Marrakech Day 1 (6 Jan 09): The Riad

We arrived at the Hague from Florence at around 8:00 p.m. We unpacked, re-packed, then L started working on a few memos and I started cleaning the apartment and taking out trash. At 5:00 a.m., we left for the airport for our flight to Marrakech.

Arriving at the airport in Marrakech is pleasant - the airport is airy and new, immigration procedures were done in ten minutes (including waiting in line), and the baggage came out as soon as we cleared immigration. Our friendly driver Youssef was waiting for us when we came out, and we were soon whisked into a van and traveling to our Riad.

A Riad is a house with a courtyard, and the rooms are usually arranged around the courtyard. According to our guide, there are about 900 of them in Marrakech alone, but L and I were fortunate enough to stay at one of the only six Riads that were locally owned (the others are owned by French expats), the Riad Kniza. All of the Riads are inconspicuous from the outside, and the only entrance is a plain wooden door. This is what surprises you when you step inside:

L and I were pretty happy with our room and our riad and we would have been content just lounging in there for the rest of the trip, but that would have been really lazy (and rather sad). We started exploring Marrakech's Medina that afternoon:

Marrakech is a delight to ALL senses, and L and I got lost inside the Medina within ten minutes of entering it. Nighttime came too fast though, and we soon had to make our way back to the Riad for dinner.

I love Moroccan food! After the delicious, but heavy, food of Italy, Moroccan food is light and tasty, with the right amount of spices to be please my spice addicted tongue. Eating Moroccan food is also a spectacle - immaculately dressed waiters continue bringing in food until you ask them to stop. It was a very cold day (around 8 degrees C, and that's very cold by Moroccan standards) so having dinner by the fire was lovely:

First dish was Harira, a meatless winter soup made mostly out of chickpeas and lentils:

Followed by Moroccan salad, actually a selection of hot and cold dishes with carrots, peppers, eggplant, zucchinis, tomatoes and meats, each prepared differently:

And then arrived the Tagine, slow cooked-meat, vegetables and fruits. Tagine apparently refers to both the food and the receptacle its cooked in. For that first night we had a glorious tagine of lamb, with apricots, figs and almonds:

Dessert was oranges and a flaky pastry, topped with cream, caramel and cinnamon:

When we got back to our room there was a fire slowly burning in the fireplace and moroccan mint tea waiting for us. We sat back, relaxed, and did what you would logically do in a place of such relaxation, bliss and romance: We surfed the Internet on our respective laptops.

Florence Day 4 (5 Jan 09): Arrivederci Italia! Mille Grazie!

On this day, the last day of our trip to Italy, L and I decided to go shopping. We wanted to bring home with us some part of Italy - olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Florentine leather bound notebooks, old photos. But we got side-tracked.

The Bargello was open! We stepped inside, we gawked at Michelangelo's Bacchus and Brutus and Donatello's rather feminine looking David and crush-inducing St. George. Then we went at lightning speed through the rest of this museum, the sculpture equivalent of the Uffizi:

Two hours left before we had to leave for the airport and L and I snuck in one last meal at the delightful trattoria Marione:

See, antipasti toscana:

rigatoni with tomatoes and mozzarella:

and ossobucco:

Viva Italia! 

Florence Day 3 (4 Jan 09): Renaissance Shmrenaissance

We spent most of today's daylight hours indoors at The Galleria degli Uffizi, Italy's most famous picture gallery. It's quite a gem of a museum - The Uffizi is well-preserved proof that Florence was indeed the birthplace of the Renaissance. The rooms are arranged to show the development of Renaissance art. It begins with the pre-Renaissance, with all the gold and pomp the medieval Catholic Church could buy, and progresses through time until the Renaissance reaches its zenith with the work of Boticelli, da Vinci, Michaelangelo and Caravaggio. I'm not at all an art expert, but the development of art was clear: static, unmoving figures to images all too human. Quite captivating was Boticelli's Birth of Venus and my personal fixation, Primavera:

Also spectacular was the view from the Uffizi of the Ponte Vecchio, three more bridges and the River Arno:

Lunch today was at a trattoria called Boccadama, with polenta con salsiccia e tartufo:

Papardelle al Cinghiale:

and Tagliata di manzo al funghi porcini:

The weather gave us a break from the cold today and so L and I wandered the streets of Florence in the beautiful dusky light of the late afternoon (There really is something about that Tuscan Sun!). We saw the famous Santa Maria Novella, which was unfortunately closed when we got there:

A little further past the church was the Farmacia Santa Novella, a sixteenth century shop founded by the Dominican monks living in Santa Maria Novella as a place to sell their potions and herbal remedies:

Many of the original formulas used by the monks are still sold today. Something about the wonderful smells inside the pharmacy just makes you want to purchase stuff, and L and I quite predictably bought some relaxing home scents and teas.

