Last day on the Islands....

Yesterday was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful and the wind was calm. We took the ATV on our biggest trip yet on this island that included some "extreme" off roading! We climbed to the very top of a hill for a great view and then ended up on the other side of the island - a short cut through the hills. The roads were crazy bumpy with only large loose rocks - much more "extreme" than a dirt road. We took lunch sea side and experimented with some seafood. The fish looked like nothing we've ever seen. The filet resembeled a peeled apple - it was very strange and not that great. After an afternoon on the beach we headed back to town.

We had a quick snack and beer during "happy hour" which was great and then played some paddle ball on the beach wall watchign the sun set. The sun sets are amazing here. The sky turns colours of pink/red that we have never seen.

Later that night we had a snack which was a waffle, covered in chocolate and topped with whipped cream, fruit, ice cream, and chocolate sauce. It was like nothing we've ever heard of - this thing could have easily fed 4 people - that said, jessie and I made short work of it using our vacation as an excuse for our indulgence.

The EuroCup is on and we were at a packed house because Greece was playing Russia on a VERY big screen. Greece lost, unfortunately (because we're long time Greek football fans), but it was neat to see how excited that the fans get. You'd think people were dying based on their reactions.

Today is a slow day involving a ferry ride to Athens. We'll have our last greek meal in Athens tonight and maybe do a bit of shopping to fill out the last available spots in our packs before boarding the big plane home tomorrow!

See you all soon! (Back to work on Wednesday...boo)

Paros, Greece

Hello.....

Another short post today, unless we get a few pics up.

We had an awesome night last night involving dinner only feet from the sea, cocktails during happy hour which were completely ridiculous, and a night-cap coffee/snack coupled with a walk through an interesting little shopping area. The cocktails were so delicious - They were huge and made with fresh juices. Jessie was "done" after 2.

Today we slept in, shockingly.....and after a nice lunch in a courtyard covered by flowers overhead, we rented an ATV on this island and hit the road. Our new ATV is much faster and more fun - plus we're that much more comfortable on it, so its great. Jessie spent a bit more time at the helm, so that's a good sign!

Its VERY windy today on the island but after some exploring and checking on the windy side of the island we did some offroading and after a number of backroads found our way to a very quiet beach with only a few other people. The beach had an awesome view of a seaside town and beautiful rolling hilss behind us. All of the beaches we've seen yet included very sharp declines from shallow to deep water whereas this beach allowed us to walk out at least 100m before the water passed our wastes. After a very enjoyable swim and some paddle ball, we took a more direct route back to our hotel where we plan on readign a bit by the pool before heading in to town for dinner and "potentially" a movie. We say "potentially" as our first two attempts to find the movie theatre were unsuccessful. Its "open air" so we think it'll have a drive-in feel and we're quite excited about it. Jess is keeping her fingers crossed for SATC (or for the men out there - Sex in the City). Steve is hoping otherwise.

Anyways - we really appreciate your interest in how things are going.

See you all soon!

Mykonos Greece

Hi everyone,

Short post today. We're not up to much!

Yesterday we rented an ATV after returning our tiny car. After checking out a beach last night we had a nice dinner and went out for drinks. We know that we keep writing about it but the prices blow our mind! 5EURO for Gin, Tonic NOT included. 2.50EUR for tonic. We're talking $12 drinks - ridiculous. Sunscreen is a wonderful 20EUR - luckily jess brought an ample supply.

This morning we slept in a bit and took the ATV on another trip after lunch. We visited two amazing beaches and went swimming at both. The water isn't warm, but the air is and once you're in, the water is fine. Its so clear and beautiful that we get over its temperature relatively quickly. The ATV is so much fun. Its quick enough to give you a bit of a rush but slow enough to remain safe. We remain the geeky tourists with helmets none the less. Jess even took her short turn as pilot yesterday! Very brave!

