Sophie and Shiney trough Portugal, Spain and Morocco

So finally Shiney and me made it to post our experiences with the flying sketchbook, sorry for the delay. Now it’s nice to review our trip even if it’s more than one month ago, like this it almost seems like being on holidays again J When Ohm and Ilaria gave us the flying sketchbook we immediately thought What a nice idea and even with our huge lack of creativity and terrible drawing skills we tried our best to get our impressions in that book. Before we had to find some nice pencils but we obviously made the wrong decision by buying crappy wooden pens so that we more like produced simple sketches than nice intense drawings. But see yourself… The first drawing should show our trip from Faro to Lagos to Olhao to Tavira, than Huelva and finally Sevilla where we met Ohm and Ilaria. On our way we tested several different local beers ;-)  and different camping places where we slept in our little tent and spent many evenings outside of the tent on our tiny but nice little mattresses. 

In Sevilla we also went to the Carboneria, a place with flamenco singers and dancers where we noticed that one of Ilarias and Ohms drawings also came from. Probably proving that this is really a very inspiring place to be. There we met some nice musician Spanish guys with whom we went to a Shisha bar some other day where we continued the sketchbook. We all tried to paint together, e.g. by drawing portraits ;-) in this case the similarities between the portraits and ourselves leaves lots of space for imagination ;-)  

One week later we travelled to Marrakesh where we enjoyed the Jamal el Fna, a heritage place where one can feel the Morrocan flair all over. We stayed in a nice little hostel close to that place where we spent many evenings on the great roof terrace having some little nice observers running around.

We also tried to create a little Mosaic made out of different Morrocan postcards.  Using some fantasy makes it look like a typical tee pot. One recommend for everyone who is travelling to Morocco: the tasty local mint tea!

In Marrakesh we met Esther (on the left at the following picture), a Girl from Germany to whom we gave the sketchbook. 

She wants to continue it and take it to Germany and give it to a friend who is going to Iran soon.
So with Morocco, Germany and Iran there are three more countries the book was and is hopefully going to travel to, three steps further to succeed in travelling once around the world :-)

Ilaria and Om in Spain: Seville, with an Epilogue

So, the last day of our trip has come.

We gathered our last energies, we put a lid on the jar of sadness, and we went out to fulfil some important missions.

Mission #1.
The day before, we recovered a "traveling guitar": it is a guitar that travels the world, goes from hand to hand and plays always different music styles. A friend of Om left it in Seville some time before, so that we could take it, enjoy it and then hand it over to the next traveling guitarist.

So, the mission was to find this guitarist.


Mission #2.
To find the new sketchers that will keep the Flying Sketchbook flying!

We also didn't want to waive some tasteful touristic wandering, so first we went to a must-see of Seville: the Giralda tower - where the wind sang along with Om and the traveling guitar.

After that, we were ready for our missions. We first thought that we could try to attract the fated sketcher and guitarist just by sitting in the street, playing and drawing. Nearby, a flamenquero pinched the strings of his guitar. Listening to these notes, Ilaria began a new sketch - she finished it later, with Om playing and singing, both still thinking at the night before in La Carbonerìa.

Music and color: the former conveys the inspiration, the latter comes and creates the shape - so, colors came also on Om's "elephant" sketch, and finally completed it.

The drawings in the sketchbook sometime influence each other...

Eventually, the mission had to be accomplished, and we still didn't find neither sketchers nor guitarists. It was time to pass to the action - so we started to try to individuate the right people and ask them directly if they felt like to take part into the project.
It wasn't easy, because we needed someone who was enthusiast about the project, but also who was going to go on traveling. After some attempts, the fado decided to help us! Here is the result:

We met Sophie and Shiney near the Real Alcazar: they came from Germany, and they were going to travel to Morocco! When we first talked to them, probably they thought we were mad, but when they saw the sketchbook they got it, and their eyes smiled.
And they accepted! We were so happy and we felt that the fate was really watching us.

