Sevilla was our first stop outside of Madrid in Spain and the first place I had seen before as an adult. At age 19, my friend Phil and I visited and did as much as my limited funds allowed. In the intervening 15 years, the city has evolved quite a bit. Some of the rough edges that used to be in the city center have been smoothed out making it a nicer city to walk around. But I did miss a bit of the grit that I remembered.
But what made the Sevilla trip this time so magical was the wonderful family that we stayed with. Thanks to couchsurfing, we were able to meet Anna, Juan, Linus, Leon, and Micio the cat (redundant if you speak Italian), and get to experience life in a Sevilla neighborhood. We had a great time doing simple things like going out to dinner and a movie, spending an afternoon in a park, and cooking dinner (our Thai cooking class skills were tested and I believe we only marginally passed, though I blame it on the fact that we didn´t start cooking until 11 pm!) We even had a good time doing the dishes and other really routine things that made us feel like real, non-traveling people again. Very homey and wonderful. We also got to see our first, and most likely not our last, flamenco performance, which was really fun.
I guess I would be remiss if I didn´t mention another reason that Sevilla is a wonderful and enjoyable city: the public bikes. Not to get too "I used to work at a transportation engineering firm" on y´all, but Sevilla recently put in a very good network of bike lanes and public bike rental terminals throughout the city. This basically makes the city really liveable and pleasant to get around, and not very polluted.
Another great thing about Spain is that with merely one year of highschool Spanish skills, we´re feeling wildly successful with our communications. Not having to think hard about how to say "hello, thank you, goodbye, and numbers 1-10" has freed up a tremendous amount of mental space. Sad, but true. Then again, in our first all-Spanish conversation at the first restaurant we went to, I did end up eating a hamburger by accident. Apparently, I still have something to learn...
(I began this entry and Kristi took over and tried to sound like me. She says I´m a hack and she can mimic me. What do I have to live for? Another poll?)
-d (sorta)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
España? Claro Que Si!
Bully for Istanbul
Istanbul is an amazing, dynamic city and staying here twice was a great way to bookend our time in Turkey. As an ancient city, there's no shortage of historical sites to visit, as well as just interesting buildings to admire as you're walking around. It's also got a very east-meets-west feel, so one moment you can be haggling over the price of some oranges in the market or watching old men fish from a bridge, and the next, you can walk into an air-conditioned western-style grocery store or buy some semi-automatic pistols at the metro station (only $75 Euros!). But somehow, it all seems to fit together seamlessly, and by the time we left, we felt quite at home and even had our regular haunts like a corner pide restaurant and an internet cafe.
Some definite highlights of Istanbul were:
- Visiting the Aya Sofia, a gorgeous Byzantine church/ mosque/ museum built around 500 AD;
- Visiting the enormous and beautiful Blue Mosque;
- Taking a day trip on a ferry up the Bosphorous Straight to the Black Sea;
- Walking (or shoving our way through on a Saturday) the narrow alleys of the Spice Bazaar;
- Playing backgammon in tulip-filled Gulhare Park;
- Trying to befriend the omnipresent street cats;
- Finding a vegetarian restaurant;
- Finding a dilapidated building in a maze of alleyways that seemed to house all the H & M clothing that Turkey doesn't export (all for $2, of course); and
- Having absurd conversations with super friendly and funny shop keepers.
Perhaps the only "low-light" of Istanbul was Dennis' new facial hair. Since this is the last day for voting, I suppose the people have spoken and in your own misguided, fence-sitting way decided that the "Neville" shall continue. Disappointed.
-k
Saturday, April 19, 2008
This is Turkey
The answer to all questions about what is allowable here seems to be "This is Turkey." So in the spirit of the country and because of the people's love of the hirsute gentleman, I have decided to grow a moustache or 'stache if you prefer. It is currently at the "Gary Neville" phase--that is to say beginning phase. For those not obsessed with soccer, Gary Neville plays for Manchester United, is 34 and seems to have been trying to grow the same moustache for the past decade. So in the spirit of such questions as "is a fanny pack an okay fashion accessory," we will open this up to a poll.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Goreme: People Say a lot of Things
From the land of fire and ruins we moved on to the strange land of Goreme in the center of Turkey. One long overnight bus trip is perhaps the only way to truly get the effect of the overall region of Cappadocia (Land of Beautiful Horses). As the sun came up, a valley of strange rock formations spread out across the landscape. The formations are similar to Bryce National park in Utah with one notable exception, they are full of caves. Thousands of small openings dot the hills with even smaller hollowed-out nooks for pigeon houses. It seems that pidgeons were a sort of second currency in the valley and the usefulness of their droppings as fertilizer and their eggs as the base for paint conferred on the owner's wealth.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Chimaera: Is This Burning and Eternal Flame?
