Author Archives: ainarsbl

Sahara desert

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The Authentic Morocco tour

A couple of days after our arrival in Marrakesh, we went on ‘The Authentic Morocco’ tour to see the highest and most spectacular sand dunes in Morocco and to experience a camel ride in the desert.

We booked the tour with a local travel company well in advance. The duration of the Morocco tour was three days with two overnight stays as all included for a total price of EUR 120 per person (we paid in advance a deposit of EUR 70 per person). This was before pandemic, so prices, most probably, may have gone up since then.

To sum it up, this Morocco tour was very good value for money and we were completely satisfied with this trip. Below, are more details about this trip.

Day one – crossing High Atlas mountains

We met our driver-guide near the hotel at 8 AM and boarded Toyota Land-cruiser where other people were waiting for us to join the trip; there was a driver and six passengers in total, including us – just enough space for such a long trip.

The destination of our first day was Dades Gorge, a small village in the middle of nowhere. We travelled over the impressive Tizi n’Tichka Pass (2260 m), observed the Berber Villages on our way, stopped for lunch and sightseeing at the World Heritage site of Ait Benhaddou, which is famous for being used for filming more than twenty widely watched films. I even do not know how much time we spent there, however, that was enough to have lunch, walk around enjoying stunning scenery and visit the famous village.

Before arriving at the hotel, we went through Ouarzazate, continued towards the Valley of Roses, the Dades Valley, Skoura oasis, the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs and reached the Dades Gorge. The hotel was very quiet, the hosts provided good food and we were able to relax before continuing our trip on the next day.

Day two – camel trip and dinner with nomads

After breakfast at the hotel, we continued our trip and stopped at the Todra Gorge, which is one of the most impressive rocky creations of nature I have seen – a massive fault, rising to 300 m in a narrow valley. After lunch, we continued our trip to the final destination – the great sand dunes of Erg Chebbi; the town is located in the East of Morocco, only about 20 kilometres away from the Algerian border.

After arrival, we had a short break and left our baggage at the hotel. Before sunset we got our camels to continue the trip to Nomadic Berber tents where dinner, campfire, drum party and overnight stay were organised for us. The camel ride took about two hours with a break halfway. It was exciting, although that long ride on camel was a bit exhausting.

The evening party in the desert was amazing. We got a chance to play drums ourselves, although those only looked easy to play. In fact, you should practice a lot to be a proper drummer. Among many other things, dinner was outstanding.

Day three – back from Merzouga to Marrakesh

Early in the morning, we went back to our camels and returned to the hotel in Merzouga. After a short stay there, we started our way back to Marrakesh, stopping for lunch in Ouarzazate.

I believe that was the only occasion during the Morocco tour when we paid for our food, everything else was included in the price. We continued by driving over the High Atlas Mountains and arrived in Marrakesh in the evening.

On our way back, we asked the driver to stop at a local cooperative shop to purchase some Argan oil and other local produce for taking those back home. Our request was kindly accepted. I have to mention that the organisers’ promise to avoid souvenir shops was kept and we did not have to face annoying salesmen during our whole trip.

This adventure happened during our first ever trip to Morocco, you can read many more on this blog as we visited this beautiful country quite a few times afterwards.

Italian cooking classes in Rome

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This experience was part of our trip to Italian capital city Rome. After returning from our one-day long trip to Vesuvius, we had one more major attraction booked – cooking classes in Italian restaurant.

small restaurant in rome
Small restaurant in Rome

Almost everybody around the world knows Italian food. Italian cuisine has been developing since ancient times and has spread around the world until nowadays. One of the main characteristics of Italian dishes is that it is usually simple to prepare a meal because just a few main ingredients (often two to four) are normally used. However, Italy is large country and the same dish may be very different in different areas of the country.

Some very well know ingredients of Italian cuisine are olive oil, pesto, pasta, tomatoes, peppers, olives, garlic, artichokes, eggplants, zucchini, all kinds of meat, fish, seafood and cheese (parmesan, pecorino, ricotta etc.).

