The Battle of Oranges

Prologue

Lily: "Syd, I'm thirsty. I want orange juice."

Syd: "Ok, let's go to Ivrea. I heard it has a lot of oranges this weekend."

Thus we are in Ivrea today looking for fresh and free oranges all over the town. For some reason, many people are wearing a red hat. As we are thinking about how pretty they looked, a red hat appeared on top of our head from no where. Wow, this town must be magical!


We start exploring. The further we walk into the town, the more people in different uniforms. They all seem to be preparing for something. I'm really thirsty now. I look around and see uniformed people holding oranges in their pouches and hands. I want to ask them if I can have an orange to eat but then all the sudden they start yelling and running. People wearing red hats retreat to the corners of the piazza or behind the protective nets. I try to find out what is causing the fuss and then there it is -- a big horse cart with 7 or 8 guards inside.


Without warning, these guards put on face masks and ... oh you can never guess what they do... they start madly THROWING oranges at the crowd. Have you ever seen anything so absurd? The people on foot and the guards in the cart keep throwing oranges at each other fiercely. I try to grab a few oranges in the mid air, from the crates, or on the ground to save myself from dying of thirst but Syd is holding me back.


Mayday! Mayday!! Syd's hit! These crazy Italians! We just want some OJ (and pasta, pizza, buffalo mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, wine, tiramisu, and ...)


Ok, ok, we get the point. We'll not touch your oranges. Geez!

These people continued to throw oranges around for the next 3 hours. It was a lot of fun watching them as we went through 3 different battle fields in Ivrea. The result was a mess of oranges & dirt and a great waste of vitamin C. I didn't want anymore OJ after I walked through the orange mud. Yucky!


The story of the Carnival in Ivrea

In popular tradition of the Middle Ages, Raineri, the lord of the Ivrea who in-keeping with the custom of the time, claimed the right to practice "jus primae noctis', in other words to spend the wedding night with the brides. Until Violetta, the beautiful daughter of a miller, rebelled against the lord's will, cut off his head with a dagger and showed it to the people gathered beneath the castle walls. There followed a popular rebellion, which led to the destruction of the castle and which is today symbolized by the Battle of Oranges played out between the orange throwers on foot representing the rebels and those on the carts representing the tyrant's guards.

Violetta and the spectating crowd wear red hats which symbolize freedom. The red hat means you won't be throwing oranges and therefore no one will throw oranges at you.

The heroin: Violetta

Abrigato, Lisboa! （下）

The next day we took a train (1 hour ride) to a nearby town, Sintra, which was highly recommended online and by Sera's Portuguese friend. Sintra was beautiful with lots of trees and hills, no wonder it was where Portuguese kings retreat to during summertime.

We wanted to go to 3 palaces but Sintra National Palace was closed for renovation. :( But it ended up okay since after we finished touring the other 2 palaces, it was already 5pm.

The first palace we explored was a ruined castle, the Moorish Castle. It was very impressive as the entire castle, the defense walls, and the watch towers all were built with and into the rocks. What a tough job it must be back then! As a matter of fact, I admire Portuguese sculptors more from this trip because rock is such a difficult material to work with yet the result is amazing. I prefer the simplicity of the rock carving without any additional decoration or coloring. Oh, by the way, doesn't the defense walls of the castle look like the Great Wall? Well, not with the Portugal flag of course.






Next we went to Palacio de la Pena, the most famous palace in Sintra (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Ippar-palacio-pena-aerea.jpg). This palace is still in good shape as we can also explore the interior and admire the decorations and collections of the royal family. The palace was designed with colorful tiles and detailed rock carvings (as you can see from the photo with 2 silly CAL band alumni :p ).








After the historical/ architectural education, we need cultural experience to balance it out. For the next 2 nights, we tasted 10 different port wines at Solar do Vinho do Porto, organized by the Port Institute. Sera recommended and explained the various port to us while asking us (the typical consumers who only drink wine for the sake of drinking) in return how we liked them. Somehow Syd and I always liked each other's selection better. :p Now we need to get 2 bottles of port when we return to Milpitas. We also couldn't leave Portugal without listening to fado (Portuguese folk songs which are usually sang by sailors and their wives). I found a local hole-in-the-wall wine bar which was highly recommended online. Boy, was the bar LITTLE! It has 7 or 8 small tables and jam packed with locals and tourists standing and sitting everywhere. The bar is known for listening to the fado amateurs (most likely the person sitting next to you). Each performer simply went to the middle of the bar and sang. Their emotional singing was accompanied by Spanish and Portuguese guitars. Sometimes the singing was sad as the sailor was missing his lover back home while other times it was more light-hearted as he was remembering the better times. Sera was able to chat with a performer (the lady in the photo) in French. She told us that even an amateur takes more than 10 years of learning to sing fado.














