Ok, so Hvar is supposed to be this world renowned Party island, but I think it's kinda sleepy...
Just kidding. So the party island part is actually true, but I'm here just after the season ended, so right now, it's very serene and fairly peaceful. I like it, it's really pretty & I'm not so into clubbing anyway, so it works for me.
I've been travelling the last couple of days with a few travellers I met... go figure, one is from Seattle and just got laid off from Wamu. Hmmm, small world. Oh, yes, and I worked on floor 25 in the center, he worked on 26. seriously. And, skipping ahead... we're laying on the beach for a short bit at a tiny island we took an excursion to and meet a tour group of older travellers from... Mukultio. It was pretty dang funny, actually, this must be how Aussies feel.
So, we got to Hvar yesterday afternoon and did some strolling around. a few peers (sp?) away, we found the coolest little beach bar, about 10 days away from closing for the season called Hula Hula. We sat for a late lunch and ended up not leaving till after sunset, which was absolutely incredible. It's the only place on the island to be for sunset, where you're facing the right direction and can sit there with a beer or fruity drink while watching the sun set behind and island with a handful of boats in the distance, out for a cruise. Oh, and who can forget the opportunity to see a bloke dancing around all night at the beach bar in a speedo. that was funny. Funnier, apparently he was american???
oh right, part of the reason I think we ended up there for so long is that one of the waitresses was on her last shift and kept running around giving out shots to all the guests. She was getting ready to take off traveling for a few months during her off season.
Today, we took an excursion boat to a cute little island where we hung out for half a day on literally, the only three feet of sandy beach in Hvar. It was pretty funny. But somehow we got lucky and stumbled upon it while it was empty. This is where we met the Mukultio folks. I guess PNWers have a good sense of direction. ???
We also met another group of travelers from Chicago, San Fran, LA and Iowa. They were pretty fun, we ended up meeting them later at Hula Hula. That was even funnier. We were pretty mellow, but they got absolutely smashed and were really entertaining. Great group. :)
Tomorrow we're going to hike the hill and see the one touristy thing here that isn't a beach or a bar, but a castle of sorts. I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Split, Croatia
Split was cooler than I thought it was going to be. I figured it was more of a stop over town on the way to Hvar or Dubrovnik, but it was really cute. I ended up staying a second night. It is based around a beautiful bay with clear water and an old Castle, which you can now just walk through and is filled with cafes, internet cafes, restaurants, Gelato stands, and a whole host of other stuff.
The whole town aside from the actual streets for cars, was covered in polished stone blocks. It gives the place this medieval, yet beautiful look and feel. When you're walking in teh middle of the night, the streets are still so well lit and it isn't cold really, so it feels as if you're walking inside. it's almost odd because of it. It's a very pretty city though.
There's a hill up one side of the city and you can walk all the way up. of course, the views of the city and bay are fantastic. You can walk all the way up to a zoo, which we actually only ever saw the signs for-so it's a mystery, and to the Croatian flag the sits at the highest point in Split (maybe more, but I don't know).
The other side of the city, once you walk past the ferries and follow it around for a ways, has a cute little beach and bunch of cute, cheap, and really good restaurants all along the water. Croatian food seems to be basically Fish, Stuffed Peppers, and international everything.
Off to Hvar, but unfortunately, not Dubrovnik. The times, or should I say days, that the fairy ran and the time it takes to bus it, made me decide to come back for Dubrovnik instead. I wouldn't have enough time there to do it properly. I had planned to have an additional 3-4 days in Croatia, but unfortunately, I could only get a flight out once a week, which shortened my stay. :(
The whole town aside from the actual streets for cars, was covered in polished stone blocks. It gives the place this medieval, yet beautiful look and feel. When you're walking in teh middle of the night, the streets are still so well lit and it isn't cold really, so it feels as if you're walking inside. it's almost odd because of it. It's a very pretty city though.
There's a hill up one side of the city and you can walk all the way up. of course, the views of the city and bay are fantastic. You can walk all the way up to a zoo, which we actually only ever saw the signs for-so it's a mystery, and to the Croatian flag the sits at the highest point in Split (maybe more, but I don't know).
The other side of the city, once you walk past the ferries and follow it around for a ways, has a cute little beach and bunch of cute, cheap, and really good restaurants all along the water. Croatian food seems to be basically Fish, Stuffed Peppers, and international everything.
Off to Hvar, but unfortunately, not Dubrovnik. The times, or should I say days, that the fairy ran and the time it takes to bus it, made me decide to come back for Dubrovnik instead. I wouldn't have enough time there to do it properly. I had planned to have an additional 3-4 days in Croatia, but unfortunately, I could only get a flight out once a week, which shortened my stay. :(
Stuttgart
After Munich, Cormac still had a few days, so he and I went to Stuttgart, where I flew out of. Erin headed to Frieburg to start making her way back to Zurich for her flight.
Stuttgart was actually pretty cool. I didn't originally think it was going to be all that special, but it had a Porche and Mercedes museum, so we figured that would be interesting enough to warrant a couple of days.
On the way to Stuttgart, we found out that apparently they have a festival that was due to start the following day, so we were initially a little worried about getting a place to stay. We spent a good amount of time trucking around, but finally found fairly cheap space in a hostel up the hill with great views of the city. Unfortunately, it also came with what seemed like 100 fellow hostellers about the age of 13, that were apparently on a field trip. It's amazing how fun running up and down halls, riding elevators, knocking on & slamming doors can be at that age. Oh well, we were happy to not be sleeping in the airport--that was plan B.
We spent the first evening walking around the city just a little, which was really pretty. They have multiple paths up the hill we were staying on behind the city, and cool fountains and such.
We was the city Gallerie, which was a really pretty building with huge fountains out front. The House of History (we actually went in this one, it was really bad), Opera House, Theatre. Then we found a great little restaurant and tried Maultaschen and Spatzle. The Maultaschen was awesome, I have to learn how to make it. Maulteschen is kind of a ravioli, but really big ones, in a beef broth. It was incredible.
We spent about a half a day in the mercedes museum and still couldn't get through it all. It was MASSIVE. It was pretty cool though. Next time, I think I'll start at the racing section and then go to the top. By the time we got down to the racing cars, we were spent. It was really good though, they had lots of additional history to put the timing of the car creation in perspective, which added to the length.
Cormac had to take off the next morning to head back to Munich for his flight, so I took a tone of Pics of the Porche museum so he could feel like he was there. :) It was very small, especially in comparison to the Mercedes museum, but it was really cool.
We also hung out in the Schlossgarten, a huge park in the middle of the city, right next to the Parliament House and Schillerplatz, another adjacent park. I ended up hanging and reading there for a few on my last day too.
Cormac's last day, we wandered around the city a bit, trying to find a good place to have a beer and just to see the city a bit more. We crossed over one main street and it's like it all just opened up into a whole new and cool area of town that we didn't know was there. lots of shops, walking streets, and a few bars. It was just really pretty. We had a beer and then headed off to a great new restaurant.
This place had the best food I had in all of Germany for sure, but rivaled the other great food of the trip. We tried the Maulteschen again at this place, which I thought, amazingly, was even better than the last. We also had a steak of some kind that was super tender and was served with the BEST potatoes. MMMM, I want to go back just for that restaurant, it was SO GOOD! I stopped there again before I left the next day. :)
Stuttgart was actually pretty cool. I didn't originally think it was going to be all that special, but it had a Porche and Mercedes museum, so we figured that would be interesting enough to warrant a couple of days.
On the way to Stuttgart, we found out that apparently they have a festival that was due to start the following day, so we were initially a little worried about getting a place to stay. We spent a good amount of time trucking around, but finally found fairly cheap space in a hostel up the hill with great views of the city. Unfortunately, it also came with what seemed like 100 fellow hostellers about the age of 13, that were apparently on a field trip. It's amazing how fun running up and down halls, riding elevators, knocking on & slamming doors can be at that age. Oh well, we were happy to not be sleeping in the airport--that was plan B.
We spent the first evening walking around the city just a little, which was really pretty. They have multiple paths up the hill we were staying on behind the city, and cool fountains and such.
We was the city Gallerie, which was a really pretty building with huge fountains out front. The House of History (we actually went in this one, it was really bad), Opera House, Theatre. Then we found a great little restaurant and tried Maultaschen and Spatzle. The Maultaschen was awesome, I have to learn how to make it. Maulteschen is kind of a ravioli, but really big ones, in a beef broth. It was incredible.
We spent about a half a day in the mercedes museum and still couldn't get through it all. It was MASSIVE. It was pretty cool though. Next time, I think I'll start at the racing section and then go to the top. By the time we got down to the racing cars, we were spent. It was really good though, they had lots of additional history to put the timing of the car creation in perspective, which added to the length.
Cormac had to take off the next morning to head back to Munich for his flight, so I took a tone of Pics of the Porche museum so he could feel like he was there. :) It was very small, especially in comparison to the Mercedes museum, but it was really cool.
We also hung out in the Schlossgarten, a huge park in the middle of the city, right next to the Parliament House and Schillerplatz, another adjacent park. I ended up hanging and reading there for a few on my last day too.
Cormac's last day, we wandered around the city a bit, trying to find a good place to have a beer and just to see the city a bit more. We crossed over one main street and it's like it all just opened up into a whole new and cool area of town that we didn't know was there. lots of shops, walking streets, and a few bars. It was just really pretty. We had a beer and then headed off to a great new restaurant.
This place had the best food I had in all of Germany for sure, but rivaled the other great food of the trip. We tried the Maulteschen again at this place, which I thought, amazingly, was even better than the last. We also had a steak of some kind that was super tender and was served with the BEST potatoes. MMMM, I want to go back just for that restaurant, it was SO GOOD! I stopped there again before I left the next day. :)
Munich & Oktoberfest!
Whoa, Oktoberfest...
After finally meeting up with my brother in the train station, which was much bigger than we expected, so that was interesting...
We stayed most nights at a place called the Tent. It was basically a huge tent with bunkbeds that were barely sturdy enough to sleep on, so everytime somebody moved, the whole thing moved. It was interesting. But, it was pretty cheap compared to everything else, so we were pretty happy about that.
Our first day of Oktoberfest, which also happen to be opening day, was the best. We randomly met a local Bavarian named Mike and ended up hanging out with him and eventually his brother the whole evening.
After unsuccessfully waiting in line for Augustiner's for a while, we ran out of beer in hand and went to look for alternatives. Cormac and Erin, on their quest for more line beer, somehow met the right person and got us into the tent across the way through the back entrance. So we ended up hanging out in Paulaner that night. It had a much cooler name too, but I can't remember it at the moment... Ambros...brau.
With the guidance of our Bavarian, we quickly found a table full of fun people that let us sit with them for long enough to order a beer, since you can't order unless you are seated at a table. We ended up hanging out with the table behind and across the isle for a few hours, till they turned over the tables for reservations. So, after unsuccessfully trying to pretend that we belonged there, we moved on and found new friends.
This was a great moved, we ended up two rows over from the band in the middle of the tent, where everybody is up on the benches most of the time, singing at the top of their lungs. It was a ton of fun. We had awesome food-duck and pretzel, it was fantastic. And... lots of beer, by the Moss.
The other nights in the tents were cool, but just never quite lived up to that first night.
A couple of the days, since we were there for 5, we did some walking around Munich and Touristy stuff. We accidentally stumbled into this huge park that happened to be quite filled with naked people. Well, ok, finding the park was on purpose, but we didn't know about the naked people till we got there. Mostly old men... quite entertaining.
We found a spot on the river that runs through town, where the water hits at just the right angle, I guess, and creates a big wave that a bunch of people were surfing on. That was really cool. I took video, once I can actually upload pics, if it ever happens.
We checked out the Haufbrau house, of course. The perminent one, not the tent. And we did actual laundry, with a washer and dryer. This is very exciting for me by this point in the trip.
Our days in between the tents were pretty mellow. Weird, but we were tired.
Oktoberfest is quite the experience. I'd do it again, but only if I were able to get a bed with fewer people in the room so that I can actually sleep.
After finally meeting up with my brother in the train station, which was much bigger than we expected, so that was interesting...
We stayed most nights at a place called the Tent. It was basically a huge tent with bunkbeds that were barely sturdy enough to sleep on, so everytime somebody moved, the whole thing moved. It was interesting. But, it was pretty cheap compared to everything else, so we were pretty happy about that.
Our first day of Oktoberfest, which also happen to be opening day, was the best. We randomly met a local Bavarian named Mike and ended up hanging out with him and eventually his brother the whole evening.
After unsuccessfully waiting in line for Augustiner's for a while, we ran out of beer in hand and went to look for alternatives. Cormac and Erin, on their quest for more line beer, somehow met the right person and got us into the tent across the way through the back entrance. So we ended up hanging out in Paulaner that night. It had a much cooler name too, but I can't remember it at the moment... Ambros...brau.
With the guidance of our Bavarian, we quickly found a table full of fun people that let us sit with them for long enough to order a beer, since you can't order unless you are seated at a table. We ended up hanging out with the table behind and across the isle for a few hours, till they turned over the tables for reservations. So, after unsuccessfully trying to pretend that we belonged there, we moved on and found new friends.
This was a great moved, we ended up two rows over from the band in the middle of the tent, where everybody is up on the benches most of the time, singing at the top of their lungs. It was a ton of fun. We had awesome food-duck and pretzel, it was fantastic. And... lots of beer, by the Moss.
The other nights in the tents were cool, but just never quite lived up to that first night.
A couple of the days, since we were there for 5, we did some walking around Munich and Touristy stuff. We accidentally stumbled into this huge park that happened to be quite filled with naked people. Well, ok, finding the park was on purpose, but we didn't know about the naked people till we got there. Mostly old men... quite entertaining.
We found a spot on the river that runs through town, where the water hits at just the right angle, I guess, and creates a big wave that a bunch of people were surfing on. That was really cool. I took video, once I can actually upload pics, if it ever happens.
We checked out the Haufbrau house, of course. The perminent one, not the tent. And we did actual laundry, with a washer and dryer. This is very exciting for me by this point in the trip.
