Palmyra, Crac des Chavliers and Aleppo

Palmyra:

Rome's got nothing on this place. While the modern town of Palmyra isn't much to write home about, the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra are outstanding. We spent the (very hot) Thursday morning exploring the area, learning from our guide the history of the place. Afterwards, we had a few hours to kill before our bus arrived to take us to Crac des Chevaliers (more on that later). Michael wanted to write in his journal, so I set off on my own to do some shopping. I didn't get very far, though: at the second shop I went into, the shopkeeper, Mohammed, struck up a conversation with me and offered me tea ("Syrian hospitality"). It was quiet in the shop (tourism is low right now), Mohammed seemed to genuinely want to converse and I had time. Over the course of about 5 cups of tea (he just kept pouring it and even went back to make a second pot after I insisted he shouldn't), we talked about his family, life in America and Syria, why Americans are nervous to travel to Syria (he insisted they shouldn't be and I agreed wholeheartedly) and exchanged lessons in English and Arabic (I learned how to say "nice to meet you" and "cheers"). It was a really wonderful way to spend an hour.

We did make a fun little find, too. At a restaurant we ate at, the owner was selling old Iraqi money--we landed a Iraqi bill with Saddam's pictures on it for $6. Creepy and cool all at the same time.

Crac des Chavliers:

That afternoon, we departed for what Lawrence of Arabia has called the finest castle in all the world. I'm guessing he'd seen a lot of castles and being that this castle *was* pretty cool, he's probably right. We arrived in the evening and got treated to one of our better meals here--cooked eggplant and zucchini, french fries, grilled chicken, pita with hummus and other yummy dips, fresh fruit and tea. Yum.

The next morning, Michael and I rose early to catch the sunrise, then we met up with the group to do a tour of the castle. The castle wasn't the only amazing thing; equally amazing is how laxed they were about safety there. We could climb on top of the outer walls that stood about 100 feet from the ground without a guardrail or rope in sight and scamper down long dark, damp hallways without any lights to speak of. Just as well--it meant we really got to explore and imagine ourselves as knights and kings/queens for a day.

One interesting thing to note: the climate and landscape really changed from Palmyra to the castle. Palmyra was pure desert with a dry heat; the area surrounding the castle was actually green (albiet not like Wisconsin) and was still hot, but humid. It wasn't what I expected of Syria at all--I had expected it to be all desert like, since that's what we'd been experiencing up until that point. But, I stand corrected.

Aleppo:

We stayed in Aleppo, Syria for two days, left this morning. Aleppo competes with Damascus for the "oldest continously inhabited city in the world" title, apparently, but according to Lonely Planet, Damascus wins. Who knows. In any event, Aleppo is like a smaller version of Damascus--smaller population and smaller souqs (markets) to be sure. But it's nice to be in one place for more than a day. We did end up having the best shwarma yet, though, in Aleppo. Fresh pork, fresh veggies and some sort of yogurt sauce that made it lip smacking delicious. Not to mention that it cost us about two dollars each for a shwarma and a can of soda. Yummy.

We crossed the border into Turkey this afternoon where we've been promised the food gets even better and we'll see more and more carpet stores. :) Ciao!

You are now entering Syria...

We spent Sunday in Amman, Jordan visiting the Roman Ampitheater, getting lost in the city and trying to get into mosques. I say trying, because at the first one we were scolded and told "no women" and at the second, there was a sign at the entrance reading "tourists welcome from 11am to 3:30pm". It was 4:30pm. Oh well. The shining jewel of our day was spending 2 hours or so lounging about at The Blue Fig, a restaurant in what seemed to be the hoity-toity neighborhood of Amman. The food was delicious, the ambiance was spectacular and the prices were cheap. Can't get much better than that.

The next day we left for Syria and arrived in Damascus at about 4pm. We've been hearing all along that Damascus is awesome and we weren't disappointed. This city is amazing. It's bustling, but not chaotic like Cairo. When you get inside the old city walls, it's like getting lost in Venice (without the water and everyone is speaking Arabic). There is so much to see and experience here that has nothing to do with touristy stuff--it's all about walking around the Souqs (markets) to look at the countless shops of clothing, spices, gold jewelry and candy or sitting at a cafe sipping tea, smoking a nargila (hooka) and playing backgammon with friends (which we did both nights we were there). Michael and I kept remarking how cool it was to see how people here really lived, since clearly none of the stuff we were seeing was set up for our benefit, the tourists. I suppose that's what you get for visiting the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

The people here are beautiful and friendly. Also, suprisingly to us, there were a noticable number of women who didn't wear a headscarf, much more so than in Egypt or Jordan. And, consistent with what we've experienced before, we were greeted with countless people welcoming us to Damascus as we passed them on the street. We really enjoyed our time in Damascus and could definitely see coming back.

