Day 67 - Ruins

K had gone online and booked herself a physio appoinment so we jumped in the car and let google take us through back streets and suburbs with little idea of where we were going.

After the appointment we headed towards the coast to see what it was like, as we had arrived in the dark the previous evening. We headed to Paphos Harbour, and although we could see that it obviously catered to British tourists, the boardwalk and outlook was nice and relaxed.

We walked to the Paphos Archaeological Park a short distance away, and without any great expectations we went in for a look. Like most of these sites it was much larger than expected but where this differed from others was the well preserved floor mosaics depicting scenes from Greek mythology. The colours were strong as was the detail and to think that there were probably more of them buried underneath where we were walking but the expense of uncovering them is so prohibitive.

We then drove to the Tomb of the Kings, another archaeological site only a kilometer or so from for where we are staying. Once again this was much larger area than expected with many empty tombs excavated. We also learnt that there weren't any kings buried here just wealthy locals. A lot of the carving reminded of us Petra which of course isn't that far away as the crow flies.

Day 66 - What's that smell?

Today was a travelling day as we checked out of our apartment in Malta and headed for the airport to fly to Cyprus. We had originally booked Cyprus as our stopover between Lebanon and Israel, so we are now back onto our original itinerary.

The flight was with Emirates on a plane heading for Dubai, it was a large plane with not many passengers, in fact we have never been on a plane with so few passengers - which made us wonder why we had been seated in a row of three with another passenger.

It was dark by the time we walked out of Larnaca airport into a strong smell of cattle. One of the locals said its because "there are lots of cattles around, but it is a beautiful island". We collected our hire car and drove the hour and a half to Paphos along a pretty good highway most of the way, which made the night drive in a strange place (but on the left side of the road) more tolerable.

Day 65 - View from the water

During the night we woke to hear the rain lashing, and considering we are in a closely built up area it had to be severe for us to hear it. In the morning it was still steadily raining so K decided to head for a hairdressers for a long over due tint while M went for a walk around the Sliema peninsula.

By the time we'd had lunch the rain had cleared to the point that we decided to brave a 90 minute harbour cruise that had very good reviews. From the boat we were able to see a totally different view of Malta and learn about its interesting fortress history. All around the various bays and points there are sandstone walls and fortresses, while the marinas in each bay are full of luxury boats along with  local vessels. The tour was well worth it and gave us a better overview of the area that we would have had just sticking to the land.

We finished up with a walk to see the other side of Sliema that M had walked by earlier, it was more attractive than our side and had a great promenade along the coast with lots of swimming areas cut into the coastal sandstone, as well as some nice bars and restaurants.

Day 64 - Drenched

We caught the ferry from our side of the bay in Silema to the beautiful old city of Valleta and followed the other tourists to the centre of the old town. We then walked down to the water's edge to Fort St Elmo and the War Siege memorial, all built from solid standstone.

 By the time we reached the Upper Barrakka gardens we could see very dark storm clouds gathering. We started hurrying back to the ferry port but ended up getting caught in a torrential downpour. We didn't have anything in the way of rain protection so we took shelter in a doorway. The rain eased slightly so we made a run for it, but still ended up drenched.

When we finally made it back across the bay the roads were flooded, so we waded through ankle deep water to our apartment to dry off.

Day 63 - Beware overconfidence!

We had been to Rome airport a few times now so felt pretty relaxed about finding our way around especially as we had spent the night less than 10 minutes drive away. We had an early flight and thought we had plenty of time, but things started going wrong when K realised that she had left her good water bottle in the fridge of the hotel, the doors were all closed and reception wasn't open until 8am. After no response from anyone in the hotel (we couldn't even get back in through the front door at this point) we decided to sacrifice the water bottle and drive to the service station to fill up the rental car before we dropped it back. 

