Higman Travels

OK, I caved. I bought a rug. We were in the south/desert and it benefits the Berber tribes. I’m hoping it’s true. It’s also supposed to be hand weaved by Berber women. I’m hoping this is all true because we are carrying this thing back home. I must say it’s nice but Justyne cried because we are thinking about replacing our current rug.

So, the desert was amazing. I posted some desert pictures but here are some more. It was magical. We rode into the sand dunes to watch the sunset. Then we went to our Sahara Sky Luxury Camp.

Before we headed to the camp we had an amazing treat. Our guide took us to his house and his mom cooked us a home made meal. It was so big and amazing. We couldn’t move because we were so full.

We visited a nomadic family in the desert. The man still has multiple wives and each has their own tent.

we also had lunch at the home of the owner of Sahara Sky Luxury Camp.

We visited a music center run by people from sub-Saharan Africa. Actually, their ancestors were from the south but they have been in Morocco for generations. They are working to keep their ancestral culture alive. The kids even dances with them so watch this video.

We stayed at Riad Hassan the next night. Another gorgeous property.

On the way to Dades Gorge, we stopped in Rassani and visited a traditional market. The sites were incredible.

On our drive we spotted a bunch of piles of sand. They were all Wells. The former residents of the area had dug an aqueduct under ground, leading from the mountain down to their village. The piles were actually mud/earth from the waterway down underground. They did it this way so the water wouldn’t evaporate on-ground.

Next, we headed into the Dades valley/Dades Gorge. Enjoy the sites.

Then, Jevyn got a hair cut and Justin got a straight edge shave.

We stayed at the Riad des Vieilles Charrues in the Dades Valley. This is where they helped us celebrate Jevyn’s 11th birthday.

More canyons.

We visited a restored casbah, or castle. It’s much like the castles in Europe and was a home to the aristocrats. This one was purchased and restored and even hosted filming of a movie called Hanna. The family purchased and restored this casbah using original methods. It was definitely similar to the castles in the UK and Ireland – uneven steps, small windows, towers, etc.

Next stop, Ouaezazet and Riad Chamaa.

On the way to Taroudant we saw this!

Another town another cute Riad. Riad Tafilag. It’s owned by a French couple who spend half their time in Morocco.

Girls using the apparatus to extract argon oil.

The kids and I went out into the Médina to get fruit and explore. We got a little lost because our road home was blocked by a group of student protesters. The kids all over Morocco are protesting because the government decided not to “fall back” this fall so the school times are all wacky. So, instead of school from 8-12 then 2-6, the hours are now 9-1 then 2-6. This gives them only a hour to go home, have lunch, then come back. They do not provide food at school and some kids live far from school so it may take them up to 30 minutes of just commute time. I love the activism in these kids!

We saw this is several cities.

On our way to Essaouira we passed through Agadir with lots of big resorts.

Next stop Essaouira and the last week of our trip.

See you soon!

This is many days late because we have not had good enough Wi-Fi to upload all the photos. Enjoy!!

We arrived in Tangier Med (about 45 minutes outside of Tangier) on the rainiest day of the year. Seriously, we were soaked! Then we went to the wrong hotel, but our driver was nice enough to wait for us to take us to the right one. It all worked out but we didn’t ever imagine we’d be so cold in Morocco. The weather has been weird all over the world is this shouldn’t be much of a surprise!

Our first stop was Chefchaouen. It’s called the blue city for a good reason- it’s blue. So so beautiful.

Thankfully, it was sunny the next day and we had an amazing local tour guide who was 76 years old and kicked our asses walking up the hill. Nope, we did not get a picture with him. Forgot. But, if you can imagine a wise old man, well, that is him.

Chefchaouen was founded in 1471 by Berber tribes to fight the Portuguese from Ceuta. Both Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain grew the town and you can see much Andalucían influence around town. We learned that there are no longer Jewish families in Chefchaouen. The last Jewish family left in the 70’s. But, before then, they all lived happily together. We also learned that Sufi mosques do not have minarets. Many Muslims came from Spain to Chefchaouen, too, and there is even a “Spanish” mosque. But our tour guide said no one goes there because there is no bathroom or water. Haha.

