Morocco!

There's no way I can describe morocco in a short blog post, but wow it's beautiful and such a different feeling country!  I traveled with a great and very diverse group of people living in/from over ten countries and ranging from 22-60/70 years old! We traveled around the Atlas Mountains, the Saharan desert, and Marrakech!  

Some highlights of the trip: 

Snowy Atlas Mountains 

Donkeys and people walking through a local market with food, clothes, electronics, animals for sale..etc

Rock climbing in the toudgha gorge!

Fresh camel milk.. Tastes similar to cows but a bit sweeter..

1 hour camel ride into the Saharan Desert!

The full group prior to sand surfing at sunset!

Sand surfing - I was not upright for long..!

Apparently this is common for camels once a year..( that's no his tongue)

Chameleons along the road

Amazing paintings with Moroccan tea, saffron, and indigo!

Henna at the jamaa el fna square in marrakech

Hot air balloon ride at sun rise!!

Berber breakfast - quite bread heavy but delicious and different tasting foods

Vegetable tagine (a common Moroccan dish along with couscous)

Somehow I didn't get run over by any motorcycles in the markets..!

My happy yet terrified face with the snake charmer. 

Sunset and people everywhere in the marrakech square after my hammam bath and massage - quite an experience!

So there you go, a very small taste of my morocco experience.. Now italy for 10 days, Israel for a day, and then the long flight back to New York!

Night bus to Lisboa

It's midnight and I just got on the bus on the second leg of the journey to Lisboa, Portugal. I've never taken a night bus before and it's quite an experience already!

Starting from the beginning, I said my goodbyes to Sandra and Sophie at the bus stop in San Luis de sabinillas ( southern Spain ) and waited for 16:10 bus. No bus came. Lucky there was another woman waiting for the bus so I was thinking I could find a way to Algeciras with her if the bus didn't show. It finally came 20 minutes late and we got to algecerias. I had a bus ticket from algecerias to Lisboa - I assumed this bus station would be were I was dropped off. No one spoke English and they told me to go somewhere else. I figured it out and finally ended up at a port/ other station 10 minutes away. I waited for the lisbon bus there and there were was luckily another person there because that bus was also late by 15 or so minutes so I stayed near him to make sure I got the right bus!  3 of us got on the bus - me and 2 men likely in their 40s or 50s. After a few minutes the bus arrived at the same station I started at!! I'm still unclear why they made me go to the port... Many others got on the bus there and we arrived in Seville at 1030. I was unaware that we had to switch busses there but we all got off and the driver said we would wait there for an hour.. And then he left. 

I went to a tapas bar with one of the men for 30 minutes or so. He is Portuguese and spoke zero English and only a bit of spanish. This made communication quite challenging seeing as I do not speak Portuguese or French!  We had hilarious and completely broken conversations and he pretty much laughed the whole time!  It's unclear if he knew that I understood far less than half of what he was staying but he kept chatting away and I tried talking to him in Spanish! Main points that I got from our conversation: cigarettes are much cheaper in Gibraltar than in Portugal, he stopped attending school at 12 years which his mother was unhappy about, someone got locked out of his house and has no keys, he doesn't need sleep, he is very tired when he drives..etc. Aside from these great conversations, we watched drunken older ladies dancing, taking selfies with motorcycle helmets, and wobbling around in the tapas bar. Seems like they were having quite a good time! One woman told me over and over how much she loves portual and she really loves lisbon! We headed back to the bus station after 30 minutes and the other guy who was waiting there with the suitcases said (in Portuguese) that we had been gone for an hour.  The other guy made fun of him and motioned that he was crazy. We continued having broken conversations and the guy from the tapas bar laughed at the other guy a lot and kept looking at me in a way assuming I knew what he was laughing and talking about. I heard "Perro" at one point and it seemed like he called the other guy a dog. Who knows, but I laughed along with them. 

Now the bus has fully filled up and I have 6 more hours until I arrive in lisbon. Goodnight! Let's hope I get a few hours of sleep :)

Marbella and Ronda

It's incredible how fast time has been passing by.. I have less than a week left in la duquesa (as an au pair) and then I am off to travel again! It was a beautiful sunny week and Sophie and I went out to the beach or playground almost every day! A storm is on its way and it is supposed to rain Tuesday - Friday.. Time to bring the boots, sweaters, and jackets back into use!

This weekend I went to Marbella and to Ronda! 

Marbella is a wealthy beach town just north of where I am staying. I put a message up on the Malaga au pair Facebook group, and as a result met up with Mary who is Spanish and French! We had a really nice afternoon talking and walking around marbella, eating tapas, drinking in honor of at Patrick's day, and eating sweets!  It was a really great afternoon and so nice to make a new friend in the area!

Mary and I having cider / beer at the all english St. Patrick's day festival in Marbella. Buy a drink and get a hat!