The first petrol station we drove to was closed, as it was Sunday nothing local was open yet. We drove to the airport expecting to find something along the way. We found a place, a guy was there so M asked him to fill it up and then went with the card to pay, that was when the confusion started. The machine wouldn't accept the card, the guy kept telling him to check the fuel gauge in the car, it wasn't registering any petrol, M was waving a €50 note around, there was a huge language barrier, and the guy was saying something along the lines of I don't work here, I'm just helping out. Totally confused we drove off, having not paid and not received any petrol. 

We then found another station, and tried to fill up only to find it's also not open yet. By now we have had enough and decide that we will just give the car back empty as we are running out of time. We then missed the turn off to the rental car return and end up on a freeway, having to drive 5km in the wrong direction before we can turn the car around. We finally made it back to the airport, speeding all the way but then entered the limousine drop off by mistake, we have to reverse out then have to do another lap of the airport before we find the right entrance and get rid of the car! That's what happens when you decide you know your way around Rome airport. New rule we have: always fill up the rental car the night before drop off!

The flight to Malta was a breeze and it's was good to find that the taxis were a set price so we didn't need to worry about haggling and being ripped off. There was a slight hassle finding our apartment as the Airbnb host hadn't supplied all the info we needed but we are used to that by now. We are at the point of giving up on Airbnbs because of all the hassle related to check in, some times, hotels are just so much easier. 

Malta wasn't really a formal part of out plans so we hadn't dome any research and didn't know what to expect. It was a pretty easy place to visit, English is one of it's official languages so no language issues at least.

We stayed in Sliema across the harbour from the capital Valetta. We walked around the point seeing the "baths" which were swimming holes carved out of the natural sandstone. M was pretty happy to find an Indian takeaway opposite our apartment run by Indians so that was dinner taken care of.

Day 62 - Yeah, honk your horn, that'll work

Our final day on the Amalfi Coast and we set off on the winding coastal road for Positano. As we approached Positano the road was lined with parked cars for a few kilometers, giving us the impression that parking would be a nightmare. We turned off and started driving down into the town and saw a large carpark on the right hand side which we happily entered, at this stage the gps said we were about a 15 minute walk from the town - then of course on the way down we passed many other car parks.

We could see the small grey beach at the bottom as we wound our way past the endless tourist shops and the accompanying tourists. The beach itself wasn't too bad but still a little underwhelming, the charm of Positano is the views which you need to be up high to appreciate. 

After lunch by the beach we walked back up the hill to the car passing many lovely lunch spots on the cliffs edge with great views, in hindsight it would have been better to have taken advantage of one of those rather than lunch down on the beach, next time we will know.

The drive back kept us on our toes as impatient Italian drivers blasted their horns at poor tourist drivers (no, not us) that they considered too slow and were holding them up, pretty immature behaviour if you ask us, as if honking a horn is ever going to make a slow driver into a confident or a better driver.

It was still a 2 1/2 hour drive back to Rome from Positano, we were staying in a cheap place near the airport so we could easily get to our early flight to Malta the next day.

Day 61 - Coastal road at last

Today we decided to explore the towns of Amalfi and Ravallo and made sure that we took the coastal road this time. The twists and turns of the narrow road make the Great Ocean Road seem like a beginners drive. Meeting buses and trucks was quite hair raising and we could see why many of the cars in the area have bangs and scrapes on them, a lot more than you would see at home.

Amalfi was smaller and seemed nicer than Sorrento, it was in a lovely bay with no big hotels on the water, but there was a car park full of tourist buses. Amalfi seems to be a destination for the day trippers from Sorrento and Positano further along the coast. We found a nice restaurant on the water's edge and had an enjoyable lunch. 

From Amalfi we drove up into the hillside to visit Ravallo, unfortunately so had everyone else it seemed. As great as the view overlooking the cliff faces and the towns was it's not much point if you can't find a place to park so we gave up and let the gps route us through the mountains back to Vietri. 

Back in Vietri we went down to the waterfront where it was so much quieter than the other Amalfi towns, just a few cars, not many people, and and an almost empty beach.

