Tarifa, Spain to Fez, Morocco

A lovely journey to make, across the water is Africa. I love the feeling of expectation looking across the water and thinking there she is, and Tarifa is one magical spot to do that...and look at the colours the bluest of blue skies and sparkling waters.

The old tower on the promentary- how many pirates and raiders has it seen try and sneak up the Straights of Gilbralter, does the earth still have a memeory of the times long ago when the Pillars of Hercules must have been in the vicinity once?

In the village

We are in Morroco!! yippee, with the wide Atlantic behind,

I am there as well!

Now Fez , contemplating the labarynth of the Old Medina {market] we are about to go and start exploring.

A stop at the potters along the way, this pottery smells yummy because the likns are fired by olive pits.

Lunch at a local diner in the Medina, my lovely friend Hicham was there to guide us and choose a great lunch, one of the relishes was like an onion marmalade Moroccan style- would love the recipe.

Traffic in the Medina

The dye pits of Fez, no one wanted the chance of a days work there- go figure?

Checking out the mercandise!

the pouffets come with our stiffing- as we now know for certain!

Raw materials for Morocco's Catus Silk

Finished result, used all ready for the desert- who is that masked lady in an elegant pink?

In the silk shop- you choose the colour combinations to get a length of fabric woven for your djellabah, then the colours for the braid to be nmade and the toggles and tassles, then the tailor puts it all together- what a way to dress!

Sevilla

Favourite pictures of Spain; Royal Palace, Seville we were all rather tired having just climbed the Giralda Tower in the Cathedral and oooohed and ahhhed through another [I need another adjective!!! Superlative deficit at the moment- I can hear myself using the same words over and over again- in real life you just kind of go wwwwooooowwww in your mind, pinch me I am here!!! Right Now!!- you get the feeling I hope] palace so we took a Nana Nap in the gardens.

Really if you are going to start sleeping on the street why not start in the Royal Gardens of the King of Spain?

This is quite good coming back to the trip and remembering the details, gives me time to appreciate some of the experiences along the way. Life is rather exciting and very busy [in many ways and not always are they relaxing!] taking time to savior experiences and appreciate them is important, if it is all just a blur I might as well get a job in a supermarket, it would be as meaningful if I am unaware of all that is passing.
Above, the wonderful wildflowers that adorned our trip every where we went in Spain and Morocco- fields of poppies, daisies and many, many other colours.

Seville is a great city, down the main promenade was a wonderful photographic exhibition- portraits of African Women, mesmerising.

Tapestires in the Royal Palace, I am quite taken with old tapestries and
the way one picture plane is used to tell a whole story by the arrangement of multiple scenes and use of symbology to give added layers of meaning.

Read Tracy Chevalier's Lady and the Unicorn for some insight in making a tapestry and building the story into it. It is a work of fiction but very well researched and might send you into whole new levels of appreciation of an ancient art as it did me.

I love the figures and then when I get closer the details and even closer the stitches used to hold the piece together- on a tapestry I saw in Bruges once it seemed something of the character of the stitcher was present in the form and shape of those stitches which were really not put there for us to see, the hands of the maker were still present and active in the work. It made the whole piece more 'real' for me.

AH Life!!

it is there to enjoy....if you don't only you can change it!

In UK at the moment and it is sunny and warm- hard to imagine I am in the same UK I usually visit...people are out smiling and walking in the streets for pleasure- it feels so different.

Gorgeous Granada, a lovely place to wander, full of lovely streets and laneways, doesn't this courtyard look romantic?

the roof of an old Hammam or Bath House at the Alhambra Palace

luscious gardens, roses were abundantly in bloom at this time of year, there is Granada in the distance.

One of my lovely ladies, listening to the guide phone and advertising my tours [on the carry bag] what multi tasking skills!

Spain is full of haberdashery shops with wonderful colour ranges of all types of threads and notions....rather tantalising for some.

The sqare we stayed on, surrounded by leafy cafes it is a great central location just behind the cathedral, in times long past it was a location for jousts, festivals and the odd Inquisition burning or 20! I think the creatures of the fountain are still sickened at the thought!

how to frame a palm tree? In a 1500's Palace - why not?

The shops are Spain are wonderful for personal adornment- shoe shops every where, gorgeous clothes an jewelry fit for a flamenco dancer...

When travelling it is important to learn about local culture, so as good travellers we did our bit joining a local lass on a Tapas Tour, one wnnders along in the balmy evening from bar to bar for nibbles and drinks- lots of time to chat and laugh, swap stories [quite a few I can't pass along but they did bring on a few belly laughs and pink cheeks!]
A memorable local experience thanks to the lovely Gayle - email me if you are heading that way and would like to meet up with a local for a great night

Cordoba

I have got everything sorted,
like a miracle or as one person kindly pointed out Mercury has gone straight after being retrograde, I am very thankful knowing that it was only my computer that had a hiccup -all the travell arrangements went very well. I tend to write a journal and keep notes each day so will just resume where I left off when the Computer went on holidays.

My most special building in the world,

the Mosque Cathedral of Cordaba,

it really fills my heart with joy- it is such an amazing structure and was built during a time of harmony between the Muslim, Christian andJews of Andulusia...

it feels like it is filled with magic and the slightly glowing pics [ taken because a flash would not do and so I had to use a time exposure] seem to show the glow of the place.

Rijolles and Madrid

The things you find just wandering along, heading to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid [ http://www.gomadrid.com/museums/decorative-arts.html- the blurb and pics don't do it justice]- do visit if you have a chance -the kitchen on the 4th floor is unbelievable- my friend and I wandered in and went WOW!!! so loud the gurads came running to see what had happened.

We spotted these wonderful, exuberant sculptures in the Retiro Park

Cast bronze and cast Murano glass, they were fun but taking time to look and think he suggests many things: the many attributes of people, possibilities of transformation but perhaps most of all for me was embrace life- get into it- live it...

Anyway enjoy the snaps and imagine a fresh spring morning, just perfectly warm, the sun shining but not burning, trees in fresh bud and simple happinesses....

I learnt a lot from my new friends at EOMWorkshops http://www.eomworkshops.com/ Murano glass is the glass of choise used by hot glass sculptuers and bead makers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murano_glass In recent times China has been copying a lot of these traditional designs and flooding the market place with cheap copies.

This has effected things such that 4000 Murano glassworkers has lost their jobs- along with them goes the knowledge and experiences of centuries old tradtions. China needs and deserves work for their people but finding it at the expence of other people in the world is not fair....

Many countries and people do this type of thing, not respecting people's intellectual copy right on their work [whilst mimicry might be a compliment to the originator it is not fair! Put in the work and development yourself!]

Choose wisley in your choice of glass although in some ways it is hard choice sort of because it feeds people both ways. BUT if we let the holders of tradtion and the caretakers of the keys to innovation founder where do we go to in the future? Copying is only copying...

anyway off my soap box for the moment, enjoy these wonderful works and thanks to their creator for sharing them with us

even the trees in the park were sculptured- I want trees like that!!

Praveen is my new gardening partner- I'll have to see what he can do...poor man he won't know what I am on about. Aren't they delicious?