And yes, we were a bit buzzed in the photo with the tram cuz that night we each had 3 glasses of port and also shared a bottle of white with the seafood dinner. :)

I'd like to end our adventure in Lisbon with the following geocaching picture since we have found the most puzzle caches here than anywhere in Europe. This photo with the American flag behind us is our 2,396th cache. Syd was a very happy guy dragging 2 tired Asian girls who were desperate for coffee that day.

Abrigato, Lisboa! （上）

Sera, Syd, and I had a "wild" idea: travel to the warmest country in Europe in February! Lisbon's weather was wonderful as everyday was sunny with an average temperature of a super comfy 16C!

The first area of Lisbon that we explored was Belem because it has many museums and famous monuments. We were lucky as the museums are free on Sunday mornings so we get to see Museums of Maritime and Archaeology for free. Afterward, we couldn't wait for lunch to eat the well-known pasteis da nata (egg custard) from the famous cafe, Pasteis de Belem. I had tasted these custards in Taiwan before as they were very popular a few years back. Chinese also have its own version of egg custard (蛋塔) which doesn't have the black spots. The custards were delicious! Syd insisted going back for more but Sera and I held him back by telling him the danger of cholesterol... NOT! :p We didn't get anymore that day simply because the line at the cafe was tooooooo long!














Guess what? Belem also has a Golden Gate Bridge! (See the bridge directly behind Syd?) It has a different name, Ponte 25 de Abril, but it's designed by the same architect. One of the famous monuments in Belem is the huge sculpture behind us, Padrao dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). It's to celebrate the Portuguese who sailed out to the unknown in the 15th and 16th centuries. I thought for sure that the figure at the tip of the monument must be Vasco da Gama but it turned out to be Henry the Navigator, the sponsor of the Discoveries. Well, it makes sense as expedition requires financial support (like everything else). Vasco da Gama is still one of the figures in the monument though. (More details of the monument: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padr%C3%A3o_dos_Descobrimentos)



PS. I forgot to mention that Lisbon is built on 7 hills so ladies, leave your heels at home. Tennis shoes are the best foot gear.

Simple Pleasures

You guys already know that Torino is pretty cold these days... well, after snowing a bit last night, it was actually relatively 'warm' (7C) when we went to farmer's market this morning. :p

Every Tuesday we went to Porta Palazzo (the biggest farmer's market in Europe) to buy fresh ingredients for the week, have lunch and a beer at our favorite cafe, and then leisurely stroll back to our apartment. Today we were in the mood for something hot and sweet after lunch... quindi una cioccolata calda con panna per Syd e un cappuccino per me! Perfetto!

Ahhhhh, the simple pleasures of life.

Sho-Lan-Ka, Marrakesh! （下）

Yes indeed, desert temperature is unpredictable. We had to wear layers in the morning yet a T-shirt was just right in the afternoon. We were actually sweating when we were having skewers for lunch sitting under the sun. But no complaints here, I welcome the heat with all my heart (especially when Torino is freezing: 1C :().

Today we explored on our own. We finally went to tourists' spots: Saadian Princes' Tombs, Palace el-Badi, and Palace de la Bahia. What impressed me the most was the tile work. Beautiful complicated flowery designs seem to be the favorite and the specialty.

















We had lunch at a small restaurant near the big square. Its name is Chez Chegrouni, located at the upper right corner of the square. The food there was the best we have ever eaten (besides the riad) and the price is unbeatable. We had chicken couscous and beef tajine with raisins & almonds... mmmmm, I'm going to organize a group trip to a Moroccan restaurant in the bay area when I come back! Who wants to sign up?? :)


Marrakesh is certainly an interesting city to visit but one has to be prepared for it. It is a mixed bag of European, African, and Muslim cultures. Arab and French are spoken everywhere. Cars, mopeds, bikes, buses, horse carriages, donkey pull-carts, and people fight for the right of the way on the streets. The smell of sweets, dirt, Moroccan honey pancakes, sweat, grilled sausages, and sewers compete to reach one's nasal sense. Marrakesh is not a place to rest but an experience to challenge one's senses and finding a way appreciating it.

