The Great Moroccan Adventure

Turban time!!!

Its love in the sand dunes...

Our camp guides inside our tent in the Sahara dessert...

Sunset in the Sahara Dessert... Absolutely Incredible!

The camels that we rode into the dessert...

View from the bus on our 10 hour excursion into the dessert...

Just practicing my yoga in front of the Kasbah...

One of our multiple detours on the excursion...

View from the restaurant where we enjoyed Moroccan salad and bright yellow soup!

Just enjoying the view on one of the excursion stops...

Archway into the market place...

Kenny and I on our horse drawn carriage tour :)

The mosque in the center of Marrakech...

Crazy snake man and a cobra!!!

Just a little water snake...

Lamb, apple, and cinnamon tagine...

Learning how to tie a turban!

A man dying fabric with natural dyes... We found out after taking this photo that they don't like being photographed!

Moroccan Mint Tea... Heaven on the lips ;)

I left Prague on a Wednesday evening in order to meet Kenny in Marrakech, Morocco on Thursday morning. I used one of the lovely European budget airlines and created my own seven hour layover in the Frankfurt-Hahn International Airport. Mistake. First off, the Frankfurt-Hahn airport is in Hahn, Germany not Frankfurt, Germany, so there is literally nothing near the airport. I tried to sleep before my flight, but the ground was tile, and it was ice cold (in other words, a horrible combination.) This was probably the worst night's sleep I have ever had. I think I had a total two hours sleep. Oh well... I boarded my next flight the following morning at 6:00. I didn't realize it was a four hour flight to Morocco; I was luckily able to sleep the entire way. I gained two hours in the air, so by the time Kenny and I reached our Riad it was only 10:00. Just so you know, a Riad is probably the most amazing form of accommodation known to man. Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived, but we checked in anyway. Then, the owner of the hotel poured us our first glasses of Marrakech Mint Tea. Amazing. We left our backpacks and headed out into the market place. As we wandered the streets we were hit up to purchase various items every few feet. We stumbled upon a shop that was using natural ingredients to dye material. We got a tour and then we were suckered into buying scarves. One benefit to the tour however, was the guy teaching me how to tie the scarves into turbans... this would come in handy later, as you will see. After bartering with a few more shop owners we made our way to the main square. The first order of business was finding a restaurant for lunch. We ate our first Moroccan meals on a rooftop terrace... We each had some form of lamb; mine came with apples and cinnamon and Kenny's was barbecue. It wasn't half bad. I am pretty sure they season every thing they eat with curry and cumin... As Kenny would put it, "this tastes like Morocco..." After lunch we headed on to the main square where we saw snake charmers, back flipping monkeys, and enjoyed 30¢ glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice. The snake charmers were absolutely nuts. They had cobras and vipers, and they kissed them! I was a little scared when the guy draped a cobra around my neck, but I do love snakes, so it wasn't too bad. After hanging out with the snake charmers for a while Kenny and I got a horse drawn carriage tour of the city. It was pretty cool because it took us through some back streets and we got to see people carrying out their daily tasks, plus we were able to see the main attractions of the city like the mosques. After the tour we stumbled across our snake charming friends again, and this time we got to take pictures with the vipers. I still can't quite get over how crazy those guys are. From the main square, we headed back to the Riad and meant to just take a nap, but we ended up going to bed for the night.

The next morning we woke up bright and early for our excursion into the Sahara dessert. The bus ride lasted for about 10 hours, but along the way we made several stops and enjoyed some tasty food. Our excursion group had about 10 people plus the driver. Everything started out just fine and dandy, but its funny how quickly perceptions can change over the course of 24 hours. The lady and her mom, who were from Panama, went from being snobby rich women to actually being quite friendly; the 80 year old woman turned out to be one of the most interesting worldly travelers I have ever met; and the down-to-earth younger girls were actually high strung and crazy. We stopped in several small villages and at multiple highway viewpoints. So far, Morocco is the most tropical place I have ever been too. Even though it is primarily dessert there were palm trees and beautiful flowers everywhere. We stopped for lunch in the Hollywood of Morocco and enjoyed some more tagines. Before we knew it, we had reached the dessert and were riding by camel into the sunset. It was at this point that our scarves, a.k.a. turbans, came into use. That's right, we rode camels through the Sahara dessert at sunset wearing turbans. One of my top experiences so far. Once we arrived to our camp, we were greeted by the camp hosts who enjoyed more tea and dinner with us. We all gathered around round tables on our knees in the center of our tent and shared a communal tagine of chicken and vegetables. After dinner we headed to another tent where we enjoyed several camp hosts singing and playing water jugs. Awesome.

