We snuck the opportunity to pop over to Hamburg for a long weekend and catch up with Nicole and Manuel (as Nicole was making a flying visit to our side of the world).

It was a rather action packed weekend full of sightseeing and eating (of course).

We walked and walked and walked on day 1, we stopped at a few shops, ate at a cafe on the canal (where Steven and Nicole had the worst fish dish I have ever seen – poached red snapper that looked like sea sponge), had a champagne stop in the Veuve Clicquot bar on the top floor of a fancy department store (I recommend the Vintage Rose), took in some tourist sightseeing stops – the church ruins and the church clock tour (not the official names) and we walked and walked, so much so that we were almost falling asleep over our American Burger dinner (Hamburgers in Hamburg – had to be done).

On the Saturday we took a long ferry ride (as we were too lazy to get off and walk – it turned out that the ferry crossed to the other side and we had to wait for it to turn around and return – whoops). We had sausagey, fishy snacks at a shack on the beach.

We had a rather posh dinner at Wandrahm. My entree was certainly a winner – Scallops served on a slice of hot watermelon with a ginger cream – DELISH.

Sunday was a slower start and as everything is shut on a Sunday (even supermarkets) we decided to use the awesome rent a bike facility. We biked around the lake – stopping for a long lunch and few beers along the way.

Even though we were all rather full, dinner can’t be missed – so we ventured to a pizza joint up the road that impressed us all.

Monday was a scorcher – the weather had been pretty average until Monday when it was roasting… breakfast at a cafe sitting outside (where there was no way you could sit in the sun or you would melt) where we had great coffee and really good strawberry jam! We managed some last minute shopping and then packed for the return trip home…

Sitting at the airport with Nicole and Manuel, outside on a roof top bar drinking a beer and scoffing fresh cherries before boarding – very relaxed… could explain how we managed to go through the wrong gate and get a Hamburg stamp on our passports, the guy at gate to let us back out was very confused – easiest explanation was that we are dumb tourists. (Gate A39 not B39!!!)

It was a fun weekend and really awesome to catch up with old friends. Can’t wait for Nicole to move back over this way…

The photos are here…

The photos are here…

Having not seen Sarah for almost 7 years it was lovely catch up – would have been nice if she didn’t try to kill me with copious amounts of her pink Cava. Friday night was a full on catch up session with 500 conversations unfinished and Saturday was a complete and utter write off – I was so ill I thought I was dying. I finally came right at 6pm so we managed the trek to the pub for dinner where the boys started their drinking session and it was Steven’s turn to die on the Sunday, the poor bugger was made to suffer further with a car trip around the coast with Sarah as our guide showing us all of the little villages etc along the way.

The photos are here…

After our tour we found a nice hotel to call home for a couple of days while we deloused and decided what we wanted to do for the rest of our time in Morocco.
We hired a car and ventured out to the coast. A night in Agadir and in Essaouira before returning to Marrakech.
We had Indian meal for dinner in Agadir which was a first for Younnes – nice to be able to introduce him to something new.
Seeing all of the goats in the Argan Trees was impressive – crazy animals.
Younnes took us to a great little seafood restaurant in Essaouira – Steven was rather excited about his swordfish tagine.

The photos are here…

First day in Marrakech we took a traditional horse and carriage ride to the centre where we visited the Tombs, the Palace, the medina and the famous Djemaa el-fna square.

Our first stop on the road was Casablanca where we visited the impressive Hassan II Mosque.

In Rabat we saw the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and Kasbah des Oudaias.

Day 4 we went to Volubilis, Morocco’s largest and best preserved Roman ruins, where Steven was tricked into sitting on a “Donkey”.

Fes was madness, such tiny little cobbled streets and full of donkeys, carts and chaos. We visited the Medersa Bou Inania, the Mausoleum of Moulay Idriss and the Andalusian and El Quaraoiyin Mosques.

Back on the road we crossed the Middle Atlas Mountains to the Sahara. We arrived in the evening and rode camels into the desert to watch the sun set. We slept in tents outside

Leaving the desert we went to visit the Todra Gorge before heading to hotel at Dades Gorge.

On the road back to Marrakech we made brief stops at the Kasbah of Ait BenHaddou and the city of Ouarzazate.
The road then lead us over the 2260m Tizi n’Tichka Pass, which is a horrible road that winds around the hills, our kamikaze van driver made the experience unforgettable as ever corner we thought was our last (He LOVED to drive in the middle of the road and had an issue with braking before he got to things… favourite saying on the trip would have to had been when he suddenly put on his brakes when he got too close to a digger that had been on the road for some time “Sneaky Digger”, the guy really didn’t get it at all!)

The photos are here…

So I risked it and booked us on a boat trip – knowing full well that if Steven was evenly slightly ill I would never hear the end of it.
The day started very early and we were not prepared at all – warm jackets would have been a good idea at 8am on the open sea… so we tried to warm ourselves with a cup of nescafe from the shop onboard. I have never like instant coffee so much!

Hydra was the first island we stopped at, where we walked up the hill and explored the little smelly alleyways. Along the water front a shopkeeper starting talking away to us and we found it very hard to break free – when we did he insisted that on our return we must stop in and have a glass of Ouzo with him… We ended up spending a fortune in his store the clever little man.

Poros was next where we had cat crap adventures – Steven had trodden in a stinky mess and tried many removal methods, including dangling his feet off a high ledge where he couldn’t reach the water, scraping the shoe sole on a hedge, dragging his shoe along the curb… finally we found a ledge low enough for his feet to touch the water and teh problem was solved… I throughout this whole process just laughed and laughed and took photos of his troubles.

When we got to Aegina we saw ruins on the way in so decided to explore those – turns out they are not open to the public, so we ventured back and decided to eat and be merry. It was a beautiful meal in a beautiful setting – shame we had to get back on the boat really.

The sun stayed out for the whole day and we stayed outside on the deck for most of the trip. Mr sicko only started to feel dodgy after the sun went down… so we had a slightly cranky return

The photos are here…

The photos are here…

The photos are here…

We’re back from our trip around Turkey. Will post updates shortly. Hopefully have reliable Internet connection now.

Egypt trip is off unfortunately. We’re going to do it when it’s a wee bit safer.

The photos are here…