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Casablanca, Rabat and Meknes

Exceedingly high expectations,  a tour group of random people, extremely hot weather and visiting during Ramadan; our trip to Morocco could have been a disaster… But it wasn’t.  Intrepid’s Best of Morocco tour was a highlight of the travels so far, and Morocco is one of the most magical countries I’ve visited. In just 15 days we covered so much of the country, from high in the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara to the beaches and more, with a fabulous guide Abdullah sharing so much about this beautiful country.

Due to very patchy internet coverage, and the need to sort through almost 1,000 photos, the Moroccan adventures will be split into a few posts.

Casablanca

Mosque Hassan II is one of the few mosques where non-Muslims can visit and it is breath-taking. The mosque looks old, but was in fact only completed in the 1990’s at an eye-watering cost of $700M euro. It can hold over 25,000 people inside and 80,000 outside.  During Ramadan the courtyard outside is completely full during prayers

We’re standing a good couple of hundred metres back to get it all in the frame.

Mosque Hassan II

Walking around the outside of the Mosque it’s immediately clear the building is huge, but its not until you walk inside that just how big, and how detailed it is becomes apparent.

Mosque detail

A one hour tour runs a few times a day ($12) and provides some great insights.  The intricate carved wood roof is retractable and can retract in just 3 minutes.  And the Hamam (bathing area) in the basement is only for show and is not used.

Mosque Hamam

Rabat

Next up was Rabat, a quick train trip from Casablanca.  Here we spent the morning exploring our first Medina (old town). Moroccan cities are an interesting contrast with the old town sitting right next to the modern area of town.  Stepping inside the medina is like a different world.

Rabat- Old and New

One of the benefits of visiting during Ramadan is that the normally busy towns are quite empty – both as tourists stay away, and locals are often resting or inside. Rabat’s old town is beautiful – all painted blue and white, and narrow winding streets.

Rabat Old Town

The doors are all ornately decorated.

Rabat doors

Not quite sure where we’re going, but it’s pretty.

rabat old town

Meknes madness

The low light of Morocco came early in the trip, on day 2.  We were all given a free morning to explore, and a map.. only the map was a little light on detail.  Couple this with the fact that no taxi driver seemed to know where any of the ‘must sees’ were, and almost all of our tour group being taken for a ride by the locals, and we were all pretty happy to get out of Meknes.  In our case, we were ‘befriended’ by a local offering to take us to our location, only to take us on a 20 minute ‘tour’ of the medina – and no doubt half his friend’s shops.  It was only once we had got rid of him at the main square we realised we had only been 100 metres from where we needed to be when we first met him!  Still, no harm done, and a funny story to look back on now.

Lost in Meknes

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I’ve already covered off my top three favourite things in New York, the 9/11 memorial and museum,  dinner at Perry Street restaurant, and Chicago on Broadway – here’s the rest of the things we got up to on our stay.

The High Line

Turning an unused train line into a garden and walkway provides a great place to retreat from the hustle and bustle of the NYC streets.

The High Line

Staten Island Ferry

Skip the queues and save some coin by taking the Staten Island ferry to view the Statue of Liberty.  Sadly we had a rainy, foggy day – but the views were still pretty impressive.

Staten Island Ferry

Top of the Rock

For a bird’s eye view of the city there is the traditional Empire State building lookout, or the Top of the Rock.  We opted for the TOTR after a few online reviews and weren’t disappointed.  The views in each direction are pretty impressive – as is the glass ceiling lift that takes you to the top

top of the rock

Grand Central 

From the Top of the Rock it’s a quick walk across to Grand Central Terminal which is beautiful inside.  There are a few shops and restaurants too so great for a lunch stop.

Central Station

Central Park

Bikes are available to hire by the hour which gives you enough time to get round the park.

Central Park

Little Italy

With an apartment in the centre of Little Italy, we spent a lot of time eating, and drinking our way through the Little Italy bars and restaurants.  Although a bit of a tourist stop, there is still a really nice vibe here and the food is great. And of course when in Italy – gelato!

Little Italy

Brooklyn Bridge

A diet of Italian food required a few runs, and the Brooklyn bridge is perfect for a morning run.  The bridge is architecturally stunning and the view with the Statue of Liberty in the background isn’t too bad either!