Oh, do you know the difference between a donkey and a mule? I knew they were different but never thought about why. City girl here. A mule is when you breed a male donkey to a female horse and it is sterile. Ah-ha.

We stayed at the Riad Assilah inside the Médina. The Médina was crazy. Don’t really know how you don’t get lost. But, I remember alleyways like this in Korea. I guess you figure it out when you live there. Everyone was so friendly and so accommodating. We did see a couple of kids begging but nothing compared to other places. We wondered around for about 2 hours getting a history lesson at every turn. Of course, it was all so much that my brain hurt. But, so so fascinating.

We drove to Fez the next day.

On the way to Fez we visited a Roman ruin -Volubilis. Those darn Romans were everywhere. As the kids said: “another Roman ruin?!”

We heard a lot of stories about how dangerous Fez is but we felt pretty secure. It was a Friday and a lot of families and shopkeepers take Fridays off as it’s family day. They may visit the cemetery or just hang out with family. So, it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been. We had another awesome tour guide here. And, again, we forgot a picture. We visited the obligatory co-ops for rugs, leather, and weavers. We did not buy a rug, though Justin really wanted to 😂. He’s very first world and doesn’t understand you should never show interest unless you are really going to buy something. He kept saying “I really like that one” so they kept bringing out others that were like that one. I had no interest in spending $2,000 on a rug even if it was a “good deal.” But I bought a leather jacket, a leather purse, and we all bought scarves to prepare for our trip to the Sahara. Oh, the ceramic factory. How could I forget that! We had no idea so much work went into this stuff. I bought a couple of things but I think I broke them already. The bag fell out of our car. I haven’t opened it. Nothing I can do so we will just leave it until I get back to Spain.

Justin learned that not everyone in Fez wears a fez hat. There are over 9000 alleyways that all lead to one fountain. Fez was the capitol of Morocco before Rabat. 7 is a lucky number in Islam. Oh, there are no depictions of animals or people in Islam. So much more!! Makes me want to learn more about Islam.

We stayed at Riad Skalli in Fez. The breakfast was insane. How does anyone eat all of this ?!

Day 3 brought us to Meknès, another imperial city. Meknès is a smaller city and we just wondered around a little on our own.

Riad Safir was so cute and, again, breakfast was crazy good.

Today, we arrived in Midelt, gateway to the Sahara. On the way, we saw snow so the kids got out to play around a bit. We also got a peek of the mid-Atlas and even saw some monkeys!

We are staying at a very blah hotel here. The dinner was a buffet of tagines – yummy. We had a tour of Germans for company, though. Seeing fewer Chinese as we reach the desert. 😂

We are off to the desert and a camel ride to our camp. Don’t know when I’ll have good internet so will check in when I can!

We’ve been in Spain since October 14th. It’s definitely been fun. If you’ve traveled for long periods like this you know you need a little break and stay put. We traveled via car for 2 weeks before leaving the Balkans and the kids were over it. They were not able to get a routine and even complained about not being able to do school work. So, we decided to sit still for 2 weeks in Spain before traveling to Morocco.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t do ANYTHING. We met a worldschooling group and did a beach meet up and even took a trip into the Grenada mountains for a hike and Paella. Justin and I took walks almost everyday until he hurt his leg then I walked alone , which was fine. I even stopped at times to have coffee or a beer 🍺. Haha.

We did discover one weird thing. Even supermarkets and malls are closed on Sundays. Total surprise to us. Restaurants and movie theaters are open in malls but not the retail stores.

So, here are some pictures from our Spain part 1.

The internet is not good here and took all night to upload these photos but I will post some pictures from our first few days in Morocco tonight, hopefully.