Our days in between the tents were pretty mellow. Weird, but we were tired.
Oktoberfest is quite the experience. I'd do it again, but only if I were able to get a bed with fewer people in the room so that I can actually sleep.
Salzburg
Salzburg was pretty cool, we actually could have spent more time there even. We arrived on the later side, but got lucky and found a place to stay in the first hostel we went to, YoHo (Youth Hostel).
We found a great brewery that we actually ended up at three nights in a row, unintentionally. Good food, good beer, pretty packed... what more can you ask for.
The first day, we wandered around old town, which was pretty cool. We toured the Festung Hohensalzburg, the huge castel that sits on the hill above the city. We also went to the Salzburg Museum, which apparently won an award for being so good. It was pretty cool as far as museums go. The audio tour was done really well.
Our last day, we went to the Ice Caves, which was incredible. They're totally natural. You walk through on the wooded walkways and stairways they have put through the path. It's amazing, just a massive cave with ice as think as 70 meters in some places. You go through the tour all bundled up holding lanterns. The guide burns magnesium, which is really bright and was apparently the way they lit the way back in 1889 (I think) when the cave was originally discovered. We took a tram straight up the hill in order to get there.
During the tour, we met 4 guys that were staying at our hostel. They were alot of fun. We ended up hanging out with them all day and then drinking with them all night. It was pretty crazy; after dinner and allot of beer at the brewery, we went to the hostel for more. We played kings and sung to a bunch of songs on the aussie's iPod--most of it american and some of it country.
At one point, not sure how it happened, but one of the guys got the bar tender to do a trick involving setting a plate of alcohol on fire and then blowing fire by spitting alcohol through it. It was cool at first, but then the fire climbed back up and for a few moments, he had fire on his face and then his hands from trying to wipe it. Don't worry, he was fine, we got it out quick, but he definitely singed a hair or two. I'm guessing he won't be doing that again anytime soon. Erin's got it on video.
Off to Munich, yikes.
We found a great brewery that we actually ended up at three nights in a row, unintentionally. Good food, good beer, pretty packed... what more can you ask for.
The first day, we wandered around old town, which was pretty cool. We toured the Festung Hohensalzburg, the huge castel that sits on the hill above the city. We also went to the Salzburg Museum, which apparently won an award for being so good. It was pretty cool as far as museums go. The audio tour was done really well.
Our last day, we went to the Ice Caves, which was incredible. They're totally natural. You walk through on the wooded walkways and stairways they have put through the path. It's amazing, just a massive cave with ice as think as 70 meters in some places. You go through the tour all bundled up holding lanterns. The guide burns magnesium, which is really bright and was apparently the way they lit the way back in 1889 (I think) when the cave was originally discovered. We took a tram straight up the hill in order to get there.
During the tour, we met 4 guys that were staying at our hostel. They were alot of fun. We ended up hanging out with them all day and then drinking with them all night. It was pretty crazy; after dinner and allot of beer at the brewery, we went to the hostel for more. We played kings and sung to a bunch of songs on the aussie's iPod--most of it american and some of it country.
At one point, not sure how it happened, but one of the guys got the bar tender to do a trick involving setting a plate of alcohol on fire and then blowing fire by spitting alcohol through it. It was cool at first, but then the fire climbed back up and for a few moments, he had fire on his face and then his hands from trying to wipe it. Don't worry, he was fine, we got it out quick, but he definitely singed a hair or two. I'm guessing he won't be doing that again anytime soon. Erin's got it on video.
Off to Munich, yikes.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Switzerland Road Trip
We headed down to Bern for a day. The city was very cute, but definitely a city. All the buildings were done in Swiss fashion, with the cool roofs, lots of flowers and just generally great architecture.
We walked around the city allot, got our future train tickets figured out and headed over to the Einstein Musem. The Museum was great, it took you through a tour of Einstein`s life-schooling, kids, marriages, and of course many of his famous theories and how they work.
In Bern, we couch Surfed with a guy named Rafael (I think) and his roommate. He was very cool and made fantastic spaghetti with Tofu. After dinner, we headed to a little local bar down the street and met a few of his friends and another couch surfer.
Early the next morning, we headed to Interloken. I`ve been there before and it`s a pretty cute town, but unfortunately, we picked the three worst days to head to the alps. The weather was pretty grey and the mountains were mostly covered in clouds. Luckily though, we still got some pretty great peaks at the mountains and saw Eiger, Jungfrau, and quite a few other awesome peaks over the two days or so we spent there.
Yesterday, we drove to Stechelberg, about 10-15 minutes from Interloken and hiked to Murren, a small mountain town on the way up to one of the high peaks (Schilterhorn I think) you can tram to to get a full view of the range. It was a pretty good hike which Erin made look super easy. I felt a little better about it feeling fairly tough (after not hiking for over a month) when we figured out later that it was about a 2,700ft gain in altitude, which is about 300 more than big-si, if I remember correctly. We did it in about 1:45, so pretty good for me. :) Erin`s a machine, it didn`t even phase her and she ran the first 30 minutes or so, while I drug my butt up.
As much as we would have liked it to be a whole lot clearer, we can`t complain about the views we did get. We were able to see multiple aw-inspiring peaks, including Jungfrau. The haye was bad enough that we had a hard time getting a ton of clear pics, but we did what we could.
Murren was very cute, situated half way up the mountain, it`s a midway between Stechelberg and Schilterhorn. So, since the weather sucked the next day and we didn`t to do this, I`ll explain what our plan was in case the weather allowed. We were going to take the tram and gondola up to Schilterhorn to hopefully get a glimps at as much of the various ranges weather would allow. Then we were going to head back to Murren and to a Vereferata (sp?) trail.
V- is basically where you where a climbing harness with two personal anchors. You attach to a fixed cable that runs the length of the trail. At most points, both anchors are attached to the cable. When you com to a bolt, or tree, or any other obstical, you unclip one anchor, move it to the other side of the obstical, re-clip, then repeat with the second anchor line. It`s pretty safe, assuming you trust your gear, as you are on anchor at all times.
The crazy fun part, is the trail itself... Since we didn`t get to actually do it, I can only explain what we were told. The trail starts in Murren and essentially works it`s way to Grimmelwald. Parts of it, you`re scaling along a cliff with a few thousand feet of below you till you hit the bottom of that second step. (that`s the one you try not to take). Part of it includes a cable bridge from one mountain to the next, where you hook into the two cables around your head and walk on the third at your feet. There`s also another wooden bridge, just as high.
Anyway, it would have been awesome, but with no views besides lots of fog, we decided not to do it. I`ll have to make a trip back jsut for that though.
Next we're off to Leichtenstien, Salzberg, and then Munich.
We walked around the city allot, got our future train tickets figured out and headed over to the Einstein Musem. The Museum was great, it took you through a tour of Einstein`s life-schooling, kids, marriages, and of course many of his famous theories and how they work.
In Bern, we couch Surfed with a guy named Rafael (I think) and his roommate. He was very cool and made fantastic spaghetti with Tofu. After dinner, we headed to a little local bar down the street and met a few of his friends and another couch surfer.
Early the next morning, we headed to Interloken. I`ve been there before and it`s a pretty cute town, but unfortunately, we picked the three worst days to head to the alps. The weather was pretty grey and the mountains were mostly covered in clouds. Luckily though, we still got some pretty great peaks at the mountains and saw Eiger, Jungfrau, and quite a few other awesome peaks over the two days or so we spent there.
Yesterday, we drove to Stechelberg, about 10-15 minutes from Interloken and hiked to Murren, a small mountain town on the way up to one of the high peaks (Schilterhorn I think) you can tram to to get a full view of the range. It was a pretty good hike which Erin made look super easy. I felt a little better about it feeling fairly tough (after not hiking for over a month) when we figured out later that it was about a 2,700ft gain in altitude, which is about 300 more than big-si, if I remember correctly. We did it in about 1:45, so pretty good for me. :) Erin`s a machine, it didn`t even phase her and she ran the first 30 minutes or so, while I drug my butt up.
As much as we would have liked it to be a whole lot clearer, we can`t complain about the views we did get. We were able to see multiple aw-inspiring peaks, including Jungfrau. The haye was bad enough that we had a hard time getting a ton of clear pics, but we did what we could.
Murren was very cute, situated half way up the mountain, it`s a midway between Stechelberg and Schilterhorn. So, since the weather sucked the next day and we didn`t to do this, I`ll explain what our plan was in case the weather allowed. We were going to take the tram and gondola up to Schilterhorn to hopefully get a glimps at as much of the various ranges weather would allow. Then we were going to head back to Murren and to a Vereferata (sp?) trail.
V- is basically where you where a climbing harness with two personal anchors. You attach to a fixed cable that runs the length of the trail. At most points, both anchors are attached to the cable. When you com to a bolt, or tree, or any other obstical, you unclip one anchor, move it to the other side of the obstical, re-clip, then repeat with the second anchor line. It`s pretty safe, assuming you trust your gear, as you are on anchor at all times.
The crazy fun part, is the trail itself... Since we didn`t get to actually do it, I can only explain what we were told. The trail starts in Murren and essentially works it`s way to Grimmelwald. Parts of it, you`re scaling along a cliff with a few thousand feet of below you till you hit the bottom of that second step. (that`s the one you try not to take). Part of it includes a cable bridge from one mountain to the next, where you hook into the two cables around your head and walk on the third at your feet. There`s also another wooden bridge, just as high.
Anyway, it would have been awesome, but with no views besides lots of fog, we decided not to do it. I`ll have to make a trip back jsut for that though.
Next we're off to Leichtenstien, Salzberg, and then Munich.
Switzerland day trips
We got to Renate`s and got situated around 1pm, then went to Lucerne (Luzern) for a day. It was cute, had a bunch of little shops and an H&M on just about every corner. This is where we really realiyed that swityerland is EXPENSIVE though. Note to self, my next travel excursion is going to be third world. Or maybe 2nd at least. The town has an old castle, but only the walls remain hi on the hill, giving the town a slightly royal/midieval feel. Some great pic opts with the Swiss alps in the background.
We spent a half day in Basel, which was cute, but not terribly exciting. We then headed back and met up with Renate for dinner in France... just because we could.
We headed to Zurich for a day. The city was kinda cool, it was sort of New York, done smaller and with Swiss style. Lots of Swiss Banks... I tried to open an account jsut for the fun of it, but apparently, they aren`t allowing americans to open accounts there anymore due to the pain in the keister that our government has been about the topic lately. (I`ll pause for your moment of shock.) So bummer, but oh well. The city was very pretty and had a huge lake and park at the south end of it. Check out the pics with the swans and stuff-very cool. Oh yes, and this city was also very expensive. Great sweets though, yum-Spungli Confessionary (or something like that).
We spent a half day in Basel, which was cute, but not terribly exciting. We then headed back and met up with Renate for dinner in France... just because we could.
We headed to Zurich for a day. The city was kinda cool, it was sort of New York, done smaller and with Swiss style. Lots of Swiss Banks... I tried to open an account jsut for the fun of it, but apparently, they aren`t allowing americans to open accounts there anymore due to the pain in the keister that our government has been about the topic lately. (I`ll pause for your moment of shock.) So bummer, but oh well. The city was very pretty and had a huge lake and park at the south end of it. Check out the pics with the swans and stuff-very cool. Oh yes, and this city was also very expensive. Great sweets though, yum-Spungli Confessionary (or something like that).
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Switzerland
Heading into Switzerland, I got very little sleep after heading to the airport about 11:30, getting checked in and getting about an hour of sleep while waiting for the 3:25am flight. I slept most of the 3 hours on the flight, and then kind of slept in a chair in the airport for a couple hours before meeting Erin at the Basel hauptbahnhof (Central train Station).
Weve been staying with her friend Renate, which has been fantastic. She is very nice. She loaned us her car, so weve been doing day trips and such around Switzerland.
Erin made a great list of the things weve learned from her and about Swiss life in general, which I`ve shamelessly rippied off, so consider this my reference...
- You have to cheers before taking a sip of your drink otherwise it is considered rude.
- You absolutely cannot speed. There are cameras everywhere and they mail you incredibly expensive tickets.
- The highways are well signed so you can figure out where to go no matter what. We have not even used a map to find where we are going on the autobahn because of this. We just get in the car and drive and figure it out along the way very easily.
- They put high taxes on good that try to come into the country because the Swiss try to make as much of a profit as possible. A German company started a grocery outlet type store and sell things for cheap and the government and people are mad about it because it cuts into their profit margin.
- Often times only the man works in the household because the children go to school and get out for lunch from 11-1:45, which means that one parent cannot work due to needing to pick the children up and take them back to school later in the day.
- The salary of one family member working is enough to cover what the family will need in expenses and such. The wages are quite high due to the living expenses being so high but it works itself out well here.
- They have a multi party political system and do not make a big deal out of politics such to have parties and rallies like Americans do. They do not understand why we do that and think it is a huge waste of money. The government here is mostly liberal anyway so the disparities are not as large between the various political parties.
- The government pays for health care and also has a great welfare system that does not let anyone slip through the cracks. You will never find homeless people here dues to this. Also, there are upgrades for the health care plans you can buy if you have more money and would like slightly better health care.
-There are tons of farms in the area and most farm houses have small stores in which you can buy the goods they grow on their farms for "cheap".
Weve been staying with her friend Renate, which has been fantastic. She is very nice. She loaned us her car, so weve been doing day trips and such around Switzerland.
Erin made a great list of the things weve learned from her and about Swiss life in general, which I`ve shamelessly rippied off, so consider this my reference...
- You have to cheers before taking a sip of your drink otherwise it is considered rude.
- You absolutely cannot speed. There are cameras everywhere and they mail you incredibly expensive tickets.
- The highways are well signed so you can figure out where to go no matter what. We have not even used a map to find where we are going on the autobahn because of this. We just get in the car and drive and figure it out along the way very easily.
- They put high taxes on good that try to come into the country because the Swiss try to make as much of a profit as possible. A German company started a grocery outlet type store and sell things for cheap and the government and people are mad about it because it cuts into their profit margin.
