A Family Reunion: Part II

We boarded another cheap RyanAir flight, left the beautiful coast of Girona, Spain and arrived in Roma, Italy an hour and a half later. It was midnight by the time we got into our hostel room, and the next thing we knew we were sipping cappucinos and biting into flaky croissants for breakfast. We were south of the city but had to get north to the small town of Riano, where The Flavour of Italy, our apartment, was, and where we would be meeting Ryan's family!

There was a little confusion as to how we were to get to The Flavour of Italy, but after borrowing the cell phone of a helpful Italian woman, and an hour's wait at the train station, we were greeted by our host Wendy. After settling in and snacking on pizza adorned with zucchini flower, the Kloch clan (parents LeeAnn and Steve, sister Jaime and boyfriend Matt) showed up! We promptly celebrated by popping the top of some tasty Cava that we brought from Spain, sampling some local Italian wines, and enjoying some delicious homemade gnocchi.

A couple of gnocchi lovers

We also had an unexpected visitor, Francis, the friendly yellow lab, who became our pet for the next couple days (we have met many friendly animals over the course of our travels, and it's amazing how they can make you feel right at home!).

We woke up the next morning and had a wonderful breakfast at courtesy of Wendy, then caught the train into the city to start some sightseeing. We saw Michelangelo's Moses sculpture, the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum,  and the open-roofed Pantheon.

The sun was out and the heat was on, but we managed to make it over to the Piazza Navona, which turned out to be everyone's favorite spot of the day.

Of course, we couldn't leave the city without sampling some gelato. For dinner, we headed back to Riano where we were taken to Casa de Luca, a hidden local restaurant where the menu consists of whatever the chef feels like making that night! We didn't know how much food we'd get, so we ate everything (liking it all) and the dishes just kept coming! There seems to be about 8 courses total! The food was flowing, along with the wine and limoncello. We left feeling gorged and very happy!

Even though we were all feeling a little worse for wear the next morning, we toughed it out and headed back into the city, destination: Vatican City. The line into St. Peter's Basilica wrapped around the square, so we wove through the Museum, ending at the Sistine Chapel, first. Then, St. Peter's.

Leaving St. Peter's, clouds closed in and it started to pour:

so we bought some bumbershoots (umbrellas) and dodged puddles until we got to the Trevi Fountain, where some coins were tossed, and big wishes made.

Since it happened that this day was also our first anniversary, it was only fitting to celebrate, which we did big time, at a wonderful, filling meal at Ciao Bella Grille, with many thanks to Grandma Rita!

We had train:

tickets for the next morning taking us northward from Roma to The Cinque Terre (The Five Lands) on the coast. The views of the Italian countryside were beautiful, and we changed trains in Florence, then ended in the small seaside town of Riomaggiore, one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre area. We checked into our quaint, tri-level apartment, then took a lovely walk along Via Dell'Amore (Lover's Walk) to the next town of Manarola, ending with a tasty dinner at Dal Billy Trattoria before the stroll back.

The rain followed us from Rome, this time bringing some powerful thunder and lightning along with it, which made for a fitful night's sleep. The next day we explored three of the other towns (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, and Corniglia) via a convenient train that ran between all the towns. One of the most interesting aspects of Cinque Terre is how they plant their gardens and vineyards on the terraced cliff sides:

Manarola

Corniglia

Looking toward Manarola

We left this unique coastline for another astonishing one - Venice. The no-cars aspect of the city is super-nice, and taking boats to get around is just so different! We caught the vaporetto (waterbus) on the canal to our apartment in the heart of Venice, and more good food with a bottle of prosecco capped off the day.

Another rainy day awaited us, but armed with our new umbrellas, we set off toward Piazza San Marco, taking refuge there just as a downpour started.

We thought we could wait it out, but the Piazza is notorious for flooding; we didn't want to get stuck there for the rest of the day, so we made a dash for it back to the apartment.

