Israel part deux

After figuring out all almost all of the public transportation available in Tel Aviv, we made our way back from Petra to Michael and Juan’s apartment. We could not believe that we were at Petra in Jordan earlier that day, swam in the Red Sea while passing through Eilat, and then made it to Tel Aviv! When we got back, we met Juan’s older brother, Ale (Alejandro), who immediately nicknamed me Lulu and JJ, Joe Joe. Awesome!

The next day we woke up early and got back on a bus, but this time to Jerusalem. After only one hour, we were at the Old City Gates. We were taken by a nice American guy who rode the bus with us and offered to walk us all the way to the Western Wall (the Kotel). I had been waiting since I was in Israel (my first time) 6 years ago to be at this place with JJ. The best part was being there together. The most difficult part was when we had to go on our separate sides (for men and women). After writing my long note of prayers, squirming my way into the front of the wall, and jamming it into a crack it had already been a half hour and it was time to go meet JJ’s cousin Gavi at the Jewish square. Gavi, JJ, and I began to wander around the Jewish Quarter and then made it out towards Ben Yehuda Street and the Shouk (market in Jerusalem). We wanted to get some Israeli beer so after wandering around, JJ and Gavi made the executive decision to get beers at a mini market and black plastic bags to go over them while we wandered the street (Istrin style!) HA! After a really nice visit, we said our goodbyes. JJ and I walked all the way back through the streets to the Kotel in order to see it lit up at night. What a scene! Since it was so close to Yom Kippur (the holiest day of the year), a ton of people were there! It was like a big party. On the men’s side, many Yeshiva groups in the whole black hat outfits were out and began to form circles to dance and sing. I wish that this would have happened on the women’s side too. The wall looked really beautiful at night and I am very happy we were there together. After a quick dinner we made our way back to Tel Aviv.

The next day we woke up and went on an hour long run along the water. The beaches were gorgeous and the pathway was nice and wide open. We had a great lunch prepared by Michael and then went out as fast as possible to get groceries for dinner before everything shut down for Erev Yom Kippur. We zoomed down the streets of old Yafo, just to find out everything was still open! Yes!!! So, we bought all that we could and began to cook a huge feast. We had a challah we bought in Jerusalem and we made Israeli couscous, roasted veggies, Greek salad, shrimp (the best traife in the world). For dessert, cut up watermelon and cookies! MMMMM!

The day of Yom Kippur, we took it very easy and spent our time reading and reflecting. We went to the beach in the afternoon and took a very long nap. For dinner the 6 of us (me – Lulu, JJ – Joe Joe, Juan, Michael, Ale, and GAGA) went out for a lovely break the fast dinner and got delicious ice cream after! For dinner I had incredible parmesan and garlic gnocchi and for dessert, lemon and mint ice cream! Tomorrow we are heading to Egypt and keeping our fingers crossed that crossing the border is a smooth process. We are so thankful for our gracious hosts and we hope we can return their amazing hospitality! Everyone should come visit their 10 star resort! Until they start to charge hahah!

Jordan

We took a few buses to get to Jordan from Tel Aviv, crossing the Israeli border in Eilat. We made our way via taxi in Jordan from Aquaba to Wadi Rum, to a national preserved area about 100km away. When we reached the village of Wadi Rum, we had many cups of tea with the Bedouin owner and were finally taken by jeep to the Bedouin tents. After crossing beautiful coral colored sands, we arrived just after sunset when the whole place seemed to take on the most intense oranges and pinks I have seen in nature so far, incredible. We were in the middle of nowhere, which happened to be one of the most beautiful places we have visited all trip. After taking about a thousand pictures of the amazing sand dunes and rock formations, we were taken to our own Bedouin tent to put on some warmer clothes. We sat down to more tea and watched the sky turn darker and darker. Eventually, only stars filled the sky and there was absolutely no light pollution, so you were able to see the dusty outline of our own Milky Way Galaxy. While listening to some of the Bedouins at the camp play a lute and sing in Arabic, we both saw our own shooting stars and drank more of the warm, super sweet tea. After a traditional dinner, we spent more time staring at the stars and headed off to sleep. We woke up at 5 in the morning the next day to watch the sun’s rays fill up the sky and turn the landscape lighter and lighter oranges and pinks. We walked along the dunes and observed some camels and animal tracks everywhere! We took the jeep back to the village of Wadi Rum and then hired a taxi to Petra. On the drive, we saw interesting rock landscapes while I got to practice basic greetings and numbers in Arabic.

