Day: September 5, 2022

Our road trip from Casablanca was by freeway, which isn’t free, but there were many miles covered on local roads. Here are some people I encountered on our journey:

Time to get up! We will explore the village more and go to a farm for lunch

Welcome to Morocco!

It’s almost Tuesday and I haven’t had the time to write for a few days. Here’s a recap:

Saturday we visited the country home of Sir John Soanes, known as one of the greatest English architects ( think Bank of England). Some of you may have visited his museum / home in London, but there’s also another home that was very important to him. He longed to get away from the pressures of the city and found a place in the country called Pitzhanger Manor, where he could spend more time with his family. He had two sons, whom he hoped would follow in his footsteps as architects, but neither did: one turned out to be quite sickly and the other was a party animal. Sadly, he sold the home and lived full time in the city but the building is now being brought back to its former glory with the help of preservationists.

The building has become a gallery space and joins Walpole Park in Ealing.

That evening we ate at a nearby Italian restaurant and met two sisters from Sweden. We had quite a lively conversation

Sunday was our leaving day but we had time for a quick excursion. We decided to visit nearby Kensington Palace.

The visit was divided between the following: the Queen’s State Apartments, the King’s State Apartments, Victoria, a royal childhood and Life Through a Royal Lens. All were fascinating. I especially enjoyed the photo exhibits of the royal families, through the ages, especially the current one. Victoria’s doll house was intricate and it was fun to play pretend cards in one of the salons Can you imagine wearing those outfits, especially before modern plumbing?

This last photo was chosen by the Queen herself to share with the public, as shes always been an avid photographer.

Our lasr stop? Dessert!

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee seemed like the appropriate time to indulge in this tasty morsel called Victoria sponge cake, with blueberry frosting.

We raced back to the hotel, got our bags, got a taxi and were off to the airport!! Actually, we took the taxi to Paddington station to catch the Heathrow Express train to the airport.

Our flight to Casablanca was for 6:15. We entered an almost empty terminal 4, had a celebratory libation, and got on the plane. After we landed, we were greeted by Samir, who arranged a driver for us . We are joining the pre-tour of the Overseas Adventure Tours Moroccan Sahara Odyssey , staying overnight in Casablanca. We got on the road this morning to the blue city of Chefchouan

We’ve been on the road most of the day and saw dramatic changes in culture. We arrived late afternoon Our guest house, called a riad, is gorgeous Check out the view from my room. We’ll be here three nights. We did an orientation tour and had dinner in the center of town.

More to come!