TravelStream™ news feed for member dfurler on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/dfurler en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:01:39 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1219147260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1219147260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1219147260/tpod.html Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:01:39 -0400 European Adventure - Summer 2008

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Tangier, Morocco

AFRICA... not quite what I had expected and way too short of a trip to get a feel for Morocco but still touched African soil.

There were about 20 of us that ventured across the sea to Tanger. The ferry ride was only about 45 minutes. It's strange that Africa was so close. We were a part of an arranged tour on the other side and a man in robes met us with a bus and we heading for a tour around town. We stopped on the side of the road and had a chance to ride a camel. There was only a few minutes and I didn't get a chance to ride but I snapped a picture next to one. It was kind of cruel and you could tell they didn't really like it at all.

After the Camels, we walked through the markets to a restaurant where we had a Moroccan meal included some kind of soup, some kind of meat on a skewer, cous cous and some kind of sweet dessert. I have to say I was quite impressed as I tried all of it and it wasn't bad. I choose not to know what the mystery meats were and hope that it was just lamb and chicken!

We were then taken to a carpet shop to learn how carpets are weaved... really it was just a sales pitch. Not sure why they thought they would sell carpets to a bunch of backpackers but interesting just the same. When we got to the front door all of the street sellers were crowded around the entrance trying to sell their merchandise. They don't seem to understand the word no and just swarm around you and follow you down the street.

Sale pitch number 2 occurred at a chemist where we were shown spices and herbs and their different uses. I actually bought some motion sickness/migraine stuff to try... only a couple dollars and worth a shot.

We were given about 40 minutes to shop around and check out the markets on our own. The merchandise wasn't as cheap as any of us had expected but it was interesting to interact and see the locals run their businesses. We headed back to the ferry and back to Tarifa around 7. I now have 4 stamps in my passport... proof that I have been to Africa!
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Tarifa, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands

We headed out early to get to Tarifa at a reasonable time to so that those going to Morocco would have time to catch the ferry over. The countryside is beautiful and so different everytime you wake up from a nap! From mountains to fields of sunflowers to 1000s of olive trees. It is quite something else.

Of course I chose to go to Africa; I couldn't miss the opportunity to experience the culture there. that will be in a separate entry so that my map pins are correct... always thinking of the scrapbook!
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Granada, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands

August 17, 2008:

Today I started my last leg of my journey with Busabout. I started a 7 day tour of southern Spain and Portugal. The group is fairly large at 31 people, but after the first day it was already a different dynamic than my Greek Island tour... mainly because there were more solo travellers on this trip and we had a long bus ride to get to know each other.

We left Madrid at 8 am and headed to our first stop in Toledo which is a World Heritage City. We had a quick orientation walk around the narrow slippery streets and enjoyed some great views. The world is very small and I happened to meet a guy who works for KPMG New Zealand and knows a guy from the Edmonton office. We had a good laugh over that. We wandered around but most of the shops weren't open quite yet and here in Spain they open around 10 and then close at 12 for a 2 or 3 hour Siesta...hmmm Spain sounds nice!!

We then headed on to Granada which is another beautiful, clean Spanish city. There are fountains and trees everywhere. The best part is that I had booked a private room and bathroom for this tour and in Spain most Hostels and more like Hotels. This one was very nice and most importantly had air conditioning. It was 40 when we arrived at 6pm. After a quick orientation walk through the old town we headed out for some Tapas which sound fancy but really it's more or less anything servered in small portions and usually on bread.

At 10:30 we headed for some tranditional Spanish Flamenco. The show was unbelievable and the dresses and expressions are priceless. Pictures were hard to take as the dances more so quickly but it was some culture that could not have been missed.

August 18, 2008:

As part of our tour we got a guided tour of the Alhambra Palace. Imagine Alladin and that is what the palace was like. Very Arabian and you could just imagine what it would look like with vibrant colours and pillows everywhere. The palace is unlike any other I have been to and the gardens aren't as wide open and vast. There are little walkways and fountains all over. I'm glad I got the opportunity to see this palace because it is so different. Spain is such a different country.

Some of the group went to the Moorish bath, but I had planned to wander through the old town. unfortunately it was just too hot at 45 so the rest of us stayed in the cool hotel. For dinner we went to an authentic Arabic restuarant and enjoyed some really good food. I'm quite surprised with how much I have tried and no not as adventurous as some but still more than I thought!! On to Tarifa tomorrow
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Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands

Today I took my last official busabout trip through the regular loops. It was a very long day but I met a couple of people who are going on my Spain/Portugal tour tomorrow so it is good.

