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France, Spain and Morocco
  • Sheryl Burgess

France, Spain and Morocco

A 42-day adventure by Sheryl Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 9, 2016
  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Nice, France

    April 10, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Bonjour...
    Started our journey after 30 hours in transit. Checked bags in at Townsville airport and picked them up in Nice. Dubai was our 3hr transit point.
    Checked in at Grand Hotel Aston (Aston La Scala). Great location. Nice and handy.
    Weather has been amazing. A beautiful 15/17 deg during the day.
    We remember what we love about France. It is the crossants and their amazing tasting butter.
    Got on la grand Nice tour bus (hop on hop off). It was good but it could have been so much better if we could have found the pick up points easier and if they had better commentary on the bus.
    The water at the beach was just amazing blue and so inviting. A far cry from our water at home. The place is really busy with people but has a really laid back atmosphere.

    Onto Montpellier. Bloody hell the train station in Nice was an experiance. Not very helpful and not signed well. The dude at information was not full of information but he was full of attitude. Finaly we managed to work it out. Luckely we arrived early. By the time we landed on the platform and found the carriage we had to get on and which train, it left 10 min later. Now we just have to get off at the right stop and change trains in Avignon and then onto Montpellier.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Montpellier, France

    April 12, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Just arrived in Montpellier. What a cool place this is. The hotel we are staying in is Grand Hotel De MIDI. It is really nice and handy. 5 minutes walk from the train station if you walk the right way around the block and real close to the city centre. The hotel staff thus far are really nice to and speak very good english. Acually one of the fellas is English. The weather is overcast at the moment. Hopefully it will be kind to us so we can get out and explore.
    Day 2. Another great day. Spent the day walking around the city. The shops don't open until 10am so we set off just before that. We went to place de la comedie, les 3 graces, les operas, ancien ampitheatre, saint - come, tour de la babote, eglise et quartier saint roch, quartier saint anne, palais de justice, arc de triomphe replica of the original that is in Paris, place royale du peyrou, aqueduc saint - clement, chateau d' eau, cathedral saint - piere, la faculte de medecine, jardin des plantes, tour des pins, chapelle saint charles, esplanade charles de qaulle, Maison des relations internationales (Nelson Mandala) garden.
    It rained in the afternoon but the sun came out beautiful again.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Barcelona, Spain

    April 15, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Staying at the HGL Citypark Paleyo. Not real flash. They are renovating and the room and hallway smells very badly of glue fumes. The room has a lot of street noise to and the window does not shut properly either. The room is very small with no where to put anything. No tea and coffee making facilities either :( , Apart from that the location isn't too bad.
    Had a dinner and show at the Tablo Cordobes located on the Rambler. That was really good. The food was very good and the wait staff excellant. The show was very good to.
    The journey to Barcelona was interesting. We traveled on remfe train and they had double booked our seats. I ended up finding a spair seat but Clint had to stand the last hour and a half in the entry exit point of the train and wait until we landed at Barcelona station. This was also afer we were fined 50 euro for not writing the date on our rail pass today. My lord. and the train was a half hour late to boot.
    The day started out and continued to be testing but the night at the Cordobes turned this around. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better allround. The weather is fantastic to. Now theres another positive amongst the list of intersting events.
    An excellant day 2 in Barcelona on the hop on hop off bus. There were two routes green and orange. Both take about 2.5hrs in duration for a full round trip each. What a great way to see Barcelona in such a short time. Weather is amazing again. The hotel still ordinary. The tapas in Barcelona is amazing.
    Day 3 in Barcelona has been a great day to. The weather perfect again. Walked and walked today and went back to some of the sites we passed on the bus yesterday. Stopped at a small resturant in some square and had tapas again. Love tapas. Doing a tapas tour this evening at 5 different venues apparently. We will see what that is like.1qa.
    Tapas tour tonight with Urban Adventures. Great tour. Seen some more of the city with an English speaking guide and ate way too much.
    Have decided if we get back to Barcelona that we should spend a week here to see all the stuff we want to see. We haven't even scratched the surface of what we could see here. Also, very busy time of year between March and October. People everywhere.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Valencia, Spain