The next morning we woke up at sunrise and got back on our camels. We headed towards town where we were met by our bus driver. On the way back to Marrakech everyone seemed to be a bit on edge and got into it with the bus driver several times. Immaturity is all. Kenny and I just sat back and observed while thoroughly enjoying our journey. The bus drive back was much quicker... I think it only lasted about six hours. We headed back to our Riad to drop off our backpacks as soon as we reached Marrakech. We were in a different even cooler room than the first night. We decided to go back out into the market and look for some more sweet deals on Moroccan goods. Kenny and I both scored a pair of Converse... I am not sure if they are real or not, but they were only €10... Score! We had dinner in the main square. That was an experience and a half. There are tons of tents set up in the main square at night and it is thriving with people. All of the tents are serving dinner and everyone is competing for your business. We settled on a place and enjoyed chicken and vegetable kebabs, calamari, and more Moroccan salad. We ended the meal with some more fresh squeezed orange juice, and then we headed back to the Riad.

The following morning we had to wake up bright and early for our flight to Madrid. Thanks to the lovely volcano in Iceland our flight was delayed. Fortunately our flight was the only flight into Europe that didn't get cancelled. After anxiously waiting around for our plane to arrive it came, and we were headed to Madrid. In all of my travels thus far, I have not had as culturally shocking experience as I had in Morocco. Things were so different and so interesting. I had a fantastic time, and I will always remember the fantastic experiences Kenny and I created.

Destination VII: Naples, Italy

Kenneth and I after our scooter ride ♥

The Scooter!!!

The Blue Grotto

Faglioni

The view from where we stopped the scooter...

Capri and the Mediterranean!!!

Kenny and I on our way to the Blue Grotto...

Sorrento, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

The first ever snack bar!!! There have been 89 discovered in the remains of Pompeii so far!

Pompeii's Colosseum

My new B.F.F.

Don't let the title deceive you, we weren't actually in Naples a.k.a. the scariest place in the world. In our travel book it warned us that there had been 100 street-side mafia murders in 2007. Not exactly what you would call safe. The only time we actually spent in Naples was inside the central train station, and that was perfectly fine with me. As soon as we arrived in Naples we got on another train that took us to Portici, where our hostel was. Portici is supposed to be much safer than Naples, and for the most part I felt safe. We found the hostel and dropped off our things, and right away we headed to Pompeii.

Pompeii was incredible. Basically Pompeii was a thriving ancient city until Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and buried it under 20 meters of ash. It was nearly 1,600 years before Pompeii was rediscovered. That is when excavations began, and they are still going strong. I expected just a small ruins sight... I was completely blown away by the size of the ancient city. We got audio guides and listened as we learned about the churches, market places, original snack bars, people's homes, and their cobble stone streets. Since there were no street lights in those ancient times, the people put down white shells when they were making their roads so the light of the moon would reflect off them and they could see where they were going. Smart cookies! My favorite part about Pompeii was meeting my new B.F.F. Apparently Pompeii is connected to a dog adoption agency, so there are dogs roaming the roads (I didn't know this until after we left.) Taking a nap on one of the roads was the sweetest little puppy, so I knelt down to pet him... The rest is history. He got up and started following me around. It was the cutest thing ever! After exploring Pompeii we headed back to the train station. We ended up getting on the wrong train and went all the way back to Naples, instead of Portici. Then we had to wait for 25 minutes for the next train to leave Naples that stopped in Portici. Then, we missed our stop. So, we got off at the next one. Somehow we got lost trying to walk in the direction of our train stop. I didn't feel that safe, especially when Kenny was asking if I was making eye contact with people. Finally I gave up and asked someone if they spoke English. We were in luck. They pointed us in the right direction, so we walked some more. By the time we reached the station I realized we went back one too far and passed our station yet again. It had now been nearly three hours since leaving Pompeii... What a day! When we finally found the street our hostel was on, which by the way we had to cross to get to the stop before ours, we ate at the first place we stumbled upon. A delicious pizzeria; did I mention pizza was invented in Naples??? I ordered a lasagna pizza which came complete with scoops of ricotta cheese on top. It was AMAZING! After dinner I was so exhausted I barely even remember the walk home.

