September 16 , 2001 Gaeta, Italy September 3 , 2001 Stromboli: The Lighthouse Of The Mediterranean August 26 , 2001 Cefalu: Another Medieval Jewel August 23 , 2001 Sicily: Land of Lovely Desserts August 15 , 2001 En Route to North Africa August 10 , 2001 Ormeggiatori August 8, 2001 Supermarkets and Amphora August 6 , 2001 Sailing South in Sardinia August 2 , 2001 La Vie en Corsica July 30, 2001 Jonathan Joins Us July 27, 2001 One Sea, Seven Colors July 24, 2001 Say What? July 23, 2001 "Va Bene" July 21, 2001 Venturing Into Italy July 20, 2001 And The Mistral Blew July 18, 2001 The Spell Of Menorca July 12, 2001 Culture And Concerts July 7, 2001 Cha Chas July 6, 2001 Red Dust July 4, 2001 Rare Birds July 3, 2001 Clear Empty Water June 27 , 2001 Quick Friends June 22 , 2001 Reconnecting June 13, 2001 Eastern Hemisphere June 6, 2001 A Weekend in Cartegena May 30 , 2001 A Time Or A Place May 29 , 2001 Several Lovely Sails May 21 , 2001 Free At Last May 25, 2001 On The Hard May 18, 2001 A Boat Again May 14, 2001 Time Warp to Morocco May 03, 2001 Still On Stilts in Malaga

 May 14, 2001 

We delayed our 'first task' to take a week to visit friends in Morocco, just a hop, skip and a jump across the Straits of Gibraltar. It was a fascinating time warp and cultural contrast for us. We went from expat parties in luxurious seaside villas in Rabat to the Medina (old city) in Fes (founded in 789), one of the largest living medieval cities in the world. 400,000 people live in the Medina which consists of narrow, twisting alleys, covered bazaars crammed with craft workshops, cafes, food markets, mosques and extensive dye pits and tanneries straight out of the middle ages.

We visited Volubilis, a city of 2nd century Roman ruins with magnificently preserved mosaics: civilization set down on treeless hills overlooking rolling plains, as a western outpost for the empire. The sparsely settled surroundings probably look the same as they did 2000 years ago. As the sun set behind the ancient columns, we walked from our hotel which overlooked the ruins through a huge field of blooming sunflowers. Many of the columns were topped with nesting storks.

Tangiers was dirty and the hustlers were annoying, but there is still a romantic aura about this once international city. We threw open the shutters of our French quarter hotel room to ventilate the mildew smell, gazed onto a tropical garden, a bustling port city with the sea in the distance, and were serenaded by the sounds of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer.

Now we are back in modern Spain, living on the hard (living on the boat while it is out of the water) putting the boat back together. Last September we had removed everything we could from above deck and now have to get the inches of dust and grime off of everything outside, in order to put everything back, that has been stored inside. We are sharing our 35 ft home with the radar scanner and mount, liferaft, all the sails, dinghy engine, and more.