Best Europa Afriquana Roma photos 2013

Espana Roma with Nuni

Sevilla - Granada - Cordoba - Sevilla

I arrived in Granada straight from Sevilla on Monday. I checked in to a hostel and was quite amazed with the quality of facilities they have there. It definitely felt like a 5 star hostel. I spent a couple of days cruising around town and also visited Monachil Waterfalls which landscape's reminded me of Atlas Mountain in Morocco.  The water was icy but I went for a swim anyway.  Need to toughen up for 'Loony Dook' Scotland on new years day!!

As I was walking back to my hostel from the waterfall, I saw this familiar image of a person and it turned out to be Nuni (one of my best friends from Indonesia)!!!  I was so surprised and couldn't help myself from screaming and basically jumped on her in the middle of the crowded streets of Granada.  Nuni is probably 3/4 my size so we almost fell down to the ground.

From left to right: Local dudes flamencoing for fun; On the top og the hill at sunset (sacromonte); Monachil Mountains; View of Al Hambra on top of the hill; Granada city centre; Sacromonte with some caves that people live in; Santa Ana; View of Cathedral from top of the hill; Interesting cafe at Sacromonte; Granada city centre; Another view of Al Hambra from top of hill before sunset; Swimming at the fountain of Monachil mountains; Cathedral; Monachil bridge.

Since I have no travel plan, I started to join their crazy schedule. They were planning to travel all over Europe in a month. I could only keep up to Sevilla. So, the next day, I travelled with her and 2 of her friends to Cordoba.

We got to Cordoba in the middle of the night, so I didn't have much energy to spread out my nylon tarp on the bed to prevent bed bugs, and sure enough, there were bed bugs! Argh!!!

Cordoba is a much smaller town than Sevilla and Granada, so spending 3 days there was definitely enough.  Cordoba has the oldest mosque in Spain that has been converted to a church, it was free for visit from 8-9am, so we took the opportunity and got up early in the morning. All 4 of us then travelled to Sevilla together and when we got there, I was their tour guide because I know the town pretty well now.   We spent the whole day walking around town until they had to leave to Portugal in the middle of the night.

From left to right: Castle wall in Cordoba; Buidling; Statue in the plaza centre of town; Us having tapas; Roman ruins in middle  of town; Arch de Triumph of  Cordoba; Market place; Church; Funny pic of Nuni; Cathedral at night; Photo of us; Me and Nuni in middle of town; Inside mosque now cathedral; Same; Buidling..

Since then, I been staying in Sevilla for more than a week now and the weather is starting to get too cold. So, I am heading off to Algarve, Portugal relying on the weather forecast saying it to be a warmer place than Sevilla

Afriquana Sevilla Roma

Map of trip Marrakech - Sahara Desert - Sevilla

In the morning, we got up early to start hitching to Marrakech.  After a few kms of walking, a ride and finally sticking my thumb out for 15 minutes on the highway, a car heading directly to Marrakech stopped.  We got to Marrakech at about 3pm and found ourself a good cheap hotel.

In the afternoon, as we were walking around the markets in the Medina, people didn't seem to be as pushy and rude as they were in Fes.  I felt quite happy about that, also many foreigners were wearing tangtops and shorts, so I felt comfortable.  At night, when the Jemma El Fna came to live, the square was full of food stalls.  So many people were asking us to dine at their stall, some were really pushy and rude as well, so I thought 'I spoke too  soon'.  Even worse, one of the waiter abused us verbally after we ignored him, Emmanuel got so angry and faced him and he said after we left him "I not scared of you! I kill you!" Wow! What a way to attract costumers..

Unfortunately,  we had to stay longer there, we spent the week fighting our cold and diarrhea.  In the hotel, we could hear everyone else coughing and sneezing, we thought we needed to get out of Marrakech asap.  After a week, Emmanuel decided that he didn't feel safe with me hitch hiking in Morocco, even with him.  I was very disappointed to hear that, especially because I do love hitch hiking.  But he meant well and it is for my own safety.   So, after he felt better, I left Marrakech to go on a 3 day tour in the Sahara Desert while Emmanuel planned to head to Spain and we were to meet again in Spain.

(From left to right: Cobra dancing through music (I feel so sorry for these reptiles, they must be totally drugged to be so dosile all the time); A tomb we visited but not wanting to see the actual tomb even after paying for it considering there was 300 people in the queue and you can only stand infront of the door to take pictures; The so called 'Eiffel Tower' of Marrakech which is a mosque; A nice intricit design of a door at the palace; The roof top of our hotel where we like to chill; The courtyard of the palace (typical riad design with water element in the middle for cooling system); Huge nest of birds on top of a building beside the tomb; Meet blacky, my little mate at the hotel; Part of the tomb; Entrance door 

I left Marrakech at 7am.  The drive going through the Atlas Mountain was mind blowing.  It is such a dramatic landscape.  We visited the Kasbah world heritage which was built in the 11th century.   It's a pretty amazing architecture, considering the whole village was made out of mud.  We were dropped off to have lunch and to visit the cinema museum, because Morocco was the place where a few famous hollywood movies were made.  Lunch was overpriced and blend, I also decided not to go to the museum,  feeling that it will not be worth it, like the food at lunch.  And sure enough, it wasn't.

