Now how to sum up this trip other than to simply say, amazing. Claudette and I had almost four weeks and a rough itinerary of what we wanted to do. I have family in north Morocco, and we definitely were going to see them, we also wanted to go into Spain for a little bit. I’ve traveled a lot when I was younger, yet Europe I have barely seen. So it seemed settled somewhat, north Morocco and the south of Spain… Yet Marrakech kept calling to us, but that was quite far south and given our time we didn’t know if we could swing it all.

Claudette and I flew into Casablanca, and left that city as soon as possible. Sure it’s nice, but like any big city it’s not a good indication of the country. We then promptly took a bus down to Marrakech after all. A five hour bus ride later we were there. The city is quite fabulous, beautifully stylized with an wonderful pink façade on most of the city walls. All the trees in the city are neatly lined with a white chalk coating from the base of the trunk to about 3-4 feet high, this apparently keeps insects from harming the trees. We had met some other folks on the journey south, two Japanese and a Puerto-Rican tourist. We all decided on staying at the same hotel and chose one to check out from the our Lonely Planet guide.

Once there it was a relief to drop our bags and check out the city, we looked forward to an evening of good food! Oh the food, so good. Nothing is quite like good authentic Moroccan cuisine, and we loved it all. You can feast on very little money, and I do mean feast. From traditional cous cous to tajine there’s bountiful of goodness to have. After a few days of exploring Marrakech and the surrounding area, we decided one evening to take an overnight train to Tangier, then ferry it to Spain to arrive in Seville in the afternoon. This wasn’t the most restful way of doing things, but it did keep everything spontaneous and fun.

So after a long night train (10.5 hours I believe) we were in Tangier at the break of dawn, and shortly after we were on a ferry bound for Tarifa in Spain (another 2 hours). From there we would bus it to Seville and enjoy some time in that beautiful city (4 more hours, 16.5 hours in total so far if you’re counting! When we arrived in Seville, we promptly crashed for some sleep.

Seville is very nice. Good night life, good food, warm people, beautiful architecture. The Giralda cathedral was wild. It seemed to have been plucked straight out of a story book, this is all the gothic cathedrals you’ve ever read and heard about rolled into one master real life blueprint. It’s history is equally interesting, originally a 14th century mosque, the cathedral was later built on the same site incorporating some of the original Muslim architecture with the gothic catholic styles. The main bell tower stands about 300 feet high. It originally served as the minaret, or calling tower for the mosque.

Once we left Seville, it was off to Granada to see a smaller city, but no less lovely. The landmark of note in Granada is the castle Alhambra rising high above the city, once the fortress-palace of the Moorish rulers. The city itself is very relaxed and comfortable. Mornings can be spent enjoying churros on small, quaint street cafés.

If you’re traveling on a shoestring budget, Spain seems expensive after being in Morocco, but compared to prices in Canada it’s not to bad.

After Granada Claudette and I headed for Malaga and took a hydrofoil (fast, yay) to Ceuta, a seaport city which is part of Spain, which borders Morocco. I have family in Tétouan, about 36km from Ceuta, and that’s where we went to next. Family, home cooking, catching up stories and a very excited Aunt who had to share with us all 3.5 hours worth of my cousins’ wedding video.. Ahhhhh!!! =) A wonderful time all around, and Claudette was taught by my Aunts how to cook authentic Moroccan food.. Yes, my plan worked. Muhahaha.

If you are thinking about traveling to Morocco or to Spain, go and do it. Both are wonderful countries that have lots to offer. We will be travelling there again, when that happens expect an update to this page. Below is the route we took for our trip.

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Spain 2003 photos are being added to my album, take a look.

I‘ve had the G3 for a whole week now and I thought to myself, “By the power of the ‘int-er-net’, I can share my one week worth of experience with the world!”. Why not, information is good and some people might find this article useful. If not then they will at least have a difficult time heckling me in person!

I’m by no means an expert in photography, but someone who appreciates photos as visual memories and as art. I like to use photography as a creative outlet and as such enjoy discovering new ways to explore the world through pictures. This camera is my first venture into digital photography (not including scanning prints, some PhotoCD imaging, and other Digital cameras I’ve used for work) and I wanted to find a camera that had sharp, fast optics, had an excellent feature set and perhaps could use some accessories that I already own. My main camera for the past 4 years or so has been my trusty Canon Ellan IIe, which I love. Since I’m an existing Canon owner, a large part of my decision to go with the G3 was its ability to use my existing Canon 380EX flash. I really don’t like the flash on most cameras, but I’ve had great results with the 380EX flash unit on my SLR. As it turned out, it works like a charm on the G3. My other considerations for going with the G3 were image quality, resolution, controls, and battery life. The G3 hasn’t disappointed in any of these areas, and for some of the quibbles I have with the G3, the good far outweigh the bad. Read the rest of this entry »

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