    April 19, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Had a great trip from Barcelona on the Remfe train. Heaps of space to move around. Better than the Montpellier to Barcelona trip and no rude French conductors tyring to fine you.
    The weather is amazing again for us.
    We are staying at the Dimar hotel, it is amazing. Love this hotel and it is a far cry from the crap we stayed in in Barcelona. Little bit of road noise but nothing compaired to Barcelona hotel.
    Walked around the old city on the first afternoon and got lost. Walked for hours. Lovely old city and has a great vibe to it. More relaxed though addmitadly it is Sunday and nothing much open. Ate too much again of course. Paela and potos bravos.
    Next day in Valencia we did a bike tour. What a fantastic way to see the city. The guide was fantastic. This was booked through Viator (Valencia bike tour). It went for 3 hours at a good pace and mostly used the park land which is so peaceful and beutiful. Visited a few places of interest as well and out guide even minded the bikes while we went into the barcilica. It was not much to look at from the front but the inside was spectacular. The wind was up today so it was quite cool and needed a jacket otherwise we would not have needed one. The weather is sunny though they were predicting rain. Doesn't even look like rain. Nice to see the weather people can't get it right here either. They are consistant all over the world. Paela agian for lunch with salad and the nicest olives I have ever tasted.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Madrid, Spain

    April 19, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Arrived in Madrid at around 11am. Fast train it was doing up to 301kms /hr . The hotel Regente we are staying at is ok. Does not have breaky included and no free wifi so we are using Starbucks free wifi around the corner. Serves a dual purpose though. We like the tea and coffe at Starbucks. It is raining in Madrid. I think we will have to buy and unmbrella.
    The weather is cold and wet in Madrid today (20th April 2016). Hop on hop off bus was ok. The afternoon trip we got on (because Clint got us lost trying to navigate the map). 11degs all day today. Wet socks to.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Seville, Spain

    April 21, 2016 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Hotel Don Paco. Interesting place. Has free wifi and the room comes with breakfast. The bathroom is small but we will manage it.
    The weather is a cool 20 deg and overcast but the sun is shining.
    Went on the river boat cruise this afternoon. Not bad., very enjoyable and tranquil.
    Dinner and show at Tabloa El Arenal. Great dinner and great show.

    Beds are comfy and the pillows. Nice change from a few of the other places we have stayed.

    Weather great today. Did the hop on hop off bus. Worth doing but better if you can get on the top. Take a while to go around.
    Did a tour of the Plaza de toros. Good tour and only cost 7 euro each. Tour went for about 40 minutes. Worth a look. This bull ring is the second oldest in Spain. The oldest is in Malaga.
    Ate tapas again today. Bloody beautiful. Love tapas and love the sizes of the plates of food. Wondered through the streets again and stopped for chevaza a couple of times. Had dinner at a great little place across the road from the hotel 'Catalinas', very good food and service.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Granada, Spain

    April 24, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Arrived late this arvy to the Hotel La Casa De La Trinidad. The train line was not open all the way. They are doing works on the line so we had to get off at some place and be bussed here. Purchased our tickets to Algeciras for Monday (Anzac Day) which was a bit of a challenge. The fella spoke no English at all but we managed. Finaly got a cab to the hotel. Great hotel. Close to everything and the room is really good to. Breaky included as well as wifi.
    Walked around a bit this afternoon. Stopped for a late lunch across the way and had seafood paela and chicken paela and a couple of cervacia estrella galicia. Nice beer. Cam across the biggest cathedral just up a bit from the hotel. wandered through the laneways and discoverd them filled with Moroccon stores and spices. What a segway into the next part of our trip.
    Walking tour today was great. Well worth doing. Booked it through Viator. After tour we walked up the hill to a lookout that looked out over the city and castle and the snow covered mountains in the background. Breathtaking, particularly on such a beautiful day.
    I think next time we travel we will book a tour guide/walking tour/bike ride tour in each place as it is the best way to see around the place and get information. You can also ask whatever questions you want and get answers to at the time. I also think next time we come here to Spain we will spend the same amount of time here but visit less places. More time in each place will give us oppotunities to see inside some of these places.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Tarifa, Spain

