Savannah Buildings

This morning we ventured down Bull St., a main north/south street in historic savannah, with lots of lovely old buildings. These pictures are from our walk.

This is the Savannah National Guards building. There have been Savannah guards units since the revolutionary war, and on the front of the building two old cannon barrels are mounted vertically (sorry, they're not very visible in my picture).

This Scottish Rite Temple building housed Solomon's Pharmacy on the corner, which is now the home of the Gryphon Tea Room (more about that in the next post). A lovely building with beautiful detail around the coving trim. 

Further south on Bull Street is one of Savannah's most famous squares, Forsyth Park. Here I am by the fountain in the park.

There are hundreds of large, lovely, beautifully kept homes along and around Bull St and 

Forsyth Park. Here are three of them on the edge of the park.

Arrival in Savannah

We finally got away this morning about 11 am and drove up to Savannah through several rainstorms with slow traffic along the way. We arrived about 5pm and settled into our vintage 60's motel. Fortunately the rooms have been nicely updated, and its location is on the due of the historic district, so we can walk to everywhere we want to see. We had a nice dinner of local shrimp at a well known restaurant above the river, Vic's on the River. On the way back we walked through several of Savannah's famous downtown squares. Downtown is a mix of lovely well kept old buildings and rather run down old buildings. Should be fun to explore.

Below is are pictures of the Thunderbird Inn, Shana at dinner, and one of the squares. Tomorrow we continue our exploring....slowly! At 8 pm it was 83 degrees with 75% humidity--HOT! Tomorrows high is supposed to be in the high 80's, with thunder showers. We will take our time and plan plenty of rest stops.

Moving Shana Out

This week I flew to Tampa to help Shana pack up her apartment. We got everything packed and wrapped in miles of plastic and she hired two guys from the Gentle Giant moving company to move the boxes, couch, bed and mattress, etc. down two stories to the trailer she hired. Despite intermittent rainstorms they finished in under three hours. Here are pictures of the trailer being packed, the staging area at the bottom of the stairs, and the emptied bedroom with our air mattress that we used for the last two nights in the apartment.

Last Nights in Casablanca and Paris

We had two enjoyable "last nights" on our way home. In Casablanca we went to Ricks Cafe and celebrated Nancy Taylor's birthday. The restaurant featured in the movie Casablanca (and which nev existed, except on a Hollywood movie set) was recreated by an American woman a little over 10 years ago. Hard going at first but it's now a success. She restored a Riad, so the atmosphere isn't exactly the same as the movie set, but similar, with furnishings that tried to emulate the movie. The food was delicious and the evening very nice.

In Paris, Phil and I had an overnight because of our flight connections, so decided to go into Paris for the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, we landed during a strike by metro employees and it took us  nearly two hours on slowed and stopped trains to make what would usually take a max of a half hour. We nearly gave up, but kept going and were rewarded with a lovely hour and a half in the Musee d'Orsee enjoying impressionist paintings by Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, Sisley and Pissaro and others. We then found the Mucha Cafe, a cozy restaurant on the Blvd St. Germaine, and had a much needed great dinner with nice wine and a good dessert. Fortified, we were ready for a miserable trip back to our hotel, but were surprised to make good connections and get home in a half hour. On top of that, the metro was not charging fares because of the strike (the ride one way costs about $12), so we rode home free.

Here are pictures of our last two dinner evenings, the first with Nancy Taylor and Fritz Levy, the second Phil and me in Mucha Cafe.

Happy Birthday Nancy!

Bon voyage Phil and Kae

Essaouira - Day 2 - The Fishing Fleet is Active

I got up early yesterday morning (7am) to walk out to the docks and see what was happening with the fishing fleet. The big trawler boats go out early, around 4 am, to do their fishing and then return to the docks later in the morning. The streets are as empty as the docks at that hour. But a few hours later, the village is bustling again and the harbor is chock full of boats.

I include a picture of the empty streets, and of the emptied docks (many of the smaller blue boats stay), followed by a picture several hours later when the boats have returned and the harbor is jammed. I also watched one boat offloading its fishing net, with the help of about 10 men. quite a chore. These boats appeared to go to sea with a crew of around 15-20 people.

This morning we head up the coast to Casablanca for our last night in Portugal--we hope. there is an air traffic controller strike going on in France, which could impact our flight. We just have to wait til this evening to see.