Soaked and tired, we opened the door to our apartment -  to find that it too was starting to flood! The roof was being replaced, and the workers must not have got a covering up before the rain started. Luckily it only covered part of the floor and the only casualty was some of Jaime's bag. We used our resources, blow-dryer included, to get the water out and dry off our gear. Although the rain subsided, we decided against venturing back out, so instead we cooked our own pasta dinner and enjoyed staying warm and dry. We also said our goodbyes to Matt that night, as he was headed back to the States on an early morning flight.

The sun decided to show up the next morning so we took a vaparetto to Murano Island, famous for its blown glass. We perused the shops and gaped at some of the prices, but we enjoyed looking at the art nonetheless. We headed back early in the afternoon as we had to catch our train to Klagenfurt, Austria. The scenery from the train ride was amazing, with the high rise alps looming above the tiny Italian, then Austrian villages. We arrived just in time to grab a bite to eat, huge, delicious salads that we'd all been craving oh so badly. In the morning, we picked up our rental car and headed for the town of Kloch!

Yes, it is true, there is a town in south-east Austria by that name and it's actually known for its wine. After driving through several neat little towns, including Diepersdorf:

Autumn in Diepersdorf

we arrived to the official sign stating we were in Kloch.

Back to the roots

We ate lunch at the Klocherhoff, hiked up the Kloch castle:

and then tasted some of the Kloch wine at the local vinotek. We even bought some wine glasses adorned with the Kloch coat of arms! That night, we stayed in Graz, and were walked around the city long enough to climb to the Uhrturm Clock Tower (we actually took an elevator up and hiked down) and have a drink in the middle of the Mura river at the very strange Mur Island bar.

We left early in the morning for Salzburg, where we had another nice apartment. Salzburg is one of our favorite cities; the town is completely walkable, with an imposing fortress overlooking everything. We walked around Mirabell Gardens:

Garden with fortress in the background

toured the Hohensalzburg Fortress:

View of Salzburg from the castle

visited St. Peter's Church and Abbey, walked through the house where Mozart was born and raised, and more.

Mozart's hair

After that, LeeAnn, Steve, and Jaime went on the Sound of Music tour while we went to the Stiegl brewery, where we sampled some of their beers, and finally ended the afternoon with one liter mugs at the local beerhall!

Our last stop on the Austria tour was Vienna. We stayed outside of the city in the town of Baden. The afternoon we arrived, we took a stroll through the vineyards to the tiny wine nook of Soos, where we sat down to some delicious cheeses, bread, spreads (liptauer was a favorite), and of course wine. One offspring of the wine process is a drink called sturm (basically drinking the product of the first fermentation in the wine process, when the grape juice has only reached 4 percent alcohol). We tried this in Soos also - it's quite different than wine and pretty tasty!

We fueled up our bodies for sightseeing the next morning thanks to the generous breakfast of the Steinkellner Pension: meats, cheeses, eggs, fruit, breads, and individual carafes of coffee got us going! We took a tram trip around Vienna's city ring, marking our map of where to head back to, then saw St. Stephensdom, took the metro to the Danube River, and ate some kasekrainers (hot dogs with cheese in the middle). After a long day, we headed back to Baden, and also back to quaint little Soos for a last delicious dinner at the Fischer Winery, as the next day the Kloch family would be heading home.

We said our goodbyes after another delicious breakfast, then we left the Pension for a hotel closer to the train station in the city. That day we walked around the enormous Schonbrunn Palace and its gardens:

and did some window shopping and some errands. Next thing we knew, we were awake at 5:00am and catching a train to Budapest, Hungary!

If you would like to know how living life on the road for a year is, this photo sums it up: laundry hanging, dinner on the table, clothes in the closet (wait, the extra bed and chairs are the closet...), and Ryan hard at work in the office.