What's part lion, part goat, part dragon, and all fire? If you answered Chimaera, you'd be right. A short walk from Olympos is the mythical mountain of eternal flames. No really. After a late night, 7 km hike that began at 9 pm along a beach, "crossing" a river, walking through a village alongside a mountain, and arriving at a makeshift ticket stand manned by one man and one rabid German Shepperd, we arrived at a small mountain with eternal flames.
Though "scientists" don't quite "know" why flames spontaneously burst out of the volcanic rock here (wha?), it might involve some methane gas, and anyway, it's truly an amazing site. As you walk up the hill, flames of all sizes seem to creep out of the crevices in the rocks, some quite large and worthy of cooking salami over, or so we're told. We had a great time climbing around the rocks with our headlamps and checking out the fires. We also heard a lot of owls (sorta creepy), so after drying Dennis' socks and shoes, we left.
Which brings up our escapade-like walk to the mountain. While mostly uneventful (some dogs barking, the strong smell of lemon trees, pitch black part of the way), we had decided to try to cross the 3 meter wide river that flows into the Mediterranean by jumping over it. What makes a man believe he can do something he wasn't capable of 20 years ago? I'm not sure, but in this case, no alcohol was involved! On the way back, we had the good sense to take off our shoes and socks, hike up our pants, and brave the cold water. We arrived back at the tree house at 1:30 am--tired, but dry.
-k & d
Monday, April 14, 2008
Olympos
So we spent two lovely days in Istanbul, but because we'll return there before leaving Turkey, we'll give a recount a little later on. Our second stop in Turkey was in the small village of Olympos, on the southern Mediterranean coast. It may seem strange that we need a vacation after what's essentially a year long vacation, but every once in a while you need a destination that's purely about R+R. Olympos' chief draw, aside from a beach and the opportunity to sleep in a tree house, is a series of ancient ruins, connected by short hikes through beautiful mountainous countryside and groves of olive, lemon and orange trees.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
London's Burning With Excitement Now
Our original plan was to limit our time in London due to the ridiculously expensive nature of, well, everything, and because I really wasn't expecting to enjoy the city all that much. I'm not sure why I had any kind of aversion to the city. After all, it is the home of West Ham United, the soccer/football team I support. But as it happens, London is quite the happening town. Shocking, I know.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Dar Redux
A bit of rejiggering of the timeline is necessary to pull off this entry. We have been to Dar es Salaam a total of three times in the past month, but we decided out of laziness to wait until the end to write an entry. Pretty sneaky, eh?
In any case, Dar is often spoken about as a haven for pickpockets and a denizen of the unscrupulous. Having spent some time here, we may have gotten lucky, but Dar has been a wonderful place filled with cheap South Indian eats and nice people. It may have helped that a guy we met in Hong Kong hooked us up with his friend James, who picked us up when we got into town and took us around for our first night out, as well as our first taste of the national dish, Ugali. Note to any Tanzanians who are reading this: move to the US and open an Ugali joint. We need it.
We felt really lucky to meet James and friends for an early introduction to Tanzanian culture and politics. Thus we were able to learn the two most versatile greetings in Swahili and accept that we'd spend the next month perfecting the important art of greeting people.
We spent much of our time in Dar winding our ways around the old city and enjoying the tightly packed streets of merchants, mosques and intricate mosaic work that can be seen on the most mundane apartment buildings. Perhaps the most striking element of our time in Dar was our coming to grips with what 'rainy season' actually means. At least twice daily, the skies would open up and turn all of the streets into raging rivers and seemingly spawn hundreds of young men selling umbrellas. As far as touts and street vendors go, umbrellas in the rainy season seems downright sweet. And, so too, Dar. Sweet.
-d
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Narrow Streets, Sandy Beaches and Golden Fleeced-Rats
As a reward for making it to the top of Kili, we decided to spend a few days in Zanzibar enjoying Stonetown's streets and the beautiful beaches. The only downside is that Zanzibar is not exactly a haven for hard-bargaining, budget travelers. It is, in fact, a haven for some touts who may or may not be on doctor-approved drug cocktails. The effect is that when you emerge from the ferry into the terminal there are a host of guys with various twitches all representing the "official" tourist board of Zanzibar. They all work for "free" and they all would love to be your guide/hotel-finder. After some cunning duck and weave maneuvers we found a hotel and set out to tour the city.