Morocco, you have won my heart

DAY 1

I love Morocco. It was definitely a better experience than Egypt. Don’t get me wrong, Egypt was awesome, but the experiences and the general atmosphere of Morocco suited me better. I had originally planned on doing 2 trips: Casablanca city orientation on the first day and the second day I was going to go to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. However, I really wanted to make it to Marrakesh for at least a day. I wanted to go hiking in the Atlas Mountains and I heard that Marrakesh is one of the best cities to get a real Moroccan experience.  So I sold my trips and my friend Katie and I booked 2 nights in a hostel in Marrakesh.

We left the ship and headed to the train station. We had heard earlier that it might be a good idea to get first class tickets… yeah we didn’t. That was kind of a mistake. Our group of 7 for the train was split up and then the 2 other girls I was with and I ended up standing for the first 2 ½ hours of the 3 hour train ride. First we were standing in the front of the car by the bathroom and then we moved to the aisle outside of the compartments to wait for available seats. We should have just stayed standing! It was so hot in the compartments. The sweat just soaked through everything you were wearing. Cute huh?

The train station in Marrakesh is really nice. It looked practically brand new and of course there was a KFC and a McDonalds there. We got a cab into the medina to find our hostels. The taxi dropped us off outside of the Djemaa El-Fna which is the main square in the Medina. It was packed with women doing henna, snake charmers, people selling dentures (and single teeth?), and guys with monkeys. It was really sad to see the monkeys. They were all on leashes and in cages. The snakes were definitely ill treated as well. They were handled too much and you could tell that they were sick.

Long lines of fresh squeezed orange juice booths ran across the empty square. I don’t think you could have really found orange juice in containers in any of the countries we went to except maybe Croatia at the supermarket and maybe Varna, Bulgaria. The women doing henna were intense too. We learned the hard way that they will just come up to you and draw on any available part of your body and request being paid. She grabbed Katie’s arm and drew and then asked for 200 Dirham for each (she drew on me too). We paid her 100 each which was still way too much but only because she wouldn’t let us go.

The girls we were with actually had directions to their hostel from the square where as we only had directions to the square. So we decided to go with them and then ask for directions since it wasn’t supposed to be that far away. The experience was a prime example of language barriers! The woman that owned the hostel spoke Arabic and broken French and there were 2 other tourists there, both from Paris. One spoke Arabic and French, the other spoke French, broken Arabic, and English and no one on our end spoke anything but English. So we were talking to the one girl that spoke English and French. She was then talking to the lady in French and broken Arabic and was asking for help in French to the other girl that spoke Arabic. It was hilarious. But we were eventually told to just head to Café France.

We headed down the alley and eventually found our way to the Riad Rahba which owned our Hostel. We checked in and followed the guy back down the alley and down another alley to our hostel. It wasn’t that bad. We were taken upstairs to a room with 5 beds in it… bed is a general term really. They were these foam mattresses that had body imprints in them. The different rooms on the top floor shared a bathroom which again wasn’t bad. We weren’t really planning on showering maybe just a quick rinse. Especially since we wanted to go hiking the next day. After checking in, we went back to the Riad to book our tour to the Cascades d’Ouzoud the next day. Then we went out into the square for dinner and to shop.

Dinner was alright. I just had some sort of pasta and then we went into the souks which were Morocco’s version of the bazaar in Turkey and Egypt. I must say, they were definitely better than both Egypt and Turkey. They were really clean (well as clean as you can get in Morocco) and there were so many different shops. The people were also a lot nicer. We didn’t get screamed at as much. Most of the shop owners greeted you when you walked in and then let you alone until you asked about something. They had semi-reasonable prices too. Bargaining is definitely an art! You have to get over feeling bad about asking for something for a lower price and when they laugh at you, you just have to get over it and keep asking for the lower price. They usually buckle in the end. We didn’t really get anything that night, we just wanted to gauge prices and stuff. Later that night after getting lost in the souks (which were 3 stories and outside) we walked through the square again to see the difference between day-life and night-life.

And boy was it different! In the time that we had spent in the souks, the square had completely transformed. People had set up little restaurant grill places EVERYWHERE just rows and rows of them and then there were rings of people watching drum performances and others were playing some carnival games. The number of people had easily tripled since the afternoon. We watched some kids try and get these rings that were attached to giant fishing poles around the neck of soda bottles. It was practically impossible to win! We met a guy there named Rashim who talked to us a bit about the square and the music that was going on (Berber music – the people from the villages in the mountains) and he told us about his travels in the US. We decided to grab some cokes up on the terrace of a café on the outside of the square to see exactly what we had just fought our way through. The view from above was breathtaking. There was easily over 5000 people in this square just EVERYWHERE eating and drinking orange juice, playing games, playing music and listening to music, dancing, everything. It was amazing and definitely something you have to experience when in Morocco! It was really nice to relax in the cool air too after a long day of sweltering heat (and wearing pants). It was even cold enough for a sweater. After sitting atop the room and watching this scene for an hour or so, we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep before our hike the next day.

DAY 2

We woke up at 7am to get ready for our hike. We headed to the hotel that we had booked the hike through and waited for our guide to show up. The cost of the hike wasn’t bad. It was 300 dirham for transportation to and from the area which was a little over a 2 hour drive. 300 Dirham translates to about 37.50 which really isn’t bad for a driver to and from the area. The drive was fine. It was still chilly out, so the breeze in the van was welcomed. We stopped about ½ way through the drive to grab water and for a bathroom break before arriving. The scenery was great. It kind of reminded me of Chile with the mountainous terrain that was all desert like and sandy and covered in different desert trees and cacti. The countryside was stunning in it's own way. We drove past and through several Berber villages and everything. I started wondering about the nearest hospital. I don’t think they really have doctors or anything in these small villages. Just curious. I wish I had a chance to talk to one of the locals about this. Driving through Morocco it was easy to see that agriculture was their main means of income for the entire country. There were different farms everywhere. I don’t really know what they were growing, but farms were littering all of the valleys around the river beds (which were dry).

