We made it to Portugal! The island of Madeira (and the town of Funchal) is a very quiet little stop. And yet there was so much to do.
The highlight of the day was when we went up the hill to an area called Monte. It is here where the locals have preserved an historical mode of transportation that was used by the locals to cart goods and produce down to the village from the upper reaches of the very steep hillside communities. Here is how it works… The have built wicker toboggans and put wooden rails on the bottom. Then, two locals push you down the hill! Now, the locals jump on and help steer/break, but they really just push you down the hill. Think Alaska dog racing with pavement instead of snow and gravity pulling you instead of dogs.
We also had an opportunity to sample the local Madeira wines. You don’t need drink the wine before the toboggan ride, but it could make it more interesting.
Ok, so after seeing so many historical sites, etc. we were on information & location overload. The fix for this is to do something extremely touristy. So, when we hit the island of Grand Canaria we rode camels along the dunes, sat by the beach & then hit the city.
While in Casablanca we toured the city & visited The King Hassan II Mosque (largest in Morocco and 2nd largest in the World), hit an open-air market, the King’s palace & a few other places.
Click on the picture below to view the album from Casablanca:
As soon as we disembarked, we were whisked away to a relatively small “international” airport in Alexandria. Within an hour of arriving in port, we were up in the air headed for Luxor (the non-Vegas version) and the first leg of our tour. Once there, we boarded the bus that was to be our home for the next 13 hours.
It is here we met Bahgat (also know as Habiby) our tour guide. The initial day included stints at the Valley of the Kings, the Temple at Karnac, a mummification museum and the Temple of Luxor at night before finally getting dinner and some rest at our hotel that was situated right on the Nile river. In a word… Breathtaking.
The next morning had an early start, so a 5:00 wake-up call was needed. Again… Breathtaking. However, we really didn’t need to have the wake-up call as at a couple minutes before 5:00 AM, the mosque across the street started broadcasting the call to prayer. So our wake up was guaranteed.
Once cleaned up and back on the bus, we journeyed back to the airport and on a short flight up to Cairo. Cairo is am immense city filled with history, people of all walks of life, amazing architecture and traffic laws that appear to be merely suggestions. It was not uncommon to see a donkey-pulled cart next to a Mercedes; both waiting while people randomly step out and walk across 5 “suggested” lanes of traffic.
But it is in Cairo where we spent time at the National Museum of Egypt before heading out to see the Pyramids at Giza, several dozen camels, and the Sphinx. Once more… Breathtaking.
After a quick lunch and a not so quick bus ride back to Alexandria, we got back on the ship to begin the final leg of our Adventure in Egypt – plowing through almost a thousand photos. Since our Internet connection is terrible right now, we are not able to add captions to our posted pictures or embed them into this post.
The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Turkey was that there were no…
Air traffic controller strikes that shut down air travel throughout the country (like in Spain)
Student protests & riots (like in Italy)
Labor protests & riots (like in Greece)
Obviously, we thought we were in the wrong country!
Seriously, the area of Turkey that is around Izmir is beautiful. Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey. We’d like to go back & spend more time there someday.
During our stay we visited the ruins of Ephesus, hit a carpet factory, saw much landscape (lots of oranges being grown) & did a bit of shopping.
Click on the picture below to view our album from Turkey:
Just outside of Izmir, Turkey are the ancient ruins of an Ionian Greek city called Ephesus. While many people visit this site on an annual basis, the real residents are cats…lots and lots of cats. Well fed cats who will pretty much eat anything food-related given to them except for apples (from what we saw others feeding them).
Well, we were supposed to head to Athens. Unfortunately, there was some sort of major labor strike going on there that included rioters who were setting the city on fire & doing other bad things so we diverted to Iraklion on the island of Crete instead.
We did get to see the city, visit some ancient ruins & do some shopping in Crete… all during a torrential, horizontal downpour. We’re thinking that Greece just might be a do-over someday soon.
Click on the picture below to view the Greece album:
The people on the island of Crete have a long tradition of making due. While the island is largely considered the birthplace of one of the first advanced civilizations, it is a bit isolated from the rest of Greece and its closest neighbors of Egypt and Italy. This has resulted in a very creative approach to even the most traditional of Christmas decorations.
