County Kildare

Hey everybody,
Yesterday my mom and I made our way out of Dublin and had a full day tour with a guide named John Daly. John was an amazing guide, he seemed to know every possible detail about all periods of Irish history. We drove to a bunch of different sites, stopping first at a place called Newgrange. Newgrange is a megalithic burial site, which predates the pyramids by 500 years. It was a basically a big mound of earth with a passage way leading into it, ending into a single chamber constructed of rocks. This was my mom's favorite thing we saw, probably because we were inside a covered structure. I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain the whole day. After Newgrange, we went to an old monastery where we saw some ancient crosses that have stood in the same location for over a thousand years. Then we drove on to the Hill of Tara, which is now a series of mounds atop a pretty stumpy hill; however, it is the home to more history than any other place in Ireland. It was the Irish capital for thousands of years, and many important battles took place there as well. It was awesome to stand up there, despite the rain, because one was very aware of the fact that every important person through 5 thousand years of Irish history had been there at one point.
At night, we arrived at our hotel, which is called Barberstown Castle, which did indeed used to be a castle. It is quite fancy, with great food. This morning, mom and I walked into the village near by, Straffon. From there I went on to another town, called Clane, while mom looked around Straffon a bit. It was about an hour and a half to Clane, and I took a lunch at a quiet little pub. The weather was beautiful, but the walk was right along a pretty busy road, so I decided to catch the bus back. We just had some tea, and now mom is having a rest beforee dinner. Tomorrow we head back to Dublin. I'm back home in ten days, and I am starting to get rally excited to return. But there is still lots more to do!
Lots of love
Luke

The Emerald Isle

Hello all,
Yesterday, I flew from Malaga into Dublin, arriving at 2:30 in the afternoon. The first thing I noticed was how cloudy and chilly it was. The weather was actually perfect in southern Spain, and I realized that i had experienced practically 6 uninterrupted months of warm weather. The next thing I noticed was how friendly my cab driver was, which was much more heartening. I got to the hotel, and made my way up to my Mom's room, it was so great to see her. She was suffering from a good deal of jet lag, and I was pretty beat, so we both grabbed a nap and met in the lobby at 5. We had a bit of tea and the ventured out into the night, which was drizzly and cold. After walking for a while, we came across a really cooh little bookstore. The owner was very friendly, and we were able to stock up on some books for the rest of our trip. From there, we went to a the Central Hotel, home to a lovely bar called the library. There are, in fact, books all around, and it is very quiet. We each had a pint, I of Guinness, and it was so tremendously good. Spanish and Moroccan beer have no business being mentioned in the same breath as a fresh pint of Guinness. We had dinner at a really nice restaurant that is located above an organic supermarket. I had steak, mom had salmon, and both were delicious.
Today, we did a lot of walking around and sightseeing. We saw Trinity College first, where we visited the Library in which the Book of Kells is displayed. Afterwards, we went to the National Archaelogical Museum, which was fascinating. It had some really cool old artifacts, but I enjoyed reading the information about the different periods, when they started using different materials and so forth. I thought it was amazing that they didn't start farming until almost four thousand years fate the North Africans and West Asians, because the idea had to migrate all that distance. We got s great pub lunch at a beautiful pub called the Stag's Head, which was located in a little alley. Continuing up the big street of which the ally ran, we came to Dublin Castle. It looked to be very cool, but it was by tour only, and there wasn't another tour for a half hour, so we decided to save it for another day. We ended our sightseeing for the day at the Christ Church Cathedral, which is the highest Anglican church in Ireland. It was quite beautiful, much smaller than the other European cathedrals I've seen.
Now I am back in the hotel lobby waiting for my mom to come down for our tea appointment. But, it is getting a little late, so we might just shove off for dinner. The hotel is really nice, and with my own room, it's the most privacy I've had in 6 weeks. It's certainly different from the staying at hostels, where one can walk downstairs into a party pretty much any time of day. Here's mom, gonna run
Luke

Last Day in Spain

Hey folks,
Today is my only full day in Malaga, so I went and saw the sights here. I saw both parts of the Castilla, which had some amazing views of the city, port, and mountains. The castle itself was a little underwhelming, just because it didn't seem very old. The ground and walls were all restored, and there were big light poles all over. I prefer, in contrast, the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh, which for it's disrepair and copious amounts of liiter, retains it's palpable oldness. After the cattle, I went to the Picasso Museum, which was spectacular. The works were obviously great, and they were matched by the beauty of the building itself. The temporary exhibition displayed Toys of the Avqnt-Garde, which was interesting, but not terribly so. Malaga is a quiet, calm town,I have enjoyed it very much.
Tonight, I am going to go on the pub crawl organized by the hostel. It starts at 12 so I will onlybe getting a few hours sleep before starting out for the airport and Dublin. Thanks for reading everybody, it is now two weeks until I return home!
Love luke