* * *

So, we separated from the Flying Sketchbook. It was both exciting and sad. The sketchbook had been part of our trip, it retained part of our emotions and of our impressions...but knowing that it will keep on flying was very intense! And knowing that it will reach places that we have never seen, and that it will be part of other travelers' experiences really made us feel amazed.

We wish the very best to Sophie and Shiney, and we're so thankful to them and to their will to participate.

Now, it's their turn to tell us about the neverending trip of the Flying Sketchbook!

Ilaria and Om Sharan

P.S.: the mission #1 was later accomplished too! We found Bruno, a Portuguese musician, who was going back from Morocco to Portugal together with his wife, and he accepted to help the traveling guitar to fulfil its destiny. But that's another story...
A big hug to him too, and the best wishes!

Ilaria and Om in Spain: from Portugal to Seville

Here we are!

Though we felt so good in the breeze of the Ocean, and Portugal was so welcoming, we had to fulfil our fate (or fado), and continue our trip towards the next, last step: Seville.

We traveled all day long, changing three buses (almost losing one in Aljezur just because we didn't pay attention), and we arrived in Seville in the evening.

The trip was comfortable, but sadness (let's say saudade) filled our hearts, along with the awareness that we would come back to Portugal soon. Sadness is always a good source of inspiration, and Ilaria conveyed it into this sketch:

It was so strange to pass the border: a new language, a new landscape, and a new atmosphere suddenly broke out. Probably we were not prepared to this, and we felt a bit disoriented - we couldn't feel the right connection with the city.

But flamenco was in the air, anticipating future discoveries.

Between a tapa and a cerveza, we visited the city and its countless wonders, and our sadness found (perhaps a parody of) a correspondence in the many crying Mary's we found on walls, posters, postcards all around the city. 

 

Needless to say, we were amazed by the mixed moresque-european interiors of the Real Alcazar and by its huge garden, where we wasted some time trying to make a peacock show us its tail, in the name of Shiva (peacocks are sacred in India), and losing ourselves in the labyrinth.

In the evening, the spirit of flamenco attracted us to its temple: "la Carbonerìa"...

 ...where a shudder shook our bodies while we watched a flamenco show, drinking a glass of sangria, as real hedonists. The place was very inspiring, and Ilaria decided to sketch on the paper the lines of one of the paintings that colored that place's walls.

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Zambujeira do Mar

So, in the end, we had to leave Lisbon too. It was very hard, and to pass the bridge on the Tejo filled us with a melancholic mood and the wish to come back soon.

But our bus was taking us on the way to a new, very exciting experience: to finally meet the Atlantic Ocean. Ilaria already came across its breeze and waves some years ago, in Senegal, while Om Sharan never saw it before.

The first sight of the shore in Zambujeira do Mar was amazing, just before the sunset.

Om Sharan felt like a child who discovers Nature for the first time...

...and the day after he wrote a song, called "Ocean for Two".

We found a very nice beach nearby the town of Zambujeira do Mar, called Alteirinhos, where we could finally get sunburnt like any other respectable tourist :)

Here, the breeze first sang the notes of "Ocean for Two".

Ilaria had her inspiration too, and her feelings took the form of a fish, which promptly swam to the Flying Sketchbook!

We also forgot to show you a picture of another sketch, which is still unfinished: Om Sharan drew it on the bus from Serra da Estrela to Lisbon...colors will come, sooner or later, to complete the picture.

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Serra da Estrela and Lisbon

When we left Coimbra, we really wanted to get in touch with a more rural, naturalistic part of Portugal. We were reasonably close to the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela:

 The weather was hot and we walked a lot! We didn't have energies to dedicate to the sketchbook, but Nature painted for us some very nice works :)

When we left the Parque, we took a bus to the next, fundamental step of our trip: Lisbon! We had the chance to get in touch before with a wonderful person who hosted us in Lisboa: Sofia!