Una Siesta En Espana

Anna’s parents dropped us off at the bus station on their way to the airport; we found our bus easily enough, and 8 hours later we said hello to Spain again. Specifically, Madrid. Finding our way to our hostel was a little challenging because of the fact that the metro line we needed wasn’t yet finished. But we got some exercise in, found our centrally located room, and then the first thing we did was go around the corner to the Museo de Jamon. This is a must for anyone visiting Madrid, especially those on a budget. It’s basically a bar that serves up tasty bocadillos (little sandwiches) and tapas, and many of their items cost only 1 euro! – including beer and glasses of wine. Our taste buds and our wallets both agreed with this place, so we visited a few more times.

Madrid was just the right size for walking around, so our next four days were spent exploring the city and visiting many of the top sites. We visited the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace), where displays in the royal armory of old weaponry and full body armor (horses included) was the highlight:

The well-known Prado Museum has free-entrance times, so we took advantage, viewing works by Goya, Velasquez, and the impressive The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, to name a couple. One night at dinner, the beer tap was built right into our table! A screen on the wall displays the amount you’ve drank, because it’s easy to overdo it when you’re bartending for yourself! And we ate a huge pan of good paella. It wasn’t cheap though, so we limited the amount of our imbibing.

And we made a major decision – our big Europe splurge was going to be football game, so who better to watch than Real Madrid? Considering the team has two of the best players – Ronaldo and Kaka – it was easily justifiable. Unbeknownst to us at the time of buying our tickets, Usain Bolt was scheduled to make an appearance before kick-off, which he did, ending his field time with his signature “bolt.”

That surprise made our evening that much more exciting! The game was great, the fans fun, and Real Madrid ended up beating Deportiva 3-2.

Markets seem to be the place where cities show their colors most, and we went to Madrid’s street market on Sunday morning, and were fairly impressed. The stalls seemed never-ending, snaking along side streets, and selling everything from souvenirs to any type/size of rubber band you could think of!

The city’s modern art museum, Museo Reina Sofia, also had free entrance hours (a few other attractions do this as well which makes sightseeing in Madrid fairly cheap) so we strolled over to examine the unique and often strange works of Pablo Picasso (his huge Guernica is a stunner) and Salvador Dali.

We liked Madrid a lot, as it seemed to cater to every kind of tourist – luxury jetsetters or budget travelers like us. But it was time to keep moving northward to Barcelona. Another eight-hour bus ride later, we arrived in the city. Our reserved room tipped us off that Barcelona was going to be more expensive: we were paying almost 50% more than we did in Madrid for one of the smallest rooms we’ve stayed in. There was even a fridge and microwave crammed in with us! The owners of Barcelona 294 were extremely nice (they owned a little hamster!) and breakfast was included, so these things somewhat made up for the lack of space.

Everyone told us that the first thing on our sightseeing list should be La Sagrada Familia, to which we said “the what?” La Sagrada Familia is a massive mid-construction church. Plans were developed and started in 1882, and the projected year of completion is not until 2030! The mastermind behind the building is Antoni Gaudi, a remarkable architect who unfortunately passed away early during its construction. Gaudi took his designs from nature; for example, the photo below shows how the columns inside mimic trees. Seeing the actual building of a structure of such proportions and precision was astounding! Workers these days have the advantage of modern cranes and equipment, too.

Next on our tour of Gaudi, we hiked up to Parc Guell, where a house where Gaudi and friends spent time was located, along with another magnificent creation – tile mosaics underneath a main terrace seemed to come alive.

Classical musicians taking advantage of the acoustics in the pavilion

The view from Parc Guell; notice La Sagrada Familia towering over the city on the left!

The artist’s other two popular buildings, Casa Batllo and La Pedera, were a little too pricey to visit inside, but we did wander by to see them from the outside, taking careful notice of “the most photographed chimneys in the world:"

We strolled (along with every other tourist in Barcelona) along Las Ramblas, the main drag that attracts all kinds of street performers decked out in crazy creature costumes. It’s also the city’s informal pet warehouse, selling animals such as rabbits, lizards, and even squirrels (no dogs or cats, however); what a crazy place! Our favorite find was a tapas bar named El Xampanyet, where a delicious house Cava (a type of sparkling wine from Spain) was served alongside excellent tapas.