What do Lawrence of Arabia, Indiana Jones and the Dead Sea have in common?

Not sure? Read on to find the answer...

Lawrence:

Wednesday, we set out for Wadi Rum, a protected desert area in Jordan and about an hour and a half from Aquaba. We spent the afternoon driving around the desert in 4WD vehicles, stopping at points of interest, including a giant sand dune and the house at which Lawrence of Arabia spent a winter. By the end of the day, we were all covered in a fine red sand and all desperately wanted a shower.

There was no shower in sight, however, since we camped that night at a desert camp set up in the traditional Beduoin style. The Beduoins are nomadic tribes that, until recently, set up camps throughout the desert and stay for a couple months at a time wherever they are. Now they tend to stay in one place, relying on tourism to sustain them by running camps like the one we stayed at or working at tourist sites such as Petra. They still tend sheep and maintain traditional lifestyles as much as possible, though.

After a dinner of chicken and potatoes made "hangi" style (or something like that, which means the food was placed on a grill which was then placed in a hole in the ground with coals over it), we sat around and talked under the stars while the Beduoin men sang traditional songs for us. As they sang, Zaid, the head of the camp, periodically "sang" by grunting rhythmically to the music. I think it started off as a traditional part of the song, but he seemed to really ham it up for our benefit. He also (jokingly) started calling Nora, one of the feistier women in our group, his wife, and kept telling Michael not to worry, that I was safe and that he (Zaid) would make sure no one tried to take me as their own wife. He did, in fact, have two wives and eight children between them...

That evening, we watched the sunset over the mountains and then went for a night hike with only the full moon and gazillion (at least) stars as our light source. Michael got some absolutely beautiful shots from that time.

Indiana Jones:

The next morning, we drove to Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world and, perhaps even more exciting, the location of several scenes in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. Walking among the ruins is quite unbelievable--the site is the ancient capital city of the Nabateians and was carved from solid rock. They hand carved gigantic columns, tombs, etc out of the beautiful multicolored sandstone so the "buildings" are literally coming out of the mountains behind them. After a guided 4 hour tour throughout the site, we went to dinner and then to a nearby hotel to watch Indiana Jones in the hotel lobby. About an hour into the movie, and just as they were getting to the Petra scenes....the power went out in the entire neighborhood. Crap. We walked back to our hotel in the dark and got ready for bed by candlelight. Just as well, I suppose, since we had an early morning the next day...

We woke at 6:30am to beat the sun and took donkies up to the top of one particular mountain into which was carved a huge monastary. As we enjoyed the view from the shade of a small cave, a little Beduoin girl literally climbed up through a hole in the rock nearby, sat next to us and started chatting away. We found out her name was Tama, she was 8 years old, and she lived nearby in the Beduoin camp with her family. She became entranced with Nora's digital camera and even took some pictures on her own, saying to us "1,2,3, cheeeeeese!". Tama was incredibly bright and very sweet. After she left, one of the women wondered aloud what Tama could have been and done in her life, had she been born into a different situation. We marveled at our own lives, how lucky we all are to have the choices and abilities we do, to get an education, travel, lead extremely comfortable lives. It's just another reason I love traveling--it forces me to put things into perspective and remember not to take my privileges for granted...

Dead Sea:
Last night and tonight we're staying in Madaba, about 2 hours from the Syrian border. It's a great little town and, true to form, everyone keeps smiling at us and saying "Welcome to Jordan!" On the way there, we stopped at several sites, the highlight being the 2 hours we spent at a resort on the Dead Sea. All the stuff you've ever seen or heard about the Dead Sea is true: the water is so salty that you can float with absolutely no effort at all, which is quite a weird feeling. The salt also pours into whatever open wounds you might have and burns the heck out of your eyes if you happen to be unlucky enough to get some there. But, once you get over that, it sure is a cool feeling to be in "normal" water that clearly isn't normal at all. We also all treated ourselves to a mud soak, baked ourselves in the sun, and then rinsed off to leave us with, supposedly, skin that was as smooth as a newborn. None of us really felt that different though...just dirty and funny looking. But it made for good pictures, and in the end that's what matters most, right?