The next morning, we got up and got ready for our adventure to the island of Capri. We got on a train to Sorrento, and from there took a ferry to Capri. Sorrento was beautiful; it almost seemed tropical. There were huge lemon and orange trees lining the streets, and everything was green. We had a couple of hours to kill before the ferry left, so we enjoyed the shoreline and took lots of pictures. We even bought a bottle of Limoncello and some chips to enjoy once we got to Capri. After our ferry docked in Capri, we hopped off and headed towards our first order of business: The Blue Grotto. We knew we really wanted to see it, so we bought our tickets and hopped on another boat. The small boat took us to this tiny little cave. Once we were outside the cave we got into a row boat. We were instructed to lie down as we entered the grotto. Once inside it was absolutely beautiful. The water is illuminated bright blue naturally because the rocks inside don't touch the ground, so the sun shines through. It was incredible. After we got back to the main part of the island, we walked around and explored a little before finding a nice spot on the beach to enjoy our chips and Limoncello. After hanging out on the beach for a while we decided to play over or under for renting a motor scooter... I said €35 for an hour because I thought it sounded like so much fun. We were in luck because it ended up costing only €15 for an hour. What a deal. We got to cruise around Capri on a scooter!!! How amazing! I could tell it definitely made Kenny giddy to be riding something with two wheels again. The views we got from the scooter were incredible... It was probably the best spent €15 of the entire trip! As our hour concluded it was time to head back to Sorrento so we got on the ferry and set sail. Since it was Easter Sunday the public transport system was a little out of whack. We were going to have to take a bus back to Naples and then another from Naples to Portici. Ugh. The train ride from Portici to Sorrento was 45 minutes... This was going to take forever! After waiting around for a half hour or so we pushed our way to the front of the line to ensure we had seats on this treacherous ride back to the hostel. Unfortunately, Kenny and I got separated, but we were only a row apart so it wasn't that big of deal. About an hour into the ride the girl sitting next to me got violently ill and threw up all over the window. I hadn't had anything to eat in a while, and I almost got sick from the smell. So I moved to the floor next to Kenny. After another hour or so we were wondering where exactly we were, so I went to the front of the bus and five different people were all trying to explain to me what I needed to do to get back to Portici. Then the bus driver offered to make an extra stop for Kenny and I so we didn't have to go all the way to Naples. They were all so friendly, and the gesture helped out so much! We finally made it back to Portici and decided to eat dinner in our hostel since everywhere else was closed.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the train station. I had a 16:00 flight to catch back to Prague from Rome. The budget train ride was sold out, so we had to spend more money to take another. The train station was a mad house; who would have known Easter Monday was so intense. We made it to Rome and wanted to grab something for lunch. Every single place in the entire city of Rome was closed. Except for the kebab place across the street from the train station. Kebabs it was. They were actually pretty good but nothing in comparison to the delicious food we enjoyed the entire previous week. After lunch we headed towards the airport (which was also a madhouse.) As usual it sucked saying goodbye to Kenny, but this time, it wasn't too bad because I knew I'd be seeing him in Morocco in only a week and a half! We said our goodbyes and I headed for my gate. I was super surprised to see that my friends Morgan, Nick, and Drew were all on my same flight home; what a coincidence! And then my spring break was over. It will go down in the history books as the best spring break EVER. I pretty much had the time of my life ♥

Destination VI: Rome, Italy

Kenny, his roommate, and I during the pub crawl...