    April 25, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    Caught the train from Granada to Algeciras today and then bought a ferry ticket to cross over to Morocco. The ferry ticket took us by bus to Tarifa and then the ferry across to Tanger Ville. Bus took about 30min to get to Tarifa and then the ferry took 1hr to get to Tanger.Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Tanger, Morocco

    April 25, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Well we made it across the Strait of Gibralter (I think it is called). Pulled up in Algeciras after traveling from Granada. Left Granada at 6.45am. Got to Algeciras at 11am. Walked to the ferry terminal which is straight up the road and into the ferry termal. They were all asking us to book with them but we wanted to travel with FRS. We walked up to their counter. Good thing to as we were expecting to have to catch the ferry across from Algeciras to Tanger Med and then we did not know how we where going to get from Tanger Med to Tanger Ville. FRS had a bus to Tarifa and then a ferry leaving a half our after we got there (1pm) The ferry from Tarifa takes you strait to Tanger Ville. Only cost us 37 Euro each for the bus to Tarifa and included the ferry to Tanger Ville. Food and drink on the boat to at reasonalble cost. The trip takes 1 hour but you need to allow for about 30 minutes for disembarking and going through customs.
    FRS will also change your euro at Tanger for you into MAD. Mad is what it is like getting off the boat to. People waiting like seagulls to pounce on you and take you in a cab. We got some fella that spoke good english to and he got us a cab. Cost us 50MAD which I think is about 5 Euro but he wanted to take us on a walking tour of the city later. We were in two minds but decided to do this. He is taking us for a few hours for 10 euro each. I think this isn't too bad as we paid more than this in Granada for a walking tour that we had to share with other people and wait for the guide to speak in Spanish to the Spanish people on the tour before she spoke English (and not the best english either). He will pick us up at the hotel foyer at 4pm.
    The walking tour was very good. OUr guides name was Akrum and he took us all over the medina and kasba. We were out for 3 hours and at the end he recommended a place to eat so we left our guide and stopped and ate. Worth the money we paid. 200 MAD plus we gave hm 50 MAD extra. This was still cheaper than our tour in Granada and he spoke better english and we were on our own private tour. We tried olives from the market and crepes and stopped off at a sweets store that make backlava. Not as good as home but still good and we tried some other delights as well.
    Dinner was delicous and we had a targine each. Our first try and we liked it.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Casablanca. Morocco

    April 27, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Got in from the train around 2.30pm. Caught the train from Tanger at 9.30am. Good trip even though it stopped many times. The toilet was interesting. It is a long drop straight onto the tracks. We paid for 1st class so we would be gauranteed a seat but we purchased the tickets an hour before we boarded. We had the 6 birth seating cabin to ourselves for a good couple of hours and I was able to lay down and have a sleep. We got company for a short part of the trip but then he disembaked an hour before we got to Cassa. We got in a petite cab and went to the hotel Mamoura. 60 MAD which is about 6 Euro. Cheap as compaired to home.
    The room is pretty good compaired to the room we had in Tanger. That was very basic but this room is flash by Tanger standards. Intrepid booked this hotel and I must say so far so good. Just waiting for our friends Cass and Megan to arrive from the airport as they are joining us on our tour with Intrepid tomorrow.
    Not so impressed with Casablanca as yet. It is very dirty what I have seen so far. The medina and the mosque has been recommended to us and we may head out there tomorrow as I think Cass and Megan may want to freshen up and relax this afternoon after over 30 hours in transit.
    Day 2 - took a cab (the 5 of us) to the mosque. Did a tour of the mosque (1/2 hr) and it was great to see. This building is incredible 200m x 100m x 65m tall) It was consturcted over a 6 year period with 3,000 people working on it. They worked in shifts around the clock.
    Walked from there through the old medina and then onto a nice resturant to have tea and a snack. Walked on from there through the new medina. From there we walked up the main street onto the market and had lunch. What an experiance that was. We had to pick our own fresh seafood and take it back to the resturant foor area and they cooked it for us. Very interesting and tasty. Luckly there was a lady dinning there that spoke english or we would not have known what the process was to eat there.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Rabat, Morocco