It wasn’t too hard to leave Barcelona for a few reasons – 1. It was just a little too expensive for our budget, which limited sightseeing; 2. We were feeling a bit cramped in our room after 3 days; and 3. We were looking forward to our next stop: the beach of the Costa Brava. We decided, since we had a flight to Rome from Girona, Spain (about an hour north of Barcelona) to stay in a coastal town just east of Girona called Llafranc, for 5 nights.

We took a chance and bussed up the coast without accommodation reservations, but since it was toward the end of their summer vacation we got an incredible deal at a rental agency we stopped into. For less than what we paid for our closet in Barcelona, we got an entire 2-bedroom 2-story apartment that was 200m from the beach!

If ever we imagined a Spanish beach paradise, this was it. Llafranc was small enough that we could walk across it in 10 minutes, passing a perfect crescent-shaped beach looking out on a picturesque bay of crystal clear Mediterranean water.

When we got tired of lying on the beach, there was a peaceful coastal path that reached the next small town in 15 minutes. But we didn’t get tired of the beach much; it was the most perfect beach weather you can get, with refreshing ocean a few feet away. Heaven!

Our break from city sightseeing was just what we needed, as these beach bums are going to do some serious touring in the next 2 weeks! Next up: the Kloch family + Matt!

A Family Reunion: Part I

We left Spain, boarding a bus from Seville to Lisbon, with happy hearts to finally be seeing family after so long on the road. An uneventful 7 hours later, we were entering the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Lisbon, thinking “we haven’t been in a hotel like this for a while!”

A knock on the door an hour later, and we reunited with Anna’s family: parents Mark and Donna and brother Peter, fresh off the plane from home. We went out to a late celebration dinner, then collapsed in sleep.

The next morning, Donna said that we had to try the Portuguese custard tarts, so we bought a few along with espressos, picked up our spacious VW Passat rental wagon and zoomed off toward the tiny town of Penedo, west of Lisbon and nearer the coast. We were expecting a nice leisurely drive, but instead got hair raising turns and two-way streets that only let one car by at a time! We made it to our Casa de Artistes, an older-style Portuguese house, then went straight down to the center of Colares, the town just south of us, to check out a local festival that was going on that weekend. We were starving, and one of the two places to eat was at a booth that ended up serving us chicken livers, snails in the shell, and sangria.

We picked through our food, not being sure if we liked the snails or not, met the town priest, as well as a nice British woman by the name Agnes Anderson, and watched our new priest friend lead a church processional up the street.

We then went to a weekend market of fruits and vegetables, where we picked up some supplies for the following days.

Then next day, we drove to the beach town of Ericeira, enjoyed the ocean scenery, ate a wonderful seafood lunch, and saw another church processional down the street. Then, it was time to do some sightseeing, so we got up early the next day to drive into Sintra, a little inland of Penedo. There, we visited the Palacio Nacional de Pena, and the Moorish Castle, both perched high atop the mountains overlooking the coastline. The Palacio was a bit Disneyland-ish, but interesting nonetheless, and the Moorish Castle made you feel like you were back defending your people against invaders:

Our next day consisted of visiting the Capuchos Convent, otherwise known as the Cork Convent, an old stone complex with cork lining the windows and doors for insulation. It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind place.

Monserrate, with its expansive gardens and summer house was our favorite, as its less fussy rooms and big wood library we could imagine “summering” in.

We also got the satisfaction of standing at the western-most point of continental Europe!

and buying a 5 liter jug of wine for only 4 euros!

At the end of each day, we would drive our wagon (which got around 55 mpg!) home through the narrow streets, honk as we arrived at our driveway on a curve, and then be greeted by a friendly Siamese cat that made herself at home our entire stay:

We’d eat dinner, drink some good Portuguese wine and port, then tuck ourselves in, in our upstairs bedrooms.