Day 60 - Better than our Sorrento?

We decided to drive further along the Amalfi Coast to Sorrento. We originally planned to take the scenic ocean route along the coast but the gps didn't agree with our choice and took us via the inland highway route, which was probably for the best as it meant we got to Sorrento a lot sooner. 

We've been driving in Italy for a few days now, and had to endure some pretty bad driving as well as a road rage incident that was so dumb it was funny. Initially we thought Italian drivers were crazy, then we decided on dangerous, but there has to be an element of stupidity there as well, as it makes no sense why anyone who wasn't stupid would drive so badly and risk their lives just to get one car further ahead. We also can't understand how they can just park their cars wherever they want, including narrow Amalfi coast roads, that barely fit one car, let alone two and a parked one. We saw that many of the cars have bumps and scrapes, so we're happy we didn't take that rental car upgrade.

It wasn't hard to know that we had arrived in Sorrento as we were met with piles of tourists in groups everywhere, and this is just the shoulder season. We found a car park and followed a walking route, but as it seems that all the upmarket hotels have hogged the ocean cliff faces as there wasn't much coast to see until we headed towards the port areas. 

We did see that there were man made decks on the water with cafes and sun lounges, but it all came across as a bit underwhelming compared to our beaches. We walked down to the old port with its tiny grey beach and desperate sunbathers trying to squeeze a tan out of 24 degree weather while we sat and enjoyed a drink. 

Sorrento certainly is an interesting town but it seems that to enjoy the area you would need to stay at a hotel on the ocean side, so we were quite happy with our choice of staying in our little village of Vietri.

Day 59 - Taking it easy

A beautiful day with clear blue skies and a view of the sparkling blue sea from our apartment window made us feel we could stay here for a week.  

The village of Vietri sul Mare is quite cute, with little squares and restaurants perched on the cliff face overlooking the sea. The town is also famous for its ceramics, and there were lots of shops selling the local wares. Heaven for K, hell for M.

Day 58 - To the coast

We had booked our "non-refundable" flight from Rome to Beirut through one of those online booking agencies but after two days they still hadn't confirmed that they could cancel the flight, all they had really said so far was that they couldn't provide a refund. As a result M decided to contact the airline (Middle East Airlines) directly, and this morning we received the great news that because of the situation they would provide a full refund.

Our original hire car was due back today and we had arranged another we drove back to the airport to drop the first one back and collect a new one. While there we went to find the Aegean Air desk to cancel our flight from Beirut to Cyprus and see if we could get a refund. After dragging our luggage through Rome airport we found the desk, only to be told by a stone faced lady that we had to phone their help desk in Greece. We asked if she could make the call for us but she just said no. Great customer service, not!

We went back to the Hertz desk and found that the car we had booked wasn't available and they offered us an upgrade ... which we didn't want, as we didn't want to drive a big car through the narrow Italian streets. After some discussion we ended up with a small Fiat 500 and drove south past Naples to Vietri sul Mare on the Amalfi Coast.

We checked into a lovely apartment with a sea view, right in the middle of town and and of course had pasta for dinner ... again.

Day 57 - Change of plan

Because of the Lebanon situation we spent most of the day rearranging our plans while still trying to keep some of the accommodation and flights that we couldn't cancel without penalty. Our plan had been to use Cyprus as the stepping stone between Lebanon and Israel, so we looked into all the options we had to keep the Cyprus and Israel parts unchanged. 

We ended up finding flights from Rome to Malta, and then another from Malta to Cyprus that arrived on the same day we had originally planned to arrive from Lebanon, so we only had to cancel the Lebanon to Cyprus leg. 

We needed to spend four more nights in Italy before the Malta flight and hire a car and drive south to the famed Amalfi Coast before heading back to Rome for the flight to Malta. 