We got to the village where the waterfall was and were greeted by a tour guide. All together for our group of 5 it was another 300 dirham which was about $8 each. Really? Haha $8 for a tour guide around the waterfall is REALLY good. Especially compared to some of our other tours such as the Vatican. He was really nice too and it was convenient that he spoke English and French since the family we were with spoke only French. We walked through these wild olive groves and along the river until we clambered over this wall to find ourselves standing on the edge of this steep cliff with the waterfall directly to our left. It was gorgeous. I mean, I’ve been to Niagra falls and it’s amazing since the falls are so big and grand, but this was beautiful in a different way. The earth was red and there was green all around the area since it was damp pretty much all year and it was one of the few places that lush vegetation grew in the country. The falls were broken into different parts too, it was just beautiful!


















We hiked down the side of the cliff on the one side of the falls and learned about the different plants and trees in the area. All of which were medicinal or had some other cosmetic or food use. Our tour guide picked us some fresh Lavender. It smelled amazing. It was amusing to see that instead of using refrigerators, the little cafes and such around the river and falls just let the cold spring water run over the bottles. It was really cool watching their different engineered set ups to get water over to the bottles or to different areas of the camp sites. Yes camp sites. Apparently it’s a big thing to rent a camp site and camp near the falls for a few days for vacation in Morocco. We walked across the river at the bottom of the falls and watched all of the local and visiting Moroccan children and boys swimming in the water. None of the women were swimming, just dipping their feet in. Which was normal for me now since we had been to Egypt and Turkey before now.


We ate lunch at a little restaurant near the falls. We had some sort of chicken kabob with curry seasoning, fries, and fresh melon for desert. And no GI issues! I stocked up on my pepto before and after every meal to avoid issues with my stomach, but I do know a lot of my friends did get sick. Which is completely understandable because there are really no food handling laws and water purification laws for a lot of the places in Morocco. Well I don’t know of any. Probably something else that I should look into. That could have been an interesting global studies paper topic… oh well… ANYWAY…

After lunch we headed back to the top of the falls. On the way, we had a chance to feed peanuts to the wild monkeys that lived in the trees around the camp sights. They were so cute! The one monkey just grabbed all of our peanuts and stuffed them in his mouth before the other one came. There was even a baby monkey climbing and swinging around in the trees!

We got back in the van and then all passed out on the way back to Marrakech. When we got back, we went back to the hotel and met up with Rachel. Up until now, I haven’t mentioned that I did spend the last 9 hours not knowing where my passport was exactly. So here is the whole story. I had to have my passport with me since I was staying in a hotel. I kept it in my money belt for safekeeping. And I haven’t actually worn my money belt since being in Italy since I bought a purse that I could keep tucked under my arm, zipped, and in such a way that they would have to tear it off of me and touch me to open it, so I had just been keeping my money belt in my purse.

ANYWAY, I had the ticket for the hike in there and when we got to the hotel, I had to show it to them. I did and then I THOUGHT I put it back in my purse. Apparently I didn’t because when we got to the van I had realized that I didn’t put it back in my purse but thought that I had put it in my book bag which was under the main desk at the hotel. So I spent the day pushing this to the back of my mind and everything until I got back to the hotel and could actually do something about it. So here we are. Katie and I met up with Rachel at the hotel. I grabbed my bookbag right away and pulled everything out of it in both pockets realizing that I had indeed, misplaced my money belt. Not only did I not have my passport, but I didn’t have my credit card or ship board ID card with me either. Those were both in there along with another 300 dirham. Go me right? I ran down to the desk and asked them if anyone had turned in a passport. Both of the guys working there got really worried and then started checking through all of the drawers and everything. It wasn’t there. No money belt, no passport. I ran into the lobby of the hotel where there were a bunch of cushioned benches and tables that we were sitting at that morning and checked under all of the cushions and under the bench. Just when I had given up hope, I found the waist belt of the money belt poking out from under the table cloth. WOW. I was SO lucky… no one had taken it. I don’t even think anyone had seen it. I had just saved so much money and stress! (Haha aren’t you glad I didn’t tell you about this when it was happening mom?) So that is how I almost lost my passport.

Rachel, Katie and I went out and did some shopping and then had some more dinner and hung around the square a little more. It was really relaxing and fun. I got some shirts and this awesome cushion for my apartment. It was a pretty eventful and tiring day.

DAY 3

Today we woke up around 9 and rinsed off again and headed back out into the market after checking out. We wanted to get some last minute shopping done, hit up the internet café and then get back to the ship in time for dinner. Which all worked out very well. I got a pair of earrings, a cheaper henna (only 50 Dirham for my calf/shin/foot), and some other random things. We got a cab back to the train station, had a McDonalds lunch, and then hopped back on the train. The 1st class section was sold out, so we had to sit 2nd class again, but since Marrakesh is the first stop, we were able to secure seats for the entire journey. We were extremely lucky to have a girl in our compartment from Morocco who had gone to an American high school in Marrakesh and who goes to college in Ohio. It was really great talking to her about the differences between Morocco and the US and everything. She said the main thing she misses when she is at school is the food in Morocco. I am glad we had a chance to talk to her, she was really nice and gave us some ideas of where we should go in Casablanca and other cities we should visit if we make it back to Morocco. After our long train ride back, we got a cab back to the port and then the shuttle back to the ship. The rest of the evening we just relaxed and took nice long showers.Or two.

