We made the northward journey to Edinburgh and have been enjoying the natural beauty of the city. Earlier today I wandered through Holyrood Park to “Arthur’s Seat,” a beautiful peak overlooking the Edinburgh Castle! Check out the photos.

A trip to Scotland wouldn’t be complete without trying haggis, a tasty dish that includes sheep liver, heart, lung, and stomach. Highly recommended! If you can’t handle the full dish, you can try a sample on your burger!

The Edinburgh Castle is a beautiful medieval castle perched on a high point in the city. According to some researchers, this may have been one of the most attacked fortresses in the world – we managed to avoid the cannon fire!

The galleries and museums in Edinburgh were also very interesting. A main exhibit is the Millennium Clock, which was built to commemorate human suffering of the 20th century. Even though it sounds (and is) rather dark, this was fascinating to see. Every hour the clock and its tower toll and provides an animatronics display. If you’re ever in Edinburgh, check it out at the National Museum of Scotland!

We’ll be flying out to Belfast on July 14th to begin our Ireland adventure. Until then!

Cheers,

Shawn

Hi Everyone,

I know it’s been a while, but I’ve been having too much fun in London! We spent a good ten days in the UK’s capital, checking out all kinds of amazing sights, monuments, museums and shows. We are very grateful to Laura, a fellow traveller and friend that we met in Morocco, for hosting us. We had a blast Laura!

A bonus for budget travellers, most of London’s museums are completely free! This includes the world-class British Museum, which has a stunning array of artifacts from the ancient to modern world, including the Rosetta Stone, sculptures from the Parthenon, and an Egyptian Sphinx (yes this is a huge Sphinx that was somehow transported from Egypt). Some of the other London museums we checked out include the Science Museum, Museum of Natural History, the Tate Modern Art Museum, and the National Gallery. Fantastic!

Of course we also checked out the iconic sites of Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard, and the Tower of London. We caught London in the midst of an “English heat wave,” temperatures got up to 32 degrees in London. Although this heat is unheard of in London, we had already been acclimatized to it by our time in Spain and Morocco. Even though our stay in London has been the longest of the trip, I feel like we could spend a month longer in this splendid city!

We also have a claim to surviving London during a tube (subway) strike for 1.5 days. While it was chaos trying to cross London during this time, we did appreciate the tube workers for scheduling their strike from 6:30pm on Wednesday until first thing Friday morning. I was half expecting to see the tube workers line up in a queue (line) to start their strike! All was back to normal operations Friday morning so that we could catch our bus north to Edinburgh. I quite enjoy British efficiency!

Now it’s onward to Scotland! Haggis awaits me!

Cheers, Shawn

Made it to the enchanting city of Paris! The cheap flights in Europe are really helping the budget! We are staying in a little community in the outskirts of Paris called Malakoff. It has a quaint feel of a smaller town, but is only a 20 minute metro ride to the city centre. I highly recommend staying in Malakoff to my fellow travellers.

On our first evening here, we hopped the metro to the Arc de Triomphe – a grande monument first ordered built by Napoleon over 200 years ago. While walking underneath the arch I had to remember how small I am in the world!

From the Arc we strolled over to the Eiffel Tower – lit up all nicely as it was night time. It’s quite a site seeing the tower in person. An interesting fact – the Eiffel Tower may have the highest concentration of selfie-stick sellers in the world!

On our second day we headed out to the lavish palace and gardens of Versailles. This site was ordered built by King Louis XIV – a king with fine tastes! The extravagence, style, art, and detail of the palace and gardens is exceptional. Check out the photos!

On our third day we checked out the National Museum of Modern Art. The pieces from Dali, Picasso, an many other prominent artists were inspiring. In the afternoon we ran into a street music festival with very colourful music, costume, and dance! Aftewards we took a spin around Notre Dame Cathedral. The French certainly do have style!

On our fourth and final day, we spent a fully packed day exploring the Louvre – a museum with a staggering collection of paintings, sculptures, relics, lavish apartments, and a collection of sphynxs from Egypt! I was quite surprised to see a full room dedicated to an Egyptian pharoh from the 18th dynasty – Akhenaten. He tried to convert Egypt to a monotheist religion – Google him!

My exerience in Paris has been awesome. The Parisians that we’ve met have been very friendly and helpful. Previously I’ve heard that Parisians could be rude or unfriendly. I’m writing to say that this stereotype is not necessarily true. Even though I speak with terribly broken French, my time here has been great – both due to the city and its beautiful people!

Now we’re off to London! Cheers!