We arrived in Wadi Musa (the village outside of Petra) at around 11am and quickly made our way to Petra. We bought tickets for the next 2 days and began a 2 hour guided tour through the most significant sights in Petra. From the very beginning, I was mystified by seeing the accomplishments of people 2,500 years ago. The labor that must have been involved in the sandstone and limestone carvings of the ancient Nabataeans is unfathomable. I was so interested in the combination of styles that influenced these people along the trade routes they controlled through the Middle East (like Egyptian Obelisks). We saw hundreds of elaborate tombs that were decorated with symbols from the past. Roman influence was also evident from their takeover, until the trade routes changed and Petra was abandoned. The tour guide had us close our eyes as he led us to The Treasury, which is one of the most famous ruins of Petra. It is actually a gigantic tomb cut and carved into the rock. It was breathtaking to see something cut into rock at such a grand scale. At the end of the tour, we hiked up to the tomb known as The Monastery. The sun was at a perfect angle and really lit the place up. Also, because it was later in the day, there were very few people around. We hiked down and back to our hotel. For dinner, we got some very good falafel, hummus, pita, and cucumber yogurt and of course, more tea. The next morning, we headed back to the Treasury and waited until the sun hit the tomb at the perfect moment to take pictures. Afterwards, we did the hike up to “The Sacred High Ritual Place” and enjoyed the view overlooking Petra. In all directions we saw the ancient tombs and homes carved out of the rock. I tried to imagine what this place would have looked like full of people. On the way down, we hiked past many more interesting tombs and ritual places of the Ancient Nabataeans and even saw some excavations happening. At the very end of the hike we walked past a room that had the most intense rock colors of all. There were dark shades of red, swirled with gray, white, orange, and pink rock. We made it back to the hotel and got some lunch before our taxi ride back to the border with Israel.

Israel part 1

We arrived in Tel Aviv about 1 week ago into the open arms of JJ’s cousin, Michael and his fiancé, Juan. We were so happy to be there, especially because we were supposed to have arrived the day before! Yep, we majorly screwed up and missed our original flight to Israel because of a silly little thing, called a 24 hour clock. In the rest of the world, there is no AM and PM. Only hours listed as 11, 12, 13, 14, etc. So JJ and I looked at the time of our flight at 2:15 and automatically assumed that it was in the afternoon. Well, it wasn’t. Oops! Yes, 2:15 in the morning. Strange time for flying? Apparently not to Israel. So after that blunder and getting many people worried about us, we finally made it!

We made it back to Michael and Juan’s home in Old Yafo, the South part of Tel Aviv, just to be in bed by dawn. But before getting any rest, we met their adorable new puppy, GaGa. She is so cute and sweet and teething! We slept most of the day, until it was time to eat dinner at Michael’s friend, Adi’s home for Erev Rosh Hashanah. We got as squeaky clean as possible and arrived at her mother’s home. There were amazing paintings and sculptures everywhere, all created by our hostess (Adi’s mom), Sarit. We sat down to a beautiful meal, with great conversations, an education about some new traditions, and incredible food! We had many sweet foods for the New Year including fresh dates, sweet salads, and the most delicious honey cake. JJ and I had such a nice time visiting with everyone and getting to know our new friends.

The next day we woke up and went to the beach, which is so close to Michael and Juan’s home! You can see the ocean from their windows and it is really gorgeous! Combined with their amazing hospitality, I am pretty sure this is better than any five star resort. At the beach, we jumped in the refreshing water and took a nice walk. We decided to get some lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking the beach and had a wonderful meal. My favorite part was all of the Israeli salads that were brought out before the main course. I did not mean to fill up on them, but there were all so different and fantastic! For dinner that night (Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year), we were invited to the home of Michael’s friend Aliza’s sister. This was a huge family feast and after dinner JJ, Juan, Michael, and I joined in with the family children for a new and exciting card game! The game involved calling out words that fell into various random categories as quickly as possible. Because some people playing were faster in Hebrew than English, there were an unidentifiable number of words from 2 languages being yelled out at any moment! We had a blast and the game is really fun and I am definitely going to have to play again soon.

The next day was Shabbat and we had an extremely relaxing day of playing with the puppy and sitting by the pool. That evening, we visited more friends of Michael and Juan and attended 2 very nice parties at amazing apartments in Tel Aviv. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and being able to visit with Michael and Juan even more. The next day, JJ and I ventured out on a long walk to explore Old Yafo. We walked along the sea for a while, admiring this amazing beach path that stretched for miles along the coast of Tel Aviv with its beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean Sea. We stopped to have some falafel and shwarma sandwiches, then to buy groceries for the Cajun Creole dinner we were making that evening.

The next day, JJ and I woke up and headed to Jordan for a quick trip of sightseeing in Petra and a national preserve.

