Wow… it feels like forever since I’ve updated this blog. If its not obvious yet, we had a slight derailment of our travel plans due to this small thing called ‘COVID’. 2020 is one of the hardest year for me being stuck at home and not able to travel a lot. It’s still a pretty memorable year though since I bought my house in DC that August (yay!) and finally moved out of my studio apartment with the doggies!

In 2021, a friend and I bought a campervan and travelled to 8 states in a month. I think that will be my next post! In the meantime since then, I went to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bahamas, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Jamaica (back to Singapore and Georgia), Scotland and have several trips planned ahead. Whew..

Time to brush up my keyboard and start typing again!

As an anime fan growing up, I have high expectations of Japan. For a long time, I imagined walking the streets of Kyoto, praying at one of their temples (like Sailor Mars!), going to their convenience stores, and eating those delicious bento boxes like my favorite anime characters. When I started compiling my bucket list, “JAPAN” was the first country I listed. This is why even after all those connecting flights to Narita or Haneda airport, I’ve never thought about staying for a night or two during my layover – this country deserves my full, undivided attention. I cannot just ‘taste’ it because I know It’s not gonna be enough.

In fact, after spending 5 days there I am 100% sure it is not enough  – I WILL be back. I promised all my nieces and nephews ONE travel with me at any country of their choice when they turn 21 and my eldest niece chose Japan.  I cannot say no even though I would like to ‘reserve’ this trip for a longer one. I don’t regret it of course but think of finally having that perfect slice of cake that you want to eat in a booth beside the window of your favorite store with a strong, earthy, coffee and being forced to take it out and eat it while walking. That’s how it felt to me.

Jed (my niece) arrived a day later than me after a lot of stressful mishaps for what is supposedly a short 5-hour flight from Manila (Cathay pacific sucks). While waiting for her, I decided to explore the area around our  base in Tokyo, the Millenials Shibuya. It’s quite pricey and I am sure there are cheaper Airbnb’s in the area but I wanted to experience staying in a capsule hotel. For what we planned to do (basically walk everywhere during the day and just sleep at the hotel), this was enough. It does takes a while to get used to such a small space.

That night, we went walking around Shibuya and met our childhood friend and neighbor for dinner and drinks. Shibuya crossing is always busy but there is beauty in its chaos especially at night when the buildings and billboard signs around it are lit.

The metro station in Shibuya is also where the famed Hachiko dog statue is at. There is always a long line to take pictures with this statue and the only time we got lucky was on our last day, the morning after the new year, at 7am. Even then, there was about 4-6 tourists taking pics. (Tip: Buy a day pass if you are just staying in Tokyo! very worth it since everything is a metro away!)

We stopped by Ippudo Shiromaru base for a quick dinner, a ramen place that opens late and serves Ippudo’s famous Tokkou Tonkotsu Ramen. Afterwards, we took the train to Shinjuku to check out ‘Memory lane’ also called Piss lane (lol).  If you want the authentic yakitori experience (japanese grilled chicken skewers), a stop at this place is a must!

Tokyo is alive and thriving at night so I can’t resist checking out all the gaming places, shops, malls and bright-lit alleys! We wanted to go to Robot restaurant but didn’t realize we had to book reservations ahead of time (Tip: Book ahead of time, duh). I was told the food is so-so but I wanted to go for the experience. I knew if I want great food, all I need to do is walk across the street at the nearest 7-11!

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The next day, we left the hotel early to take the Shinkansen bus to Osaka for the next leg of our trip (Osaka and Kyoto). I originally planned to buy the Japan Rail (JR) pass in advance and was glad I didn’t. Instead, we went to the JR pass office in Shibuya to buy them in person. The agents in the office helped us and offered a cheaper alternative – buy the regular Shinkansen rail since we weren’t planning to go further than Kyoto. Our ticket was not reserve seating (you can get one for higher fees) but I figured it can’t be worse than the metro stations we have in Manila and Washington DC (I was right).

Jed was running with high fever and really wasn’t in any condition to walk around so we rested for a bit before starting our day. Thankfully, there are several drugstores near our place and there’s only two places we wanted to go (Osaka castle and Dotonburi) which left us plenty of time to get a much-needed nap.

Our first stop, Osaka castle, was unexpectedly a long walk from the metro. Or maybe it felt long because we walked to the opposite side of the compound entrance and then went pass the entrance to the actual castle (ugh).  There is an entrance fee to go inside the castle (600 yen) but you are free to wander the grounds and I highly recommend it! There are so many nooks and areas to get a good view of the castle,  check out the time capsule in the ground, maybe take some instagram worthy pics and just generally have fun.

Afterwards, we headed to Dotonburi for a night of food-tripping! No trip to Osaka is complete without visiting this famed street which runs parallel to the canal bearing the same name. If you have time, you can take a boat ride at the canal but if you’re like us who much rather ‘food-hop’, I suggest skipping it, the lines to the boat rides are usually long! With its gaudy neon lights, extravagant signage, and variety of street foods, Dotonburi is an experience you would likely not forget!

It was late when we got back and with our full bellies and tired feet, we went straight to bed.  Dotonburi is open ALL DAY AND NIGHT but we have an early train to catch to Kyoto the next day so early night it is! I recommend spending about 2 nights in Osaka if you can so you don’t feel as rushed as we did but no more. Unless you plan to go to Universal Studios, there isn’t much to see in Osaka beyond the castle and Dotonburi.

Our next stop is my favorite of the 3 cities we visited – Kyoto.

For our first night, I booked us a stay at the Kyoto Nanzenji Garden Ryokan  to experience a traditional japanese inn. This is on the higher side of the price scale but don’t worry, there’s a lot of budget ryokans in Kyoto to choose from.  After checking in and dropping our bags, we went straight to the Yasaka Pagoda and its surrounding town and the Nanzenji-temple via bus (tip: buy a day pass for the bus; you will be taking the bus more than the metro when exploring various temples in Kyoto).

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Our last stop for the day was the Arashiyama bamboo forest. It took us about 30 -40 minutes to reach it and by the time we arrived, it was almost dark. Thank goodness for iPhone 11’s night mode!

Arashiyama can be really crowded during the day so plan to go there very early or very late. The ‘bamboo forest’ looks vast in the pictures I’ve seen before but in reality, it’s only a short trail and there are several restricted areas as well. This makes it hard to find places to take good photos because more often than not, another tourist (or a group of them if you’re unlucky!) will be in your camera frame. By the way, if you’re feeling hungry,  the walk from the metro station to the bamboo forest is lined with good, authentic, japanese street food –  pricey because its a tourist area but really delicious!

After all that snacking though,  I was still craving for a true, filling dinner so we ordered a shabu-shabu meal at our Ryokan. This meal is good for 4 and not realizing how little Jed likes beef, I ended up eating 90% of it (whoops!). Jed was feeling much better this time but for good measure, I invited her to join me for a hot bath at our Ryokan’s bamboo tub. It always feels good to soak in hot water after a long day! She refused to go to the public one after seeing the rest of the lady guests in our Ryokan naked haha! Oh to be that innocent again lol!

It was our last full day in Kyoto and we still have a few things in our to-do list.

We started our morning with a traditional japanese tea ceremony at Maikoya wearing a kimono. I’ve seen pictures of tourists walking around Kyoto in kimonos and while I loved wearing a kimono, personally, I feel like it is best suited indoors. It’s soo hard to walk in a kimono and I would be so conscious of my hair!

Japan’s tea ceremony is very delicate, intricate and formal – from the tatami mats,  the doorway entrance to the tea room, to the required utensils and the decorum of the tea master.  We were served matcha (my favorite!) tea and shown how to properly mix and drink our tea. Quite an experience! You can book this as a private event or in small groups like what we did. The whole ceremony, including getting dressed and choosing your own kimono, took less than 2 hours.

On our way to our Ryokan, we spent about 30 minutes drinking coffee and playing with cute puppies at the Shiba-Inu cafe (there’s a lot of cafes like this here! A cat, pug, hedgehog, and of course shiba-inus!) and stopped by a temple at the Kyoto Nikishi market to pray.

After a nice, heavy, sushi lunch (I ate 16 sushi plates hah!), we took the bus to the Sanjusangen temple, home of the 1,001 buddhas. I wish we were allowed to take photos because this temple is AMAZING. The golden buddhas are life-size in addition to 28 guardian deities. The picture below is not mine obviously but I posted it so you can see just how unreal this temple is.

There is an entrance fee to view the temple (600 yen) but access to the courtyard and the garden is free of charge. I was debating whether to go here or the “golden temple” and I’m so glad I chose this. In addition to its magnificent buddhas, the perimeter of the temple are also surrounded by willow trees with their long, green branches hanging low to the ground. The compound also includes this picturesque hallway leading towards the back of the temple and the garden which serves as a perfect background for pictures!

From here, we took the metro to the Fushimi Inari-Taisha, where every single travel ‘influencer’ in instagram took staged professional photos in their kimonos. Naturally, I have to go there (lol). Famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates-covered hiking trail, the fushimi inari is in every list of “must-see” in Japan. The hike itself is said to take 2-3 hours round trip but you can always turn back at any point on the trail.

Now if you think the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest is crowded, brace yourselves for this one. There’s plenty of places to take pictures but only if you are patient enough to wait until everyone has passed (my pics below took at least 10 minutes each just to make sure no one else is in the shot!).

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There’s a long walk from the metro station to the entrance of this shrine and a lot of stairs to head to the top. The higher you go, the lesser the crowd (there’s your tip!). Mid-way, there is a small, active, temple so please do mind your noise and camera when you pass it.

Our last night in Kyoto was also New Year’s Eve and while we thought of going out and visiting the temples for blessings and prayer (and maybe go to some parties along the way!), the wind was howling all night and it was pretty cold. I also worry that Jed’s fever may come back if we stayed too late outside. Instead, we went to the convenience store and bought instant noodles and other matcha snacks and settled into our very cozy, warm, airbnb where we chatted over coffee, called my boyfriend and our families and generally had a chill time.

Finally, its time to head back to Tokyo. Both our flights leave on January 2nd so we had a choice to stay one more day in Kyoto or spend it in Tokyo. Fearing another flight mishap, we chose the latter.

Hatsumode is the first Shinto shrine visit of the Japanese New Year. Since we were in Tokyo for New Year’s Day, we joined thousands of Japanese locals and tourists visiting the Meiji Shrine to pray.  We also offered gifts, wrote our wishes and prayers, got charms and just immersed ourselves to the experience.

Meiji shrine is conveniently located near another cafe in my list – the hedgehog cafe. We stayed here a bit, grabbed lunch at the food stalls outside the cafe and walked back to our hotel. In hindsight, we could’ve taken the metro to see the Tokyo tower but after 3 hours of travel that morning and a long walk at the temple, we just wanted to rest our feet for a bit before shopping for pasalubong for our loved ones.

The BEST shopping place for me in Tokyo is definitely Don Quixote! There is one located in downtown Shibuya with 4 floors of awesome Japanese souvenirs. I ended up buying an extra luggage to stash all the costumes, accessories and give aways I got from that store! If you don’t fancy that, you can also check out Shibuya 109, Mark City, Disney store, Parco and other small shops to choose from.