We spent the night at a really beautiful place callled Dades Gorges.  The landscape around Atlas Mountain is very overwhelmingly dramatic and spectacular.  At the hotel, we hung out with a couple of Berber guys who lives in the village.  We had a drumming session together.

The next day we headed off to the Sahara desert, almost everyone were starting to itch, apparently the hotel was full of bed bugs!  It was the worst thing ever!  We stopped by for lunch and seeing the overpriced menu, with Vlasta, who is from Czech, I had fruit and biscuits for lunch plus dates that were readily available for us to pick from the tree beside us.  Since then we became best mates.

Then we headed off and got to the desert just before sunset.  We rode our camels as we watched the sun go down.  Right beside our nomad tent is a really big sand dune known as Erg Chebbi, it seemed easy to climb so we tried to race up but as I started climbing it felt impossible.  The sand was so soft and it was very steep, to give you an idea, it's about 75 degrees.  It was tiring and a huge effort to get up the top but I had to do it because it may be my only time in the Sahara desert. I finally got to the top, out of breath and super exhausted.  I dropped down lying on my back and looked at how much stars there are in the sky.  It was really nice, so quiet as well, I couldn't imagine being lost in the desert walking on that sand.

We had to get back  down for dinner then after that sat around the campfire listening to berber music, which includes drumming and singing.   Of course, not able to help myself, after a few songs, I joined in.   So we jammed.  Four of us from the group slept outside, it was really nice and quiet and cold, but worth it.  I slept after counting 12 shooting stars.

The next morning, we rode the camels back to the minibus during sunrise.  Then after that it was a long trip back to Marrakech.  I spent the night walking around the market and main square with Vlasta.  The next day Vlasta and I planned to check out Ourika Valley but time was tight so we ended up walking through new town Marrakech which was really nice.  Walking through the new town felt like we were in a  different world.  Such a big difference to the old town.  I'm glad the Sahara trip brightened up my stay in Morocco and spending the last few days cruising around town in Marrakech was a really nice way to end roaming Morocco.

(From left to right: All 4 photos are the dramatic landscape of Atlas mountain, check out on the first picture how the dramatic change from the background the mountain has snow and in the foreground is a really dry and hot climate almost desert. The road was pretty windy and awesome as well; Overloaded truck?; The world heritage Kasbah, village made out of mud; 2 pics of cliffs that were surrounding us, felt like I was in the 'never ending story' movie; Me and Brittany my camel, look alike? I hope not; The guys in the tour, Vlasta (now one of my bestmates on the right); Berber guy in the heritage village; Camel toes!!!!; Beautiful serenity Sahara; Sunrise above the sand dunes; Camel ride! Yeehaaa!!!)

Early in the morning,  I caught the plane to Sevilla, Spain.  It was very hard to find a hostel in Sevilla because of the long weekend they are having and also that weekend was the gay pride celebration in Sevilla.  I came on time for the fiesta but not organised enough to book a bed beforehand.  Luckily I came early in the day so I was able  to get a bed at the place I was staying before.

I walked all day around town and just enjoyed my personal time and space, enjoying everything that happened around me, the people I meet and spent time with and of course the beautiful atmosphere of the city.  Sevilla really felt like home.  The more I stayed in Sevilla, the more I fell in love with the city.  The last night I was there, I stayed with Domingo who was my kind and very knowledgeable in Spain's history host.  He gave me a tour around Sevilla and at night we had tapas along with a breathtaking Flamenco performance.

Today, I'm off to Granada.  Another farewell to Sevilla, but I'm sure I will be back there.  Granada, here I come!!!

(From left to right: Sevilla, I'm home!!! All saint Festival in Seville; My new greek friend Ranya; The fine art museum; More fiesta; The tobacco industry; Arheological museum; Sevilla at night; Plaza de Espana; The largest wooden structure in the world; 2 pics of plaza de Espana (now for you starwars fan, does this site remind you of 'attack of the clones'?, apparently it was shot here); All saint festival was also gay pride day so the horse was rainbow coloured; Me infront of plaza de espana; Last night in Sevilla, went to a flamenco show with my host, Domingo, it was breathtaking, have I mentioned anywhere how I love Sevilla?; Part of archeological building in the park)