The day before the day before the tour

OK, not a very interesting post, but I am a whirlwind of activity at the moment, making sure I have all the necessary documentation to take with me, and more importantly all the gadgets to keep Sarah and I occupied on the 3.5 hour flight. 

I know what you are thinking: I can't be that much of a whirlwind if I am taking time to write these words; more a gentle gust - but rest assured, most of my packing has been completed already, the travel documents have been found relatively stress free (viewers of previous blog escapades will remember that I am a little bit ditsy when it comes to remembering where important documents are kept), I have printed out our boarding passes, and the reference numbers for the car parking, plus the details of how to get there. There is nothing I have forgotten and I can't recall ever being this organised, which actually makes me a little bit nervous, as i am probably missing something vitally important, which will only be recalled when I am over the bay of Biscay....

I have been speaking to the owner of the place we are staying, and she has told us that generally the temperature in March is in the mid-20 degrees range during the day, but drops down to single figure degrees in the evening. This makes packing rather tricky as it will be warm enough for loose clothes in the day, but might need something a bit heavier for the nighttime.

Anyway, I best crack on with charging all my appliances, and making sure that i have all the necessary plugs associated with them, so I will not post again now until we are in Morocco.

2013 Tour - Morocco

It has been a long seven months since the last tour, but winter has passed and attention is turning once again to sunnier climes. This tour is a visit to Morocco, and while, at only seven days long, it is only really a mini-break, I still think we have enough time to get a few insights into the country. The reason for Morocco is that I have a love of North African architecture, and Morocco has some wonderful examples.

Sarah is coming along again, so I guess my militaristic route marching around the temples of Malta did not put her off too much.....either that or she is a glutton for punishment ;)

Anyway, we are based in Marrakech and while the finer details of the tour are not fleshed out, a couple of highlights I am aiming to tick off my list are:

• The Medina of Marrakech - wandering along the city walls (I got a flavour of this when we visited M'Dina in Malta)
• El Fna square/market - enjoy the hustle and bustle during the day and watch it transform at night
• Wandering through the various souks and trying our best to not part with too many Dirhams on some traditional Moroccan trinket (which has "made in China" on the base).
• Ait BenHaddou - Unesco world heritage site and the go to place if you want to make a film involving North African architecture.
• Ouarzarzate - another Medina similar to Ait Benhaddou
• Visit the Atlas Mountains

Strangely when mentioning Morocco to me I can't help remembering a strange factoid  about the country, which was told to me in secondary school by a geography teacher, in that the land is almost entirely owned by the King, and yet 200,000 acres are used for the growing and cultivation of marijuana, so the king is complicit in growing drugs*. That is not the sort of trip I will be going on.....