The second beach we visited was called "Super Paradise" (not to be mistaken with "paradise" beach which is nearby). We had to decide which to visit, but honestly, is it that difficult? Would you rather go to "Paradise Beach" or "SUPER Paradise Beach" - the decision was easy. Regardless, it was nestled between two huge hills which avoided the wind. There is a great club/bar at its back and neat seating including bean bag chairs and beds (12EUR of course - so we hit the sand. :) ) We can't help but mention the level of nudity!!! It seems like the naked people outnumbered the clothed. Dudes were letting it all hang out. We knew that we weren't in Wasaga anymore.

We're going to make an attempt to overlook the prices tonight and have some fun on our last night on this very cool island before heading to Paros tomorrow. Jess presently has her 3rd application of masscara on, along with her Black Dress, so apparently we're having a big night. :) She's generally frowned on make-up for the past 4 weeks.

That's all for now. Can't wait to see all of you next week!

Samos/Mykonos

Hello from Greece.

After a very hectic move from Turkey to Greece we found ourselves on our first Greek island - Samos. Well we'd love to tell you of all the adventerous exploring we conducted, we're sorry to saythat Steve was very sick to his stomach and we ended up missing a day and a half on Samos. What we did see was many cafes set footsteps from the mediterranean. They were all very fancy and served starbucks style coffees (althought nearly DOUBLE the price!) and wonderful deserts including homemade Gelato!!! While Steve could not partake, Jessie assured him that the product wasn't good anyways and that she only had 3 separate servings to make sure that she just didn't have bad batches. :)

Yesterday we boarded a HUGE ferry for a 5 hour ride from Island to Island. The ship was AMAZING. It had everything on it. Multiple Cafes, big screen TVS with the news on them. We enjoyed the entire time on the deck taking in the wonderful views of passing ships and islands. We were met by our hostel owner in the Mykonos port and taken to our Hostel. We're just outside of the main town on the Island. We have a rooftop patio and a short walk down 100 steps to a beautiful beach. Last night we had a nice dinner at a sea side cafe where we watched an amazing sunset. The sky was more pink then we've ever seen. After getting caught up in some american TV movies in our room on our luxurious 13" TV, we slept in this morning and rented a car. This car is SO small. Its like a golf cart. Its actually a lot of fun to drive though as its standard and the roads are so narrow and windy. We go 30km an hour and feel like we're racing as the lack of seaside cliff guard rails makes us feel "dangerous!" :) We made great use of our "wheels" be circling the entire island today. We visited a few beaches which didn't have any tourists and went swimming. The water isn't hot, that's for sure, but once you're in its fine. Its beautifully blue and clear and its fun to see interesting fish swimming between your legs and all about. This afternoon we had a nice lunch and have been exploring the town of Mykonos. Its such a classic greek town. Every street is an amazing photo op. We have no plans for the next 2 days here but we're not too worried as we're looking forward to sleeping in and lazing on the beach. We think that we'll rent an ATV tomorrow to mix things up - that should be fun!

So, so far, so good. Minus the stomach sickness greece has been fantastic!

Thanks for reading! Bye for now!

The Last of Turkey

Hi All,

We finished our time in Turkey with a great final two days. First we went to Pamukkale which was located about 3 hours from where we were staying in Selcuk. We took a minibus back and forth which worked out great. Pamukkale's claim to fame is a large range of hills that are covered with limestone. It is quite the sight, it looks far away like snow, but when you get closer it's rock which is relatively smooth with small grooves throughout. (Check out the pic!)

You start at the bottom of the hill and work your way up, they ask you to remove your shoes to protect the rock which makes walking interesting at times as the ground is very rocky and was sore on our pampered feet :) There are man made pools along the way which have clear water and you can swim, well more like sit, in these. From the top the view is pretty amazing, you can see over the city but it also gives you a view of the limestone and the natural pools that have been preserved. The water is clear and we had a beautiful sunny day so the water in the pools was light blue. Against the white limestone it was a pretty amazing site. We enjoyed the day swimming and exploring this unique place. It was very warm out, perfect weather...Steve got a bit too much sun. He should have borrowed Jess' SPF 70 sunblock!

