Pisa

The closest big city to my Dad's hometown is Pisa, and since that's the only airport nearby too we decided to spend the day there. We took the train there and arrived around lunch time. We stopped at a few stores on the way to lunch. I love going to Zara there because its really big, well organized and I always find something I like.We then stopped at a student bar for lunch, having typical Italian food and enjoying being in the shade. After our insanely cheap meal we followed the tourists to the leaning tower of Pisa and the cathedral that is in the square next to it.

There's a legend that says that if you walk up to the top of the tower before you finish your studies you will not pass your exams, so obviously Charlotte and I didn't visit it inside. Unfortunately Italians are quite focused on making as much money as possible, and therefore they charge you for every little thing. Just to visit the town alone costs 15 euros, and in the square there are three other buildings that everyone should see, but they're all expensive.

At this point Charlotte and I just sat down to read in the shade, and then we spent the late afternoon walking around and getting drinks at a couple of different bars. Because in Italy, everything is called a bar, even if its only a café, they just don't ever use the word café.

I don't really like Pisa, but if you're in Tuscany for more than a week, its worth a visit because after a while you get bored of lying on the beach all day. 

Cinque Terre

The "Cinque Terre" are a very famous group of villages on the edge of Tuscany. Charlotte and I were able to take a boat trip to see 2 out of the 5 places. We took the boat at 10:10 and off we went for the day. The first stop was Portovenere which is not one of the five villages, but it was beautiful none the less.

We walked around, and then laid down in the sun, appreciating where we were. Charlotte even did a few drawings. We then ran back to the boat, scared that we had missed it. Luckily we didn't. The next pit stop was Vernazza, a town with a very curved cove, perfect for swimming since you didn't get sand in your toes. At this point I thought it would be smart to pretend to be different sea animals. At least I had fun.

The third town was Monterosso, this was the last stop. The village is very cute, smaller than the others. The thing I liked the most about this place was that the train passes in the middle of the buildings, about 50 meters from the waterfront.

If you're ever in Tuscany I really recommend you go see at least one of these towns, they give you a sense of fairytale unlike bigger towns in Italy.

Here's the website for the group of towns: http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.cinque.terre/Eindex.php

Milan: Museo del Novecento

During my two weeks off in August I also got to go Italy. During this particular pit stop, Charlotte and I spent less that 24 hours in Milan, but we were able to enjoy some food, shop, and even see a museum. We chose to go to the Museum of the 1900's, or the real Italian name "Museo del Novecento". 

The museum has an incredible permanent collection and there was also a temporary collection showing some pieces by Andy Warhol which I hadn't yet see, and I've seen a lot of Warhol. 

The building was really amazing, it was a modern new building attached to a very old Italian building. The combination of the two was incredible. And when you looked out of the modern window you got to see the Duomo, the biggest cathedral of the city. 

The coolest thing about the museum was that they mentioned White Chapel Art Gallery, in one of the posters. Here's their website; http://museodelnovecento.org/

If you're ever in Milan you should go!

Attending a Wedding

Over my holiday I got to go to my first wedding, well really it was my second, but the first time I was 8, and I spent the whole reception throwing wet paper towels to the ceiling to see if they'd stick. So this wedding was very different. It was in Limoges in France, but it was a very English style wedding. The main reception was an early afternoon tea, with cakes, lots of cake. 

Ok, maybe I didn't have that much tea, but I still had a really good night. The wedding started at 12:30, so we got there a bit earlier. My friend Emily was one of the bridesmaids so I was able to see all of them getting ready. And I even helped the bride with her hair. 

It was just a really fun experience, and I got to know a few really great people. Everything was so pretty, even if part of the theme was to have everything kind of mismatched. I think the decorations were incredible and everyone seemed to be having an amazing time. 

Over the next two decades I know I'll be attending loads of weddings all over the world, and I will get sick of them. But the fact that my first wedding was a cute small one really made me look forward to the others. 

Last Day in Marrakesh

We were able to do a lot on our last day in Marrakesh. We had planned on seeing the important cites at the south side of the Medina on different days, but we then played with our schedule a bit and decided to see them all at once, after all they're all only a few streets away from one another. 

We started the morning at the Saadian Tombs, where you pay 10 MAD for entrance. The building is at the back of an important Mosque and the tombs are spread out in little different rooms with a green courtyard between the different rooms. Each tomb has at least one door way, where people could go to pray and visit their loved ones. The tombs are decorated with colourful tiles, engravings in wood and brick and many other little decorations. 

It was interesting to see so many tourists looking at the architecture, because that's what we see when visiting very different places such as Morocco. However to the locals it probably means a lot more. I would have liked there to be a more descriptive panel posted near the tombs explaining the background of the tombs so we could all gain a little more insight for why this particular tomb is such an important landmark. 

We then visited the Bahia Palace, which was wonderful. There were indoor and outdoor gardens, and so many small decorative details that we no longer see in Europe. The tiny tiles blended in well with the painted ceilings and stone engravings giving each room character even if it was empty. Moroccans tend to show their wealth by having fountains, because if you can waste water it shows that you have enough money to do so. I think that's an interesting mentality behind a decorative feature. 

The Bahia Palace only had windows when looking into the courtyard but never towards the exterior. This was strange to me because it gave me the impression of being closed off. Their windows however have beautiful curved metal wiring. This is where decoration works well with practicality. 