We arrived in Madrid around 6 and we headed for dinner and to the market for some snacks for our trip. Madrid is an interesting city or at least the parts that I got to see. This was the first place I felt the need to really lock my back to my bed and take everything I couldn't lose with me. Don't worry I have been doing that anyway but the locks on the doors were pretty sketchy!

On to my Iberian Adventure tomorrow!
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Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

August 13, 2008

Another travel day! My flight wasn´t until 4:30 and check out was at 10 so I had some time to kill. My original plan was to get up early and head back into town for one last look at Rome. That changed after my day yesterday so I just hung aroung the camp ground. I took the shuttle to the airport and just like in Greece no one is too terribly concerned about time so you never know if you will catch anything. Luckily it is the same on the other end and my flight was about 45 minutes late leaving. They changed the gate a couple of times and didn´t announce the change so there was a mad rush to the new gate and then a long wait. Hurry up and WAIT!

I arrived in Barcelona around 6:30 and everyone was so helpful and nice. A random lady on the street asked if I needed help... that certainly didn´t happen anywhere else! Barcelona is beautiful and Prague may lose out on my favorite city. It is very clean and maybe it is the fact that it is not quite as hot and the people are polite that make it so nice... we´ll see tomorrow I guess!

August 14, 2008:

Okay lets try that again... the entry was deleted! Anyway today was my first day investigating Barcelona. I walked down to the main square and while I was deciding what to do I noticed the hop on/hop off buses and decided to take the tour as I wasn't really sure what was in Barcelona. I officially can say that Barcelona is my favorite city... sorry prague. The tour took us past most of the main sights and I discovered an architect name Gaudi. His buildings are the live version of the houses in the Grinch that stole Christmas. There are hardly any straight lines and tons of color. I have pictures. Not quite sure how to describe it

Ironically the only KPMG I have happened upon is the office here... hmmm... my favorite city too??? Just kidding! I got to see where the olympics were and some great views of the city. The tour was slightly overpriced but I did get a good overview of the city. I had signed up for a walking tour so I headed back to the hostel.

Turns out the tour was cancelled and myself and another Canadian were the only ones who had signed up. We decided to do our own walking tour and had some dinner. Like most other cities the night version is equally as amazing.

August 15, 2008:

Today we were going to meet early and head out to visit the city history museum which is a museum under the ground, basically of ruins. The girl I had met didn't show up when we had planned so I ventured out by myself... 8 hours later and super sore feet I was back at the hostel.

I went to one of the Gaudi houses and did the tour around and checked out his funky style. I have way too many pictures but his buildings are just so different. I then headed to his last work that is yet to be finished. It is a cathedral. He started it and worked on it for a number of years but the scale of the project was just too big. Near the end of his life he started making models of all of the parts of the church so that it could be finished when he was gone. There is still a lot to be done and he died in the early 20th century. There is a lot of scaffolding but it is unbelievable and unlike any other church in the world.

After the church I head through the main park and down to the chocolat museum which unfortunately was closed because it was a holiday. There is also a shoe museum which I missed out on too! I wandered down to the beach and ended up a little lost but for some reason I felt very comfortable in Barcelona and didn't really care and just wandered until I recognized something. I'm not sure if it is the city or just the fact that I'm getting used to travelling and reading maps. I went shopping on the main pedestrian street and bought some little things. I could spend a lot of time walking through the shops and street vendors. On to Madrid tomorrow!
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Pompei, Campania, Italy

Well the original plan for today was to go to Pompei with a bunch of people I have met along the way. Unfortunately the pool was more appealing than a long day of travelling... fair enough. I still wanted to go so I ventured out on my own. Let´s just say it was the longest day ever!

I caught the bus from the campsite at 8 in hopes of catching the 9:45 train. The train was full so I had to wait an hour for the next one. I arrived in Pompei around 1 which wasn´t bad. I walked out of the train station and was bombarded with taxi drivers saying Pompei, Pompei trying to make a quick buck cause it was only a 10 minute walk away. I chose to walk. It was an unbelievably hot day, hotter than in Rome.

The ruins were not quite what I had expected but still amazing to see an ancient city that huge uncovered and preserved as well as it is. I was expected it to be somewhat like drumheller with the city frozen in time after the eruption. There were some people in glass cases but I was really expected to see dig sites. Nonetheless it was pretty cool. It is so big that I got lost and based on other people's expressions they too were lost. I spent about 3 hours wandering and then headed back to the train station.

