Hope you like seafood......

I have been here for 24 hours, have had 3 meals, and have had seafood
at every meal. That's alot of seafood. We went out tonight with the
inlaws, sisters, husbands and kids ( that's alot of people ) and had
the biggest and freshest seafood platter I have ever seen!!!! As for
the steaming photos, an incredibly large piece of meat comes out on a
very hot stone that has been heated in the oven for an hour, and you
cook it to you liking at the table. You cannot imagine how good
everything was!!!

Sooooooo..... Off to bed since it is after midnight. Tomorrow we are
heading to Fatima - the pilgramage site..... Should be interesting.
More later......

Vista Allegre....

One of my favorite places in Portugal in the Vista Allegre porcelain
factory and gallery. The grounds are stunning, yet very simple. Too
bad they won't let us take photos in the museum. They have been making
the most beautif porcelain plate since 1824 for the most affluent in
Europe, including quite a few royal houses!!!!

Long day.....

So we are in Aviero, Portugal - it is close to the village Frenchy is
from. We are staying at the Hotel Melia Ria in kind of a gentrifying
part of town. The brick building is an old porcelain factory that had
been converted to a convention center. Our hotel sits on kind if a
salt pond thing that had a canal coming in from the ocean (aviero is
in the coast). Traditional gondolas ferry tourists around for boat
tours. It is all quite charming. We had lunch at a Michelin
reccommended restaurant, SalPoente, which was a converted salt
warehouse, right on the canal. Delicious!!! Aviero is known for their
salt flats...

Tune on for more later......

Goodbye to marrakech. Hello Portugal.

We left Marrakech before dawn and flew back to Madrid. Got our cute
little rental car, a BMW 128, and headed towards Portugal. After a 6
hour drive we are now in Aviero. These sate a few last photos from
Marrakech. We
needed to weigh our bags as Ryan Air had super strict restrictions, so
Abdel went to the neighborhood butcher and borrowed a scale that was
straight out of the middle ages. Earlier that same day I had seen 4
goat heads hanging off the hook. Seriously. All in all quite funny
though. Last photo is of Frenchy with Monsieur Babouches. I had 60
pairs of babouches made for the shop by his factory. Such a nice guy.

Tomorrow it is off to the Vista Allegre porcelain museum. Then dinner
with the on laws.... Stay tuned!!!!

Elaborate doorways...

Wandering around marrakech's souk today we found a few very elaborate
and beautiful doorways. The brass example was unbelieveable. We also
found a section of the souk for the woodcarvers and you cannot imagine
how beautiful they were. Too bad it is not allowed to take photos...

Mamounia hotel is horrible

We wanted to go for lunch and were told that no reservations were required. When we arrived, we were prevented from even entering the grounds by four security guards. Would not even let us walk inside. Unbelievable. I almost booked this hotel too. Glad I did not do that. I can't stand this kind of snobbery. I grew up with it and think it is disgusting. Nuff said.

Our lovely little riad by day...

The last photo is of our
most amazing host, Abdel and Frenchy.

A wonderful little shop...

For some reason, all my photos of this cute little place, Moor, did
not post in
a previous post. Let's try this again

Big deal....

Hilarious. Everyone loves a bargain...... In every language.....

The last of the Majorelle Garden photos

I promise. Such a cool place.

Only a few more....

Interesting how they carved into the bamboo. It actually creates
scars .,,,,