Like all the other regional tourists, we spent a day at the beach (Praia de Macas) on one of the only beach-worthy days, and dined at restaurants where Ryan had to practice his somewhat-Portuguese Spanish. We also visited the Palace in Mafra, north of Penedo, which had an outstanding preserved library complete with resident bats that eat the bugs that would otherwise ruin the books!

We visited a market outside of Mafra, where we bought our lunch of salami, cheese, bread, fruits, and wine - these items were a consistent lunchtime staple throughout our Portugal visit. The next day we drove to Obidos, an ancient walled city with some sketchy non hand-railed walkways high above the city:

Afterwards, we wanted to do some wine tasting, but following the map we had, there was only one open tasting room, which had some good wine which again accompanied our consistent lunchtime staples.

Lisbon was just a short drive away from our little hilltop, so we hopped in the car to visit the city. We visited the Castelo de Sao Jorge, which was nowhere as cool as the Moorish Castle, Anna got bird-pooed on at lunch, and by that time we were a little over Lisbon. It’s a big city with the usual big city happenings. On our way out, we explored the Tower of Belem, a watch tower built by the ocean, and then drove the long, scenic way home.

Our stay in Portugal was winding down, so the next day consisted of visiting Agnes Anderson, an 1800’s-style English lady who we had met the first day, and who owns an old wine making estate. We got a tour of her unused winemaking barns and the old house she lives in. Then we chowed down on sausage rolls from a stand at the weekend market that we’d been eyeing since the previous weekend. Our last outing was to the Queluz Palace, a summer house for royalty that even had its own manmade canals for the pleasure of its residents.

Our last day in Portugal was spent doing chores and last minute things, and then it was already time to say goodbye to Anna's family! Peter would be going back to Babson College the following Monday, and the parents back to their jobs (which we'll be looking for in a couple weeks!) so we were going to be back on our own. It was so wonderful seeing and spending time with people we know, and thank you so much Mom, Dad, and Peter for giving us a "vacation from our vacation!"

The Many Markets of Morocco

As with previous flights, our flight arrived in Casablanca, Morocco at an ungodly hour, but we made it to our hotel in the city center without incident. It was only after 5 hours of sleep that we were off again, catching the 3 hour train to Marrakech. After meeting our contact Ingrid and a 5 minute taxi ride later, we were at the apartment where our stay was given to us as a wedding gift (thank you Lisa and Seth!)

We would spend the next 10 days using the apartment as our base exploring the splendors of Marrakech. We felt spoiled having such a nice place all to ourselves for our entire stay but we took advantage and made the most of it. There was a nice grocery store within walking distance that we ended up visiting on a daily basis and getting around to other parts of the city was pretty painless with the plethora of cheap petit taxis available.

We visited Djamaa el Fna, the central square of the medina, on several occasions. This is where the snake charmers hang out along with the endless stalls selling fresh squeezed orange juice; and there’s nothing that beats a cold glass on a scorching day.


From the main square we also explored the many tiny alleyways of the different souks (markets) that filled the medina, getting lost on more than one occasion. The souks were some of the best places we’ve seen for shopping and it was difficult not to buy more than our packs could handle. Mixed in with all the shops were the stalls selling spices, fresh meat, fruits and vegetables.


It made for a mind boggling experience that touched on all the senses.

We ended up taking a cooking class one of the days and bought all the ingredients fresh from the market, including the live chicken that would be the basis for our tasty tagine. The medina is also home to some great arab architecture including the Medersa Ben Youssef and the Saddian tombs. We were so inspired by some of the ceramic artwork that we ended up buying a few things for what little space we had.




We felt replenished a bit after our nice stay in Marrakech but before we knew, it was time to pack up again.

Next up on our itinerary was Fes, so we hopped on the train north and 8 hours later we arrived. We no longer had a nice apartment all to ourselves but we did manage to find a great little place in the medina called Dar Houdou. We really felt like we were living in an authentic Moroccan house at this 3 bedroom place. We only had one full day in Fes before our flight to Seville, Spain but we were able to explore most of the medina in the little time we had.

