Turkey

Having arrived from Syria, Turkey felt a closer neighbor to Eastern Europe than the staunchly conservative Middle East. A beautiful and relatively painless country to travel, Turkey allowed us to relax and unwind a bit.

We first secured a bus to Sanli Urfa, which served as a base for our trip to the visit the fallen statues of Mt Nemrut. Walking among the 6 ft heads of these enormous statues illuminated by the setting sun was an remarkable experience.

After a short, 10 hour bus ride, we arrived in Cappadocia, which proved to be the highlight of our visit to Turkey. Home to numerous, immense and oddly phallic rock formations, Cappadocia was decidedly one of the most photogenic destination we’ve encountered. The climax of our time here was a spell binding hot air balloon ride over this extrordinary landscape.

From Cappadocia, we worked our way along the Southwest coast of Turkey, enjoying the small coastal towns of Olympos, Kas and Fethiye. The coast was gorgeous, and hiking, beach time and seafood were all too easy to come by.

Heading inland a smidge, we spent a day exploring the incredible Roman ruins of Ephesus. The site was impressive, and the “library” was just grand.

After a quick stop in Pamukkale to see its’ famed limestone terraces (which have faded from their previous glory in recent years), we pressed on to Istanbul, our final destination. Though less tranquil than smaller towns in Turkey, Istanbul is not without its’ charm – an enormous seafront city coated with a patchwork of bridges, waterways and hilltop minarets. We avoided four days of rain by wandering Istanbul’s Grand Bazarre and its’ many mosques.

In a word, Turkey was phenomenal. One of our favorite destinations yet.

Link to Turkey photos

Syria

After crossing the border from Jordan, we made our way to Syria's capital city of Damascus, which served as an excellent place to slow down and catch our breath for a few days. Damascus is a ancient and intriguing city which invites one to linger much longer than planned. We spent four days here, wandering among the mosques and souks (covered markets) and watching the city pass by from corner cafes.

In Damascus, we visited the incredible Umayyad mosque, one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. While Ellen dressed quite conservatively throughout the Middle East (showing a bit of elbow, or heaven-forbid a bit of calf, drew quite a bit of attention), women were required to wear "special clothes" when entering the mosque (see photos below). Ellen looked like a Muslim Jedi in the brown cloak provided by the mosque.

Damascus also offered one of my favorite experiences from the trip; a visit to a local hamam. Hamams are public bathhouses, known in the Middle East for social gathering and ritual cleansing, often with grand architecture. Sitting in the large, marble steam room made me feel like a Roman Senator or Chicago mob boss. The zenith of the hamam experience, however, consisted of a large, burly man scrubbing my skin with what looked to be an oven mit fabricated from 40-grit sandpaper to remove more dead cells than I thought possible. A massage and a spot of tea later, I felt like a new (and very, very clean) man.

Exfoliated, we worked north to Hama, which served as little more that a base point for an amazing day trip to three of Syria's many Crusader castles. The most impressive castle was the enormous 11th century Krak des Chevaliers; a towering stone goliath with outer walls up to 100 ft thick. Oh joy, that a misguided series of bloody, religious-driven military campaigns have left us such fun castles to photograph.

After a quick run about the castles, we made for Aleppo, our final destination in Syria. Here we spent a short afternoon wandering the streets and souks, and making arrangements for our upcoming journey into Turkey. Our original plan included a few more days to visit the Roman site of Palmyra, though a bit of political unease caused us to shorten our stay...

While we were in Damascus, we discovered that the U.S. attacked Syrıa near the Iraq border, killing 8 Syrian civilians. While Syrıan people were among the warmest and friendliest we've encountered, we took this news as our que to head for the border. We left the city just before the US Embassy closed and protesters began burnıng the U.S. flag downtown.

As we departed Syrıa, the border crossıng manager reconızed our US passports and called us ınto hıs offıce. He demanded that we sıt, poured us a cup of tea, and asked us ıf we voted for Obama (a questıon that we received throughout the Mıddle East). In answerıng "yes", he began a very spırıted conversatıon about US polıtıcs and George Bush. We sat ın hıs offıce for the better part of an hour, whıle he forced our bus to waıt as we drank multıple glasses of tea (the rest of the people on the bus were not happy). All told, he was extremely frıendly (especıally consıderıng that our country had attacked hıs just two days prıor) - it seems he merely wanted to share some tea, and political views, with a U.S. audience, perhaps in a small attempt to change US foreign policy one tourist at a time.