Red wine, Schweppes, Italian cheese, crackers... And the Spanish Steps ♥

The famous oculus in the Pantheon... the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome!

The Pantheon (under construction... how typical!)

The Roman Forum

Temple of Romulas in the Roman Forum... these are the second oldest working doors in Rome! (The first are at the Pantheon...) The purple stone making the columns to the sides of the doors was exhausted by the Romans because they liked it so much. Its also the same type of stone that was used to make Nero's bath.

Just hanging out at Palatine Hill!

Colosseum!!!

Colosseum!!!

The view from the top of the Spanish Steps...

The Trevi Fountain at dusk...

Kenny and I at Trevi Fountain...

Making my wish at the Trevi Fountain!

We arrived at the Rome train station sometime around 23:00 and just barely missed the last train heading in the direction of our hostel. This meant we had to follow the night directions. That meant riding a bus. After missing it the first time around, we climbed inside and settled in for a nice long ride to a parking lot filled with more buses, and then we climbed inside another one. When we finally reached our bus stop it felt like we were literally in the middle of no where. The hostel shuttle service wasn't running anymore, so that meant we had a one kilometer walk ahead of us. Fun. We started walking and Kenny filled me in on how the new Yamaha and Honda dirt bikes have changed and why they are so much better now. By the time he was finished we were at the hostel. I was pretty happy he was able to distract me for the entire kilometer. Our hostel was called Camp Tiber, and our room was half of a small mobile home thing. It had the squishiest beds I have ever slept on... Not the best for a good night's sleep. We could hear our neighbor snoring all through the night, and around 3:00 the power went out, so it was freezing. I know, it probably sounds awful, but it wasn't half bad. There was a mini-mart, a restaurant, a bar, and as long as you made the shuttle/train not too far of a trek into the city. Plus it was cheap... That's always the best part being a poor student traveler.

The next morning we woke up and headed to Vatican City (check the previous post.) After spending the entire day at Vatican City we decided to try and squeeze in a few more sights. So, we headed in the direction of the metro. Problem. It was closed and we were directed to take a bus instead. We found the bus we needed to get to Trevi Fountain. The ride was not what I would call pleasant. It seemed to take forever, and the bus was way past capacity. We were crammed so tightly it was impossible to move one muscle. About half way through the bus ride a handicapped man insisted that the bus driver let him on the bus because he was handicap even though he could clearly tell there was no room. Have you ever seen a bus full of Italian's become furious... I have! And let me just say, all the stereotypes are true, hand gestures included. I know, I get it, he was handicap, but in order for him to get on the bus 10 other people had to get off. I just didn't think it was fair. But, what can you do? Finally we made it to the Trevi Fountain. After being bombarded by men trying to take our pictures, we made our wishes! And for good measure made an extra one to ensure a return visit to Rome! So touristy, I know. From there we headed to the Spanish Steps. At the Spanish Steps you have to watch out for the rose pushers. Those men are relentless. After insisting their roses were gifts and that they were free they would ask Kenny for money. They would walk up to me and set the roses on my purse. They don't take no for an answer! I managed to not end up with any roses though. If they set them on my purse I would take them and set them on the guy's arm. I figured their system out. After spending all day and part of the evening out exploring we made our way back to our side of town, and enjoyed dinner at a small restaurant right next to the hostel. That night we crashed.