After 6 weeks in the Balkans, we are very sadly leaving our home away from home. We visited our favorite fast food place for the last time and I took one last walk along the beach.

Some observations about our last 6 weeks:

1. Everyone needs to visit the Balkans. Even the Croatians thought the other Balkan countries (such as Macedonia and Albania) were not very developed. I’m here to tell you that they are! Of course, there are less developed areas but, overall, we were very impressed. Everyone spoke English well. Of course some of the older people didn’t but we had almost no language barrier and everybody was really friendly.

2. The history is really interesting and tragic. We should really learn more about this area of the world. So many lessons to be learned by everyone.

3. Beautiful scenery. Not only the coastal regions but inland is really awesome, too!

4. There are some tall people here! Justin might be considered to be on the shorter side here.

5. Some of the clearest waters you will ever see. So so beautiful.

6. There are very few sandy beaches. Most are rocky and you wil need water shoes.

7. Water was cold. Probably around 65-70 degrees. A lot like San Diego and definitely not like Hawaii or Costa Rica.

8. Lots of mosquitos. We got stung a lot. But then again, mosquitos like us.

9. The food was amazing. In Croatia and Montenegro the prices for a sit down meal was probably similar to that of U.S. Maybe 10-15% less. But the fast food was very inexpensive. My chicken salad was about $4. In Macedonia and Albania, price was about half. And, EVERYTHING was good. I don’t think we disliked one thing!!

10. We will definitely be back. Next time we will rent a yacht and just cruise along the coast. If we had known we would have done it this time.

11. Gelato is everywhere !! And, it’s really a work of art how it’s displayed. Nope, I didn’t take one picture of it. It was everywhere! We must pass by at least 5 stands a day and I didn’t take one single picture of it. Sorry. You’ll just have to trust me.

Favorite thing/place:

Jevyn: chicken sandwiches from Bili Pivac and the Blue Eye (Albania)

Justin: all of it, especially the crepes

Lily: Ksamil, Albania. Night of drinking in Kotor (Montenegro) with Justin

Jayden: pizza. Every single one was delicious.

Justyne: Hated it all – kidding, not kidding.

Yes, visit! Not just Croatia or Montenegro but all of it! Oh, avoid the summer months if you can. It has gotten so popular here that it’s crowded and crazy. September is even quite busy.

Next stop, Spain! See you there!!

The night before heading out of Macedonia 🇲🇰 we were in a taxi and the older gentleman driving told us that we should NOT go through Kosovo. If you’ve been keeping up with events of this region there is ongoing dispute whether or not Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Kosovo has been independent since 1999 but Serbia doesn’t recognize their independence. But, Belgrade has not been controlling Kosovo so it’s all very weird. The ongoing dispute worried us a bit about driving through Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. The taxi driver said that not only could it be dangerous but the roads are horrible. So, Justin made the tough decision to drive around Kosovo. It was definitely a faster drive but, in hindsight, we probably could have driven through without incident. But, we did see this accident on the winding road so thought it might be a sign.

Again, another great Balkan country. We found our Apart-Hotel fairly easily, and it was very close to the center of town. The place was called Bridge Apart Hotel. The manager offered to take us on a driving tour the next day. We even had a great breakfast at a nearby hotel.

Oh, before that, we ventured out for dinner our first night at the Skadarlija neighborhood at a great little restaurant. The waiter recommended a ham with veggies, bread, and salad. Justyne had ribs. Both were delicious!!

Then, we stopped for crepes and bubble waffles!! This place was called Al Pachinka and they have Scarface playing on tvs in the store. We need one of these in PB!!

Our guide, Vladmir, was very interesting. He was not Mr. personality but started warming up as the tour went on. He even got us a nice boat trip down the Denube and Sava rivers. It was a great way to see the city. We can see how the rivers come to life in the summers. Lots of bars and restaurants on the waterfront! The way Vladimir talked about the region was definitely different. Of course, we are in Belgrade, the capital of the former Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was definitely referenced more than it was in the rest of the countries. It was interesting to hear the difference of perspective. We asked him how people felt about Milosevic. He was very diplomatic and said that some loved him and some not so much. For example, he said, his grandmother thought he was a great leader. They liked a strong leader back then.