There is a huge range of pasta used in Italy as well as in other countries around the world – macaroni, spaghetti, linguine, fusilli, penne, lasagne, ravioli and tortellini. Pasta differs from each other with various lengths, widths, and shapes but, for example, ravioli and tortellini are filled with other ingredients.

A while before coming over to Italy, we booked cooking classes at Le Fate Restaurant (Le Fate means fairy). In this privately owned restaurant, Italian Chief Andrea Consoli was teaching groups of 4 to 6 people about preparing excellent Italian dishes.

tiramisu
Tiramisu dish

We were really enjoying this cooking class and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to enjoy free time acquiring some new knowledge mixed with just having fun. However, I was checking for availability of this cooking class in 2019 and it appears that this restaurant has been closed – what a pity.

There is another blog about finding good restaurants in Rome for eating breakfast, lunch and dinner – this may save your some time in finding those as I can recommend all of them after my own positive experience.

So, this is it about our cooking classes in Rome but there also are travel notes about another trips to Italy, for example, to Italian Alps.

Oxford and Brighton

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English cities

The United Kingdom is a country, which you can visit many times and every time you will discover something new. The same applies if you are in London. Just to mention that London contains 4 (!) UNESCO World Heritage Sites – the Tower of London, Kew Gardens, a complex consisting of the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret’s Church, and Greenwich.

On this page there are just two very short episodes from many visits outside London, although we have visited many many more – check this blog for other places.

Oxford

Oxford is one of the most beautiful cities in the UK. The city is widely known for its medieval Oxford University. Buildings in Oxford demonstrate an example of every English architectural period since the arrival of Saxons, but especially impressive are the buildings of the University of Oxford.

building in oxford
Building in Oxford

There are roughly 100 major academic departments, which are overseen by the four academic divisions: Medical Sciences; Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences. There are 38 Oxford colleges, which are financially independent and self-governing but relate to the central University in a kind of federal system.

The best way to get from London to Oxford is by Oxford Tube bus company, it takes less than 2 hours from central London. A bit more expensive option is using a train. If you travel by train to Oxford, you have to leave from Paddington station by Great Western Railway or from Marylebone station to board Chiltern Railways.

Brighton

Brighton is a very popular seaside resort town located about 90 kilometres (50 miles) from London. Brighton is a festival town with many attractive events during the summer season.

brighton beach
Brighton beach

Brighton has a 5.4-mile-long shingle beach all owned by the city council. Each year during May, the city hosts the Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe, which is the second largest arts festival in the UK after Edinburgh (Scotland).

To visit Brighton from London, there are very many frequent train services (Southern and Thameslink) and it would take about one hour to get there.

To the south-west from London there is another, perhaps, even more popular resort town Bournemouth. The best way to travel from London to Brighton and also to Bournemouth, might be by train, however ticket prices during the holiday season may get very high. For example, a return ticket to Bournemouth may cost more than one hundred pounds.

Around Switzerland

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Autumn trip to Switzerland

This is one of the parts dedicated to our trip to Switzerland in early November. Almost immediately after crossing the German border towards Switzerland, we recognised the first mountains. It was while ago when we went to this trip and we enjoyed this beautiful landscape for the first time in our lives – that was so amazing!

However, we still had a way to go and the next short stop was near Geneva Lake. It was even more impressive – a huge lake on one side and mountains all around. The Autumn colours of trees made this landscape even more beautiful and enjoyable. During the next few days there were planned two different trips – one to the capital of Switzerland Bern, and another trip to the mountains (3000 metres above sea level!) to get an even more extreme experience.

mountains in switzerland
Mountains in Switzerland

As we had accommodation in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, it was interesting to visit Bern as it is located in the German-speaking part. The Old Town of Bern has been listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 1983. Sightseeing was really interesting.

We settled in the small sky resort Leysin. It was a bit surprise that there was no snow around on the top of the mountains. As it appeared later, that year was widely known for lacking snow. However, our goal was to travel around and this obstacle did not bother us much.

