V5 travels: Morroco drifts into the heat haze sunset

We left Marrakesh on a 1 pm flight…no real time to do anything as most things dont open until 9 and we were in a taxi heading to the airport at 10.

Our last views from the plane were the heat haze and a hazy view of the red plains as we flew north to Madrid…one night there and we begin the trek home.

As we leave, Israel and Iran are at each other and the flights have been diverting, cancelling and rescheduling….thank goodness Capt. Fi has a handle on Plan A, B, C, D etc. We flew Iberian to Madrid - think Ryan air if you haven’t used them before, although they don’t seem to have the luggage issues I’ve previously had with Ryan Air.

Overnighting in Madrid we then caught the plane to Warsaw at 11 the next morning. Flying LOT - the Polish airlines, we managed to get premium economy which made things slightly more comfortable than they could have been.

A few hours layover in Warsaw and we were on our way to Narita (Tokyo), this time, seated business made for a more pleasant trip…LOT is fine but I wouldn’t call them luxurious.

THe last leg was QANTAS, Narita to Brisbane and we scored flat business class beds which were an absolute god-send! By the time we were leaving Narita, my eyes were popping out of my head, so we stayed up as late as we could and ate what felt like the sixth meal of the day. We then put our QANTAS pj’s on and slept for a solid six or so hours!

Beautiful Pete was waiting for us at Brisbane airport to drive us back to Fi’s. We walked on the beach, and took in as much sunlight as we could to adjust our bodies before an early night…both sleeping relatively straight through (I think from pure exhaustion rather than adaptation to the Timezone).

So recapping the numbers:

Left home Sunday 25 May;

Arrived home. Sunday 29 June making it 35 days away (although a few of those were in Australia - getting to and from Brisbane, and a day of rest before the 5.5 hour drive home).

5 Countries visited : Turkey, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Morroco…and if you count the layovers include Poland and Japan!

Towns and Cities: Istanbul, Bodrum (Turkey); Syros, Samos, Rhodes and Paros (Greece); Madrid, Salamanca, Seville, Tarifa (Spain); Coimbra, Porto, Lisbon, Faro (Portugal); Tangier, Chefchaouen, Fes, Marrakesh (Morroco).

Highlights:

- the Mosques in Istanbul

- the food tour in Istanbul

- Explora 1…all 7 days!

- The Banksy Museum in Madrid

- The food….Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese and Morrocan!

- Chefchaouen - the blue city

- The tile and ceramic works in all countries…so artistic and distinctive

- The cats!

- The Medinas, Kasbahs and Souks of Morroco

- the reality that kept hitting me - “I’m actually standing next to something that is a thousand years old” every so often….

- the architecture…loved the moorish influence and saw the connections to ancient trade routes.