2024-2025 marks a serious birthday for the both of us, and we are celebrating by going new places.

Our first adventure, at the end of November was to Marrakesh.

We obviously wouldn’t be able to drive the van out there and back, so booked a (not so) cheap flight, private transfers, a place to stay in a traditional Riad in the heart of the medina, and an excursion to the desert too.

We were down an alley off a side street in a maze of a shopping area, but only 30 seconds off Jema el Fnaa, the famous big square, and our favourite spot for eyeing up the completely bonkers life of Marrakech.

We wandered the streets and got lost on the way to the Jardin Secret, so just had a nice sit down with a coffee to regroup.

We explored the beautiful Bahia Palace and the gardens around the Koutoubia Mosque, with some very snazzy dressed musicians nearby and were elegantly scammed into buying macarons.

We headed out towards the Agafay desert and saw how they produce Argan oil, declined a camel ride and enjoyed dinner and musical entertainment in the dark.

We ate well, touched not a drop of alcohol and struggled a bit with the local currency. We haggled for gifts to bring home for the kids, and unfortunately also brought home a very nasty stomach bug, which we later deduced was probably from handling the grubby cash money. But what a trip!

Part 2 is Lisbon 🇵🇹