The next morning we went to Ephesus which is very close to Selcuk. Ephesus is an ancient city and there are many ruins to explore. It's amazing to think this was once a city filled with people, everything was very old and some of the sites were very impressive.

Yesterday afternoon we left Selcuk to head to Kusdasi, a Turkish port, to sail to Samos, Greece. What we thought was going to be a straightforward trip turned into quite the adventure. Our hostel advised us on what time to leave to take the bus to the port, as it turned out we should have left much earlier! We got off the bus and begin what was to be a 'short' walk to the port. We still had to pick up our ferry tickets from the travel agency we'd booked with and were definitely short on time. We finally found the agency with very little time to spare and it turns out we were at the wrong office. The woman at the reception area was trying to help but there was definitely a language barrier. We ended up having to run to the other office, then run down to the port where we were ushered quickly by security who said the ship was waiting. Since we were leaving the country we had to clear customs, so they had us running to customs and then we had to put all our stuff through security (like at the airport). Then it was a final sprint to the ship. They hadn't been joking when they said they were holding the ship for us, it started to sail literally the second we stepped on board. Whew, close call!!! We were so happy to put down our packs, it was way too much running with those heavy things on.

We were on the ferry for about an hour and a half to Samos which is a beautiful island with big rolling hills and a great walkway along the water with cafes and restaurants. We head out tomorrow to Mykonos for about 4 days and are excited to explore a new island and rent atv's or something like that.

Thanks for reading, we hope all is well with everyone at home!

Göreme & Selçuk, Turkey

Thanks as always for checkıng ın on us! We apprecıate the ınterest!

Yesterday we fınıshed our tıme ın Central Turkey wıth a day long tour of the Cappadoccia regıon. The morning featured a tour of an underground city used by ancient civilizations to escape enemy armies - This place was huge! We visted 8 of the 14 floors and observed one ventilation shaft that made the depth of the city very apparent. Navigating the city was challenging at times as spiral stair cases shrunk over time to slow enemy attacks should they occur. At many points we were nearly on our knees to avoid bumping our heads. Its amazing to think that ~2000 people would live in this underground city for as much as a month at a time. Because its made of volcanic rock, it was able to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The city included everything - schools, wineries, churches, morges, and stables - WILD! We then did a 4km hike through a gorge. The view was cool and it was a very pretty setting as we walked beside the river the entire time. After a decent lunch we visited "pigeon valley" which was yet another cool view of the area. Check out the picture attached. The town is to the left, and the typical volcanic ash formations are to the right.

The town was a cool place to stay a few nights. You can check out our hotel which was carved out of the rock in the pics (behind Jess). Our room was really neat and had a cool atmosphere (Pic below). The view from our doorstep is behind steve.

After dinner and some Baklava and Rice Pudding in Goreme, we went to bed early as we were up at 6:00am for our busy day of travel. After an uneventful flight west to the Coast, we had our first difficulty obtaining transportation from the Airport in Izmir to Selcuk. After becoming very frustrated with taxi drivers who spoke poor english and kept quoting us 90 turkish lira for the trip, an "abandoned" train station, terrible directions, and still worse english, we made our way BACK into the airport, THROUGH security to finally receive the help of a very kind man with good english. After spending over an hour of frustration in the airport, we got the directions we needed and were on our way! We paid 10TRY each for a 5 minute bus out of the airport, afterwhich we were dropped off on the side of the street. There was no bus stop, and no way to cross the busy thoroughfare between us and the location we "thought" was where we needed to pick up our next bus based on the mumblings of our current driver.