The next morning as we were waiting for the shuttle to pull up someone shouted Kenny's name. Coincidentally, Kenny's roommate, Taylor, and his girlfriend, Marisa, were staying at the same place... Weird. So we got on the shuttle and headed to the city. Our first stop was the Colosseum. We decided to get a tour. Probably not the best idea for the Colosseum because our guide was a moron! He kept referencing the movie Gladiator and filling our heads with useless information. Luckily the tour also included Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, and that tour had a different guide... With a brain. Anyway, the Colosseum was incredible. It was so huge! As I have said before I really enjoy ruins, so this entire day was right up my alley. After we left the Colosseum we headed to Palatine Hill. Rome's origins are on Palatine Hill and the ruins there are incredible. The tour guide had lots of fun stories; I felt like I learned a lot. After Palatine Hill we headed down to the Roman Forum. In the Roman Forum, we saw all sorts of things including Caesar's grave and the Roman Senate house. From there we headed to the Pantheon. It is the most well persevered building from Ancient Rome, unfortunately for us it was under construction, so we didn't get the full effect of the exterior. Inside we got to see the oculus, which is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is incredible to think about the technology and intelligence the Romans had nearly 2,000 years ago. Some royalty is buried inside the Pantheon, but the tomb I was most intrigued by was Raphael's. After leaving the Pantheon we enjoyed some more gelato... I chose something that tasted like eggnog and it was really good! After checking out the Pantheon we picked up some wine, Schweppes, cheese, and crackers and enjoyed them on the Spanish Steps (this is probably one of my favorite memories.) We tried to get a hold of Kenny's roommate to see if he and his girlfriend wanted to get dinner, and that's when they told us about the pub crawl. Basically, we went, we crawled, we conquered (or at least that's what our free t-shirts say.)

The next morning we slept in a little later than normal and decided to take the day nice and easy. We ended up in a park somewhere a little out of town near the catacombs. We had a guided tour through the catacombs, and it was really interesting. It was the first ever Christian burial site, and several popes had been buried there. Over the years the catacombs were pillaged and the tombs were opened, so no remains were actually in the catacombs. Whatever was left of the bodies is now deep under the catacombs (which are already 30 meters below ground.) So, it was nothing like what we saw in Paris, but very interesting nonetheless. that night we enjoyed a delicious dinner, and I had lasagna again. The next morning we woke up and said farewell to Camp Tiber... we were off to Naples!

Destination V: Vatican City

List of all the dead popes...

Inside St. Peter's Basilica...

Inside St. Peter's Basilica...

Inside St. Peter's Basilica...

St. Peter's Basilica

Sneaky picture of Michaelangelo's masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel...

Statue in the Vatican Museum...

Nero's Bath in the Vatican Musuem...

Statue in the Vatican Museum...

Statue in the Vatican Museum...

Sarcophagus of a woman from Thebes in the Vatican Museum...

Okay, so technically our next stop was the city of Rome, but we did spend an entire day in Vatican city. Being the smallest sovereign nation, I figured it deserved some special attention. Vatican City's sovereignty means that it stands independent of Italy and is the smallest nation in the world, measuring less than one square kilometer.

After eating some pizza for breakfast we headed into the Vatican Museum. Like usual, Kenny and I picked up our audio guide tours and set out. We were informed that if you stood in front of every item in the Vatican Museum for one minute it would take 12 years to see everything inside. So, we listened to our guides and paid special attention to the things we found interesting. I kind of have an obsession with statues of heads and in the museum there was an entire hall filled with them. I got to snap some pretty sweet photos. However, our ultimate goal was to reach the Sistine Chapel. Along the way we saw some interesting paintings and statues by artists like Raphael, da Vinci, and even Dahli! And then we reached it, the Holy Grail (in my opinion) of Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel. I was blown away to say the least. I learned so much about the chapel from my audio guide. It was so incredible to see a second one of Michaelangelo's masterpieces. I was able to sneak a couple of pictures in the chapel... Which is difficult because the security guards are crazy and because its dark. Luckily I got two really good, clear shots.

From the Sistine Chapel we headed to St. Peter's Basilica. We started our tour in the crypt of St. Peter's, which was my favorite part. There are quite a few dead popes, including Pope John Paul II, and even some royalty buried there. The basilica itself was huge and filled with amazing art. Michaelangelo's work was present in the basilica as well, as he was the chief architect of St. Peter's and the exterior dome is his design alone. Nuns were everywhere; I think Kenny said that he had seen more nuns walking around in Vatican City than he had seen in his whole life combined. Now thinking about it, I think the same goes for me. Some nuns in the gift shop even helped us to purchase some blessed rosaries... I have been wearing mine ever since.