Tuesday 20th Sept - Green Tour Today we decided to join the masses and go on a organized tour - called the Green Tour (70try = $39.20each) which we booked with Cemil, as we were sure he would get some kind of commission from our booking. We were escorted to Hard Rock Tours just a block away at about 10 am and managed to get the front seat in one of the two mini buses that were running this tour today. Site we saw today included: - Goreme panorama (birds eye view of town) - Selime Monastery (carved in the rock) - Ihlara Valley (3km walk through the valley) - Lunch by the river (2 course meal) - Derinkuyu Underground City (8 stories, 85m underground) - Visit to Onyx showroom (very expensive, hard to get ... read more

Thursday, 15th Sept - early morning flight Istanbul to Ankara Due to the fact that Istanbul is very expensive and the fact we are flying out of here and will have to come back here, I made the executive decision to spend the night at the airport after our midnight arrival flight and catch a 7.30am flight from Istanbul to Ankara. Also the fact that this airport is so far out of Istanbul that it would have cost us more to catch a taxi to the city at this time of night, than waiting and flying out in the morning. This of course all went bum up when Air Arabia cancelled and changed our flight date which meant we lost the original internal flight I booked and had to rebook one for the changed date. But ... read more

Sunday 11th Sept - at the flat Zak's parents came over tonight to say goodbye. Mother is so sweet she cried like a baby when the final goodbye was said. Not happy that her number one son is leaving the neighborhood, not to mention the country. Before goodbye's were said there were instructions given that Zak has to preform before traveling on any kind of transport. Talk about superstitious! There seems to be a Muslim prayer for everything. She also wrote something on two tiny pieces of paper and gave one to Zak and one to Father. When I asked what it was, Zak just said a religious thing - yeah well I kinda guessed that, but he does not really like to 'share' information like this with me. They both proceeded to stash these small ... read more

Wednesday 30th - the end of Ramadan! Eid El Fitr This ceremony, as its name indicates, celebrates the breaking of the fast at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. In Morocco, Eid El Fitr is celebrated by getting up early in the morning. Men go to the mosque for the prayers of that day. As for women, they prepare the special breakfast for Eid El Fitr which is constituted of typical Moroccan pancakes such as Baghrir and Melwi. After the prayers, the family gathers around the table to indulge in a copious breakfast. It is also a time when families visit each other and chat around cookies and mint tea. Children are dressed in new clothes and adults in traditional outfits. The holiday of Eid El Fitr lasts only one day. Today seemed like ... read more

Saturday 27th - day twenty-six We had breakfast with Zak's parents today - the German boys have left Azrou. It was nice as we had not eaten with them for a few days. And the atmosphere was nice for a change also even with the 3 boys there. No arguments or heated discussions. Well today or I should say tonite is Laylat al-Qadr - Night of Power - special day in the Ramadan calendar. See paragraph below for explanation of what this is. We are having dinner with Zak's parents also. Chicken couscous is on the menu, looking forward to this also as we have not had couscous during Ramadan. So we made our way down to the new city for our dinner appointment at 2am. The couscous was absolutely delicious!!! I was so happy that ... read more