The Amazing Tourist in Spain

One week after the wedding we set out for our great adventure, I should actually call it our relaxing holiday or romantic honeymoon in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. We flew with Qatar airways from Johannesburg International to a small country called Duah for a 2 hour stop over. We arrived at 2 in the morning and when we stepped out of the plane it was 40 degrees. After this short stop over we flew to Madrid – Spain where we arrived at 8 in the morning.

It was by accident that we bumped into our Trafalgar tour guide called ‘David’. As soon as he dropped us at our hotel – The Florida Norte, we went out exploring on our own by using the Metro System. It’s really easy to use and you should just follow the lines. Since it was a Sunday all the museums charged no entrance and we went to visit the magnificent Museum del Prado with its world-famous paintings. We got to see the works of Spain's Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya, as well as of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch and collections of El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens and Raphael. My favourite paintings were Bosch's "Garden of Delights", and Rubens' "The Three Graces".

In the evening we ate at Casa Mingo, the king of Spain’s favourite restaurant and afterwards we went to a bar and drank espresso while we watched the soccer team “Real Madrid” Play. A note to all tourists going to Madrid, don’t get ripped off the way we did in this bar. We asked in Spanish for coffee – “café” and when we got our espresso’s the bartender charged us 9 Euros each. (That is R81 for 2 coffees in South Africa you’ll pay R20 for two coffees) When we told our tour guide this he was very pissed off and even wanted the name of the bar.

The next morning we went to the City of Toledo, famous for their swords. The city is surrounded by a huge river and an ancient wall. Then we where off to our overnight stay in Granada; the place with the narrowest streets I have ever seen. My favourite thing about Spain is that they have siesta between 2 and 5 everyday and that it only starts getting dark after 10 in the evening. I was surprised to see families walk around with their kids in a pram at 12 at night and also people jogging with their dogs at that time. Now the streets are so narrow and winding that the evening when we went to see a Gypsy dance in a cave, we had to leave the bus and take a small mini-taxi up the narrow streets of Granada. Our local guide then got lost and we spent hours trying to find our way back to the hotel but it was worth it cause we got to see a view of the Alhambra palace at night time.

The next morning we took an optional excursion to the Alhambra Palace and you won’t believe the cues of people lining up to buy tickets. Some of them even spend the night there in sleeping bags and by ten in the morning all the tickets are usually sold out. The Alhambra gardens used to have 900 gardeners looking after it and now they only keep one section open for the public and this section is maintained by 90 gardeners. The garden was build to represent the closest thing to Eden with threes like the bougainvillea and fountains and mazes all around.

The next two days we went to the Costa Del Sol where we stayed in the coastal town of Malaga. The biggest bull ring in Spain is in Malaga. Our hotel was one block away from the beach and we had the best time swimming in the calm waters of the Mediterranean sea. The beach was also nice with white sand and loads of permanent beach umbrellas. I spotted one jelly fish and what was interesting is that they have no sea shells but only colourful rocks.

That night we went to a local restaurant called ‘Casa Juan’ where we had lovely calamari and loads of sangria. Walking next to the beach we saw that all the restaurant use small boats with an open fire inside to cook sardines. What was really special about our wedding sermon was that the minister talked about the rock of Gibraltar and we got to see it the next day as we went on the ferry from Spain over the Morocco. You can read more about our adventures in Morocco in the post titled: “The Amazing Tourist in Morocco.”

After we spent 6 days in Morocco we came back to Spain and went to my favourite city – Seville. Seville is very cosmopolitan with the woman of Seville dressed to kill. It is also in Seville where we ate a delicious plate of paella and tried the house vino. Then it was off to a boat ride on their famous river, followed by loads of shopping in their department stores.

We also got to see Christopher Columbus remains in the cathedral and we went to visit the Church of Macarena with all its beautiful floats and clothing that they still use for the parade each year over Easter. The evening was one of the highlights of our tour when we had front row seats for a Flamenco show. The dancers energy were really amazing and the way they used everything from the castanets to their Spanish fans to move, really got the crowd clapping along and screaming ‘Ole’ .
So for now it is 'Adios' I'll chat to you in another amazing adventure.

The Amazing Tourist in Morocco

Wow where to begin on our adventures in Morocco. I would seriously never ever advice anyone to go and visit Morocco. This after 27 people from a tour group of 43 people got serious food poisoning, we got ripped off and cheated by the locals all the time and a camel tried to eat my skirt leaving me in just a T-Shirt and underwear on its back. (laugh all you want but remember there is such a thing as karma) We took the ferry from Spain over to Morocco.