After finally getting all that out of the way we went for a walk through our seaside suburb of Fregene to what looked like quite a dangerous beach with very dark sand and quick drop off, with evidence of rips. The beach was quite underdeveloped and not that appealing, it was also the off season so it was very quiet. We wandered back through the quiet town, discovering that nearly everything was closed between 12pm and 4pm.

Day 56 - Third time lucky

This was an important day for K, on our third trip to Italy and our second to Rome, this was the day to finally visit Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. Last time we were in Rome the tour bus took us there when it was closed, this time we had a car and were getting ourselves there. It was an hour's drive from where we were staying, and we made it quite easily with good old Google Maps to help.  

Hadrian's Villa was more than just a villa, it was an estate covering a large area, quiet, well treed and huge. There has been quite a bit of restoration so it wasn't too difficult to imagine how it used to be, not like some other ancient sites we've visited. 

The site is still undergoing archaeological investigations, so they are still exploring and finding new parts. K was thrilled that she finally got to visit and M was pleased that now every time we are looking at flights K won't suggest that we go via Rome.

We had been keeping a vague eye on the protests and political situation in Lebanon but were disappointed to discover that it had worsened and some of the areas of the country we had planned to visit were now off limits. The more we looked into it the more concerned we became. We had booked an apartment in Beirut for a week and now the reports were that the airport road was closed so we could potentially be stuck in the airport or the apartment. The roads into and out of Beirut were also closed. Lebanon was on the verge of economic collapse and the government had angered everyone by introducing further hardship policies, and a proposed "WhatsApp tax" had pushed the people over the edge. Even though the government back pedalled on the tax the people had enough and taken to the streets. Banks, schools and shops were shut down, just when we were due to arrive in two days.

As a result we decided to change our plans, it meant cancelling some "no cancel" flights and accommodation. Our planned accommodation were very nice about it as they agreed to refund us due to the situation, the airlines were not so forthcoming. We also had to figure out how to adjust our plans. Originally we were to spend a few days in Rome, then head to Cyprus, Lebanon and then Israel, so there was a bit of juggling to do.

Day 55 - Back to Rome

A travelling day today as we say left Morocco for a Rome for a stopover on the way to Lebanon. We had heard horror stories about Marrakech airport but we found it quite modern and efficient, nothing to worry about there. We caught a flight to Casablanca and then had a couple of hours layover before taking the next flight to Rome.

Once we landed in Rome we picked up our little hire car to head to our Airbnb near the beach. By the time we left the airport it was dark, something we we usually try to avoid as arriving at a new place at night can be difficult. We stopped off at a shopping centre on the way to look for a supermarket, once we were inside we could have been anywhere, shopping malls look the same all over the world.  The road we took to the seaside suburb of Fregene was very rough and it felt like we were driving through the country even though we were only 20 minutes from Rome airport.

Day 54 - Beware - Animal cruelty and poor busking!

We had heard that we needed to be more careful in Marrakesh due to scammers and thieves, and while we were having breakfast we met an Australian couple at our riad whose phone and credit cards had been pickpocketed the night before, only half a block away from where we were staying. 

Marrakesh was still fairly sleepy when we headed out to visit the Bahia Palace, the difference in the streets and shops is so dramatic, everyone stays up late but it takes them a while to get going in the mornings. The palace was interesting and would have been amazing in its day, we learnt that it was looted when a rival ruler decided he wanted his palace to be better.

We decided to head down to the famed Marrakesh square Jema El-Fna before it got too hectic later in the day so we could still carry our phones and money with us. We sat in a terrace for lunch while we watched the action in the square. It was quite empty but there were a few stalls and entertainers. It was amazing how many tourists went for the snake charming and the chained monkeys. We really thought people were more sophisticated these days and would stay away from acts involving animal cruelty, the treatment of the animals was not good to see.

We went back to the square later in the evening to see what all fuss was about, but it was quite different from the reviews we had read. We had heard that there were scammers and pickpockets everywhere, but it seemed fine to us, maybe it being Friday had something to do with it? It was still really busy, and there some thick crowds around some of the performers, though there was much more patter than entertainment .. just like the buskers back home. The most pressure we felt was from the food vendors who tried really hard to get us to sit and eat one of their meals.