Jevyn wanted Mexican food for dinner so we found a Chipotle-type place. They had the best little tortilla maker. Check this out!

We are back in Croatia now. It’s nice to be back in our home away from home.

Macedonia was quite a surprise to us. Roads were awesome, facilities were great, food was good, and people are friendly.

There’s ongoing dispute with Greece regarding the use of the name “Macedonia.” Both claim it. There’s a huge statue of Alexander the Great in the city square and when we talked to someone about it and accidentally mentioned that I thought Alexander the Great was Greek they totally corrected me. “No, not Greek! Macedonia!”

We took a trip to Matka Canyon and took a boat ride up stream. It is cold here, though. We did not expect it to be this chilly and none of us, except Justyne, brought anything warm. We’ve been so hot all trip!

We attempted to go to the Millennium Cross but the train up there was broken, we think, due to the heavy winds from the day before. Then, off to the traditional Macedonian village. We thought it was going to be this little cute traditional village with old ladies at their vendor stands. But, it was a fancy, clean, modern model of a traditional village. Very nice but not really a site of any cultural interest.

We ended the day at the City Mall which was quite a nice surprise. Very modern with a food court to rival our best malls. I wanted to take a picture but totally forgot. But, believe me, it was cool. We went to the Cineplex to watch a movie.

This is also the first place where the fruit has been really good so we bought a bunch to take with us. We’ve been so short of veggies and good fruit in this trip. And, everything has been really inexpensive, too! First time for that too!!

Overall, we have been very impressed with Macedonia.

If it’s Sunday, we must be in Macedonia! Our first impression of the country was good. But, maybe because we came directly into a touristy area. Lake Ohrid sits partly in Macedonia and partly in Albania. It’s the deepest lake in the Balkans and one of the deepest in Europe. The Ohrid Pearls are known throughout the region. When we were in Dubrovnik we saw stores selling these. The pearls are made from the scales of the Ohrid fish. There are two families who manufacture the original Ohrid Pearls.

Even Queen Elizabeth wears Ohrid pearls!!

Ohrid is a really cute lakeside town with a very lively town center. There are vendors offering boat rides at all hours and restaurant after restaurant to fill your tummy. We had such a big lunch that we decide see just to stop and have some dessert. And boy, what a dessert it was!!

We are off to the capital, Skopje, today. Will post more as we experience more!!

One last note, we noticed a really emaciated dog when we were crossing the border. It was really thin and could barely walk and would probably be dead soon. It was so so sad. We also saw a lot of stray dogs all over Ohrid. The weird thing about these dogs was that they looked very healthy and clean. Unfortunately, all developing countries have to go through this stage too- how to handle all the stays. I hope they figure it out sooner than later.

Just outside of Sarandë is a place called the Blue Eye. It’s a natural Spring that bubbles up and looks like a Blue Eye. Divers have gone down to 50 meters but they think it goes deeper. It was really pretty. None of us dared to go in but our Jevy went in and loved it. He runs at about 150 degrees so anything cold is a welcome for him. There’s a sign that says no swimming, no diving, no littering, but we had read somewhere people were swimming in the pool. I didn’t feel good about Jevyn going in there but he was so looking forward to the cold water and other people were already in there. So, we allowed him to jump in then out right away. I was thinking that people probably drink that water downstream and that’s why I did t want him to jump in there. Well, first and last time! I hope next time we come back they will be more strict about people not going in there.

Ksamil is a small beach town at the south end of Albania, very very close to Greece. For those who follow me on IG and FB saw the amazing food we had. Such fresh food. Then, for a swim. The water was actually very tolerable. The water has been so so cold our entire trip. I really expected the water in Croatia to be warmer. Oh well. I don’t think we saw one American, not even one English speaker. Each restaurant has their own little beach area, walled off from other restaurants/beaches, with lounge chairs for rent. So, you have a delicious meal, then sit in a beach chair to chill or swim then chill. What else can you ask for??

