Day 2 Morocco

 

The first stop this morning was at Volubilis, a Roman site dating back to the 1st century AD.

 Pomegranate trees were everywhere.

A large Roman bath in the remains of a villa. A bit like the hot tubs of today.

Excellent mosaics showing the trials of Hercules.

An olive press.

For lunch we were taken to a centre run by women who were learning hospitality and cooking skills. The centre is funded by the non profit making organisation, Planeterra, which promotes sustainable tourism benefitting local communities. The travel company I use, G Adventures, is in partnership with Planeterra and wherever possible in the world your tour will include a visit to one of the community projects. I have always been very impressed with the work they do. The meal was huge, so much delicious food.

 A tea ceremony followed the meal. Mint tea is offered to us wherever we go.

We continued our travels to Fez and quickly settled into our hotel there. I am pleased to say that all the hotels we stayed in have excellent air conditioning. In the evening we visited a Riad. AS well as the meal there was entertainment from musicians, belly dancers and an enactment of a wedding which I couldn't work out.

The main course was centred around this meat pie which had a very sweet, sugar coated pastry on it. Not to my taste but interesting to try.

Casablanca

 Now the children are back at school I have some free time to do some travelling on my own. So this week I am in Morocco.  The trip starts in Casablanca and finishes a week later in Marrakech. 

I  am only in Casablanca for a day so before meeting the tour group later in the day I decided to see as much as possible. 

The traders were just beginning to open up their shops in the bazaar.

This man was putting dough into a large oven. Pity I didn't get a photo from the other side.

Morocco has a coastline on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.  At Casablanca it is the Atlantic.

By the coast is the Hassan II Mosque.  It is the 3rd largest in the world after Mecca and Medina.

It was built in the 1980s 

Beneath the Mosque are large rooms for the washing/purification before going into the Mosque to pray

Lots of narrow streets

 

Entrance to a modern shopping centre.

Bougainvillea spilling over onto the street. By now it was midday and the streets were filling with people. On my way back through the bazaar all the shops were open and it was very busy but I didn't see any tourists around and decided not to photograph people. By now the temperature was in the mid 30sC. and I decided to return to the hotel.

Later in the day I met the rest of the tour group. There are 12 of us altogether. People are mainly from Canada and Australia. Just myself from England and one from Scotland and another from Ireland. 

The only problem I think I will have will be the rising temperatures.  Where we are going the forecast is for temperatures in the mid 40s! 

More Summer holiday visits

I had a very busy week last week. I drove North to Leeds with my eldest granddaughter to look after my youngest 2 grandchildren for a few days. Then drove home via Stratford-upon-Avon on the Thursday. On the Friday I travelled by rail to Brighton.

 Victorian shopping arcades in Leeds.

The River Avon. I stopped here on my way back from Leeds to show my granddaughter the home of Shakespeare in Stratford upon Avon. 

Arriving at Brighton Rail Station to meet up with some friends.

Brighton pier 

I wondered why these ladies were all sitting here.

They were getting ready for a sing song and walk along the prom.

School holidays

 This is the time of the year when I am needed to do a lot of childcare. My daughter and her two children and myself spent last week in Norfolk.

The weather was perfect and there was lots to do.

From seal watching

to rock pooling.

Or just playing in the sand.

We were fortunate to have temperatures in the mid 20s whilst London melted in temperatures in the mid 30s.

Gloucester

Whilst in the Cotswolds earlier this year, I visited the City of Gloucester. It was only a 15 minute drive from where we were staying and as I hadn't been there before decided it was a good opportunity to call in on my way back to London. It is not a large city with c130,000 residents but it does have a well known cathedral.

In 679 a minster was built here which later became a cathedral. The present building was begun in 1089 as an abbey. In 1216 Henry III was crowned here. A large fire in 1222 meant it had to be rebuilt. The cathedral contains the shrine of Edward II  who was murdered at the nearby Berkeley Castle. Following the dissolution of the monastries by Henry VIII in 1536, the Abbey was refounded as a cathedral. The cathedral went through much restoration in the 18th century. It is a Grade I (the highest grade).

 

This is St Michael's gate which is the entrance to the Lay Cemetery of the Abbey. It was also used by pilgrims to visit the shrine of Edward II.

Beatrix Potter's 'Tailor of Gloucester',  'lived' in the shop to the left of  this gate.

This is the Shire Hall with the Crown Court at the back of the complex.

In the same vicinity is this Grade II listed building which was the Prison Governor's House. HMP Gloucester opened in 1792 and closed in 2013. The prison stood on the site of Gloucester Castle, whose Norman Keep served as the county jail before it was demolished in the 1780s. The new county jail opened in 1792 with basic sanitary conditions and separate cells, a new idea at the time. It was substantially rebuilt in 1840. More than 120 people were hanged at Gloucester between 1792 and 1939. Those executed were buried in unmarked graves within the prison walls, where they remain today. Guided tours of the prison are available but not on the day I visited.

The River Severn runs through the city.

Gloucester Docks is one of the furthest inland dockyards in the country but does lie close to the River Severn and the Sharpness estuary.

 Elizabeth I gifted the City the status of a customs port in 1580. The main basin at Gloucester was constructed during the 19th century for canal boats that would arrive via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal from the Severn Estuary.

Most of the warehouses around the main basin were built for the storage of grain. They all have thick brick walls, a slate roof and strong wooden floors supported by cast iron columns.

The Mariners Chapel was built in the docks to serve a multicultural mix of seamen and boatmen. The church also provided basic education for their families and established the docks first coffee shop. It opened in 1849.

Newer housing developments .

A Victorian postbox.

I liked Gloucester very much. There was far more to see than I realised and I was very pleased I had made the effort to visit.