Day 53 - Movie time

This was our final day of our Sahara trip with it finishing in Marrakech. Our first stop was for coffee in the town of Kalaat M'Gouna, the centre of the rose growing region. Next to the cafe there was a rose distillery on display, and we learnt that the Damask Desert rose that grows wild here is such an important part of the area that even the taxis are rose coloured. 

Next was Ourzazate, a city that has made lots of money from the movie industry, especially westerns due to the landscape. There were a couple of movie museums with quite cheesy props, we decided that we didn't need to go in, we had seen quite enough from the outside, thanks. 

We visited the old kasbah of Ait Benhaddou, which looked like it was made from giant sandcastles and we were told that since it is made of earth, water and straw it often washes away. It was very touristy though, lots of buses there catering to people on desert trips like ours, and also day trippers from Marrakech.

After lunch it was the slow drive through the mountains to Marrakech, we dropped off the Canadians at their flash hotel, then the driver took us in to the medina where we were met by someone from our riad. We thanked our driver/guide and said our farewells, then it was into the medina - this one was even worse that Fes, with motorcyclists whizzing past and people everywhere, luckily we didn't need to go far. 

Our riad in Marrakech was much nicer than the one in Fez and had a lovely sitting area and pool in the middle, it was also a huge plus that the bed was soft and comfortable.

Day 52 - Gorgeous

This morning we were up early to see the sunrise over the dunes before meeting again in the dining tent for breakfast. It was a chance for another camel ride but we opted out, K's excuse was her former career, M's was that he had mastered camel riding the previous evening so there was no reason to do it again. We hopped back into our van with the Canadians for our trip out of the desert.

First stop along the way was to learn about the old well system that was used by the nomads, further stops included river oases and then into the mountains to visit some of the magnificent gorges in the mountains. 

Seeing nomads on the rocky hills with their sheep somehow surviving when there seems to be barely any life was mind boggling, as was learning that they are illiterate and just continue to lead the nomad life as shepherds, passed on by generations. We also learnt that our driver/guide's 35 year old wife had never been to school and was illiterate, but he was very keen that his young daughter receives an education. 

 We stayed the night at a hotel in Tamellalt near the Dades Gorges, and and met up again with an American couple we had met the previous day who were doing the same tour but had opted for the private option.

Day 51 - Deserted

We had to be up at 7am as we were being collected at 8 for a two night, three day Sahara desert trip, but it was touch and go for a while whether K was going to be able to make it as she had come down with some sort of stomach bug, and we also had to endure that noise all night. We managed to leave as scheduled and as we left we saw that the entire alleyway had been dug up during the night, no wonder it had been so noisy.

We had booked a group trip to the desert with the proviso that if no one else booked the same trip we would have to pay extra for a private tour. Our driver told us he had two more people to pick up from a hotel and we collected a Canadian couple from the Marriott. We hadn't gone that far when K called out "Stop, I have to get out"! The stomach bug was rearing its ugly head , and K made it of the car just in time. Our driver took pains to tell us he was willing to stop anytime, and K assured him she would do her best not to be sick in the van. There was one more emergency stop where K exited in the nick of time, then she settled with lying for the rest of the day along the back seat.

There were a few interesting stops along the way, first in the Moroccan ski town of Ifrane, with its European style chalets, then to visit some monkeys in the cedar forest. We drove through the Atlas mountains and lunched at Midelt, though K wasn't well enough to participate.

We then drove south to the edge of the desert to get our camel ride to our camp. K decided to give it a skip as it reminded her too much of her former career and took a 4WD to the camp. Camel riding didn't have much at all to do with M's career, so he had no excuse. 

The desert camp contained two rows of identical tents with a long red carpet in between and running off to each tent. At one end there was a camp fire and chairs and at the other a dining tent. The tents were lovely with huge king size beds, chandelier lights, usb chargers and ensuites.

