On the sea.
First up, Bonifacio, Corsica.
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Bonifacio. Awesome, right? Who's with me! Still not up to much, so I only got this far. Then back to the ship.
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Then on to Mahon, Menorca and our first castle. Have I mentioned I love castles?
I did better this time. Managed to scramble around the castle a bit.
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Ugh. Upping. |
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Just a couple of pictures to whet your appetite for... |
Ibiza, Balearic Islands
And no, I had no idea it existed until I went there.
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Remember when I mentioned gardens? |
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Ditto |
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View of the city wall from the Sultana's rooms. |
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One of the amazing courtyards. |
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And another. |
And on to Morocco!
First stop, Safi.
From there, we took a bus to Marrakech. We sang 'Marrakech Express' along the way. Most of the passengers didn't get it...
Amazing countryside in Morocco. Hot and dusty. Plenty of donkey wagons. And each family had their own little compound with high, cement walls, usually a little mud-brick home with a satellite dish on the roof. Unlike any place I've ever seen!
To prepare for our visit, the ship showed Casablanca, the movie.
Sadly, Casablanca was a bit of a disappointment.
Apart from the absolutely beautiful mosque, the third-largest in the world, the city itself was rather run-down and dirty. Many, many beggars.
A city of wildly varying contrasts. The utterly poor and destitute compared to the most stunningly beautiful building I've ever seen.
And the Rick's Cafe they took us to?
Not the real one. Just FYI...
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Wait for it... |
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Seriously one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen! |
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Right? |
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... |
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...... |
From there, on to Tangier, Morocco.
A beautiful city. Very progressive and on the move. Restorations in every quarter we saw.
Beautiful!
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My next home. |
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Ali Babba at the gate. |
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One of the local streets. |
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And markets. |
I loved Tangier. A little sad our visit was so short!
From there it was back to Spain and Cadiz, where we went to a sherry-making plantation.
And to see the Andalusian horses train.
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These guys are serious about their sherry. 25,000 barrels in this storage room alone! |
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Sadly, the only horse I managed to photograph at the Andalusian training school. Photos of the real thing were prohibited. Sigh. P.S. They were AWESOME! |
And then it was back to the ship and on to our final port, Lisbon, Portugal.
We said a sad good-bye to our shipboard acquaintances and headed into Lisbon for the final three days of our holiday.
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Doing what we do best. |
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Hallway. Why do I love them so much? |
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Castle hallway. Ditto. |
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Monastery. Catch your breath beautiful! |
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Lisbon city street. And an elevator built around the same time as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Amazing. |
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View from the top of said elevator. |
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Another view... |
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Typical city street |
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Typical delicious food. |
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Out in the country. (Sintra. The most amazing place!) |
And home.
We had the very best of times. Great company. Great food.
And tons of site-seeing.
We packed a lot into a few weeks, but crossed many, many items off the bucket list.
My only problem now is... where to next?!
I'm green with envy ... all over. It's so wonderful! Thank you for showing these photos.
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome! Thank you for sharing it with me!
DeleteOoooh. Like Uglemor I am jealous.
ReplyDeleteHowever I was particularly taken with 'An amazing palace and gardens that once housed the Sultan and his household. Became the home to Granada's homeless'.
I love that and would like to see it spread. Worldwide.
It was truly amazing, EC! Amazing.
DeleteLooks wonderful. I've always wanted to see Morocco, definitely on the bucket list. Portugal is beautiful, although have never seen Lisbon. Spain is also fascinating. What a great trip!
ReplyDeleteAll the places I've long wanted to see, Laurie, all rolled up into one trip. Now I have to decompress and sort memories. So much in so little time!
DeleteSo many beautiful places! You covered a lot of ground. I think that would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip!
ReplyDeleteWhen I look over all the pictures, I get tired just thinking about it! ;)
DeleteAustralia and New Zealand next? They have been on my bucket list since early childhood. But your trip sounds so very.....extensive? Wow. You had me at "gardens".
ReplyDeleteMan, those gardens!
DeleteYep. Next is going to see one of the big stations in Australia. Just have to convince Husby that's what he wants to do! :)
Down under has to be next!
ReplyDelete