After another 15 minutes of wandering with our heavy packs, we did finally discover a method to cross the road. At that time, we began walking aimlessly down the street amidst sporadic quarreling of course only to find, to our surprise, a van with a sign entitled "Selcuk" coming towards us. Steve flagged down this van only to find that it was 6TRY per person to Selcuk.??? Is this how transportation to locations over 1hr away is organized in Turkey!?!?!? We were the first on the bus, as we believe that we did not enter from a standard, unlabeled location. We then became educated as to the local's method of procuring transportation. Why book a ticket online when the driver's assistant opens the doors of the moving van and shouts out the door - Selcuk! Selcuk! Selcuk! To our amazement, NUMEROUS individuals responded to this call, and in no time flat the van was full. On our way to Selcuck we dropped people off on strange roads and picked up other people who looked lost, homeless hitchhikers. Also, we can't help to mention the service we received while in transit. For our 7TRY (5CAD) we received hand sanatizer which was given to everyone from a water bottle. After approximately 20 minutes of our very long 1hr journey, water was distributed by the driver's assistant in a similar fashion to that of an airline stewardess. Jessie asked for a Wine Spritzer, however we were informed that they were currently out of stock. At the end of the day, we had a very interesting, incredibly frustrating however thankfully safe trip to our destination.

Our hostel tonight is clean and basic, but we are happy with it. The owner's nephew, like all of the hostel workers we've met, are amazingly helpful, friendly, and generous. We feel very at home.

Tomorrow we have a day long tour involving two 3 hour bus rides to Pammukale . We're exicted to swim in the limestone pools! We'll put some pics on facebook tomorrow night if we have a chance!

Love to everyone, hope you're well, bye for now!

Goreme

Yo Yo Yo,

Yesterday we flew from Istanbul to Kayseri (1hr) and obtained a ride to Goreme. After being ushered out of our transport with very little English instruction, we were met by a gentleman from the travel agency that owns the hotel we were staying at. All in all, the trip to the hostel worked out great, despite our skepticism! We were very pleased with our hostel as it looked exactly as it had in the pictures. We stayed in a CAVE! The hostel had a small patio with a great view of the surrounding area. Despite a cramped space, the hostel served us well, was a lot of fun, and was definitely an interesting experience.

After sleeping in this morning, we switched hostels to mix things up as we had always planned to and moved to a hotel owned by the same owner of the hostel we were at. We liked our first place, but we LOVE this place. Our room is much larger, is definitely still in a Cave, includes a fireplace, sitting area, and very modern bathroom including a turkish bath! We're on a secluded side of the "hill" and feel like we have the whole place to ourselves. There is an amazing view just outside our door and from the patio in the hotel. We'll post some pics on facebook.

After getting settled, we took in the "Open Air Museum" which is an excellent example of the unique terrain and cave homes/churches which were built within them. While treacherous at times, we enjoyed climbing into numerous caves - some of which hosted vibrant fresco paintings which were painted over 1000 years ago. The colour still looks great.

This evening, we were guided through Rose Valley. Rose Valley is a perfect example of why this area is so special. You can check out a short video from one of the many vantage points we enjoyed if you like - we've attached it in this blog.

The hike was about three hours and we took endless pictures. The rock formations are like nothing that we've ever seen before, and the variety of colours and variations in elevation are fantastic. The hike concluded with a very high view of the valley below, the beautiful rose valley hosting its pink rock formations and of course, the SUNSET! Jessica thinks this is VERY romantic. Steve was too busy taking pictures to realize this fact.

After an exhausting 8 hours of walking between the museum and hike, we sought refugee in our hotel where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner including our ever present ice cream desert, and equally ever present vista view!

We're off to bed for now, as we'll need our rest for a full 8 hour day of touring the area tomorrow. After that, we're off to the turkish coast!

Bye for now! J and S.

Istanbul V2

Just a quick note before we head to the airport for the 3rd time in 4 days!

Our last two days in Istanbul have been great! Istanbul is a very pretty city with lots of sites and a beautiful waterfront.

Yesterday we did a great deal of shopping at the grand bazaar. There are so many shops and so many neat souvenirs. We did our best to avoid the trap of buying a million things that look cool at the bazaar but that we have no spot for at home. Also, after learning some tough haggling lessons in Egypt these turks didn't know what they were in for when we hit the bazaar - we think we got some good deals! After that we took the tram to the waterfront and enjoyed the view before heading to the Spice Bazaar. We didn't buy anything as it was just spices, but there were some strange animals and tons of vendors selling a colourful array of spices! At both bazaars it was EXTREMELY busy and by the end we were very tired!