Take the Nativity scene captured here as an example…
Sure, the core elements are here. In the manger Mary, Joseph, the LBJ and even the wise men are all in attendance. However it is very difficult to acquire some of the tributes and/or gifts. Gold is readily available; as is the sometimes-elusive Frankincense. Myrrh unfortunately is nowhere to be found. So the cretins (is that really what they call themselves?) have found the next best thing to Myrrh. Look closely! Yep… it’s Mir, the Russian space station. In the Nativity, this is represented by the small Space shuttle wedged in between the right-most wise man and the sheep.
Nothing says Merry Christmas better than shuttles and sheep.
As we were driving into Rome we learned that protests were scheduled in the heart of the city. Although they were to be peaceful ones to protest the government raising university tuition, it was recommended that we avoid certain parts of the city.
Well, the Italians must have a different definition of what a “peaceful protest” is because things turned into a full-fledged riot roaming through Rome. Police were wearing riot gear & were shooting both tear gas & smoke grenades. Stores had broken windows & other damage done to them, cars were set on fire, etc. The riots pretty much shut down the city; making it challenging to get around. We did our best to avoid the major ugliness but did get caught in the immediate aftermath.
While unfortunate, the riot didn’t completely ruin our sightseeing of the ruins and we were able to get out of that area safely… We saw the Coliseum, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, a Christmas Market in Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain and the Flaming Garbage Truck of The Ancients (ok, this last one might have been due to the riot).
Click on the picture below to view a slideshow of our Rome adventure!
Many of you know that we tend to travel with a plastic chicken and then take pictures of him in front of various landmarks (it's not just us - it's L's whole team @ work who does this). Our chicken now has his own page on Facebook! So...become a fan and follow his travels. The whole thing is sort of like Flat Stanley, but only with a plastic chicken.
It all started at a retirement party in '07. A few dozen chickens were purchased as table centerpiece decorations. Afterward, there was a lot of plastic poultry left over. So now, anytime a team member travels to somewhere exotic (like Italy, Africa or Spokane) the chicken comes along & gets his picture taken in front of various landmarks, etc.
Follow The Traveling Chicken's adventures across the globe. Along the way, he may be kidnapped by tourists, chewed on by dogs, pecked at by pigeons or crunched in the baggage terminal.
Over the past day or so a few of you have mentioned that you have not been able to view some of our embedded photo albums. This seems to be a new issue with Picasa (web program we use to upload pictures to) and it seems to mostly involve those who use Internet Explorer. Things seem to work just fine in Firefox or Safari. After looking at the Picasa tech support boards it seems as though some believe that the current fix involves something between turning around quickly 3 times during a blue moon with your eyes closed or lots of praying to strange idols...um, OK...
The Picasa folks will figure it out. Until then, here's our "fix." If you are having difficulties viewing any of our South American photo albums when you click on them then try clicking on these links instead:
Ok, so for those of you who have either followed our travels for some time or have done a decent job of stalking this blog may already know that Jamaica is not one of our top 10 places to visit (the violence, the locals begging for tips @ every turn, our hurricane experience, etc). Well, the ship stopped in Ocho Rios. We got off the ship & spent some time in port. We survived.
Click on the image below to view pictures from our time in Jamaica:
We traveled through the Panama Canal last week! We did this back in 2004 from the Caribbean Sea to Pacific Ocean. This time we are going through in the opposite direction (Pacific to Caribbean). It took our ship all day to completely go through the canal. Below is a map of where we were.
Exactly how does the Panama Canal work? Click on the links below to view brief animations of a ship traveling through the canal & of the locks:
We’re heading through the Panama Canal on Wednesday (April 21st). It will take all day to pass through the canal. There are cameras throughout. We are on the Norwegian Sun. It is the big white ship with a big yellow sun painted on the hull. Visit the link below to see what is passing through the Panama Canal right now.
The first thing we noticed about being in Lima, Peru was the security, police and guns…lots and lots of security, police officers and guns all over the place.
The second thing we noticed about being in Lima was the sheer size of the city. The last couple of ports had been smaller towns. Lima is huge! I think the guide said 7 million people. Much bigger than anything we expected.
