SPAIN, PORTUGAL & MOROCCO

Toledo's old town is Moorish and Avila has a magnificent curved wall around it. Naturally the churches are incredible.

We have begun our tour of Portugal and have been to Coimbra (the photo of Coimbra at night was taken from our hotel room), Batalha, Fatima, and are now in Lisbon. Our highlight today was Fatima. It was very moving. Nine thousand people and many walking down a hill on their knees with special requests to Our Lady. We lit candles for everyone and for peace. The candle site was like a hugh bbq and the site where Our Lady appeared is now an open sided church where we attended a mass.

Toledo's old town is Moorish and Avila has a magnificent curved wall around it. Naturally the churches are incredible.

Lisbon is a wonderful city surrounded by beautiful forests. After we toured the city we went to a folk song (FADO - sort of like the blues) and dance show and had a wonderful hake (fish) dinner. The city was lit by many lights in the evening. The next day we drove along the Portugese Riviera to Cascais, a small bustling fishing port and restort and decided it would be a great place to live. Then we went to Sintra which is a favorite of kings and queens. We went to a 15th century Royal Palace filled with a beautiful collection of furniture.

Leaving Lisbon we drove south toward Seville. Although the land was drier than the north, it had many Oak Cork trees. These Oaks must grow for 20 years to mature and then the cork which is the bark takes ten years to mature. After it is stripped, the bark needs to grow for ten more years before it is harvested again. The trees all belong to the countries and not the farmers. Portugal has the most cork and then Spain and Morocco less. All the land was covered with trees, Oak Cork and Olives.

We stopped at a small country restaurant for lunch where they served us ham and grilled pork from small black wild pigs. This meat is highly prized and expensive. We traveled on to Spain and the landscape changed to mountainous areas of trees with changing fall colors and grape vines and more olive trees. We went to a Flamengo dance in the evening and toured the city at night.

We have two more days of Seville and then we will be off to Morocco. We have a nice group to travel with of 65 people including honeymooners, so we have split into two groups. The hotels have been excellent and sohas the weather with our first small rain today but it was enjoyable walking in the rain. The country side in Spain reminded me of the Globe to Superior Arizona and Oak Flats area. There are also areas of Oak trees reminding me of the Mt. Diablo area. Portugal is quite beautiful with many Pine and Eucalyptus trees which they grow to make paper.

We toured Seville going to the Royal Palace which was built in the 13th century and the Plaza de Espana which was built for 1929 exposition. The architecture was very beautiful. The highlight was visiting the Cathedral of Seville which is principally gothic and built in the 14th and 15th century where a mosque originally had been. We both have decided that Seville is the best of places which we have visited up to now.

From Seville we drove to the coast and took the Ferry to Morocco and then drove to Fez and saw many fascinating things. The country side was again a combination of the Superior to Globe Arizona area and the Mt. Diablo Oak hills of Contra Costa California. But the exception was the ground was all planted with Olive, Eucalyptus, and Cork Oak trees. Once in a while we saw other trees down by the river. As we got close to Fez all the hills were in wheat and barley. People lived quite modestly and some had electricity but few have running water.

The tour of Fez was the most exciting of our days. The city stems from the 13 hundreds and much of the art work is still there. It is a religious city and we are here during Ramadan so the streets were empty by 6 pm as it is their family dinner time and they have fasted all day. It is a city of artisans who do outstanding work with metal, cloth, wood, ceramics, and leather. There are three different city areas and most have electricity and water.

We did every thing in the Medina (13th century city) where the paths where extremely narrow and the many donkeys have the right away. It was all up and down slanted walk ways and stairs and one could get lost in there forever without a guide. We walked by many stores including a meat market with a camel head hanging on the wall and a crystal shop. The most fascinating was the dye pots where they worked on leather and materials. Our guide in Fez, Momo, is in front of the store selling the wedding ga once north Africa's infamous Barbary coast. Join the new motorway for the drive southwards then west bypassing Meknes for overnight in Fez and dinner together. Krane Notes:

From Seville we drove to the coast and took the Ferry to Morocco and then drove to Fez and saw many fascinating things. The country side was again a combination of the Superior to Globe Arizona area and the Mt. Diablo Oak hills of Contra Costa California. But the exception was the ground was all planted with Olive, Eucalyptus, and Cork Oak trees. Once in a while we saw other trees down by the river. As we got close to Fez all the hills were in wheat and barley. People lived quite modestly and some had electricity but few have running water.

From Fez to Marikesh was another interesting journey. Imagine the landscape to be like the Arizona Desert but with plenty of water. We drove southwest along the Atlas mountains where there were many olive trees and lush plantings of fruits and vegetables. We stopped at several interesting villages along the way. We drove in the rain quite a while and it was remarkable that thousands lined up on the highway with no cover to await the King. There were people from the country and tribes with their special colored tents, and musicians. As we pulled into Marrakech we saw the King's limo and guards and vans pull into his palace.
From Seville we drove to the coast and took the Ferry to Morocco and then drove to Fez and saw many fascinating things. The country side was again a combination of the Superior to Globe Arizona area and the Mt. Diablo Oak hills of Contra Costa California. But the exception was the ground was all planted with Olive, Eucalyptus, and Cork Oak trees. Once in a while we saw other trees down by the river. As we got close to Fez all the hills were in wheat and barley. People lived quite modestly and some had electricity but few have running water.

 

Marrakech has beautiful gardens with many roses, Birds Of Paradise, Banana trees, bougainvillea, hibiscus, oranges, etc. It reminds me of the San Diego California area. We again have had wonderful weather and are delighted we came in October. There are over 600 palaces but we only visited one where we saw beautiful ceilings, doors and walls. The Marrakech Medina is also interesting and instead of donkeys as in Fez we have motor scooters winging their way through while we stand to the right. We did think Fez was more exotic but this Medina was also fascinating. The shops are interesting and we spent time in an herb shop where we purchased rose oil and salve, mint teas, and many other such items to keep the wrinkles away. After our tour of the Medina we went to the main square where we watched snake charmers and fortune tellers and shopped. We picked up a beautiful beaded throw done in blues and purple for the sofa.
The coffee in Morocco is terrific unlike Spain and Portugal where it tasted like instant coffee. It was a bit surrealistic, sitting there having a coffee and watching upright cobras weaving to very eerie sounding flute music. We saw many rich and poor homes as we drove back to the hotel as this is a land of extremes.

In the afternoon we went to the small village of Berbers up in the mountains to visit and have bread and tea with them. They live in an adobe home with openings for windows but no glass in them. The roster, chickens, rabbit, sheep, and calf live below them. There home was very simple and clean. Omar and his wife, Zara, had eight children and were kind and warm people. They are not considered poor. It was extremely beautiful and green country side. Many people followed us trying to sell merchandise. In the evening we went to the casino dinner show to again watch the dancers, acrobats, snake charmers, and magicians. It was fascinating and the dinner was soup, quail pie, and the main course was chicken with carrots, potatoes, squash served over cuscus. The dessert was orange slices with ice cream and sweets made with honey and coffee.

We said goodbye to the Barberry Apes, the Camels, donkeys and the many storks as we left Morocco sailing on a swift ferry to Spain. Morocco was such an intriguing country full of exotic food and beautiful people and places. Tangiers was an industrial city, our port of exit.