After further wandering around, a bar and shots of limoncello, we eventually found ourselves needing dinner at about 10 p.m. Our Rough Guide Directions pointed us towards a trattoria called Natalino, where I ate a Parmesan and Artichoke Salad:

and L had a Pasta Vongole (which L claims is the best vongole he's ever had):

We also had dessert today, and as we were in Florence, we did as the Florence people do and ate Tiramisu:

I'll go back to Florence just for this Tiramisu (And the Bistecca Fiorentina. And the Parmesan and Artichoke Salad. And the Pasta Genovese. And the Ribollita. And, well, you get what I mean.)

Florence Day 2 (3 Jan 09): Blogging is Tiring

Blogging a trip is a nod to the inevitable onslaught of forgetfulness - it would be nice to remember, when I'm old and grey, what we did in Italy when we were young(ish).

So, onwards with the reporting.

L and I visited the Church of Santa Croce, very near our hotel, first thing in the morning before the crowds arrived:

I wrote earlier about using E.M. Forster's "A Room With A View" as a guide to Florence. An important part of the book is set in the Church of Santa Croce, where Lucy Honeychurch is in pursuit of Giotto's frescoes. True enough, more than a hundred years after the book was written, and about 800 years after the frescoes were first painted, Giotto's frescoes are still riveting. Here is a picture of part of the transept with the St. Francis cycle:

The church is quite beautiful, but a large part of the spectacle is the fact that many of the great men from Florence are buried here. This will be rather macabre, but here are the fantastic graves of Galileo, Michaelangelo and Dante:

After about two hours roaming around the cavernous Santa Croce (including a short pit stop at a leather school inside where L bought a leather pouch), L and I headed towards nearby Trattoria Baldovina for lunch. We had mixed crostini, pizza napoli, and pasta Genovese (perhaps the best pesto I have ever had):

After that gigantic meal, L and I decided to go on a walking tour of Florence, using a free downloaded podcast by Rick Steves (highly recommended!). We saw a lot of interesting sights, but because it was freezing and I couldn't bear to take my hand out of my glove to take a picture, I can only post one measly picture of the Church of Santa Maria Del Fiore and its famous Duomo:

Another highlight of the walk was the Orsanmichele, which was once a Church and at the same time, a granary. Sorry, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside, but it was definitely unique.

L and I went glove shopping after the walking tour - we went to Madova, a wholesale supplier to major brands. Both L and I got leather gloves (mine was lined with lambswool while L's was lined with cashmere), which should be good for the even colder winter days and nights ahead back in the Netherlands.

Dinner was at a lovely restaurant called La Spada, where we had among other wondrous things, an immaculately grilled Bistecca Fiorentina:

Looks like a lot, but this was all that was left after half an hour:

Best Steak Ever. Really.

Florence Day 1 (2 Jan 09): Ponte Vecchio and Pork Lard

It's amazing how cities can still surprise you, and despite globalization and further homogenization, some places still keep their identity and character. In Rome, Venice and Florence, the identities jump out at you and keep you enthralled. 

Rome was grand and truly eternal. Venice was lovely and whimsical. Florence, quite differently, gives the impression of being the hard-working cousin, constantly creating and inventing. 

We arrived there in the afternoon and we spent the last few hours of daylight trying to get used to Florence's charming streets. We eventually found our way to where the teeming mass of tourists converged, the Ponte Vecchio:

We walked by the River Arno and crossed into the west bank. Here's a night view of the Ponte Vecchio and the River Arno:

As you may have noticed, L and I made eating good meals a large part of our trip, and I think Florence, to our surprise, became the highlight of good eating. Rome was all about innards and tails and other weird body parts (loved it!), Venice was all about seafood (loved it more!) and Florentine/Tuscan cooking was all about roasted meats (winner!). 

We had dinner at a homey trattoria called Gusta Panino, where the gentleman who owned the place gave us all their greatest hits (which were not at all the most expensive things on the menu). To immortalize this properly, here is a picture of their menu:

We had Tavolozza di Salumi Misti e Pecorino (Mixed Salami Patter with Pecorino Cheese) and Bruschetta con Lardo di Colonnata (Bruschetta with Pork Lard - Divine! it tastes exactly the opposite of how it sounds):

Ribollita alla Fiorentina (a winter soup with white beans and bread - it was a bit sour, which made it very tasty):

and Tortelloni Funghi e Crema Tartufata (Tortelloni with Mushrooms and Truffle Sauce):

Tuscan wine is well-known, and understandably L and I had two types of Chiantis (yes, that's two bottles for two people. Heh.). The first bottle was a divine Lorini Chianti:

and the second bottle was a Chianti San Felice (a little more robust than the Lorini):