Category Archives: trips

rock

17 Friday Jul 2009

Posted by in photohunt, photos, trips

≈ 17 Comments

rock 1

Today’s Photohunter theme is “rock(s)”.

This is a photo of Gibraltar – aka The Rock – taken in December 2007. It was my third attempt to get there. The first time I’d left my passport at home, thinking my Spanish identity card would suffice. Wrong. The second time I had my bags packed and just before leaving I double checked that I had my passport, flipped it open … and it had expired two weeks previously!  Third time lucky. And I was finally able to stock up on underwear at Marks & Spencer!

Below is another photo of The Rock, taken from a nearby village called San Roque (Saint Rock).

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going to málaga!

17 Friday Jul 2009

Posted by in health & happiness, holidays, tapas, travel, trips

≈ 11 Comments

malaga
… at least, I hope so.

I got a phone call from my friend/student Manolo yesterday saying he was going to be away on holiday all of August and he offered me the use of his apartment in Málaga. He has quite a nice place there right on the beach and near the centre of town. And so I got all excited because it really would be nice to get away for a few days and, other than train fare, this would be a “free holiday” as it won’t cost any more to stay there than here. So if I can arrange for someone to feed & water the boys I think I’m going to take Manolo up on his offer. Nog will come with me and I’ve also extended an invitation to my friend Lizzie in Bristol as there is plenty of room for three at the apartment and there are cheap direct flights Bristol-Málaga. Still waiting to hear back from her, but it would be wonderful if she could make it.

Quite looking forward to walks on the beach and dipping my toes in the Mediterranean …

morocco calling…

28 Thursday May 2009

Posted by in morocco, travel, trips

≈ 10 Comments

mamounia hotel

Every since Pip and I went to Tangier & Asilah last February I have been wanting to go back to Morocco. And this past week in particular I have felt Morocco calling me back after seeing two interesting Twitter updates about  Marrakech.

First I read about the famous Mamounia Hotel (photo above) selling off its furnishings at an auction this past weekend. They are doing renovations and are planning to reopen in September. And then I saw that RyanAir was offering round trip tickets Sevilla-Marrakech (6-13 July) for 8 euros! I almost wept with frustrated desire. But oh well.

Other than the fact that I have no income and no bank balance at the moment, I reckoned that July probably wasn’t the best time to visit Marrakech. Plus, I don’t think going to Africa while on chemo would be the wisest move. But I am definitely going to keep an eye on RyanAir offers for when I am better (both physically & financially). Perhaps October?

painted

16 Saturday May 2009

Posted by in morocco, photohunt, photos, travel, trips

≈ 17 Comments

painted

Today’s Photohunter theme is “painted”.

Morocco’s famous “blue village”, Asilah, is a slow and friendly place with a colourful Medina that caters mostly to Moroccan tourists. During the month of August, artists from around the world come to Asilah and paint wonderful murals on the white walls throughout the medina. This is a pic I took of my friend Susan (aka Pipocas) in front of one of the painted walls when we went to Morocco last February.

To see more photos of Asilah & Tangier click here.

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my moroccan rug

05 Thursday Mar 2009

Posted by in home, morocco, photos, retail therapy, travel, trips

≈ 18 Comments

asilah-rug

This is the rug I bought in Asilah last month – isn’t it pretty?

In fact, you can actually see it in this pic, on the left hand side near the table. It’s taken me this long to figure out what to do with it. Well, first of all I had to drape it outside over the balcony railing for about a week to air it out (not sure about washing it as I’m worried the colours might run) and then I tried it out in a couple of rooms. But rugs and plants don’t seem to do very well within reach of “the boys”, so I finally decided to hang it on the wall in the hallway between the livingroom and bedroom…

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