- Often times only the man works in the household because the children go to school and get out for lunch from 11-1:45, which means that one parent cannot work due to needing to pick the children up and take them back to school later in the day.
- The salary of one family member working is enough to cover what the family will need in expenses and such. The wages are quite high due to the living expenses being so high but it works itself out well here.
- They have a multi party political system and do not make a big deal out of politics such to have parties and rallies like Americans do. They do not understand why we do that and think it is a huge waste of money. The government here is mostly liberal anyway so the disparities are not as large between the various political parties.
- The government pays for health care and also has a great welfare system that does not let anyone slip through the cracks. You will never find homeless people here dues to this. Also, there are upgrades for the health care plans you can buy if you have more money and would like slightly better health care.
-There are tons of farms in the area and most farm houses have small stores in which you can buy the goods they grow on their farms for "cheap".
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Istanbul Again...
Well, it's Katie's last day travelling, we got in at 7am, so we had breakfast again at the hostel and our favorite Durum for lunch, and went to our favorite restaraunt for dinner. After a Turkish bath of course. We met our new bunkmates and have been hanging out with Mat from Alberta Canada, but living in Ottawa.
Katie left early the next day and I mostly caught up on blogging, but also hung out with Mat again. Had to have the Durum one last time of course. We then decided to pop over to Asia for dinner. Gotta love Istanbul.
Dinner was great. We wandered around and finally found some random place to have dinner, right before they closed. It was pretty fun. I had learned just enough words in the last 5 days or so, that i was able to do allot of the dinner figuring out in Turkish. It was awesome, cause between his couple english words and my couple Turkish words, we figured it out. Fun Fun! Got to use it a little before I left and probably-will soon forget it. :(
Off to Switzerland...
Katie left early the next day and I mostly caught up on blogging, but also hung out with Mat again. Had to have the Durum one last time of course. We then decided to pop over to Asia for dinner. Gotta love Istanbul.
Dinner was great. We wandered around and finally found some random place to have dinner, right before they closed. It was pretty fun. I had learned just enough words in the last 5 days or so, that i was able to do allot of the dinner figuring out in Turkish. It was awesome, cause between his couple english words and my couple Turkish words, we figured it out. Fun Fun! Got to use it a little before I left and probably-will soon forget it. :(
Off to Switzerland...
Amasra
So, we wanted to see the Black Sea (and no, it's not actually black in color--apparently some people actually thought that, ha ha). We were originally planning on going to Sile, but when we told Husnu that, he was adimate that that was the wrong choice; especially after telling him we liked to get a taste of the real culture and life of the countries we visit. So instead, he suggested we go to Amasra and introduced us to his travel agent friend that he trusted.
The travel agents we worked with are Mohamet (Mo) and Abraham. They were really great and we quickly became friends. I think we adopted them. They helped us figure out a place to stay and the bus situation and we were off to Amasra. We also ended up stopping by to say hi allot and they invited us to dinner one night with them. We tried to pay, but apparently for Ramadan, that's not allowed because it's about generosity. It was a great meal and they're really fun to hang out with. We're trying to talk them into moving to Seattle and opening a Turkish restaraunt-I'll let you know how that goes.
The bus company could use some better organization, but whatever. After an overnight bus (tired) and not getting as much sleep on it as we thought we would, we arrived in Amasra at 7am with no clue where to go. As we walked across the street to begin figuring where to go, a guy on a bike comes up to us and asks where we are going. We show him the name of the place, Kuskayaski Pensiyon and music to our ears, says... Tekla Katie? Whoohoo! The owner of the Pension had come to meet us. :) Turns out the pension was only a block up (in the opposite direction we were headed, of course). He shows us directly to our rooms and says sleep... so we did. Once we napped and got moving, we headed to reception. The owner, Sumari, didn't speak much english, so he had he friend that did, come in and help. We got checked in and he gave us some hot water for our Nescafe. awesome! :) While I waited for the water to heat, I was chatting with Ozden, the english speaking friend and he invited us to dinner. It's always funny at first, you're not sure, but then you give in. And it was great, we ended up hanging out with him the whole time, like our own personal friend and tour guide. We were adopted again... we could get use to this.
We headed out and walked around Amasra for a while. Checked out the beaches/ports, walked around the little island part of Amasra that is connected by a little tiny walking or single car bridge. The place is really small, but really cute and we were about the only tourists there. When full of tourists, Amasra is primarily visited by Turkish travellers, so not allot of folks speak english. Which is fun and interesting. When ordering lunch, definitely interesting. :) We thought we were ordering a Pida/wrap type sandwich for lunch. But, what we actually ordered, Pide, is Turkish Pizza--it was yummy, so can't complain. :) And, we learned a new word-Pide.
After a little exploring, we ventured back to meet Ozden for dinner. It was great, we went to a nice restaraunt called Cinar Balik (Tree Fish in English-funny). We had so much fun. A few of them spoke a little english and others showed up throughout the evening. We even started to learn some Turkish words, it was fun. We had fish, which I never would have been daring to order in this form, but it was really good. It was tiny little fish called Mosquite. They were basically gutted, cleaned, and fried. you had to pull them open, pull out the meat and seperate the spine. It was really good. We also had a friendly little cat hanging around that liked to jump on our laps and was really happy when we gave it some fish. The cats here are pretty funny. They're not completely stray like in Mexico, but still kinda stray. People seem to just adopt whichever cats adopt them. This one was barking up the wrong tree looking for a nipple, hehe.
One of the men at dinner that spoke great english, had a daughter learning english at college in Ataturk (I think) and she happened to be in town, so she came and met us the next day to hang out. We went to the beach and swam in the black sea and soaked up some sun. Seriously, I've never sunbathed so much in my life as on this trip. At one point, Ozdun made himself a wig out of seaweed, itwas pretty funny. :)
After the beach, Ozden took us out on his boat so we could see the city from the water. It was really beautiful. We even ran into Sumari doing laps from the small port to the big port. We seemed to run into him everywhere we went, but he was magically already back at the hostel when we got there. We're thinking he's actually a twin, but keeps it a secret. :) An interesting boat adventure-we like to tease that Ozden tried to sink us... The plug on the bottom of his boat came out while we were in the sea and we started taking on water pretty rapidly. he started the bilge pump and got us safely to the little port, which was closer. Two friends of his helped finally find the plug, wherever it shot off to and plugged it, so all was good again. We treated Ozden to dinner this time, cause again, we weren't allowed to pay the night before & went down early that night.
The next day, we got some more beach time and Ozden introduced us to Gusemel (sp?) a flat fresh tortilla with meat or cheese in it... yum. Then we did some more walking around the city and checked out the old castle, the walls of which were still there, but newer (than the castle) buildings had been built within it. Apparantly, many years ago, a man came to fight for and conquor the city of Amasra, but when he got there, he decided it was so beautiful, he didn't want to destroy it. So instead of beginning a fire-fight, he sent his second in command to go demand the key to the city... & so it was conquored, yet still preserved.
That night, we had a bus to catch, overnight again, back to Istanbul. We headed back after sunset and sat and drank tea with Sumari and Ozden, and well as another friend of theirs. It was tons of fun and we had a great time being temporarily adopted. We headed up to the bus and Ozden insisted on carrying a bag and walking us up. It was great and hilarious. The true adopted feeling was when he loaded our bags, talked to the bus driver for us, then got on the bus to show us where our seats were. :) He then waited outside the bus for it to leave & see us of. Seriously, we had a great time in Amasra. It's fun being adopted by locals. :D
Off to Istanbul again...
The travel agents we worked with are Mohamet (Mo) and Abraham. They were really great and we quickly became friends. I think we adopted them. They helped us figure out a place to stay and the bus situation and we were off to Amasra. We also ended up stopping by to say hi allot and they invited us to dinner one night with them. We tried to pay, but apparently for Ramadan, that's not allowed because it's about generosity. It was a great meal and they're really fun to hang out with. We're trying to talk them into moving to Seattle and opening a Turkish restaraunt-I'll let you know how that goes.
The bus company could use some better organization, but whatever. After an overnight bus (tired) and not getting as much sleep on it as we thought we would, we arrived in Amasra at 7am with no clue where to go. As we walked across the street to begin figuring where to go, a guy on a bike comes up to us and asks where we are going. We show him the name of the place, Kuskayaski Pensiyon and music to our ears, says... Tekla Katie? Whoohoo! The owner of the Pension had come to meet us. :) Turns out the pension was only a block up (in the opposite direction we were headed, of course). He shows us directly to our rooms and says sleep... so we did. Once we napped and got moving, we headed to reception. The owner, Sumari, didn't speak much english, so he had he friend that did, come in and help. We got checked in and he gave us some hot water for our Nescafe. awesome! :) While I waited for the water to heat, I was chatting with Ozden, the english speaking friend and he invited us to dinner. It's always funny at first, you're not sure, but then you give in. And it was great, we ended up hanging out with him the whole time, like our own personal friend and tour guide. We were adopted again... we could get use to this.
We headed out and walked around Amasra for a while. Checked out the beaches/ports, walked around the little island part of Amasra that is connected by a little tiny walking or single car bridge. The place is really small, but really cute and we were about the only tourists there. When full of tourists, Amasra is primarily visited by Turkish travellers, so not allot of folks speak english. Which is fun and interesting. When ordering lunch, definitely interesting. :) We thought we were ordering a Pida/wrap type sandwich for lunch. But, what we actually ordered, Pide, is Turkish Pizza--it was yummy, so can't complain. :) And, we learned a new word-Pide.
After a little exploring, we ventured back to meet Ozden for dinner. It was great, we went to a nice restaraunt called Cinar Balik (Tree Fish in English-funny). We had so much fun. A few of them spoke a little english and others showed up throughout the evening. We even started to learn some Turkish words, it was fun. We had fish, which I never would have been daring to order in this form, but it was really good. It was tiny little fish called Mosquite. They were basically gutted, cleaned, and fried. you had to pull them open, pull out the meat and seperate the spine. It was really good. We also had a friendly little cat hanging around that liked to jump on our laps and was really happy when we gave it some fish. The cats here are pretty funny. They're not completely stray like in Mexico, but still kinda stray. People seem to just adopt whichever cats adopt them. This one was barking up the wrong tree looking for a nipple, hehe.
One of the men at dinner that spoke great english, had a daughter learning english at college in Ataturk (I think) and she happened to be in town, so she came and met us the next day to hang out. We went to the beach and swam in the black sea and soaked up some sun. Seriously, I've never sunbathed so much in my life as on this trip. At one point, Ozdun made himself a wig out of seaweed, itwas pretty funny. :)
After the beach, Ozden took us out on his boat so we could see the city from the water. It was really beautiful. We even ran into Sumari doing laps from the small port to the big port. We seemed to run into him everywhere we went, but he was magically already back at the hostel when we got there. We're thinking he's actually a twin, but keeps it a secret. :) An interesting boat adventure-we like to tease that Ozden tried to sink us... The plug on the bottom of his boat came out while we were in the sea and we started taking on water pretty rapidly. he started the bilge pump and got us safely to the little port, which was closer. Two friends of his helped finally find the plug, wherever it shot off to and plugged it, so all was good again. We treated Ozden to dinner this time, cause again, we weren't allowed to pay the night before & went down early that night.
The next day, we got some more beach time and Ozden introduced us to Gusemel (sp?) a flat fresh tortilla with meat or cheese in it... yum. Then we did some more walking around the city and checked out the old castle, the walls of which were still there, but newer (than the castle) buildings had been built within it. Apparantly, many years ago, a man came to fight for and conquor the city of Amasra, but when he got there, he decided it was so beautiful, he didn't want to destroy it. So instead of beginning a fire-fight, he sent his second in command to go demand the key to the city... & so it was conquored, yet still preserved.
That night, we had a bus to catch, overnight again, back to Istanbul. We headed back after sunset and sat and drank tea with Sumari and Ozden, and well as another friend of theirs. It was tons of fun and we had a great time being temporarily adopted. We headed up to the bus and Ozden insisted on carrying a bag and walking us up. It was great and hilarious. The true adopted feeling was when he loaded our bags, talked to the bus driver for us, then got on the bus to show us where our seats were. :) He then waited outside the bus for it to leave & see us of. Seriously, we had a great time in Amasra. It's fun being adopted by locals. :D
Off to Istanbul again...
Istanbul
I LOVE TURKEY!!!
Thıs place ıs great! We're stayıng ın Sultanahment, whıch ıs the area rıght next to all the tourısty sıghts. Asıde from that though, sınce you run through those ın a day or two, ıts just pretty and green and has great places to walk. We stayed at Sultan Hostel--ıt was great, clean, free wıreless and ınternet (when they were actually avaılable), great breakfast, the yogurt here ıs Choc Guzel (very Good ın Turkısh), and the people are really nıce.
We saw the Blue Mosque, whıch ıs the bıggest mosque ın Istanbul. We were able to go ınsıde; they provıde wraps for you to cover your shoulders and legs whıle there & bags for you to put your shoes ın. It was really great & amazıng that ın such early tımes, they are able to buıld such an amazıng buıldıng. It's called the Blue Mosque because before fadıng, the tıles ınsıde were all a very blue blue. They restored a few sectıons, so that you could see the dıfference. It's very dıffıcult to see ın the pıcs, but you'll notıce that a few sectıons to the left are a darker blue than the others.
Next we we to AyaSofya, whıch used to be a Byzantıne church, but was later turned ınto a mosque when the Byzantıne empıre was overthrown by the ottoman empıre. It's beautıful ınsıde & I thınk they fıgured ıt'd be a waste not to use ıt. An ınterestıng fact though, there ıs stıll a sıngle mural depıctıng the mother Mary, holdıng baby Jesus. We thought thıs partıcularly ınterestıng because of the conflıct ın the relıgıons at the tıme especıally. I suppose they must have been makıng an attempt to preserve some of the hıstory of the buıldıng. The rest of the ceılıng was done ın a mıddle eastern/muslım decor. On the way out, we stopped at the Stele of St Gregory Thaumaturgus, a smooth round hole ın the stone that you put your thumb ın. Apparently, ıf your thumb gets sweaty, your wısh wıll come true. I have a feelıng that ıt may also mean that there were allot of people usıng ıt rıght before you... hmmmm.