So in the end, what do Lawrence, Indy and the Dead Sea have in common? Not much, except they all got a mention in our blog... :)

Today we took a day trip to Amman, the capital of Jordan, to walk around, get to know the city and do street photography....more to come!

Goodbye Cairo, hello paradise.

We joined up with our Intrepid group on Sunday. This seems to be a really great group: everyone has a good attitude about things, has a good sense of humor, and interesting life details to discuss. There are two pairs of Aussies (a mother-son pair and a husband-wife pair who found out through casual conversation that they live in the same town and have a mutual friend), a woman from England, three other Americans (a father-daughter duo and another woman), a Kiwi (who currently lives in Australia but quickly corrects you if you make the mistake of calling her an Aussie!), a woman from Guatamala (ask me to share with you my Guatamala story someday) and our trip leader, Tadas, is from Lithuania.

We left Cairo late Sunday night for Nuweiba, a resort town on the Red Sea. We had to take an overnight bus that left at 10:15pm. It was, to say the least, uncomfortable. Babies crying, people talking loudly on their cell phones, veeeeery cramped seats, lights that wouldn't turn off, security check points every hour or so, and a bus driver who couldn't quite figure out where he was supposed to drop us off. At about 6am, the bus came to a stop in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. "Sawa Camp," he said. That's us! That's us? Where are we?

We got off the bus, unloaded our packs and as we stood and faced the sea, a man walked up and said "Sawa Camp?" "Ok," we replied, and followed him down a long dirt path that led to a sandy beach dotted with bungalows with concrete floors and walls and roofs made of dried palm leaves. He took us to a bungalow right on the edge of the beach, about 20 feet from the waves; it had a "deck" that extended from the front complete with a hammock in the corner. As a soft breeze blew across the sand, the sun crested over the Saudi Arabian mountains across the water. Ahhh, paradise. We had arrived.

The next day and a half consisted of reading, sleeping, swimming, eating and more reading. In the evening the group gathered for dinner and then sat around drinking wine and beer, smoking a sheesha (a hooka) and getting to know each other better.

Some of us stayed up late into the night, and Michael took advantage of the evening to experiment with long exposure photography. The image on this post is a view of the sea and the camp owner's dog. Beautiful, no?

Yesterday we left around 1pm for the ferry that would take us to Jordan. It was supposed to leave at 2pm but it was late and we ended up leaving at...8pm. Whoa. Talk about fashionably late. Luckily everyone stayed in good spirits by reading, playing games and napping in the dingy crowded waiting station. I even taught Tadas how to play cribbage! At one point, Michael looked around and said, "Of the over 100 people in here, I think there are about 10 women, and 7 of them are in our group." Tadas thought that probably, since the ferry cost a considerable amount for an Egyptian (70 American Dollars), they were probably traveling to Jordan for temporary work and therefore, mostly men.

We arrived in Aquaba, Jordan, the only port to the Red Sea, yesterday evening around 10:30pm. Here in the Middle East, foreigners get the premium treatment--they let us board and disembark from the ferry first and gave us a comfortable bus ride to and from the waiting station and the ferry. And, true to form, a majority of the officials we came in contact with said "Welcome to Jordan" just like in Egypt. No, it's not exactly how we treat foreigners in the States, is it? Imagine if we were all so welcoming...it certainly makes a difference in one's perspective of the country.

In a few hours we'll head out for a ride through the Wadi Rum desert in a 4WD to see the landscape. We've been promised sand dunes and sites where Lawrence of Arabia presumably stayed. We've also been promised lots of heat. If the walk to this internet point is any indication, we're in for a broiler...

As I type this, the call to prayer has come over the loudspeakers that blare throughout each city five times a day, at 4:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm and 9:30pm. It's a hauntingly beautiful sound that reminds Muslims of one of the five pillars of Islam, to pray every day 5 times to thank Allah (God) for their existence. It's really a cool thing to hear, not to mention that it's a special little reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore Toto.

