Have Feet, Will Travel

It's time again to take off.

Where to now? You ask.

And I say that you ask a pertinent question, Milady & Milord.

I will pause the obsessive marathon sessions of Downton Abbey and take this post to apprise you of my forthcoming wanderings.

I am going to be in Goa for the next few weeks. I will be hopping across the length (primarily) and breadth of North Goa on my own (gasp! & yaay!) exploring the country side, the old cities, the villages, the beaches, looking up homes, meeting fresh-off-the-oven friends, visiting creative folks, avoiding snakes, attending events and getting inspired by it all. Except the snakes bit ie. And don't even start on the what-you-do-unto-snakes-the-poor-snakes-won't-ever-dream-of-doing-unto-you  spiel. They can be the most pious, gentle creatures to slither on the face of the earth and I am happy for their general goodness. But I do hope one of them reads this blog post and tweets about re-routing their slithering to the direction opposite to my general direction. And by doing so we avoid general nuisance, mutual inconvenience & singular oscar winning dramatic episodes. There. This is as environmentally, herpetologically & politically correct as I can be when talking about them slitherers.

So, moving on, if you happen to be in Goa and notice a petite woman standing by the side of a lovely  winding road, next to a lush green field, with a large map flapping wildly in the Goan breeze, that, that will be me! Please stop, say hello (for we are always polite, even when not under the influence of Downton Abbey) and help with directions and such.

Sigh. The romanticism of paper maps and a breeze in Goa at this time of the year! In reality, if you see a petite woman, standing, to begin with, in the middle of a road, and then jumping indignantly to the side of the road, next to a lush green field (we like fields and always stop by their side), rotating her smart phone left to right to get the orientation right and muttering terrible threats at google maps, that, that will be me! Please stop, say hello and wassup (for we like some American soaps too) and help with directions and such.

Apart from your Advanced Directional Support, tell me things about Goa, people. Things you have discovered. Things you love. Or don't love. Nooks to see. Homes I would love to stay in.  People to meet. Those winding roads off the map. The ways to spend evenings. And nights. THE beach to catch the first rays of the rising sun. Where do I get to hear the most sublime music. Where are the cats. What about the dogs. I would love to know all, for Goa is going to see a lot more of me in the coming months. And it's about time that we got better acquainted. Email me, message me here, tweet me. Tell me all. And I will tell you all that I experience and discover as my Goa saga evolves.

This trip is as much about working as it is about exploring. So I won't be missing in action completely, but will keep popping in, if not with a post, then with updates on my wanderings (with pretty pictures. always with pretty pictures) on facebook and twitter. If you don't hear back from me within reasonable time, rest assured that some *&h%$ snake, who CLEARLY has been living under a rock and doesn't follow that twitterati snake fellow respectfully mentioned above, has gotten the better of me. No other reason will keep me away from you. Except maybe Desmondji. Just maybe. :)

While I expound on all that I have been expounding about, you must have noticed these gorgeous rooms that keep popping up between my monologue. What to do. Hard to keep pretty rooms away from this blog of mine, irrespective of how profound the monologue is. These rooms, my dear people, are from Morocco. The lovely Villa Maroc, located in the heart of Medina of Essaouira, in Morocco. Such rooms, spaces and decor, that for a moment I forgot about Goa. Just for a moment that is. If not for the early morning flight that I need to catch, I would have gladly spent another page or two talking about oh, my pretteh feet and all their wanderlusting!

You, my favorite people, you have a marvelous weekend.

I'll talk to you again, soon, reporting live, from Goa!

[All images: Villa Maroc. Villa Maroc on Facebook]

Frédéric Méchiche

Large room awash with sunlight, walls either a rich deep color or pristine white, distinctly moorish decor and artefacts and lush textiles. I might have been describing a Moroccan riad except I am not! This is the house of the celebrated French interior designer Frédéric Méchiche, in Provence.  

Built by a Swiss architect in 1894, this villa called Aziyadé was acquired by Frédéric Méchiche and he transformed the run down structure into a home filled with oriental nostalgia from his childhood. The home has been done up with hand picked treasures from the antique shops and bazaars of Algiers, Samarkand, Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, Jerusalem and Istanbul, as well as London, Paris and the Cote d'Azur.

 

 

The following two images are from Frédéric's fisherman cottage in Hyéres..

As always, travel bug bites when I see such beautiful interiors in equally gorgeous locales.

Now my left foot wants to go to Morocco and the right one to France. Sigh.

I squarely blame Frédéric Méchiche for this.

And if above gorgeousness makes you want to shop, make sure to drop by Gaatha - An Indian Summer's latest sponsor, for some of the best picks from India. I think I should get a pretty piece or two myself to get over Frédéric Méchiche.

[Image and content reference: 1,2, 3]

Let's say you are in Spain..

And your best friend is in Morocco

Isn't it the solemn duty of this blog to bring you two together?

These rooms and I

Have been having this conversation

Over jugs of sangria and cups of mint tea

And we said

Enough is enough!

Let's get these best friends to meet!

Best friends aka Room Pairs

From

Elle Spain and Al Hossoun in Morocco

Pair 1

Pair 2 

 Pair 3

[It's ok. They might not 'look' like best friends, but they do feel strongly for each other]

Pair 4

Pair 5

 

And finally,

Pair 6

Drop me a note

If ever

You are in Spain, and

Your best friend is in Morocco

The blog and I will see what we can do :)

[Images from Spain and Morocco. Creative bonding exercise: An Indian Summer]

How could I resist..

..these gorgeous textiles

And magical rooms

At Le Jardin des Biehn

Take a look

And tell me

Would it have been right for me to resist?

Le Jardin des Biehn, a former summer palace of Pasha Si Tayeb el Mokri in Morocco, has been restored by Catherine and Michel Biehn. This boutique guest house is beautifully decorated with textiles from all over the world, including Central Asia and India, and antique costumes collected by Michel over the years.

[All images: Le Jardin des Biehn]

You and I,
we'll resist another day :)