Finally, our trip has come to an end.  I will spare you the details of how I missed my return flight and had to pay $$$$$ to get to the next US-bound flight from Tokyo because it’s still painful to me (and my wallet). It was a bitter ending to an otherwise very enjoyable trip. I will just offer you my last tip – Narita is farther away from Tokyo so plan to leave an extra hour ‘allowance’ on top of your planned commute. In other words, if you have to be in Narita at 6pm for a 9pm flight, leave Tokyo at 4pm, instead of 5pm. Also, know that January 2-3 is basically Japan’s equivalent of Black Friday so brace yourself with A LOT OF FOOT TRAFFIC.

As I am typing this entry and adding pictures to this blog post, I am reminded of how fun that trip was and how magical everything felt like. I don’t know how else to describe it.  Tokyo is a feast to the eyes, its food (OMG the food) is a welcome treat to my taste buds and the city is very vibrant and exciting. Kyoto is timeless – its kimonos, bonsai trees, ryokans, pagodas and temples remind me of feudal Japan, a time of samurais and geisha. It’s such a stark contrast to Tokyo but somehow also feels very complimentary.

I’ve been to 32 countries and counting at this point but if you ask me to recommend to you ONE country to travel to, (so far) it is definitely JAPAN.

Nestled between Western Asia and Eastern Europe, the Republic of Georgia’s strategic location meant it was almost always embittered in great wars throughout its long history. Between Romans, Persians, Ottomans and Mongols,  I am surprised how much of ancient Georgia’s identity – its practices, religion and culture – remain.

During one of the tours we did, the tour guide mentioned how the Rose Revolution ushered what tourists now see in its historic capital, Tbilisi and all around the country. In fact, before 2003, most of Tbilisi didn’t even have electricity. You wouldn’t know that though by just looking at the gorgeous ramshackle red roofs, cobblestone roads, charming orthodox churches and a splatter of modern architecture here and there that is Tbilisi.

As a US Citizen, you can visit Georgia visa free and stay for as long as a year. Its permissive visa strategy along with inexpensive the food and lodging are making it very popular with tourists. Surprisingly, I didn’t hear much buzz about it in the travel community and I realized why – when you find a slice of heaven, you want to keep it to yourself and enjoy it, even for a while. It’s a thrifty traveler’s best kept secret (shhh)!

The one major reason I picked this country though is its famous wine and unparalleled wine scene. The oldest wine making tools were discovered here which makes this country the oldest wine producer in the world.  Bordered by the great caucus mountains, its fertile valleys make it perfect for wine production.  Wine making is so intertwined with Georgian culture – you see it in early church designs, almost everyone grow grapes in their backyard, you can order wine for breakfast (yes even the local dunkin donuts have them!) and locals order wine by the bottle.

We arrived early Monday morning and started our tour of Tbilisi right away. We signed up for a free day tour after a quick bite on our way to Freedom Square. The tour only last about 3 hours but its enough to see most of Tbilisi. The tour took us to various churches (of varying religions) across the city, parks, old town squares, a tunnel market and  naturally ended with some wine tasting.

Afterwards, our friend picked us up to visit the town of Mtskheta including a stop at the Jvari Monastery.  It was a quick 30 minute drive from Tbilisi and if you did not rent a car, there’s a lot of tours you can join for cheap. I highly recommend booking one when you arrive in Tbilisi, it is much cheaper than booking online!

The most notable monuments in Georgian Christian architecture can be found here in Mtshketa, the former capital of Georgia. During the summer, this town is surrounded by lush greenery and mountain vista. This, along with its close proximity to Tbilisi, makes Mtshketa the most popular day tours from the city.

A UNESCO world heritage, the Javi Monastery stands as an imposing structure at the top of a hill at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, overlooking the town of Mtskheta. The view from here, especially at sundown, is just spectacular.

By the end of our first day, we were exhausted! We have booked an Airbnb in the center of Tbilisi and chose this one specifically for this view. Imagine having breakfast with this as your background *sigh*. Too bad our schedule was too tight we didn’t get to enjoy this view a lot (we left early daily and arrived at night daily).

It’s too big for just me and my boyfriend but I didn’t mind. The stairs are very narrow though leading to this nook so I don’t recommend this for guests with young kids.

The next day, we joined a tour group to explore the Kazbegi region. We booked this one through getyourguide and for $30 per person, its pretty cheap (although browsing in Tbilisi, I realized they were offering it cheaper there – about $20 per person for the same tour). This is a full day tour since the drive to and from Tbilisi takes about 2-3 hours each way. Our first stop was Jinvali, the largest reservoir of eastern Georgia and then we headed straight to Stepantsminda (Kazbegi) Trinity Church in Gergeti.

This is the view you would see in most tour brochures about Georgia and for good reason! On the slope of the majestic Kazbek Mountain – the very mountain known in Greek mythology as the place Prometheus was chained as punishment for teaching mankind fire-  is the ancient Georgian Trinity Church near the small town of Stepantsminda.  I originally planned to hike this mountain for a day or two but because we arrived there in late November, it was simply too cold for me.

After lunch, we headed straight to Gudauri, a ski resort situated on a south-facing plateau of the greater Caucasus Mountain and stopped by the People’s Friendship Arch (between Russia and Georgia). Ironically, Russia currently occupies the Georgian territories Abkhazia and South Ossetia (so much for friendship, huh?)

Our last stop was the fortress of Ananuri, another UNESCO World Heritage site, located on the shores of the Zhinvali Reservoir. The fortress has an interesting story but I will leave that for your tour guides to tell. From one of the windows of the tower, you’ll get this view.

On our last full day, we had a choice to visit the ancient cave monasteries of David Gareja, ancient cave dwellings in Uplistsikhe or the wine region of Kakheti.

Unfortunately at the time of our trip, most of David Gareja was closed for tourists due to some local dispute over access to the monastery between Georgian monks and Azerbaijani border guards.  I skipped Uplistsikhe because I have already seen cave towns back in Turkey. This left Kakheti but you probably already guessed this was my first choice anyway (heh).

Kakheti is ‘ground zero’ of georgian wine making accounting for 3/4 of the country’s wine production. Georgians take wine-making and love of wine to the next level – one that I think beats Italy and France BY A MILE. They are so proud of this heritage, of this culture and you can feel it in the way they talk about it and their reverence to a true wine experience (read: Tamada – google it).

This was another day-long tour and this time I hired a private car and driver (who was also the tour guide). One of my brilliant ideas in hindsight, because I didn’t realize how tired  I was for the last couple of days and having our own car meant I can sleep between each destination (which I did!).

Our first stop was in a Badiauri Village  where we watched how Georgian people bake their special bread. This ended up being a short stop-over instead of a full experience because they already made the bread by the time we got there.

I cannot tell you how long our drive was to our next stop, the Bodbe monastery because I was out of it the whole trip (lol). Situated on a steep hillside overlooking a valley, this monastery provides great views of the Greater Caucasus mountains. It is one of the major pilgrimage sites in Georgia, due to its association with St. Nino whose relics are kept there.

From there, we drove to Sighnaghi the city of love. Despite traveling in November, the weather was surprisingly warm. With its cobbled streets, medieval architecture (complete with a fortress and ‘great wall’!), red roofs and grapevines in every house, and majestic views of the caucus mountain, this city is definitely instagram worthy!

Our last stop was the wine tour (and late lunch) at the Khareba Tunnel winery.  With more than a thousand hectares of vineyards, Khareba is a must see when doing your wine tours in Georgia.

It is famous for its man-made wine tunnel built at the side of a mountain. This winery combines Georgia’s ancient tradition of producing wines by fermenting it in huge clay amphorae (qvevri) buried in the ground and modern technologies.

There are several other wineries in the area and if you plan to just do wine-tasting the whole day, I recommend asking your driver to skip the other stops and go straight to all these wineries within the area (see below). That is the beauty of having a private tour – you can dictate how it goes!

For our last full day,  we decided to stay put and just walk around Tbilisi. I was very excited to boulder at the botanical garden so we started our day there. Unfortunately, a few yards away from the boulders, we were turned down and the hike to the rocks were closed for repairs [I later learned there was a different entrance to the rock climbing area (-_-)]. It wasn’t such a bad thing though because the botanical garden was still in full autumn colors which made for amazing photo shoots!

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From the botanical garden, there is a pathway to get to the top of Mother Georgia. You can take the cable car or you can hike up. Because we decided walking 5 miles wasn’t enough, we hiked it up and took the cable car down to the other side of the river.  Don’t miss this when you visit Tbilisi! Definitely an experience!

After a short lunch break with our friend, we went straight to an uphill walk to The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the main  cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church. It is the third highest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the world and the finest one in Georgia. This is the church in my airbnb’s window view marvelously lit every sunrise and sunset.

In truth, it would’ve been easier to take Taxify (their version of uber, which you can easily download on your phone!) because at this point our legs hurt and we consider ourselves fit already.  But part of getting to know a city for me is seeing its back alleys, watching its people at and about, getting lost, taking a short-cut, crossing that bridge, eating breakfast at a local restaurant, sitting down in one of their plazas while drinking coffee (or wine), going to a small art studio, and just absorbing it all. So yeah, if given a choice, I would walk those long miles again.

Our flight was scheduled in the early evening the next day so after a nice farewell/Thanksgiving dinner with our friend and his family at their home, I started packing before calling it a night.

We can’t leave Tbilisi though without trying their sulphur baths. Tbilisi actually earned its name from the natural hot springs that run under this part of the city. Many years ago, the King of Georgia discovered the sulphur springs when he was out hunting with his eagle. He promptly decided to build a city surrounding them and so, Tbilisi (warm place) was born. There’s about 10 in the area and we didn’t know which one was open so we walked around and found the first one with a private bath for me and my boyfriend.

It’s quite an experience and I assume more so if we did the public baths.  Safe to say, I felt the cleanest I’ve been that whole trip after all that scrubbing!

I was skeptical when I booked this trip for us because it was too good to be true – the flights and accommodations are cheap, the food looks amazing,  the castles and fortresses with the caucus mountains as background so picturesque, and its wine culture so unique and ancient. I want to see it to believe it and boy did I left Tbilisi a believer.

If you are currently on the fence about whether or not to skip Georgia in your travel bucket list, I hope this blog entry tipped you in their favor. No need to thank me (and you will when you get back from Georgia 😉 ), you’re welcome!

 

 

Why are we so fascinated with Egyptian history? We can’t tell what major events happened to this country in the last 30 years but we know who build what and whose ancient queen did what. They call it ‘Egytomania’ and it has infected all future world super powers after them – from Alexander the Great (Greeks), to Julius Caesar and Mark Antony (Romans – although for these two, it could be just Cleopatra!) to the French and then the British who carried most of their treasures which are now being kept at the British Museum.  Its the same one that infected me and many others of course and why we keep digging, exploring, and unwrapping the many (probably still) hidden mysteries and secrets of Egypt.

Now planning for this trip to include Cairo, Luxor, Hurghada and Aswan in just 8 days (well 7 1/2!) was very stressful. Mostly because there’s a lot I wanted to see and since it was the beginning of summer, I have limited hours of the day to walk around the ruins without dying of heat!

One of my good travel buddies, former roommate and lifetime (!) friend Jeannette joined me on this trip.  We flew in from different cities and obviously flying out the same way so it complicated our travel plans a bit but we managed!

From Cairo airport, we took an Uber to our Airbnb (cheaper! Thank God for this app!). The Airbnb I picked is close to the Cairo Museum, cheap, very comfortable and with a much appreciated, hospitable, kind host.  The key to a very relaxed Airbnb experience is a host that responds fast to queries, a place that you know offers amenities you need (such as an iron board and air conditioned room) and one with outstanding reviews OF THE HOST.  Because a good host will make an average place a better experience!

