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eleanorroamingkiwi

New Year in Seville

***If viewing on facebook, then click on link to see lots more pictures and a video***

We have just had the best New Year in Seville.

We tried to go to the Alhambra, near Grenada but it was sold out. So we just walked round a bit.

Then we drove to Seville. The campsite was a car park and it was a bit rubbish. There were lots and lots of campervans.

We walked into Seville past the Plaza de Espana. It was very impressive with tiles on the bridges, round the fountains, on the stairs and even the lights. There were even rowboats on a tiled river. It was nice and warm.

But the best bit was watching a lady and a man doing some flamenco. They were really good. (See separate post for video)

We walked into town and I got my own beautiful fan. It is black with blue sequins. We walked round the cathedral and had a tapas for dinner. Tapas is lots of little plates with different food. We had bread, olives, toasted almonds, tuna, meatballs, chicken, ham, fries that turned out to be crisps not french fries. And for pudding I had the best chocolate pudding!

Then we went to a flamenco show. I got to sit in the front row. There was a singer, but I couldn’t understand what she said. There was a man playing guitar, and a lady dancing. I liked the dancing the best. She had a long skirt with ruffles at the bottom, and she there was lots of clapping and tapping her feet. Her feet were really fast! At the end of the show she taught us some flamenco moves!! It was amazing. Then we walked back past all the Christmas lights.

The next day we went to the Alcazar, which is like a palace. We had to queue for ages. The palace was very similar to the ones in Morocco with tiles and painted ceilings, and carved walls. There were also some tapestries on the walls that I liked. We liked the gardens too. Mummy wanted to look in the cathedral but the queue was too long.

Now we are driving north.

January 3, 2019 4

Gibraltar

Yesterday we went to Gibraltar. This is part of Great Britain, even though it is a rock on the bottom of Spain. The rock is huge. We walked through passport control and then round Ocean Village.

Then we went up the cable car to the top of the rock. There were lots of monkeys at the top – more of the Barbary macaques that we saw in Morroco. They were using their fingers to find fleas on other monkeys and then they would eat them!

There was a really good view out to sea at the top. We even saw little waterspouts.

We walked to St. Michael’s Cave. There was a big cave called the Cathedral and it had lots of seats and coloured lights and music. It gets used for concerts. We walked further down and there were lots of stalactites and stalgmites. When they join together they are called a column. One had broken and was polished and you could see rings, like in a tree trunk. When it was white it was from a dry year and when it was brown it was from a wet year.

Then we walked to the seige tunnels. Britain took Gibraltar in 1704. The great siege was when France and Spain tried to take it back in 1780. The seige lasted for three years. The British dug a big tunnel in the rock and put a lot of cannons in it. Britain won the siege and at the end they invited the Frence commander to come for dinner.

After lunch we went to the supermarket, there was a lot of food from home. On the way back to the car we had to wait because an aeroplane was taking off. It was a good day.

January 1, 2019 2

Fes

Yesterday we went to Fes. We took a taxi. The driver tooted his horn a lot!

The first thing we did was walk through the Medina to the Tanneries. This is where they make leather from goat and camel skin. We saw the skins being soaked and then all the hair being scraped off. The hair is used for carpets. The skins are dyed in big tubs and then dried. Some of the dyes were: paprika, saffron, henna, mint, tumeric. It was a bit smelly so they gave us mint, which smells nice. We bought a pouffe and he tried to get us to buy more, but we just wanted one.

Then we walked round the medina and saw lots of shops like Marrakesh. I liked it better because there were less mopeds and donkeys in the streets. I saw shops selling leather stuff, wooden bowls, slippers, lanterns, and food. My favourite was one selling carpets, but we didn’t buy one.

I won the lunch stop again. Mummy and Daddy had kebabs, and I had a pastella. This is a chicken pie with almonds and spice (filo like pastry) with sugar and cinnamon on top. It was yummy. The problem with choosing the best lunch is that every one tries to steal it!

We walked through the blue gate which is called Bab Bou Jeloud.

We went to a place called the Medersa Bou Inania which had lots of tiles and wooden carvings. It was used as a religious school.

Then we went to Batha Palace. This was a museum with lots of ceramic plates, jewellery, different clothes, a big gun and a sword. There was a nice garden in the middle.

After Fes we drove through Chefchaouen to Tangier Med Port. All the buildings were painted blue in Chefchaouen. Africa played a trick on us and the GPS took us off road over a hill to the port instead of the proper smooth road. Daddy loved it, it was very bumpy. Then we caught a boat to Algericas, and saw a rainbow. Good bye Africa till next year.

January 1, 2019 0

The High Atlas

For two days we did another route called MH18. This was through the High Atlas mountains. At Imi-n-Ifri there was a big rock bridge that we drove over. There were big stalactites, but we didn’t get a photo.

After this we saw dinosaur footprints. They were from a Megalosauripus dinosaur, which is about 2 metres tall. It is a carnivore, which means it eats meat. I could only just get my feet to reach between footprints.

We went over lots of mountain passes, with windy roads and hairpins. The highest pass was at 2,774m! After that we found some snow to play in!!

We drove through lots of villages. There were lots of shepherds and their sheep, and people with donkeys. We stopped at a house where four ladies were making a rug. It was all done by hand. It was interesting to watch, but they didn’t speak any english.

We did a wild camp by the Cathedral Rock, and saw lots of stars. Then we drove to Fes.

December 28, 2018 1

Christmas in Marrakesh

After Sidi Ifni we drove to Marrakesh. We went over the High Atlas mountains on a road called the Tizi-n-Test. Tizi means mountain pass. It was a bit scary as there were lots of hair pin turns and when you looked down, it was a long way to the bottom. At one point there was a rock hanging over the road. At the top there was a sign saying we were at 2100m. It took a long time to drive down the other side.

The best part of the drive was seeing goats in the argon trees. That was a bit weird!

We went to a campsite just outside Marrakesh. As it was Christmas Eve, Genevieve and I made a Santa sign out of stones and sticks, so Santa could find us. We decorated a tree and hung up our stockings in the tent.

On Christmas Day we checked our stockings and they had barbie clothes and chocolates in them. Mummy and Daddy gave us each a lego set. I got the Lego friends Pizzeria and Genevieve got a Sleeping Beauty castle.

Then we took a taxi into Marrakesh. First we went to the Bahia Palace. It had lots of empty rooms, but they were very pretty. All the walls and ceilings were decorated with tiles or painted flowers, arabic writing and lots of scrolls. There was even a secret garden in the middle.

Then we walked to the main square – Djemaa el-Fna. We saw snake charmers but we didn’t go too close because they would put the snake on your shoulders. I do not like snakes! They were playing loud music. There were also lots of henna stalls and I got some henna on my hand. It was like chocolate icing when she put it on and I had to keep my hand still till it dried. She put glitter on it too. When it dried, it started to crack and came off my hand. Now it is an orangey pattern, it looks good.

For lunch we went to a cafe. I had a chicken tajine and it was yummy. Mummy had couscous, and Daddy had a meatball tajine. Mine was the best.

Then we walked around the medina, which is the old city. There were lots of tiny shops selling lanterns, tajines, woven baskets, carpets, slippers, food, clothes and wooden things. Lots of the shop keepers would yell to get you to go and look at their stuff. I would say “non, merci” which means no thank you in French.