Lower Manhattan Walking Tour

Continuing with our friends at Free Tours by Foot, we opted for the Lower Manhattan 2hr tour, taking in Wall Street, the Iconic Bull statue and heard all about the history of NYC.  Another great tour.

New York

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New York – the good, bad and ugly..

I’m not quite sure how to start this post.  So many people have raved to me about New York and I can see why it would be a great place for a holiday – especially shopping!  But for me it felt a little too touristy, especially after the time in Boston and Washington.  So whilst I will cover off the sights of NYC in a blog soon, here’s a slightly different post about our time here.

Our introduction to NYC (aka the bad)

Firstly, our trip to NYC didn’t start well…. which I’ll admit may have coloured my view somewhat to start.  We caught the bus from Boston to NYC as there are some really great bus deals – $30 for both of us compared to about $600 on the train. The bus ride was surprisingly good..that is until we hit the grid lock that is Manhattan traffic on a Friday night!  We were staying in an airbnb and the host was waiting for us to hand over the keys, so watching the clock tick later and later as we inched through traffic was not good for the blood pressure.  Once we arrived at the bus station we faced the next challenge, catching a cab in NYC rush hour.  I should also mention that it was about 33C and humid as hell so you can imagine how we were feeling.

Eventually we nabbed a cab and were on our way.  By this stage our host had left the keys across the road from the apartment at a cafe so we weren’t as stressed about the time.  A quick trip to grab them, and a promise to pop back for a beer and we were feeling like we had made it. That would be too easy.  You see old apartments in NYC seem to have rickety doors – and we couldn’t even get into the building, let alone the apartment.  Thankfully after about 5 minutes another resident came home, and showed us the trick.  Phew.  Now just the apartment door. Our host had left a somewhat complicated description of the three locks to turn – and wouldn’t you know it .. we were stuck again.   Thankfully after another 10 minutes the same kind woman popped back out, and was able to help us figure it out!

Finally in the apartment we took a moment to get over our nerves, and to work out exactly how the door worked before we ventured back out and across the road, for that very well deserved beer!  I should note, that aside from the tricky door – our apartment was great, loving Airbnb so far.

The ugly 

Two big uglies of NYC both resolved by the end of our visit.  First up.. the subway.  Now I always thought I was pretty decent at figuring out public transport, and so far we’d managed American public transport without a hitch.. but then there is the NYC subway.  If you’ve never had the pleasure, let me paint a picture. Normally you’d look at a tube map and say ‘ok we need to get on the tube at Canal Street’ so you’d go to Canal Street and find the station. However in NYC you have not one, not two, not even three, but four Canal Street stations.  Each with three different lines running through them.  So by now you’ve walked past three of the four, because of course the ‘A’ line is at the one furthest away, but then you’re sorted, right?  Nope – not even close.  Cause now you’ll find that there are actually two different versions of this one – one going north, and one going south.. and yes you want to go north, but you’re outside the A line going south.  Time to cross that road… again.   Oh and just when you’ve finally got to the right place, watch out for the pesky Express Trains or you’ll sail right past your destination, and be forced to back-track.  Sometimes they’ll announce it’s an Express, sometimes it will be on the side of the train, and sometimes it’s just a ‘jump on and hope’ scenario!   Needless to say,we caught a few wrong trains in NYC.

So my tips for anyone travelling to NYC, firstly download a good NYC tube map or app.  And, buy a weekly unlimited pass – it’s the best $30 we spent, and at least you won’t be shelling out extra for the incorrect trips you inevitably take.

The second ugly isn’t limited to NYC, but in NYC we found the solution.  Yes I’m talking about the brown sludge that American’s seem to think is called coffee.  It’s hard to describe exactly what it tastes like, but if you imagine the cheapest instant decaf coffee you can find, heated to scalding, then topped with (also scalding) milk, you’re pretty close.. yummy.   Thankfully in NYC we found two coffee shops owned by Antipodeans – Happy Bones, and Ruby’s cafe.  Ruby’s also does a great brunch (vegemite for any home-sick Aussies) and dinner.

Finally the Good

Before you think I hated NYC, there were three real standouts in NYC, that were highlights of our whole American adventure.