Our tour started at 8am the next morning and covered the Pyramids of Giza, Memphis and Saqqara and lasted the whole day.  It was 96 degrees on dry heat but with the wind blowing, it actually wasn’t so bad.  Since its the low season (peak season is December – March), there were very few tourists and a lot of places to take awesome pictures!

I have seen them in movies, documentaries, books and tons of social media photos but nothing prepared me still for the majesty of it.  Located on the west side of the Nile river on the outskirts of modern-day Cairo stood the Great Pyramids of Giza – three pyramids built for Khufu, Khafre and Khafre’s son Menkaure.  One of the new seven wonders of the ancient world and the only surviving structure out of the original seven wonders of the ancient world.

There is a fee to go inside the largest pyramid but our guide informed us that beyond its structure, nothing much remains due to the substantial looting of Egyptian mummies and artifacts in the past.  Afterwards, we took a short drive from the three pyramids to Khafre’s complex to see the famed Sphinx.

I am not going to talk about the history and its significance because I think everyone knows them already but can I just say I was so surprised to see how LLOOOOOOONNNGG the front legs of this sphinx is? Like… did the architect not realized it until much later and just said “eh, it is what is is!”.

Our next stop was to Saqqara. The most famous landmark of Saqqara is the Step Pyramid, the tomb of the third Dynasty ruler Djoser, built by Imhotep and the earliest major stone structure erected in Egypt. There is also the pyramid of Onnos, the last King of the 5th dynasty.   The walls of the chamber are covered with  the “Pyramid Texts,” the oldest known Egyptian religious texts.

The tour’s last stop is Memphis which was once the capital of ancient Egypt (Old Kingdom). Here, there is an open air museum where you can see the colossal statue of Ramesses II and an alabaster sphinx in its proper proportions!

Since it was Ramadan, a lot of the restaurants we wanted to check out were closed. We were limited to the places that cater to tourists which usually means its not authentic and generally sub-par in my opinion!

We only had one more full day in Cairo so the next day we took a cab to see Old Cairo.  A quick warning – while there is Uber, there is no guarantee you will get a driver that speaks english. At worst, you get one who cannot follow the map and insists he knows where you are going which means you get lost. Such was our fate this day so we exited out of the car ASAP and got a cab to take us to the right location.

It is traditionally held that the Holy Family visited Old Cairo when they were seeking refuge from King Herod. Old Cairo is very fascinating to me because within it are churches from different religions – Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Cairo, the famed Hanging Church, a catholic church (there are several of them in Coptic Cairo), and Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, the first mosque built on the African continent among other islamic churches.

The alleys leading to the churches are full of souvenirs and the cool breeze and shade are a nice reprieve from the summer heat.

We took the metro (which was tight, segregated but was actually a cool experience) to Khan Al-Khalili, one of the oldest markets in Cairo. The problem was we underestimated its distance to the nearest metro stop. Take my word for it and next time, just grab a cab to get here. For the amount of money you save, the walk in sweltering heat is not worth it.

(Not my pic!)

Most of the shops were closed when we got there around 2pm (again due to Ramadan) but from the few stores that were open, there wasn’t much to see in truth. So if this is a low priority for you, I would suggest you skip it.

After that little stint, we headed to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. Now be warned, even here at the gates there are crooks. A guy heard us ask where to buy tickets and he told us the museum was closed for the hour because of prayers so we said we’ll just head to lunch. He recommended a lunch place and insisted to walk us there only to drop us off at ———– a souvenir shop. Ugh.. Thankfully, the guy manning the shop apologized in behalf of his friend, didn’t force us to buy anything and left us in peace.

We were hungry and annoyed and food always makes me happy so we grabbed a quick lunch right across the museum before going in.  The museum is actually open (of course it was!) during ramadan and no, they don’t break for prayers at 12 noon. After a quick security check, we got our tickets and enjoyed the air-conditioned museum.

Finally, we were back to our Airbnb to shower, finish packing and get ready for our overnight train to Luxor (formerly known as Thebes, the ‘City of a Hundred Gates’ and the former capital of ancient Egypt!)! We were supposed to check out at noon but our host graciously offered to let us stay in his place until our train trip at 7pm. He even recommended a good, local place for dinner! See what I mean about good hosts?!

This article really helped me understand the train schedule, stops and where to purchase our tickets.  The website says foreigners can only take the sleeper train and not the day trains that run the same route. I have read conflicting notes about this because apparently you can take the day trains, just have to purchase it in person or if you can’t, some daredevils actually board the train and then pay once they are seated.

I really don’t take unnecessary risks like these when I am in a foreign country and personally, the sleeper train makes sense to me to save time so I did not hesitate to book our tickets to the overnight train. Now this is pretty pricey ($80 pp for a bed in a double cabin) so make sure you budget accordingly. Alternatively, there are flights from Cairo to Luxor which might be around the same price so plan ahead!

I have never been to a sleeper train before and was excited to report that I liked it! Literally slept like a babe the whole trip. The dinner included in the price of the ticket is sub-par but honestly what do you really expect? I’d recommend buying snacks and drinks before you board the train if you are picky about food.

We were woken up to watch the sunrise in the morning (because we asked them to) and arrived promptly at Luxor around 6am. Our Luxor day tour (east and west bank) starts at 7am so our tour guide picked us up directly from the train station. The tour costs $64 each which could be higher if you go during peak season.

Because of how hot it was in Luxor (about 110 degrees!), we decided to explore the East bank first. This section of the tour includes a visit to the Temple of Luxor, built by two pharaos from two dynasties. You can definitely see the difference in construction and design from different era’s.

It was originally connected to the Karnak Temple, the largest religious building ever created dedicated to Amun, Mut, and Khonsu via the Avenue of Sphinxes.

The Avenue of Sphinxes

After Temple of Luxor, we visited the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the only woman who reigned as Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. Her temple is a loooonggg walk from where the trolley drops you off so I would suggest going here early in the morning or maybe close to sunset to avoid sweating like a pig!

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

What’s interesting in this temple are the relics, architecture and ruins around it. Inside when you go up, there’s only a tiny chamber currently in construction. But hey, it’s a good place to hide in the sun! You won’t need a lot of time here.

Because the tour skipped Karnak temple, our guide graciously offered to bring us to the Temple of Horus instead.  This temple is the best preserved ancient temple in Egypt – and perhaps in the entire world.  The gates are flanked by two statues of Horus as a falcon, one of the most prominent symbols of Egyptian mythology.  The details of this temple is astounding! I mean look at this ceiling!

Instead of heading to lunch right away, we decided to head to the West Bank and explore the Valley of the Kings.  There are about 63 tombs in this royal resting place, the ‘Gateway to the Afterlife’. However, only a few are open for viewing and of those, only a handful are worth exploring.

King Tutankhamun’s is the most popular one (and required an extra fee to enter!) because it was mostly intact when it was discovered.  He was a boy King and not entirely popular back in the day but the grandeur of his tomb impressed all of us. Can you imagine how magnificent the narcissistic Ramesses II’s tomb originally look like then? Too bad today, it’s just an empty shell now. The looting was so extensive because the guardians of these tombs were the same thieves and robbers who stripped the very tombs they guard with all its riches and glory.

On the way to have our lunch, we stopped by the Colossi of Memnon which are remains of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. I wish we could’ve taken better pictures but at this point, I just want to return to our Airbnb with our airconditioned room!

The next day, we took a boat to cross the Nile river (our Airbnb is in the west bank) and headed to Karnak Temple.  We visited Karnak temple separately and without a tour guide because during our tour the  previous day, the way to the temple was blocked by locals protesting the Government’s attempt to displace them in favor of reconstructing the Avenue of Sphinxes.

Now there is a public boat that crosses the Nile river for like $1 per person but it’s about a 15 minute walk from our place so we decided to just rent a private one for $10.

Karnak’, translated as “The Most Selected of Places” was the main Egyptian religious center during the eighteenth dynasty and dedicated to the god Amun, Mut and Khonsu.  Karnak is the second most visited place in Egypt along with Abu Simbel after the Pyramids of Giza and for good reason! If you only have a day to tour Luxor, I  highly recommend visiting this temple!

The ruins’ main attraction is the Great Hypostyle Hall along the main entrance way. Built by Pharaoh Seti, it apparently covers an area large enough to accommodate the whole of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral!

One of my most memorable experiences of this trip was rushing to get inside our Airbnb, quickly shedding all my clothes and turning on the fan and AC! The heat was unbearable 11am onwards that we don’t have the energy to go out for lunch and our Airbnb has a private chef and dining experience at the rooftop for just $15 each so why not?

Earlier, we went to a grocery store nearby to purchase coffee, water, egg and noodles and that was our dinner!  Nothing beats sharing hot noodles with egg, coffee and this view with a friend.

Airbnb’s front balcony faces the Nile River 

The next day, we took a private car to head to the bus station that will bring us to Hurghada.  You can book your bus tickets online at GoBus.com for 135EGP ($10) one way.  You have to go to the bus office in Luxor where they would print your tickets. Your printed reservation is NOT a ticket.  The  bus is comfortable but our seats had a dysfunctional AC. Not fun when you are stuck in that bus for 4 hours during summer.

Our Airbnb was a bit further from the bus stop. Thankfully, our Airbnb host has a car and offered to pick us up for free (we tipped him though!).  After checking in, we ventured out a bit to find a nice place for dinner. There’s not a lot of good restaurants near us and the one our host recommended was primarily serving american food.  When you are somewhere REALLY far from America and they offer american food, chances are they aren’t great and that is me being generous.

The only thing we planned for this town was scuba diving (YAY!). I debated whether to go to Sharm El-Sheikh or here and while I heard a lot of good things about Sharm El-Sheikh,  logistically, it made more sense to us to go to Hurghada.  We booked our scuba diving trip with Scuba Hurghada and cannot be more pleased! For daily dives plus lunch (2 dives) it costs 35 Euros plus 15 Euros for equipment rental. Not bad and certainly cheaper than diving in Asia!

All scuba divers I know have a bucket list of places to dive and the Red Sea is most definitely in their list (and mine too!). The dive was spectacular, the boat huge, the food was good and the equipment brand new. They were also very friendly and made sure my friend (who was diving for the first time) felt comfortable diving at her own pace.

Me and the fishies!

Finally, we were ready for our last stop – Aswan!

We rented a car for our day-long drive to Aswan for $170. The drive from Hurghada to Aswan is approximately 7 hours (+ lunch break).  Renting a private car allowed us to sleep on the car, have tons of snacks and water and relax before we explore the city.

There was a huge issue with our lodging because originally we booked a highly-rated place called The Mango Guesthouse. The place is located in Elephantine Island which means we had to take a boat there first. The host was unresponsive so by the time we head to the marina, we don’t know where we are going! For those of you planning to stay there too, here’s the instruction I found online (which I wished we had access to at that time!):

How to get there:

Take the public ferry to get there. Opposite the Office of Egypt Air (shortly before Ferrial Garden) at the Corniche you will see a small shop selling water and cigarettes. Go there, pass the shop (which has also stairs), pass one more stairs and go down the next.

I believe there is also one right beside KFC.

The ferry costs 1LE but usually you get charged for the return trip too for a total of 3LE.

At this point we were tired and annoyed at the host (who cannot be reached by our Egyptian drivers too) so our driver’s friend drove us to the nearest, cheapest hotel since it was too hot and dangerous to linger on the streets. Eventually we realized we cannot stay at a place that doesn’t even have towels and a barely functioning airconditioning unit so Airbnb to the rescue!

