And now I lay me down to rest....

Auckland Airport - before we actually leave!!!

Our bedroom in Porto. Every room had a different theme. Diana had Andy Warhol's Marilyn Munroe.



This is in the Palace of the Duchess of Braganza

Can you see the flap at the head of the bed? First form of central heating.

The fire is on the other side.

Now to the first of our riads - in Meknes. We were greeted with Mint tea - of course!

The walls on the outside have no windows and the roof is generally open above the courtyard.

The ceiling here is material - probably to keep the birds out.

Our room in Palais Didi. The beds are extremely firm. They have a bottom sheet and a duvet - no top sheet. Large thick hard pillows. Unfortunately This room gave me the creeps for some reason. Of course they are centuries old - so who knows what happened here in the past?

This is the ceiling - it is brocade type material. Very beautiful.

Putting our feet up on our boat trip at Bine el Oidane

Up in the mountains where we had our tea ceremony. Duncan couldn't resist - not sure he should have taken the liberty.

Our last place in Morocco was Riad Challa. The ceiling here was open to the sky, but the roof was being transformed into a relaxation area and what possibly looked like a bar!!! (In Morocco!!)

This was on the roof. Getting in and out of this contraption took some doing.

WE were not all that happy with the premium economy on Singapore airlines. Although we had more legroom is was still very cramped and the only loos were right through economy at the back of the plane! It was a full flight over and the staff were rushed off their feet, and we got some grumpy responses from them. Lucky our last leg on the flight home we could upgrade to Business Class

Wine, snacks and a sudoku - what more could you want?

Spicy meals of Morocco.

Mint Tea just everywhere - served with a large quantity of sugar lumps

Beautiful fresh fruit offered at breakfast and for dessert.

BBQ sides of lamb

Many orange juice stalls - 4 oranges used per glass. Just imagine that, Jill - no-one would eat four oranges in a sitting!!

Breakfast at Palace Didi. These crumpet like things with fabulous preserves, fresh bioche buns and eggs sprinkled with cumin.

 We went to Moulay Idress between Meknes and Fes and had a home cooked lunch.

First the tagine - the meat is under the vegtables and on the couscous.

Yoghurt and spiced chicken and lentil dishes

Melon and watermelon for desert.

Our cooks in the kitchen

We stopped  in the Newtown of Fes to get some wine and beers. This was the start of the evening meal at a Riad in Fes

Stores in the medina had some lovely small sweet treats.

We stopped and walked around the small township of Ifrane which is at the start of the climb into the Atlas mountains. The young woman was making these flaky breads - Morocco's version of a croissant I guess. The risen dough is pulled out  using olive oil.

Lets hope her hands are clean!

Cooked on a BBQ. It was great when it was hot - might have been a bit oily cold.

Our Guesthouse  at Bine el Ouidane was a pleasant break from the riads we have been staying in. Our evening meal was held outside looking down towards the river below. We persuaded the driver to go and get some wine and beer - at outrageous prices but it was such a great evening no-one cared.
Next day we had a tea ceremony. I was surprised to learn that the Mint Tea is based on green tea imported from China. There are also other herbs which may be added, not just mint.

Some mint, spearmint, oregano and a little bit of rosemary (and one leaf of sage) in this brew

While the tea steeped we were offered nuts and other snacks

Our guide Samir conducted the tea ceremony as our hosts english was very limited

On our way to Marakech we stopped for lunch (you might have heard me relate the story of the debacle in the toilets when I lifted an elderly lady off the toilet when really her beckoning was to get the door shut) At this venue George and Simone had Rabbit Tagine. Like the goats head scenario they leave the rabbits head on so it can be identified from other possible vermin. All their little teeth and boiled brains. Samir ate the lot. I dont think even Duncan was game to tackle this!!

Lunch in the medina. More bread, but delicious bean and lentil soup.

Last stop was Marakech. It has had quite a french influence and the restaurant we went to had some wonderful flavours. Our guide tactfully explained that the meal was part of the tour, but he could not pay for the alcohol!

George, our rough and ready Aussie went for steak and chips!!

Handmade pasta

And to finish: a handful of very tastefully presented desserts:

Culture - a little bit of art and Music, and amateur dramatics

On my last day in Dubrovnik I hoped we could get to see a bit of a cultural show, but when it turned out that it was not "on" that day I began to reflect that in fact we had seen quite a bit of music and art etc throughout our travels. These two are in the Church of St Antonia in Lisboa

The Annunciation.

Christ Appearing to Saint Vincent by Carvalho (1781)

Street theatre - very clever

This is part of a stained glass window in Palace Pena at Sintra. If you look at the top picture it is a large stained window, but in the background is a palace with a stained glass window.

And if you zoom in on that window you see an exact replica of the big window that you are looking at!

Also at Pena Palace was this handsome bronze Moor statue.The Moors moved up through Morocco to the south of Portugal. We were beginning to see the common threads of these two counties.

At Obidos we saw a young woman plaing a hand pan. It is a very bell like tone.

Duncan and Diana having a try - I had a go too, but none of us could make it work!

These models of Portuguese costumes were in a display at Batalha Monastery 

A feel of Gaucho here. There is a little bull fighting still having in Portugal

At Coimbra we went to  a Fado concert. This is a wall of famous Fado performers (who knew?)

There are three types of Fado. One to woo a girlfriend, one when you are leaving to go away, and the last seems to be for anything else that makes you miserable. The music is very emotional.

As I think I mentioned on Facebook they are double strung in each notch, and tuned in a minor key to give their distinctive  rich tone.

Although their is a great deal of mosaics in geometric patterns this one at the the Porto railway station was depicting a scene. These were huge scenes. The tiling is actually blue and white - a bit Dutch looking.

At Guimaraes we went to the castle where our local guide was dressed up as the Duchess of Braganza. Her husband was an illegitimate son of the king, but he was a great favourite and so the Duchess lived quite a comfortable life.

Duncan and Peter follow along as we explore the town of Guimaraes

 Now off to Morocco.

We went to a ceramic factory in Fes. It specialised in making Tagines. But this young woman was just learning with decorating a plate in a most unusual lilac colour.

 Now see the full tagine making process  - in about 7 or 8 minutes he has it ready for the firing.

There was an exhibition  of very early photographs (daguerreotypes) showing Berber women. These were the first migrant people to settle in Morocco (Some centuries BC)

Yves St Laurent used to do a large painting which was then replicated into cards which he sent to all his friends and acquaintances for the New Year.

Going through the old town in Split we came across this group of troubadours in an area that they were getting set up to perform an opera. Lovely voices.

A tableau showing the lavender pickers at the lavender farm on Hvar farm

Some folk songs from these guys on the way up the Neretva river to our dinner destination

We were in two boats and there seemed to be a grappa drinking competition between the boats!
Needless to say we all joined in on the Glenn Campbell/Neil Diamond/ABBA tunes on the way home.

When we got to Dubrovnik we were given a set of tickets to various activities in the Old city. One of them was the Art Gallery and we were delighted to find that their was a Salvador Dali exhibition on - but wouldn't you know it, NOT included in the free ticket. But we decided to go anyway. Dali had been asked to do a series of illustrations for an edition of the Bible. Some of them were quite fantastical  - not your typical church paintings. There were some other series of paintings there as well - one on horses, one on Alice in Wonderland, and one on Knights of the Round Table

Work Horse

Woman Horse

The Red Queen

Duncan bought a Dali teeshirt!

Also in Dubrovnik we went to see the birthplace of a playwright  Marin Drzic. He wrote a comedy (in about Shakespeare's era) which is greatly revered in Croatia