DAY 4

Today was pretty uneventful. We just went out to the shops around the area in Casablanca. We all had to spend the last of our money since the currency in this country was controlled. Meaning we are not allowed to really take it out of the country. So I got some more jewelry, added to my henna and got a coke in a glass bottle so that I could save it! It looks really cool with the Arabic on it. I wanted pillow cases too for my couch and ended up getting 3 for 150 dirham (about $19). He originally wanted 140 for 1, so I think I did pretty well. After that we just went back to the boat and chilled on the 7th deck.

 

Overall I really enjoyed Morocco. I think I will definitely return. There are so many things that I want to do and places to go! I would love to go back to Marrakesh too. I felt a lot safer here than I did in Naples, Italy and in Egypt.  It felt a little cleaner than Egypt as well which was very welcome! Anyway, so we’re on our way back to the states now! And I should probably get to writing my papers!!!!

Sunrise at the Pyramids

Day 1

I am not going to lie, I didn't do much today. My head cold that EVERYONE on the ship has finally caught up with me, so I slept in and just lounged around on the 7th deck until everyone returned from their trips. I didn’t really want to go anywhere anyway since I was alone and this really isn’t where you go wandering around alone, especially if you’re a girl.

But, when I went on my ATM adventure with Rachel, I saw that almost everyone was in a full hijab with only their eyes showing. Those that were not, wore headscarves and full body coverage. Only very seldom did you see a younger girl, around our age, in only a long skirt and long sleeve shirt and nothing over her head. It was definitely different than Turkey. I was hit on by a 10 year old boy! We walked past him and he started screaming after us, asking us what our names were and how we were pretty. It was interesting.

I talked to one of my friends that did a city orientation, and he said that he drove past the beautiful beaches and the women were all swimming in full dress including head scarves unless it was a private beach for a hotel. My other friend Katie was on a tour of the library of Alexandria and she stubbed her toe on the stairs and at the top she bent down to check it because it was bleeding, and she said when she stood up, 3 men were standing right in front of her and asked her if they could take her picture and when she said no, they took it anyway. She then looked around and guys were just taking pictures of her on their cell phones. That is so awkward.

During pre-port, we had one of our fellow students, a girl that is from Cairo originally, speak to us about it. She said, very bluntly, that men will come up and touch you if you make eye contact. They know it’s not OK and if you scream they will go away, but they will grab you. Definitely different than any of the countries we’ve been to before.

So the next few days should be interesting. A lot of my guy friends are on 5 day trips and others are just staying in Cairo for a few days so that limits the extent to which I’ll be going out. I know sounds lame, right? But I would rather wait for them to get back than to go out with just a group of me and two other girls and have the sun go down and us still a good ½ hr from the ship.

Day 2-3

Cairo was pretty intense, not going to lie. First we left Alexandria and drove down to Cairo, which took about 2 ½ hrs. It was really interesting driving through the countryside. You would see these gated communities that were made up of condos and such, then nearby a billboard advertising the community and it would not look anything like what you actually saw. No green grass and trees, no shopping centers and pools. Just homes, some unfinished, sitting around in the sand with maybe one or two palm trees scattered here and there. Then outside of the gated/walled communities were some fields growing crops and then small shacks built with reeds that people were living in. The poverty here is really bad, especially since the recession hit. It wasn’t as evident in this part of the countryside as it was around Cairo.

Coming into Cairo, the city just sort of sprung up slowly. The apartment buildings and the roads are all covered in a layer of sand and dirt. Most of the thinner inner roads were just dirt roads and not paved which was different than any other city that we’ve been to or that I’ve seen. About 90% of the buildings were unfinished too. Anywhere from no glass in the windows to even the stairs leading to nothing where the next story should be, or sometimes just beams that should holding up the ceiling over another story holding up air instead. Our tour guide explained to us that people would never finish their homes and buildings because if they were unfinished, they didn’t have to pay taxes. It was really interesting. Maybe only a handful of the apartment buildings were finished and they were all the older ones.

Cairo’s streets and everything were covered in litter and mud/dust. There were people EVERYWHERE.  Usually at some point in time in a city, you drive through an area that is nice such as a business district or the rich district. We did a lot of driving around in the city, and I saw nothing like that. The business buildings were surrounded by dirty side streets and unfinished apartment buildings and homes. The areas around the pyramids and the sphinx and other tourist areas were just as dirty and poverty stricken and litter covered. The dust is to be understood since the city is situated on the edge of the great Sahara desert, but the litter is awful.

It was really weird driving around and seeing that some people even had livestock while living on the edges of the city and camels. Where did they keep them!? It was more understandable in the homes that were farms on the flood plain on the edge of the Nile, but these were just random homes with sheep flowing out of them. Gotta do what you gotta do I guess!

Our tour guide was very informative. She talked to us about the way the women dressed and said that the full face covering was something bad that was brought to Islam. I was unaware that it was a bad thing, but she said it was a habit that Muslims learned from the Bedouins who covered their faces from the sand. Instead they adapted it to make their women cover their faces so that no one could look upon them save the husband. She told us that when praying or making the pilgrimage to Mecca, your face must be uncovered. I didn’t know this about Islam, I just thought it was something that was just done. I do wonder about the lifestyles of those that do cover their faces and those that don’t and those that wear form fitting clothing instead of the full hijab. It would be really interesting to learn about the differences in their faiths, families, and how they were raised.

