Madeira, Portugal

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.

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Grand Canaria...Sometimes you just have to be a tourist

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.

Grand Canaria

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Agadir, Morocco

While in Agadir, we rode camels at the Kasbah, toured around the city and hit a traditional show where Joel was pulled up on stage (see pics).

Agadir, Morocco

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Casablanca, Morocco

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.

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Casablanca, Morocco Click on this link to view the album if clicking on the above picture does not work.

Christmas Eve in Montserrat, Spain

Montserrat, Spain Click on this link for an alternate way to view this album

Happy Holidays from the Mediterranean

The Islands of Malta

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Malta 2010 Click on this link to view the album if clicking on the picture above does not work

Camel Rides Only $20

...but another $50 to get off the camel. Seriously. This happened to some of the other tourists in Egypt (not us, though).

Egypt: The land of Mummies, the Nile and Pyramids

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.

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BTW: More on the camels at Giza in a separate post.

Turkey – Izmir & Ephesus

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 3^rd 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:

Turkey 2010 Or click here to go directly to the album

Cats Like Turkey – We Have Proof!

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).

Greece was a Riot…and a Washout

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.

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Greece Or click here to go directly to the album

A Greek Unorthodox Nativity

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.

Rome wasn't built in a day but a bunch of students tore it down in an afternoon

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!

Rome 2010 Or click here to go directly to the album

Barcelona 2010

We’re jet lagged so the pictures have to do the talking for us. Click on the picture below to view the entire album.

Barcelona 2010 Or click here to go directly to the album