Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Fountains
Barcelona, Rome and Versailles!
Arkitektur
SL-Week 49: Vintage
Celebrating Mother at Hovdala Castle
A nice lunch at the restaurant and then a stroll in the beautiful surroundings was perfect for my mother’s 81st birthday.
We were lucky with the weather…
…and with roses and poppies as well.
The conservatory has been restored over the years, and is now a building used for exhibitions as well as wedding ceremonies.
Inside is a cool, white dream.
My mother was happy today – and so were we.
Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Steps Indoors or Outdoors
For Cee this week – Steps. In the header – the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. (I’m not sure you can walk them though…except maybe from the inside.))
The second photo is from Hamar, Norway, steps with autumn leaves.
CFFC: Doors and Drawers
Two favourites from Riga! Drawers from Tom’s Drag and the door from a walk in old town.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Doors and Drawers
Travel theme: Neutral
Neutral colours in a neutral Moroccan landscape…go look for details at Ailsa’s!
A Piece of Spring
The path…
…and a little house
Spring is yellow…
Saxifraga granulata
Oystercatcher…
….landing!
Travel theme: Camping
I have done much camping in my days…many of us have. As a child I loved it, then as a young woman in love, we camped all over Europe during the summers. Some camping in the mountains, hiking and some camping with my students…but now, it is over.
Or… almost.
If staying at a Berber camp for two days, in tents, and having a camp fire in The Sahara Desert, is camping, then I have camped again… last month. Our tent was the one to the right, with a yellow entrance carpet.
At the far end of the camp were the toilets – and to my great disappointment, they were ordinary toilets – just like those at home…The washing basins outdoors though.
The adventure started with a marvellous camel ride over the dunes, and enjoying the colourful sunset from the top dunes.Back at the camp, we were treated to a real feast – or at least it felt so after our long day…
We had some delicious tagine by candle light in the main tent, and then we sat by the fire under the stars, listening to each others’ stories. Just existing.
We all slept well that night, but some of us woke up early…trying to find our way in the dizziness of the silence of unfamiliar surroundings.
I had expected it to be very cold during the night – we had been told to bring warm clothes. But three o’clock in the morning the air was soft and smooth, fresh and only a bit cool.
Finally back at our tent, I admired yesterday’s fireplace in the clear morning light, went inside the tent, and fell asleep again.
Before leaving the camp the day after, I enjoyed the sun seeping through our carpet, and the joy of photographing our tent in daylight. The bed was very warm and comfortable, and we were provided with all sorts of bed linen, blankets, duvets, etc.
A last look at the camp and the ”restaurant”, then we left what had been the highlight of our journey.
The rest of my desert adventures will have to wait for a post of their own.
I was just thinking that, maybe one day…we will be back in the Sahara again…
Go for more camping here.
Thursday Thoughts – School Days
When I go abroad, I try to visit at least one school – if possible. I guess we all like to see how our own profession works in other parts of the world. In Morocco my visit was to an abandoned school – but still it was very interesting.
The Ben Youssef Madrasa was an Islamic college in Marrakesh, Morocco, named after the sultan Ali ibn Yusuf (reigned 1106–1142), who expanded the city and its influence considerably. It is the largest Medrasa in Morocco, and lies totally embedded in the city. There was nothing to reveal its true looks from the outside.
The college was founded in the 14th century, and its 130 student dormitory cells cluster around the courtyard, richly carved in cedar, marble and Moroccan style stucco.
The pool is the wash basin – elaborately decorated in marble tiles. I wonder how several hundred students were organized to perform this ceremony? Every day?
As required by Islam, the carvings contain no representation of humans or animals, and consist entirely of inscriptions and geometric patterns.
This madrasa was one of the largest theological colleges in North Africa and may have housed as many as 900 students. Hard to understand from what we could see of the size.
The students’ cells were all on the first floor, and richly decorated corridors led to each dorm.
These beautiful doors opened up to the courtyard, and the student living here could see across the yard to the student on the other side. The cells were very small, maybe 9 square metres, and most of them had no windows at all.
The college was still alive and working when I was born, but closed down in 1960. The madrasa was refurbished and reopened to the public as an historical site in 1982.
Those who lived and worked here were surrounded by beauty…but I wonder where all those students went when it closed down…? And, would I have loved to study here – inside this spectacular work of art? Would you?
Have a Taste of Magical Marrakesh
If I were to chose one picture, only, to represent my visit to Marrakesh and the Medina, it would be the one in the header. Colourful, hot and filled with scents. Then, there is of course the multitude of people…here we go!
I loved our little street. Behind the typical pink walls, we had to walk endless tiny streets and alleys to get to our Riad (Moroccan mansion) . But there was no stress, a calm and friendly atmosphere – and no ”special guides” trying to make money out of us.
Just the everyday life going on…young and old, working or relaxing in the shadow.
On our way to the Souks, the principal shopping attraction in the city, I felt a bit worried about how I would cope with it. I do not like haggling, so I had already decided not to buy anything. My husband has visited Marrakesh at least three times before, and had also warned me that we soon would be ”kidnapped” by ”local guides”. (And so we were…)
Marrakesh has the largest traditional Berber market in Morocco, and the souk area has been compared to a micro-medina in itself, where it is absolutely essential to get lost…
But once you’re inside though, the feeling of One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights), or Aladdin, immediately comes to mind…and if you take a closer look at my gallery photos – I’m rather sure I was caught in the middle of …a treasure chest transport!
Waiting patiently in the heat
Graffitti!
Posing?
A lovely hug
What…is happening?
A Treasure transport!
More of transport in the narrow alleys – here we had to flee into a shop
Historically the souks of Marrakesh were divided into retail areas for particular goods such as leather, carpets, metalwork and pottery. We could roughly see these divisions still, but rather overlaped. Many of the souks sell items like carpets and rugs, clothes, leather bags, and lanterns. Argan oil is popular everywhere.
After a hectic day it is a blessing to come back to our quiet Riad for a delicious Tagine (A specialty of the city and the symbol of its cuisine. We had a local tajine prepared with beef meat, spices and ”smen” and slow-cooked in a traditional oven in hot ashes. )
Then finishing the evening with a slow walk on the roof top. In silence…
…before going to sleep.
Leya 
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