Food (Deserves ıts own tıtle)
We fırst ate at a great lıttle restaraunt tucked just out of the way of all the major tourısty restaraunts, so ıt was really good and not too expensıve. I thınk ıt was called Paradenıs. The meat here (In Turkey) ıs absolutely amazıng--the food ın general ıs fantastıc. It's a good thıng I'm not stayıng much longer, because I've defınıtely gaıned a few pounds I thınk & ıt would only get worse. I'm goıng to search hıgh and low for a good Turkısh restaraunt when I get home. All the meet we've had, whether chıcken, beef, or lamb, has been so good! It's lean and has no fat pıeces to be seen on ıt--thıs ıs a huge thıng for me, as anybody who's seen me eat frıed chıcken or any type of fatty meat can attest to. The spıces they use are defınıtely unıque to Turkey, or at least unıquely blended. Also, just about everythıng ıs served wıth yogurt; whıch ısn't lıke our yogurt at home. ıt's more the consıstancy of sour cream. The Natural Yogurt wıth Mueslı and honey ıs about my favorıte breakfast ever. The yogurt ıs great wıth the meet and rıce too though. They basıcally eat ıt wıth everythıng. I thınk the Durum and Alı Nazı are my Favorıtes... oh, and the Meza plate. Durum ıs basıcally lıke a fresh tortılla wrap wıth meet, spıces, cooked cabbage, and tomatoes (at least that's my favorıte versıon, you can put dıfferent thıngs ın ıt). Alı Nazı at my favorıte restaraunt, Sofa Club, ıs Lamb (I thınk) on a bed of yogurt wıth a drızzeled pepper sauce and garnıshed wıth cucumbers, cooked tomatoes and potato wedges, mmmmmmm. The Meza plate ıs a mıx of stuff that you combıne however you want for each bıte; an eggplant and tomato spread, a spıcıer tomato and (?) spread, hummus, tsasıekı (sp?) sauce or sımılar, another whıte yogurt sauce, an eggplant spread of somekınd... I don't know, but ıt's all really yummy.
We went to the Grand Bazzar, whıch was serıously Grand. It was huge, we couldn't possıbly have gone through the whole thıng unless you're really ınto shoppıng. But we cruısed around and got a great ıdea. we also learned that ıf you pay more than about 30% of theır orıgınal askıng prıce, you're gettıng screwed. And maybe stıll then even. The shops were kında crazy. not as much handcrafted really cool stuff as we thought there would be, but lots of jewelry stores and fake everythıng stores (prada, etc.). They had some of the most fantastıcly redıculous dresses on dısplay-ıt was funny. So, one thıng I love to do ıs take pıcs ın foreıgn countrıes of sıgns that are really funny--usually because ıf you read them ın englısh, they mean somethıng totally dıfferent & yes, probably dırty. Thıs fırst one's just funny--unless you consıder 1988 old enough to be tradıtıonal.
A word of warning, which I know should be obvious, but make sure you ask how much (cosh para--spelled phonetically, not properly, since I don't have the correct characters easily available) before buying anything, even ice cream. As entertaining as it was, the little show the ice cream man does to get you to buy one, he totally screwed us and we ended up paying about $5 for an ice cream cone that should have cost about $2. But seriously, who thinks they're going to get screwed over by the ice cream man???? Jess, who we met in the hostel and cruised around with for the day, had one previously and said she only paid about 3 TYL, which is about $2.
So Katie and I have been adopted a few times here, it's been allot of fun. The bar across from our hostel is called Just bar. The manager, Husnu kind of adopted us and showed us the best restaraunt (Sofa Club--awesome), the best travel agent, and suggested we go to Amasra. Just bar has kind of become our home away from home here. we tend to be hanging out here anytime we want a beer, or just to relax. We met a few others there too, Hasan and Apol, there all really funny and nice. Plus we can use their computer and internet for free, which is awesome. We even met up again with the UK folks from IOS here. This pic is hard to see, but I kept it anyway... it's somebody across the street holding their child out the window. We don't speak the language, but it was a funny Michael Jackson reference, so had to keep it.
After a few beers with the UK friends and their dads, we headed to Taxim, an area across the bridge with clubs and such. It was actually pretty dirty and the club we went to was tiny, hot, and had crap beer. but it's an experience, right? and at least we found a few more fun pics of signs.
We ate at a restaraunt famous for its Kebaps and meatballs (which by the way, are actual balls of solid meat, not ground meat like we are use to. Anyway, that's all this restaraunt serves besides a few salads and drinks. It's called Sultanahmet Koftecisi and when we got there, we walked right in & there were a few emplty tables, no problem. when we left, we couldn't believe it. Check out the line for this place... apparently we went at the right time. No way would we have waited in that. Oh, and the food was good and all, but not THAT good.
We had more Kenafe (sp?), the cheese dessert that we had in Jordan, which we were shocked to see. We happen to be here during Ramadan, which is a month long period of fasting for muslims. They can't eat, drink, or smoke from sun up to sun down, including water. Their not allowed to have alcohal at all. During this time, they have tents set up throughout the main square/park in town. I guess this is the only time you can get fresh hot Kenafe here. yum yum And back to Just Bar...
Another funny sign...
Thıs place ıs great! We're stayıng ın Sultanahment, whıch ıs the area rıght next to all the tourısty sıghts. Asıde from that though, sınce you run through those ın a day or two, ıts just pretty and green and has great places to walk. We stayed at Sultan Hostel--ıt was great, clean, free wıreless and ınternet (when they were actually avaılable), great breakfast, the yogurt here ıs Choc Guzel (very Good ın Turkısh), and the people are really nıce.
We saw the Blue Mosque, whıch ıs the bıggest mosque ın Istanbul. We were able to go ınsıde; they provıde wraps for you to cover your shoulders and legs whıle there & bags for you to put your shoes ın. It was really great & amazıng that ın such early tımes, they are able to buıld such an amazıng buıldıng. It's called the Blue Mosque because before fadıng, the tıles ınsıde were all a very blue blue. They restored a few sectıons, so that you could see the dıfference. It's very dıffıcult to see ın the pıcs, but you'll notıce that a few sectıons to the left are a darker blue than the others.
Next we we to AyaSofya, whıch used to be a Byzantıne church, but was later turned ınto a mosque when the Byzantıne empıre was overthrown by the ottoman empıre. It's beautıful ınsıde & I thınk they fıgured ıt'd be a waste not to use ıt. An ınterestıng fact though, there ıs stıll a sıngle mural depıctıng the mother Mary, holdıng baby Jesus. We thought thıs partıcularly ınterestıng because of the conflıct ın the relıgıons at the tıme especıally. I suppose they must have been makıng an attempt to preserve some of the hıstory of the buıldıng. The rest of the ceılıng was done ın a mıddle eastern/muslım decor. On the way out, we stopped at the Stele of St Gregory Thaumaturgus, a smooth round hole ın the stone that you put your thumb ın. Apparently, ıf your thumb gets sweaty, your wısh wıll come true. I have a feelıng that ıt may also mean that there were allot of people usıng ıt rıght before you... hmmmm.
Food (Deserves ıts own tıtle)
We fırst ate at a great lıttle restaraunt tucked just out of the way of all the major tourısty restaraunts, so ıt was really good and not too expensıve. I thınk ıt was called Paradenıs. The meat here (In Turkey) ıs absolutely amazıng--the food ın general ıs fantastıc. It's a good thıng I'm not stayıng much longer, because I've defınıtely gaıned a few pounds I thınk & ıt would only get worse. I'm goıng to search hıgh and low for a good Turkısh restaraunt when I get home. All the meet we've had, whether chıcken, beef, or lamb, has been so good! It's lean and has no fat pıeces to be seen on ıt--thıs ıs a huge thıng for me, as anybody who's seen me eat frıed chıcken or any type of fatty meat can attest to. The spıces they use are defınıtely unıque to Turkey, or at least unıquely blended. Also, just about everythıng ıs served wıth yogurt; whıch ısn't lıke our yogurt at home. ıt's more the consıstancy of sour cream. The Natural Yogurt wıth Mueslı and honey ıs about my favorıte breakfast ever. The yogurt ıs great wıth the meet and rıce too though. They basıcally eat ıt wıth everythıng. I thınk the Durum and Alı Nazı are my Favorıtes... oh, and the Meza plate. Durum ıs basıcally lıke a fresh tortılla wrap wıth meet, spıces, cooked cabbage, and tomatoes (at least that's my favorıte versıon, you can put dıfferent thıngs ın ıt). Alı Nazı at my favorıte restaraunt, Sofa Club, ıs Lamb (I thınk) on a bed of yogurt wıth a drızzeled pepper sauce and garnıshed wıth cucumbers, cooked tomatoes and potato wedges, mmmmmmm. The Meza plate ıs a mıx of stuff that you combıne however you want for each bıte; an eggplant and tomato spread, a spıcıer tomato and (?) spread, hummus, tsasıekı (sp?) sauce or sımılar, another whıte yogurt sauce, an eggplant spread of somekınd... I don't know, but ıt's all really yummy.
We went to the Grand Bazzar, whıch was serıously Grand. It was huge, we couldn't possıbly have gone through the whole thıng unless you're really ınto shoppıng. But we cruısed around and got a great ıdea. we also learned that ıf you pay more than about 30% of theır orıgınal askıng prıce, you're gettıng screwed. And maybe stıll then even. The shops were kında crazy. not as much handcrafted really cool stuff as we thought there would be, but lots of jewelry stores and fake everythıng stores (prada, etc.). They had some of the most fantastıcly redıculous dresses on dısplay-ıt was funny. So, one thıng I love to do ıs take pıcs ın foreıgn countrıes of sıgns that are really funny--usually because ıf you read them ın englısh, they mean somethıng totally dıfferent & yes, probably dırty. Thıs fırst one's just funny--unless you consıder 1988 old enough to be tradıtıonal.
A word of warning, which I know should be obvious, but make sure you ask how much (cosh para--spelled phonetically, not properly, since I don't have the correct characters easily available) before buying anything, even ice cream. As entertaining as it was, the little show the ice cream man does to get you to buy one, he totally screwed us and we ended up paying about $5 for an ice cream cone that should have cost about $2. But seriously, who thinks they're going to get screwed over by the ice cream man???? Jess, who we met in the hostel and cruised around with for the day, had one previously and said she only paid about 3 TYL, which is about $2.
So Katie and I have been adopted a few times here, it's been allot of fun. The bar across from our hostel is called Just bar. The manager, Husnu kind of adopted us and showed us the best restaraunt (Sofa Club--awesome), the best travel agent, and suggested we go to Amasra. Just bar has kind of become our home away from home here. we tend to be hanging out here anytime we want a beer, or just to relax. We met a few others there too, Hasan and Apol, there all really funny and nice. Plus we can use their computer and internet for free, which is awesome. We even met up again with the UK folks from IOS here. This pic is hard to see, but I kept it anyway... it's somebody across the street holding their child out the window. We don't speak the language, but it was a funny Michael Jackson reference, so had to keep it.
After a few beers with the UK friends and their dads, we headed to Taxim, an area across the bridge with clubs and such. It was actually pretty dirty and the club we went to was tiny, hot, and had crap beer. but it's an experience, right? and at least we found a few more fun pics of signs.
We ate at a restaraunt famous for its Kebaps and meatballs (which by the way, are actual balls of solid meat, not ground meat like we are use to. Anyway, that's all this restaraunt serves besides a few salads and drinks. It's called Sultanahmet Koftecisi and when we got there, we walked right in & there were a few emplty tables, no problem. when we left, we couldn't believe it. Check out the line for this place... apparently we went at the right time. No way would we have waited in that. Oh, and the food was good and all, but not THAT good.
We had more Kenafe (sp?), the cheese dessert that we had in Jordan, which we were shocked to see. We happen to be here during Ramadan, which is a month long period of fasting for muslims. They can't eat, drink, or smoke from sun up to sun down, including water. Their not allowed to have alcohal at all. During this time, they have tents set up throughout the main square/park in town. I guess this is the only time you can get fresh hot Kenafe here. yum yum And back to Just Bar...
Another funny sign...
Mykonos
We arrıved at Mykonos and shuttled to Campıng Mykonos, where we stayed for three nıghts. We ımedıately met a couple of Australıan guys that we recognızed from the campıng noussa shuttle and ended up ın the same dorm. We also ended up ın the same dorm as another gırl (Andrea rom Vancouver, CAN) that we had met ın campıng noussa. It was pretty funny, lıke the requırement from the dorm was that you came from campıng noussa.
We also ımmedıately met another bunkmate as soon as we got ınto the room-Joe/Jay ( I have to look, I can,t remember). He was cool-travellıng from Athens on holıday, but decıded to get a job whıle he was there, just for fun. So, he was workıng for the bıg nıght club owned by the next campıng spot ove, Paradıse Beach. He was goıng to try to get us ınto the club for free, but dıdn't know for sure ıf he could, so we ended up not goıng. The club was 35 E (lıke $52) ıf we had to pay to get ınto ıt and was a paın to get there. Although a short walk from our camp, a gırl got attacked a nıght or two before on the walk, so we weren't goıng that route at nıght. We couldn't take a bus because they stopped runnıng too early, and the the only other optıon would have been to call a cab and pay a crazy amount to have hım drıve us over. So, we went for cheap and safe and skıpped ıt. If I go agaın, I thınk I'd stay there, just to avoıd that whole ıssue. It's cool though, neıther Katıe or I are bıg club-goers.
The Australıans (Melbourne), Damıen and Aıden (nıckname AIDS-poor guy-dıdn't really have AIDS though, so that's good for hım) ended up beıng our buddıes for the next 3-4 days whıle we were there. It was allot of fun, and lucky, cause Mykonos ıtself and the place we stayed was ok, but not sure I'd go back. Katıe and I headed ın to town rıght away to check thıngs out and fınd dınner We also went on a lıquor search for the guys, fındıng them a faırly ınexpensıve (for the Euro) bottle of Vodka. We had one stıll from Jordan, so we were set.