Hi everyone, we made it back to Europe! Flew from Casablanca to Barcelona on the 20th. Barcelona is a gorgous city, with so many sites and events to experience. Some of the highlights include:

• The Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) Basilica. This stunning Basilica combines modern and gothic styles, and utiizes natural light in such an amazing way. The scale and unique designs are like nothing else on the planet! See the attached photos
• Casa Batllo – a facinating house designed by Gaudi, the same architect as the above Basilica. Every detail of the house was methodically thought out, such as the central light column to provide natural lighting, the erganomic ventaliation system, and the bronze door handles made with clay moulds to perfectly fit to your hands
• La Boqueria: an extremely appealing market with all kinds of fresh seafood to taste, freshly squeezed fruit juices, wine, beer, and every kind of goodie that you can think of.

The general vibe of Barcelona is very chill, even though it is a thriving metropolis. I learned that Barcelona, an the Catalonia region of Spain speaks their own language -Catalan! This area is quite distinct from the rest of spain, with its own unique culture and history.

We were lucky to be in the city for the Saint Joan festival on the evening of the 23rd, where the people head to the streets and beach and set off fireworks until the wee hours of the morning! Vendors were coming around the beach to sell beer and mojitos for 1 euro! Quite a bargain!

All in all, Ioved Barcelona! I will definety be going back. From Barcelona the journey continues onto Paris! Until then!

One small ferry ride is all that was needed to significantly alter the traveling experience. Right off the ferry we were whisked away from a few “official” tourist ambassadors. From a grande taxi to the medina we were delivered, my inexperienced travel mind thought ‘this is great’ chauffeured to the doorstep.  You’ve probably already guessed it, yes there was a catch. However this would prove to be the formal introduction to Morocco’s method of business. I was not prepared for the style of life we dove into, equipped with my unabiding avoidance confrontation. Adapt we did.

Fresh produce, spices, naan bread, cigrettes the list goes on of what one can find in a medina. Raw in your face aromas to acompany the aray of eye candy. I refrained from freely taking pictures as I did in Spain and Portugal because usually a mild photo surcharge was imminent. I felt uncomfortable capturing the poverty of the country and didnt want to romanticize the reality these people are living.  Tireless donkies loaded up with propane tanks travelling through the maze like alleyways will run one over if it weren’t for ‘balak!’, or watch out, being said by the donkey driver. Think farmers market with a twist, a twist of lamb heads, sugary pastries and no fixed prices.

‘I didn’t know i had some many friends’ one of our fellow combatants accurately said. My friend, my friend were probably the most spoken english words I heard in Morocco. Multilingual to boot, the shop owners can usually pick where you’re from and will most definitely have a friend, cousin, nephew or some anecdotal reference up their sleeve waiting to butter up the wallet. The price would generally not be revealed untill some social bonding occured and the right amount of “friendship” developped. Hospitable by nature and ready with sugar laced mint tea, I dont want to leave a bad taste in your mouth about my experience. Maybe thats what the tea is for.

We road a bus from Tangier to the mountainous Chefchaouen. Well known for its charming blue color it provided a relaxed-layed back scene to soak in. If British Columbia is the weed capital of Canada then Chefchaouen is our brother from another mother. Difference being hash is the preferred method. For a few dirhams a local will guide you through the mountains and proudly show you acres of maryjane. Nights on the riad roof top melted away with muscians jamming out and competitive card sessions.

Beyond the blue city are the Cascades d’Akchour. Getting there is alone an adventure by piling 6 plus the driver in a grande taxi, a 80’s brownish cream Mercedes D400. Oh and make sure you sit front middle like I did, its the best. Did I mention its all standard driving out yonder? A 30 minute ride later arriving numb but gleefully appreciative of the future memory, we started off to the grand cascades. A solid hike hopping on stones over a creek and beautiful scenes along the way its well worth it, one note: go on a weekday because the sunday we went was very busy.

Cheers!

The city of Marrakesh – nothing quite like it! The main square in the city – Jemaa el Fna, turns into a flurry of activity, including snake charmers, musicians, shops with nearly everything, and likely the world’s largest collection of orange juice stands. Just wandering around the square was a treat! We had a lot of fun wandering around the medina area, finding our way through the maze of streets and alleyways.

After all the activities and cities, we decided to chill in a little beach town called Essaouira. A four hour bus ride from Marrakech, and it felt like a world away! The pace is relaxed an calm, with the sound of waves and seaguls in the background. This spot is great for surfing, swimming, suntanning, and catching up on blog posts! We found an awesome hostel here, called Hostel Cloud 9. The hosts an other guests have created a great atmosphere to relax and unwind.

Our time in Morocco is coming to an end. I’ll be making a quick stopover in Casablanca, and will be flying into Barcelona tomorrow. Back to Europe!

Cheers,

Shawn

Into the Moroccan South! From Fez we started a three day trek into the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert! On the first day we made a stop in a monkey reserve, an were able to see a very lively family of monkeys, including some babies. Their moms were quite protective as the babies clung on to their moms very tightly! The scenery along the way was spectacular, as the road winded along with the mountains.

