Marrakech, Atlas Mountains & Essaouira - January 2008

Samantha particularly, but also myself, had wanted to visit Marrakech for ages.

We had originally planned to go there in late 2007 (and earlier) but for various reasons we had postponed travelling to Marrakech. However, we spotted a decent deal flying out from London Gatwick and we booked it up.

Marrakech and the places we visited in Morocco (Atlas Mountains & Essaouira) were absolutely fabulous!

So much to see, So much to hear, So much to smell, So much to touch and So much to taste!

Indeed, something for all the senses!

The colours were absolutely amazing, with a vibrancy unseen in many countries we had visited.

We arranged a (rare for us) pickup from the airport through our Riad, which was a good thing as finding the Riad would have been extremely difficult.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the super-friendly and efficient welcoming staff of the Riad who brought Moroccan Mint Tea and biscuits (first of many, many cups we drank!) and they explained about the city.

Following this, we ventured up to our suite to freshen up before we wandered out to see what the city had to offer.

The room we had was called the African Suite and it was a beautiful room indeed, with wonderful African decorations and designs.

So, after freshening up we headed outside, down the alleyway to the exterior road, inhabited by donkeys, carts, scooters, bicycles and people everywhere, and onwards to the main square, Jemaa El Fna.

Jemaa El Fna, being the largest square in Africa, is the main centre of activity in Marrakech and is the place where orange juice sellers sell their freshly squeezed juice, henna artists accost you persistantly, fresh food vendors spruik their wares - meals in the evening (sheeps head for locals and the adventurous), dried fruits and nuts, snails, etc, story tellers regale stories to locals, small kids have boxing matches surrounded by loads of local people, people singing and finally, and intruigingly for us, snake charmers with adders and cobras.

There are various mosques situated near the square also and five times a day, the call to prayer is belted out to all and sundry.

All these sights, sounds, movements and aromas contribute to a brilliant experience for all the senses.

The souks are also absolutely amazing. Essentially a series of interlinked and narrow roads, with stalls on each side, they are also a feast of colour and activity.

Sure, they're selling goods to tourists primarily, but Marrakech has been a trading post for hundreds of years, and they were selling wares to tourists then, so nothing has changed except for what they sell now.

You can buy silk scarves, bedspreads, tagines, pots, brightly coloured bowls, aromatic soaps and spices, handmade hats, leathergoods, etc etc.

We made sure that we kept our humour (as opposed to some reviews we had read) and we joked with the local stallholders who continually ask you to check out what they have in their stall.

We did buy some pretty interesting things, candles, spice bowls, hat, tagines and a moroccan tea set.

All of these purchases were an interesting experience with various amounts of haggling to be done, after they supply with their outrageous initial prices. Much of the time, we gave a price and we ended up walking off, with the stall holder chasing us up the road and concluding the deal 50 metres from their stall.....much to the amusement of some of the neighbouring stallholders.

All in all, a cool experience in the souks with only a couple of stallholders proving somewhat serious and overbearing.

We also spent some time in the Musee Marrakech and the Medersa Ben Youssef, formerly a school of religious learning but now a museum. Both buildings were absolutely stunning in their architecture and we noted that they were very cool inside, probably a welcome relief in Summer's higher temperatures.

The Atlas Mountains are quite close to Marrakech so we organised a day trip through our Riad and off we went with another guest at the Riad, a young guy from Boston called Sidd.

This was a cool experience as we stopped at a Berber village and had Moroccan Mint Tea in a local's house.

Mint Tea is brilliant and despite being loaded with sugar, is very refreshing. You need to pour it from a decent height to add as much air to it as possible.

The road was winding, but we eventually reached a larger Berber village, where we had lunch, followed by a short walk into the hills. Sidd chose to ride on a mule but Samantha and I walked. Some parts were a little steep but it was pretty easy really. Good fun.

Following more ventures into the souks and Jemaa El Fna, we decided to head for a day trip on our last day to a coastal town called Essaouira.

Essaouira is apparently famous for its high profile 1960's visitors, notably Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, but that aside, it's essentially a more relaxed version of Marrakech with more white walls and blue shutters, plus an abundance of seafood.

We stopped and had lunch near the market where they bring in the fish and it was so fresh and tasty.

We also wandered around the streets and generally had a relaxing time there.

Marrakech and Morocco, from what we saw, is a brilliant place and we really enjoyed our time there and we are planning to head back there!

Avebury, Salisbury, Winchester & Stonehenge - January 2008

I'd read a book about unusual days out in Britain and the Avebury stone circles was one chapter of the book that sounded reasonably interesting.

We had to fly from London Gatwick to Marrakech, so we thought we might as well spend a day or so in the south of England, visiting places we had yet to visit.

So, off we went towards Salisbury and on the way we visited Avebury.

Avebury is a small town close to Bristol guess, in general terms, and it's main feature is a set of massive stones, similar to Stonehenge down the road, that have been placed in a circular design.

Interestingly, the town itself has been built pretty much around the stone circle.

Some of the stones are massive, so it is pretty amazing really.

We have no real idea why they were placed there, but it's definitely an interesting experience.

Following Avebury, we visited Salisbury, famous for its brilliant Cathedral.

The Cathedral actually houses one of the versions of the Magna Carta but unfortunately, when we visited, this section was not due to open for a few hours, so we decided instead to wander through the fabulous Cathedral and then have a slow meander through the city of Salisbury.

We've seen our fair share of Cathedrals in our travels, with some of the better ones being in Italy and France, not to mention Durham's brilliant Cathedral.

Salisbury's Cathedral has the highest spire in Britain but the best part of the Salisbury Cathedral is the interior.

It's a beautiful Cathedral with delicate colours and designs, along with a very stylish design.

We were very impressed and whilst we spent a good amount of time there, we intend to revisit at a later time, hopefully to also see the Magna Carta.

So, after Salisbury, we drove up the road a short distance to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is a worldwide attraction and we were never really that bothered about it. However, the reality is that, despite the rain and reasonably low temperatures, it was actually pretty good.

It's difficult to even contemplate how the people who built Stonehenge, thousands of years ago, managed to place the horizontal stones on top of massive vertical stones.

Plus, they even installed a type of lego joining section on these stones to hold them in place.

Not only that, apparently the stones are from West Wales, which is bloody miles away.

Amazing! Truly!

We even joined up with the English Heritage to make some day trips around the country at later times!

And onwards to Winchester for a very brief visit.

This is a small city, but quite picturesque.

Winchester also houses a Cathedral, but we decided not to go in, and instead have a wander around the town.

Quite a decent place in Hampshire.

Overall, we enjoyed travelling through Southern England and visiting some of the spectatcular attractions of the area.