Greece

We flew to the Greek Isle of Santorini late last Wednesday night. We decided to take the long journey to the Cyclade Islands of Greece after many positive recommendations from friends and family. Santorini seemed especially interesting to me because it is a gigantic volcanic caldera. The main capital city, Fira (Thira) sits on the side of the Caldera and the white buildings look like powdered sugar on the top of the caldera cliffs. Waking up the next morning, we found a beautiful ocean view, a gorgeous pink bougainvillea above our tent, and hardly any people! Tourist high season was officially over. We walked into town and got breakfast, consisting of fresh fruit and amazing Greek yogurt! Next, we rented an ATV for four days we had on the island in order to cruise around the different beaches and sunset spots on Santorini at our leisure. We rented our Blue 80 cc ATV and I named it Cookie Monster because of the color and the never-ending grumble it made (just like the cookie monster on Sesame Street). We packed up our beach bag and headed to Perissa/Perivolos Beach at the Southern edge of the island. We arrived to gorgeous blue water, pretty rock outcroppings in the distance, and an endless line up of people laying under umbrellas and lounging on the black sand. We rode past most of the busier places and found and area of the beach we could have our own table, umbrella, and chairs for free with the purchase of a giant beer for 3 euros. SOLD! We spent the rest of the day lounging around the beach, going swimming in the salty, perfect temperature Aegean Sea, and just enjoying paradise. Later in the afternoon, we headed back to the campground and went on a jog by the cable car and on the pathway that leads to the village of Oia (ee-ah) in order to watch the sunset. It was uphill and there were lots of people, but running along the Caldera was breathtaking and the sunset was incredible! We had dinner that night at a place near the edge of town with the fastest waiters I have ever seen. We literally got ushered into the place before we even knew what was going on and the host immediately reached up above his head, pulled down the nearest bougainvillea flowers and said” these flowers are only in Santorini – this is why they are so beautiful”, and handed them to me. I refrained from telling him that the same flowers are in front of almost every residence in Los Angeles because he thought he was so charming and JJ was laughing his head off. We had a nice Greek dinner and enjoyed the running waiters. I ordered the “small fry” off the seafood portion of the menu and was actually very surprised when I received a plate of small fried sardines. Yep, they are a little bigger than anchovies. At first I was surprised, but then I thought – well I ordered this anyways so may as well give it a go. So I can check that one off the list of foods I have tried. We walked around the touristy part of town the rest of the evening and eventually found an amazing Gelato place. I got the flavor called “Italian Cookie” and it was out of the world! We walked back to the campground after dinner and literally passed out with smiles on our faces. So far Greece was everything I hoped it was going to be, except better!

The next day, we decided to get on a schedule for the rest of our time on Santorini. The whole island experience actually reminded me a lot of the week every summer I would get to spend with my grandparents in Florida. We were on a schedule of meals, beach activities, nap times, etc. JJ and I began our day with a home-made greek yogurt parfait that we concocted, then we went on another run on a different part of the Caldera edge. We got back, put on our beach wear and then headed off on “Cookie” to a different beach. The beach we visited on the second day was the very untouristy, Vlyxada (Vlihada) Beach. We arrived on our ATV after stopping at an amazing market where we each got a pair of goggles, a paddle ball set, and a bag of olives for only 4 Euros! We found a great spot with umbrella and chairs right on the beach. This beach had even prettier rock formations from the day before, and less people trying to sell us massages and DVDs than the day before. We had a great day of swimming, playing paddle ball, eating figs, napping, and just enjoying each other. On the way back to Fira, we rode on a gorgeous road of grape vines and pretty hills. Then, Cookie suddenly died. Although, it started right back up. I asked JJ is we should pretend that it didn’t happen, and he thought that was a good idea. The only problem was, it kept happening until about 8 miles from Fira, it would not start up again. We really had nothing to worry about though, there was still an hour left of light and the island is small, everyone has cell phones, and there are no stop lights. We started pushing Cookie up a hill to the nearest gas station. Almost immediately some very nice French people stopped and tried to help us, then a Greek guy about our age, named Costa came out of his house in front of where we stopped and spent a half hour trying to help us. He did not have a phone and we were not getting any luck, so I walked to the market up the road and made a call to the rental place. The rental man could not understand me, so some nice Greek people talked to him on the phone for me, and in 5 minutes he came to pick me up and took me back to JJ. He was able to quickly determine the spark plug needed to be replaced, from Costa’s assessment and we were good to go in about 5 minutes. We were thankful and relieved! At that point, it was getting dark and we were tired, so we went to the store and got all the ingredients to make a delicious Greek salad. We also bought a 6pack of beer for our new friend, Costa and delivered it to him as a thank you for helping us out. He could not believe we came back and at first, he thought Cookie had broken down again. We got back to the campground and made an incredibly large portion of Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, fresh feta, olives, green bell pepper, and tzatziki sauce, tortillas (we could not find pita bread), and said the Shabbat blessings.