Since we new that we needed to relax, we thought we'd try out a turkish bath. It was a very strange experience, but a lot of fun. We were scantly clad in very small towels and then ushered into separate bathing areas. The rooms were solid marble and had vaulted ceilings. We both received turkish massages, but we had two very different experiences. Steve had his fingers, toes, back, and neck cracked multiple times by his unlicensed, wet, and harry turk while Jess received a soft, relaxing rub from her masseuse. Steve says that he's still sore today. He almost had to ask the big turk to chill out a bit, be he didn't want to be the only wimp in the bath. After the massage, the 105 degree heat was a bit much, so patrons sat along the wall and doused themselves with cold water and soap until the felt sufficiently clean. Very strange, but a good experience. Steve then got a shave from a barber at the bath - it was quite a process. After having his entire head doused in alcohol aftershave and temporarily loosing his sight, he awoke from his short unconsciousness to luxuriously smooth and well treated skin. Don't worry folks - his nose hairs were tweezed, and his ear hair was BURNT with a flaming torch. When the turks give a shave, they GIVE A SHAVE.

Last night we ventured to McDonald's for a quick bite. After seeing the total was as much as a nice meal, we darted for the door before the order was finalized and we were glad that we did! We were ushered into a restaurant by one of the many restaurateurs standing street side. Without his assistance we would have never known that his bar had a rooftop patio with a beautiful evening view of the blue mosque, aya sofia, and the waterfront. We had a bottle of wine and some wonderful pasta, before strolling back to our hostel! All in all it was a great end to a great day.

This morning we woke up relatively early, packed up, and hit the town again. We managed to see Aya Sofia. It was a lot bigger and more decorated than we had expected. The centre dome must be 20 stories high - its incredible. We made our way to the second level via a cobblestone, ancient ramp and took in the equally impressive views from above.



We then headed to the nearby Topkapi Palace. This place is HUGE. Its situated on the waterfront and is hundreds of years old. The grounds are beautiful and very well cared for. There were flowers and trees everywhere inside the enormous stone walls. There were many different sections of which we viewed the harem and Treasury which is home to the 4th largest diamond in the world. Walking through the Harem provided a good sense of the interior of the palace. There were many levels, vaulted ceilings, intricate tiling and artwork, and some amazing views of the water. Overall, it was very cool and provided a great place to spend our afternoon.

We just grabbed a quick bite of local dishes that we've been too scared to attempt as of yet including a cold bean dish, roasted eggplant and tomato, and corba (soup). Everything was great, and we topped it off with a national speciality - rice pudding.

We fly to Goreme in the centre of turkey in 2 hours and are heading for the airport by tram now!

TTFN. J & S

Istanbul

Hello!

We left the heat of Egypt yesterday morning and landed in Istanbul in the afternoon. We weren't quite sure what to expect but were pleasantly surprised! The metro was fast, clean, cheap, and easy to operate and we were off the plane and in the center of the tourist district before we knew it. Our hostel isn't much to write home about, but its in an awesome spot. We're only blocks from all the sites. Yesterday we ate dinner on a small cafe on a cobble stone lane. We enjoyed our first Pide (turkish pizza) and are very happy to report that the food is World's apart from the Egyptian food that we were struggling with.

Moments before checking into our hostel, we had a bit of an incident. Jessie took a tumble which later resulted in a lot of pouting, and a reasonable amount of tears. This morning her ankle felt a bit better and she toughed it out with the help of a tensor. All joking aside, it was very scary as a bummed ankle is the last thing we need !

Today we visited the blue mosque 3 times. The structure is very impressive and we had a lot of fun walking the grounds and soaking it in while sitting on the marble slabs.

We were lucky to be in the right place at the right time as a turkish festival was held today which drew quite a crowd. We saw turkish dancing and music and all for free!

