Tagine, Currywurst & Baklava

Well hello dear readers, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?! 

A LOT has changed since the last blog updates and yes, in case you’re wondering, we continue to not miss an opportunity to drag the kids and hop on a plane (or many) to explore new places.

What’s different about our latest adventure is that it’s the longest trip the four of us have ever taken together – talk about A LOT OF FAMILY QUALITY BONDING time and who doesn’t want to miss out on that? Not pre/teens, for sure…. Yes, they were full in on ALL the history and fun we had to offer (cue in eye rolls here). Oh, and did I mention we returned from that month+ long trip about two weeks before moving back to Asia? No? See, we are just full of surprises. 

But let’s start at the beginning…. our latest epic adventure brought us to not 1, not 2, but 3 countries –  first stop – MOROCCO! 

We started in the old city of Fez where we relied greatly on strangers to navigate the 9,300 alleyways (largest car-free area in the world) of the ancient Medina and even Luca, who is known as “Mr. Google Maps” for his excellent navigation skills had to relent that there was no way one could ever figure out where to turn to get from point A to point B. Fortunately, the local host of our 400-year old house (riad) rental made sure we had a guide to take us around and fill our bellies with excellent food (tagine!) along the way. 

What did we see? Cats. LOTS of cats. Everywhere. And kittens. And more cats… you get the picture. 

Oh, and yes, we also visited beautiful Islamic schools, mosques (outside only for non-Muslims), shops and souks, more carpet and leather shops anyone could count, and of course, the iconic Chouara tannery that still utilizes old traditions to dye and treat leather. Much to the kids’ surprise, I dug deep into my old language skills and (tried to) communicate(d) in French … let’s just say it worked sans problème 🙂 

Fez was definitely a highlight despite the heat and the fact that everything is built vertically so our calves were getting quite a work-out.

Pro-packer tip: when visiting Morocco, packing cubes come in extremely handy so you don’t need to haul suitcases up steep and narrow stairwells. Speaking of luggage, all travelers on this trip were allotted 2 packing cubes, 3 pairs of shoes, and a toiletry bag so yes, we managed to live out of 2 suitcases for the entire month (with spare room for souvenirs and shopping, of course, you’ve met preteen girls, right?)! It can be done!

From Fez, we drove to Marrakesh with a quick lunch stop in Rabat along the way. We stayed at a friend’s beautiful riad right in the heart of the Medina and our local host was full of excellent recommendations on where to eat and what to see! A few highlights: a cooking class on making tagine (YUM!), a visit to the Ben Youssef Madrassa Islamic school, the Bahia Palace, getting lost in the souks, Bacha coffee for breakfast, and not to mention the many stops to cool off (oh, it was so hot) and relax with epic card game battles. And while we were told to find a “Berber festival” at each and every turn in the Medina, we sadly left ‘Kesh without seeing one (Note to add: locals will often try to entice foreigners in Marrakesh to turn around because of “Berber festivals” taking place up ahead….trust me, there is no such thing, but repeatedly being told about them by strangers asking us to turn around or go somewhere else became a fun topic of conversation!)

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That’s right, after years of playing pretty much any type of strategy board game, we upped the kids’ card counting skills and played everything from scat to whisk to hearts to John and my favorite 2-team card game “Belote.” It was so much fun and now we can’t seem to go out to eat without anyone pulling out a deck of cards. See?! Another prime example of family bonding! 

Our next stop took us to our favorite place in Morocco – the ancient city of Ait Ben Haddou that you might know from “small” appearances in Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, Games of Throne or Indiana Jones. 

Fun fact, we just missed the filming of Gladiator 2 and saw the colosseum built for the movie. Eight families still live in the old city and our excellent hotel (Bagdad Cafe) organized a tour with Jamal who not only appeared in 5 movies filmed there but also took us to his family’s home in the ancient city. We shared a traditional lunch (tagine! Again, so good!), played with his cats, learned about traditional arts like aquarelle paintings with saffron and tea that can hide messages (how cool!) and drank lots of Moroccan mint tea. 

We rounded out our visit to Morocco with a trip to the coast (Essaouira) where the heat wave as well as the neighbor’s sheep got to us (turns out sheep are terribly noisy throughout both day and night so no one slept) although we recovered with camel rides, walks on the beach, and delicious meals consisting of grilled sardines and Nutella crepes for desert. I know, rough life! 

After Morocco, we headed to GERMANY so the kids could satisfy their chocolate obsession by eating an unimaginable amount of Duplo chocolates and catch up with friends and family before hopping on the train to Berlin! Oh, how much I love Berlin!

We discovered so much history literally at every corner (much to Juliana’s Luca’s liking) and visited the Reichstag, Stasi Museum, DDR museum, KaDeWe, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, and took a fascinating look at the underground tunnels that East Germans dug to escape (seriously, check out this tour). Luca quickly became our history narrator and was full of facts as we walked for miles and miles on end around Berlin (in search for John’s carefully researched restaurants that managed to either not be open for that day or permanently closed despite internet research suggesting otherwise).

After yet again another endless day of marching around Berlin to look at old rocks (the Wall) as Juliana will tell you, we ended our city tour with a “Currywurst” and “Berliner Weisse” (beer with green “Waldmeister” flavor …. apparently this translates to “woodruff” – not that anyone knows what that is?!).

After Berlin, we hopped a plane to explore TURKEY!

Istanbul had been on our bucket list for years and boy, it did not disappoint! Our in-house historian quickly updated us with a brief history of the rise and fall of the Byzantine and Roman empires as well as the famous sights of the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque. We learned how ancient cisterns were built to store water in the 5th (!) century and while most of us could not get enough of looking at old rocks (again), one of us was primarily concerned with scoring tickets to a Taylor Swift concert (sadly, no luck on that front). Fortunately for Juliana, she discovered her love for baklava (and I quote directly “this is the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life!”) and for shopping at the Grand Bazaar and searching for that perfect (original) Louis Vuitton wallet. So it was all good in the end!

After Istanbul, we flew to Izmir and then drove to the coast for some R&R and – you guessed it – more old rocks at the ancient city of Ephesus. We relaxed on a boat cruise and swam in the ocean and Juliana’s patience for looking at rocks was finally rewarded by spending a day with her dear friend whose family was spending the summer close-by. They hosted us to a lovely day starting withTurkish breakfast, a trip to Bodrum (to see more old rocks!), and a spectacular sunset dinner by the ocean. Overall, a fabulous way to end our month-long trip!

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And then it was time to leave the heatwave of Europe behind and make our way back “home” before starting life (again) in another far-away “home.” The adventure never ends…at least we now have a few family favorite card games to entertain us on those never-ending flights coming up. Until then!