The next day, we rode out towards the village of Oia on the North end of Santorini and went on a run after breakfast. Afterwards, we rode out towards the beach, Kamari. JJ and I agree that this was the prettiest beach we visited on Santorini. The water sparkled crystal blue and there were cute little boats bobbing in front of a huge rock out cropping in the distance. The water was the perfect temperature and excellent for swimming around. We made another great day at the beach eating lunch, napping, swimming, and playing paddle ball. We got back in the afternoon and then went to go watch the sunset over the edge of the Caldera. We decided to try the most popular pita/wrap place for dinner and filled ourselves to the brink of exhaustion.

Our last day in Santorini, we packed up the tent and went to the store to buy a different kind of Greek yogurt made from sheep’s milk! We took the bus back to Kamari Beach and spent another perfect day on the beach in almost the exact same spot as the day before. JJ and I took turns taking long swims along the beach and napping before our intensive last games of paddle ball on the island. For dinner, we walked along the Caldera Path to a traditional Greek restaurant on the cliffs called Sparos (the name for one of the ancient parts of Santorini that was separated from the main land when the volcano erupted). JJ had mousaka and I had swordfish. Having wine and watching the sunset was romantic and a great memory I will always have. We cleaned up and said goodbye to Santorini, boarded a ferry boat to Piraus (the city port of Athens) and slept on a fortress of chairs until we arrived in there this morning at the crack of dawn!

We got to our hotel in Athens and then headed straight to Acropolis, only stopping along the way to get Spanokopita and more Greek Yogurt. We walked up the south wall of Acropolis and along the ancient roads, finally summiting the top of the area and arriving at the Parthenon! It was so massive and incredible. The columns were so tall and wide. Each Greek ruin and the history behind all of these places amazed me. JJ and I sat and talked for a long time at the Theatre of Dionysius and I daydreamed about what it would have been like to see a Greek Drama in that spot. We walked on to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, where one of the original massive columns from over three thousand years ago had toppled on its side and you could really see how massive they are! We walked through the National Gardens and through more of the ruins in the Acropolis area, finally arriving at Ancient Agora. We strolled around the ruins, got great views of Acropolis in the late afternoon sun and walked through a museum of ancient relics. My favorite ancient relics where the child’s commode (apparently potty training was also popular in ancient times), the beads and jewelry, the clay pots used for voting, and the gigantic vessels. Last, we stumbled upon the temple of Hephaistus, which turned out to be my favorite of all the Greek ruins. It was almost 5000 years old and in really great condition. The sunlight and the clouds hitting the temple was just so picturesque. We came back to our hotel and had dinner in the neighborhood. There were Greek kids from the neighborhood playing all around the outdoor area by the restaurant, which gave it a really nice ambiance. Our delicious Greek food was a perfect ending to our time here.

Tomorrow we head to Tel Aviv and will be in Israel for about 2 weeks. Love to you all and we hope you had a nice Labor Day!

Austria

Salzburg and Vienna (Wein)

After a brief stint in Adar, the most typical Eastern Europe city I could have ever dreamed of, and many, many trains, we arrived mid-day and went straight to the family run Nord-Sam campground. The change between Eastern Europe and Austria was tremendous, both aesthetically and operationally. We decided to go for a run after setting up our tent. We found a nearby bike bath that led to a park. It has become one of our habits to check out the cool stuff at the children’s playgrounds if there are no children nearby to fight off, so we headed into the park and found this zip-line type swing that was awesome to play around on! We kept running all the way to the Salzach River and almost the city center. The run was beautiful and helped us get acquainted with the city. We passed by many ducks on the way back and played on the zip-line one more time. Later in the afternoon, we took public transportation in to the city center and walked through the main parts of town from the train station. First stop was the Shloss Maribell gardens (scenes from in were in the Sound of Music, in addition to many other places in Salzburg). The sun was at a perfect angle and all of the flowers and sculptures look amazing! The groundskeepers at these gardens were definitely busy and all the elaborate designs of flowers were very well manicured. Next stop was over the Salzach River to “old Salzburg”, where the biggest fortress/castle “Festung Hohensalzburg” in Europe sits on top of a hill. We wandered around this side of town and started to get hungry, so we took a long walk back over to the “new Salzburg” and were rewarded with very good Indian food and lots of Naan bread! On our way back, we noticed that it was very cold outside and put on all of our warm gear that we had with us. This included me wearing gloves and my warm wool hat. However, the temperature did not stop us from getting a cone of gelato for one euro! At first the lady who served us thought I was kidding when I reached out for my ice cream cone with my glove on! We made it back to the tent just before a very hard rain began.