Visiting mountains

Another impressive experience was visiting Glacier Les Diablerets, located 3 kilometres above sea level. Cold wind, clouds above and below with impressive alpine landscapes around – beautiful and stunning!

It was very convenient and also interesting to have lunch in Botta Restaurant.

motorway in switzerland
Motorway in Switzerland

Coming down from the top, there was an incident – a mountain lift stopped over a deep gorge. Probably, it was caused by lack of electricity, who knows. The feeling was not the best one for five or even more minutes because a strong wind was swinging the cable car. Even a company of climbers started to be nervous after some time but fortunately, the problem was fixed soon after and we continued our way to the parking place.

The Italian part of Switzerland

Every trip should finish sooner or later. Because Switzerland has also an Italian-speaking part, we decided to visit it before coming home. After crossing mountains through the tunnels, it was another world again – road signs in Italian, cliffs around, and very high waterfalls coming from the cliffs.

After driving for a while, we reached Lugano. In the beginning, it was even difficult to adapt to the surrounding activity – people speaking, sports cars passing, loud ducks in the lake, and palm trees on the streets. But in general, it was a very nice place to enjoy life!

lake lugano
Lake Lugano

Late in the afternoon, after sightseeing in Lugano, our trip to Switzerland was almost over and we started our way back home. One last night we spent in Switzerland but on the next day, before arriving in Germany, we made a short stop in Lichtenstein.

It is a common thing that after visiting a beautiful place there is a wish to return again. We actually did that several times afterwards. For myself, the most fascinating thing was to see how the majesty of nature is combined with human creations. For example, highway viaducts over gorges, buildings on the edges of cliffs, very long mountain tunnels and simple asphalted mountain roads sometimes hang over an abyss.

Cooking classes near Marrakesh

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When visiting other countries, we always try to familiarise ourselves with local cuisine, at least as much as possible. For example, on our own we were buying and preparing seafood in Montenegro.

One way of doing this is visiting local restaurants, though it is even more exciting if there is a possibility to prepare food ourselves. It appeared that Morocco offers visitors to enjoy cocking classes; this is both an adventure and getting new useful skills in preparing Moroccan food.

Moroccan food

In Morocco, we booked a cooking class near Marrakesh – FAIM D’EPICES. The price was approx. EUR 50 per person and that included transportation, lessons in Moroccan food preparation, preparation of meals in practice, drinks and spice workshop (pick-up place usually would be arranged near the place you stay in Marrakesh, which is a norm in Morocco).

We learned how to make a complete meal, meaning bread, salad, a tajine and the special Moroccan patties. The main dish on the day we were there was the tajine of lamb with prunes. Be aware that they do not accept credit cards, so cash should be taken with you; we also paid a deposit in advance (half of the price).

Cooking classes

Faim d’Epices operates for a while, the kitchen is large and well-equipped. We also got very useful tips on different topics, for example, how to find out if argan oil is pure or how to make sure that saffron is genuine (these ingredients are expensive and people may try to sell fake stuff).

Argan oil is an oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree and saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus. Saffron has long been the world’s most costly spice by weight.

Both, argan oil and saffron are specific to Morocco. In addition to this, every household prepares its own mix of different spices to be used for everyday cooking; those may include caraway, cumin, saffron, sumac, fennel, mustard and many other ingredients.

You may wish to watch on YouTube my video about the Moroccan town Tafraout which we visited during COVID in 2020 (opens in a new window). In Morocco we also visited such places as Marrakesh, Taroudant, Agadir, Paradise Valley, Sahara desert and more which you can find on this blog.

Seafood specialities in Montenegro

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During our vacation trip to Montenegro, we obviously enjoyed a lot of seafood in Montenegro and local fermented grape juice of course. Especially, we were excited about buying fresh seafood on the shore from fishermen and preparing our (not anymore their) catch at home.

In my opinion, there are more tasty oysters in neighbouring Croatia, however, the taste of mussels from the Bay of Kotor outperforms many regions offering similar production. In local warehouses, it was possible to buy different kinds of seafood (and the price was excellent indeed). It was a real celebration of summer every evening in Montenegro all week long.

