Thursday, December 31st

After our unsuccessful attempts to meet friends from the UK on the beach yesterday, we were able to meet Wendy and Norman today and enjoy brunch overlooking the ocean at Dee Why beach. It was good to catch up and just wish I had remembered to take a photo! They will be joining the tour to Georgia and Armenia later in 2016, so will be appearing in this blog at a later date too!

After a whistle stoop tour of the supermarket (you know how I love shopping) we got together a picnic, filled the coolbox (Esky ) and set off to our chosen destination to watch the fireworks. There are many vantage points all over the harbour, all well organised and publicised and we chose one called Cremorne Point on the north side of the harbour. We were by no means the first to arrive but by careful rekky and a certain amount of fence climbing we managed to secure an amazing place with uninterrupted views over the harbour towards the Opera House and bridge.

The evening passed quickly enough, picnicking, reading, meeting our cosmopolitan "neighbours", and that favourite pastime -people watching. The area we had chosen was an alcohol free zone and seemed to be a favourite with families. There was a reasonable police presence, good natured, sensible and good humoured. As they discovered people with alcohol there were no strong arm tactics, just a friendly chat, the booze was poured down the drain and the bottles binned and we saw no trouble at all. The same was true with the tents. Shelters and tents were allowed until dusk and when the police came along and asked people to take them down there was no arguing and moaning;, it was good to see this easy relationship working to such good effect. Australians seem to be much more litter conscious, you can often see youngsters crossing the road to use a litter bin, and the rows of portaloos were kept scrupulously clean by what appeared to be only one man and a bottle of disinfectant!
At nine o'clock came the first display for children , then we all settled down to wait for the big stuff;
and was it worth it! I will never forget the amazing display in this most beautiful of settings.

Unlike London Transport which stops running trains and buses when people most want to use them, the city had laid on fleets of extra buses to ferry everyone home so with lots of Happy New Year's to all our new friends we made our way up the hill and back home. It really was a marvellous experience and so different from the usual failed expectations of NYE, it is truly a memory I will treasure.

 

Australia 2016

December 29th 2016

Arrived in Sydney after two vey good flights with Malaysia Airlines. The man sitting next to me, a mental health nurse from Kinabalu, kindly offered to exchange seats so I had a brilliant view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. There is something so special about seeing iconic landmarks in real life!

 

Charles met me and we had lunch in town then drove to our Airbnb which is a beautiful modern house in open plan Australian style. We are guests of a lovely family who could not have been more welcoming.  Although getting late in the afternoon, I was keen to go to the beach so we went down to Manly and walked along both beaches, the harbour beach and the ocean beach, and the Corso which connects the two. The latter is a long street crammed full of surf shops, burger joints juice bars and pubs as well as small shops selling beach wear, hats , ice cream and frozen yoghurt and so on. Manly gets its name from Governor Phillip's description of the physique of the indigenous people he met here. We then went to sample some local cuisine in the packed restaurants. Jet lag? What's that?

 

December 30th

 

Charles went off for his early morning swim before breakfast whilst I got up more leisurely!

We decided to go over to the city on the famous Manly ferry which takes about forty minutes to travel along the harbour to the city, CBD, central business district, in Aussie speak .Sydney is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have visited and the ride on the ferry is truly spectacular, passing beach after beach, rocky, tree strewn headlands and wave after wave of exclusive waterfront homes.

 

 

 

The harbour was busy with every conceivable water sport from  parasailing to kayaking, and the huge , gin palace motor boats jostled with much smaller craft as the former jockeyed for moorings for tomorrow's firework display.

 

Our first stop was an introductory walk over the bridge for a good view of the Opera House

 

 

 

before investigating the area known as The Rocks. This was the site of Australia's first European settlement but the trendy, tourism redevelopment bears little resemblance to the squalid place it once was where  ex convicts, sailors and whalers boozed and brawled. As today was an introduction I shall return  later to some of the historic buildings, museums and galleries.

 

Next was the Opera House, Australia's most recognised landmark. Visually it is supposed to reference the billowing white sails of a sea going yacht, but others suggest the architect was thinking of the segments of an orange, and local wags have a different version! However, it is a very striking building with a commanding presence on Circular Quay.

 

 

 

The Royal Botanic Gardens  border Farm Cove, east of the Opera House, were established in 1816 and feature plant life from Australia and around the world. As well as beautiful floral displays they also, of course, have lots of the wonderful trees which I like so much.

 

 

 

Hoping to meet friends on Shelly Beach we took the ferry back to Manly but it was literally a needle in a haystack task, and we had to postpone. On the way back we met this very tame water dragon

 

lying next to a stone sculpture, one of many which line the esplanade.

 

As a perfect end to the day we had dinner at the Bather's Pavilion on Balmoral Beach, run by Australian celebrity chef Serge Deseraux. This picturesque beach (described in the guide as "beaut")is really lovely, the meal was excellent and spoiled only by the necessity of the climb up the near vertical road afterwards! (Though probably a Good Thing after such a treat!)