We found this great place that just literally posted their place in Airbnb (they were in Booking.com!). The location of the place is good if you do not like the hustle and bustle of Aswan city and just relax at night. If you wanna visit Elephantine island or any other island, you can always take a boat from his place.  There is also a floating restaurant close to this lodging via boat and I wish we had time to check it out! And the view from our balcony…

Taken at sunset with no filters

Our tour to Abu Simbel started early and our guides picked us up from Ahmed’s place.

Abu Simbel temple is comprised of The Great Temple (for the new deity Ramesses II) and Small Temple for his favorite wife Queen Nefertari.  What is impressive about the Abu Simbel temples is that they were completely dismantled when the Egyptian government built the Aswan High Dam and then moved 65 meters up onto the cliffs they once originally sat and re-built 210 meters to the north west of their original location! You wouldn’t notice that though with the quality of this work!

Our guide said Ramesses chose this place deliberately far from Luxor and from Ra’s (the Sun God) temple so as not to anger Ra (lol he wished). You can tell from these temples how obsessed Ramesses was to becoming a god. He can’t be just a famous Pharaoh, nooooo… He had to be greater.

The temples are also aligned with the east so that, twice a year, on 21 February and 21 October, the sun shines directly into the sanctuary of The Great Temple to illuminate the statues of Ramesses and Amun. The dates are thought to correspond to Ramesses’ birthday and coronation.

After a long and tiring day, our almost-host (The Mango Guesthouse) offered a free sunset feluca tour along the Nile the next day to compensate for our botched stay since they cannot offer a refund. I really would like to go except when I checked the weather, it was 135 degrees around 4pm. I NOPED out of that so fast.

Jeannette’s flight left early morning on our last day and mine wasn’t leaving until the afternoon. Technically, I could’ve visited one more museum in town but I was so exhausted from all the driving we did the day before and the heat that I was more than happy to stay at the lodge, order food to be delivered and lounged at the balcony until it was time to go.

With my trip to Egypt done, I finally finished all seven new wonders of the ancient world! It took me three years because I traveled to other countries in between but I feel so accomplished and very happy to visit them all! Now on to my next list – all seven continents!

By the end of 2018, I have already set my travel plans for this year. One of them was a wildcard – I promised myself a celebratory trip should I get promoted and once that was clear (thank God!), I only had a few weeks to plan it ahead of my May trip to Egypt.

I was faced with a dilemma. I wanted to go outside the country where it is relatively cheap (so Europe is out!), no more than 6 hours of flight away (Asia and Africa are out!), and one I have never been before.  In the end, it was a toss between Guatemala and Belize. While Belize is probably amazing too, the historical and cultural appeal of Guatemala eventually won out!

A land of volcanoes, fertile plains and valleys, high mountain ranges, lakes, bay and the ocean… if you need a place to commune with nature, Guatemala is the place to be. The indigenous Mayan culture is rich, the people warm and friendly and the views are just magnificent. Guatemala exudes a vibe of calmness and serenity that it was no surprise to see a lot of travelers deciding to stay longer, if not permanently, in this charming Central American country.

We had 4 days – incredibly short given how much there is to explore in Guatemala so we decided to focus on two towns (Antigua and Lake Atitlan) and avoid the major cities.

Antigua (not the Caribbean island!) is a charming, quiet town with its cobblestone streets, colorful low-slung buildings interspersed with beautiful ruins and old churches.  We spent our first day exploring the town and I think its enough to be honest because its a pretty small town.  My instagram-obsessed self was so happy with all the colorful walls where I could take photos (my poor boyfriend/photographer was dragged several times to yet another wall for a photo session! Haha!)

We stayed at an Airbnb outsite town so after catching the sunset at the rooftop of Cafe Sky and a couple of drinks, we headed back to change clothes for a dinner at the top of the hill – El Tenedor del Cerro . This is on the higher end of the price scale and not exactly accessible from town. Thankfully, there is Uber in Antigua!

The views from here are amazing and the ambiance and service first class. From the parking lot, you will be walking through floral gardens, sculptures and paintings from various artists. I heard the brunch here is good as well but we didn’t have time to personally try it.

Photo taken from their website

The next day, we continued our HHWW (holding hands while walking lol) around Antigua and discovered yet another nook, another ruin, another beautiful street, and another tasty, hidden cafe. Every corner in this town is truly a wonderful surprise!

In the afternoon, we made our way to Finca Filadelfia for a professional coffee-tasting session. The resort offers lodging and a variety of activities – bird watching, camping, mountain biking and of course the traditional coffee plantation tour. Me and Christian are both coffee fanatics (me more than him probably!) and were very interested to experience a professional tasting. I always try the coffee beans of each country I visit and let me tell you, Guatemalan coffee beans is way up there on my rankings!

The coffee-tasting ended around 1pm and we had to rush to eat lunch to make it to the van taking us to Lake Atitlan. The other good thing about Antigua is you literally can go to any hostel and ask for information about vans or buses going ANYWHERE and they almost always have the contact information AND will help you get tickets!

We had a nice, hearty lunch at one of the best restaurants in town, Angie Angie (love that name!) and then we’re headed to our next (and last) stop.

The van from Antigua to Lake Atitlan took 4.5 hours for roughly $12 per person. You can also rent a private van if you are feeling fancy or take the public transportation to Panajachel and then take a tuk-tuk or another bus to San Marcos if you are on a budget and are not in a hurry.

From the main town, we took a tuk-tuk to one of the most beautiful Airbnb’s I have ever been on.

This is the view from our Airbnb’s balcony.

Surrounded by three volcanoes towering over the lake dotted with traditional Mayan villages, Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

There are about 11 towns and villages around Lake Atitlan. 5 of these are very popular tourist destinations – Panajachel, San Pedro, San Marcos, Santa Cruz, and Jaibalito.

When planning this trip, I decided to stick to just one town given our limited time in the Lake and settled into San Marcos (the hippy town!).  Everywhere in this town is about healthy, natural foods, yoga, psychedelics, reiki, massages, and lucid dreaming (!!!).  However, if you have more than 2 days to spare, I highly recommend taking a boat to visit the rest of the villages surrounding the Lake!

This town is also home to Lake Atitlan’s iconic 8 meter high cliff jump (which we obviously did!).  The diving ledge is inside Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve. For a small fee (15Q per person) you can rent a kayak, find a swimming spot, relax and/or take the plunge to the lake! Its not exactly a ‘reserve’ but more of a preserved pathway around the lake so manage your expectations accordingly!

Christian is definitely a much stronger swimmer than I am so he did this so casually and calmly whereas I had to literally run towards the cliff before I change my mind and once I hit the water, had a mild panic attack! Hah! Sometimes I don’t understand why I do crazy stints like this but then I remember the adrenaline rush and pure joy after the jump and it makes me smile and think, ‘well, that was worth it!’

The next morning, our Airbnb host arranged for us to do the Indian Nose’ sunrise hike.  You can easily do this hike for free but with all the news about ‘bandits’ asking for money (and other belongings) we figured its safer to just go with a local.  After all, its only about $20 for both of us.

We were picked up around 4am and driven to the entrance of the hike at San Pedro La Laguna. There is another entrance from the town of Santa Cruz too but we were closer to San Pedro.  From there, its a vertical hike of about 30 minutes to the first level of the hill (the mouth). From the side, the hill does look like someone’s head lying down hence the name.

The view from the ‘mouth’ of Indian Nose

The local guides prepare coffee at the top so if you have some bread with you, you get breakfast with a view!  There’s always a large crowd here so it might be useful to be up early to secure your spot before the rest show up. As the sun rises, we decided to go up the actual nose – a mere 10-15 minutes of additional hiking. Most rewarding 15-minute hike ever! Look at this view!

We had an early afternoon flight home the next day and instead of boarding a bus and then transferring several times to get to the airport, we rented a private van for only $90 through our host’ connections. The van picked us up from our Airbnb straight to the airport which allowed us to get some more sleep along the way and stop for bathroom breaks anytime.

This was definitely a tighter schedule and a lot shorter than I would’ve liked. The 4 days we were there provided us a taste of Guatemala and frankly as far as first impressions go, it commands a very strong one.  There’s a lot more places and towns to explore! I want to go back to hike one of its ~37 volcanoes, explore the ruins of Tikal (one of the largest archaeological sites of the Maya civilation, swim in Semuc Champey, and so much more.

I always wondered why the few backpackers I know stay at this place for so long (because when you have that much free time, what’s the point of staying in one place?) but now having a taste of the country, I can understand why.

 

(All pics courtesy of this handsome fella 😍)

The weekend between Christmas and New Year are the best times of the year for me to travel to several countries at once because our office is closed.  I want to visit all seven wonders of the ancient world and with Petra, Jordan already booked, I only have the Colisseo in Rome and the Pyramids of Giza left.  Geographically, it made sense to go to Egypt after my Jordan trip but I simply have too much I want to do in Egypt so I decided to travel there separately, hence Rome.

My friend Nickia, joined me after a week in London and Paris so I already know I will get quality pics of myself (haha)!

From the FCO airport, I took the Leonardo Express train to Termini (costs  €14 one-way). There are cheaper ways to go to the city center but the express train is the fastest. This non-stop train runs every 30 minutes and the trip takes about 30  minutes. At the airport, you have to exit the airport hall, cross the walkway and purchase your ticket there.

Termini station is also where all local metro around Rome and trains to other parts of Italy converge.  Naturally, I picked up our Airbnb within walking distance of the station.   The first thing I did after arriving in Termini was to get some delicious coffee, no surprise there. What was surprising to me was the lack of ‘american size’ coffee – even the maxi cappuccino wasn’t big enough for me! I also decided to buy a metro pass (a must) because all the places worth visiting in Rome is within walking distance from a nearby metro.  I spent the day with my cousin who I haven’t seen in a decade (thanks Tagay!) and we went to see St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican City at night.

The following day was my day trip to Pompeii. I purchased my train tickets in advance to Naples online.  It is cheaper that way but you can also buy a ticket on the day of your trip since the train is rarely full. Look up the train schedules online and then purchase your ticket to Naples at any kiosk in Termini. Exit at Naples Centrale station and follow the signs downstairs to the Circumvesuviana  Railway station, located underneath the mainline station. No advance booking is necessary – just buy your ticket and hop on the train towards Sorrento, exit at Pompeii Scavi station and voila! You are in Pompeii!

Pompeii opens at 9am with the last entrance at 3:30pm (during winter) and each ticket costs €22 (five-site pass). If you’re a history buff, you may want to explore this the whole day – this archaeological site is VAST.  You have to purchase the audio guides separately or hire one of the tour guides lounging around the ticket office. Also note that huge luggages aren’t allowed inside but there is a room at the entrance gates where you can leave bags and there is a commercial left luggage facility by the Circumvesuviana train station (both for a fee of course).

Pompeii has fascinated me from the moment I watched a documentary about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius about 20 years ago. Something about the intensity of its eruption, how fast the town was covered in ashes, the images of those who tried to run away and those who remained were very haunting. I’m sure you are all familiar to the bodies so preserved it looked like sculptures done by God himself  shown in all images of Pompeii.

After a few hours of walking around the ruins, it was time to head back to Rome and meet Nickia.  I was famished and we both wanted to have a nice view while having dinner so off we went to the Colisseo.

Best.Decision.Ever…. This magnificent ruin is beautiful by day but stunning at night!