Seafood in Montenegro is a usual thing for locals. Humans have used seafood in their cuisine for thousands of years. For example, mussels can be smoked, boiled, steamed, roasted, barbecued or fried in butter or vegetable oil. As with almost all shellfish, mussels should be checked to ensure they are still alive just before they are cooked.

We have had mussels for a meal in many countries and definitely those we had in Montenegro, along with Scottish mussels, have been one of the best experiences. We did not particularly buy any fish, which I believe should also be excellent in Montenegro. The main reason for that was a huge variety of shellfish – mussels, clams, scallops and many more.

Quick and easy seafood preparation recipe – scallops

Scallops are high in protein, low in calories and contain a whole lot of good things for our body like Omega-3, minerals and vitamins. I am wondering why there really are not that many things around, which are that much beneficial for our health as well as really tasty.

So, what you should do if you have been lucky enough to buy some big fresh scallops (this recipe may not be suitable if you get frozen scallops from a supermarket).

  • The first thing – bring home and wash if there is some sand or dirt on the shells
  • Open shells and leave scallops in one half of the shell (kids may like to play with them later on).
  • Chop garlic, put over scallop, add pepper and salt.
  • Put on a frying pan (see a picture here) and cook until it gets ready (it should not take long – just a few minutes).

Enjoy your results and read about our experience of visiting Durmitor National Park in Montenegro.

Adriatic coast of Montenegro

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After visiting Durmitor National Park, Tara River Bridge and some challenging off-road driving we arrived at our final destination in Montenegro – Adriatic coast.

Bay of Kotor

Town Kotor is located along one of the most beautiful bays of Montenegro. The old town of Kotor was built during the Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries and listed as a UNESCO World Natural and Historical Heritage Site since 1979 (to be more precise, UNESCO lists the whole complex – Bay of Kotor, City of Kotor and surrounding territory).

bay of Kotor
Bay of Kotor

In the Middle Ages Kotor was a natural harbour on the Adriatic coast but this place was inhabited already about two thousand years ago. Our accommodation was located in Dobrota village, about 3.5 kilometres from Kotor however in reality it is sometimes even not possible to determine when one town ends on the coast and another one begins. Dobrota looks straight onto Mt. Vrmas and the seaside promenade of the town runs for several kilometres along the shore.

Numerous little stone jetties are splendid more than anywhere else. We booked our accommodation in Dobrota in advance, it was located in a large private house. The main advantage of the accommodation was that it was in a quiet area with a large terrace and shady garden, about 20 metres from the coast.

Adriatic coast

The rest of our time in Montenegro we spent either walking around the town and enjoying the sun or visiting other towns and beaches of the Adriatic sea. The city walls of Kotor are very interesting (they are about 5 kilometres long, up to 20 metres high and up to 10 metres wide).

A very interesting site in the Kotor area is an artificial island Gospa of Skrpjela (Lady of the Rock). According to stories seamen from Kotor and Perast created islands bringing with their sailing vessels large stones.

sveti-stefan island in montenegro
Sveti Stefan island in Montenegro

There is a church on this island. Another very special is the island of Sveti Stefan. In reality, this is a town hotel located on an island. It is connected to the mainland with a narrow strip. The town was built in the 15th century, and it became a town-hotel in 1960. Many famous people have visited Sveti Stefan. To visit the island there is an entrance fee but near the entrance, there are beautiful sandy beaches (one full day we spent there).

Our longest trip was to Skadar Lake. The Skadar Lake (Skadarsko Jezero) is the largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula, it is situated in the far Southeast of Montenegro. The shore of the lake is full of bays, peninsulas and riffs, however, it is most popular because of bird watching – there have been more than 280 bird species registered so far at Skadar Lake, which is more than half of the European ornithological fauna.

Durmitor National Park

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At the beginning of June, together with friends, we went to Montenegro (meaning Black Mountain) to visit Durmitor National Park and the Adriatic coast. It was exciting not only because we hadn’t been visiting this country before.