Early morning empty street. there are shops behind each of the blue doors.

An emptied harbor with all the big boats out to sea

Same spot a few hours later with all the boats back

Offloading a fishing net takes a lot of manpower, with plenty of observers to help out too.

Essaouira Day 1 - A Fishing Village

Essaouira is a fishing village, though its main industry now is likely tourists. It has a large harbor, and is surrounded by a city wall that is well fortified on the seaward side. Inside the wall the streets are lined with shops selling all the kinds of things we have seen elsewhere (rugs, jewelry, wood products, metal ware, Arab style clothing), plus some interesting art, because this h been a spot where hippies and artists like to come. Here are a few pictures from my first day of exploring the village within the wall.

The fortified wall with old Spanish cannons aimed out to sea

The traditional industry...fishing boats large and small

The new industry...tourists shopping

A view of the city as we approached it, spread out against the sea

Essaouira Day 1 - A charming Riad

In Essaouira, we are housed in a Riad that is charming but a little more funky in its furnishings than the elegant one we had in Fes. Our room makes interesting use of a narrow space by having a three level room....an entry way at the middle level, with a table and couch to one side, a balcony bedroom up four curved stairs, and the bathroom tucked underneath the balcony, down another six curved stairs. That means you get to walk down a whole story from the bedroom to the bathroom, an entertaining proposition in the middle of the night. We have taken to calling the bathroom "the basement" because that's what it feels like. The whole arrangement is kind of cute now that I'm getting used to it. the strangest part, dictated by space I'm sure, is that the closet for hanging your clothes is in the bathroom, not in the bedroom where you would get dressed. 

The Riad has its own restaurant and our morning breakfast is served in the courtyard. the colors are white and the bright blue that is the norm in this part of the country, making it feel a lot like Portugal, which occupied it at one time. Here are some pictures of the Riad courtyard and of our room.

the courtyard--seen from the first floor, where our room is

The entry seen from our bedroom loft.

Descent to the bathroom 

A quite unique towel rack--that's a heavy iron weight holding the rope down

To Essaouira - Day 1

Today we left Marrakech and drove 3 hours west to the town of Essaouira, on the coast. We have finally learned how to pronounce this city's name, over which I have stumbled since signing up for this trip. It's easy when you know where to break it in two: Essa wearah.

This region along the coast is known for the Argan tree, which grows a yellowish fruit that looks a bit like a large olive, and contains a kernel which is ground and processed into two kinds of oil with different applications: a raw oil which is used in a variety of skin care applications and a toasted oil which is used in and on foods, like almond oil. It is currently processed by hand, and I will share pictures of a place where we stopped and learned about the oil and saw women processing it. The nutty fruits are also much enjoyed by goats, which climb the trees to get it. A few enterprising people have turned that into a tourist attraction by training the goats to climb up and stay in the trees for 3 hour stints, so tourists like us can stop and pay them to take pictures.

First, the goats in the Argan tree. Then a woman who cracks the nut with a rock to get at the inside kernel, and then a picture of the women grinding the oil by hand. The woman farthest to the left is grinding untainted kernels that come out looking a little lumpy and beige. The others are grinding toasted kernels that come out looking like darkish runny peanut butter.

Marrakech Day 3 - The Square

Marrakech is known for its souk (which means market) and more than anything,for the huge square on the edge of the souk which fills with food stalls and people doing all sorts of things to earn a little money. We saw snake charmers (with what looked like pretty well drugged snakes), dancers, women painting henna designs on arms and ankles, a woman telling fortunes, a bottle fame where people were trying to drop a ring around the neck of a coke bottle to win a prize, among other things. Here is a picture of part of the square from the roof cafe of one of the buildings on the square, and then a few shots of the different things happening there.

Henna painting

Telling a fortune

a dancer and his accompaniment

The square--somewhat empty late on Sunday morning

Marrakech Days 1 & 2 -- Food Displays

Food displays in the market stalls are always a great source of eye delight and photo temptation in these old cities, and Marrakech was no exception. On our first day we visited an herb and spice shop where we sampled a number of products good for everything that ails you. I have a couple shots of the racks of jars on this shops demonstrate room, and bins of spices by the entry way. Another picture is an olive stall--the olives here and in Portugal have been delicious and are typical served. An hors d' oeuvre. Finally I have a picture of brightly colored spices in perfectly formed cones.I don't know how the merchant gets them this way, or what happens when someone buys some out of a pile, but its certainly beautiful undisturbed.