Click on the image below to view pictures from our recent experience in Lima:
If you have been reading our postings carefully, you know that the Chicken stopped speaking to us in Cusco. We missed a chance for a photo op with a young girl and her baby sheep. Anyway, when we went out to Machu Picchu, we decided we needed to make amends and bought a small souvenir to try and win him back over.
Needless to say, we scored big time and the Chicken has once again been our eager travel companion.
We have taken him around Chile and Peru and soon through the Panama Canal and then on to Costa Rica and Jamaica (small note… the Chicken is not too excited about Jamaica because he keeps on hearing about all the Jerk Chickens that seem so popular there; why can’t they simply be friendly instead of being jerks?)
Anyway, we have assembled several of the best Chicken photo shoots over the past several days. We invite you to click on the image below to get a small glimpse of the Chicken in Chile and Peru.
Arica, Chile is about 11 miles south of the border with Peru. It receives 0.03 inches of rain a year. Yeah, that makes us thirsty, too. So, what does one do when visiting one of the driest places on Earth??? Spend the day in the Atacama Desert of course.
Squatter communities seemed to be present everywhere. Apparently, some people build “shacks” on some of the more undesirable land & live without electricity or water. Many of these people have jobs. The goal here is to force the government to develop the area, give them land and provide housing (utilities, etc.). After a certain length of time the squatters can “complain” to the government about their poor living conditions. The squatters are then offered government housing for a total cost (not monthly) of between $50- and $100 US dollars.
Click on the image below to view pictures from our time in Arica:
Iquique is in Northern Chile & is west of the Atacama Desert. The name translates to “laziness” which sort of fits since this is a beachfront community. Copper mining is king here. Those who work in the mines can make a decent living. Those who do not work in the mining industry tend to make around $250 (in US dollars) a month. This city had much more European/international influences to it than the others we’ve visited so far.
While we were in Iquique Joel was interviewed by CNN Chile – They were doing a story about tourism. Apparently, having a cruise ship visit this city was a huge deal for them (this doesn’t happen much here). Apparently, Joel didn’t look like a local, either.
Click on the image below to view pictures from Iquique:
Coquimbo is a small fishing town on the Chilean coast. It is north of Santiago. What can we say…it smelled a lot like fish. There were tons of cats & pelicans hanging around the fishing boats hoping to get a snack of fish parts from the fishermen.
The town sits along a hillside. The pathways up the hill do not go straight up. Instead, they zigzag up the hills. They sort of reminded us of Lombard Street in San Francisco. Click on the image below to view a few pictures (& captions) of Coquimbo:
Part two of our trip began in Valparaiso, Chile where we boarded the Norwegian Sun. From there we will head north, up through the Panama Canal & then end up in Miami.
The last time we went through the Panama Canal the average age of the passenger was 72. This time around, it is obvious that we are again some of the youngest passengers on this ship. Bring on those reminders to, “keep your wheelchairs out of the hallways at night!”
Yup, they’re still having aftershocks here. We experienced a few in the high 4 to low 5 magnitude ones. These weren’t enough to cause much damage, just enough to make our hotel sway back & forth & “roll” a bit. As we’ve continued to tour the city we’ve seen more & more pockets of earthquake damage. It’s sad to see piles of rubble where neighborhoods once stood, etc.
Click on the picture below to view some pictures from Santiago:
Central Market – We love cruising through the open markets when we travel. It always is one of the more memorable aspects of any of the city experiences we have. Places like Barcelona and Rome had these wonderful sections right off of a main street or square where stands upon stands of fresh fruit, seafood, meats, etc. are available. You can eat there, or take the stuff home for later. Thrown in are a few stands of local merchandise that is unique to the city. In Italy, it was Lemoncello. In Barcelona, it was dried/cured hams. It’s always a wonderful experience.
Santiago has one of these sections, too. It’s called the Central Market. As we prepared to get off the bus to visit it, the bus attendant came to us and started telling us how unsafe it was. We needed to not take stuff out of our packs. We should NEVER count out money in the open. We should be aware of our surroundings at all times. “I am not saying to not go, but be very careful.” With that enthusiastic and encouraging pep talk, we stepped off the bus.
We started walking to the entrance of the market and someone stopped us and asked if we wanted lunch (we had already eaten, so we said “no, thanks anyway”) and then he proceeded to tell me to wear our pack in the front. Don’t take it off. Keep one hand on the pack at all times. “It’s unsafe here. Oh, and no pictures. They will take your camera.” With another “thanks” and a quick moment to move the pack to my front, we dove into the market.