The first was the 9/11 Museum and Memorial.  There aren’t any words that can explain what it is like, but I will say it is incredibly moving and my absolute ‘must-visit’ for anyone coming to NYC. The memorial is free to visit with two pools of water representing the towers, and the names of all who died that day engraved around.  It’s such a strange thing to think that all those people came here every day to work – and one day didn’t return.  The museum is fascinating and incredibly sad.

911 memorial

Secondly, thanks to my lovely colleagues at PayPal who gave us a wonderful leaving present, we had a night out at Perry Street restaurant.  We were able to splurge on a three course meal of beautifully presented and tasty food, topped off with a toast to the Australians with a bottle of Barossa red.  This was a real highlight and something we wouldn’t have done had it not been for such a generous gift.

Perry Street

And finally, a NYC show on Broadway.  We saw Chicago, and were both blown away.  The perfect last night in NYC.

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Let’s go Red Sox, let’s go!

Waking up to a blue-skied day we excitedly joined what seemed like half of Boston for the walk to Fenway Park. Less than an hour later, we were decked out in Red Sox clothing, in our seats and enjoying a beer.

The atmosphere was fantastic.  From the recognition of Red Sox graduates, through to singing of the national anthem to endless baseball chants and crowd antics, there was never a dull moment, and the afternoon flew by.

It was a shaky start for the Red Sox with the Oakland A’s getting up 4-0 before the Red Sox had an epic innings to win 7-4. The crowd went wild!

Other highlights of Boston..

Walking Boston
Boston is a small and flat city making it great for lazy days wandering.  Boston Common at the centre offers a place to relax, and also the perfect spot for a morning run.

Boston Common

We joined another walking tour with our favourite tour company Free Tours by Foot, this time focused on the Freedom Trail – a painted footpath leading the way through the city to highlights of the American Revolution.

Freedom Trail

Harvard
There’s no denying it is a pretty spot…but truthfully, it’s also pretty boring. I can imagine it would be a nice place to go to school, but walking around it can be done in about 10 minutes. Luckily the John Harvard Brewery exists – making it a worthwhile visit, and going someway to make up for missing out on Samuel Adams Brewery (a few ‘issues’ with directions which we’ll gloss over quickly).

Harvard

Provincetown, Cape Cod.
Provincetown turned out to be the unexpected gem of our America trip and the perfect break between the cities. Rated as one of the Top 10 small towns in America, Provincetown is definitely cute. A 90 minute ferry took us to the town which sits on a long white-sanded beach. The main street is full of restaurants, bars, and boutique shops – a great place to meander around for the aftenoon. We hired bikes for a day and headed out of town, taking in the sand dunes, a couple of light-houses and countless cute Cape Cod style homes.

Provincetown

Provincetown is also where we realised the benefits and the pitfalls of free pouring. Cocktails consist of about 5 shots of alcohol and a waft of mixer.. great for the first one, but making you positively seedy by the end of the second!

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Theme park madness

A childhood obsession with Mickey Mouse has not been completely forgotten, and what would a trip to America be without visiting the classic theme parks?  That’s all the justification we needed to require a trip to Orlando, Florida  It was a quick visit so in order to scientifically confirm which is better, we decided on a day at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, and a day at Universal Studios.

Magic Kingdom is the classic, with everything you’d expect – the massive castle at the centre, the parade of iconic characters, and the classic rides – Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the best one – Space Mountain.

Disney

But Universal was where the fun really began.  Instead of long wait times like Disney, Universal is mostly 10 – 20 minutes, and with a much bigger range of rides – and rides mores suited to adults! From Shrek, to Men In Black, to watching Fear Factor, we had a blast.

The highlight had to be the Simpsons.  Celebrating 25 years on television (and yes, that did make me feel old), they had a whole area designed like Springfield and a hilarious 3D roller coaster ride.  Of course we couldn’t go past the Duff Brewery, and stopped for a few pints of their finest.

Duff Breweries

Although Universal won as our favourite – somehow a little Mickey Mouse has found his way into my suitcase.. guess I’m a big kid at heart!

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DC by Foot

They have amazing reviews online for good reason, our 4 hour walking tour with DC by Foot was the highlight of our time in Washington DC.  And that’s a big call, because DC is an incredible place with so many iconic buildings and memorials, even walking around on our own we were pretty awe-struck.  It’s also a beautiful city with wide tree-lined streets and beautiful old homes and buildings.