This is where the day goes all to crap! I decided to take an earlier train to make sure I caught my connecting train in Naples. It was a good thing I did or so I thought. The train randomly stopped for over an hour leaving me 10 minutes to find my train in Naples. I asked a couple people and they directed me to a train and I trusted them. It was the wrong train heading in the wrong direction :(. When I arrived back in Naples they were still outside the train laughing at me. I have to say out of all of the countries I have been to the Italians have been the crumpiest and rudest. Anyway I missed my train for sure by then and got on the next train which was not an express and took 3 hours to get to Rome. By the time I got back to the campsite it had been a 15 hour day for 3 hours worth of siteseeing. Pompei was worth it though and something I didn´t want to miss!
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Rome, Lazio, Italy

The bus ride to Rome is one of the longer journeys and we traveled through the mountains and along the coast of italy for about 12 hours. Unfortunately the bus regulations require stops every couple of hours so it would be faster on the train but it is nice to get out and stretch and of course eat more food than you normally would. We watched Gladiator of course as we were heading to Rome and a couple other movies. The scenery was breathtaking and so vast from one moment to the next. There were fields and fields of sunflowers and then mountains. The funny thing here is that instead of having highways with hills that go into the valleys between the mountains and roads around the mountains, they just built big bridges over the valleys and tunnels through the mountains!!

Another camp ground but I have to say these are not really camp grounds as they are actually cleaner than some of the other accomodation I have stayed at! I ran into a girl that I had met in Berlin and then met all of the people she was hanging around with so Rome will be friend filled adventures... always better then on your own.

August 9, 2008:

Today a group of 5 of us ventured into town for a Vatican city walking tour. By 11 am it was already over 30 and because all of the streets are black our tour guide said it will just get hotter as the day goes on because they hold the heat in the city with no tall buildings. Our tour guide was a very dynamic American student who really knows her history. There is so much here in Rome it is unbelievable how much happened here. We started at the bridge of Angels; each angel depicting the story of Christ. The views of the city are unbelievable from here. We walked up to the Vatican which is massive and you could probably spend days there and still not see everything.

We got to bypass the long lines...always worth the price of the tour and headed into the Vatican. I saw the Sistine chapel which in and of it's self is astounding but the fact that Michael Angelo painted it by candle light leaning backwards makes it even more phenominal. Just standing there looking at the Fresco for 10 minutes was painful I can't imaging years. I suppose that's why he was left blind and crippled after completing it. The science behind the plaster and paint colours is also quite crazy and the fact that he was able to complete it without mistakes... WOW. No pictures though...

After the chapel we went to St. Peter's Basilica which has more than 4 tons of gold on the roof. Rubbed the foot of Jesus and climbed a million stairs up to the top of the dome for an amazing view of the entire city of Rome. The sore legs were worth it. We climbed back down all of the steps into the caticombs below where Pope John Paul II is burried.

One of the girls and I headed back into town around 8:30 and went wandering. We found the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps and got some good shots of both. We through our change into the fountain which means we will return to Rome one day which is good because as Rome wasn't built in a day you can't see it all in a day either.

August 10, 2008:

Today the same group plus a couple Kiwi girls went on the Walking Tour. This tour was about 5 hours again and we walked through Rome to all of the main attractions. Finishing of course at the Coloseum. The best part of guided tours through busabout is the lack of being an obvious tour group with the leader with the umbrella! We saw tons of ruins and got quite the history lesson from the guide. We went for lunch at a little Italian mom and pop restaurant on one of the side streets and it was relatively cheap and very good. I have put a lot of km on my flip flops and with the amount of hills and stairs I have climbed I should have no problem running up the stairs at home.

August 11, 2008:

Laundry day... not that you all need to know that but that is what I did today besides lazing around by the pool. Tomorrow we are venturing to Pompei which should be awesome. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BARB AND MITCH!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1217941620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1217941620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1217941620/tpod.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:25:21 -0400 European Adventure - Summer 2008

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Venice, Veneto, Italy

After a long day of traveling from Athens to Venice, I have arrived and there is no change in the temperature. The hostel is actually a camp ground with a market, bar, swimming pool and most importantly air conditioned trailers! I met a couple of girls in my trailer and we went for some dinner... pizza of course. You can't really get much else here besides pasta, pizza and gelanti.