We made it about 3 restaurants deep before I got bumped really hard. A quick check for the existence of my wallet confirmed it was still there. Another hard knock about 5 minutes later had me checking again. And at this point, I basically was walking in this market with one hand in my front pocket on my wallet and one hand clutching the backpack that was slung across my chest. My resolve to delve deeper was shattered with another bump/knock/shove.
“Can we head out?” Yes, I was probably being a wuss, but if I was too worried about our stuff, I was not going to be able to have any fun.
On the way our, we asked someone at the Touristic bus counter when the next bus would arrive. He told us about 15 minutes and as we headed out to wait on the corner, he stopped us and said “no, no, no. Wait here. We have air-conditioning and the corner is not safe.”
Wuss or not, we went to the Central Market and managed to escape with all of our belongings and yet another most memorable experiences of Santiago.
…and how come we felt the need to walk up & down every one of those stairs?
Machu Picchu was spectacular & we lucked out on the weather. We feel so privileged to have been able to experience another one of the wonders of the World. This lost Incan civilization was discovered by an American not too long ago. Here’s more info. to use or lose for more information about Machu Picchu. We spent the night at a wonderful & relaxing resort called The Inkaterra so we could spend more time at Machu Picchu. Click (or double-click) on the picture below to view a web album from the Machu Picchu portion of our trip:
Besides rich architecture, culture & history, Machu Picchu has stairs. Lots & lots of stairs that are not for the faint of heart. So, after walking up & down those stairs all day long (with sore butts from the earlier bus ride) the thing we’re wondering is this: If the Incas were such short people, how come they built such ginourmous stairs throughout Machu Picchu?
The rail link from Cusco to Machu Picchu was swept away by floods back in January. Only the link from Piscacucho to Machu Picchu has been restored (the rest won’t be done until June) Because of this, we had to get up at O’dark hundred & hop on a 16-person bus to take us on the long drive from Cusco to Piscacucho. Ok, so we didn’t exactly tell you the truth. Not only was the railway destroyed by the flood but some of the roads were, too. This meant that our little bus got to do some off roading at times. The closer we got to the train station the less the roads actually looked like roads. It sort of felt like being on the Star Tours attraction at one of the Disney parks & sitting in the back row (where you get tossed around much more). Yeah, we ended up with butt bruises & sore necks after that little ride. It was a bit sobering to see parts of the former railroad tracks sticking out in the air with nothing around it (we’d have taken a picture of it for you but we were having too much fun being tossed around the back of the Peruvian bus).
Once we made it to the train station @ Piscacucho we boarded the train & headed to Machu Picchu. This was an extremely slow trip as there construction crews were still repairing the tracks (but was much more logical than having to wait for a flock of sheep to cross the tracks enroute to Belgium or having to deal with crazed football fans on the train while enroute to Scotland – some folks should say “No” to body paint BTW).
The Rail link from Cusco to Machu Picchu was swept away by
floods back in January. Only the link from Piscacucho to Machu Picchu has been
restored (the rest won’t be done until June) Because of this, we had to get up
at O’dark hundred & hop on a 16-person bus to take us on the long drive from
Cusco to xyz. Ok, so we didn’t exactly
tell you the truth. Not only was the railway destroyed by the flood but some of
the roads were, too. This meant that our little bus got to do some off roading
at times. The closer we got to the train station the less the roads actually
looked like roads. It sort of felt like being on the Star Tours attraction at
one of the Disney parks & sitting in the back row (where you get tossed
around much more). Yeah, we ended up with butt bruises & sore necks after
that little ride. It was a bit sobering to see parts of the former railroad
tracks sticking out in the air with nothing around it (we’d have taken a
picture of it for you but we were having too much fun being tossed around the
back of the Peruvian bus).
Once we made it to the train station @
Piscacucho
we boarded the
train & headed to Machu Picchu. This was an extremely slow trip as there
construction crews were still repairing the tracks (but was much more logical
than having to wait for a flock of sheep to cross the tracks enroute to Belgium
or having to deal with crazed football fans on the train while enroute to
Scotland – some folks should say “No” to body paint BTW).