The next day we went to Butrint National Park and the ruins there. This little place had Greek ruins, Roman ruins, and Byzantine ruins. We did finally see some Americans here. This place is going to have to expand its facilities and parking soon. There was a bus load of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, another bus full of Brits, a bus full of Germans, and another bus full of Russians, in addition to the Americans. It was a very hot day and we were going to go to another set of ruins but the kids were so hot they couldn’t handle it. So, we went back to Ksamil and had lunch at the restaurant next door to the one we were the day before. This restaurant was a lot bigger so they had two tour groups in there. We were still able to get our food pretty quickly. Yummy!!

The next day was another adventure to find another set of ruins – Gjirokastër. But, somehow Justin and I missed the turn and all the kids were sleeping so we decided to head straight to Bunec beach. Justin had read that this beach was off the beaten path and was amazing. But we had asked several locals and no one knew it at all. We realized why. It was all rock and no facilities. It was a very rough road down to the beach. On our way we ran across these two blond ladies, one rolling her suitcase down this rocky dirt road. So, we stopped to help them out. They are “nomads.” One has not lived in her native Finland for 7 years. The nomadic people go from town to town for these rainbow gatherings from mid-moon to mid-moon. You can tell one of the ladies had just had it. Plus, she was traveling for the first time with one of her good friends and they were not compatible traveling partners. She was looking for an excuse to get away from her. So, Justin dropped us off then went back to give them a ride. We gave one of them a ride back to Sarandë. She commented that she was not a very good hippie. That was cute. We didn’t stay very long at the beach because the kids said the water was very cloudy. We discovered there was a power plant up the beach from us. So, we decided to leave the beach.

We had a relaxing last night before we headed out of Albania. Next stop, Macedonia.

We drove to Albania today. The border guard was very friendly and handsome. Justin gave him a card and asked him to visit 😜.

On the way down we passed Sveti Stefan. It is an old castle/fort that has been converted into a private hotel. We were going to stop by but there were so many tourists that we did not want to bother. But, we got a picture of it !

We spent the night in the capital of Tirana. Not a whole lot to see. We walked around to the central square, then for sushi. Not great and a lot of fried things. But was worth a try. Interesting how they do different foods in different countries. It was supposed to be Japanese owned but we didn’t see any Asian-ish people at all.

The city was interesting. We were risking our lives every time we tried to cross the streets. Even though there were traffic lights, there was also a police to make sure everyone obeyed the lights. And, about every 3 steps there was a cafe. About every 10 steps was a pharmacy. I understand the cafes but the pharmacy? Why? We asked our hotel guy and he doesn’t really understand it. He thinks they might be money laundering operations.

One thing the kids noticed was the air quality in many of these countries. It is bad. Justyne has been covering her nose with her shirt when we walk around. It does bother me too. And, the cigarette smoking everywhere. Great learning moment here. This is why we need some of the regulations we have in the U.S. for cleaner air. Every developing country goes through this. Our kids have just never really been in a developing country, at least not for this long. On the way home we stopped at a supermarket and saw a trolly like no other. Isn’t it cute!!???

Out hotel was called Freddy’s Hotel. It was down a very narrow one way street but was close to the city center and had clean rooms. The breakfast was great and the staff was very nice.

On our way to Sarandë we saw a gas station about every .2 miles. Is this another money laundering business? Not sure.

The drive to Sarandë was long but pretty. We went along the coast and also passed some valleys and farm ground.

We arrived in Sarandë mid afternoon and had to play another game of looking for the apartment. This one was definitely not as good as some others. Oh well. It’s hard when your strictly relying on the web. We needed something with a washer.

We had a great meal in town and this time rather than bread they served toast! Interesting.