One of the highlights was trying to find our way to the tanneries and once we did, we were in awe of the many pits filled with the different colors used in tanning the leather hides.


Anna also did something she’s wanted to do ever since India, she got a henna tattoo. The lady that did the artwork took us into her house right in the medina which was very interesting to say the least.


We also bought some last minute items as we knew we were heading into Europe and things weren’t going to get any cheaper. Like Marrakech, Fes is a shopper’s paradise, so deciding on what to buy was the hardest part.

The next morning we were off again and caught our 45 minute flight to Seville. We stayed in Seville for 2 nights, just long enough to happily embrace the siestas and sangria. We visited the Alcazar, Plaza de Espana, Cathedral de Sevilla and saw a great flamenco performance.


We were able to walk everywhere but paid the price in the 100 degree weather. We really liked what we saw in Seville and got excited to see more of Spain but first it was time to head into Portugal and up to Lisbon where we would meet up with the Oliver family. So we hopped on the bus and made the 7 hour journey to Lisbon where we were all too happy to finally see some familiar faces!

A Brief History In Egypt

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We were envisioning dreams of pharaohs and kings when we boarded our red-eye flight from Johannesburg to Cairo. Instead, we got a screaming baby five rows in front of us and no sleep. Our hostel sent a driver to pick us up at 6:30am and, for once, he was actually there (unlike in India) complete with our names on a card. The car pulled up in front of a dubious-looking building in downtown Cairo 20 minutes later and we started scratching our heads. There was no sign for the place (Hostel Brothers) to be seen, and the building our driver led us inside seemed quite old and deserted. We followed him into the 1930’s elevator, got off at the 4th floor, and everything was just fine.

Our room wasn’t quite ready so we waited about an hour in the main lobby. Luckily, Mohammed and his crew made us feel at home, and we collapsed on the couch, also taking advantage of the free wi-fi. By the time our room was ready, we were on the verge of passing out, and we spent most of the day asleep. Our one activity was to arrange a dinner cruise on the Nile for that night, complete with a belly-dancing show. The cruise was okay. Usually we don’t go for things like “dinner cruises” but we decided since we were only in Egypt for one week, it was okay to be a typical tourist. We called the dancer a booby-dancer rather than a belly-dancer, shaking her boobs more than her belly, but the guy in the skirt that spun like a never ending top made up for it.



The next morning we headed off to Giza with “Egyptian Bob” (our driver for the day) to see the famous pyramids. Somehow we beat the tour buses and crowds (it wasn’t that early), and welcomed uninterrupted views of the Sphinx. And yes, it’s true – the Sphinx really is a lot smaller than envisioned. Impressive nonetheless.

By the time we strolled up to the Pyramids of Giza, the sun was out in full force, and so were the tourists. Again, impressive but sadly, what got our attention the most, was how badly the site is managed.

We’ve been fortunate enough to see many great historical monuments in our travels thus far, and the pyramids are by far the poorest maintained. It seems to us that the government is more focused on restoration than preservation.

We witnessed guards being bribed so ignorant tour-bus tourists could climb onto parts for that “great” photo (in fact, it’s depressing how many visitors just have no idea of the greatness of these sites) and the parking lot for the big buses is 25 feet away from the pyramids. It’s amazing, but you can see portions of the pyramids affected by exhaust and smog. We’re hopeful that some of these practices will change so future generations will be able to witness one of the great Seven Wonders of the World.


Looking past the negative, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there, and, for the first time in our lives, felt as if we were in a true desert slogging through the sand.

Next on the itinerary were the Sakkara pyramids, or step pyramids, which are even older than the Pyramids of Giza. Here you are allowed to go inside one of the pyramids (without an additional charge –amazing!) :

and witness just how claustrophobic the insides are! Some of the hieroglyphics at the Sakkara site were well preserved and it was hard to comprehend that they were done so, so long ago:

After finishing the sites at Sakkara, the heat was unbearable, (remember, we’d travelled from the intense heat of India’s summer, straight to South Africa’s cold dead of winter, and now back to the searing sun of the Middle East – it’s draining), and we were starving. We ate at a pretty well-known place in Cairo called Felfela. A little pricey (for Egyptian standards), but the food was good, except for the extra protein in the form of a bug that made it into Anna’s dish.