We got in touch through the Couchsurfing community, and when we met her we found out that she was a multi-talented, explosive and super-hospitable host! Her house is colored and her flatmates are furry! They're two dogs - Ibisco and Shaun - and three cats, of which the little cappuccino-colored Guinjo made us fall crazy in love at the very first sight.
We spent three days with her and her pets. On one evening we shared with Sofia the Flying Sketchbook idea and we jammed together on two pages:

Sofia put on an album by Ravi Shankar as a perfect accompanyment to this jam. We're sure it had a good influence :)

Lisboa won our hearts with its characteristic neighborhoods, with its tiny vintage trams that climb the slopes of the city...

...with its Fado culture...

...with its river, the Tejo...

...and with its nice flea market, the Feira da Ladra.

After visiting the Museu Coleção Berardo in the Belém neighborhood (the museum was much bigger than we expected, the entrance was for free and the works inside were very interesting!), we found a small churrasqueira where we had time to rest, eat something and to find the right inspiration for a small present to give to our wonderful host, Sofia:

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Coimbra

So, after leaving Aveiro and the enchanted house of Lua de Sol, we headed to our next stage: Coimbra.

Coimbra is especially famous for its very old University (it was established in 1290!) and for the curious habits of its students: they wear fancy black clothes (regardless the temperature)...

...they are organized in "republics" that reside in some houses nearby the university...

...and they do strange things with black paint and bare feet in the night!

Coimbra streets and alleys were not stingy with colors, too:

So in the end Coimbra deserved a page of the Flying Sketchbook, and after drinking a cevada (barley coffe) Ilaria's eyes and hands had the right inspiration!

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Aveiro and Lua de Sol's house

Here we are!

So, Porto was a great experience, and we really felt like being embraced by its beauty and its simple and welcoming atmosphere.

To travel is to come and see, but it is also to leave and to remember: so, in the end, we had to take our train towards the next stage of our trip, Coimbra.

As a cheap solution, we took a local service train (comboio urbano) to the small city of Aveiro, and then an intercity train to Coimbra.
On the comboio urbano Ilaria felt a bit sad about leaving Porto, and she had an inspiration: she wanted to draw an "azulejo on paper" - but the result went out of control quickly!

To use the black wax crayon is nice, but has some disadvantages :)

We had three hours to wait in Aveiro for the connection, so we decided to wander a bit around this cute place.
Portugal seems to be very generous, and the colors used by street artists in Aveiro are an example of that :)

While we were wandering in the narrow streets surrounded by houses covered with azulejos, we noticed a house which looked very different from the others: it was all blue and turquoise, and we were fascinated by some drawings we saw through the open window...it felt like it was an enchanted house!

Om couldn't resist the temptation to ring the bell, which appeared as a white string leaking from a hole in the door, near the sign "Lua de Sol"...

A black haired portuguese man with deep black eyes opened after a while, and stared at us with a questioning glance. Aware of our uncommon behavior, we tried to explain that we were fascinated by the house and we were too curious about who painted it. He hesitated for a moment, then called the artist: his wife! A cute, smiling woman in coloured cloths, who invited us to enter and offered to show us the house...what a privilege! And what a discovery! The internal walls were completely covered with paintings, drawings, poems...it was the perfect nest for a wonderful family as they were! The couple introduced their son Leonardo, whose lively eyes, even if a little shy, looked at us with curiosity.
The house also hosted some cats and two little parrots, and a small garden on an interior terrace on the second floor.
The house had a name: "Lua de Sol", Moon of Sun, shining of each other's light, forming a small colored universe together with their little star Leonardo.

We told them about the Flying Sketchbook, and we agreed that jamming on it would have been great! Here is the result:

Another universe! With a flower of life too...
Shortly afterwards, sadly we had to leave - our train to Coimbra departed in half an hour, and we took it on the last minute! :)
Hugs to Lua de Sol e Estrela!