We also learned that there are 75 million people in Egypt and that there are about ½ million more men than women. Bedouins marry around the age of 14 or 15 and their dowry is in the form of camels. I was told by the one shop keeper that he would give me 1000 camels for my friend Rachel. I asked him what I would do with 1000 camels and his dad said he was lying and that he didn’t even have 1 camel. Needless to say, I still have Rachel. Bedouins can also have a second wife when the first reaches the age of 40. After that, the second wife, usually around 25 or so, keeps the house and takes care of things, while the first wife is the supervisor, so they usually encourage a second wife. Hey, I would too!! They also treat their small boys/sons with venom from poisonous snakes (except the Viper) and scorpions like a vaccine, so when they are older, they are basically immune to the venom. I thought that was really interesting. Murderers, Rapists, terrorists, and drug dealers are all executed for their crimes. Apparently drug dealing, of anything even hashish, is punishable by death. Pretty crazy! Especially since we don’t even put to death those that have murdered and raped in the States.. then again sometimes we don’t even keep them in jail. They’ve reformed! Put them on probation! The gun restrictions in Egypt are very strict. To carry a gun you have to apply for a license and you have to meet many criteria such as living in the country, using it for hunting or if you have a high risk job. The initial license is $5000 and then each year you must renew it and it’s still a few thousand dollars to renew. And that is USD not Egyptian pounds!

She taught us about a few of the images in Egyptian culture too. The scarab beetle is a sign of good luck and wealth. If you see a scarab beetle, a great fortune will come to you. The ancient Egyptians saw it only out during the day, pushing it’s egg in front of it, so they believed that the sun god was a scarab beetle that pushed the sun across the sky during the day. Today’s version of the devil, the red guy with the fork and the spiked tail, is from ancient Egypt. She taught us about cartouches, which are pendants with your name written in hieroglyphics. Each letter adds a different characteristic to your personality. So if you have an A in your name, you have the characteristics of an eagle – powerful and strong. She only told us a few of them, but there was a paper passed around with each of their meanings, I was sleeping at the time though, oops! If you have a double of a letter, it means that that characteristic is very strong in your personality. J – which is a snake – means intellect, L – the lion – means you’re controlling and bossy, m – an owl – means you are wise, and B – the mouth – means you’re very talkative.

Anyway, so on to things that I actually did in Egypt!

On the first day of my 2 day Cairo visit, we first visited the Step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, the oldest pyramid on earth and the one that lead from the mastaba shaped pyramids to the smooth great pyramids. After walking around there, we went to visit the Mastaba of Ti which is one of the best decorated mastabas from the old kingdom. They did a great job preserving the drawings etched into the outer layer of plaster on the inner walls. We had a chance to go inside and walk around the tomb. It was really cool to see the pictures depicting life back in Ancient Egypt. One of the best things about visiting this site was actually seeing the boarder between the Sahara desert and the flood plain/oasis on either side of the Nile. The fertile land and all of it’s green trees and grasses just hit an invisible barrier and the desert stretches on and on after that.

After this we headed back to Giza to get some lunch at a hotel that had a view of the great pyramids. It was crazy just driving past them. I mean, in Italy there were roads just kind of driving around the Coliseums and such, but these are one of the ancient wonders of the world, the only ones still standing, and there is just a road driving right in front of them.

After lunch we headed to the Archaeological museum in Cairo to see different statues and treasures from each of the dynasties that ruled over Egypt starting in 5000 bc! Some of the statues there were SO old and preserved very well. We went upstairs and the rumor was that King Tut’s stuff including his mask were in San Francisco. NOT! They were all here except a few random things and his mummy, but his mask, all of his sarcophagi and jewels and everything were here! We had a chance to walk around and check them out including the 4 gold plated, stone burial chambers. It was really awesome just staring at his mask that they found covering his head and shoulders in the grave. We walked around the museum a little longer. Saw some mummies including some mummified animals like a giant alligator and this really HUGE Nile perch. People back then mummified everything! There were mummified snakes and cats and birds and random things. Its ridiculous to think about how they came up with ways to do this. The scientific research that must have gone into determining the best embalming formula and the best way to get all of the organs out of the animals and humans. Really gross at the same time.

Following this, we checked into our really amazing  hotel, The Conrad, watched, in English, Pirates 3 and then went to watch the famous light and sound show at the great pyramids and the sphinx. Definitely not what I was expecting. I don’t know… We were told that people fly from around the world to see it and everything, but I just wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. I mean it was really cool, but they just lit up the pyramids in different colors and projected slides and some short movies on the wall of the temple and some colors on the sphinx while some Egyptian music played and the story of the ancient pyramids was told. It was great as far as educational value and to give yourself a sense of how incredible the pyramids and everything were and how much history happened at the foot of the sphinx, but if you want something outrageous and entertaining, this really wasn’t it. It was good, but no crazy lazer show.

We FINALLY had dinner around 10pm and headed straight to bed since we had a 4am wake up call planned!

The next day, well morning, the phone woke us up at 4am sharp. After showering and watching some High School Musical 2, we headed downstairs and grabbed our box breakfasts and went out to the bus. We napped a bit on the way to the pyramids. They opened the pyramids at 6am for Semester at Sea Only! WE were going to be the only people there to watch the sun rise over the pyramids. Pretty sick huh? We got there and it was a little brighter, and then we watched as the sun slowly climbed over the 2nd pyramid. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Of all of the SAS trips I’ve taken and all of the things I’ve seen and done, this was definitely the best. You can’t really top watching the sun poke it’s head around one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world while you sit on a brick wall in the Sahara desert. If you can think of something, name it!