Khan Al Khalili, Cairo’s main market and tourist trap, pulled us in the next day. We scoped out what was on offer and got an idea for prices, but didn’t pull the trigger on any purchasing. Instead, we ate lunch and took a cab to the Egyptian Museum.

It seems as though anything and everything from ancient Egypt is in this museum. It’s not particularly huge, just crammed with stuff! Seeing the contents of King Tutankhamen’s tomb was mind-boggling. “How exactly did they make that, how did they fit it into that other thing?” The highlight, however, was the Mummy Room, which of course costs extra. It is a little creepy at first, but very interesting. We’re just sure that’s not how the ancient kings and queens meant for their bodies to end up. After a few hours in the stifling hot museum (we think their A/C may have been broken), it was time to get ready for our train ride.

When we first arrived in Cairo, we had no idea what to do in the short span of one week. We considered diving at the Red Sea, but our budget considered otherwise. In the end, we took Mohammed’s advice to visit Luxor for a few days, and continue our historical sightseeing.

The overnight train ride to Luxor has been the best we’ve had yet, as we had our own compartment complete with towels, soap, and sink. We boarded the train an hour late at around 9pm, were promptly served dinner that was included (think airline food), and then lights out. We were woken at 4:30am, served a horrible breakfast consisting of 5 different dry breads, and by the time we were finished, we were in Luxor.

Again, we were met by a person from our hotel, and jumped into a taxi for the 2 minute ride. We slept okay on the train, but considering it was only 5:30am, we decided to nap for a while before waking up to lunch. We walked around town, stopping in to EgyptAir to re-confirm our flight from Cairo to Casablanca, Morocco, and good thing we did. For whatever reason, even after speaking to representatives twice on the phone, Ryan was not confirmed and had no seat, while Anna was all squared away. This has happened several times with our round-the-world tickets through Star Alliance carriers. Luckily, we’ve always been able to get on our flights, and this proved no exception.

That night we headed out for a drink on the rooftop terrace of Alibaba, where we enjoyed a sheesha session while watching the happenings of the square below, including a loud, musical wedding procession. We woke up in the Nefertiti Hotel to a nice breakfast of juice, coffee, cereal, bread, butter, jam, and an egg – all included in the price of our room. Then we hopped in a van with 3 other tourists, and crossed to the other side of the Nile for some more sightseeing. The first stop – Valley of the Kings, where we saw underground tombs of Ramses IV, Ramses IX, and Horemheb.

Next was the Temple of Hatshepsut, a huge temple built by one of the most powerful women in ancient Egypt.

Lastly was Valley of the Queens, where we saw tombs of Chamuas, Titi, and Amen Khopshef. And of course we made the obligatory stop at an alabaster and papyrus workshop on the way back to the hotel.

That evening we went out to dinner at a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook by the name of Chez Omar. The food was tasty and we left filling satisfied, until Anna woke early the next morning with a case of food poisoning. Ryan got off lucky, even though he tasted Anna’s food. Needless to say, Anna spent the entire day in bed trying to rid her body of the evil toxin. She was barely feeling well enough that evening to catch the train back to Cairo, but she pushed through and we made it back to Cairo in one piece.

Our last day in Egypt was mostly spent recuperating while sitting in the Hostel Brothers reception, as Anna was still feeling a bit out of sorts. We did manage to make it back to the market for some last minute bargaining, however. Next thing we knew it was time to catch a taxi to the airport and hightail it out of Egypt and into Morocco, where a luxurious apartment awaited us in Marrakech!

We don’t have a ton of photos from the historical sites as they are not allowed to be taken in the tombs or the museum. You all will just have to go to Egypt to see for yourselves!