Lastly we visited the Dar Si Said Museum which was off the main roads. The rooms were dark but there were interesting historical objects showing the Moroccan and the Berber cultures very well. Intricate wooden doors and windows were displayed as well as a group of old fire arms and beautiful praying rugs. The museum had several small staircases which we used to see the different rooms, and we were able to visit most of the building which was an old rich man's house. 

Each different landmark we visited we tried to soak in and understand the most possible about the country and the culture. I truly enjoyed learning so much on my own where each discovery was new to me because I organized the trip myself without much previous knowledge about Moroccan culture. 

Camel Rides Marrakesh

During our trip to Marrakesh we had to go camel riding, because my parents would never let me when I was a kid. So we got the hotel to book us a camel ride in the Palmarie north east of Marrakesh. We got picked up near our hotel at 9am and joined a group of people who were also going camel riding. 

Upon arrival we paid our 300 MAD (Moroccan money) and lined up with the others to get our heads wrapped in traditional Saharan headscarves. We were then chosen one at a time to mount our camels. I was at the end of one of the lines of camels. 

Its a very strange feeling when the camel sits down or stands up, because their legs bend inwards, which is different from most mammals. We were then all lead on to the road, our line of camels leading the way. We got to stop for photos and to drink mint tea (a Moroccan specialty). 

We were able to gallop with the camels after learning key words to make them speed up such as "yalla yalla" and "zit zit". It was a fun experience and we got to see a much more deserted area of the country while doing something we had never done before. 

But I left with one major question in mind, why are there one hump and two hump camels? I later discovered that the one hump camel is also called the "Arabian Camel" but really it is dromedary. Two hump camels are the traditional type of camel and a dromedary only has one hump instead. We rode dromedaries because the saddle we were seated on was created around the single hump of the animal. I found that pretty interesting. 

Riad Clementine Marrakesh

Riad Clementine was a beautiful oasis. Coming from outside, I was surprised to see a white door in the red/brown madness of Marrakesh. We knocked, and walked in. The big wooden door opened and one of the workers greeted us and took our luggage. We then walked through into the courtyard of the hotel. Where there was a beautiful fountain and a couple of cute tiled tables. We sat down at a sofa, and were asked to fill out a few forms discussing our stay. When we finished the owner of the hotel spoke to us, about how to get to the hotel and which routes were best for getting to the souks and the square. She gave us a detailed map that I looked at often over our holiday. We were then shown to our room, on the top floor of the hotel. 

The room was incredible, a cute little coffee table was the first thing we saw and we were happy to notice several other cute small details throughout the room. However the best surprise was the bath tub. It was a huge clay, tile rimmed, bath tub. Big enough to fit two people and deep enough for you to shower in it without a shower curtain and not make a mess. Little silver cups held q-tips, cotton buds, shampoo and shower gel. Everything seemed so well placed. There was even a safe inside the closet. Everything had personality but it didn't overwhelm the other details of the room.

The hotel pool was a great size, big enough to have a few people lazing around by it but not too big, showing you it was a place to relax and escape the crowds of people rather than a place to exercise. Every lawn chair had two yellow towels and a hat on it, so you didn't need to bring your own and you didn't have to be worried about getting your head sunburnt. 

The people at the hotel were all very friendly, booking a camel ride and taxi for us, as well as serving us incredible breakfast everyday and a wonderful dinner the last day. The breakfast was probably my favourite part of my stay there. The staff came out with a tray with freshly squeezed orange juice, little yogurt pots and fruit salad. They then laid out tiny pots of jam for the bread and Moroccan pancakes they later brought us. They also served us coffee (or tea) and a tray of cheese, ham, cakes, and dates. 

I really really enjoyed my stay there and would really recommend staying there because the Riad is located within the Medina but its not a noisy area. Also I felt very safe there compared to on the streets of Marrakesh. It was a great place to come back to from the "hustle and bustle" of the city and I would love to stay there again. On a side note, if you don't like waking up to birds chirping its not a place for you. 

Here's their website: http://www.riad-clementine.com/

Introduction to Marrakesh

My friend Daniella and I decided to go to Morocco a few months ago and we booked the cheapest flights (EasyJet from Gatwick) and a nice but cheap hotel (Riad Clementine), for our holiday to Marrakesh. We prepared ourselves by looking up things to do online, and I bought a little guide book from Amazon. We looked at a bunch of different blogs and tried to see what the best things to do were. We ended up writing a day-by-day plan of what we were going to do and what we wanted to see. 

When travelling you have to be sure that even if you plan every detail things do not go as planned. We reserved online for a few things, but on the first day we had planned to go to "Les Bains de Marrakech" but our reservation didn't go through because we didn't pay for it online. 

Not to worry, we were dying in the 40°C heat, so we stopped for a drink, and took a cab back to the hotel. From the first day it felt like we were going to end up taking a lot of taxis but we only ended up taking about 4, and two of those were from and to the airport. 

Our hotel was paradise, (but I'll write about that in my next post) and close enough to everything we wanted to see. Now the people of Marrakesh always assume you're looking for the square "Jemaa el Fna" but we never seemed to be looking for it when they attempted to give us directions. 

We reminded ourselves that this was not Europe and everything is a little unorganized, such as there being barely any street signs in French or English. Its hard when there isn't any Arabic on your map and yet everything around you is in Arabic. You end up asking yourself whether the mosque you're looking at is the same one you're looking at in your map. 

Overall, it was an incredible trip, and we were able to see a lot for only being there for 5 days. This holiday gave me the sudden urge to need to see more of the world and I can't wait for my next Intercontinental holiday.