    April 28, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Well the day started with leaving the hotel at 8.15am to catch the train to Rabat. We arrived after an hour of travel and walked to a cafe near cafe hawai. Left our bags there and took off on foot to the Kasbah. The Kasbah dates back to the 1300's. The Kasbah was worth seeing and looked out over the ocean. The beach was nearby as well. What was interesting was the graves that all faced meca. There was thousands and thousands of them. We got lost going back as we wanted to view the Hassan tower but took a wrong turn and walked the long way around and ended up getting to the resturant for lunch by 1pm. Had targien for lunch.
    On the train again at 2pm and heading Moulay Indress. Should be a 3hr trip.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Moulay Idress

    April 29, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Arrived at Moulay Indress this afternoon by taxi. What a great little city this is. It sits up in the hills and is sourounded by farmland.
    The riat we are staying in is lovely and Clint and I have the penthouse right at the very top of the building. It is 5 stories up and we have to climb the stairs to get to our bedroom. The room is simple but clean and the view is amazing.
    We did a walking tour of the city this afternoon with a guide. Lucky we had a guide cause we would not have fournd our way back. He only charged us 20 MAD each for this tour and we were gone for a couple of hours. On our return we watched the lady of the house make cous cous. We then sat down for dinner with Moroccon salad and olives, bread, next course was moroccon soup which was beautiful and then main course which was a meatball targine and a the cous cous with chicken and steamed vegies. Desert was sliced oranges with cinammon on them. Suprisingly tasty. Finished of with verbena tea. Fantastic place. Loved it a lot.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Volubillis and Meknes

    April 30, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Started the day heading out to the ruins at Volubilis from Moulay Idress. How amazing these were. I could have stayed here all day amongst these Roman ruins. Just loved them.
    They were apparently one of the Romans most remote bases which remained affluent until the 8th century. The main structures remained intact until they were damaged in an earthquack in the 18th centurary. Much of the marbel then was taken from the site and used for construction in nearby Meknes.
    Onto Meknes were we toured around the royal palace and ate a camel burger before heading off to Fes.
    Fantastic day    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Fes

    April 30, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Started the afternoon in Fez arriving at the hotel Olympic. Had dinner at this awesome resturant Resturant of Marrakech (tangien of course). Ready for anothe full day tomorrow.
    Next day we visited the potters and seen the mosaic tiles and pottery items and how they make them. The next place was a view of the city and the medina from the top of the hill. We visited the medina and the tannerie within the medina and the copper/silver smith were i bought a camel tea pot. Onto the silk maker . We had lunch somewhere in the medina. Big day but a great day.Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Chefchaouen

    May 2, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Arrived in Chefchaoun yesterday afternoon. The group took a bongo van taxi into the city from the hotel. It was Labour Day and crazy busy in the city. In fact it was too busy we were flat out getting through the crowd. We did mandage to get from were they do the washing down through the medina into the square next to the Kasbah. We went for dinner at this really nice terrace resturant called something Aladin. We where still full from lunch but had the vegetable soup and Moroccon soup. Very nice it was and only 25MAD. We caught a cab back to the hotel (15 MAD). It was late by the time we got to bed but there was a lot of noise going on outside the hotel. The hotel whilst comfortable and adequate is noisy.
    The second day was spent as a free day and we took a cab into town. We walked up to the mosqu on the hill and whilst the mosque is closed the view is amazing and it was just lovely to sit on the wall and admire the view for a while. The day was spent meandering around the medina. Very easy to navigate and a guide is not really necesary.
    The hena I got done in the square near the Kasbah. It cost 30 MAD.
    We have discovered that being able to speak French helps a lot. Not that we can, only bits and pieces.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Marrakech, Morocco