We also visited the basilica cistern which is a huge underground area which was built hundreds of years ago to manage water in the case of a drought or siege. It was quite dim and had a very unique ambiance - it was very cool!

We have made two brief tours through the grand bazaar but haven't had nearly enough time to see it all yet. We're told there are 4000 stores, and while that seems an unbelievable number, the more that we walk around it, the more that we believe it. The shopping here is great. There are less geeky trinkets and more very cool things that we're excited to bring home. We're currently investigating the cost of a shipment home! Otherwise, we may be taking on an additional piece of luggage to house our turkish treasures.

The weather here is VERY cold in comparison to Egypt. Its a pleasant 25C during the day, but dips to just below 20C in the evening which requires our first use of hoodies and wind breakers. That said, we're still not complaining.

Well, that's it for now. We've got a full schedule of sites in Istanbul tomorrow and look forward to heading inland on Sunday.

Cheers! Jess and Steve.

Back in Cairo

We're currently back in Cairo for one night before heading to Istanbul tomorrow.

After a day in Luxor, enjoying the pool we joined the convoy and crossed the Sahara. We arrived in Hurghada (east coast of Egypt, on the Red Sea) at around noon. The convoy was "interesting." We were paired with about 60 other vehicles and a number of military personnel. All members of the army, of which we've seen 100s, carry full automatic AK-47s or sub-machine guns - its crazy! As the convoy passed a small town, a kid (maybe 8 years old) posed, by pointing a handgun into the air - I JUST missed the pic! The convoy was cool because we got to see a lot of Egypt outside of the standard tourist areas. We saw many farms and rural areas as well as a LOT of desert. The topography is surprisingly mountainous but it was very cool.

Hurghada was a great break as it felt at least 10C cooler than Aswan and Luxor as it is tempered by the Sea. The water there is beautiful as it has that caribbean/exotic blue colour. We swam yesterday and after a dismal showing at the hotel buffet, made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe. We know...not very authentic, but man was it a nice break! Everything was in english, rock music was playing, and we had fajitas and a cheeseburger. The cheeseburger was about $8CAD, but the drinks were $10 a piece! Very strange. They had some crazy deals. On Saturday, you can eat and drink as much as you want for 100EGP (aka ~$20CAD) - ridiculous - too bad it was tuesday! Later that night, after a few "pops" at the hard rock, we had our first "shisha" experience - a large, "smoking device." It makes the smoke very smooth. The tobacco comes in a number of flavours. We've had peach, cherry, and apple - all are delicious. If we could fit one in our backpacks, it would already be there. :)

This morning we slept in and meandered down to the beach where we relaxed and then headed out on a glass bottom boat for a tour of the reef which included some swimming/snorkeling. The snorkeling wasn't great, but it was still fun as we were about 1KM from shore, but could touch the sandy bottom because of how the reef was situated. It was a very strange feeling. The water was incredibly beautiful and warm. We saw a variety of fish through the glass bottom - very cool.

This evening we flew from Hurghada to Cairo and had a great night in Cairo. We're finally comfortable getting around, and knowing how Cairo works and its time to go! That said, we felt like locals tonight paying "market" rates for water/ice-cream (PS - Nestle Ice Cream bars - goooood ones, are 2EGP (40 cents here), we're averaging 2 each, per day.) - ridic - and smoking shisha once again. We love the shisha! Cairo is such a neat city. Its AMAZINGLY different, but very interesting.

We have mixed feelings about leaving egypt, but are very excited to see Istanbul tomorrow!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Back to reality

Well, we're off the boat! The cruise was fantastic. The food was awesome, the service was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and the ammenties were MOST appreciated. The organized tours departing from the ship each day were a nice change compared to our independent organization. We were transported to many temples and sites on guided tours. Evenings on the upper pool deck while watching the nile and desert mountains pass by was a treat.