It was really amazing and words just can’t describe how you feel when you just watch the pyramids. It was really cold there too. I definitely appreciated that. It’s been so hot everywhere. But that’s beside the point. We took pictures and then we headed down to an area between the 1st and 2nd pyramid where we had more photo opportunities. From here, we got tickets to go inside of the pyramid, but first we went back up to the panoramic view and had a chance to ride a camel. Which was awesome. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t sign up for the 4 day camel trek and camping in the Sahara in Morocco, but I think I’ll live! The 10 minutes I was on the camel was good enough I suppose. My camel was pretty chill; I liked him.

After this we headed back to the 2nd pyramid to go inside. Quite the experience. It was so hot in there and there was next to no oxygen. Our tour guide warned us that we shouldn’t go in if we have any sort of respiratory issues, heart diseases, anything, because she had someone die in there who had a history of heart disease. It’s really short, but it’s really difficult to breath. You climb down this ramp while you’re crouched over and then get to the bottom and walk a few steps before your crouching over again and climbing up to the burial chamber which is this giant room with the date that it was discovered painted on the wall. You just look around a bit, take it all in, maybe lay in the stone burial chamber and then head back out the way you came in. It was pretty awesome to think that I’ve been inside of a pyramid!

After this we headed to the bazaar.  We were given far too much time there. I got a sweet coin skirt though that’s about it. Perfect for belly dancing class! We were all tired and hungry after waking up so early and it was getting hot outside.

We headed to the Nile after this and our boat cruise/belly dancing show. It was really interesting. The food was OK. I realized I’m not really a fan of Egyptian food.Well at least what we were served. The boat was really cool though and it had a deck where we could sit and watch as we cruised up the Nile. After this we all boarded the buses and headed back to Alexandria. Everyone was basically passed out on the bus, it was hilarious. We were all so exhausted.

After getting back to the ship, we had dinner, and then me, Rachel, and Erin went out to the shops by the port and got some souvenirs and our cartouches. They sold the cartouches on the bus, but they were more than double the price of Muhammad’s and I really liked his better. I’m really excited to get mine! He’s bringing me a hand made leather chain too. He was really cool. He gave us free shot glasses and the other shop keepers gave us bags and bags of things for like $10 USD. It’s nice to not have to really leave the area. I know I should be more outgoing and everything, but the bit of time I did spend outside of the port area was pretty insane. I’ll probably head out the last day for a bit or today or something. Depends on what time Nate gets back from Cairo. Hopefully he’s still alive after staying in a hostel!

Overall this has been a good trip to Egypt. I wish I would have had a chance to get to Sharm el-Sheikh, the beach resort town on the Sinai Peninsula. Tim is there now. I’m jealous. Some of the best snorkeling in the world is around there! The Red Sea is supposed to be amazing. Maybe next time when I come back to Egypt!

I’m not sure I’ll make it back to Cairo. I would like to see Luxor, but mainly the Sinai Peninsula. It was a 10 hour bus ride from Cairo and Cairo is a 3 hour train ride to Alexandria, so I would have had to go the first day and come back the 4th/5th day and I probably still would have gotten dock time. I think in Morocco, I’m just going to go to Marrakech for the first 2 days and then chill in Casablanca the second 2 days. I’ll have to see what’s going on with everyone. Most of my friends are doing the 4 days trips again. I would like to get into the Atlas Mountains as well. Well we have 5 days between Egypt and Morocco to figure that one out!

$20 bunjee jumping and a jeep safari

DAY 1

Bulgaria was the perfect mid-voyage break. No one knew what they were expecting really because SAS has never stopped in Bulgaria before. We had to tender the first day, which means that our ship was anchored off shore and we had to take tender boats to the port. We got off the ship at 9:45 am and about 8 of us headed to the bridge for bungee jumping! I was pretty sure that I was going to do it, but not 100% positive. We got to the bridge REALLY early, at about 11, because one of the girls saw on a website that it opened at 11. However, the people that run the whole business, adrenaline extreme sports, didn’t show up until 12:30. (which the interport student told us when he called his boss at the travel agency HOWEVER, some people don’t like to listen) We just sat around at the bridge waiting for these guys to show up. Then when they did, it took them about an hour to get everything set up and then another hour for us to get forms signed and to get ready to jump.

I guess now I can let you all know that I changed my mind about bungee jumping when we got to the bridge. It didn’t look so fantastic and I realized how high it really is. It turns out that it was a really good idea for me not to do it because I wouldn’t have liked it anyway AND everyone now has bruises because of the ankle straps and I would have had huge issues with my ankle. So good choice! They would have been carrying me to the ship!

So everyone except Russell and I did the whole thing and they all loved it! Everyone wanted to go again. Nate had a perfect fall. He did exactly what they told him to do. Rachel was looking at the horizon until she fell off then she just about dove which they tell you NOT to do. It was hilarious. She’s fine.

After that we walked back to the beach. We all picked up water bottles for 90 cents! Not US cents, but leva!!! It works out to about 64 US cents and these bottles were huge. First official cheap water of the trip!

The shopping center area was really nice. It’s a bunch of roads/sidewalks that have been closed off to cars with all sorts of restaurants and bars and casinos everywhere. It was really fun walking through there and window shopping. I do want to head back there and check out what kind of deals I can get on awesome European fashion! I saw an Escada store too and flipped out. Moving on. We stopped to get lunch at this one restaurant that was recommended by the tourist center. It definitely wasn’t that great. I was very disappointed with the food, but it was inexpensive and we were all starving so it didn’t really mater. Afterward we went to the beach by walking through a section of the sea garden.