Our tour started at the Washington Monument and straight away the benefit of our tour guide was evident.   Whilst we were all gazing at the monument (which is pretty impressive) he told us to turn around and there was the White House.  And, if you looked closely, a few snipers on the roof.

Both sides of the White House

Next stop was the WWII memorial at the top of the Reflecting Pool.  The memorial is huge – the picture below shows less than half of it.

WWII memorial

In contrast, the Vietnam War Memorial is simple and modern but I found it more moving.  Every American who died in the war is listed on the long wall and it is designed to reflect your image back at you as you read through the names.  According to our guide there was a competition to design the memorial with the winner being a college student.  Her college had also run a competition for students to design the memorial and she had only been awarded a B for her efforts – she went on to enter the main competition and won, beating the lecturer who had given her the B grade and had also entered!

Vietnam War Memorial

The other war memorial we visited was the Korean War memorial which has a very haunting feel to it.  No matter where you stand as you walk around it, it always looks like a soldier is staring at you.

Korean War Memorial

The tour also covered many of the famous president memorials including the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial and Jefferson Memorial as we made our way around the Tidal Basin.

Washington Monument

It was 4 hours in over 30 degree heat and high humidity.  We were hot, tired and dusty but had a much richer understanding of America’s capital and history.  This was one of the best tours I’ve been on – and luckily they run them in Boston and New York – so we’ll be signing up for a few more!

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The South.

A quick stopover in Dallas, Texas.

The travels have finally started and the first stop (after a very long flight) is Dallas, Texas. We’re only here for a day to hopefully get over the jet lag but still keen to get a feel for the area.  After 15 hours on a plane we were excited to get to some fresh air,  but Texas customs decided it had a better idea…. so we queued for 2 hours to get processed!

Eventually getting to to the hotel mid-afternoon we spent a few hours recovering then headed out to the West End – just a few blocks away. Here a bunch of bars and restaurants awaited, but it was only a quiet night for us.

The next day we headed off to the 6th floor museum at Dealy Plaza, the JFK museum. Jetlag still impacting heavily, we attempted our first American coffee… it didn’t help. How do Americans drink this stuff?

The museum was amazing. You get a full tour of JFK’s life leading up to the shooting all situated around the room in which Oswald shot from (unless you believe the grassy knoll theory). There’s also loads of information on the many other theories around who shot JFK and why.  A really interesting morning! Coincidentally we were there on JFK’s birthday.

JFK Museum

Next up we jumped on the train to Fort Worth about an hour away. Although the day was sunny and hot, Dallas has been hit by some massive storms lately and evidence was all along the route with trees underwater and some swollen rivers only a metre or so from the tracks.

In Fort Worth a bus whisked us away to the Stockyards- cowboy town. Although quite touristy, this was a fun way to see a bit of southern history with saloons and even a cattle muster down the main road.

No trip to the South would be complete without a massive feed of burgers, chips and onion rings- washed down by a few beers.

Fort Worth Stockyards

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The next 7 months of travelling

We’ve broken the trip into three sections before Christmas, with the option for another one afterwards.

America & Morocco

We’ll be waving goodbye to Sydney and heading for Texas at the end of May.  Then it’s on to Washington DC, slight detour to Orlando, then up the East Coast stopping in New York and Boston.  We’ll then skip across to Morocco and onto Intrepid’s Best of Morocco Tour.

Europe

Despite plenty of travels whilst we lived in the UK, there’s still much of Europe we didn’t get to, so we’re going again.  From Morocco we fly into Geneva and head for Courmayeur in Italy for some hiking.  We’re also hoping on jumping across to the French town of Chamonix for Scott’s Birthday/ Bastille Day celebrations.  From there we head down through Italy to meet mum in Venice for a two week visit packing in Venice, Florence, Tuscany and Rome.  We’ll say Goodbye to mum, then carry on down through Italy before making our way over to Croatia, then overland down to Greece and Turkey over the next few months.

India

Our final stop for the year is India.  We’ll be joining another Intrepid Tour – the Classic Rajasthan for 15 days.  Then there’s a few weeks in India on our own before we head back to NZ for Christmas.

Any tips or recommendations – please let us know!

