Turkey 2012

Visiting Turkey; Istanbul and Ephesus in 2012

Turkey 2012 Turkey 2012

Vietnam & Bangkok 2009

Vietnam & Bangkok- 17 days July 2009

Vietnam & Bangkok 2009 Vietnam & Bangkok 2009

Morocco 2012

Morocco; Marrakech, Fez, Volubilis, Meknes and Casablanca in October of 2012

Morocco 2012 Morocco 2012

Japan 2011

Sushi, Shrines and Shinkansen; 8 Days in Tokyo and Kyoto in April 2011

Japan 2011 Japan 2011

Rome 2009

Mozzarella, Museums & Macchiato; A Week in Rome, October 2009

Rome 2009 Rome 2009

Color Me Blue, Majorelle Blue, in Marrakech

by wired2theworld on June 8, 2013

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Lush. Cool. Blue.

It the middle of Marrakech’s torrid heat and swirling chaos is a place best described as an oasis by those three short words above.

The Jardin Majorelle, or Majorelle Garden, was built as the private residence of painter Jacques Majorelle in the early 1920′s in a beautiful mix of Art Deco, Cubist and Moorish Moroccan style. The brilliant cobalt blue used all over the property was so unique it eventually came to be known as Majorelle Blue.   The property was purchased in 1980 by designer Yves Saint Laurent who restored and enhanced the gardens. Majorelle’s former art deco studio is now a small museum (which we did not visit) filled with Berber arts and crafts collected by Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge.

Upon entering the front gates you find yourself in a forest of bamboo so tall it all but shades out the searing sun above. It’s suddenly cool and benches beckon you to sit, rest, breathe.

Then you notice the colors; electric yellows and blues, lush greens and bits of hot red, yet it’s still peaceful inside the walls. Over 300 species of plants are tended by a large team of gardeners and range the spectrum from bamboo to succulents to water lilies to desert cacti. There’s a lovely indoor/outdoor cafe for tea and pastries and water misters to help mitigate the heat.

A couple of hours here offers a peaceful respite from the world outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jemaa el-Fna Square, Marrakech

by wired2theworld on June 4, 2013

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One of the best and worst parts of Marrakech is Jemaa el-Fna square, right at the very center of the city. It’s chaotic and crazy. In the daytime it’s practically a barren wasteland of wide open space with only the juice stands and herb sellers to keep you company. But come late afternoon, the carts start wheeling in, the grills get fired up and the tables and chairs come out along with the crowds of tourists and locals alike looking for a good meal.

Yes, there are monkey wranglers and snake charmers and every sort of charlatan in between hoping to pry the money from your pocket.

But there’s also the wafting smoke from grilling meat and and the enticing smell of frying seafood beckoning you to sit and eat.

There’s a guy who pulls teeth for a dollar and a gorgeous boy who sells orange juice by the cup.

Story tellers and henna artists may grab you by the hand and the souk is there at one end, tempting you with anything and everything you’d ever want to buy.

Musicians play, loud and raucous, all drums and horns, and then the call to prayer echos through the square and everything gets quieter for a moment.

Come along for a little tour, day into night…

The guy with the hat sells drinks of water in those cups.

Less than US $.50 for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice….

…and this view is free with the OJ.

 Stay away from the guys with the monkeys. Seriously. They don’t treat them right and the guys will hassle you for money. It’s wrong.

 Musicians, taking a break.

 Boys, listening to a story teller.

 Story telling; only men seem to participate.

This was one of the best, and busiest, fried seafood stalls in the square.
It’s called Chez Haj Mohamed El Krita, stall #N14.

 From the stall above; eggplant dip, fried squid, and fried fish. Perfection!

 

 

 Snail soup, a Marrakech classic dish.

 Eat the snails with the toothpick and then slurp up the fragrant, well spiced broth.

 This was one of our favorite stalls for grilled meat and we went back several times. Right on the edge of the stalls on the square, it has a bright red sign which reads “no. 32 * 114 Hassan” on it.

 Grilled lamb sausage, fresh bread and the typical tomato sauce from Hassan’s (above). We also had fantastic grilled liver and lamb skewers here.

 Good seafood here too. We ate here on our last night with Margaret and John from LostAndFoundTravel.

The remains of our last meal in Marrakech.