The next day was our first full day in Rome and we planned to see all the famous sites in our list except the Vatican since it’s further out (PS you cannot purchase a metro ticket through the machines with a credit card so make sure you have a few local currencies with you!). The ticket line for the Colisseo can be very long so plan to be there early! The ticket costs €12 and includes entrance to the Palatine Hall and the Roman Forum.  This does not include any audio guides which you can purchase separately. There are also a lot of tour guides around and tour groups that you can join if you want to (for a fee of course!)

One wonders of the ancient world down! Yaaay!!

(By the way, the best shot of the Colisseo is definitely inside the Roman Forum, at the Temple of Venus facing the Colisseo and right up where you buy the tickets, trust me!)

The most famous of all seven hills of Rome, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum didn’t interest me as much to be honest although it is rich in myth and legend as it is believed to be the location of the cave where Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were found by the she-wolf.  The Farnese gardens in the Palace of Tiberius was worth walking several flights of stairs up though and the view of the Colisseo from there is also beautiful.

We took the metro afterwards to head to the Trevi Fountain and was greeted by hundreds of tourists. It was such a shame.  The plaza was so crowded you can barely find a spot near the fountains to take your photo without someone’s shoulder or head of hair. We thought it couldn’t get any worse but were proven wrong when we walked to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon was one of the best surprises in this trip. You exit a small alley and you’re greeted with tall, old, granite Corinthian columns and one of the best-preserved of all ancient roman buildings. Somehow I thought the ceiling was lower and the oculus smaller but I was pleasantly surprised when we went inside. Almost 2,000 years old and its dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome!

Our last stop was the Spanish Steps… and that was a mistake. Everyone and their mothers were there trying to watch the sunset from there. I don’t know whether there was an event happening nearby but it was crowded as fuck.  I was trying to get ONE good picture and I was so frustrated I cried (i know, so dramatic!). No one gave a shit you’re taking a picture – they didn’t stop for a few seconds, they didn’t excuse themselves for a bit, they hovered and posed behind me… UGHHHHH. Thank God Nickia knows me better and found the nearest cafe where I can have coffee and cake – the two things that could improve my mood!

I decided on our last day and before we head to the Vatican that we will return to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain to get at least ONE decent picture!

The next day was our Tuscany wine tasting tour which I booked through viator.com.  This was a very relaxing trip and I’m glad we signed up for it. We met Paolo, our tour guide at the Piazza del Popolo around 7am with the rest of our small group (around 10-12 people).

Our first stop was Montepulciano, a Renaissance hilltown best-known for its production of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a full-bodied red wine.  It’s a pretty charming small town with Florence-style clock tower, medieval wine cellars, car-free roads and the old town walls. There’s apparently a good view of the rolling hills of Tuscany here but it was a very foggy morning so we missed it.

Our next stop was a small vineyard for our lunch and wine tasting. I was very excited to try the acclaimed Brunello di Montepulciano wine and it did not disappoint! I am always partial to red wine so it was a treat for me to try the Brunello and the Vino Nobile.

From the farm, we continued on to see the Sant’ Antimo Abbey and then to Pienza, one of the region’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  We passed on Pienza because we were so tired from walking the previous day and it was too foggy to enjoy the view anyway.  This tour is definitely worth it so if you want a nice, relaxing break from Rome, I highly recommend it.

After several days of pasta and pizza, we stayed in that night and got some chinese food!

Waited too long though to get our dumplings and stir-fried noodles!

On our last day, I made sure to wake up early to beat the crowds at the Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps (note: this photo was taken at 7am). I didn’t mind losing some sleep if it meant I get an unimpeded view of this beauty.

Ohh Yes, definitely worth the 6:30am metro commute!

I wasn’t so lucky at the Spanish steps.. there was a tour group who decided to debrief at the stairs (i know, right?!). So I got creative and bought a large gelato to hide them in the picture, hah!

After my morning excursion, I returned to our airbnb to pack up and check out. After getting that out of the way, we’re ready to explore the city one last time! Our first stop was Castel Sant’Angelo and then to St. Peters Square and the Vatican .

Unfortunately it was the last Sunday of the month where access to the Vatican museum is free to the public… which means lines as early as 5am to get to the museum at 9am (it closes at noon).  One of our biggest regret is not planning a tour ahead of time to see the Sistine Chapel. All early morning tours on days other than Sunday was sold out.  Oh well,  one reason to return to Rome at some point!

After a nice late lunch, we took the metro back to the city center and walked towards Santa Maria della Vittoria to see the Ecstasy of Santa Teresa, a very popular work done by Bernini.

To be honest, everything in that church is beautiful – the ceiling, the altar, the other sculptures and paintings.. I can sit there and admire the artworks all day!

Finally, it was time to head to the airport and fly back to Washington, DC.  This trip felt like it was too long (because there’s only so many churches you can see) and too short (because we missed the Sistine chapel) at the same time. I was happy to cross off another wonder of the ancient world and I loved learning about Rome’s very old history but also was disappointed with the crowds I have to deal with at every single areas of interest.  Not to mention we encountered some pretty racist italians!

I’ve seen someone in reddit superimpose all the roads in ancient europe and asia and highlighted that they all, indeed, lead to Rome. I believe that.. After all, I am definitely returning in 2020 to see the Sistine chapel. However, I know better now so I will be staying in Northern Italy and only taking a day trip to Rome, Hah!

 

I can count on one hand the times I gazed upon a view so magnificent it literally took my breath away.  The last one before this trip was when I viewed the vast expanse of the Sahara desert atop my camel watching the sun set a year ago and now here, seeing the Treasury at Petra from the brief walk through the Siq (spectacular in itself).  I stood there just staring, forgetting my camera for a bit and just absorbing the view. It was early morning and I ventured to go before the surge of tourists arrive around 11am  – the time the buses from Amman gets to Wadi Musa.  Waking as early as 7am on vacation has never been more rewarding.

Jordan was already on my list of planned travels for 2018 but I originally planned to do it together with Egpyt. However, because there is much I want to do in Egypt, squeezing it with Jordan in 12 days was just too much. In the end, I settled to combining this trip with Rome so I can still hit two new wonders of the ancient world in one trip and decided to push my trip to Egypt in 2019.

I arrived at the Queen Alia Airport in Amman around 6pm and took the local bus to 7th Circle where my Airbnb is located.   It is a mini bus used mostly by locals and only costs 2.50JD (one-way).  I settled in for the night and prepared myself for a full day in Amman the next day.

If your travel schedules are flexible and you want to save money, I urge you to actually take the local buses to explore the city or take an uber because while uber is not technically legal in Amman, they are still operating in the city.  This means that if you do  take an uber don’t be surprised if the driver asks you to sit at the front so it would appear they are only picking up a friend or relatives.  Because my schedule was tight and I was too jet lagged to drive a rental car myself, I decided to rent a driver and a car.   It costs about 120JD and you can decide what your itinerary for the day is.   I decided to go to Jerash, Mt. Nebo, Madaba and the Dead sea and used localtrips.net.

The ruins of Jerash is so vast you should allot a minimum of 3 hours of decent walking pace to see the whole place.   Jerash is the most well preserved Roman city outside of Italy.  My favorite part is the forum – the largest I have ever seen comprised of fifty-six Ionic columns (yes I counted them!) which surrounds a plaza and links to the Temple of Zeus.

Our next stop was the Dead Sea.  It has the lowest elevation and is the lowest body of water on the surface of Earth and for that reason alone, everyone should try to visit it at least once.  Can you float in the Dead Sea all year round? Yes you can. Even during the winter months, the water averages about 68F according to my research and when I asked my driver about it he looked at me as if not believing I’m asking this question.

(Mud is not free – you pay 3JD to the only guy in the beach with a large jar of black mud. You can’t miss him!)

You need to bring a towel and your own toiletries if you plan to float like I did. While the entrance fee includes access to the shower rooms, they don’t provide soap, shampoo, or towels.  You can also swim in their swimming pools afterwards for no extra fee but we were out of time and I was hungry so we drove straight to Madaba to see Mt. Nebo.

According to the bible, this was where God showed Moses the promised land (Israel) and also where he was buried.  Naturally, this has become an important place of Christian pilgrimage. At the site, there is a small Byzantine chapel and is currently an active Franciscan monastery.

In a cloudless (and no fog) day, apparently you can even see Jerusalem, Jericho, and the Dead Sea from this mountain. When I was there, this was my only view (bummer)!

Our last and final stop was the greek orthodox church St. George in Madaba. A formerly Byzantine church, this modest structure houses the oldest map of Palestine in existence on its floors. Crafted in AD 560, the mosaic map shows all the major biblical sites of the middle east.

 

Much of it has been lost already or damaged but there’s enough left to give you a sense of how huge and detailed it used to be.  The entrance to the church costs just 1JOD.

When we returned to Amman, I asked the driver to drop me off the Roman theatre in the center of Amman. It was closed by the time I got there (around 5pm) but I didn’t plan to enter anyway.  Afterwards, I had a hefty dinner and had some coffee before taking the cab back to my airbnb.

(Side note: The ‘coffee’ places in Amman besides Starbucks and a few establishments are mostly coffee AND hookah places so if you are looking to sit down and relax, be prepared to be assaulted by smoke!).

That night, I googled the car rentals near my area that opens the earliest and settled with Highway car rental  – I couldn’t have chosen better. This company has really good customer service and I can attest to that the day I returned my rental car.

I got there at 8am and was driving to Petra within 30 minutes.  If you are familiar with driving in New York or any asian city, you shouldn’t have a hard time driving in Amman. For 25JD per day,  it was easily the best option for me. I can control what time I leave and can also do several coffee stops if I want to along the way. The drive to Wadi Musa took 3.5 hours so by the time I arrived, I was starving. There are many good restaurants in Wadi Musa but I highly recommend Al-wadi restaurant.  A bit pricey but after that long drive, I figured I deserve it!

Petra is huge – if you want to explore and hike around it, you can’t do it in just one day.  With that in mind, I bought a 2-day pass for 55JD (one day pass is 50JD) and walked through the Siq, up the Treasury and then to the Monastery.  From the entrance gate to the Monastery is about a 2-hour walk and the best time to view it is at sunset so I figured I’ll do that on the first day and then hike to see the view above the Treasury the next day.

The “Rose City” is aptly named as such. I visited this archaeological city on various times of the day and each time, the colors of the rocks change. Sometimes its blazing bronze or blush pink, the tip of the rocks look like molten gold in mid-day. There is nothing like it.

What makes it even more impressive are the carvings from the top down (wtf, right?), its engineering genius that shows in their sophisticated water system, the hellenistic features of the Treasury and the Monastery.. and with all that, its not even half the size of the actual structure.  Apparently in 2016, with the help of satellite imagery, a monumental structure was found still buried in the sand.

The next day, I woke up at 7am to explore Petra before it gets crowded. I needed to be in Wadi Rum by 2pm (and its an hour and a half drive) so I stopped by a local coffee place (1JD for a big cup of turkish coffee!!) and a bakery and resolved to eat my breakfast at the top of the Treasury.  This time, I followed the instructions I found on this blog.

There is no entrance fee to this gentleman’s small hut but he sells coffee and tea and for 1JD and with this view, why not?

(Bonus: I get to play with the kitties!!)

With my goal concluded for the day, I took time to sit down for lunch at My Mom’s Recipe – another highly recommended restaurant before I left for Wadi Rum.