After watching the sunset we met for dinner with other travellers, 10 of us in all, and then were entertained by some local music around the camp fire. A lovely night in a comfy bed and luxury tent.

Day 50 - Going potty

Today we had booked a tour through our riad to get out of the medina and see a bit more of Fes. We were taken to some vantage points over the city to see the old town from outside.

From the city view we went to a pottery studio ... K was delighted, M was completely underwhelmed. The interesting part where the craftsmen demonstrated their work was completely rushed as it was all about getting us into the massive showroom, which was a shame as it was really interesting to watch the mosaics being made (says K).

On returning to the medina we went exploring again, this time taking our time as we had a better idea of where we were going. It was interesting watching the women make roti, putting it on a large metal sphere that was heated with a gas torch. We also spent time in the material dyeing section watching the men with their hands blackened from managing and dyeing the items. We also watched a lady buying a live chicken as the man held it on the scales while putting old fashioned weights on the other, then heard the chicken make it's final squawk as it's friends watched on terrified.

We had found that the riad we had been staying was noisy as our room was on the alley side, but this night was much worse as banging and digging started outside our window at around 10pm and continued for most of the night. This combined with K coming down with gastro/food poisoning meant it was a night to remember for all the wrong reasons.

Day 49 - Would you like to buy a ....... ??

We headed out for a few hours to wander the medina, which is essentially a massive market where people also live. We were told to keep to the main alleys so as not to get lost. The lack of hassle or pushy selling was a surprise, as was how safe we felt. We had thought it would be more like Egypt and India where there is such huge pressure that you feel like everyone is trying to rip you off. Here there were just a few polite suggestions now and then and no pressure at all.

We passed large tourist groups clogging up the alleys, it must be so frustrating for the locals trying to manage their day. We had arranged through our riad for a guide to take us through the medina at 2pm and we were looking forward to learning some history and culture. However the tour was not quite what we had in mind, he started out pointing out the obvious: you have churches, we have mosques, this is a women's dress, these are grapes. He also only spoke to M, this was going to be a long two hours. Things started to pick up when he pointed out a camel's head on a stick (luckily it's eyes were closed) and a shark's head. It then went downhill again when he took us from one shop to another where we had to endure each shop owner's spiel and then the attempted hard sell ... no we didn't want to buy a lantern. 

By the time we sat through the "rug sell" (which was interesting in that they buy merino wool from Australia and New Zealand) it turned to comical, as the pile of rugs being brought out grew higher and higher ... we felt sorry for the poor workers who had to put them all back and then go through the same thing for the next set of prospective buyers. We showed no interest in the embroidery, cedar carvings, weaving, the hammam (bath/massage) or the lotions and potions. 

We were keen to see the tanneries that we had heard so much about. From up high we looked down on masses of round troughs lined with mosaics and filled with different coloured dyes. The smell was unpleasant so they gave us a handful of mint to hold up to our noses. The workers were in the troughs with the skins and no protection, doing what looked like back breaking work. Once we had seen the interesting stuff we had to endure another round of selling, visiting the rooms filled with leather jackets, shoes, bags, belts etc.

We were at the point of being disappointed that we weren't hearing anything about Moroccan history or culture, but we realised that Medina is really just a giant shopping centre, so what else would we expect in a tour?

Dy 48 - Do you want a lift?

After another great breakfast delivered to our room we took a final walk of the streets before heading to the bus station to catch the bus to Fez. We had plenty of time so decided to walk the 15 minutes to the bus station, to the the locals' amusement, a local plumber even slowed down and asked us if we needed a lift.

This time we had booked in advance so that we were on a "comfort" bus. We all went to put our luggage underneath only to be told we had to go back to the office and buy another ticket for each of our bags, we couldn't work out why this wasn't explained to us when we picked up our tickets. This bus was a huge improvement over the one we'd taken to get to Chefchaouen, and having air con made the 5 hour trip easy.