Syria was a grand experıence.

Link to Syria photos

Jordan

After crossing from Egypt on a worn and untimely ferry, we arrived in Aqaba; Jordan's aquatic playground, where we spent our time snorkeling and sunning along the beautiful Red Sea coast.

From there, we traded sea for sand and followed the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia (albeit, in a dilapidated 4x4 rather than atop a trusty steed) into the amazing desert landscape of Wadi Rum. Here we spent the night in a Bedouin camp and slept outside beneath a crystal clear display of stars. The character-filled chap with the instrument in the photo below was our Bedouin entertainment.

Gritty and unbathed, we anxiously made our way to the ancient city of Petra, Jordan’s tourism poster child. Bearing no resemblance to it’s 70s rock band namesake, Petra is an amazing expanse of ancient Nabataean architecture carved into the red rock of the Arabah Valley. We spent two days exploring this grand and ominous sandstone ghost town.

From Petra, we took a long and bumpy bus ride to Amman, which served as a base point to visit the amazing Roman ruins of Jerash. Wow, did those folks love their columns.

Jordan proved a fine country to visit, and a welcome reprieve from the hassles of Egypt.

Link to Jordan photos

Egypt

We started our journey in Cairo, an intimidating expanse of congested avenues and decaying French architecture. Cairo is home to 11 million people, half of which seem to be starvıng taxi drivers, fervently honking at tourists from a ceaseless parade of circa 1970 Renaults devoid exhaust systems. We devoted our fırst day ın Caıro to the amazing Egyptian Museum; an enormous and character-rıch home to a cornacopıa of ancient Egyptian artıfacts, the viewing of which set anticipatory tone for the rest of our stay.

We took a trip to Giza, Dashur and Saqqara where we explored temples, the Sphinx and the awe-ınspırıng Egyptian Pyramids. Crawlıng through the long tunnel into the burial chamber within the great pyramid was undoubtedly a highlight of the trip.

We then pressed on to Luxor; a dusty spec of a town showcasıng an unparalleled number of Egyptian ruins, and as many unscrupulous touts and shop owners. Ancıent pharos would roll over ın theır sarcophagi could they see Luxor today, though the myrıad of tombs and temples that they left behınd were truly sıghts to behold.

Followıng the Nıle southward past ceaseless mounds of rubbısh beıng dumped ınto ıts many trıbutarıes, we arrıved ın Aswan. More ınvıtıng than Luxor, Aswan served as the gateway for a daytrıp to Egypt's grand fınale; the ıncredıble temples of Abu Sımbel. Rıvaled only by the grandeur of the great pyramıds, Abu Sımbel commands an apprecıatıon of thıs once great culture.

We departed Aswan and made our way to Nuweıba vıa an excellent overnıght sleepıng traın back to Caıro followed by a wretched overnıght bus to the Red Sea, where we began the arduous process of crossıng the border ınto Jordan vıa a very, very slow ferry.

In sum, Egypt was a juxtaposıtıon; whıle a stagnant economy wıth a severe lack of ınfastructure made for weary travelıng, Egypt offers a wealth of hıstory amıdst mınd-blowıng sıghts whıch are worth every step trudged along the Nıle - a challengıng but amazıng place to vısıt.

Link to Egypt photos

Italy

We started our journey in Rome, where we met Ellen's parents and spent a few days taking in the Vatican City, the Colosseum and all of Rome's splendid sights. We then left the city behind us and pressed on to the beautiful Amalfi coast, where we spent our time in Sorrento, Positano and enjoyed a trip to the fabulous Roman ruins of Pompeii. After a gorgeous ferry ride along the coast, we made our way north to Sienna and the neighboring Italian hill towns, where we sampled every bit of wine, cheese and olive oil that we encountered. It was in Sienna that Sue became the unfortunate victim of a pigeon bombing (photo below), though held her head high and continued to enjoy her day. :) After the hill towns, we drove west again to the coast, where we spent much of our remaining time in the postcard-perfect towns of Cinque Terre; five small, colorful villages stacked atop ocean side cliffs and linked together by hiking trails. Ellen and I hiked between all five villages, and Sue & Lynn joined us for the last leg, the Via Del Amore. The four of us rented a ville on the coast and spent our time soaking in the views and the sounds of the ocean. We spent our last day wandering the streets of Florence before Sue & Lynn left the following morning, and Ellen and I enjoyed a few more hours in San Gimignano before our evening flight from Rome. Who knew that nearly two weeks with in-laws could be so fun. :)