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The Cats of Morocco

March 31, 2013
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If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you know that I’m a cat person, as are the people with whom I travel (David, my mother, even our friends). So it’s no surprise that in Morocco, I took photos of cats everywhere. I miss my kitties when I travel and I’m a sucker for cats everywhere I go, feeding them under tables in outdoor restaurants or stopping for a little head scratch and a bit love on the sidewalk.

Morocco was a cat lover’s paradise, much like Turkey, where there were cats everywhere. Some nights we wrapped up a bit of our dinner in a napkin and shared them with the local strays on the way back to our riad. No one got mad, and more than once, when someone from the neighborhood saw us do this, they smiled and said “thank you”. Even though there are a lot of sick kittens and under-fed strays, Morocco seems to be a cat friendly country.

MarrakechCat3This girl was quite talkative, can’t you tell?

Play time in the old medina in Casablana.

Kid and cat in Fez.

Fez cat with mustache.

Shhhh….I’m sleeping.

Patiently waiting outside the poultry vendor in a market in Marrakech.

Kitten in Marrakech market.

Pretty girl in Fez.

Pile of Cats in Marrakech

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On Being Conflicted; Morocco

January 24, 2013
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“Morocco is like a tree nourished by roots deep in the soils of Africa which breathes through foliage rustling to the winds of Europe.” King Hassam II of Morocco

Morocco.

Just the name evokes images of exotic markets filled with fragrant spices, vast dunes of the Sahara, camels, snake charmers and monkey wranglers, cous cous and clay pot tagines. While it does have all those things, they can easily become cliches. I visited Morocco for the second time in October 2012 and it’s taken me months to wrap my head around writing about it. To be brutally honest, I continue to be conflicted in how I feel about Morocco. I wanted to passionately love everything about it. I wanted to erase my first experience there and have the country redeem itself in my eyes. Yet in the end, I still feel at odds; Morocco is simultaneously one of the most fascinating and most challenging of the almost forty countries I’ve visited in the last two decades.

My mother and I chose Morocco for our annual October trip because we are both enamored by the food. I’m also in love with Islamic architecture and the design aesthetic. We’d both (independently) visited Turkey earlier in the year, adored it, and felt comfortable as women traveling in a Muslim country.

Don’t get me wrong, you’re not going to get post after post here of me bashing Morocco. I enjoyed many parts of it, but I feel that I have to be honest about the negatives where they apply.

Many of my interactions with Moroccans left me feeling as if the country is as closed off as the high walls of the medinas, where the best food was most likely found in people’s homes, and not accessible to the average, or even intrepid, tourist. Where those walls protect the family (especially women) …

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The Food Of Turkey-Restaurants in Istanbul

January 21, 2013
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Last but not least, we get to my favorite part of travel, food! I know I’ve said it a million times, it’s all about the food, and thankfully Turkish food did not disappoint. If you’re interested in food markets, then you may want to check out my post on my other blog about the Markets in Istanbul; Kadikoy Food Market and Galata Bridge Fish Market. Here, I’m going to share with you some of our favorite restaurant experience in Istanbul. Click here see where we ate in the maze of the Grand Bazaar and here for some of the food available in Selcuk (Ephesus).

In researching where to eat in Istanbul, one place kept coming up over and over again;  Ciya Sofrasi (Guneslibahce Sokak 43, Kadikoy; 90-216-330-3190; www.ciya.com.tr). This restaurant actually has 3 separate store fronts on the same Kadikoy street. We took the ferry over to the Asia side of the city, to the Kadikoy stop (a fun trip in itself). The restaurant has both a menu in English, and steam tables where you can just point at what you want. One of the options is the mezze plate, where they weigh the plate after you select your choices to determine what you pay. I think all the cold mezze are vegetarian, so this restaurant is a good choice for those who don’t eat meat. We ordered from both and got a delicious selection of food.

 

I read about Ficcin in the Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets book. Dumplings filled with meat covered with a yogurt sauce and chili oil? I’m sold! And yes, they were as good as they sound. According to the book, this is a dish from the Caucasus mountains. Ficcin is in lower Beyoglu, off Istiklal Caddessi at …

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A Visit to the Roman Ruins of Ephesus

December 30, 2012
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We visited Ephesus on a dreary rainy day, yet it was still spectacular to see where and how people lived more than 3000 years ago.