The next day, we rented bikes and spent the entire day exploring more of the city and the surroundings. First we headed out for about a 40 minute ride to the Hellbrun Castle. This is the famous castle with the trick fountains that spray water from weird places sporadically and get people wet. Apparently, the place was built not as a residence, but just as a fun house for the archbishop at the time to get a laugh from. Pretty big place to just get a laugh out of! We biked all around the grounds and the gardens and the size of the place was just very impressive. All over Salzburg, there were huge tracts and parks of public land, although all of the land in this area actually was part of the castle grounds. There was even a zoo there. Next stop, we biked over the famous lake called Leopold where many scenes from the Sound of Music were filled. As soon as we arrived at the lake, a bunch of ducks swam quickly over to us. I guess they were used to people feeding them, but we did not have anything for them. JJ pretended to throw bread and they seemed pretty happy about that until some little kids showed up with some real bread. We followed a path around the lake and over to a very large estate. This estate was also in the Sound of Music and had an interesting history. It was restored by a Jewish man, who fixed up the house and made it a very nice place for people to visit, until right before World War II it was taken from him by the Austrian Government because of his faith. We kept biking back to the city center and around the Residence Platz, the fortress, the famous St. Peter’s cemetery and cathedral, and Motzart Square. Motzart was born in Salzburg and the city is very proud of this fact. There was a huge statue with many bean bags around so that you would be able to sit around, drink some wine, and admire the great Motzart. We had some time before dinner and we were not really hungry yet, so we decided to explore more bike paths. We took one bike path along the Salzach River and rode for a half an hour out of Salzburg with no sign of the train ending! The bike paths in many of the European cities we have visited have been incredible and we were really happy we got to enjoy this one. Also, we were very pleased to have our rain jackets and waterproof pants since it had been raining on and off all day. For dinner, I was really excited because we found a Vietnamese Pho restaurant, and I wanted hot soup! Although, after we ordered I realized that I actually hadn’t ordered soup, but some sort of cold rice noodle dish with veggies. I was bummed for all of about five minutes, because what I ordered was actually really good! The fresh ginger tea to finish off the meal was a nice touch. After we cycled back to the campground and put away the bikes, a torrential downpour began.

Vienna (Wein)

We woke up the next morning and operation try to stay dry, pack up the wet tent, do some laundry, eat some food, and get on the train to Vienna. We made it successfully onto to the train and arrived in a windy, torrential downpour. We somehow able to navigate to the Strawberry Hostel and unpacked our very wet tent, but very dry laundry. We then set up our entire camping situation in the room in order to let everything air out. You just have to laugh at the thought of that. Did the weather stop us from exploring the city? Of course not! So off we went down a main street into the heart of Vienna with our “space people” rain suits, wool caps, and smiles on. Through the rain, 45-50 degree weather and high winds, we prevailed, stopping often to eat ridiculous food that we would have never otherwise had except for the conditions. For example, after passing many impressive government buildings and statues, we wondered past a huge open-air cinema festival in the Residenceplatz. There were food stalls everywhere (and no people) and JJ went straight for the crepe stand. Warm, delicious, and filled with nutella is all I can say. Even though the weather was terrible and we had a very short stay in Vienna, all of the buildings were majestic and the city was immaculate (from what we could see). The main cathedral was amazing, even in the rain! I hope that one day we will be able to visit Vienna again in nice weather. One of my favorite spots in the city was a huge archeological site in the middle of one of the main roundabout areas in the city! We walked and walked and then walked back, eating really good Asian stir fry for dinner. When we arrived back to the hostel, we noticed that the ridiculous arrangement we created worked out and everything was dry! Hallelujah!

This morning we flew to Athens and we are now waiting in the Athen’s airport to catch our connecting flight to Santorini! We will be in Greece for 6 days and then we will go to Israel. I am sure we will have some way of working off all the calories we consumed in Vienna trying to stay warm. Apparently the city of Fira, where we are staying in Santorini is on the top part of the ancient Caldera edge. I sense some intensive stair climbing about to occur. Here we go!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

We are sitting in the Airport in Vienna, waiting for our flight to Greece and I posted the pictures from Budapest and Romania. To view the pictures click on the picture on the right hand side of the blog. Hope everyone is well and you enjoy the pictures, we miss all of you.