On to Malaga

Hey everybody,
Today, I arrived in Malaga, my final stop in Spain. Tarifa ended up being great, although it was pretty quiet. It was nice to sit around and do some peaceful strolling after going so hard for two weeks in Morocco. Last night, a bunch of new folks came into the hostel, and we all went out for tapas. It was a really good spot with an enormous amount of food for cheap. The girls couldn't finish anything they ordered so I made a killing scooping up leftovers. Afterwards, we went to one of the bars we had been to on Saturday, and then a couple of us headed back to the beach for a little while. I ended up back at the hostel around 2 and hit the hay.
The bus this morning was at 8:40, and it ended up that five of us were coming into Malaga. There was myself, Julia from Australia, Valerie from Canada, Cris from Germany, and Sam from New Zealand. They are all really nice, and Cris and Sam are both here at the Melting Pot in Malaga. Julia and Valerie continued on up to Barcelona. This hostel is really nice, with a groovy bar and patio, plus it's right across the street from a very nice, empty beach. After we got here, I jumped into the ocean, which was freezing, but I felt like I had to do it. Following the dip, Sam and I went for a look around Malaga, which is actually quite small. Sam is taking time off before university, he's been traveling for 5 months, doing a lot of surfing. Very nice guy. We got some killer ice cream, and saw the huge cathedral here. It's very beautiful, and it was nice just to sit in the quiet for a bit. On the way back to the hostel, we saw went into the bullring, which was quite pretty in the setting sun. Sam and I stopped in at a supermarket, and came back to the hostel. Thats all for me right now, I'll get back you all soon.
Luke

Tarifa Times

Hey everybody,
Being alone has increased my motivation to post on the blog, much to all of your chagrin, no doubt.  Last night, I grabbed a decent plate of pasta for dinner, with a better than decent view of the sunset.  I returned to the hostal, where there was already a good sized group hanging out.  We carried on in the hostal for a few hours, before being told that it was too late for such merry making, as others might be trying to sleep.  We took to the streets, and we were able to find a couple of bars in the town.  However, it was still early by Spanish standards, it didn't really get busy until around 2.  We finally came back to the hostal at around 4:30, and I was quickly asleep.  Today, I've spent most of the day walking around the town.  I went down to the beach for a couple of hours, and walked along a long pier that stretches out into the sea.  It was very cool, because on one side you are looking at the Atlantic and on the other, the Mediterranean.  No plans for the rest of the day...
much love
luke