I opted to stay at Wadi Rum Dream Camp after reading its impressive reviews in booking.com. Again, this proved to be another great choice for me because not only did our guide happened to be a former professional photographer (YEEEESSSSS!!!), but they upgraded my room from standard (sharing with 1 other person) to private – one huge room and with the best view of all camps where I have unobstructed view of the sunrise, sunset and the stars. When I signed up for the sunset jeep tour, they also discounted it!

Being in Wadi Rum is what I imagined being in Mars looks like – rolling dunes, dramatic sandstone and basalt mountains, stunning rock formations. I can see why it is aptly called  “The Valley of the Moon”.

Abdullah, our guide picked me up from the Wadi Rum Visitor Center along with another solo female traveler and he drove us to the camp stopping by the well-known ‘Seven pillars’ for some photos.

After dropping off our bags to our upgraded rooms, we  hopped on the truck,  and stopped at several locations including where the Anfishiyyeh Inscriptions are.  Located on the side of a mountain, this is an especially impressive collection of Thamudic and Nabataean petroglyphs, complete with ancient drawings of camel caravans.

Within a few minutes before sunset, we settled in Um Sabatah which affords gorgeous vistas of the desert.

For dinner, the Wadi Rum Dream Camp served us Zarb (plus sides!), a traditional Bedouin barbeque.  Basically they put the meat down the hole and into the sand –  an earth-oven! Very fascinating!

With our bellies full, we sat down the campfire, some with hookah, the rest of us with tea and just rested for a bit. Suddenly, they turned off all the lights in the camp and asked us to go to the opposite side of the camp and this view greeted us:

(Too lazy to fish my tripod from under all my clothes in my luggage)

I spent a night in the Sahara and I have seen the Northern lights but let me tell you, Wadi  Rum is where I felt like I can literally reach for the stars. The sky was bright with thousands of glittering stars, so bright they seemed so near.  Eventually the stars dimmed to give way to a bright, full, moon. It was Christmas Eve then and I cannot imagine a more magical way to celebrate it than sitting there, rocks behind my back, staring at the stars.

The next day we were served a hearty breakfast and me and two other solo travelers decided to hike.  We didn’t go too far because it is hard to walk in the sands and it was also very hot and windy.  Even so, we had sooo much fun just exploring the rock formations around the camp!

These girls were heading to Petra so I offered to drop them off there on my way to Amman. It was a win-win for me because that means I have someone to talk to for at least an hour and I get to take a break in Petra and grab lunch before heading to Amman.

(Naturally, we stopped  several times to take pictures of the gorgeous views on our way to Petra.)

I thought about omitting this next part but I felt like I had to talk about it even though it still traumatizes me.

On my way back to Amman, an hour from my car drop-off location a dog crossed the desert highway in front of me. I stepped on my brakes but I wasn’t fast enough and there was a 16-wheeler truck behind me. Afterwards, I had to stop at the shoulder because I was bawling my eyes out from guilt. I called my boyfriend because I was so scared and sad about what I did.. Afterwards, I went back to check on the dog and he had no pulse. I had 6 hours to spare before my flight so I figured if he was still breathing, I can bring him to the nearest vet.  Some locals (and the car company) told me it was likely a stray dog but I can’t be sure and as a dog owner myself, I will be devastated if it happened to my dogs.

I was so distraught that when I got to the rental car office to explain what happened, I cannot stop crying and they had to call the owner (who rented me the car) to try to calm me down. At the end of the day, because the basic insurance coverage doesn’t pay for collision damages, I paid the deductible on the car which I honestly don’t mind – that was the least I can do.

With 4 more hours to spare before I can check in for my flight to Italy,  Nedal, who owns the car rental company, decided to cheer me up by driving me to the center of Amman to sample their street food and then afterwards drove me to his home to meet his family. His mom is so lovely and offered to cook me any jordanian food I want when I return, his sister prepared her own tabbouleh recipe and his wife and children were all so nice and accommodating.  He also drove me to the airport and gave me some coffee to bring home from his family’s grocery store. Honestly, they were such gracious hosts and warmly welcomed me into their home. Thank God for the kindness of strangers.

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After this trip, I realized two things – One, while I love traveling with friends, I still need to travel solo. It’s a very different feeling. I feel liberated, empowered, in tune with myself and free.  Most of my 2019 travels are accounted for but for 2 holidays. I will be traveling solo in one of those long weekends. Two, Jordan should be in everyone’s travel bucket list. Your eyes will feast on the ever-changing colors of the rocks at Petra and marvel at the stars in Wadi Rum, your body will thank you for experiencing the healing properties of the Dead Sea mud, sea and salt and your soul will be refreshed as you cut the background noise in your mind, breathe, laugh and interact with one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet.

Travel tips

• Within the city of Amman, the metered taxi should cost no more than 3JD so beware! Make sure the meter is on and if it is not, NEGOTIATE the price before hopping on a cab.  If you are a man, you are expected to sit in front. Women should sit on the back.
• When tipping taxi cabs in Amman, round off the metered fare to the nearest JD.  Tipping in restaurants are usually about 5-10%. Sometimes it’s added to the tab so check your receipt.
• There is a JETT bus from Amman to Petra and its the cheapest way to get there if you are traveling solo. The earliest bus leaves Amman around 6:30am.
• Your entrance ticket to Petra includes a horse ride. However, the tips to the handler are sometimes exorbitant and ‘forced’ upon the visitor that it is not worth the hassle.
• The view on top of the Treasury I went to is free. There is an easier way to go up which takes the stairs on the left side of the Treasury (when you’re facing it) but you can’t make it up there without a tour guide and of course for a fee.
• Stay in Wadi Rum for 2 days – we missed several locations and I didn’t get the chance to rock climb because I was only there for a day.
• For Philippine passport holders like me, the visa process is two-fold; you need a pre-approval and then a final approval. The visa is only single-entry unfortunately (and quite pricy!).
• Always keep small JD denominations. Some cabs and other small businesses do not take bigger denominations.
• Most restaurants take Visa/Mastercard. Gas stations accept card as well.
• Be prepared if you are driving in the desert highway.  There were several roads in construction and the lanes suddenly becomes one-way.  While there is a speed limit, everyone is overspeeding and big trucks overtake everyone (if they can).

I have not met anyone who doesn’t have a travel to Santorini in their bucket list and for good reason – It’s breathtaking! The whitewashed colors of the town, the blue domes that mirrors the sea and sky, the small alleys that zigzag around town and the views of the caldera, It’s a photographer’s paradise.

However, for a greek mythology nerd like me, a trip to Greece won’t be complete without a visit to Athens first. After all, it is the city named after my favorite greek goddess Pallas Athena.

In planning this trip,  the original itinerary I prepared includes the island of Milos, and Zakynthos. However, since it was winter during our trip, we decided to skip the islands (the boat schedules were limited and we can’t enjoy it anyway because its too cold to swim) and head to Meteora to see the monasteries in the sky I heard so much about.

My friend Rachel and I arrived in Athens from Istanbul around mid-afternoon.  Since we were planning to drive to Meteora instead of taking the train, we picked up our car first. (Side note: Even if you have insurance, they require you to purchase insurance for around $100 or else you have to deposit almost $1,000 which they will refund when you return the car.). 

Street parking is free around Athens and our Airbnb is walking distance to the places we wanted to visit. When you don’t have much time to explore a place, planning how to go around the city is crucial.  Like most major cities, you can also take the subway everywhere in Athens and it connects to the airport too.

After checking in at our Airbnb, we grabbed a quick gyro dinner and walked to the Acropolis  and Hadrian’s Arch to see the monuments lit at night.  Right near the entrance to the Acropolis is a rock outcropping that allows you to see all of Athens at night with the Acropolis right behind you all lit up.  It was perfect!

The next day, we stopped by one of the bakeries our host recommended and oh my!  All the bread, pastries, desserts, cake and baklava(!) look sooo delicious I ordered maybe 4 and ate all of them by the time Rachel picked up her order (oops).

We went to The Acropolis first to beat the crowd and was done in like 3 hours. Buy the combo ticket that includes entrances to other ancient sites. Definitely cheaper and makes a lot of sense since you will likely go visit all of them anyway (Side note: the Acropolis museum ticket entrance is NOT included in this combo ticket).

The Acropolis, the crown jewel of ancient Athens, is visible everywhere in the city.  The ruins  of the once majestic structures atop tell the story of war and occupation in ancient times.  The Parthenon was the most perfect building built by the world’s most advanced civilization and dominates the top of the Acropolis. There is also the Erecthion which sits on the most sacred site of the Acropolis where Poseidon and Athena had their contest over who would be the Patron of the city and contains the famed Porch of the Maidens, Temple of Athena Nike, Propylaea, Theatre of Dionysus and a lot more cool, old stuff.

The contents of The Acropolis they were able to salvage are stored in the Acropolis Museum right at the foot of the hill. We spent the rest of the morning in the museum which is nice because it ties-in the ruins we just saw to its contents and its own stories.

Our next stop was the Temple of the Olympian Zeus. Nothing much to see here honestly, but its columns (the largest of the temples) is quite impressive.  Afterwards we headed to Hadrian’s Library, the Ancient Agora, and the Roman Agora before returning to our Airbnb to start our drive to Kalambaka (Meteora).

 

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One thing I can tell you about driving in Athens – rowdy.  Just cars overtaking you without warning, switching lanes on a curved road, over speeding, you name it. Be warned!

On our way to Kalambaka, we thought we could stop by Delphi since we’re heading the same way but didn’t look up the closing times during winter so we missed it, bummer.  Anyway, we passed by a charming little town there called ‘Arachova’. If we had time, we would’ve stayed there for a night.  Definitely consider it when you visit Delphi!

We arrived at Kalambaka around 7pm and after having a nice, sit down dinner in one of the restaurants in the area, we called it a night. Tomorrow is a long day.

You can hike to the monasteries if you want but there are six monasteries and exploring them is already quite a walk so it is best to either rent a car to drive up there or get a cab. The monasteries are also STILL active and have inhabitants so be mindful of the days they are closed. There is no way to visit all of them in one day since there is not a day when all of them are open at the same time.

The day we went up only the Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas , Monastery of Rousanou/St. Barbara and the Monastery of St. Stephen were open. The three that were closed are the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, The Monastery of Varlaam (which is the most picturesque IMHO) and the largest of them all, the Monastery of the Great Meteoron.  You can still go and take pictures of the closed ones up to their gate but obviously can’t admire its interiors.

So far, our drive up to see the monasteries is the most scenic drive I’ve ever had. It helped that its still late fall so the changing colors of the leaves provided a good backdrop.  The monasteries themselves were very impressive! It’s like being in the temples of the air nomads if you are familiar with the Nickelodeon show “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.

Everywhere you turn is a scenic overlook. You can stop the car at any point in time and take a photo of the views and it would still be picture-perfect. It was so surreal! I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

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Pro-tip: Best sunset view is after the Monastery of Rousanou overlook!

The next day, we drove back to Athens, returned the car, and dropped our luggage at the airport for our Santorini trip (if you are traveling to Santorini on a budget airline with limited baggage allowance, droppin goff your luggage for a minimal fee is definitely the better option!).

We arrived in Santorini that night and the long drive from Kalambaka to Athens plus the flight tired us out so we settled in for the night after a quick dinner (and some dress shopping for me!).

There are many ways you can explore Santorini but the most scenic by far, is to walk around the caldera from its capital Thera to the edge of the island in Oia where the famed sunset views you see all over your Microsoft wallpapers and instagram.  We took the bus back to Thera after our hike because who has the time to hike back another 5 hours?!