The sea garden is this whole section between the beach and the city of Varna that is just a giant flower garden/park with all sorts of things throughout it like the aquarium and the planetarium and the dolphinarium! We’re doing a day of –ariums tomorrow. Should be fun! Hopefully I get some shopping in too! The gardens were really nice, well the part that we walked through to the beach.

The beach was beautiful. It stretched pretty far and it was SO sandy!! I didn’t go in the water yesterday since we didn’t get to the beach until around 6 and it was cooling off. It has been pretty hot here, but not humid so that is definitely nice. We decided that instead of going back to the ship, we were just going to get some wine and chill on the beach. We had a bottle of red and a bottle of white and just sat around and talked. It was really nice hanging out with everyone for a while without being shoved into a crowded bar or even an outside bar with loud music. Grace’s dad has been on SAS and said that the friends you make here, you make for life, and I definitely see that happened with everyone, or at least some of us! I definitely want to make it up to Vermont to visit Rachel and Nate and Tim are right in Pittsburgh, so that should be easy!

Alright, can’t wait to see what else Bulgaria brings!!!

DAY 2

Today in Bulgaria we all slept in. Everyone needed some recovery time from this whole trip. It’s crazy. Right away we were thrown into classes for 7 days straight and then we were in a port and right after that it was like BAM port, BAM class, BAM port and you never have any time to just relax! Which is ok because you really want to keep going and see everything in the ports. So it was nice to just relax a little. We went to the beach for a few hours after that. It was so nice. The beach is so close to the ship. Every other port we had to walk a distance to the beach or even in Greece we had to go to an island to get a great beach. But here, we just left the port which took 2 minutes and then walk along the sea wall and then here we are, beautiful golden sand beach! The water wasn’t as clear as the Mediterranean, but it was still really nice. Little bit more seaweed than the Medi too, but it’s OK. I think this might be our last port that has a good beach or well, a beach at all. I’m not sure how Egypt and Morocco will be. I know I really won’t be swimming in the water there anyway. Especially after reading this paper I have to write a summary on for Oceanography. NOT the cleanest water.

After chilling on the beach we came back, ate dinner and then went out and got some more wine and went to the beach. It was such a great time just sitting on the beach and thinking “Wow, I’m in Bulgaria”.  It’s breezy and cool at night which is definitely a relief after some of the countries and cities such as Rome. But, we’ll soon be heading to MUCH warmer places!

DAY 3

Today we walked around the town and watched some of the volleyball championships. It was really awesome. All week they had these volleyball courts set up. Apparently it’s the first beach volleyball tournament held in Bulgaria that is recognized by the FIBV. So we were sort of a part of history! We watched the end of the Latvia vs. Brazil match and then went out shopping. We all wanted to stop at McDonalds but didn’t because none of us were hungry. Apparently McDonalds is insane here and wealthy people are really the one people that go there and it’s supposed to be really nice inside. This is really weird for us from the US! I didn’t have a chance to see inside though. The corporate headquarters are here in Bulgaria as well. I had no idea until I found out that it was a trip you could take through SAS, but I am planning on going on a jeep safari!!

We watched the finals of the tournament: Germany versus Brazil. Germany won it 2-1. It was pretty awesome. I forgot that one of my friends from Germany plays beach volleyball! I was really hoping he was there, which would have been awesome, BUT he wasn’t. After that we went out to dinner with Nate for his birthday and then we went out to a club down the beach. It was a really cool place.  The atmosphere of the club was really interesting though. It was kind of open air and it was built around trees which was really amazing. Nate celebrated his 21st in style! Called it an early night to get up nice and early!

DAY 4

Today was AWESOME!!! I bought a ticket for this trip from this girl that decided not to go on it. Which was crazy on her part since it was the best trip I’ve been on so far! Well one of them. It was called Jeep Safari and Picnic and it was fantastic. We were picked up in these awesome old open jeeps. Ours sat 6 so we had one up front, 3 in the middle and then me and nate sat in the very back facing each other. We drove out of Varna into the country of Bulgaria. It was so beautiful!

Our jeep was like 60 years old and definitely had some age issues. It wouldn’t start a few times and then it would keep stalling and he had issues with it not wanting to shift or not wanting to stay in gear. Definitely made the trip more interesting! We drove up to this one lookout where we could see all of the Golden Sands resort and took pictures and such. We got back in the jeeps and went up the paved road a little farther until there was a dirt path that cut off. Off road time!!

It was soo much fun! We drove through puddles and through the woods and fields. The drivers were cutting each other off and then racing across the fields and stuff. Our driver was awesome! I don’t remember what his name was but he was really funny. We took a picture with him after our picnic. Anyway, so we were racing through the fields and then driving through the woods and stuff. We stopped to taste some Rakia which is Bulgaria’s national drink. It’s a type of Brandy. I passed on it, but others bought beer and were drinking it in the back of the jeeps. It was hilarious. Then we hopped back in our jeeps, went off roading some more and then stopped at a random farm where honey was made. It was really good! They gave us samples and were of course selling more beer. Our third stop was this other random place where we shot some bb guns and again had some more beer. We went off-roading a little longer until we reached where our picnic lunch was. We had delicious home made bread, then the Bulgarian salad which was made with white cabbage with a side of a whole tomato and a cucumber. We then had chicken skewers with a baked potato and some sort of roasted pepper. It was all really good.