The first day on the ship the schedule was rearranged to accomodate the hot weather (~40C). This resulted in us doing absolutely nothing but lounging on the deck, swimming in the pool, and taking tea during the sunset over the desert mountains. This was an incredible change from our fast paced, VERY hot, independent method of our trip's beginning. We started each of the following days VERY early in the morning at between 6am and 7am departures to beat the heat. While it was a little rough to receive our wake up calls, we managed to take in a lot of sites before the heat became uncomfortable. It also left us more time to relax on the ship and enjoy its ammenities without feeling guilty. We even took in a bit of satellite TV on the flat screen in our room!

We saw numerous temples between 1000 and 5000 years old. The hyroglphyics and colours on the walls were very well preserved. The size of the temples and obilisks was amazing considering when they were constructed. Enormous sculptures were made from solid single pieces of granite that was transported from 100s of KMs away. We also visited the valley of the kings where King Tut's tomb is. These tombs were carved into the mountain. The valley itself was breathtaking - we have some great pics!

Today we arrived in Luxor where we checked in to our hotel (which, after becoming wise to the heat, we made sure included a nice pool). The pool, and our balcony both overlook the Nile and desert mountains. We're very excited to go swimming this afternoon (its 3pm now).

Tomorrow at 8am we join a convoy that crosses the eastern desert to Hurghada on the Red Sea. The trip is ~3.5hrs. We're staying in a "budget" beach resort with its own private beach and are considering a 4x4 jeep trip into the desert, or a snorkeling tour of the sea. Regardless, we'll just be happy to beat the heat in the sea. We have no ambitious site seeing plans - just relaxation.

From Hurghada, we fly to Cairo on Wednesday night, and depart from Cairo to Istanbul on Thursday morning.

We'll write next as soon as we get a chance. Thanks for checking up! We hope all is well back home!

It's Getting Hotter...

Hi Everyone,

We're in Aswan now, in Southern Egypt, we had thought Cairo was hot but it is way hotter here. When you step outside it's like the heat just consumes you, it's wild. We're really looking forward to the cruise tomorrow where we have a pool...woohoo!!!

Yesterday we spent our last day in Cairo and checked out the Egyptian Museum which was impressive. There are so many artifacts there it's hard to take it all in. We saw King Tut's death mask, throne, sarcophages and more gold than you could imagine. There were many tombs on display as well, we couldn't get over the size of them! Each had detailed designs carved into them and were made from gold, ebony, alabaster as well as others. Too bad no pictures were allowed.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Cairo and had a nice walk by the Nile. We did some shopping and made our way to the train station.

Last night we took the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan, which was about a 14 hour trip. We were in a first class sleeper train and judging by some of the trains we saw the locals getting on we were in the lap of luxury. We stood up to move our bags as a 3rd class train arrived, and a number of locals warned us this wasn't going to be the train we were taking. It was funny that they knew right away that we definitely weren't getting on this train. You couldn't imagine what it looked like, so run down and people everywhere. Our train was interesting, very good service, comfortable beds, surprisingly edible food with a few touches of harsh egyptian reality including an unusual toilet featuring a wooden seat and 'exit' below to the passing tracks...yuck!

This morning we arrived in Aswan, and spent the day catching our breath and up on our sleep. We've been laying low as tomorrow will be spent touring the area with the cruise.

We're unsure of our internet access from the boat so bear with us if we're not in touch for a few days.

Hope all is well at home, and thanks for checking up on us!

Cairo / Pyramids

Hello,

Today was great! We woke up early to a surprisingly edible breakfast and then went to the Pyramids. We started with the Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza. We had our first (and probably last) experience riding camels. It was a lot of work. Our two were named Ali Baba and Mickey Mouse. When they galloped we felt like we were going to fall off! We were up very high! Its hard to imagine people building the pyramids. It was so hot that we got tired riding a camel for 2hrs and looking around! The pyramids were huge - bigger than we expected. We got some awesome pictures that look like many of the images that we are all familiar with. From Giza we headed to Sakkara Pyramids. These are smaller than Giza (still big though!) and were the first ones built. We spent a long time walking the desert and taking pictures of the pyramids including some of the 74 other pyramids that we could see in the distance. There were also tombs with hieroglyphics - the one tomb had 33 rooms! The other's passage ways were no more than 4 feet tall/wide. We had to crouch half way over to make our way down the 50 foot long initial tunnel. The hieroglyphics and drawings on the wall were amazingly well preserved - many still had their original colouring. We took our time in this area and really enjoyed exploring everything.