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Adventure awaits

We’re now less than two weeks from the start of our adventures, and the excitement is definitely building!  So I’m taking a break from the ‘fun’ of packing and cleaning to think about what I’m looking forward to most over the next 7 months of travelling.

  • New York City – the backdrop to so many iconic tv shows and movies, museums, central park, shopping… can’t wait.
  • Being a giant kid at the theme parks in Orlando- you’re never too old for Disney right?
  • Going to a ball game in Boston
  • Souk shopping in Morocco – I may be on a budget, and with limited space but that hasn’t stopped me researching shipping purchases home (mum and dad, look out for some packages!)
  • Hiking in the Alps
  • Spending Bastille Day/ Scott’s birthday in France
  • Exploring Italy with my mum
  • Pompeii – featured heavily in the three years of Latin I studied and somewhere I’ve always wanted to go.
  • Taking time away from working to hopefully figure out what I want to do next
  • Good wine and good food.. It’s no accident we’re travelling extensively in countries known for good wine.
  • Meeting other travelers and sharing stories and travel tips
  • After a year of Scott doing FIFO work, spending a decent amount of time together.
  • The highs and lows of travelling.  Some days we’ll fight, some days we’ll want to do nothing more that veg out and watch movies, and some days we’ll be tired and grumpy.  But then there will be the amazing days- new sights, new friends and travelling the world
  • Washington DC- the heart of US power.
  • Sarajevo- still in high school when war broke out, this area has always held a fascination for me.
  • Staying at AirBNBs around the world and meeting the locals renting out their properties.
  • Getting outdoors – hiking, walking and running with some beautiful scenery rather than cramming an hour in the gym after work.
  • Finding that unexpected place that turns out to be amazing
  • The crowds and craziness of India..
  • Home for Christmas to see family and friends.
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The Great Ocean Road

Apostles, Koalas and wine – the perfect Easter. 

Before we say goodbye to Australia, it’s time to check out a bit more of the country, and the Great Ocean Road is one of those trips I’ve been keen to do for ages!  With five days off work, we managed to fit both 3 nights on the Great Ocean Road, and two in the Yarra Valley for some wine.

Day 1:  Melbourne to Apollo Bay

Flying into Melbourne we quickly grabbed our rental car and headed for the coast. We stopped at Lorne for lunch on the beach and then passed by Bells Beach, the famous hope of the Rip Curl Pro.  From there to Apollo Bay its a beautiful coastal drive with plenty of stops to try out the new camera (Panasonic Lumix GM1).  A cute seaside town Apollo Bay has all you need for a night – restaurants, cafes, and a good pub.

Morning run on the beach

Morning run on the beach

Day 2: Apollo Bay to Port Campbell 

Heading to the Cape Otway Lightstation there is apparently a ‘almost guaranteed’ chance of seeing Koalas in the wild – and yet I was still totally surprised and ridiculously excited to see them!  This is definitely where you need two people in the car – one to look up for koalas – and one not taking their eyes off the road – people stop their cars in the middle of the road to take photos.

The light-station is well worth the visit too, although you need to rug up warm.

Next stop – Apostles.  Until here it hadn’t felt like there were a lot of tourists on the GOR, so I guess a lot of them do a day trip for the Apostles alone, cause it was packed! And you can see why – they are stunning.  But  really, one of the best things about the Great Ocean Road is how chilled out the road trip is. It’s so much more than rushing to the Aspostles, and I highly recommend taking your time if you ever get the chance to visit.

We ended the day with a few beers and a restful night in Port Campbell.

Day 3:  Port Campbell to Port Fairy

Carrying on from Port Campbell the views continue, with plenty of opportunities to stop and take photos.  We headed to Tower Hill State Game Reserve for some light hiking – and the chance to see some wildlife, although thankfully didn’t spot any snakes.

We continued on to Port Fairy which is gorgeous.   Beautiful beaches, cute streets, many cute pubs and friendly locals – what more could you want!

P1260365

Day 4 and Day 5:   Our final stop, time for some wine!

A long driving day across to the other side of Melbourne, and the Yarra Valley where we relaxed at the Yarra Valley Lodge.  We were lucky enough to time our arrival with the Yarra Valley markets so spent the morning wandering the many stalls with a bacon sarnie, and the afternoons tasting wine – the perfect way to spend the day.

Pacific