Christmas partying and the flight). After a nap, it was time to head out and explore! The old town really isn't big, probably stretching basically 1 km along a bend in the central river, but there's a brilliant castle overlooking the whole thing and it's very atmospheric. The buildings aren't huge, but they've been nicely restored (most are shops now) and there's a fantastic vibe you get walking around.

We had done some research before going (so we weren't totally clueless) and we knew that there were concerts on each night as part of the holiday celebrations, we'd organised a tour for the next day, and we knew that there were apparently lots of lights around town at night. To check out town, we booked into a walking tour at 5pm, and as the light fell the old town certainly came alive. The lights are really well done, and although there was a bit of rain , it added to the atmosphere (it wasn't too cold). Unfortunately the photo's don't really capture the feeling, but with stores everywhere, people selling warm wine and families etc running around, it was fantastic.

For lunch we found a restaurant that looked like a place 'locals' go to, and ate a feast! I had mushroom soup in a bread bun shaped like a mushroom - so cool! We also had a huge platter of meat and vegies, all for about 30 euro (bargain). On the whole the food in Slovenia is quite Austrian/mountain-y/Poland/stodgy food. Lots of meat, few veg, some soup and sausages.

At 5pm we met our guide - Santa Claus. The guide had dressed up and the looks on all the kids when they saw him were just priceless. They were absolutely STUNNED, as if they couldn't believe their eyes, and they just came flocking. I think people assumed our guide was being paid to walk around or something, they all came up with the kids trying to get pictures etc, but after a while things calmed down enough for us to start the tour. Still, as we went around kids did come running etc.

We learnt a lot about the city of Ljubljana, but I'll go over some of the main points. It became rich because Slovenia is actually quite hilly, and the city lies in the middle of a few valleys which are the main way to pass through. Slovenia has been ruled in three main periods (among others) by the Romans, the Habsburgs and the Yugoslavia. Even Napoleon conquered them for a few years, so they've got like 4-5 national languages (and like 47 different confessions). Everyone there speaks good English (they have good access to English movies/tv etc), they don't have many kids, and when they do, the kids stay at home until very late (over 30). The tour also pointed out several architectural aspects which seem to be done by one important dude - he designed a lot of the old town. The castle is also very impressive as it didn't seem to have been conquered.

At the end of the tour we were taken to a coffee shop and given a hot chocolate - what a revelation. There they do REAL hot chocolate, it's literally like melted chocolate, and it's friggin awesome!

We walked around a little after the tour, as I said earlier there were concerts on in the main square, and smaller stages in some of the other squares. Families were everywhere, people were outside despite the cold etc, it was really nice. We also headed up to the castle to look over the town at night, and take in a video about the town. It was a very pretty view. Unfortunately as we were so tired, we headed to bed fairly early.

The next day we were picked up early for our tour. Luckily for us no one else was on the tour, so we basically had a guide and a student (learning guide) to ourselves! Both spoke English really well (the younger guy was cool, he teaches languages and spoke with a bit of a British accent) and knew lots. The drive out to the first stop was plenty of time to ask questions and take in the countryside. We had seen it from the plane, but in the car you can see how green it is, it's quite hilly/mountainy and the rain can really come down. We saw a lake and commented on it, only to find out that it's a temporary lake, and itwas just from the rains. Apparently it's a regular thing, in the heavy rains, this massive lake just forms in one of the valleys - so impressive! We only had time for a quick stop though.

After an hour or so, we arrived at our first stop - the Postjna Cave. This is a huge underground system of caves (5) which are joined up. The tour takes you down by a small train first, but then you get to walk through a few of the more spectacular caves with a guide. They were just amazing to see all the stalactites and stalagmites, some of which are hundreds of thousands of years old. Some of the caves had 'spaghetti' stalactites which although they were small, are about 10000 years old. Others have HUGE pillars which are solid white (very rare) or evn black, it's totally sweet! Unfortunately we couldn't see the salamander which lives there as it's enclosure was being upgraded, apparently they're very rare and only exist there.

After the cave (it had rained while we were in there) we headed to the second stop - a castle. This castle was built into a cleft half way up a 127 meter cliff. It had a river running through a cave at the base, so they had unlimited water, and several escape tunnels etc (one to the top), so it was a perfect location. Apparently the castle has a dubious history which may have involved smuggling, and one or two dodgy lords in it. One lord was really bad who was stealing from everyone, and killed an Austrian ambassador. They tried to get him out of the castle and couldn't even get close. Eventually the only way they could get him was to get an insider to light a candle as a signal when he went to the toilet (as this building the one on the left edge of the castle), and they shot a canon ball into the toilet to kill him (it brought down the roof)!!. There was a dungeon and torture room too, as well as rooms for the family etc, and I really enjoyed looking around.

One interesting thing our guide told us was that in the World Wars, the Slovenian secret police did a deal with the Italian mafia to assist in smuggling of goods. Rather than waste the money the police kept it all hidden, and then at the end of the war they used the cash to start up lots of new businesses for the people. I thought it was a pretty cool thing for them to do (most things like that would fail with someone trying to steal all the money for themselves).

After the castle it was back to Ljubljana in the early afternoon for more looking around. We did some shopping (trying to find a coats) and hung about, not doing anything too specific, before heading to a nice restaurant for dinner (I had like three types of meat! Yum!). We also checked out the main church of town which had a very detailed nativity model in it, it was quite impressive.

For our final day we decided to head a to huge shopping mall/area thing just outside the center of town for a last effort to get my coat! It was a massive area with heaps a huge stores, it's kind of like the commercial parks in Australia (like Osbourne Park). After a couple of hours we did manage to find me something, as well as a few little presents. We headed back into town, did some last shopping, and had a little nap before the evening festivities.

After a street kebab for dinner (the restaurants that were open were all full), we grabbed a drink and walked around checking out the various stages. Some weren't great, but one had traditional and jazz music which was good, but the main center stage had standard rock/pop. There was a great vibe to the main square so we settled in with a drink and listened to Slovenian rock!!!! About 1 in 2 songs was English, so it wasn't a big problem and we had a little dance. All through the evening people were setting off fireworks all over the place, but they were banned in the main square. Even so, some got closer than Lany liked.

When the time came for the big countdown, everyone packed into the square (we could barely move) and once the New Year struck, fireworks went off everywhere. The main display was set up to go off over the castle (it only went for about 5 mins), but people had their own and just started setting them off overhead, or just throwing them around. Some of the really big (just noise ones) went off so near Lany and I that you could feel the shockwave, so we had to move a little. We didn't stay out too late as unfortunately we were up fairly early again in the morning (it seems we didn't get a sleep in all holiday), so it wasn't a super-late one.

And that was it, in the morning we had time for breakfast before heading to the airport for the flight back. Almost no one was flying, so it was a quick flight and no problems with immigration etc in London. Although I'm still kind of knackered, it was an awesome trip and both Lany and I have decided that we'd like to go back to Slovenia and drive around in the summer (it's a small place, you can drive one side to the other in a couple of hours) and maybe head to Venice (it's 2 hours away) or Zagreb (about the same).


Sigh, back to work tomorrow..... such a pain!

Anka

By the way, this sign was funny, it was on that wall in the room (you can see it in the top right or the picture below), warning people of falling off this little rock pile... I don't know how you could actually do it because it was so small and it slanted down right to the floor!