On June 3rd, 2006 Montenegrin Parliament declared independence of the country (previously it was a part of Yugoslavia and various incarnations). It was interesting to find out what people think and to see how a small country starts its independent living. Montenegro has a territory of less than 14 thousand square kilometres and a population of less than one million.

Arrival to Montenegro

To reach our destination, we crossed Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, and arrived in Montenegro from Serbia, crossing those days very recently established border control points. The first stop we made was at a petrol station soon after crossing the border and were really surprised about the cleanliness and order prevailing around.

Large rest area and surrounding landscapes let us to relax after a long trip through Serbia. It was late afternoon, however, we didn’t have a hotel booking, so after a short break we continued driving and had to find suitable accommodation before sunset.

Driving from Mojkovac to Zabljak, we found a convenient motel “Ravnjak” with separate bungalows (address: 18th kilometre of the road Mojkovac-Zabljak, phone: 084 472 144). The next morning we ordered a really excellent breakfast. In case you don’t need an apartment, it is worth stopping there even just to have lunch or dinner.

Visiting Durmitor National Park

Our next destination was Crno Jezero (Black Lake) located in Durmitor National Park about 25 kilometres from Tara Bridge and about 3 kilometres from Zabljak. Before arriving at Crno Jezero, we looked around the town of Zabljak which is the highest urban conglomerate in the Balkans (located 1450 metres above sea level).

Zabljak is surrounded by 23 mountain peaks over 2200 meters high. There are 18 glacial lakes in Durmitor National Park, however, Crno Jezero is the largest and the deepest of them.

It is situated at the feet of the mountain massive Medjed. Crno Jezero is formed by receding glaciers and it has 2 halves – Big Lake and Small Lake. There is a 3.5 kilometres long walking path around the lake (we used only some part of it).

There is a parking place near to the lake. About a kilometre before the lake, car traffic is prohibited, however, access to the lake is very convenient – trails are covered with asphalt. There is also a restaurant on the coast available. More than 3 hours we spent walking in this area, enjoying nature and the beautiful landscape around the lake before moving forward to other parts of Durmitor National Park.

Tara river canyon

We continued our trip and the first site to visit in Montenegro was a bridge across the Tara River (this bridge called Djurdevica Tara is a symbol of the Tara River). Tara River cuts the Tara River Canyon (Tara River Gorge) which is the longest canyon in Montenegro and Europe and the second longest in the world after Grand Canyon in the United States (Arizona).

It is 78 kilometres long (there are also sources mentioning that it is up to 82 kilometres long) and 1300 metres high at the deepest point.

The canyon also is a part of Durmitor National Park and it has been listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site since 1980. Tara Bridge was built between 1937 and 1940 (rebuilt in 1946 after the Second World War). The bridge is 365 metres long, has 5 arches and the largest span is 116 metres. The roadway stands 172 metres above the Tara River. For sure, this is one of the most interesting sites in Europe to be seen.

Off-road driving in the mountains

To have more fun, we decided to cross the mountains before going to the Adriatic coast. And we had a lot of fun and challenges! Mountain road was very challenging to drive because sometimes it was covered by melting snow. There were some sections covered by asphalt but some were not.

We even reached mountain pass Sedlo (1907 metres above sea level) and continued driving, however, a few kilometres before the crossroads we had to stop because heavy road machinery was still cleaning the road after the winter season (it was June 12th but the depth of snow covering road was still about 3 to 4 metres). We found out that at least one more day should be spent cleaning the whole section of the road to get to the crossroads.

After a short interview with the reporter of the local newspaper who was preparing an article about snow clearance work, we turned around to get back to our starting point to continue the trip to the capital of Montenegro Podgorica. Late in the afternoon, we reached the Adriatic coast and continued our trip to the next destination – Dobrota, a small town near Kotor.

We had booked a guest house there to stay for a week and enjoy our vacation on the sunny beaches of Montenegro, explore interesting places in the surrounding area and enjoy local food specialities..