The Road From Morocco

I've been back a few hours and of course I can't sleep so I thought I'd better blog instead. Lovely trip and many memories to sort out and digest. Thoughts on Spain--they eat lunch and dinner so late because they are really on the wrong time zone. Geographically they are West of Greenwich Mean Time which would make them on a par with UK. But they have the same time as the rest of Western Europe so their noon is really only 10 a.m.  Hence if theyeat lunch and dinner by the sun they are correct. But I find it hard to wait until 9.30 p.m. for my evening meal!  Food was tasty and cheap. Loved the tapas and paella. Everyone in Spain eats masses of meat, especially pork (apparently because they had to prove that they weren't Jewish or Moslem during the Inquisition and it's stuck!)

You can get a litre of wine in the supermarket for 59 cents (didn't taste it so can't say how bad it was), but a beer or wine in a bar is only a couple of dollars. The restaurant where we ate dinner more than once always brought out free tapas to start the meal and on the last night mojitos as a gift to finish off our meal.

It is encouraging to see so many small dress and shoe shops can apparently make a living. Here they'd have been run off by Ross and Dress Barn. Clothes, I mean good clothes, horribly expensive. Spaniards love kids and make a big fuss of them. I'll never understand bull fights. Did you know the bull always dies? He can never be put in the bull ring a second time because bulls are smart and he'd know not to fight.

My favorite place was the Alhambra  (old Moorish castle) in Granada. So beautiful and the setting below the mountains is spectacular. Here's a picture:

Half our group got sick in Morocco. I survived well because I drank a lot of bottled water, cleaned my teeth in it and used my hand sanitizer religiously. The food tasted really good, especially the spicy soups with chic peas and the couscous. The big cities are actually modern and European and the roads are great, but here are some pictures of Fez and the old Medina:

This last is of the tannery, seen from a rooftop. The smell was unbearable and we were given mint sprigs to hold over our noses. The vats take the flesh and fur off the leather, then cure it and lastly dye it. I bought a leather purse and it still smells. Any suggestions for getting out the smell?
Now I need to catch up on sleep. More later.