By late afternoon we arrived at a hotel/refuge on the edge of the Sahara Desert. We then jumped on some camels for one and a half hours and ventured into our desert camp. Note that this is legit desert, with massive sand dunes surrounding us. A group of us perched ourselves at the top of the sand dune and waited for the stars to come out. The sky lit up with stars – and we had a fantastic view of the Milky Way. However, none of us brought a flashlight, so we stumbled over dunes and fought our way back to the camp! Many good adventures!

On the second day of our trek, we continued on through the Atlas Mountains, and enjoyed the scenery of gorges, valleys, and even a 400 year old well system. Now the wells are dried up, so we could wander through the underground system in a series of tunnels. Very cool! We stayed overnight in Ouarzazate, and grabbed a bus to Marrakech on the third day. Onward and forward!

The journey continues into Africa! From Seville, Spain, we took a bus to the Straits of Gibralter, and hopped a ferry to Tangier, Morocco. We took one night in Tangier to relax, and then took a bus to Chefchaoun, a beautiful mountain town in northern Morocco. This is called the Blue City – you can see why in the photos below. We checked out some waterfalls near Chefchaouen, which was a good 5 hour hike. While crossing the river, there were cement like pillars to hop accross – good practice for our balance. Surprisingly, there are massive open fields of marijuana being grown. The locals are very proud of their hash – I’ve heard it’s very relaxing!

From Chefchaouen we took off for Fez – one of the best preserve ancient cities in the world. The Medina (old part of the city which is surrounded by the city wall) of Fez was quite amazing, with a labrynth of streets that can be wandered for hours! The mosques, theology schools, and architecture are facinating. Check out the photos.

I must admit that photos cannot capture the full experience. The aromas of the market, the bussle of the streets, and the many promises of “A special price for you my friend,” must be experienced in person. While at times tiring, northern Morocco has been a blast! In my next post I’ll shares our Saharra Desert trek, and the Moroccan south! Until then!

Cheers,

Shawn

P.S. You’ll notice that I’ve previously posted several photo galleries. As we go along, we will post photo galeries of each area in addition to our regular posts of the journey. I’ve set these up as seperate categories, so you can select just photo galleries or journey post. You can find the categories in the side/bottom menu. Hope you enjoy!

Above is the ticket to Queima das Fitas “Burning ribbons” a traditional festivity of the students of some Portuguese universities, organized originally by the students of the University of Coimbra. A heck of a party. We arrived in Coimbra and caught the last day of the festival switch started with fireworks at midnight. There was a main stage for bands to play and 3 large tents for dj’s. The food is worth mentioning, vendors spit roasting entire pigs and for dessert there was a candy trolly providing a variety to choose from. Apparently this festival beat Octoberfest in beer consumed, the locals made sure we know this impressive fact. In a blurry combination of music genres and mini plastic beer cups covering the ground, 6 am rolled in so we rolled out. Heck of a party indeed.

The gallery above is pictures from Coimbra; from around town and the university.

The students carry on a long tradition of capes and outfits seen above, the badges are earned and hidden from sight in times of mourning. You’ll probably assume Harry Potter’ish about the look and you’d be right. In fact J.K. Rowling drafted a few of her novels in Porto. The very busy library below was also an inspiration for some scenes in the movies. I managed to snap one picture without anyone in the image, great success!

In Porto our free morning walking tour was well worth the time and tip at the end. Our tour was provided by Porto Walkers who were enthusiastic and well informed. Here are some shots from the walk:

Stoked from the walk we decided to continue by signing up to the port wine tasting tour, which is a must for Porto as it is the birthplace of port wine. (Fun facts: Portugal’s two main exports are 2 – Port wine and 1 – Corks and cork material.) Venturing to a port wine museum and celler we had our first taste, anticipating it to be sickly sweet I was delightfully surprised to find a rich and full body experience. Not too sweet.

Nearly 20% alcohol content left us glowing as we continued on to two more spots. One with a female Porto style Fado singer which compared to Coimbra Fado sounded much more up beat and that a women was the singer. By the way, Fado is a type of music home to Portugal infused with melancholy emotion and usually serious content. Saudade is a Portuguese word that doesn’t translate easily to english and is used to describe Fado. I was told it is best compared to the heavy saturating emotion one can experience when something is loved and then lost. Back to the third spot which was a more contemporary joint, challenging traditional methods of port production and taking heat for it.

After checking out from the Garden House hostel we strolled out to cross the popular bridge Ponte de D. Luis. The day provided a hot sunny and picturesque scene to snap some pictures shown below.

Sowing in the time…

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