Some of the jeep drivers played instruments and sang, so they gave us a show and we did some dancing and they sang songs for the people from the different countries that were there with us as well. The line dances I did sort of recognize.We then drove back to Varna on the highway, but the Bulgarian countryside is amazing. It was so nice to just drive around in the open jeep with the cool wind! I needed a sweatshirt! I’m really excited for fall at home now!!! BUT I still have 2 VERY hot countries to make it through first!  There is a jeep safari in Egypt, but I signed up for an overnight Cairo trip. I want to try and get some people together that want to just see about booking it separately from SAS. Hopefully that will work! I would love to do something like this again!

I do have other things to write about now, but I can’t think what they are, TOO exhausted! And I kind of have homework to do….

I LOVE Bulgaria! Oh yeah, I was SO close to Romania… dear Romania, I promise I will be back some time and I will spend loads of time with you…

Saying farewell with some Cappuccino Hookah

So it's my last day in Turkey. It wasn't very eventful. Last night a few of us went to a hookah bar and had apple and cappuccino hookah. It was really relaxing. We've been hanging out with Stephan, the Bulgarian interport student. The good news is Bulgaria is going to be much cooler than Turkey (which is still cooler than any of the other countries we've been to). We are also considering bungee jumping. Apparently it's really cheap in Bulgaria and safe? We'll see.... (sorry mom! at least it's not at tattoo!!!)

Anyway, so this morning we woke up early and went to the bazaar again to finish last minute shopping. I got the usual soccer scarf which I've purchased in each country, except Italy. oops! And 3 other scarves for only $4 USD all together! Which is a really good deal!

We then just came back to the ship and here I am sitting outside enjoying the sights and sounds of this section of Istanbul one last time. I'm actually kind of sad to leave Turkey, but I really do want to come back. There is a lot to do and see in Istanbul and in Turkey. I just had a chance to see the main things and maybe experience Turkey for a bit. IT definitely didn't feel anywhere near as dangerous as Naples was. I was worried about the men being very forward here and we really didn't have that many issues. Maybe in the bazaar they were always shouting things, but those were usually amusing such as "Hey Guys, want a carpet?" or "Hey you are from China!" (Said to my friend who is blond and has blue eyes. oh yeah, totally Chinese). I would have loved to bring back a carpet, but they were SO expensive!! but beautiful!

It was really amusing to talk to some of the shop keepers. They were asking about the program we are on and my roommate was talking to the one guy about it. He said that he would never let his daughter leave for 3 months from home especially for this. She asked about his son and he said oh yeah definitely and then she asked why and he just said "because it's just not done and that is the way it is". They don't trust their daughters. she didn't want to tell him that this was 77% female!!!

So that was definitely interesting. This has really been my favorite port culture wise so far. The history is so interesting and it's really great to experience such a different culture from the rest of Europe. I'm interested to compare this country and Egypt and Morocco. Anyway, I'm off to get some more things done before we have to get back on the ship!!

Handmade rugs, apple tea, Sufis, and Harry Potter

So the last 2 days have been pretty fun! The second day in Turkey, I just hung around the ship recovering from the last month of non-stop going!! Semester at sea really wears you out, but it’s so fantastic! After recovering all day and just hanging out with a few friends, I had an FDP to a Sufi Dervish ceremony. It was really cool. We went to this building with a dome roofed that was an old Turkish bath. IT had tapestries hanging from the wall and was lit by red lights. In the center of the floor was a round stage with colored lights around the outside and a section in the corner where the musicians/singers sat. It definitely was not what I was expecting. There were 4 guys singing/chanting and then 4 guys playing different instruments. They started off with a song where the singers and the musicians all played then one guy chanted a section of the Qua’ran. Then the dancers came out in white skirts and vests and a black robe. The whole ceremony was really interesting. I had never really watched any videos of it except for a few short videos in class. It was really interesting comparing it to catholic religions ceremonies. We even had a chance to talk to one of the dancers at the end and it was great how he explained what the symbolism was in the ceremony. They are taking knowledge from their God and giving it to the people – one of their hands is facing the sky and one looks like it’s dropping something. Learning about everything first hand was really great. Haha again there are just no real words to describe this trip and Turkey in general!

Yesterday I went to the Bazaar from around 9:30-2:00pm. It was so overwhelming! There are over 4000 stores there! I picked up a few gifts and things for my apartment. It’s really fun bargaining with the people selling things. I’m getting a lot better at it. Some of my friends are really good at it and get things for really good prices. You just have to be really sure of yourself and not settle for anything. Most of the time they are making money anyway, so it’s easy to just walk away, usually they yell a better price after you. But there are so many places selling the same thing everywhere, that you can just shop around for the best price and the nicest salesperson. We hung out with this one jeweler yesterday. He was listening to some Reggeaton! It was really fun talking to him and listening to music. We had an authentic Turkish lunch. It was pretty delicious. We got french-fries and they came with mayo and ketchup. The ketchup definitely wasn’t Heinz. It had an interesting tang to it… We then walked around some more and went back to the ship to get ready to see Harry Potter.