Today I went to Ronda with Sandra and Sophie! It was a very windy road and it was all the way up into the mountains. It was a beautiful town and I enjoyed walking around, playing games with Sophie, listening to music, and looking out at the amazing views!

The city is built right into the cliffs!

Sophie taking a nap in "her bed". 

Flying like the birds!

Admiring the views. 

Throwing fallen flower petals into the air

Lambs running through the street on our way back from Rhonda. 

I bought an overnight bus ticket to lisbon for Friday night!  

Four more countries to go and then my journey begins back to the United States.

Ducklings and Granada

Week #2 was great with Sophie! We have been searching all week for the baby ducks and the mommy duck.  Each day we ask, “where are you baby ducks? Where are you moony duck?” – this has been quite a point of conversation! Its really amazing how fast she is picking up English..!  On Friday we went to the pond again and finally – the baby ducks and the mommy duck had arrived!  There were 7 little ducklings swimming around and Sophie was very excited to finally get to see them!  As we watched them and moved from one side of the pond to the other to get the best views, the seagulls came by… one swooped down and grabbed a duckling and we watched it wiggle in the air and be swallowed by the seagull ..pretty horrible! Sophie was very vocal and made it very clear that the birds should go away “no no no!!  don’t eat the baby ducks!!”

Sophie-very excited to see the ducks!

Seagull in action with the duckling..hard to see but it's in its mouth...

The surviving four!

After the morning in Estepona with Sophie, I hopped in a blablacar (car share service) and headed off for Granada!  I stayed with my friend Amar who I met in 2006 at a tawonga peacemakers weekend with people from all over the world.  We have stayed in touch here and there over the years and it was so great getting to stay with him and explore Granada with him and his friends after all of these years!

Beautiful shops with lanterns on small streets in Granada 

The Alhambra - we were lucky to get tickets the day of and we spend four hours wandering through the palace and garden areas. 

A donkey we met that was hanging out outside of the Alhambra. No owner present..

Incredibly detailed sandstone carvings all throughout the Alhambra palace

Amar and I sitting on the edge of the Alhambra, enjoying the views!

The view of Alhambra and the city from St Nicholas 

We caught the end of the sunset from San Miguel, a great lookout spot of the whole city!

A very gold filled church!

Our 11 year tour guide at the Plaza de Toros (bull fight ring). He didn't seem to want to be working, but he was sweet and showed us the whole place and brought us into the areas where the Bulls stay, the medical room, horse area..etc

Bull fights start sometime next month.. 

International women's day parade through Granada!

Music and flamenco dancing at plaza nueva!

It was a great weekend - took a 4.5hr bus back and now I'm home and ready for the week ahead!

España

You'd think that traveling solo would give more time for things such as blogging, but I've been so busy and haven't had the chance to write since Paris! I loved Paris and Barcelona and now I'm in Andalusia, the south of Spain! I just finished one week being an au pair in La Duquesa. Its a beautiful and tiny port town with mostly an older English community. I have to seek out the Spanish speakers so I can practice! The family has been great and I'm really enjoying my time with Sophie! She speaks Spanish and German and is catching on incredibly fast to English.  Quite a smart little lady :)

I have weekends off and am using them as opportunities to see even more of Spain! This weekend I am exploring Seville! Right now I am sitting with my legs dangling above Rio Guadalquivir next to the Triana bridge. There are people rowing, ducks floating by, and hundreds of people sitting and enjoying the sunshine and views.

The city has a very relaxed feeling. The 70 degree weather likely helps! Southern Spain has finally allowed me to take my down jacket(s) off. I could get used to this..

More updates later.. 3 more weeks with Sophie and weekend trips to Granada and Rhonda coming up soon :)

Solo in Paris

Bonjour! After about 2 months of traveling as a nanny, on a group trip, and with friends, I began my solo journey.  I arrived in Paris on Wednesday night with no idea of what lay ahead, where I might wander, and who I might meet.  Excitement was all I felt.  I met a group of kind strangers at the hostel and explored with them the following day. 

We walked a few short minutes up to the Sacre Coeur, a small yet beautiful cathedral up on a hill. 

Moulin rouge was next. We passed by numerous sex shops on our way there and the building was on the side of a busy street. It almost blended in with the building around it, yet the bright red color and windmill made it stand out. 

After a few transfers through the large yet effective subway system, we made it to the trocadero which provided great views on our way to the Eiffel Tower. Hazy sky, yet unbelievably beautiful! 

On our way to the Notre Dam, we passed by a man handing out rice. Pigeons were swarming the area and although I usually do not gravitate towards mobs of pigeons, I decided that I had to..! You only live once right?

The outside of the Louve was or next stop. The beautiful tall building surrounded us and the pyramids were incredible. I decided against taking the usual picture pretending to pinch it from the top, but I got some amazing ones regardless.

Prior to heading home, we stopped by the arc de triumph, standing tall with the sun beginning to go down behind it.

Overall, a pretty amazing first day in Paris, and a great start to my solo journey ahead!

Au revoir,

Shoshie