    May 5, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Arrived in Marrakech after traveling on the overnight Marrakech express from Tanger. Inntersting trip. Recomend earplugs and a eye mask for sleeping as well as wet wipes as the toilet facilities are not the place you would liketo freshen up. Pack some snacks to if you get hungry as the food and drink cart is pricey, but you would expect that to be the case.
    Walked to the medina to have a look around. Got lost. Had a great burger in one of the smaller squares off the edge of the souk. Walked around that afternoon and a hail storm came over. Apparently this is not usual and it certainly was interesting for us. Later that evening at dinner there was a hail storm again. Too cool.
    We visited the Ben Youssef Medrasa. Was an Islamic college and was the largest medresa in all of Morocco and was built in the 14 century.
    There was a runaway horse and carriage in the square this afternoon which we missed but by the look of it I reckon the people that paid for that ride would have got more ride than they paid for. The two stalls it crashed into were still shut the next day.
    Did a bike ride this morning which went for two hours. Think it was a little overpriced but the highlight for me was the riding through the traffic. That was interesting. We stopped for fresh squeezed orange juice in the square at stall 35. No ice and still cold.
    Had a quiet afternoon at the hotel La Caspian were we are staying. We have 4 people leaving our tour but we have two new ones joining us from Australia for the second leg of our Morocco Encompassed trip with Intrepid.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Aroumd, Morocco

    May 6, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    Left Marrakech this morning and headed off on the bus up into the Atlas Mountains. Got to a point and then treked up the hill for about and hour and a bit. We had to cross a mountain stream as it had been raining the few previous days. The trek was step going but we stopped relativley frequently to catch our breaths. The air was thin and a little hard to breath but we got used to it. We got to the giat and had a welcome moroccon tea and nibbles. Some of the group headed up for a 4 hour trek. We stayed behind and walked around the village and enjoyed what sunshine we could find and get out of the wind as it was very cold.
    There was snow up in the high mountains still and we were here in Spring.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Ait Benhaddou, Morocco

    May 8, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    After a 6 hour journey from Aroumd, we arrived at Ait Benhaddou. It is a kind of desert oasis which is located on the barren edges of the Sahara. This place or rather the kasbah features in the movies Laurence of Arabia, The Jewel of the Nile and Gladiator.Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Zagora, Morocco

    May 9, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Arrived in Zagora today pretty late in the arvy after what seemed to be driving all day. We did a couple of stops though and looked out over the Atlas Mountains and we also stoped at a super market. We seen plenty of date palms once we crossed the mountains. They follow the river that used to go all the way through the Sahara and out to the see before they dammed it about 30 years ago.
    The hotel we are staying at tonight is a real pearler. It is like an oasis. Not sure of the name of it.
    Tomorrow we are heading off to our Sahara camp and will be traveling most of the day.    Read more

  • Sheryl BurgessFrance, Spain and MoroccoSheryl Burgess

    Sahara, Morocco

    May 10, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Spent a night out in the Sahara. We got taken out by 4 x 4's on a 1.5hr drive to reach the camp. Thank God we purchased headd scarfs before we went we needed them. We had windy weather and it blew the sand up. Before we headed of though, we took an hour long camel ride. This was fun and interesting. We needed our headscarfs for that to.
    The sunset was beautiful. We climbed the dunes from the camp and watched it sink. Headed back to camp and had dinner. Our accomodation for the night was woolen tents and the beds were suprisingly comfortable.
    Watched the sunrise next morning, had breaky and headed off again in the 4 x 4's. Two hour drive to a differnent    Read more

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