The trip to the movie theater wasn’t bad. We took the tram, but it really wasn’t necessary. A few of us walked back to the ship after the movie and it took maybe about 35 minutes. But it was SUCH a nice night outside. Yesterday was really nice. It was overcast and way cooler than it has been, which was definitely a relief. And it’s only going to get hotter… and hotter… and I’m going to have to cover more and more. Fun stuff!! Anyway, we went to the theater, got our tickets, which were cheaper than seeing a movie at home (I’m beginning to see a trend in this in Europe.. tickets are far less expensive.. but that may be because they all have subtitles.. or the US just likes to overcharge for movie tickets). Regardless, we were early and so we walked around, bought some Turkish delight and then got some authentic Turkish ice cream. Don’t think I’m going to attempt that again. It has marshmallow in it to keep it harder and stay on the cone. It is the weirdest consistency ever and expands in your stomach when you’ve finished eating it. So it feels like you ate way more than you actually did. An experience certainly…

The movie was OK. They left out a LOT. I’m not going to say anymore though, just in case you haven’t seen it yet.  We headed back to the ship and now here I am! Everyone went to the bazaar again this morning or to see the mosques and such. I wanted to avoid spending money, so I refrained from the bazaar and since my tour the first day was soo good, I have seen all of the mosques and the historical sites. This isn’t really a great city for wandering around alone, but everyone will be back soon and I have some papers to write! Woo hoo! Good thing they are interesting papers to write and not lab reports!

Tomorrow I might hit up the bazaar for some last minute things. We’re going to a hookah bar tonight to just chill near the ship. It’s going to be fun I’m definitely looking forward to it!!!!

I really love Turkey and am going to need to come back here!! I want to make it to Cappadocia eventually and to visit the Asian side of the city/country. Probably my favorite country so far. I do love Croatia and felt very at home there, but I don’t think I had the authentic Croatia experience there and I know I’m going back there. Turkey just has so much history and such huge cultural differences. It’s so great!!!

Anyway, off to stop procrastinating!

There is nothing like waking up to the site of Istanbul

I woke up this morning at 7:00 to see us pulling into Istanbul. It was a little hazy, so I didn’t get a GREAT view of the city, but it was still pretty awesome. From the deck, you would see the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. They tower over the old town! It was a great experience.

I had my city orientation today. I don’t know if I just misread the description of the trip or completely forgot what we were doing, but the whole thing was a surprise! We left the port and drove around the newer part of the European side of the city. The tour guide pointed out the soccer stadium for the Istanbul team where he used to play soccer! It was really exciting that he was once on the team for Istanbul. We then headed to the old part of the city on the European side of Istanbul. It’s so weird that Istanbul is on two different continents. I had no idea. The population is also between 15 and 20 million people! Anyway, we drove around the city walls a little bit and had a photo opportunity before heading to the Mosque of the Prince. It was a smaller mosque with only 2 minarets but it was really gorgeous inside and very simple. We had to cover our shoulders and our hair and everything above our ankles. We took our shoes off before going in.

After visiting that mosque and eating our delicious (not so much) boxed lunches from the ship, we headed into the heart of the old city and visited the Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, and the Cistern Basilica.

The Hagia Sofia was mind blowing. It is a museum now, so we could enter without covering our arms and taking off our shoes, etc. It is amazing to think about how long it’s been standing there. It’s been rebuilt 3 times. There are still pillars around from the second building and one pillar from the first. It was undergoing renovation on the inside to restore all of the mosaics from when Constantine first ruled Constantinople under Christian rule. Since it is against Muslim religion to use faces and icons, they were covered over when it became a mosque. They are now trying to restore all of these original mosaics. Some of them are visible. It was also really interesting to see the places where kings and sultans were coronated. It’s mind blowing to just think about the ceremonies and the defending of the crown that went down in this very place thousands of years ago. Our tour guy pointed out where the empress stood on the 2nd floor (since women weren’t allowed on the ground floor) and watched the ceremonies from between two pillars. Another interesting thing about this place was that the larger pillars (there are 8 of them all together) on the right and left of the altar section are from one of the original 7 wonders of the world – the temple of Artemis. Isn’t that awesome!!! SO much history in one place!

The Blue Mosque was also pretty breathtaking. It is just across the gardens from the Hagia Sofia. It’s the only mosque with 6 minarets. We covered our arms and took off of our shoes and headed inside. The patterns and designs were SO ornate and it was really gorgeous that most of it was in blue and white tile around the gallery. There were a lot of people in there both tourists and those praying. I didn’t know that mosques were also used for business of state and government things. They were used for that more than they were for praying now since you can pray and still talk to Allah from anywhere.

The hippodrome was pretty interesting. There wasn’t really much to see, but it was cool learning about the history of the pieces and to see them. There are 2 other towers like this one – one in NYC and one in London. The thing that surprised me the most on this whole trip was the Cistern Basilica. Our tour guide told us we were going to the underground waterway. So we were all thinking… awesome… the sewers.. it’s going to stink. Not the case. It was AMAZING! Think the chamber of secrets…only with red lighting, more water/pillars/open space, 2 heads of medusa, and it’s in Turkey not England. It was really overwhelming at first when you walk down the stairs and this huge underground area full of over 300 pillars pops up before your eyes. Apparently it was used to store water in case of shortage. The water is really low now, but there are fish in there (to keep the mosquitoes away!). I definitely recommend checking this out if you go to Istanbul. I saw a picture of it earlier in the independent travel suggestions and I just quickly overlooked it, but it’s definitely a must see!!

So my trip was very successful. I got a lot of sight seeing done. Tomorrow, since everything is closed, It’s paper time. Hooray! And then the 3rd day, we’re going to go to the bazaar. The 4th day I think we’re going to take a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. My friend is going to Cappadocia the next 2 days. JEALOUS! (Check it out on google, it’s an awesome place, and it’s mentioned in my top 15 unusual hotels of the world) The 5th day will just be more bazaar visiting and then getting ready to head to Bulgaria. It is suggested to take a ferry up the Bosphorus, but our boat is going to do that trip anyway.

Turkey is great and I’m really excited about my next few days here!!!!