Tunisia

We began our journey in the city of Tunis, where was saw the enormous Bardo Museum, which showcases the largest collection of Roman mosaics on the planet. From there we headed south to Matmata, known for its' amazing troglodyte homes carved from within desert craters. Below is a photo of Ellen in our subterranean hotel. From there, we visited the hilltop fortresses around Tatouine, containing the otherworldly structures constructed by ancient Berbers to store grain. We pushed on to Tozeur in the western part of the country, where we explored the expansive Chott El Jerid dessert and surrounding palm-laden oases. After the dessert, we returned to Tunis and took day trips to the seaside village of Sidi Bou Said, and the incredible Roman ruins of Dougga, which proved one of the most amazing sights we've ever encountered. In short, Tunisia is far more than we expected. Rich with history, friendly people and amazing dessert landscapes - we really enjoyed ourselves here.

Caution: geek speak ahead... As a childhood fan of the Star Wars films, I'll admit that my initial interest in Tunisia was founded in the fact that many scenes from the movies were filmed here. Embarking on my nerd pilgrimage, we visited a number of these locations, including two sights used for the boyhood home of Luke Skywalker (pictured below), the Creature Cantina and others. Fortunately, we found that most of these sights were chosen for good reason, and proved to be amazing experiences irrespective of their cinematic past. My wife, having walked the better part of 6 kilometers in the dessert sun carrying a 40lb backpack to see Obi-Wan Kenobi's house (last photo), is truly the woman for me.

Portugal

We picked up our rental car south of Seville (Spain) and headed for Southern Portugal, where we spent a few days enjoying the beauty and relaxed pace of the Algarve coast. We found solice in Tavera, Sagres and Salema - a few small towns free from the blocky hotels and neon signs which dominate Portugal's otherwise gorgeouse coastline. After a few days exploring the beaches, we headed north to Lisbon where we spent much of our time perched above the city in the Castle of São Jorge. Just north of Lisbon, the beautiful town of Sintra proved to be a highlight, especially the elaborate grounds of the Quinta de Regalia. After Sintra, we pushed west where we enjoyed the walled city of Evora and the hilltop village of Monsaraz, which proved excellent finishes to our Portuagal experience.

Below are some photos of the Algarve Coast, Lisbon, Sintra, and the eerie bone chapel of Evora (yes, those are real bones).

Spain

As the itinerary worked out, we made a number of brief visits to Spain between Ireland, Morocco and Tunisia (the quest for budget airfare jostled our schedule a bit). As such, our Spain photos are currently scattered about on various digital media, and we'll post them once we've done some media house-keeping.

Morroco

Morocco. A spectacular assault on the senses. We touched down late in the evening in Marrakesh, and made our way to our hostel through the grand, open air ´Djemma El Fna´ marketplace - an enormous, open-air square, surrounded by minarets and brimming with everything from exotic fruits & spices to acrobats, musicians & snake charmers. The music and the crowds drummed on through the night, and the market never failed to bewilder. We spent 3 days in Marrakesh, exploring the market and the maze of surrounding ´souks´- long, winding streets filled with colorful tapestries, shoes and other goods from local craftsmen. What a crazy and amazing place. From Marrakesh, we ultimately made our way to Merzouga in the arid southern dessert, stopping to see the amazing clay fortress of Ait Benhaddou on the way. Merzougga served as a base for our camel trek into the beautiful dunes of Erg Chebbi. The trek was incredible - miles through rolling, golden sand on camel back to camp outside, beneath the stars, with nothing around us for miles. This was one of our favorite experiences in all our travels. After Merzouga, we made our way up to the northern cities of Fes and Meknes, where we spent a few days exploring and relaxing before crossing into Spain. Morocco was possibly the most difficult places we´ve travelled (transportation challenges, cultural differences, etc), but also one of the most exotic and, therefore, rewarding. Following are images of the market (including me posing uncomfortably with a cobra), Ait Benhaddou, and our camel trek in Erg Chebbi.