We started early in the morning after breakfast to ensure we arrive in Oia for a sit down late lunch and the sunset. Since it’s winter, the sun sets around 4:30pm so we planned our hike base on that.

Because it is low season, there’s barely any crowd! When I was planning this trip, it was a choice to do it during late summer when I can still enjoy the beach but had to deal with the crowds of tourists or winter when I can’t enjoy the waters but I don’t have to deal with people. To me this is a no-brainer, winter it is!

It is easy to see why Santorini is one of the top places for proposals and destination weddings. It really makes for a picture perfect engagement photos.  During our short trip, I saw maybe 2 engagements in social media and we walked past a couple doing pre-wedding photos.  Now personally, I’d rather elope and have a small wedding overseas than spend $$$$$$ in elaborate wedding celebrations (cheaper and more intimate I think!) so maybe I should also consider Santorini! *wink* *wink*

Our hike took us around 5 hours and that is because I stopped Rachel several times to take photos (haha!) and to walk down some obscure stairs and explore alleys and hidden entrances.

You can’t tell from these photos but it’s freakin’ 45F!  As you can see, I am very dedicated to getting the best photos in the best outfit!

We arrived in Oia right on time to find where the best sunset view is (yes, it’s at the very tip of Oia – the Oia castle) and then backtracked a few alleys to have our late lunch at Lotza restaurant for some delicious greek food and italian pasta. Our first choice is Kastro Oia but it was closed for the season. Kastro Oia is arguably the restaurant with the best views of the sunset in Santorini so be sure to check it out!

Now that we were fed and our feet rested, we resumed our walk back to the Oia castle and while it was still a bit crowded for my taste (around 20 people), I am still thankful it was only 20 as opposed to 200 during the summer!

This was my sunset view… that 5-hour hike was definitely worth it.

During winter, the last bus from Oia leaves around 7pm and the bus stop is conveniently located near the Oia castle so you can catch it right after viewing the sunset!

Rachel and I stopped by one of the bars near our Airbnb to have some refreshing cocktails and reminisce about our day before we fly back to Athens and then home (for her! I had to fly to LA for work right after this trip). It was a nice, relaxing end to our fun day.

We had our host connect us to a shuttle that would bring us to the airport at 7am for our flight back.  I had another day in Athens (because my connecting flight literally has a 12-hour layover) so I spent it at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.  I took the metro from the airport to the city and then just walked from the nearest stop (Viktoria station).  The museum is about a 15-minute walk from the metro.

Apparently, you CANNOT take a wacky photo of yourself (selfie or otherwise) beside the statues here and that’s the only kind of photo I want to take so yeah, no photos of me here.

Before heading back to the airport, I stopped by the popular Estrella restaurant in Athens well known for their imaginative approaches on traditional breakfast recipes, with a modern fusion twist.  Personally, while the food looks delicious, it doesn’t translate to the taste.  Overrated in my opinion.

Afterwards, I boarded the metro back to the airport to wait another 3 hours for my flight.  This combined trip was definitely exhausting. Looking back though, I cannot imagine not going to Greece when It’s only less than two hours away from Istanbul. Also, I will not pass the chance to see Greece, one of the oldest civilizations in the world and one I have read so much about… and of course to see whether Santorini is really all that (SPOILER ALERT: IT IS).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever read about a place back when you were studying world history where you just can’t understand why EVERY SINGLE WORLD POWER at the time just wants to conquer it? There’s Jerusalem which I can understand (religion and religious fanatics – I am looking at you the Catholic church), China (or was it Mongolia at the time?) and then there’s Constantinople.

I procrastinated going to Turkey for a loooong time because of safety reasons. I’ve had people warn me not to go to Turkey and to please not to do a solo trip there.  On the other hand, I have met several turkish friends in DC who told me I would love the country (and I did!) and to explore it to my heart’s content. After seeing pictures of Cappadocia, well that sealed the deal for me. Ancient cave dwellings + air balloon rides + Istanbul.. who can resist that?

I combined this trip with Greece (because why not?) but I will save my Greece adventures in another post.  This time I traveled with my good friend and rock climbing partner, Rachel.  Thank God we are travel compatible too haha!

We arrived really late and after checking in with our Airbnb near the Grand Bazaar, we decided to relax and sit down for a nice dinner, dessert and my first cup of Turkish coffee. I lost count how many turkish coffee I had on this trip. Definitely 3-6 a day.

Let me tell you about my love of coffee. As an asian woman, you know how we love our rice. However, if I have just enough money to buy either rice or coffee, I will get my coffee 100%.  I am also very particular about my coffee – mostly black (except when I’m in Starbucks) with no sugar.  This way, I can appreciate the full aroma of the beans.  That being said, I LOVE TURKISH COFFEE.  Maybe next to our very own batangas coffee (“barako”) which I am still planning to import here in the US once we find a reliable supplier.

(Sorry I was sidetracked there for a bit *sips from my own cup of turkish coffee at home*. Back to Turkey!)

The next day, we woke up early to walk around Istanbul. We only have 5 days in Turkey including Goreme (I know its a tight schedule!) so we really wanted to make the most out of our 2 days in Istanbul.   We stopped by the cafe beside the Obelisk of Theodosius to grab a quick breakfast and from there, decided to walk a good 10-15 minutes to the historical places in our list – Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern.

All three are basically right beside each other and the Topkapi Palace is not far behind.

The Hagia Sophia is an imposing, 1,480-year-old building in the heart of Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district which has stood for almost 1,000 years as an ornate cathedral.  After Mehmed the Conqueror breached the city walls in 1453, it was converted into an imperial mosque, and served as pride of place under Ottoman rule for almost five centuries thereafter.  It was very interesting to see a mosque with Byzantine mosaics which portrayed scenes and people from the Gospels which has now faded, if not converted to Muslim symbolism.  The architecture of this building fascinates me considering how old it is. The symmetry of the designs, the columns, colors, ceilings — sensory overload for sure.

Afterwards, we crossed the street into the Basilica Cistern.  There’s not much to see here frankly but its construction is interesting. It is the largest surviving Byzantine cistern in İstanbul, and many of the columns were salvaged from ruined temples and feature fine carved capitals.  It makes for a great photo though and reminds me of the halls of Moria (Khazad Dum) in Lord of the Rings when they try to outrun the Balrog!

At the time of our trip, the Blue Mosque was closed for renovations so unfortunately, we were only able to take pictures of it from afar. It is still magnificent although personally I prefer the Suleymaniye mosque (I’ll talk about it later).

We took a quick coffee break and then went on to visit the Topkapi Palace.  At this point my feet hurts lol (I should’ve have tried to break a shoe smaller than my normal size while walking in cobblestones and in the rain!). I wish I could say we explored all the nooks and buildings of this huge structure but alas… my feet had to take a break.

We grabbed lunch on our way to the Suleymaniye mosque and Grand Bazaar and then stopped by our Airbnb to switch shoes (yay!!).

Suleymaniye mosque is the largest mosque in Istanbul.  The mosque is less ornate compared to the other mosques of the time, but its simple decorations gives another atmosphere to this masterpiece and highlights its great architecture.  It’s also less crowded so naturally, I prefer this than the more popular Blue mosque.

The Grand Bazaar is called ‘Grand’ for a reason – it is fucking huge! It is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There are so many alleyways and entrances and a lot of goodies that makes you want to detour. You really can get lost here (or maybe that’s just me and my messed up sense of directions!).

A side note – due to the popularity of lamp posts in Instagram, shop owners refuse to allow you to take photos inside their shop unless you buy something and for good reason!! Instagram models drive away business actually since people who wants to really buy a lamp had to wait until they get their photos! Luckily, I’ve always planned to buy a lamp anyway (and so does Rachel!).

On our second day, a good friend of mine linked me up with his cousin for breakfast at their newly opened hotel. Nomade Hotel is literally behind the Blue Mosque and I wish I found out about Firat’s place sooner! This place is highly recommended in terms or prices, the rooms, the breakfast buffet and the hospitality of Firat!

Afterwards we took the tram right outside the Hagia Sophia to KABATAS and exited at the Galata tower, the first stop right after you crossed the bridge. This area is popular with hip locals and a much younger, savvy crowd.  If you have more days in Istanbul that we did,  you may want to consider staying in this area instead.

The entrance to Galata Tower itself is overpriced in my opinion since you only spend maybe 10-15 minutes at the most inside anyway.  It’s definitely a must-see though. Go up and maybe just hang out at the balcony for a bit to soak in the most breathtaking views of Istanbul. From here, you see the panoramic views of Old Istanbul, Golden Horn and Seraglio point.

It was here where I think I understood why everyone wanted to conquer Constantinople – it is the city of cities at the time and from this view,  it is definitely majestic (…and also strategic as the main hub of silk route and Mediterranean route).

After another coffee stop (I mean, are you surprised at this point with how many coffee stops I took?), we walked around the street arts of Karakoy to enjoy some graffiti artwork this area is known for. There are so many fun artwork in every alley and corner I could do a photoshoot here all day!

For more information about Karakoy, I found this great article about it.

Now it’s time to relax and chill before our flight to Goreme and what better way to relax than to take a hamam bath? We went to Kilic Ali Pasa and I highly recommend you experience hamam bath there too! Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamam was built by famous architect Mimar Sinan who also built my favorite Süleymaniye Mosque, and many other monuments throughout the Ottoman Empire during the sixteenth century.  From the time you enter the hamam until afterwards when you’re just chilling in the internal courtyard surrounding a fountain and being served tea (or coffee for me!), the experience really felt luxurious and definitely worth the price!

Since we were already packed, after our bath we stopped by the Grand Bazaar again to get more lamps and then head back to our Airbnb to take a cab to the airport.

Before I move on to Goreme can I just say that next to coffee, baklava was my “meal” while in Istanbul? It’s absolutely delicious, I am hooked!

The next couple of days were spent in Cappadocia, the haven of instagrammers posting in one of those hot air balloon rides or having mock breakfast in one of the hotel rooftops with the hot air balloons in the background. I admit I wanted to take those photos as well but with the weather,  I knew I was lucky to experience at least one of them.

We decided to indulge here and book a room in the Sultan Caves Suite – the very hotel whose balcony graced tons of instagram pics (lol).  For an affordable price, we upgraded to the master suite right below that balcony.  I told them the room location is ideal because I was planning to block every single guest access to the rooftop until I get my perfect photo shot haha!

The hotel staff picked us up the airport (for an additional fee) and that night, we resolved to book the balloon tours and the excursion around Goreme through the hotel.  You may also book with other air balloon tour operators of course. It was just more convenient for us to do it through the hotel.  The flight costs $125 each for us because it was low season and including our hotel discount. It can go upwards of up to $300 depending on the size and capacity of the balloon and how long the flight is.

The next morning it was cold and dreary and I feared the air balloon would be cancelled. We were told it was cancelled 6 out of the last 7 days.  After registering and having a quick breakfast provided by the tour, they finally said we were clear (whoohoo!).  As usual, I underestimated how cold it was up there so I was freezing the whole time!

For this experience alone, this whole Turkey trip was worth it. If you decided to just ride a hot air balloon ONCE in your life, THIS IS WHERE YOU SHOULD DO IT.

High up in the air with views of Goreme’s impressive topography,  you will be flying along with 500+ more balloons above fairy chimneys and rocky landscape. It felt like I was in a dream..