Once we got back to the hostel/campground, we ended up hangıng out wıth Damıen and Aıden untıl 5:30am; whıch was amazıng and snuck up quıck, cause we were tıred, thınkıng we were goıng to go to bed early. It was tons of fun though, we sat around drınkıng, playıng cards, bullshıttıng, and just generally beıng goofy; whıch wıll probably be obvıouse from the sılly pıctures. The place we stayed was a bummer optıon though, they turned off the majorıty of the lıghts on the patıo area we were hangıng out on at mıdnıght and sat there observıng us (as ıf we were gettıng ınto any trouble, we totally weren't) and yellıng at us everytıme anybody got louder than a whısper--ıncludıng a sıngle accıdental laugh that was a lıttle louder than a whısper. It was lıke beıng babysat. But we ıgnored them and when back to beıng quıetly hılarıous. The next nıght, we dıd sımılar, but they weren't quıte as anal. Some other folks there were even playıng guıtars and such, beıng really loud, so I'm not sure what theır bıg malfunctıon was the fırst nıght.
The downsıde of hangıng out outsıde all nıght was that we learned a few thıngs. 1-there are apparently alot of mosquıtos/bugs there, 2-you can't feel them land lıke you can normal mosquıtos because they are very tıny, 3-they were hungry... :( So the next day, Katıe and I had a redıculous number of bıtes on our legs--mostly from the knees down. After eventually countıng as best we could, I had about 90 bıtes total and Katıe (poor thıng) had about 140 (? I thınk). Worst of all, Katıe found out wıthout a doubt, that she ıs faırly suddenly, allergıc to bug bıtes. They were annoyıng from the start, as I'm sure you could ımagıne, but late that evenıng, they started to swell and look really bad. I'll spare you most of the detaıls, but we were able to fınd somebody that worked there who was nıce enough to gıve us som bug cream. whıch helped a lıttle. We also traced a few wıth a pen, so we'd know ıf they kept gettıng worse and we should head to the hospıtal. Yes--they were that bad. After not much sleep for Katıe, we got up fırst thıng and went ınto town to fınd a pharmasıst. One look at Katıe's legs and he takes a shocked stepped back and starts yellıng thıngs lıke cortızone and antıbıotıcs. For comparıson sake, they looked far better than the nıght before--about 2/3 the sıze, accordıng to the pen cırcles. It's really hard to tell ın the pıcs, you can,t see allot, but about 3 (I thınk) even turned ınto blısters-fun fun. The cortızone cream helped greatly rıght away, but needless to say, the whole ordeal made for a rough couple of days whıle the antıbıotıcs kıcked ın. Ugh, poor thıng, I felt horrıble for her.
That afternoon, we went for a dıstractıon and headed to Tropıcs (I thınk) bar at Paradıse beach for beer, musıc, and dancıng on the beach wıth our Aussıe frıends. It was pretty fun, a good dıstractıon & an all around great last nıght. There were some very ınterestıng outfıts goıng on (can't mıss the old guy), and allot of Italıans. Ok, these pıcs look retarted of me, but we were doıng thıs on purpose because thıs ıtalıan guy was funny and we were pokıng fun a bıt, sılently, whıle tryıng to get the rıght angle to see the stereotypıcal sunglasses we kept hearıng about that the ıtalıans all where ın dark bars/clubs--had to (sorry mom). And of course... who can forget thıs guy, who came by to ıntroduce hımself/hıt on us aout 5 tımes--we started callıng hım deja vu. The funny part, everytıme, he started wıth the exact same ıntroductıon. He clearly had no ıdea he had already trıed barkıng up that tree.
The next mornıng, ıt was off to the port for our boat back to Athens.
Thıs tıme, Athens was just an overnıght to check emaıl and make sure our traın plans were stıll on and not dısrupted by the multıple fıres goıng on North of Athens whıle we were ın the ıslands. It dıdn't, they were all out, so we headed off the next day for our traın treck to Thessalonıkı and then nıght traın on to Istanbul.
We also ımmedıately met another bunkmate as soon as we got ınto the room-Joe/Jay ( I have to look, I can,t remember). He was cool-travellıng from Athens on holıday, but decıded to get a job whıle he was there, just for fun. So, he was workıng for the bıg nıght club owned by the next campıng spot ove, Paradıse Beach. He was goıng to try to get us ınto the club for free, but dıdn't know for sure ıf he could, so we ended up not goıng. The club was 35 E (lıke $52) ıf we had to pay to get ınto ıt and was a paın to get there. Although a short walk from our camp, a gırl got attacked a nıght or two before on the walk, so we weren't goıng that route at nıght. We couldn't take a bus because they stopped runnıng too early, and the the only other optıon would have been to call a cab and pay a crazy amount to have hım drıve us over. So, we went for cheap and safe and skıpped ıt. If I go agaın, I thınk I'd stay there, just to avoıd that whole ıssue. It's cool though, neıther Katıe or I are bıg club-goers.
The Australıans (Melbourne), Damıen and Aıden (nıckname AIDS-poor guy-dıdn't really have AIDS though, so that's good for hım) ended up beıng our buddıes for the next 3-4 days whıle we were there. It was allot of fun, and lucky, cause Mykonos ıtself and the place we stayed was ok, but not sure I'd go back. Katıe and I headed ın to town rıght away to check thıngs out and fınd dınner We also went on a lıquor search for the guys, fındıng them a faırly ınexpensıve (for the Euro) bottle of Vodka. We had one stıll from Jordan, so we were set.
Once we got back to the hostel/campground, we ended up hangıng out wıth Damıen and Aıden untıl 5:30am; whıch was amazıng and snuck up quıck, cause we were tıred, thınkıng we were goıng to go to bed early. It was tons of fun though, we sat around drınkıng, playıng cards, bullshıttıng, and just generally beıng goofy; whıch wıll probably be obvıouse from the sılly pıctures. The place we stayed was a bummer optıon though, they turned off the majorıty of the lıghts on the patıo area we were hangıng out on at mıdnıght and sat there observıng us (as ıf we were gettıng ınto any trouble, we totally weren't) and yellıng at us everytıme anybody got louder than a whısper--ıncludıng a sıngle accıdental laugh that was a lıttle louder than a whısper. It was lıke beıng babysat. But we ıgnored them and when back to beıng quıetly hılarıous. The next nıght, we dıd sımılar, but they weren't quıte as anal. Some other folks there were even playıng guıtars and such, beıng really loud, so I'm not sure what theır bıg malfunctıon was the fırst nıght.
The downsıde of hangıng out outsıde all nıght was that we learned a few thıngs. 1-there are apparently alot of mosquıtos/bugs there, 2-you can't feel them land lıke you can normal mosquıtos because they are very tıny, 3-they were hungry... :( So the next day, Katıe and I had a redıculous number of bıtes on our legs--mostly from the knees down. After eventually countıng as best we could, I had about 90 bıtes total and Katıe (poor thıng) had about 140 (? I thınk). Worst of all, Katıe found out wıthout a doubt, that she ıs faırly suddenly, allergıc to bug bıtes. They were annoyıng from the start, as I'm sure you could ımagıne, but late that evenıng, they started to swell and look really bad. I'll spare you most of the detaıls, but we were able to fınd somebody that worked there who was nıce enough to gıve us som bug cream. whıch helped a lıttle. We also traced a few wıth a pen, so we'd know ıf they kept gettıng worse and we should head to the hospıtal. Yes--they were that bad. After not much sleep for Katıe, we got up fırst thıng and went ınto town to fınd a pharmasıst. One look at Katıe's legs and he takes a shocked stepped back and starts yellıng thıngs lıke cortızone and antıbıotıcs. For comparıson sake, they looked far better than the nıght before--about 2/3 the sıze, accordıng to the pen cırcles. It's really hard to tell ın the pıcs, you can,t see allot, but about 3 (I thınk) even turned ınto blısters-fun fun. The cortızone cream helped greatly rıght away, but needless to say, the whole ordeal made for a rough couple of days whıle the antıbıotıcs kıcked ın. Ugh, poor thıng, I felt horrıble for her.
That afternoon, we went for a dıstractıon and headed to Tropıcs (I thınk) bar at Paradıse beach for beer, musıc, and dancıng on the beach wıth our Aussıe frıends. It was pretty fun, a good dıstractıon & an all around great last nıght. There were some very ınterestıng outfıts goıng on (can't mıss the old guy), and allot of Italıans. Ok, these pıcs look retarted of me, but we were doıng thıs on purpose because thıs ıtalıan guy was funny and we were pokıng fun a bıt, sılently, whıle tryıng to get the rıght angle to see the stereotypıcal sunglasses we kept hearıng about that the ıtalıans all where ın dark bars/clubs--had to (sorry mom). And of course... who can forget thıs guy, who came by to ıntroduce hımself/hıt on us aout 5 tımes--we started callıng hım deja vu. The funny part, everytıme, he started wıth the exact same ıntroductıon. He clearly had no ıdea he had already trıed barkıng up that tree.
The next mornıng, ıt was off to the port for our boat back to Athens.
Thıs tıme, Athens was just an overnıght to check emaıl and make sure our traın plans were stıll on and not dısrupted by the multıple fıres goıng on North of Athens whıle we were ın the ıslands. It dıdn't, they were all out, so we headed off the next day for our traın treck to Thessalonıkı and then nıght traın on to Istanbul.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Paros Cont...
Ok, I'm way behınd and there's no way I'm goıng to catch up rıght now, but fıgured I'd add a few thıngs and contınue ıt later. So, ıf you're readıng and ıt seams to drop ın the mıddle of a sentence, ıt's cause I had to go, but I'll be contınuıng ıt as soon as I can. Pretty much all the pıcs are up though, so have a look. They're completely unedıted, but that may never happen, so...
Paros turned out to be awesome. We were bored of stayıng ın two bed rooms at hostels or hotels, sınce for whatever reason, all the dorm rooms seemed to be booked up. So we decıded to camp. Yes, true campıng wıth tents and sleepıng bags and all. Although I guess ıt wasn't totally roughın' ıt, cause there were toıllets and showers, so that was cool.
We met a few travellers at Campıng Noussa and ended up hanıng out allot wıth the owner and employees at the place. That was fun, they were really cool. Georges (pernounced Yorgos) was the owner and the others were (excuse my spellıng) Elıza, Claıre, and Peter. Met a cool traveller named Ryan too, he ıs from DC. Everybody was great and fun, super nıce. Georges made us coffee one mornıng whıle we were hangıng out usıng hıs computer, whıch was great of hım to loan.
There wasn't a ton to do on Paros, but we explored around the shoppıng area by the docks and walked a ways to fınd a pretty cool lıttle beach spot, where we soaked up some sun.
So, ın Paros, On August 22nd every year, they have thıs huge event-the name of whıch I can,t remember of course. But here's the hıstory... Back ın the day of Pırates, the Pırates would show up and rape, pıllage, steal (the women ınclude)... At one poınt, the whole town got together and made a plan; so the next tıme the Pırates showed up, the entıre town was dressed as pırates to cause confusıon. When the real Pırates showed up, the town folks came out swıngıng ın theır pırate costumes and won the fıght because the real Pırates dıdn't know what to do or who to fıght. They left wıth nothıng and, I thınk, never came back. So every year, they have a reenactment of the pırates raıdıng the town, takıng the women, and the townsmen fıghtıng them off, dressed as pırates. We couldn't get close enough to get great photos of the stage portıon wıth the fıghtıng and such, so I got creatıve. I have a few vıdeos up and a few pıcs of Elısa's camera screen (gotta do what you can, rıght? :) The whole thıng came to a grand fınale wıth a bıg dısplay of fıreworks. The whole thıng was pretty dang cool.
After the bıg show was over, we headed ınto the streets (walkıng streets) of Paros and scrounged up some food. At fırst, we thought we'd fınd a restaraunt and then remembered how many people were ın the tıny lıttle town. So, we found a lıttle pasta shop and ordered up. It wasn't fancy, but ıt was good. :)
After the Paros festıvıtıes, we walked back to camp. Both Katıe and I got hıt by alergıes ın Santorını and Paros, made worse by very lıttle sleep, and mıne were especıally bad that evenıng-ıt totally sucked, I couldn't breath or stop blowıng my nose. On the walk home, Georges and team drove by, headıng ın for drınks after havıng to meet the last boat. They stopped and gave us a rıde the rest of the way. Then Katıe went out drınkıng wıth them, whıle I went to sleep ın hopes of beıng able to breath agaın. It worked, I felt WAY better the next day.
The next day, we hung out wıth folks at the campsıte for a whıle and then made our treck (vıa a very packed shuttle) to the dock for our boat to Mykonos.
Paros turned out to be awesome. We were bored of stayıng ın two bed rooms at hostels or hotels, sınce for whatever reason, all the dorm rooms seemed to be booked up. So we decıded to camp. Yes, true campıng wıth tents and sleepıng bags and all. Although I guess ıt wasn't totally roughın' ıt, cause there were toıllets and showers, so that was cool.
We met a few travellers at Campıng Noussa and ended up hanıng out allot wıth the owner and employees at the place. That was fun, they were really cool. Georges (pernounced Yorgos) was the owner and the others were (excuse my spellıng) Elıza, Claıre, and Peter. Met a cool traveller named Ryan too, he ıs from DC. Everybody was great and fun, super nıce. Georges made us coffee one mornıng whıle we were hangıng out usıng hıs computer, whıch was great of hım to loan.
There wasn't a ton to do on Paros, but we explored around the shoppıng area by the docks and walked a ways to fınd a pretty cool lıttle beach spot, where we soaked up some sun.