 

Marrakesh

April 3rd 2015

Arrived in Morocco on the early flight and was immediately captivated by the scenery. The sunshine and the palm trees I had been expecting but the sight of the Atlas mountains topped with snow which provided the backdrop was surprising. Our hotel proved to be in the centre of the city right next to the Jemaa el Fan so we lost no time in a refreshing drink then set out to explore.

 

The vast square in the centre of the city, known as the Jemaa el Fan was a bustling, noisy and vibrant  place,

                                       

though it really comes to life at night when storytellers, acrobats, snake charmers and others all come to entertain the crowds. During the day there were foodstalls and markets and, of course, carpets.

We next visited the Ben Youssef Madera,  a mediaeval Koranic School with the most intricate cedar

  wood carving 

 



 

 

and tiled walls.

 

 



 

 

 

It was founded in the fourteenth century and almost completely rebuilt in the 1560s.

 

The city's emblem, the Koutobia, is a minaret about 70m high with beautiful gardens complete with orange trees. (and not leaning; blame the photographer!)

 

Then we went to the souks, the area north of the square where most of the vibrant markets are concentrated. Almost impossible to move and totally impossible to stop without inviting the urgent entreaties of stall owners, it is amazing to think that so many people selling the same things can actually make a living.  Fascinating and very lively but just too overwhelming!

We ended the day with a delicious meal in one of the better known restaurants around the square, lamb and apricot tagline with couscous followed by oranges in cinnamon.

April 4th

After a hearty breakfast, highlights real orange juice and delicious Moroccan yoghurt we went off to the Baba Agnaou, one of the city gates. The entrance is surrounded by concentric arches of decoration and topped with an inscription which, translated, means "Enter with blessing, serene people.

 



 

 

The tombs of the Saadians, a ruling dynasty from 1554 - 1669, escaped plundering because, fearing bad luck the subsequent ruler had them blocked up and they remained half ruined and forgotten until they were rediscovered in a French aerial survey in 1917.

 

                                            

We then moved on to watch the metalworkers beating out those lovely lanterns which can be bought in any French summer market, had lunch in the square (Charles named Ali Baba by all the waiters because of his beard!) and then went to the amazing El Badi Palace.

This is a huge, impressive ruin with sunken gardens and storks nesting on the battlements.

It dates from the 16th century and the central courtyard is 130m long and almost as wide. Guest quarters were built for visiting dignitaries, almost like terraced houses.

 

 

The Bahia palace was next, built on a much less grand scale but very lovely and one could imagine actually living here.

Mint and lemon cocktails followed before dinner then back to watch the show in the main square.

April 5th

An early start today as we ventured off to the tanneries which everyone said we must see. Unfortunately we were very disappointed, both at the hard sell of people on the gates of the tanning yards, but also at the general lack of activity as well as the seediness of the area.

 

 

Heading north we stopped at the Zaouia of Sidi Bel Abbes, a mosque which houses the tomb of  this, the most important of Marrakech's seven saints.



 

A very long walk through the opening souks took us to the beautiful former gardens of Yves St Laurent in the Ville Nouvelle. This is a 12 acre garden, called the Majorelle Garden after its designer, full of bamboo,palms, cacti, ornamental pools and a pavilion painted in a striking blue, supposedly the colour of French workmen's overalls.

We stayed some time enjoying this lovely place then walked back to the old town, calling in at the Dar Si Said, a nineteenth century mansion, on our way back.

 

 

 

 

For our last dinner Charles selected the Dar Mima, a townhouse converted into a small restaurant and the food was absolutely delicious.

 

 

 

We really enjoyed our stay in Marrakech, the people were friendly and helpful, there was an abundance of things to see and do, beautiful, hot weather , plenty of refreshing cafés; the only negative was the impossibility of passing through the souks without being dragged in to buy. Definitely recommended for a short break.

 

Tuesday 7th October

Our last morning in Tashkent started with a leisurely breakfast to the accompaniment of a harp!  We ladies decided to make the most of the couple of hours remaining to visit GUM, the ex Soviet department store.We were joined by two  of the men but whether this was an act of chivalry or a restraining order was unclear.At first sight we were disappointed, lots of gilt and glitter in fairly poor taste, but we eventually found the souvenir part and began to spend, spend, spend. We were not allowed to take any money out of the country so some careful calculations were necessary. On the way back to the hotel we were reprimanded by the KGB as we crossed the road outside their building

Our departure through the airport was uneventful and we were asked for none of the receipts, hotel tabs or other bits of paper we had been told to guard!The flight back was infinitely better than the flight out, the plane was only half full so lots of room.

A wonderful hliday, superbly organised by Robin and Ros. There are too many highlights to name but I shall never forget the money. The highest value notes are only 5000 soum and 40,000 equals about £5 so one finds oneself counting out ridiculous amounts of paper money. A 2 inch  pile of notes is about £50. Cash dispensers are few and far between and in the strangest places (two we saw in mausoleums!),

There is always a slight undercurrent of big brother and we felt that some of our guides were being very careful. "Our President says" was a common phrase. BUT the people were very friendly and helpful and it is a very clean and orderly country.There is a wealth of things to see and do and it truly was was a holiday to remember.