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Where is Fatima? Fatima, life is good.
Published: February 22nd 2010Africa » Morocco » Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz
February 22nd 2010
Last stop was nine days in Morocco with Tucky, visiting Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains, the Sahara Desert and the coastal town of Essaouira. We landed at Marrakech airport in the evening and were met by the transfer service to our hostel. They drove us into the Medina (the Old Town) and then escorted us through the winding alleys the rest of the way. Fortunately we were warned about the long walk through the maze that is the alleyways as, even being led by a reputable guide, it was slightly disconcerting in the pitch blackness. First stop after settling in was to check out to the main square, Djemaa El Fna. By day the square is filled with snake charmers, men thrusting monkeys at tourists in the hope they'll have their photo taken with them, and stall ... read more
February 16th 2010
As usual I'm well over a month behind. Back home now, with a bit of time to catch up... After saying goodbye to Conor I flew to Canada for a month there. I landed in Calgary to be welcomed by -30 degree conditions - slightly chilly! Especially when I had to wait outside the airport for a bus into the city that never came. (Unfortunately I hadn't planned my trip very well and ended up having to get an 18 hour bus to Vancouver to meet Danni, rather than heading straight to Banff which is only two hours away.) Due to the bus never arriving and a train that broke down I missed my Greyhound bus to Vancouver and had to wait five hours for the next one. Bummer! But it did allow me to meet ... read more
January 12th 2010
After missing our flight to Lisbon we weren't taking any chances with the rescheduled flight. I was slightly anxious that, given we had to get up at 4.30 am, we might sleep in. When Conor asked me if I'd set an alarm for the morning my response was, 'I've set four.' Anyway, no dramas second time round. Our visit to Lisbon got off to a bit of an ominous start, however. After checking in to the hostel we went out for a walk around town and were greeted by a man beating the living daylights out of another guy with a stick. Not sure if they were homeless or wasted or what, but it wasn't pleasant. Even more unpleasant was the woman yelling encouragement in Portuguese to the beater. Fortunately, the man being attacked was able ... read more
January 10th 2010
After Italy, Liam and I flew back to Barcelona to meet up with Conor (clearly there haven't been enough Howells overseas this year!). For just over three weeks we travelled around Spain, visiting Barcelona-Valencia-Granada-Seville-Madrid-Bilbao-San Sebastian and then back to Barcelona. There was plenty of the compulsory Howell silliness and shenanigans. Highlights of Spain include: - Overdosing on paella, bocadillos, churros, sangria and tapas. - Watching numerous games of soccer at pubs throughout Spain. - Wandering around the alleys of Barcelona and around La Ramblas. Also really enjoyed seeing all the Gaudi sites and getting the cable car up Montjuic for great views over Barcelona. - Beaching it up in Valencia. Made even more fun by the g-string-wearing man strutting up and down for everyone's benefit. - Visiting the Alhambra (a Muslim palace) in Granada, one of ... read more
January 9th 2010
After Kenya I met up with my favourite brother for a few weeks travelling around Italy, visiting the following places: Rome-Napoli-Amalfi Coast-Siena-Florence-San Gimagnano-Pisa-Cinque Terre-Milan-Como-Venice-Perugia. Our trip around Italy was absolutely fantastic, despite getting off to an onimous start, ie. Liam getting hit by a car. We were trying to cross the road when a car started reversing out of nowhere. He saw us, but kept going anyway and backed straight into Liam. Very nice welcome! Rome was a great place to start the trip and was almost overwhelming because of its many amazing sites. We saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. Another highlight was visiting the Vatican. St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel were extremely impressive and nearly managed to restore Liam's faith. ... read more
Most people are shit-scared of Masais...Yeah, they're not just decorative, they're functional!
Published: January 8th 2010Africa » Kenya » Coast Province
January 3rd 2010
From Turkey K and I headed back to Kenya. The first day there we spent in Nairobi (the most dangerous country in Africa, Renee). After a nap to recover from our overnight flight we went to the Masai market. Aside from getting some great photos, the highlight of the day was jumping straight back into speaking Swahili with a chat to a group of girls. One of them was 18 and was looking for a Mzungu (white) husband - she asked us if we had any brothers. We promised we'd send Liam over asap. She's at the market waiting for you, Liamy. Over the next two days we did a safari in Nakuru, which is about two hours from Nairobi. On the way there we saw how badly Kenya has been hit by drought. Everything was ... read more
The resurrection of Michael Jackson
Published: November 29th 2009Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul
November 30th 2009
Next up was an overnight bus from Bucharest to Istanbul to meet Katherine and Justin. There were some fairly dodgy deals going on in the bus with passengers and the stewards exchanging inch-thick bundles of 50 euro notes. The Romanian man sitting next to me didn´t speak any English, but was up for a chat. He knew about 50 words in Spanish, Italian and French and seemed intent on sharing them all with me, as well as telling me the distance between Bucharest and every major city in Europe. Riveting stuff! He also kept feeding me apples and wouldn't let me drink the water the steward was handing out, I had to drink his. Suspicious in hindsight! Anyway, it made for an interesting trip and allowed me to knock off another country - Bulgaria. We got ... read more
October 1st 2009
A few photos of Budapest and Bucharest...It's only taken me an hour and a half to upload these - probably a new record! Enjoy, xo ... read more
'Thank you very much, I love you baby'
Published: September 27th 2009Europe » Hungary » Central Hungary » Budapest
September 26th 2009
From Zakopane in Poland I headed across to the Slovak side of the Tatra mountains and stayed in the very small town of Zdiar, just on the edge of the mountains. I spent a couple of days there doing some more (much more leisurely) walking. As with the Polish side I managed to avoid all forms of snakes, bears and avalanches, which was a good outcome. I stayed in a really nice hostel there with some great people who won me over upon arrival with chocolate pancakes. Also tried some Slovak food which seems to consist of a lot of meat and cabbage. There were some classic English translations on the menu of one of the local restaurants in Zdiar. My favourite was 'Chicken in the Hunting Way.' Not much on offer for vegetarians though - ... read more
September 15th 2009
From Prague I got an overnight bus to Warsaw, which took an hour and a half longer than expected, due to a large number of stops and some mysterious bus problems which required us to change buses at 3 o'clock in the morning. I'm pretty sure the second bus had bigger problems that the first. All very interesting when you can't speak a word of Polish! I have since picked up a few words, but it hasn't helped it much. Polish people seem very unhelpful, to the point of being quite rude if you don't speak any Polish. Except for people my age-ish, who mostly all speak English and are more than happy to practice it on you. Anyway, had a nice time in Warsaw wandering around the Old Town, particularly the Old Square, which was ... read more
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