Last Stop Morocco

Lots and lots of sun, one of the things that Morocco had to offer, as well as a million "free" guides. We made it to southern Spain and hopped on a ferry and two hours later we were in Africa, well Morocco. The minute that we step foot in Morocco we knew that it was totally different from anywhere we'd been in Europe, it wasn't exactly developing world, but it wasn't exactly developed either.
Upon exiting the ferry we were bombarded by "guides" that could tell us anything and everything we wanted to know, even if you insisted that you didn't want or need their help. All of this help that they were offering was not free of course, but rather you were asked to give whatever amount you thought fair, and if it is not enough they will be sure to let you know. On the first day we decided to let one of these "guides" find us a hotel, take us around town, and show us a place to eat. He took us all over Tanger, and showed us some amazing sites, including Jimi Hendrix's house, some famous writers house, and the building that Matt Damon jump off of in the Bourne Ultimatum. At the end of the day we gave him the equivalent of about 15 euros, and he was happy and so were we.
The next stop on our whirl wind tour of Morocco was Chefchauoen, nestled in the Riff mountains, this was a beautiful city. It is a very small city of houses that are all painted white and blue, it was a very peaceful place to be. The second day we were there we decided to hike to the top of the mountain that towers over the city, 1616 m up. It was a great hike where we passed a couple local farms with gorgeous views. We only made 1400 m up because it was so hot and sunny that after three hours climbing up we decided to turn back. Plus we could feel our skin scorching. We only spent two days in this little town but wished we could have stayed longer.
For the last two days in Morocco we went to a beach town, Asilah on the North Atlantic
coast. On the bus ride to Asilah we were helped onto the right bus by a guy that just happened to have an uncle in Asilah that owned a couple of guest houses there and he told us that he'd give him a call and have him meet us at the bus stop. Sure enough when we arrived in Asilah his uncle was waiting for us at the bus stop, he took us to one of his guest houses that was occupied by a woman and her three children. For about 40 euros a night we got a room and had breakfast and dinner with the women and her children every day, on the last day she cooked authentic couscous that took her eight hours to prepare.
Asilah is known for it's beaches, and this is what occupied most of our time while we were there, every day we became beach bums and enjoyed every minute of it. In the evenings we sat on the roof of the house that we were staying in and watched the sun set on the Atlantic, and each day they were amazing, with different shades of blue, yellow, and pink.


P.S.We are currently in Madrid on our way to a bullfight!!!!

Barcelona, Spain

We definitly ate well in Barcelona.
Luckily we found a really cool couple to Couchsurf with. She is from Barcelona and he is Italian and both nights he made us amazing pasta dishes from scratch, much better then we ever had in italy. Also one afternoon we found a really neat place close to the beach that had really cood hummus and Sangria which we had a whole pitcher and then took the beach for a nice siesta.

There was alot of modern architure by Gaudi a spanich architect from the 1900's who really like mosaics. He designed a church the Sacred family that the city of Barcelona has been building since 1882 and no one really knows when it will be finished they think 2020. Aaron and I just argued which spire was the tallest. He also designed this really cool park that reminded us of the city musuem (in st. louis). The whole park was filled with really neat stone, columns and paths some of buildings were dr. suess looking, it did have a really nice view of the city.

Barcelona was a very relaxing and cool city were we both felt real comfortable and relaxed just being there.

Venice, Florence, & Rome

First in Italy we went to Venice where we walked the canals for two days and went to Murano on the third day. We really enjoyed St. Marks Square where we fed the pigeons and all the cheap, really good, local wine that you could get a liter for 2 euros and they would just fill up old water bottles.


Next we went to Florence where all the views are beautiful and our hostel had an amazing roof terrace. The Duomo, one of the largest cathedrals in the world was very impressive and of course the David was awesome too, even though this is only a copy its a pretty good one.








Then comes the big city where we spent a very lovely weekend with Dad and Lindy. Rome was incredible beautiful and extremely packed all at the same time. We threw coins in Trevi Fountain, we walked down the spanish steps, we ate gelato in front of the pantheon, we went to the sistine chapel and saw all ancient stuff (which may have been my favorite part besides the ice cream-marla). It was a very busy two days that we had a lot of fun and got really tired.