We took the train from Marrakech (southern city) to Fez (northern city) and saw the cities of Casablanca, Rabat (capital city), Menkes from afar, arid regions, lush countryside, farms fenced in by cactus, glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean, more satellite dishes than we could count, and two camels! A time to relax before visiting Morocco's first Imperial City, Fez, the ancient capital and centre of religious and cultural life in Morocco. The city with a hat named after it! Not completely unexpected, the trip took much longer than anticipated. Due to the Prophet's birthday, the Mouloud, which i [View Full Entry]

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Salam waylaykoom ! Marrakech is amazing! The sounds, smells and chaos abound and can be overwhelming, but addictive all the same! Our Riad L' Orangeraie is a calm oasis where we retreat after bargaining in the souks and visiting the Islamic sights of the city. We have enjoyed wonderful cuisine, both Moroccan and French influenced at our riad and at Villa Flore, a riad owned by a couple from Paris. We are not so brave as to sample sheeps head, pigeon and other such delicacies cooked in the food stalls! Snake charmers, storytellers, acrobats, musicians and dancers fill the Dje [View Full Entry]

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After three hours of relaxation on the train from Granada to Seville, Travelling Canucks have come to the conclusion that there are more olive trees than Spaniards in Spain! Although seeing rural Spain was a welcome break, the Travelling Canucks are thrilled to be in warm (24C) and sunny Seville! First impressions of Seville is that Seville is Sensational! We love the joie de vivre and beautiful streetscapes. Hotel Petit Palace Santa Cruz has proved to be a great hotel choice. After having a delicious lunch at Modesto, eating andelusian specialities al fresco in a plaza around the corn [View Full Entry]

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Started writing this blog entry while waiting for our delayed flight to Barcelona from Lisbon Airport on TAP Airlines, while a certain bear got into the port! We finally arrived at our Barcelona hotel, Hotel Constanza, late Monday, March 19th. Since our arrival, we have been so busy touring Barcelona that we haven´t had a chance to post and we are leaving Barcelona tomorrow morning on Iberia Airlines for Granada. Here´s a quick recap - believe it or not, this is what we have been up to over the past two days: Monday night, we walked down the Ramblas to the [View Full Entry]

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After leaving our Barcelona hotel for the airport in the early morning, we arrived in Granada in time for lunch. Although we expected Granada to be warmer than Barcelona, when we stepped off the plane, an unseasonably cold wind from the Sierra Nevada put a chill on our arrival. To economize, we took the bus instead of hiring a taxi (the bus was only 3 €/person); however, after waiting for nearly an hour for the bus to leave and taking another 45 minutes to reach our hotel, we had second thoughts! Once we arrived at our lovely Andalusian-style hotel, Hotel Palacio [View Full Entry]

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Lucky for us, an extraordinary exhibition of Cartier (1899 - 1949) - The Journey of a Style was being temporarily exhibited at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. The gorgeous jewelry, clocks and other pieces of craftsmanship were tremendous. We finally know the secret of how the Cartier Mystery Clocks work...all very hush-hush you know! The wide selection of paintings, antiquities and artifacts collected by Calouste Gulbenkian over his lifetime was impressive. We spent a sunny, but very windy afternoon at Parque das Nacoes (Expo site) , along with every other citizen of Lisbon. We v [View Full Entry]

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Today was spent day tripping out of Lisbon to the historic town of Sintra where the Portugese Royals spent their summers and the sea-side resort of Cascais with its expansive beaches and lovely quaint village ambiance. After 8 hours of walking up and down hills, we are starting to realize how hilly Portugal is. Will we be able to keep up the pace? Hopefully, Spain and Morocco are flatter! Pena Palace was an amazing castle and the surrounding park was spectacular with tropical, mediterranean and desert foliage- the ramparts could be quite frightening at times, where we were often afraid of [View Full Entry]

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After an enjoyable flight with Lufthansa in Business Class, we arrived in Lisbon and headed out for a stroll in the Baixa District of Lisbon. Navigating the twisted streets in the dark and climbing the steep hilltop in the Barrio Alto, we discovered a quaint restaurant by the name of Bizzaro. We enjoyed our first Portugese dinner and headed back down to our hotel where we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows. Our first day in Lisbon included a tour of the historic Alfama District where we visited the Castelo de Sao Jorge and the Se de [View Full Entry]

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Finally, the day has come! We are sitting in the Maple Leaf Lounge at Vancouver International Airport waiting for our flight to Frankfurt and dreading the 10 and a half hour flight that awaits us! A new companion has joined us for our journey! His name is Mukluk the Canuck, watch for him in our photo gallery. Be on the lookout for this adventurous bear! [View Full Entry]

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After planning this trip for almost a year, we are so excited about our trip to Portugal, Spain and Morocco over Spring Break. Our bags are packed and we are ready to go! But wait, our plane doesn't take off for another 4 days. What are we going to do? Our bags have been packed for the past three weeks, we have been fully innoculated, we've read every travel book, and days have been spent surfing the net researching trains, planes and automobiles, hotels and sights not to be missed. The only sensible thing to do is to sleep! Once we [View Full Entry]

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