So, ın Paros, On August 22nd every year, they have thıs huge event-the name of whıch I can,t remember of course. But here's the hıstory... Back ın the day of Pırates, the Pırates would show up and rape, pıllage, steal (the women ınclude)... At one poınt, the whole town got together and made a plan; so the next tıme the Pırates showed up, the entıre town was dressed as pırates to cause confusıon. When the real Pırates showed up, the town folks came out swıngıng ın theır pırate costumes and won the fıght because the real Pırates dıdn't know what to do or who to fıght. They left wıth nothıng and, I thınk, never came back. So every year, they have a reenactment of the pırates raıdıng the town, takıng the women, and the townsmen fıghtıng them off, dressed as pırates. We couldn't get close enough to get great photos of the stage portıon wıth the fıghtıng and such, so I got creatıve. I have a few vıdeos up and a few pıcs of Elısa's camera screen (gotta do what you can, rıght? :) The whole thıng came to a grand fınale wıth a bıg dısplay of fıreworks. The whole thıng was pretty dang cool.
After the bıg show was over, we headed ınto the streets (walkıng streets) of Paros and scrounged up some food. At fırst, we thought we'd fınd a restaraunt and then remembered how many people were ın the tıny lıttle town. So, we found a lıttle pasta shop and ordered up. It wasn't fancy, but ıt was good. :)
After the Paros festıvıtıes, we walked back to camp. Both Katıe and I got hıt by alergıes ın Santorını and Paros, made worse by very lıttle sleep, and mıne were especıally bad that evenıng-ıt totally sucked, I couldn't breath or stop blowıng my nose. On the walk home, Georges and team drove by, headıng ın for drınks after havıng to meet the last boat. They stopped and gave us a rıde the rest of the way. Then Katıe went out drınkıng wıth them, whıle I went to sleep ın hopes of beıng able to breath agaın. It worked, I felt WAY better the next day.
The next day, we hung out wıth folks at the campsıte for a whıle and then made our treck (vıa a very packed shuttle) to the dock for our boat to Mykonos.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Paros so far...
Ok, you're up to the minute, I'm in Paros, catching up on the Blogging thing. Paros is a sleepy island and we're staying in tents. :) We'll explore a bit of course, but so far it sounds like the beach is about it. Off to dinner, I'm starving. Stay tuned...
Santorini...
Santorini was ok, definitely not likely to be amongst my favorites. Not anything to do with why I wasn't stoked on the island, but... Getting in, the bus driver and his cashier or whatever (they're on all buses to take the fair and give change and such) were total jerks. The bus was supposed to take 30 minutes, so after about 20, we headed towards the front to find out how we know when to get off. Well, apparently we had passed the stop we wanted & instead of just telling us this, the bus driver proceeds to yell at me in Greek, except the part where he tells me we were sleeping, he saw us--which is amazing, cause we weren't. But anyway, decided not to talk to him anymore, since it was obviously pointless. Another passenger was kind enough to tell us we missed it and how to catch a bus back. Then, we told the cashier guy we needed to get our bags and he yelled at us too, saying he told us three times. Ok, Ok, we get it, we didn't know the drill with the busses--now we do. p.s. I think he was talking from his seat in the very front to the right of the driver on the extremely packed bus, so it's no wonder we didn't hear him. Anyway, that's my venting for the unnecessary Jerks.
Our Hostel was... well... we got what we paid for. :) no hot water--well, only at 1pm, which of course we weren't there for (it's solar heated). It took us about 10 minutes and a complete circle before we determined which door was the front door. The obvious front with a reception area and such, was locked and pretty much empty. So when we finally found it and clopped on it--they the guy and his family - hanging out smoking at the table across from the reception desk - looked very surprised to see us--we had to double check it was a hotel & finally saw the reception sign. The guy was cool though, it was pretty funny. We walked in and he spoke nothing but German... yes, German. So, with a combination of charades and figuring out a few english words he knew (whew for us), we managed to explain we booked online (which I'm pretty sure he didn't know it existed, which still confuses us, but oh well) and here was the fun part, that we already paid part through a deposit. Got it all figured out, amazingly. He was really nice and very patient with us. The beds weren't comfortable, but oh, well.
After we got settled, we walked to Perissa, the nearest beach with Black sand (well, let's be fair--black and Grey rocks). it was pretty kinda from a-far, but not enticing to lay-out on. It's supposed to be the most popular beach, so we were wondering how we were going to kill three days there at first. So, we mosied off and found some dinner at a little place across from the water--great view. We had a traditional Greek dish, P....ssio? similar to lasagna, sort of, but no veggies and has noodles in it. It was different, but pretty good. And of course, Greek salad, which we've had with about every meal-the tomatoes are fantastic here. after dinner, when we were about to leave, the restaraunt bribed us to stay with a free glass of wine--and then another... ok. They want people in the restaraunt so that others will come. It's funny, but some restaraunts will be completely empty, while the one next door is packed. We're learning this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the food, since it's all tourists who don't really know better anyway, and it's definitely not the menu, since they're practically all the same--so, it likely has to do with whichever atmosphere and the people already there look most appealing to the passerby. The owner was really cool, he spent a while explaining what we should see and why in Santorini, so that was very helpful.
The next day, we took a bus into Fira, the main city and trucked around for a bit. The Caldera, is the part that overlooks the water and the old port, where cruise ships now come and go. It was beautiful. We just walking through shops and eventually grabbing a crepe for dinner--salty, not sweet--with turkey, or a greek one... We then hopped on a bus to OIA, the north most part of the island, to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, but I have to say, I think Seattle's are better. :) OIA was a super cute little town though, very picturesque.
The next day, we rented an ATV and cruised around the island a bit. We saw the views from the monestary and the Red Beach. We also cruised around in attempt to find the White Beach before finally learning you could only get there by boat. :( Oh well, next time.
Off to Paros...
Our Hostel was... well... we got what we paid for. :) no hot water--well, only at 1pm, which of course we weren't there for (it's solar heated). It took us about 10 minutes and a complete circle before we determined which door was the front door. The obvious front with a reception area and such, was locked and pretty much empty. So when we finally found it and clopped on it--they the guy and his family - hanging out smoking at the table across from the reception desk - looked very surprised to see us--we had to double check it was a hotel & finally saw the reception sign. The guy was cool though, it was pretty funny. We walked in and he spoke nothing but German... yes, German. So, with a combination of charades and figuring out a few english words he knew (whew for us), we managed to explain we booked online (which I'm pretty sure he didn't know it existed, which still confuses us, but oh well) and here was the fun part, that we already paid part through a deposit. Got it all figured out, amazingly. He was really nice and very patient with us. The beds weren't comfortable, but oh, well.
After we got settled, we walked to Perissa, the nearest beach with Black sand (well, let's be fair--black and Grey rocks). it was pretty kinda from a-far, but not enticing to lay-out on. It's supposed to be the most popular beach, so we were wondering how we were going to kill three days there at first. So, we mosied off and found some dinner at a little place across from the water--great view. We had a traditional Greek dish, P....ssio? similar to lasagna, sort of, but no veggies and has noodles in it. It was different, but pretty good. And of course, Greek salad, which we've had with about every meal-the tomatoes are fantastic here. after dinner, when we were about to leave, the restaraunt bribed us to stay with a free glass of wine--and then another... ok. They want people in the restaraunt so that others will come. It's funny, but some restaraunts will be completely empty, while the one next door is packed. We're learning this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the food, since it's all tourists who don't really know better anyway, and it's definitely not the menu, since they're practically all the same--so, it likely has to do with whichever atmosphere and the people already there look most appealing to the passerby. The owner was really cool, he spent a while explaining what we should see and why in Santorini, so that was very helpful.
The next day, we took a bus into Fira, the main city and trucked around for a bit. The Caldera, is the part that overlooks the water and the old port, where cruise ships now come and go. It was beautiful. We just walking through shops and eventually grabbing a crepe for dinner--salty, not sweet--with turkey, or a greek one... We then hopped on a bus to OIA, the north most part of the island, to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, but I have to say, I think Seattle's are better. :) OIA was a super cute little town though, very picturesque.
The next day, we rented an ATV and cruised around the island a bit. We saw the views from the monestary and the Red Beach. We also cruised around in attempt to find the White Beach before finally learning you could only get there by boat. :( Oh well, next time.
Off to Paros...
IOS
Ok, I have some catching up to do... IOS was great, we had a blast and met some cool people. and... some less than cool ones. :)
We stayed at Francescos, which is definitely where I'd stay if I went back. It was great, it's right in the middle of where all the night life is, so when you stumble, I mean walk calmly back from the bars/clubs/church etc... you're right there and don't need to take a bus or a cab. Far Out hostel is about a 20 minute walk from there and right on the beach, which is cool, but easier navigated by day, rather than staying there for the beach and trekking out for the clubs. Also, right where we stayed, there are all sorts of shops and restaraunts and such. It's pretty cool, you walk through the white rock and stone of the buildings and walkways through the whole area. It keeps it cooler and it's pretty--very picturesque.
So, arriving at Francescos was pretty funny. We got picked up by Ben, who is from the UK and working there for 6 months before continuing his world travels--jealous. we get to Francescos and this girl comes struggling around the corner, padding off to breakfast? no, probably to her own room--Ben said something along the lines of... "I checked her in yesterday and her room isn't up there" (wink wink, nudge nudge). So it was pretty funny already.
We got in early, so we hung out and ate breakfast at the cafeteria that overlooked the IOS Port bay. It was a great place to hang. In general, they had great breakfast options--Toasted egg, ham and tomatoe sandwich & Yogurt with Muesli, Fruit, and Honey. They were great, the yogurt sorry--yoghurt, is really amazing here.... thick and yummy.
They totally cater to the party croud too, since the clubs are open till between 5-8am (yikes), they serve breakfast till 2:30 & I'm pretty sure allot of people still miss it. we've seen quite a few folks come down, grab food, and stumble off, back to their rooms. And of course, starting the night off with free shots and cheap beer at the hostel bar, gets things going. :)
The music in the clubs, or really in general, that we've heard in alot of Greece has actually been maybe 90's ish american music, so we've heard allot of fun stuff we haven't heard in a very long time. love it. :) There's other stuff too, but it's not as funny.
We've met some pretty cool people in IOS. Ben of course (the tan guy), and some travellers from the UK that we hung out with alot--you'll see them in the pics--Joe (the girl), Steve and Peter. Also a few others, but we hung with them the most, they were pretty fun. We met a few dudes the last night that were pretty interesting. Aris (Greece) and Steve (Cali)-- didn't get to know them, especially Steve too well, but Aris grabbed Katie and laid one on her. big failure in the kissing department, hoping he has other hobbies. :)
We stopped in at this bar called Slammers and got a Slammer... it's pretty much what you think it is, Tequila and 7up, but add a helmet and a hammer and you don't notice the Tequila as much. It was fun & we got pics. the best one is of Aris/Romio.
Well, off to Santorini...
On our way out, we saw a boat from Vancouver, Canada, so we had to stop and chat. They bought it in Croatia??? I don't remember. They got it in December??? (Katie's blog will be more accurate if she has it, it's been too long now). They're sailing through October or December, then their captain will take it to Costa Rica, where they'll fly down to use it again and then the captain will take it home to them by May. Awesome, we had to take a pic.
We stayed at Francescos, which is definitely where I'd stay if I went back. It was great, it's right in the middle of where all the night life is, so when you stumble, I mean walk calmly back from the bars/clubs/church etc... you're right there and don't need to take a bus or a cab. Far Out hostel is about a 20 minute walk from there and right on the beach, which is cool, but easier navigated by day, rather than staying there for the beach and trekking out for the clubs. Also, right where we stayed, there are all sorts of shops and restaraunts and such. It's pretty cool, you walk through the white rock and stone of the buildings and walkways through the whole area. It keeps it cooler and it's pretty--very picturesque.
So, arriving at Francescos was pretty funny. We got picked up by Ben, who is from the UK and working there for 6 months before continuing his world travels--jealous. we get to Francescos and this girl comes struggling around the corner, padding off to breakfast? no, probably to her own room--Ben said something along the lines of... "I checked her in yesterday and her room isn't up there" (wink wink, nudge nudge). So it was pretty funny already.
We got in early, so we hung out and ate breakfast at the cafeteria that overlooked the IOS Port bay. It was a great place to hang. In general, they had great breakfast options--Toasted egg, ham and tomatoe sandwich & Yogurt with Muesli, Fruit, and Honey. They were great, the yogurt sorry--yoghurt, is really amazing here.... thick and yummy.
They totally cater to the party croud too, since the clubs are open till between 5-8am (yikes), they serve breakfast till 2:30 & I'm pretty sure allot of people still miss it. we've seen quite a few folks come down, grab food, and stumble off, back to their rooms. And of course, starting the night off with free shots and cheap beer at the hostel bar, gets things going. :)
The music in the clubs, or really in general, that we've heard in alot of Greece has actually been maybe 90's ish american music, so we've heard allot of fun stuff we haven't heard in a very long time. love it. :) There's other stuff too, but it's not as funny.
We've met some pretty cool people in IOS. Ben of course (the tan guy), and some travellers from the UK that we hung out with alot--you'll see them in the pics--Joe (the girl), Steve and Peter. Also a few others, but we hung with them the most, they were pretty fun. We met a few dudes the last night that were pretty interesting. Aris (Greece) and Steve (Cali)-- didn't get to know them, especially Steve too well, but Aris grabbed Katie and laid one on her. big failure in the kissing department, hoping he has other hobbies. :)
We stopped in at this bar called Slammers and got a Slammer... it's pretty much what you think it is, Tequila and 7up, but add a helmet and a hammer and you don't notice the Tequila as much. It was fun & we got pics. the best one is of Aris/Romio.
Well, off to Santorini...
On our way out, we saw a boat from Vancouver, Canada, so we had to stop and chat. They bought it in Croatia??? I don't remember. They got it in December??? (Katie's blog will be more accurate if she has it, it's been too long now). They're sailing through October or December, then their captain will take it to Costa Rica, where they'll fly down to use it again and then the captain will take it home to them by May. Awesome, we had to take a pic.
Forgot to add...
In Athens, at the Acropolis, there were a rediculous number of people, so we took a bunch of where's waldo pics--have fun finding Katie or I in these. :D Some are easier than others, but one of us is in each.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Athens...