By the time that we got back to our hotel we were exhausted! It was 36C today and we went through a total of 6L of water today! After a short rest we hit the city and walked the streets of Cairo. Its very difficult to explain, but Cairo is very interesting. There are people and cars EVERYWHERE. Its very noisy/alive with strange/interesting shops and people. We were getting sick of shish-kebabs and enjoyed an American style, but middle eastern, fast food chain's hamburger and fries tonight. We know, not very cultural but after 4 meals of the same thing you'd want a change too!

We're relaxing the rest of tonight and spending tomorrow exploring Cairo further before departing for Aswan that night.

Bye for now!

Next Stop - Cairo

Hey everyone,

Thanks for checking in!

This morning we were up early because of our jet leg. We both had a bit of trouble sleeping last night as our bodies thought maybe it was time to wake up in the middle of the night after a short nap :) We walked around Athens and got a great omlette at a little cafe outside. It's so nice to just sit and relax and enjoy the scenery. We had a little walk around the city and then it was back to the hostel to pack up and hit the airport.

The trip to the airport on the bus was easy but a bit of an adventure as one of the men on the bus had just been pick-pocketed as he got on the bus. That was a reminder to us that we have to be extra careful with our stuff.

Then we had an easy flight from Athens to Cairo, only about 1.5 hours total. The airplane food definitely wasn't great, but luckily we had eaten beforehand. At the airport we were met by someone from our hostel and then taken on one of the wildest rides of our life. We knew we were in for adventure when we got in the backseat, looked around and there were no seatbelts! The driving in Cairo is insane, there are cars and buses everywhere, people are constantly honking. Our driver used his horn more in the first 5 mins than we ever have. It is hard to tell how many lanes of traffic there are and there doesn't seem to be any lights.

We made it to our hostel safe and sound and it seems great. The staff are really friendly. On their advice we headed to old Cairo to the bazaar. The architecture in Cairo is beautiful, big towers, mosques and very middle eastern, like out of a movie. The market was full of action, as practically the only two white people there we drew a lot of attention at the bazaar. People were trying to sell us stuff everywhere. We got a chance to practice our haggling, it's definitely expected in this place and a result we were able to get some great stuff. Everything here is very expensive, our approx. 10 or 15 minute cab ride is equivilant to $1 total...crazy!

The culture, scenery and atmosphere here are so different, it's really unlike anything we've ever seen. People like that we're from Canada and always refer to 'Canada Dry' when we say where we're from. It's clear that a lot of people are living in poverty and recognize the money that tourists have. That being said people are very friendly and always wanting to help (hoping for a nice tip of course!).

Can't wait for tomorrow, we're headed to the pyramids first thing!!!

Arrival in Athens

Well,

We made it safe! It was a long trip. I had never been on a plane for that length of time, but everything went surprisingly smoothly. We found our hostel, to our amazement, after a few questions for local passer-bys.

It was national museum day so we were able to see the Acropolis and other sites for free today! The Acropolis was very cool. Its amazing to think of the history, but I still have a hard time making bricks and mortar come to life. That said, the view of athens from the Acropolis was worth a lot. Its such an interesting city with small buildings and no sky scrapers. Reflective surfaces made the city sparkle from the view.

Athens is the city of patio and $6 coffee. We had a great dinner with a variety of greek fare on a single plate which we shared. It was too much food and was delicious - a great start in that department. This morning we woke up early from jet leg but feel fine. We were proud that we stayed up until 9pm yesterday after an exhausting two days of travel!

This morning we are taking our own walking tour of Athens and then heading to Cairo this afternoon. It was VERY warm in Athens yesterday and I can only imagine how hot it will be in Egypt!