August 6, 2008:

Today I headed into Venice. The camp ground is just outside of the city and there is a shuttle that takes you to the main bus station. The bus again had air conditioning :) We drove on a long highway that if you have seen pictures or a map of Venice, it is just a road in the middle of the ocean and it is pretty long. A little crazy! I arrived at the main station and wandered over by the Grande Canal. My first sight of Venice was exactly what I had imaged it to be bridges and buildings right on the water. It just got better once I got on the public transport which yes was a boat! I did not have the luxury of taking a private Gondola as each ride is about 45 minutes and the equivalent to about $150 CDN. The $4 water bus was just fine!

The main destination for today was St. Marco's Square which has a bunch of museums and shops and of course St. Marc's Basilica. I waited in line for only about an hour... getting used to lines. I have;however, noticed that to some tourist a line does not mean anything and aparently that is hightened in Italy! Anyway the Basilica was very beautiful. I climbed up to the top and went through the museum and got a wonderful view of St. Marco's Square and the bay towards Murano Island. I headed back to the bus terminal and desided to try my luck walking. It was very hot and very easy to get lost in Venice. The good news is that you can't get too lost as it is a bunch of islands and there are of course very helpful handwritten signs pointing in random directions!! Still an adventure but I just ended up back at St. Marco's because you walk down a street and find either a bridge or water and have to try a different route.

I got back to the campsite and was not feeling great and ended up going to be with a migraine. Thank goodness I ended up with my own room and there was air conditioning.

August 7, 2008:

Still can't believe that it is already August. I woke up with great intentions of catching the bus into Venice and visiting a couple of the other islands but I really was not well so I had a very lazy day by the pool reading my book. Had spaghetti for dinner and got ready for a very long bus ride in the morning!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1217866140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1217866140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dfurler/1/1217866140/tpod.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:19:54 -0400 European Adventure - Summer 2008

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Athens, Attica, Greece

We got up early to try and catch the last bit of sun before leaving for the port to catch the ferry. The ride was about 3 hours long and when we got to Athens it was like a wall of heat hit you right in the face. It was equally as hot on the islands but the wind made it bearable. It was 38 when we arrived at 5:30 in the evening.

One of the girls from the trip was staying at the same hostel as I was and ironically on the same flight tomorrow. We headed to our hostel, got settled and then met up with another girl for dinner. We watched one last sunset in Greece overlooking the Acropolys and then went shopping in the streets of Athens. We had some desert at a fancy restaurant with clean bathrooms quite a rare find in Greece!!
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Ios, Greece

Well my last Greek Island has arrived and I'm sad to see this part of my journey end. It was what I was most looking forward to and the longest time in one country and now it is almost done. Don't fret though; I will be back soon!

August 2, 2008:

Yet another Ferry ride, another long wait at the terminal for a late ferry. Greek time has been quite interesting getting used to. We are always in such a rush to get places and do things, it's hard to relax and not stress about being late for a ferry that is always late anyway! Ios is another party island but not quite as liberal as Mykonos so I think I can handle this. One of the best parts is the party leaves the campsite and beach around 11 so if you don't want to keep going it is actually quiet and sleep may be possible... I emphasize MAY!

We arrived early in the afternoon and the camp ground was much like a resort (other than the accomodation and the bathrooms!). There was a long stretch of beach and pools and restaurants. It wasn't really busy yet but there were some die hards tanning already. I've never seen so many men concerned about their tan in my life. My hut was at the top of a huge hill but luckily the climb was worth it as there was a spectacular view of the beach from my front door. No air conditioning but there sure was a fan. I had made plans to go wake boarding with a couple of the guys on the trip and waited for them for ever...

They finally showed up and we headed out into a more mild part of the bay and boarded in the ocean. It was awesome. The first guy that went was really good but I held my own thanks to my good teachers back home. The water was quite rough and it took me a while to get used to it but I got the hand of it and the salt and had one of my best runs ever. I'm counting on my fellow wake boarders to send me pictures as their cameras are waterproof.

For dinner we had all you can eat pizza made by an italian chef working in Greece. It was delicious can't wait to eat the food in Italy. I had a great sleep after all of that exercise... the hill and wake boarding!

August 3, 2008

My last and final day in the Greek Islands... we had a true vacation day and got up early. We went to the good pool with the good loungers and baked all day long. Stopped for some good pasta for lunch and continued to bake with the occasional swim in the pool. It was perfect! We had a nice long day of relaxing, good food and good company!!
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