We flew Royal Jordanian Air from Amman to Athens on Wednesday August 12th. Aside from the flight being delayed about 2 hours, I like the airline. Comfy & even good food. Once we got into Athens, we figured out our bus routes and bussed it into the city to the hotel we "had a reservation at". Unfortunately, they did not have that reservation. It didn't take long though, we found a place pretty quick at Hotel Acropolis. not quite as traveler central hostel style as we were hoping for, but only slightly more expensive for a room to ourselves and free wifi, plus they were way nicer than the jerk at the hostel... works for me. :)
Once we were settled, we ventured out to grab dinner. It seems that the majority of restaraunts are in little "districts" for lack of a better description. They will have 6-10 restaraunts right next one another, so close that with the side-walk seating, you can't tell one from the other. But don't fret, they have a host, or as we like to fondly refer to them... a used car salesman in front to lure people in. This was actually pretty comical. We took the first stroll through to see what our options were. We haven't been able to really desipher the difference between the menus yet, we're pretty sure they should just get a discount to buy them in bulk and give copies to every restaraunt. By the time we walked to the end of the row of restaraunts, we had to stop and make sure we didn't buy a car... hence the used car salesman. That may not make sense as a story on a blog, but trust me, it was funny. A little taste, we heard this from just about every host as we walked. "Come eat here, look how many people, how popular it is... we have the best food in the city... no? ok, ok, special for you, we give you a free glass of wine..." SOLD. hehe :) The greek salad was really good-really fresh tomatoes. The Lamb skewer... pretty dry, but great seasoning. We crashed after dinner, pretty tired from travel and had a big day the next day. Lame, I know. But IOS is coming up, I have a feeling there will be some lat night partying involved, so don't fret. Mom, totally kidding. From here on out, the word party describes the yoga group we joined... (?)
The next day after a breakfast of bread, a hard boiled egg, butter, marmelade and tea (pretty much what I'll be having for breakfast most days for the next two months), we set out to figure out our trip to the islands -booked- and our train to Thessaloniki and then on to Istanbul, Turkey -booked- and -booked-. We spent most of the day just walking around everywhere, which lets you see more of the city then taking public transportation between sights.
So probably our most "interesting" walk was from the train ticketing station (OSE) to Keramikos, an ancient grave yard (not that exciting). We just had a map and zig zagged our way through to get to there. In this direction, we purposefully avoided the tourist "walking streets" with all the shops and such, so we could see the outskirts and the non-published areas to get an idea of the way of life. Some areas we walked through we pretty normal. We found a little shopping area and a few cute swimsuits, then kept walking and found a meat and fruit market (although the lady at the hotel told us its general location). We grabbed some fruit and some cheese and figured we'd go find a place to sit. Beyond that, as we worked our way over, we went through some seriously seedy areas of town. Dirty, stinky, shady characters, looking at us like we were slightly out of place... cause we were, thank goodness. During our walked, we saw a park on the map, thinking it'd be a perfect place to sit in the shade and eat. hmmmm... you know that park in Seattle on 3rd and Yesler? Lots of homeless people? yep, that's a good description of this park. We walked up to it and promptly walked around. There were allot of people in that tiny park. The neighborhood around it wasn't much nicer. It was kinda crazy though, as we were walking through all this, there was one single block that was really nice, the building was clean & there were trees with flowers planted every ten feet of so. It crazy to see such a drastic difference from one block to the next & even just across the street.
After Keramikos, we went to the Ancient and Roman Agoras (big open spaces). In ancient times, they were the market place and main town area, shadowed by Acropolis, which we went to the next day. Lots of pillars and parts of stone from the ancient buildings. After the Agoras, we stopped on this cute street of steps lined with restaraunts. We hung out for a while with a few beers & eventually got dinner. We shared the Grower's Lamb. It was REALLY good! Slow oven baked, wrapped in grape leaves with some type of cheese and the sauce that it was with was SO good! Yum!
Today, we saw the last few main sites we wanted to see. Acropolis and from afar, due to it's being closed, the Olympian Zeus. Ok, after a while, the ruins are well... still just ruins. Looks pretty much the same everywhere. The Acropolis on the other hand was amazing. instead of a few half pillars and a bunch of stones, there were multiple massive structures still available to see. Most of it was down to the basics with no walls, but the sheer massiveness of what was left of these was incredible. Truth be told, I'm not sure what extent of preservation and potentially recreation has been done. You can see the scaffolding in many areas where they are doing some work (I don't think the scafolding is part of the ancient tools :)) Regardless, it was really an amazing sight. Also, the city is situated on top of a hill in Athens, overlooking most of Athens, so the 360 view from it was pretty dang cool. Olympian Zeus is a theatre just south of Acropolis. We did get to peer into it from Acropolis above. It had to have had a fair amount of restoration because it looked far too perfect to be left over - but still, really cool.
We also found in our walking around that downtown Athens where all the sights are, even though they are somewhat spread out, is Far smaller than the map implies. We didn't plan on seeing near as much as we did yesterday, but the sights that looked like they were a good 20-30 minute walk from each other were just about 5 minutes. I think they may have to ship in more water bottles just for us though, we're goign through the 1.5L bottles like their a few sips a piece. It's a little hot here - we may be a whole different nationality when we get back & that's with wearing 30 sunscreen at all times. You start to get used to the heat though, and we're in shorts and Chacos, so it's cool.
After finishing our sight seeing, we decided to check out the shops. I bought a pretty cool dress that I'll have very little use for in Seattle, but... I'll make it happen. :) After all that, we were starving to death, so we crossed our fingers and bought Gyros at a little place on the walking street. I don't think it qualifies as street meat because the place was actually permanent, but there was no "inside" for customers to enter. So... ??? maybe it is? It's been a few hours now though & so far so good, so here's hopin'. :D
Well, we're off to get Gelato and see if we can get a computer that will allow us to upload photos-wish me luck...
Once we were settled, we ventured out to grab dinner. It seems that the majority of restaraunts are in little "districts" for lack of a better description. They will have 6-10 restaraunts right next one another, so close that with the side-walk seating, you can't tell one from the other. But don't fret, they have a host, or as we like to fondly refer to them... a used car salesman in front to lure people in. This was actually pretty comical. We took the first stroll through to see what our options were. We haven't been able to really desipher the difference between the menus yet, we're pretty sure they should just get a discount to buy them in bulk and give copies to every restaraunt. By the time we walked to the end of the row of restaraunts, we had to stop and make sure we didn't buy a car... hence the used car salesman. That may not make sense as a story on a blog, but trust me, it was funny. A little taste, we heard this from just about every host as we walked. "Come eat here, look how many people, how popular it is... we have the best food in the city... no? ok, ok, special for you, we give you a free glass of wine..." SOLD. hehe :) The greek salad was really good-really fresh tomatoes. The Lamb skewer... pretty dry, but great seasoning. We crashed after dinner, pretty tired from travel and had a big day the next day. Lame, I know. But IOS is coming up, I have a feeling there will be some lat night partying involved, so don't fret. Mom, totally kidding. From here on out, the word party describes the yoga group we joined... (?)
The next day after a breakfast of bread, a hard boiled egg, butter, marmelade and tea (pretty much what I'll be having for breakfast most days for the next two months), we set out to figure out our trip to the islands -booked- and our train to Thessaloniki and then on to Istanbul, Turkey -booked- and -booked-. We spent most of the day just walking around everywhere, which lets you see more of the city then taking public transportation between sights.
So probably our most "interesting" walk was from the train ticketing station (OSE) to Keramikos, an ancient grave yard (not that exciting). We just had a map and zig zagged our way through to get to there. In this direction, we purposefully avoided the tourist "walking streets" with all the shops and such, so we could see the outskirts and the non-published areas to get an idea of the way of life. Some areas we walked through we pretty normal. We found a little shopping area and a few cute swimsuits, then kept walking and found a meat and fruit market (although the lady at the hotel told us its general location). We grabbed some fruit and some cheese and figured we'd go find a place to sit. Beyond that, as we worked our way over, we went through some seriously seedy areas of town. Dirty, stinky, shady characters, looking at us like we were slightly out of place... cause we were, thank goodness. During our walked, we saw a park on the map, thinking it'd be a perfect place to sit in the shade and eat. hmmmm... you know that park in Seattle on 3rd and Yesler? Lots of homeless people? yep, that's a good description of this park. We walked up to it and promptly walked around. There were allot of people in that tiny park. The neighborhood around it wasn't much nicer. It was kinda crazy though, as we were walking through all this, there was one single block that was really nice, the building was clean & there were trees with flowers planted every ten feet of so. It crazy to see such a drastic difference from one block to the next & even just across the street.
After Keramikos, we went to the Ancient and Roman Agoras (big open spaces). In ancient times, they were the market place and main town area, shadowed by Acropolis, which we went to the next day. Lots of pillars and parts of stone from the ancient buildings. After the Agoras, we stopped on this cute street of steps lined with restaraunts. We hung out for a while with a few beers & eventually got dinner. We shared the Grower's Lamb. It was REALLY good! Slow oven baked, wrapped in grape leaves with some type of cheese and the sauce that it was with was SO good! Yum!
Today, we saw the last few main sites we wanted to see. Acropolis and from afar, due to it's being closed, the Olympian Zeus. Ok, after a while, the ruins are well... still just ruins. Looks pretty much the same everywhere. The Acropolis on the other hand was amazing. instead of a few half pillars and a bunch of stones, there were multiple massive structures still available to see. Most of it was down to the basics with no walls, but the sheer massiveness of what was left of these was incredible. Truth be told, I'm not sure what extent of preservation and potentially recreation has been done. You can see the scaffolding in many areas where they are doing some work (I don't think the scafolding is part of the ancient tools :)) Regardless, it was really an amazing sight. Also, the city is situated on top of a hill in Athens, overlooking most of Athens, so the 360 view from it was pretty dang cool. Olympian Zeus is a theatre just south of Acropolis. We did get to peer into it from Acropolis above. It had to have had a fair amount of restoration because it looked far too perfect to be left over - but still, really cool.
We also found in our walking around that downtown Athens where all the sights are, even though they are somewhat spread out, is Far smaller than the map implies. We didn't plan on seeing near as much as we did yesterday, but the sights that looked like they were a good 20-30 minute walk from each other were just about 5 minutes. I think they may have to ship in more water bottles just for us though, we're goign through the 1.5L bottles like their a few sips a piece. It's a little hot here - we may be a whole different nationality when we get back & that's with wearing 30 sunscreen at all times. You start to get used to the heat though, and we're in shorts and Chacos, so it's cool.
After finishing our sight seeing, we decided to check out the shops. I bought a pretty cool dress that I'll have very little use for in Seattle, but... I'll make it happen. :) After all that, we were starving to death, so we crossed our fingers and bought Gyros at a little place on the walking street. I don't think it qualifies as street meat because the place was actually permanent, but there was no "inside" for customers to enter. So... ??? maybe it is? It's been a few hours now though & so far so good, so here's hopin'. :D
Well, we're off to get Gelato and see if we can get a computer that will allow us to upload photos-wish me luck...
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Petra and Wadi Rum
Tuesday, our last full day in Jordan, we did an ALL day tour of Petra and Wadi Rum.
Ok, so first of all, apparently "on time" is a non-existant concept in Jordan. Our tour bus left late, so instead of having 4 hours in Petra, which still wouldn't be enough, we ended up with 3 hours there. Petra was very cool, we needed WAY more time. Its an entire ancient city (no longer occupied of course), carved into the side of the Rock. It's absolutely amazing some of the detail in the structures. Not only is it amazing that they were able to do it at all, making it now one of the wonders of the world, they have decorative entry ways and such. Unfortunately, with so little time and it taking an hour and a half to walk to the base of the Monestary (a good chunk of that being taken up by us being bugged to death to get a camel of donkey), we didn't get to see much up close. :P Definitely have to go back.
Wadi Rum on the other hand, the desert, for the part that the tour bus took us too--we had many hours more than was necessary. It's the desert--we did nothing for two hours and then watched the sun set. There was some cool dancing for a bit, but that didn't last long. Then we ate dinner and went home/back to Amman. Apparently, there are better ways to see Wadi Rum, but in this case, we wished we did an all day Petra trip.
On the bright side, making the whole thing worth it, the funniest thing happened on the way to Wadi Rum. Alert... it the flush on the toilet looks odd, check to see if there is a boudet (sp?) built into the toilet. I did not know this. need I say more? A picture's worth a thousand words...
Ok, if you can't tell, I'm in a hurry today, I may beef up the detail later. Ciao!
Ok, so first of all, apparently "on time" is a non-existant concept in Jordan. Our tour bus left late, so instead of having 4 hours in Petra, which still wouldn't be enough, we ended up with 3 hours there. Petra was very cool, we needed WAY more time. Its an entire ancient city (no longer occupied of course), carved into the side of the Rock. It's absolutely amazing some of the detail in the structures. Not only is it amazing that they were able to do it at all, making it now one of the wonders of the world, they have decorative entry ways and such. Unfortunately, with so little time and it taking an hour and a half to walk to the base of the Monestary (a good chunk of that being taken up by us being bugged to death to get a camel of donkey), we didn't get to see much up close. :P Definitely have to go back.
Wadi Rum on the other hand, the desert, for the part that the tour bus took us too--we had many hours more than was necessary. It's the desert--we did nothing for two hours and then watched the sun set. There was some cool dancing for a bit, but that didn't last long. Then we ate dinner and went home/back to Amman. Apparently, there are better ways to see Wadi Rum, but in this case, we wished we did an all day Petra trip.
On the bright side, making the whole thing worth it, the funniest thing happened on the way to Wadi Rum. Alert... it the flush on the toilet looks odd, check to see if there is a boudet (sp?) built into the toilet. I did not know this. need I say more? A picture's worth a thousand words...
Ok, if you can't tell, I'm in a hurry today, I may beef up the detail later. Ciao!