We had arranged to be collected from the bus station in Fez by our riad as finding the way in the medina is difficult, especially with luggage. The car dropped us off outside the medina walls and we were met by the man from our riad. He suggested to us that we hire a man with a small wheeled cart to take our luggage, we thought it was unnecessary as our bags have wheels and we are pretty practiced at managing our luggage. He told us it was very busy inside and he thought it was necessary so we went along with idea, with that our bags disappeared and we followed our man into the medina. 

Busy had nothing on this, it was a rushing, seething mass of people, donkeys, carts, and motor bikes.  We had trouble keeping up making our way to the riad, trying to get our cases through on our own would have been a nightmare. We arrived at the door to our riad and our cases were there waiting for us.

Walking into the riad was another world, all the noise and craziness stopped at the door. It was perfectly quiet, serene and ordered - one threshold and two different worlds. Our backpacks and pockets had felt ripe for the picking outside and we asked how careful did we need to be, and were told it really wasn't an issue. When we were ready for dinner our man from the riad showed us the way to a couple of eating options just outside the walls. Miraculously we found our way home again without getting lost.

Day 47 - Enough food to last all day

We didn't have a great sleep, even though most of the people and the children shrieking and shouting settled down after 11pm there were still a lot of people yelling on and off during the night, along with a rooster who obviously had trouble determining when daybreak was as it would crow at regular
intervals throughout the night just for practice.

During the morning there was a knock at our door and a lady had the most massive timber tray that she had prepared for breakfast for us. There was tea, coffee, orange juice, eggs, dates, roti bread, jam, butter, cheese and another basket of assorted bread, such an unexpected surprise. It was very heavy and how she managed to carry it up the steep, large steps to us on the second floor was impressive and we were pleased our bus trip tomorrow wasn't until lunch time so we could expect
the same.

We spent the day exploring the blue streets of Chefchaouen, and we eventually worked out that the alleyways where the ground was also painted blue were dead ends as they lead to people's homes, whereas the main alleys had the normal grey cobblestones. The shades of blue varied between doorways, windows and walls but they all worked together and at no time did it seem overpowering. 

Apart from the loud announcements that were made for prayer time we could also tell when it was prayer time from the surge of groups of men walking quickly to the mosque, and the same when prayer was over as they would flood the alleyways again and reopen their shops.

Some of the tourist's didn't get the memo about dress codes i.e. women having their shoulders and knees covered and not showing any cleavage. To think that K was concerned that her shorts stopped half way down her knee so maybe they were too short! In general though most people were doing the right thing. We only saw a couple of women in hijabs, most others wore a head scarf but many of the younger women didn't seem to follow the tradition at all.

Day 46 - Bus to the blue city

A bit of a hassle to get a taxi this morning but we finally found one with a meter that dropped us off at the bus station. Unfortunately all the "comfort" buses were booked (put that one down to lack of planning again) so we joined the locals on one of their buses. The bus didn't have windows that opened and there wasn't any air conditioning apart from a hole to the outside near K's window. As sweltering as we were the other poor women must have felt worse in their long dresses and scarves. The driver told us it would take an hour and a half to get to Chefchaouen, we didn't really believe him and sure enough we arrived 3 1/4 hours later.

Our Airbnb was in the Medina so we were dropped off at the gate. From there we walked in to find our blue raid in the blue city. Just like the photos all the places are different shades of blue and part of the experience is to get lost in all the twists and turns of the narrow blue alleyways. The hassle from locals wasn't nearly as bad as we expected, once we politely said no we were always left alone. We found an unusual shop that sold fossils and bought an ammonite. 

This walled city seems to be different from others we have visited in that it appears as if local people live and shop here, so it wasn't all souvenir shops and tourist restaurants (there are still quite a few). The noise in the medina from the locals was very constant and we were glad it settled down a bit after 11pm.