Spain to Marrakech

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An age has passed or what seems like one since the last (first!) blog and
sometimes I feel like I've been busier here than I was in London. Although that
seems like a crazy idea too. At the moment I'm sitting in the airport in
Marrakech waiting for our flight back to Madrid. Marrakech has been nuts. We
have had five days roaming the souks and trying to avoid being run over by the
local cascade of motorbikes, cars and donkeys. The weather has been mostly sunny
and very hot today. Its quite a tiring place in many ways with a constant
barrage of noise and pollution and activity. I guess that's part of the charm
too.
We stayed in a very nice little riad that was about a 15 minute walk to the
centre. I loved the idea of the riad. After the craziness of the streets you
step inside a calm oasis where birds twitter and trees and plants flourish. You
could lounge about all day, especially if there was a bar and pool! Last night
we headed out to a great Moroccan / Thai fusion restaurant called Narwama. I
needed a change from the tagine, although good there's only so many you can eat.
Another highlight was a day trip out to the Ouzoud waterfalls, a beautiful three
hour walk to the bottom of the falls (where Brendan jumped in the freezing
water) and then back up with a Berber tagine on the way. The Yves Saint Laurent
gardens were also a highlight, such an incredible vibrant array of flowers and
plants and lovely quiet pools filled with goldfish, turtles and frogs. Very
interesting cacti.

We had come to Marrakech from Seville (via Madrid). I thought Seville was just
brilliant, so far my favourite city in Spain. It was made even better by a
surprise last minute trip by Mark who accompanied us on a night of tapas hoping
around the beautiful old city. Prior to that we were lured into a bull fight
against my better judgement. Mark had been told at the tourist office that there
wasn't a proper bullfight on just a training session for the matadors with baby
bulls and paint. Either he was misinformed (the tourist guy) or having a laugh.
We arrived to a stadium filled to the brim with tourists but mostly Spaniards
baying for blood (not that we were aware of that until the first gigantic bull
ran into the arena, and me stupidly saying 'that's not a baby bull'). Anyway
interesting experience. Weird, bloodthirsty and cruel. Felt barbaric an a way
that you might imagine in a roman amphitheatre. Its goes for yonks too, there
must have been at least 5 or 6 bulls. After all the blood spilled we ventured
out on the town to fulfil my tapas aspirations. I was not disappointed.

Before Seville there was Jerez. We had originally planned to go to Cadiz but
there were loads of festivals and public holidays going on so accommodation was
a bit of a nightmare. Jerez is pretty small and has a lovely old centre. Of
course we sampled the local tipple too (sherry). Lots of little old ladies
soaking up the sherry! We stayed a good 20 minute walk from town in a better
hotel (with pool woohoo) for a bit of r & r.

Cordoba was our stop in between Granada and Jerez. Only stayed for two days but
was impressed by the Mezquita and some cool flamenco.

So we are back in Madrid for a couple of nights before heading off to
Switzerland on Thursday morning. Wandered around the city today with Brendan.
Paul headed off to do some shopping as he spent a week here already while
Brendan and I explored the south of Spain. Lovely city so far with loads of
beautiful trees, everything seems very orderly after Marrakech! Went to the
Prado museum this afternoon. Such an amazing collection of Spanish master's you
feel in awe. Will head out tonight about 10pm for dinner and a few vino's when
it all kicks off.

Hope everyone's well and happy. Thanks so much for all your emails, sorry I'm
slow to respond will get there in the end!

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