We were lucky in that our hotel offered free rides to and from the ruins, including instructions to go to a specific vendor’s stall at the exit to have them call for a pick up. We were dropped at the top entrance gate and walked down through the site to the bottom gate. I believe you can enter at either side. Both entrances have restrooms, but there are no restrooms or water or anything sold in the middle of the site. There are food stalls at the bottom gate.

At the time of our visit, the entrance fee was 20 TL (about $11 ). In addition, we opted for both the audio tour ( at 10TL each, not worth it as the explanation and language quality were

horrible) and extra 15 TL to visit to the current excavation of the Terrace Houses (worth every extra lira) which thankfully was covered and allowed us to walk around without the hindrance of umbrellas.

I wish I’d seen these references before our trip and I would have opted out of the rented audio tour:

Rick Steves podcast audio tour of Ephesus

Planning a DIY tour of Ephesus

Before you head to the ruins, you might want to check out the museum in town.

 

At the entrance there was this introductory sign:

 

Walking down the main street toward the Library…

 

Inside the terrace houses which are being painstakingly reassembled:

 

 

 

 

 

ephesusJenga

 

Jenga!

There are two amphitheaters and they still have surprising acoustics. In fact, we recorded people spontaneously singing. Watch the video here:

 

Sheep! On the hillside above the ruins.

Of course there …

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There’s More to Selçuk Turkey Than The Ruins of Ephesus

October 28, 2012
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Most people visit Selçuk as a gate way to see the Roman ruins at Ephesus. Truth be told, that’s exactly why we were there too. But we figured if we were going to fly all the way there from Istanbul, then we should at least spend two days there. See this post about flying Atlas Jet from Istanbul to Izmir, taking the free Atlas Jet bus to Selçuk and staying at the lovely Hotel Bella.

Our first day was really only a half day, so after we got to the hotel from the airport, we took the time to walk around town and see some of the sights, all within walking distance of the hotel.

Before we even left the hotel we got a look at some of the town’s most famous residents, storks, who build their nests up on high platforms.

This was the view of the newer part of town from the hotel’s restaurant terrace.

Then there was this view from our room and the other side of the hotel. That’s the entrance to the ruins of St John’s Basillica.

Once we could tear ourselves away from the Hotel Bella, we set out walking in what was essentially one large loop through the town to hit the highlights. The first stop was the Selçuk museum which houses many artifacts from Ephesus.

The museum also includes recreations of rooms from Ephesus, several giant sarcophagi, reproductions of local industry shops, and some interesting ancient artifacts…

Priapos

From the museum, we continued walking past the rather boring ruins of the Temple of Artemis (there’s only one column there) to the surprise discovery of the ruins of the Bey Hamam (an ancient bath house). It was fenced off, so we couldn’t explore inside, but it certainly looked interesting.

Up the hill from the Bey Hamam …

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The Other Side of Istanbul; Istiklal Caddesi, Galata Tower, Beyoglu

October 1, 2012
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There’s more to Istanbul than the old quarter’s Grand Bazaar, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. Take just a short walk across the Galata bridge and find another, more modern world.

Don’t be tempted to power walk across the Galeta Bridge. Take your time, slow down, and look around, there’s a whole lot going on along the way. Restaurants line the bridge on a lower level and up top, there are almost always a group of men standing, smoking and fishing.

 

 

Once you’re on the other side of the bridge, look  to your left and below you’ll see a fish market. If you have the time, head down there, take a look and maybe grab a fish sandwich or some fried anchovies.

At this point you have two choices; walk up to see the Galeta Tower or take the historic Funicular to Istiklal Caddesi.

Look up with your back to the bridge and you can’t miss the Galeta Tower which dates back to the 6th century. You’ll walk up some very picturesque, but steep and winding streets, before you get to the tower’s base. By the time we got there it was late (ok, we were winded) so we didn’t climb the tower for the view.

 

 

Another option, instead of walking up the hill, is to take the funicular up to Istiklal Caddessi, Istanbul’s main pedestrian shopping street. The entrance to the funicular is down by the fish market at Karakoy, so taking it will bypass the Galeta Tower. Built in 1875 by the French, it’s worth it to take once, of only to see the beautiful tile work and ride in the historic underground railway.

Once at the top, head out of the funicular station to your right and you’ll be on Istiklal Caddesi which …

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