The ferry is 3 stories and huge and our bus graciously drove unto it. There is a duty free shop on the ferry and it’s really nice to sit outside on the deck. It took us 45 minutes to go from Europe to Africa and arrive in the port city of Tangier. They are very security conscious in Tangier and you aren’t allowed to take any pictures in the port. This rule also applies for the rest of Morocco where you aren’t allowed to take pictures of any one in uniform. If you do they will take your camera and you’ll get into serious trouble. It’s really easy to exchange your euros or dollars for dirham at any bank in the port. 1 Euro = 10 dirham. 1 Rand = 1.15 dirham

After arriving in Tangier we travelled to the city of Fes where we stayed for two days. Because it is an Islamic country alcohol is supposed to be illegal but they still sell it everywhere – the only difference, it’s very expensive. The best bear that we had in Fes is called “Espesiale” and it’s also the cheapest costing between 20 and 30 dh. More expensive bears like the “Casablanca” will cost you 60 dh. In Fes we went exploring by taking a small train that drives on the normal road. I was busy taking photo’s when a policeman in his car started driving next to the train and yelling at me because I was taking photo’s. He almost wanted to jump on the train and take my camera. Luckily he did not!

The next night we went to a hotel for an arabian belly dancing experience. Belly dancing is much more difficult than you can imagine and the two belly dancers and fire dancers are really flexible and not rhythmically challenged. They even pulled us on the dance floor to wiggle next to them.

After leaving Fes behind we drove 8 hours on winding roads to arrive in Marrikesh. This city has got a pink glow because all the houses and buildings are made of pinkish stones. In the evenings the locals of Marrikesh all gather at this huge market where they play games, watch snakes and monkeys dance, bet and eat. It's really overwhelming to be there and see 2000 locals in their element on a Friday night. The next day we got to experience the less crowded square again and do some shopping and bargaining for handbags, silk, Moroccan instruments and spices. I got two types of spices, one for sea food and the other one is called 42 spices and you can use it on anything.
Casablanca is the next city that we visited. It was made famous by die movie of the same name with Hitchcock starring in it.

Here we got to swim in the Atlantic Ocean with the locals and tan on the beach while heating a ice cream wrapped in tin foil. The evening we wanted to watch a movie but when we arrived at the "Movieramma" all the films where in French. So then we went to a beach cafe where they only served non-alcoholic drinks and a DJ played music while all the people danced in front of the stage. When we wanted to buy for our drinks the waiter suddenly changed the price of our sprites from 20 dh to 50 dh. I wouldn't take any of it and found an English speaking local to tell the waiter that he won't cheat us out of our money. He finally gave us our change and we left in a hurry.

We kept traveling in a circle in Morocco because the last city that we stayed at was again the port city Tangier. When we arrived at the hotel they gave our tour group a welcome drink that was a fruit juice. It was after the whole tour group got food poisoning that we realised that the hotel mixed the fruit juice with tap water. If you plan to visit Morocco then don't drink their fruit juice, tap water or eat lettuces or anything else that they wash in water.

My Wedding Day - 11 August 2007

I started this blog 3 years ago when Jaco and I just started going out. We where in a long distance relationship and the blog was one of the ways that we could communicate during the day. Now 3 year later I had to give up my unique surname Barrish and become Mrs. Smit (no regrets).

We got married on Saturday, 11 August in a little town in the Mountains called Kaapschehoop. The wedding service and reception was at the SilverMist lodge a place known for its wild horses roaming around. We had great weather and when we started talking our photo's a herd of wild horses walked up to us to say hi!

Jaco said that he’ll always remember this beautiful picture in his head: “… the small little ring bearer Jacob smiling all the way and leading the wedding procession down the isle. Right behind him 4 year old Samantha with her basket filled with rose petals. Samantha walked really slowly down the isle and placed each rose petal neatly next to the isle. The proud dad then brought in the glowing bride and all the women in the church started crying when she entered followed by her bridesmaid holding up the trail of her dress.”

The minister gave a short sermon about 'The Rock of Gibraltar' and how your wedding day is not the end your life together but the start and that we should think of it like Christopher Columbus who believed that there is life beyond.' What was really special is that we went on our honeymoon to Portugal, Spain and Morocco and got to see the rock of Gibraltar.

After taking photo’s we entered the wedding reception on U2’s “Everlasting Love” to the loud cheers of our friends and family. The highlight of the evening was definitely when we opened the dance floor on Louise Armstrongs “What a wonderfull world” while everybody lit up a starlight. This was truly the happiest day of my life.