Im now in sunny Seville, a really nice town - a superb place to just wander around. The streets, most of which are pedestrianised, are full of beautiful old buildings filled with coffee shops and small boutique shops. Most of the place is up-market meaning prices of home once again :s. So for the past couple of days Ive just been sitting around in courtyards sipping nice cold cervezas and coffee's - neither of which I could get in the middle east. A real pain. But its been good to be able to sit outside in the middle of the day without baking. Most people here are saying how hot it is here, whilst Im finding it comfortably cool. God help me when I get back to England. The thermometers say 33C sometimes although i still don't quite believe them.

Back to where I left off - Cairo. I caught and early morning flight out of Cairo in the direction of Casablanca (or Casa as the hip young local ruffians like to say) Casablanca, as Ive heard many other travellers say is a dump. Absolutely horrible I'm sorry to say, it does however have one thing going for it, the Mosque (3rd largest in the world) yet I would say that the Aya Sofia in Istanbul beats it hands down. One of the first things that I noticed about Morocco was that the people were really not as nice as those in the Middle East, which I was really disappointed by. No longer would people invite you in for tea's, smile and ask from where you came in a genuine manor in stead they'd charge you clearly over the top in an emotionless way and rarely smile,with the exception of when you are giving you them your money, even then your lucky and it has to be a large amount.

Yet despite the people (mainly french which may explain things) I still like the country, the cities were quite incredible, a real buzz for the senses. From Casablanca I went to Marrakesh. And I was very pleased to find that it was a lot different. Gone were the dirty high rises, smelly ports and busy roads and in came the nice plaza's parks and little Medina streets. I find it interesting how all of the souks, bazaars, medina's and markets throughout the arabic countries are essentially the same thing selling the same things, yet are slightly different in the way they go about it. From the tight alleys of those in Cairo to the broad streets with bullet ridden roofs in Syria. Nowhere can you immediately get a sense for the culture than by stepping into a local market. In Fez, I think were perhaps the most interesting. Truly and assault on the senses, for a good few hours you couldn't help but stare at anything and everything. Fez has around 1600, perhaps more, little alley ways, which makes it very easy to get hopelessly lost. If it wasn't for the markers, like those you get on footpaths I'm sure I would of. One of the most interesting things about the market in Fez is the smells which are quite unlike those at other markets. From the tanneries for the leather (a horrific smell which urged you to wretch before you even walked near the area) to the aromatic spice stalls and then to the bakers it was a very interesting combination.

So for me Morocco was a nice place apart from the people, as I would say France is. So if you can stand the people, or if in fact you are French or Moroccan you should go.

My next stop, Spain, where I still am. Until the end of my trip. After spending a couple of days on a nice beach in the surfers paradise of Tarifa I went off to Gibraltar. Somewhere Id be wanting to go to for a long time, although Im not quite sure why. Gibraltar was alike a little piece of England, but with nice weather. It just felt like being at home once again, which I think unless Id been travelling for a few months I may of really not like. But I think I was in need of a little bit of English things. Fish and Chips, bacon butties old speckled hen etc etc. It felt strange asking for directions and getting a welsh or Scottish accent back at you. The Island itself was quite built up, with most of the space available used up, but getting to the top of the rock there were some good views. There were also the famous monkeys, who were really very friendly and patient for a camera. It was only when a little mackem kid tried to feed them that he got bit. Its actually illegal to feed them and you can get fined 500 pounds. I thought of reporting him, but I think he learnt his lesson. Dont be a stupid mackem. :p

To the end of my trip and Ive only just under a week. Which is just flying by, tomorrow im in Cordoba then the next day its Granada then a couple of day after that its Malaga then home...