Day 2 and 3 in Cairo

The past few days have been filled with “wow, we're really here” moments. And lots of heat. It is VERY hot here, but we've been managing with sunscreen and big bottles of water. We're staying downtown, on one of the busiest streets in Cairo. And it is VERY busy. There are cars and people everywhere, especially as you get further into the evening. Cars are honking every 3 seconds, since honking is seen more as a polite “hello, I'm passing you” than a “hey, bucko, watch where you're going!” honk that we're used to in the U.S. People cross the street as they're able, without bothering with crosswalks since a) there aren't many and b) cars don't always observe the signs anyway. It's not always apparent that there are even lanes, but somehow they seem to make it work and we have yet to see an accident. There are SO many people out and about, walking the sidewalks with ice cream cones and shopping bags in their hands, window shopping, stopping to say hello to each other. Occasionally, a teenager will yell out “welcome to Cairo!” as we pass, to which we smile and say “shukrun (thank you)”.

Yesterday was spent touring the step pyramids at Sakara (the first pyramids ever) and the Pyramids of Giza (you know, THE pyramids). We hired a guide and private car through the hostel to take us around, which ended up being the best thing we could've done since neither of us knew too much about Egyptian history; we learned a lot from Wudi, our guide. The pyramids are gigantic, way bigger than Michael or I imagined they would be. One of the highlights of the pyramids was getting followed around by a man trying to get us to ride his camel, Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown was very cute, but according to Wudi, the strategy was to get us on the camel, ride us out into the desert and demand we give him a ton of money to get him to take us back to our car. Very sneaky, Charlie Brown. We'll pass on the ride.

Wudi also took us “off the agenda” to see a mustaba, a pre-pyramid tomb with multiple rooms all one level. We were driven into the middle of the desert, about two miles from the step pyramids, to the tomb. Although it was open to the public and technically a tourist spot, there was no one there except an old egyptian man who oversaw the area; Wudi says most people don't know about it. He led us into the first rooms of the tomb, sort of like a “tomb foyer”, which were filled with heiroglyphics and depictions of various scenes on all the walls. It was absolutely breathtaking and felt almost as if we shouldn't be there—this stuff belonged in a museum and we could just go up and touch it! Wudi explained to us the various scenes and depictions as we oooed and ahhhed over everything. There was something very magical about those rooms—they felt alive and real, as opposed to the heiroglyphics and statues and carvings you see behind glass in a museum. It really helped me fee connected to human history in a way I hadn't felt before.

Later that day, we went to a papyrus paper “factory”, which, if anything, was a factory for getting people to hand over their money. Apparently it worked, because after they showed us how papyrus paper is made, we bought two drawings from them. Very sneaky, papyrus man.

Today, we slept in (oh, so nice) and then headed to the Eygptian Museum to see the treasures of Tutankhamen. Unbelievable. I haven't seen so much gold in my life—and the most intricate beadwork and inlays of semi-precious stones imaginable. King Tut's body had been mummified, covered with the famous headpiece we all know as well as layers upon layers of gold and beaded jewelry, put inside a gold coffin which went inside another coffin which was inside of a wooden coffin. The coffin was then put in a big box covered in gold, which was placed inside another gold box which was place in yet another gold box. Talk about being treated like royalty.

Tomorrow we'll try to get to old Cairo, or Copptic Cairo as it's also called. Then we'll meet up with our Intrepid group and head to Mt. Sinai. More to come!!!

We're finally here (Milan/Cairo)

Who knew getting out of the midwest could be so difficult?? It all started out so well--we grabbed our 5am bus no problem, got to Ohare with time to spare...we were even being nice to each other despite the only 2 hours of sleep we had gotten the night before! Our itinerary looked something like this: depart Ohare, grab a connection flight in JFK airport in New York City, fly to Milan, arrive 8:30am June 9th. We were all set to go, very excited. We boarded the plane.As we sat down, it began to rain. "Will this delay us at all?" Michael asked a flight attendant. "I doubt it," she replied. "It doesn't look bad at all." Everyone took their seats and the plane taxied onto the runway...
But the weather ended up being bad. So bad that we sat on the runway for 4 hours as the wind shook the plane and drove the rain sideways past our windows. So bad that they canceled our fight. So bad that they canceled lots of other flights, too, and thousands of people were delayed at Ohare. We ended up standing in long lines and talking to countless airline representatives at Ohare for about 12 hours, trying to get rerouted. In the end, we had to stay in Chicago for the night and catch the 3pm flight the next day...