Sho-Lan-Ka, Marrakesh! （中）

We got up bright and early the next day for hot pastries and fresh squeezed OJ at the riad. Oh, you gotta try the fresh squeezed OJ at the big square, Djiemaa el-Fna. 3dhs per glass (35 cents) for the most delicious and sweet OJ that I've ever tasted in my life! We kept going back to the same OJ stall (# 36) that whenever the stall guy sees us, he starts pouring OJ for us!

We hired a local guide to take us around the old city for some history and the souks for some "unhassled" shopping. We usually explore on our own but this time we took the advice from other travelers online. We were lucky as our guide, Mr. Abdallah Amghar, is a director of a national travel agency who is very knowledgeable of Morocco. We enjoyed every minute of his company. Abdallah showed us a local bakery, the "real" souks for locals (not by the square), and beautiful buildings that tourists don't go to. If any of you are thinking of a guided tour in Marrakesh, let us know as we have Abdallah's contact information. :)














For people who think of us as hard-to-please customers (ex. Joe :p), we purchased quite a bit in the souks. We enjoyed Moroccan dishes so much that we bought 35 spices for tajine-cooking, mint tea leaves, saffron (per Syd's request), and 2 beautiful pashmina shawls. Abdallah helped us... well, he was THE one negotiated price on the shawls (50% off and a done deal in 5 minutes) since Syd and I both were useless in this trade. I'm pretty sure if we didn't have a local person with us, we would have to spend lots of time refusing and negotiating offers instead of walking and taking pictures leisurely in the souks.

Sho-Lan-Ka, Marrakesh! （上）

Our travel log turned a new chapter last weekend: we went to Morocco for a totally new African/ Muslim experience. It was our first time to Africa... we decided to go to Marrakesh for a different food/ culture experience and a warmer weather with a mere 3-hour flight from Milan. We liked the city for the food and history but the noises and dirty streets required some adjusting.

We arrived at Marrakesh airport on Thursday morning and found our taxi driver whom was arranged to pick us up by the riad (traditional Moroccan home with an interior garden). I found Riad Jonan online which was overwhelmingly recommended by previous guests (http://www.riadjonan.com/). It is definitely a unique experience to stay in a riad in Morocco. We were greeted by the management with mint tea (yum) and desserts (too sweet). We wanted to take it easy the first day so we went to a hamman (a traditional Moroccan spa) suggested by the riad. The hamman was beautifully decorated, super clean, and yes, much more expensive than the local public hammans (but still cheaper than US: ~$65) because it is targeted to foreigners. However, we don't have any complaints since Syd and I had an entire steam room to ourselves so we could experience Moroccan bath together.

I had been looking forward to the famous Moroccan bath for a long time. We were first asked to strip down to underpants in separate changing rooms and come out with bath robes. Then we were led to a steam room, took off robes, and lied down on a pad on each side of the room. The tiled floor was burning my feet that I had to hop a bit to the pad. A Moroccan lady poured hot water on our bodies and we started to sweat. The purpose is to sweat out the toxins in the body. After 15 minutes, the lady came back to check if we had sweated enough, then she put on a 'sandy' glove and started scrubbing our entire body, from neck to toes, from front to back. The scrubbing experience can be a bit painful because the glove is pretty rough and the lady used some muscle power. But I like deep and shiatsu massages so it was okay for me. Pouring more hot water on my skin and it felt sizzling and refreshing. The lady put black soap (made from olive extract) on us and we lied down for more sweating. After another 15 minutes or so, she came back and pour more hot water on us then it was time for showering. Afterward, we went to lay down with robes and drank mint tea in the courtyard while waiting for our massages. Syd chose a relaxing massage while I went for traditional Moroccan hot towel massage. Ahhhh, all I can say is what a way to relaxing because I fell asleep.

Since we were supposed to be lazy, we ate a traditional meal at the riad. The food at the hotel is usually tasteless but not at this riad. Many previous guests noted that it was one of the best meals they had in Marrakesh so we had to try it. The appetizer dish of Steamed Vegetables with Spices impressed our taste buds so much that we almost clean out the entire plate. The following-up delicious couscous and tajine simply took our words away... we only have one mouth and it was busy eating.














So what was inside the tajine? Slow-cooked tender Lamb with Sweet Prunes! Yummy yummy yum!