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...

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.

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.

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...

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!

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.

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.

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.

For a different perspective...

Katie has a blog too... http://www.katieeiler.blogspot.com/

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.

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...

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