We walked along the promenade after dinner to work some of it off and it was beautiful. We saw an MSC ship (the cruise line we will be taking in January) at the port here.

Tomorrow, we will be visiting some sites outside of Sarandë. Justin really wants to go to Corfu, which is just a 30 min boat ride away. We have to keep track and be strict about the days in the Schengen zone. We cannot overstay our visa.

We noticed a lot more Italians in Montenegro and Albania. Not a lot of English speaking people here.

We are in search of the elusive sandy beaches. Will let you know how it goes!!

You may have heard about the country Montenegro via Casino Royale, the first Daniel Craig James Bond film. Well, none of it was filmed here but it’s an amazing country. I know, I know! Everything is so amazing here. I’ll consult the thesaurus and get some new words.

We stayed right outside of Kotor, a big port town. We saw several huge cruise ships, including a Holland America ship when we left this morning. We had our first disaster of the trip when we went to the wrong neighborhood for our apartment. This was not our fault but the fault of the Hotels.com map. Going to the wrong neighborhood wasn’t bad but getting a flat tire on top of a very narrow and hilly street was. We decided that it could have been a lot worse than it was. The woman’s driveway we stopped into spoke English and told us that there was an auto repair shop just down the hill. When we got down the hill the man didn’t have tires so sent us down the street. Oh ya, the kids and I got out of the car so that there wouldn’t be extra weight on the flattened tire/rim. Something ripped a huge hole on the side of the tire. I don’t think anyone could have patched that! So down the street we go looking for another auto shop. “400 meters then right then another right.” Seriously I have no idea how far 400 meters is. I barely know how far 400 feet is. So, down I go, stopped at a restaurant to ask again, kids in tow. “200 meters then right and 20 meters.” Ok!! We found it! They put the spare on for us and, yaaayy, they can order a tire from the capital and have it here in the morning. But, English is definitely not as widely spoken here and thank goodness there was a guy there that spoke broken English. He was so nice and so helpful! And guess what, our apartment was literally 5 minutes from the garage. Ugfffgggh!! We got a great lunch before setting into the apartment.

Justin and I walked down to the old town and had a (or more) drink. We ended up getting home at about 1:30. We were supposed to get an early start the next day but we were both hungover. At least we had a date night. Old town was so so cute! Again, how do people live in here. Wonder what it would be like to live here. We wanted to climb up to the top lookout tower but didn’t get to. Again, we will have to come back!

Next day we headed out, late, to the Ostrog Monastery. It’s sometimes called the Balkan Petra. It’s built into the rocky face of a mountain about 1 km from the valley. How the heck did they get the resources up there!! Many of you know that we are not a religious family but this is all very impressive and special. It’s a Serbian Orthodox Church.

We then set out to find a mausoleum on the top of a mountain. We didn’t really even know who is buried there but wanted to go. It’s supposed to be about 3 hours from town and in a National Park. Boy, the Montenegrins know how to build roads. We assume they were widening the road up to the mausoleum due to its gaining popularity. So we drove about 10 km in bumpy road but we made it. We saw a soldier at a gate and thought he was going to tell us to head back. Instead he needed to collect the fees for the Lovcen National Park. The mausoleum is for the Montenegrin ruler and poet Petar II Petrovic Niegos. We climbed 461 steps up to the huge structure. It was definitely grand. The view is beautiful. They say that you can see almost all of Montenegro on a clear day. We believe it.

That was our day in Montenegro. Sometimes it did feel like we were driving into no where. Lots of elevation, lots of switchbacks, dirt/rock roads sometimes blocked by heavy moving equipment. But, we did see some key sites and were definitely impressed.

Oh, apparently Kotor is a cat city. Lots of 🐱 around. There’s even a cat museum. I haven’t had time to look what why but kids were very excited about seeing the cats. The locals seem to take care of them and feed them. Just hope they spay and neuter them.

We are heading into Albania now as I type this in the car. See you tomorrow!!