So we lost one day in Milan, but when you're traveling for 45 days, one day doesn't feel so bad...and we were just thankful to get out of the States! Who knew that we would start our day at 3:30am, be on a bus for 3 hours and a plane for 4, and only make it as far as Chicago?

Anyway, Milan. Oh, Milan how we love thee! It was wonderful to be able to walk around our old neighborhood (we lived there together in 2003), take in the familiar smells, sounds and sights, and just be back in a place that holds so many memories for us. Oh, and of course we were excited for the food! After we threw down our bags at the hotel, the first place we headed was Pizza OK, our favorite pizzeria. Don't let the name fool you, this place is way more than OK. It's heavenly. The pizzas look huge, and they are, but most people can eat one in a sitting, since the crust is paper thin and it just tastes so darn good. As you can tell in this picture, we are more than happy to be there.

After a full stomach, we did as the Italians do and strolled. Strolled for about 5 hours around the city. And of course we stopped for gelato. Nicciola (hazelnut) and pistachio...delicious. If you've never eaten gelato in Italy, it's worth the cost of a plane ticket to do it here--there's something about the gelato that American gelaterias never can quite capture.

As a part of the day, we stopped at the Duomo in the city center, a gigantic church dating back to the early 14th century. It's one of my favorite churches in Italy and hopefully these pictures will give you a sense of why:

And of course, after a long hard day, we went to Spontini, Michael's favorite pizzeria. They offer two choices, normal and big, and the place is always packed. So packed, in fact, that as soon as they clear your plates, a waiter comes up to you and says something like "Hey, ragazzi, did you like your meal? Great!...now get out." Everyone gets kicked out like that, without fail, if they sit too long. And it's always our favorite part of the meal. :)

This morning, we repacked our bags and boarded another bus, yet again, to take us back to the Milan airport to board a plane, yet again, to take us to Cairo, from where I write this. We honestly haven't done much yet, since, yet again, neither of got much sleep last night and needed a long nap after we arrived at our hostel.

So far, though, I can tell you that people here are friendly and hospitable. Almost too friendy, as we experienced the gazillion people asking us if we needed a taxi or some assistance as we waited for our hostel driver to pick us up...but that's more about us sticking out like sore thumbs and people wanting to make money off the tourist industry...

So now we're relaxing at the hostel (King Tut Hostel, which is, so far, excellent as far as hostels go). We'll take it easy tonight, settling for a venture outside to a falafel stand and an early night in bed. Tomorrow we leave at 9am to view the pyramids (which we saw from our plane and are oh my gosh amazing to see! I kept squealing "oh my gosh, the pyramids! It's really the pyramids!" as I looked out the window.) We're even hiring an english speaking egyptiantologist (or something like that) who can give us the full history of the area. Awesome. We'll have pictures soon, for sure.

And now I'm going to rouse Michael from his deep sleep and grab a bite to eat. Ma'as salaama!

The adventure begins...

Tomorrow morning at 5am (yes, I said 5am) we'll board a bus that will take us to Chicago to board a plane that will take us across the Atlantic Ocean to start our trip of a lifetime. Michael and I will be traveling in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and the Balkans for the next six weeks. "What's your itinerary?" you ask. "Well," I say, taking a deep breath, "Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine and back to Italy. Oh, and you can click here to see a more detailed itinerary." Yeah, six weeks. :) And you can just imagine how many pictures that translates to. Let's just put it this way--when we spent 3 weeks in Thailand, we took over 2000 images between the two of us. So that means....over 4000?? Whoa.

During the trip, we're gonna do our darndest to keep y'all updated and share some of our photos with you. So check in periodically or, even better, subscribe to this blog (scroll to the bottom of this page and click on "subscribe to posts") so you'll know IMMEDIATELY when we've hit the "publish post" button. That way you don't have to sit in front of your computer all day every day hitting refresh every 30 seconds (Mom, I'm talking to you.) :)

So with that, I'm off to pack my bag, charge our camera batteries and update the music on my iPod. Ciao!!

Erin & Erin

They're married! And we've got gorgeous pictures to prove it! :) Erin's laughter was infectious--and it seemed she was always laughing! And Eric was always at the ready with a funny comment (or two!). Something tells me there will be a lot of laughter in their new life together...

Thanks to the two of you for allowing Michael and I to document your day. We had a great time.