Taking a quick break from Morocco, here’s another quick real-time update on where we are:

From Morocco we flew to Sevilla, Spain, where we rented a car and drove to Ronda, a small town in the hills of Malaga in Andalusia. After two weeks in Morocco, we gorged ourselves on pork products and cheap wine.

From Spain we headed to Portugal where we spent a week in Lisbon and then almost two weeks in Porto. We really enjoyed Portugal and can’t wait to share all of the delicious things we ate. 🙂 Hope to have time soon…

From Porto we flew to Geneva, Switzerland and took the bus to Chamonix, France, where we are right now. The Alps are beautiful. Every time I turn around I am stunned by how incredible the landscape is here. We’ve also been in very Mediterranean climates and terrains for the past month and a half, so this all feels very different! We are definitely enjoying some of the cooler mountain temperatures.

More details on all of this later, but we just wanted to let you know quickly what’s been happening!

Tomorrow (Monday) we set out on the Haute Route (or, the Walkers’ High Route), a hiking route which will take us from Chamonix to Zermatt, from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn. We will be backpacking for eleven days and will be staying in alpine huts along the way. So, we are not bringing camping gear or even very much food, just clothes and personal items. The huts will provide us with beds, breakfasts, and dinners. The days will be long and there will be some big hills to climb, but our packs are light, our minds are ready for quiet(er) contemplation away from the hustle and bustle of big cities, and our hearts are eager for the beautiful and untouched scenery. And I’m excited to sing The Sound of Music while twirling in mountain pastures (even though I know it’s the wrong country). (Martin is also very excited for me to do this. 😉)

We will arrive in Zermatt on August 10 and will spend a few nights there before coming back to Chamonix for a night to collect the rest of our stuff and then flying out of Geneva for Croatia. Whew!

We aren’t bringing computers with us, but will have our phones and there will be wifi in some of the huts. But, unfortunately I’ll be even slower getting things posted…

Can’t wait to share how it all goes!