How To Lose a Guy in 36 Days

Hello,
I write this post, for the first time, with no companion, other than all of you of course. Yesterday, after a final late morning coffee, Jack headed to the Marrakesh train station and departed for Casablanca.  This morning, he boarded a flight for Frankfort, from where he will head down to Namibia for his elephant conservation program.  If he is able, he is going to email an update at some point, which I will post to this blog.
After Jack's departure, I had six hours to kill in Marrakesh, so I did my best to walk as far from the djemma alfna as possible.  I saw some quieter residential areas, and finally looped my way back to the Bahia Palace, which was one of the royal palaces of the sultan several hundred years ago.  It was enormous, and rather impressive, but it is pretty horribly maintained.  Litter and graffitti are everywhere, but one could still appreciate the majesty of the place.  After lunch, I read in a cafe for a while, before a man named Abdul attempted to convert me to Islam.  I told him I wasn't religious, and he told me that a man who believes in nothing is nothing, and that I could never fall in love.  I tried to explain that not being religious is hardly the same thing as believing in nothing, but the laguage barrier was too great for that distinction apparently.  I didn't even attempt to make a reference to the nihlists, who truly believes in nassing.
Around 730 I made my way to the train station for my overnight passage to Tangier.  I had booked what was called a sleeping berth, so I was expecting a flat surface of some kind.  However, I was soon to learn that, in fact, the sleeping berth was merely a more comfortable chair in a three facing three compartment.  However, this chair could be extended to accomodate around two thirds of my body length, but this was hardly practical with the entire compartment filled.  Fortunately, it emptied out a bit, and I was eventually able to grab a few hours sleep.  I spent a forgettable hour in Tangier securing a ferry ticket, before making the crossing to Tarifa.  Tarifa is a small coastal town about three hours from Malaga. I got a bed at a hostal called Melting Pot, which is very clean and seems pleasant enough.  I'm pretty exhausted, so its going to be a chill day, and tomorrow I will get a chance to look around the town.
That pretty much catches up on our comings and goings, so now a few thoughts on Morocco.  Jack and I found it to be very pleasant, especially the people.  However, one cannot walk down the street without being offered hash or pestered to look into a store or something of that nature.  I found that a smile and a no thanks worked much better to shed these solicitations than feigned deafness.  I could certainly see it being uncomfortable for women, not due to any real danger, but being surrounded by extremely aggressive men would become quite bothersome I imagine.  Its worth noting that at no point during my stay there did I feel at all unsafe, or even truly uneasy.  It is a diverse and welcoming country I would strongly recommend visiting.
The following awards are in my opinion, I expect Jack would differ on some.  Best Lodging: Riad les Jardines, Marrakesh.  Best Tajine: Hamadi's, Tangier.  Best Street Food: Fes.  Best Coffee: Cafe Continental, Tangier.  Best Tea: Too many to remember.  Coolest Person Met: The waiter at Thami's, Fes.  Creepiest Offer of Friendship: Omar, from the hotel bar, Chefchaouen.  Best Shower: Riad les Jardines, Marrakesh.  Lamest Drug Dealer: Norman, Chefchaouen.  Best Medina: Fes.  Best Specific Place: Djemma alfna, Marrakesh.
A little on my plans: Monday, I head to Malaga, where I'll spend two days, before flying to Dublin.  I will then be spending the next ten days with me own mother, in the country side of Ireland, Dublin and London.  Then its back on home.
One last note before I head off: I was feeling pretty  down walking from the Riad to get a cab last night, being alone for the first time in over a month was pretty.  In a word, I was lonely.  But as I walked down the street, perhaps a dozen shopkeepers, seeing my large rucksack, wished me bon voyage, or in one instance, Happy Tripping.  I had spent the last four days ignoring their sales pitches, such was the extent of my interaction with these individuals up that point, but their well wishes were entirely genuine and quite heart warming.  It was a great reminder that, even though its going to be hard traveling without Jack, I'm certainly not alone.
lots of love and thanks for reading
luke

Marrakesh Days 1 and 2

Howdy,
Yesterday was our first full day in Marrakesh, and we spent it in typical Marrakshi fashion. After breakfast at the Riad, we walked through the main square of the city for a while, which is called djemma al-fna. This literally means assembly of the dead, but it is not in fact a zombie parliament, but a huge square filled with an enormous array of people. It is packed with tourists and locals alike, and at night it is filled with food stands selling grilled meats. During the day it is more open. At the risk of forgetting a few things, we have seen the following activities and people in the djemma so far: a man with a baboon on a leash (which stood on my arm and apparently "likes" me), several gambling scams, many musical groups, mediocre snake charmers, horse drawn carriages, men selling human teeth, henna artists, juice stands, enormous nut carts, cd sellers, maniacal vespa riders, and many other bizarre sights.
We grabbed lunch at a food stall just outside the djemma, which consists of a deep pit and a carving station. Whole lambs are cooked in the pit, and then lifted out with hooks, whereupon you ask for either a half or a whole kilo. It was extremely greasy, but satisfying, especially when we saw lamer tourists look in with visible queasiness and walk on. We passed the next few hours wandering through the maze of souqs, the covered markets, buying presents for those of you that have been reading the blog, and laughing spitefully as we passed on trinkets for everybody who hasn't. We took a break at the Riad before heading out for dinner. We were going to go to a Thai-Moroccan fusion place, but when we got there it was 4 times as expensive as Lonely Planet had said. When a man on stilts came out dancing to Michael Jackson (this isn't a joke, that actually happened) we dropped our menus and left. We went to a shwarma stand and got delicious platters. Afterwards we went to a hotel bar described in the book as, "raucous, but not sleazy". We found it to be neither, and we headed in for the night.
Today, we took a day trip to the mountains an hour away from Marrakesh. We took a nice walk with our our guide, Hussein, around the valley, passing through a couple of the towns. It was really great to get some fresh air, and the Berber countryside provided an interesting contrast to the predominantly Arab cities we had been in. After lunch, we ventured on our own, making our way up the river that winds down the mountains. It is pretty low right now, but apparently it can be quite powerful. We a cool spot to chill and take in the quiet of the river and the mountains, before heading back for the return to trip in Marrakesh.
We're going to head out in while for wome dinner, our second to last together...time has flown in a weird kind of way.
Much love, Luke