Marrakech Day 1 - The Markets

In Marrakech we found the back streets of the medina and markets a little better labeled and were more able to find our way around on our own. What a sense of freedom to be able to leave our hotel without feeling we'd never be found again! Actually we were a bit outside of the medina and needed to take a taxi into the medina if we weren't going there with the group--which we did a couple times,   with one time that will be a rich source of storytelling for Phil as one of the more harrowing rides we've had.

Here are some picture of the narrow streets and shops in the medina.

Here was an adventurous part of one walk--getting past this street repair. That's one of our tour leaders in the straw hat getting ready to walk the plank.

Fes Day 4 - Natural Dyes in Sefrou

After a very nice lunch, where we learned to scoop up peas, artichoke hearts and well-cooked lamb with a piece of bread instead of silverware, we got a lesson in all the different natural herbs and barks they have learned to use for dyes, which are currently very much in demand. Amina is also continually experimenting to see what new colors she can get from combinations of things. Camomile, henna, almond bark, madder, cochineal (which she got from New Mexico) and several other things get used singly, or in combination with such things as iron (from rusty nails) and indigo from a stone. On the hand looms they produce scarves and fabric, and another upright loom they do hand tied rugs using the homespun wool. Several of us took a turn at tying the wool into the rug. These natural dying skills are ones that were once well known in the village, but had died out, and they have had to relearn them. Amina has been to the well known Santa Fe Crafts exhibition several times--a juried show for native crafts from countries around the world that is difficult to get into.

Here are some pictures of the wool being dyed (that's Amina in the white robe), the varied colors, the herbs used in the process, and my friend Nancy Taylor tying a rug knot (with our teacher hovering in the background). I think she took all of our amateur work out before she continued on with the rug.

Fes Day 4 - Buttons in Sefrou

Today was a fascinating day learning how a small cooperative of women in the city of Sefrou, about 30 minutes from Fes, are finding new ways to use the traditional handmade buttons that run down the front of djellabas, the robes worn by both men and women, and also reviving the craft of using natural dyes for handspan wool, then making them into rugs and other objects.

Most of our morning was spent with four women from the coop teaching the eight women in the group how to make one of the most common button styles. It's a bit like making a miniature sailors Turks head knot, but around a tiny center. Getting it started proved to be the most difficult part. I managed to finish one, but only after Amina, my teacher and the woman who runs the coop, got it started, and corrected me several times.

Here's a picture of the tiny center we start with (with my fingers in the shot to show you the size), several of us working on making the button, and of Fatima, another of our teachers (and a good weaver) wearing a robe that has dozens if the small buttons down the front. The final shot is of a basket full of clusters of 20 buttons of a slightly different style, a bit out of focus, but you can get the idea of the buttons. One of the new applications they have found is making jewelry out of the buttons. Later I will try to include a picture of a necklace I bought with buttons on it.

Day 4 Fes - An Amazing Performance with a Foot Lathe

Our last venture of the day was to visit a handicraft fair that had been set up with the assistance of the Millenium Fund from the United States. It was a much more interesting experience for us after having seen these various handicrafts being produced. The most amazing thing was something we had not seen, however. That was a man who, after we had bought a beautiful wood cup, stepped into the booth to show us how he works his lathe with his foot. After removing his shoes and socks, he carefully positioned his right foot to guide a chisel and picked up a long bow that he used to make the piece of wood spin. He then proceeded to cut a series of perfectly round small globes and a ring that rattled loose around the neck of the wood. see if you can tell what he's doing.

Day 4 Fes - Crafts Day

Today we visited a metal working shop, walked through the medina past people making large copper pots, and visited a beautiful Riad that serves as a store for a large selection of handmade carpets from all areas of Morocco. The fine lacy metal work with a small chisel was being done by the son of the man who did the work on the large metal doors of the palace entrance I showed earlier. At the carpet place our American guide gave us an overview of carpets from old to new and from all areas of Morocco. Unfortunately. They all proved so expensive that no one bought anything, a first for our group. The Riad building itself was absolutely gorgeous. 

Here are a few pictures from today's adventures.

The fine decorative work being done on a bronze platter.

The street artisans working on large copper pots

The carpet store