Weddings in Jordan
I forgot to add this little tidbit before. Weddings in Jordan are huge celebrations and they end with a large fireworks display. Each family tries to out do the last. On fireworks, Soooo they get progressively louder and bigger. The weddings end at midnight with a big bang, literally. The other night, there was a wedding across the street from where we are staying & it was so loud pre fireworks even, that it woke up the kids. There are no noise ordinances of any kind either, so there's nothing to be done about it. And right at midnght, it was time for the fireworks. It scared the crap out of us just as we were going to bed, a very big, very loud display of fireworks right outside our window with all sorts of sparks flying onto the house across the street and a sumphony of car alarms. Once the shock and delusions of sleep were over, the fireworks were cool to watch.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Dead Sea
We spent the last 24 hours at the Dead Sea, the pics start here. Seriously, we did it the way everybody should. We could have taken a bus down, hung out there for day with a tour & come back. Instead, for the same price, we stayed a night at a 5 star resort called Movenpick where we had access to pools, restaurants, bars, and the Dead Sea with a beach area set up in front of it. It was awesome & breakfast was even included. I highly suggest staying there if you ever go.
The Dead Sea was incredible and insufferably HOT. Due to the heat and therefore, high rate of evaporation & the fact that it doesn't go anywhere, so any minerals and such stay there as the water evaporates, it's got a really high concentration of salt and other minerals. You are so Buoyant in the Dead Sea, you literally couldn't sink enough to drown unless you purposefully layed face down. Check it out, it's crazy. we'd stand in the water with our feet straight down without kicking and arms out of the water and we'd be floating at chest level. Try getting into a normal pool after hanging out in there for a while, it make swimming seem suddenly difficult. You can stay in the Dead Sea for too long because it will actually dehydrate you.
When you're in it, any cuts or scrapes start to sting because you're soaking them in a high concentration of salt and minerals. It's very healing though, so we found that even after one day, our tiny scrapes and cuts were healing faster. Swimming in the Dead sea is also a great way to find cuts and scrapes you didn't know you had. :) The next day though, they had healed enough that there was a considerable difference and allot less stinging going in the Dead Sea again.
The mud from the dead see is also supposed to be fantastic for your skin. So, as you're supposed to, we covered ourselves in it and attempted to let it dry. At about 110 degrees though, the drying part didn't really happen. :)
After the Dead Sea, we hung out at one of the bars with an infinity pool and had shared a cheese plate, took a little nap, swam, and watched the sun set beyond the Palestinian horizon--seriously, how often do we get to do that? We also tried a little Shisha (the English name is kind of dumb, it's Hubbley Bubbley), which is basically a flavored tobacco, but the thing you smoke it out of looks essentially like a bong. It's pretty funny. We chose Double apple.
Just before we headed back to our room, the waiter was talking to us about their culture and his specifically as a Muslim. That was pretty interesting for sure, but made me very happy I have the rights I do as a woman in the US. He also told us that the guy refilling the Shisha thought that I was middle eastern, so he was speaking to me in Arabic and thought my English was poor. hehe (guess I'm screwed, cause it's the only language I know fluently) :)
Driving in Jordan--I'm pretty sure I should never drive here because I wouldn't survive it. The rules of the road are practically non-existent. Lanes? what lanes? Break lights? just a suggestion.
We've been having a great time so far though, the people are extremely nice & although I find myself expecting it from other travel experiences, they don't seem to try to screw you over at every opportunity or charge you for absolutely everything. For instance, we got complementary water at the hotel and they didn't charge extra for a second person or for more lotion. We asked for more crackers (than the two it came with) with the cheese plate & they gave us a few extra crackers without charging us. We've heard that there are places where they will though, like taking regular taxi's & at the market and such, so you definitely want to negotiate and get info ahead of time. We've been using a taxi service that Jacoub uses, so they've been awesome. Instead of paying 25-45 JD (about 38-68 dollars) for a taxi to the Dead Sea and back, we paid 13 JD with a good tip (about 20 dollars).
Our hosts and their friends and family are wonderful. It's amazing how hospitable and friendly everybody is.
The Dead Sea was incredible and insufferably HOT. Due to the heat and therefore, high rate of evaporation & the fact that it doesn't go anywhere, so any minerals and such stay there as the water evaporates, it's got a really high concentration of salt and other minerals. You are so Buoyant in the Dead Sea, you literally couldn't sink enough to drown unless you purposefully layed face down. Check it out, it's crazy. we'd stand in the water with our feet straight down without kicking and arms out of the water and we'd be floating at chest level. Try getting into a normal pool after hanging out in there for a while, it make swimming seem suddenly difficult. You can stay in the Dead Sea for too long because it will actually dehydrate you.
When you're in it, any cuts or scrapes start to sting because you're soaking them in a high concentration of salt and minerals. It's very healing though, so we found that even after one day, our tiny scrapes and cuts were healing faster. Swimming in the Dead sea is also a great way to find cuts and scrapes you didn't know you had. :) The next day though, they had healed enough that there was a considerable difference and allot less stinging going in the Dead Sea again.
The mud from the dead see is also supposed to be fantastic for your skin. So, as you're supposed to, we covered ourselves in it and attempted to let it dry. At about 110 degrees though, the drying part didn't really happen. :)
After the Dead Sea, we hung out at one of the bars with an infinity pool and had shared a cheese plate, took a little nap, swam, and watched the sun set beyond the Palestinian horizon--seriously, how often do we get to do that? We also tried a little Shisha (the English name is kind of dumb, it's Hubbley Bubbley), which is basically a flavored tobacco, but the thing you smoke it out of looks essentially like a bong. It's pretty funny. We chose Double apple.
Just before we headed back to our room, the waiter was talking to us about their culture and his specifically as a Muslim. That was pretty interesting for sure, but made me very happy I have the rights I do as a woman in the US. He also told us that the guy refilling the Shisha thought that I was middle eastern, so he was speaking to me in Arabic and thought my English was poor. hehe (guess I'm screwed, cause it's the only language I know fluently) :)
Driving in Jordan--I'm pretty sure I should never drive here because I wouldn't survive it. The rules of the road are practically non-existent. Lanes? what lanes? Break lights? just a suggestion.
We've been having a great time so far though, the people are extremely nice & although I find myself expecting it from other travel experiences, they don't seem to try to screw you over at every opportunity or charge you for absolutely everything. For instance, we got complementary water at the hotel and they didn't charge extra for a second person or for more lotion. We asked for more crackers (than the two it came with) with the cheese plate & they gave us a few extra crackers without charging us. We've heard that there are places where they will though, like taking regular taxi's & at the market and such, so you definitely want to negotiate and get info ahead of time. We've been using a taxi service that Jacoub uses, so they've been awesome. Instead of paying 25-45 JD (about 38-68 dollars) for a taxi to the Dead Sea and back, we paid 13 JD with a good tip (about 20 dollars).
Our hosts and their friends and family are wonderful. It's amazing how hospitable and friendly everybody is.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Old Amman Downtown and FOOD
Wow, due to a food coma, I couldn't do this last night.
Yesterday, we started off by going to breakfast at Ahmad and Shereen's house. They were were the folks nice enough to take along the waterproof camera and get us a DVD with a copy of all the photos and videos. Breakfast/brunch was incredible. It was a large spread where we had different kinds of breads and pita that we dipped into a huge variety of different dips, many of them hummus based with different kinds of cheeses, fruits, Jams, and felafel. We also had the best tea I've ever had, I couldn't get enough. Needless to say, we were going to pop by the time we left. Everybody here is so incredibly hospitable, it's amazing.
After brunch, Katie and I walked around the Citadel and saw amazing 360 views of Amman while walking around Roman Ruins, including the temple of Hercules. After that, we headed to old Downtown Amman, which was your typical permanent flee market. Lots of tiny stores in general and blocks and blocks of market where you can haggle for just about anything you don't want or need. :) We walked from there to the Roman Theatre, a huge outdoor amphitheatre with old roman technology, where you can stand at one end, speak normal, and your friend at the top on the other side can hear you clearly.
After the day ofcruising around, we came back to Nisreen's where they had their entire family over (holy cow, allot of people) for a party to celebrate Sherriff''s first tooth-an old old tradition to celbrate that the baby survived long enough to get his first tooth. We had amazing slightly sweet deserts--Kanafa (sp?), made of shredded wheat, syrup and cheese, it was amazing. We also had another another dessert similar to oatmeal with cinnaman and sugar. Yum, but food coma.
Yesterday, we started off by going to breakfast at Ahmad and Shereen's house. They were were the folks nice enough to take along the waterproof camera and get us a DVD with a copy of all the photos and videos. Breakfast/brunch was incredible. It was a large spread where we had different kinds of breads and pita that we dipped into a huge variety of different dips, many of them hummus based with different kinds of cheeses, fruits, Jams, and felafel. We also had the best tea I've ever had, I couldn't get enough. Needless to say, we were going to pop by the time we left. Everybody here is so incredibly hospitable, it's amazing.
After brunch, Katie and I walked around the Citadel and saw amazing 360 views of Amman while walking around Roman Ruins, including the temple of Hercules. After that, we headed to old Downtown Amman, which was your typical permanent flee market. Lots of tiny stores in general and blocks and blocks of market where you can haggle for just about anything you don't want or need. :) We walked from there to the Roman Theatre, a huge outdoor amphitheatre with old roman technology, where you can stand at one end, speak normal, and your friend at the top on the other side can hear you clearly.
After the day ofcruising around, we came back to Nisreen's where they had their entire family over (holy cow, allot of people) for a party to celebrate Sherriff''s first tooth-an old old tradition to celbrate that the baby survived long enough to get his first tooth. We had amazing slightly sweet deserts--Kanafa (sp?), made of shredded wheat, syrup and cheese, it was amazing. We also had another another dessert similar to oatmeal with cinnaman and sugar. Yum, but food coma.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Wadi Mujib - Adventure Hike
Today we did an adventure hike in Wadi Mujib (Jordan's Grand Canyon). We started of with a steep hike up what essentially looked like a logging road and dropped down into the river that winds itself through the canyons. The fresh water was surprisingly warm and much of the hike through the canyon was in shade, which made for a very pleasant temperature all the way down. I'm guessing the tempurature away from the water and shade when we got back was in the low-hundereds--melted all the snacks in the car and a pair of flip-flops. We trecked 3-4 hours down the river, including repelling down a waterfall, jumping into large pools made by small waterfalls, and sliding down nature made water slides. Such a fun treck, I wanna do it again. :) Check out the Pictures.
On the Drive to hike, we passed by the Dead Sea, which we'll actually get to go swim in in a few days. Crazier even, we were so close to both Palestine and Israel, we took pictures.
Palestine is the valley and mountain area that look a little hazey in the back. The boarder between Jordan and Palestine right here is seperated by the Jordan River. Apparently it extremely bad for your health to try to swim across it, because you'll probably get shot by the boarder guards, especially if they think you may be Israeli--we didn't test the theory. :)
Israel is directly on the other side of the Dead Sea, which you can also see in this picture.
After the hike, we went to Yacoub's parent's house for lunch/dinner--a lamb stew and shepards pie. yum. So far the food here is awesome. :)
Tomorrow we're headed to Old Amman, where we have to at least wear long shorts and t-shirts, no tanks etc. luckily we don't have to wear full headdress though.
On the Drive to hike, we passed by the Dead Sea, which we'll actually get to go swim in in a few days. Crazier even, we were so close to both Palestine and Israel, we took pictures.
Palestine is the valley and mountain area that look a little hazey in the back. The boarder between Jordan and Palestine right here is seperated by the Jordan River. Apparently it extremely bad for your health to try to swim across it, because you'll probably get shot by the boarder guards, especially if they think you may be Israeli--we didn't test the theory. :)
Israel is directly on the other side of the Dead Sea, which you can also see in this picture.
After the hike, we went to Yacoub's parent's house for lunch/dinner--a lamb stew and shepards pie. yum. So far the food here is awesome. :)
Tomorrow we're headed to Old Amman, where we have to at least wear long shorts and t-shirts, no tanks etc. luckily we don't have to wear full headdress though.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Jordan Arrival
We've been in Jordan for about 5 hours now. After a long flight and long lines to get a visa, we're exshausted. We're at Nisreen's place, where we're staying while we're here. She's got a huge apartment with her husband Jacoub and two really cute kids, Raja and Shareef.
We drove by the American Embassy, which is like a fortress. The guards don't just have guns, they are literally on-guard. Hands on waste guns and ready to shoot on the automatics. You're not even allowed to take a picture of the embassy. not sure what happens if you do, but something tells me I don't want to find out. Since we have US passports, we can apparently walk right in no problem, which we might do, just to say we did. The embassy here used to be the largest US embassy in the world until one of Saddam Husain's mansions was taken over to be an embassy in Iraq. I can't even imagine what security looks like there.
Dinner was awesome, we had a typical Jordanian meal of Shawerma. It's similar to a gyro. Yum!
Tomorrow we're getting up early to go hiking.
Finally, a shower and off to bed...
We drove by the American Embassy, which is like a fortress. The guards don't just have guns, they are literally on-guard. Hands on waste guns and ready to shoot on the automatics. You're not even allowed to take a picture of the embassy. not sure what happens if you do, but something tells me I don't want to find out. Since we have US passports, we can apparently walk right in no problem, which we might do, just to say we did. The embassy here used to be the largest US embassy in the world until one of Saddam Husain's mansions was taken over to be an embassy in Iraq. I can't even imagine what security looks like there.
Dinner was awesome, we had a typical Jordanian meal of Shawerma. It's similar to a gyro. Yum!
Tomorrow we're getting up early to go hiking.
Finally, a shower and off to bed...
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Here we go...
My sister and I are just about to board the flight to Amman, Jordan. then we're off to Greece and Turkey. after that, my sister heads back to the real world & i meet up with Erin for Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, and Croatia.
FML :D hehe
I'll update as often as I can & get some pics loaded as I go, check back often or sign up to get notified of updates.
Have fun and keep me posted on any good stories while I'm gone, teklae@gmail.com
FML :D hehe
I'll update as often as I can & get some pics loaded as I go, check back often or sign up to get notified of updates.
Have fun and keep me posted on any good stories while I'm gone, teklae@gmail.com
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