By noon, we were back to our hotel. After a quick nap, we headed to Goreme National Park which was a reasonable walk from most of the hotels in Goreme.

The park is famous for its unusual rock formations (the fairy chimneys) and its rich history.  The former inhabitants of the area hewed homes, convents etc. into the landscape. This meant Rachel and I had tons of nooks and holes we were able to squeeze ourselves into like crazy children let loose (lol).

The next day was our “green” tour. There were 2 tours offered here – the red and the green. If you are based in Goreme, it makes sense to book the “green” tour like we did because the stops are further out and required transportation whereas the “red” tour is one you can walk on your own if you have time.

This tour costs about $35 (because its low season) and stops at Pigeon Valley for photo ops, a hike to Ihlara valley with lunch right beside a quiet stream that flows through the valley, exploring the Selime monastery (another fun rock castle to explore!!) and one of the infamous underground cave cities of Cappadocia – Kaymakli or Derinkuyu.  We went to Kaymakli which while not as deep as Derinkuyu, is wider. It is fascinating to see how well they designed and built this city 8 floors below the ground where  they store grain, wine, use as hideout when armies pass their cities and even bring animals with them down!

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By the time we returned to our hotel, we were properly exhausted.  Since we were flying early in the morning to Athens the next day, we decided to just stay in the hotel, indulge in some great wine and heavenly dinner (and coffee!) and call it a night.

In the morning as we waited for our flight that would bring us back to Istanbul on our way to Greece, I thought about why I waited so long to visit Turkey and how I am so grateful I pushed through the trip.  I took a lot of beautiful pics of Turkey and whenever I look at them, I remember the sense of wonder I felt when I saw them in person… the pictures don’t do them justice.

 

I’ve heard varying opinions about Dominican Republic from friends and acquaintances.  From what I gauged, the beaches are good, the attractions so-so and it is completely unsafe at night. For this reason, it was low on my list of places to go.  However, I needed a place close enough and one I have not explored before.  A picture of Samana popped up from my office computer (default wallpaper in my computer are picturesque photos around the world) and just like that I knew, it’s the place I was looking for.

We only had 3 full days in Las Galeras (excluding travel days) and there was SO MUCH I wanted to do. The planning was made harder by the fact that it is rainy season in September and a lot of the activities I planned rely on good, sunny, weather.  So for the first time, I didn’t pre-book everything except our flight and lodging (shocking, I know!).

The nearest airport to Samana is Samaná El Catey International Airport (AZS). The flight from DCA to AZS is crazy expensive – about $300 more per person than if we fly to Santo Domingo (about 3-4 hours away by car). This is a no-brainer for cost conscious travelers like me.  We arrived in Santo Domingo around 2pm after a short layover in Atlanta and took a cab from the airport to the Caribe tours bus stop at the airport ( I will write a separate note for tips and tricks for this trip). The cab is about $15 – $20 – we paid $20. Don’t pay more than that. It is really close but not walkable because there is no pedestrian lane and at that time, it was very humid.

The bus took 2.5 hours to get to Samana.  It was very comfortable, almost empty (you won’t run out of seats), and cheap.  It only costs 325 Pesos ($6.5) per person compared to renting a car to Samana which costs upwards of $150.

Las Galeras is another 30-minute drive from Samana (caribe buses only goes to Samana). Since we arrived past 7pm, there were no more gua-gua’s to take us (pick-up trucks, vans, converted to public transportation much like colectivos in Cuba). We were surprised to find a cab driver waiting for us courtesy of our host, Dario (we highly recommend him and his place!). Dario contracted the taxi for us and told us how much we should pay the cab ($10 lower than what everyone says in tripadvisor).

When I was researching for our accommodations, I originally booked a room at the place that attracted me to Las Galeras in the first place – El Cabito  (the picture from my computer’s wallpaper) The restaurant owner also rents some rooms within his property.  The restaurant itself is perched on a cliff and right beside it is where adventurous tourists and adrenaline junkies jump 50 ft to crystal clear waters.  I looked at the reviews though and the comments about the animal noises and smell, and lack of air conditioning in the room we wanted to book made me look at other options and that is how we found Villa La Caleta.

Villa La Caleta is less than a mile from El Cabito and while it doesn’t have the cliff views, it is situated within walking distance to the Grand Paradise beach and a bit further from town (which we loved!). It is secluded and the sounds at night are just crickets, rain and wind (it was raining at night) and waves – in short, perfect!  This is our view from the balcony.

It is managed by Dario and his wife, Sabrina. Dario speaks italian, french, spanish and english and our most valuable resource in this trip. He hooked us up with discounts for our adventure tours and cabs, provided us tips for food, rented us snorkeling masks for free, and served us amazing food throughout our stay. Villa La Caleta has its own restaurant which is convenient for us since the town is a bit of a walk. The prices are reasonable, the time dinner (or breakfast!) is served flexible and the food delicious!

Since we arrived late and most restaurants were already closed, Dario prepared some spaghetti bolognese for us (the yummiest bolognese I had so far!).  We also met Dario’s Luna – the friendliest, cutest, rottweiler ever!

The next day over breakfast at Cafe del Mar,  we decided to go do the horse-back trekking to El Limon waterfalls.  Dario delivered and got us a deal with one of the tour companies he works with.  The tour company picked us up from our villa and took us for a 45-minute drive to El Limon.  The  hike to El Limon waterfalls is a combination of horseback riding and a short hike down to the waterfalls.  There is an option to forego the horses but since it is rainy season, the trail is too muddy and wet to trudge.

The area surrounding the waterfalls is mostly agricultural – we passed by plantations of banana, cacao, coffee and coconut. The waterfalls is about 40 meters tall and falls into a refreshing, natural pool of cool waters great for swimming. There is a small cave near the base of the waterfalls where we swam and frolicked (kidding, I was actually so busy standing on a rock and resting before we swam back lol)

One of the benefits of traveling with your boyfriend is you get an instant photographer (lol).

We were deposited back to our villa around 3pm, perfect for an afternoon nap before we head to the nearby beach for a quick dip. The walk to the beach took only 10 minutes (it was that close). The waters may not be as clear as Playa Rincon or as picturesque as Playa Fronton but it was secluded, quiet, and very lowkey. We really couldn’t ask for more.

On our second full day, we decided it’s a good day to just hang out at the beach, chill, snorkel and read our books and we did just that! Dario dropped us off at the Las Galeras main road where we grabbed a quick  dinner, ordered a baguette and some croissants to go from L’isa chris boulangerie patisserie (spoiler alert: the french bakery beside it – Aux Delices de France is 100X better!) and made our way to the first beach on our list – La Playita.  There is less sea grass here than the one closer to our villa, although less fishes in shallow waters.   We laid our blanket under the tree, ate our baguette and read our books in between swimming.

After lunch, we started looking for boats that will take us to Playa Fronton. After much researching, we realized there is a scuba/snorkeling tour company right beside the only restaurant by the beach (i know right?! we should’ve just walked around!). The boat to Playa Fronton costs $30 per person – I assume we could’ve negotiated a cheaper fare if we had more people going to the island.

Playa Fronton is accessible by boat and land. However, the hike could be dangerous from what I heard and frankly, it’s quite far and taxing.  Now Playa Fronton was the deciding factor for why I chose Las Galeras – I am the world’s OKAYEST rock climber and I heard so many  good things about the rocks and routes in this shore (plus the view!) so there was no way I was skipping this island tour.

Unfortunately for me, currently there is no tour company that offers rock climbing in Playa Fronton. There are bolts on the rock and the routes have been graded but apparently, when climbers go there they bring their own rope (too heavy) and climb on their own (my boyfriend is not belay-certified 😦 ). But hey, I cannot NOT climb it when the footholds and grips were so good so I did a bit of bouldering! (I would say this is an easy V2).

Armed with our dive fins and snorkeling masks, we took to the waters.  While there were certainly more to see here than the beaches we have been, it’s not exactly a good snorkeling area.  There’s a lot of corals but they were mostly bare and less colorful than what I was used to seeing in Palawan, SOME fishes (but maybe that’s because the tide was crazy and it has been raining) and nothing else.

However, the waters of Playa Fronton are so clear, the rocks and the cave heavenly and best of all, NO ONE ELSE WAS THERE. We literally had it all to ourselves!

When we returned to our villa we mentioned our trip to Dario and how our snorkeling expedition went.  He commented that there were turtles in shallow waters in the beach nearby.  I must admit I was so excited that our goal for our remaining days (1 and a half)  was to go back to the beach and hopefully see the turtles before we head back.

Finally, it was time for our tour to Los Haitises National Park tour.  “Los Haitises” translates as “highlands” in Taíno. It is home to rainforest, mangroves, over 200 species of birds, multiple caves, and some of the highest numbers of Taíno petroglyphs and pictographs in the country.  The boat went around the scores of mangroves and we hopped off to explore one of the caves – Cueva de la Línea.  The cave is a short hike from the water and sits in darkness, save for a large opening in the ceiling filling the cavern with natural light. The first wide section is full of pictographs scrawled across its numerous walls.

The tour package includes a lunch at Cayo Levantado, easily the best beach on this side of the Dominican Republic.

Cayo Levantado is a tiny island of about only 3 square kilometers in size. The island has a public beach (which was where we went) and one that is private and accessible only for the guests of the Gran Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado hotel.

There was no other time to visit El Cabito and watch the sunset but this day so as soon as we returned from the tour,  we walked a few minutes to the restaurant.  From our villa, the walk was quick and easy but everyone we talked to warned us about walking at night. If you are planning to walk like we did, make sure you don’t carry any jewelry, hide your phone (or don’t bring it at all) and bring only cash you are willing to lose. Lastly, Dario emphasized that in case we were unlucky, we should NOT FIGHT or we might lose a limb or worse, our lives.  Nevertheless, we walked carrying sticks and rocks (lol).

The view was definitely worth it… the $10 mojito, not so much. I also felt a different vibe from our short conversation with the owner. Considering I originally thought to book our accommodations in this place, I was really glad I switched to Villa la Caleta instead.

The waters were calm, the light was perfect and we were ready to jump! We asked the owner and he told us the boat left around 5pm. Apparently, you aren’t allowed to jump unless the boat is anchored (a safety net in case any accidents happen). I researched this a lot and only heard it for the first time when we got there. Even Dario didn’t say anything about it.

It was our last night in Las Galeras so what better way to spend it than to relax at our balcony! We ordered our food to-go, opened the rum we bought at the groceries, prepared our coffee, and lit our cigars. Best.night.ever.

Since we need to leave around 11am to catch our afternoon flight from Santo Domingo, we woke up early to prepare our coffee, some bread and decided to take our breakfast by the beach. I really wanted to swim with some turtles before this trip is over and luckily, not only did we see two turtles we also saw several schools of fishes!

(Blurred because we basically just put my iphone underwater – not recommended!)

Instead of taking the taxi to Samana, bus to Santo Domingo and then another cab to the airport, we took a private car back to the airport. Not only did this allow us more flexibility in terms of time, I was able to take a much needed nap on the way back! The usual taxi fare from Las Galeras to Santo Domingo is $190 – $200. We were able to book one for just $155.

In my many trips before, solo and otherwise, I always felt like I was crossing off items on my checklist – rock climb here, visit there, eat at that restaurant. This is the first trip where I can say I TRULY had a vacation.  I think in the end, there is less pressure to do something because there isn’t really a lot to do in that secluded part of the country anyway.  Maybe I should do more slightly spontaneous trips like this — in between my planned, structured trips!