We slept really well and were up long before our alarms rang. Breakfast was excellent, an assortment of cheeses, tomatoes, mini cucumbers, zaatar, breads, homemade jam (made by Samer’s mother), and some other stuff.
Our driver for the day, Rita, met us at 9am, and we were off for Baalbek, about 90 minutes east of Beirut in the Bekaa Valley. It’s about 15km from the border of Syria. When we were planning our trip, we weren’t sure how safe it would be to travel there, but the locals had no concerns at all. There’s a strong army presence in Bekaa, plus there’s a mountain range on the border.
On the drive up to Baalbek, Rita asked if we’d like to stop by Anjar, the site of more Roman ruins (Anjar Citadel). According to Rita, we had time for the side visit, so away we went!
There were a couple tour buses at the Anjar ruins when we arrived. If it was this busy at a minor ruin, I was now suspecting we wouldn’t be the only people at Baalbek. (When we were planning the trip, all the travel bloggers said that they were the only people at ruins. I think now that’s because they visited in off season).
The Anjar Citadel was a very peaceful ruin, with snow-capped mountains in the distance. It’s not the biggest site, but worth the side trip.
On the way from Anjar to Baalbek, we passed by an abandoned train station (with trains) that had weeds and small trees growing all around it. I should have taken a pic, but, by the time I thought about it, we were too far past and I didn’t want to backtrack.
And then we were in Baalbek! The ruins are in the centre of town. There were hundreds of tourists visiting, but the site is large and it wasn’t overwhelming.
First up was the Temple of Venus, which is the entrance to the ruins. This in itself is pretty cool, but it’s just the start. After you climb the steps, you enter the Great Court, which covers almost four acres. It’s pretty amazing. Then, you climb up 7m on a broad staircase to the Temple of Jupiter (on a platform about 50m x 90m). The remains of the temple are on the platform, where six columns (each 19m tall) still stand. It was under scaffolding when we were there, but you can still see the height of the temple, it was impressive.
And if that’s not enough, then you reach the Temple of Bacchus, which is the most amazing Roman ruin I’ve seen. There are 42 columns (each 20m tall) with really well preserved reliefs. The size and the detail is amazing.
After admiring it from the Temple of Jupiter, we then walked down and around the Temple of Bacchus, and finally into the interior. The size is even more impressive standing at the bottom looking up.
Overall, Baalbek is an amazing ruin complex.
We met up with Rita at the designated cafe where she was visiting with some family members from Baalbek. She pointed out the best things on the menu for lunch. It was mmm good.
The route back to Beirut goes through the wine region of the Bekaa valley, and it’s a common day trip to combine a visit to Maison Ksara after Baalbek. So, this is what we did too.
The winery had an interesting video on the history of the winery, which includes a 2km natural cave system where the wine is aged in barrels. The cool part is that you actually get to tour underground through the caves. I was thinking it would be restricted, what with how carefully they monitor the temperature and humidity levels.
We paid extra for the premium tastings, hosted in a proper wine tasting room. The wines were good, our favourite being the Cabernet Sauvignon.
Drove back to Beirut, showered, and then headed out for dinner at Seza, an Armenian bistro recommended by Samer (our hotel owner). It was really tasty. We also ordered a bottle of Ksara red (now that we know more about the wine).
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Beirut, Lebanon
Our flight to Lebanon sounded reasonable at 11:20am, but, by the time we factored in traffic and getting to the airport two hours ahead of time, we still had to get up early and rush breakfast.
Had another trip through the new Istanbul airport. We could write a book on it by the time our big trip is finished :)
We flew to Beirut on Middle East Airlines; it took just over two hours. I used the time to catch up on my blog.
Canadians get a free 30-day visa on arrival, which is just stamp in your passport (no fancy sticker). It took us less than an hour to get through everything and into a cab. Our driver from the hotel was waiting with my name on a sign, and in thirty minutes we were at the hotel.
We booked at Baffa House before Christmas based on the reviews. It’s in Mar Mikhael, a happening part of town with lots of bars and restaurants and cafes spilling to the sidewalk.
The hotel itself is like an art gallery (the owner’s family include several well-known Lebanese artists).
Samer (the owner) gave us a quick overview of places to eat and see in the neighbourhood and in the rest of Beirut. We booked an excursion for the next day and went out to explore.
There’s a definite buzz to the streets in the neighbourhood. We walked around for a bit and picked a random bar to have a drink (Mar Mikhael is in the Christian part of Beirut, and there’s no issues with alcohol).
Later, we had dinner at Enab, one of the places recommended by Samer. We were there at 7ish, about two hours before the locals eat. There were a handful of other people, mostly expats or tourists. We made the mistake of sitting outside and were pretty cold by the end of dinner (it was about 18C outside). There were a few heat lamps, but none near us. Dinner was pretty good. Made our way back home, turned on the heat in our room for a bit, and went to bed.
Had another trip through the new Istanbul airport. We could write a book on it by the time our big trip is finished :)
We flew to Beirut on Middle East Airlines; it took just over two hours. I used the time to catch up on my blog.
Canadians get a free 30-day visa on arrival, which is just stamp in your passport (no fancy sticker). It took us less than an hour to get through everything and into a cab. Our driver from the hotel was waiting with my name on a sign, and in thirty minutes we were at the hotel.
We booked at Baffa House before Christmas based on the reviews. It’s in Mar Mikhael, a happening part of town with lots of bars and restaurants and cafes spilling to the sidewalk.
The hotel itself is like an art gallery (the owner’s family include several well-known Lebanese artists).
Samer (the owner) gave us a quick overview of places to eat and see in the neighbourhood and in the rest of Beirut. We booked an excursion for the next day and went out to explore.
There’s a definite buzz to the streets in the neighbourhood. We walked around for a bit and picked a random bar to have a drink (Mar Mikhael is in the Christian part of Beirut, and there’s no issues with alcohol).
Later, we had dinner at Enab, one of the places recommended by Samer. We were there at 7ish, about two hours before the locals eat. There were a handful of other people, mostly expats or tourists. We made the mistake of sitting outside and were pretty cold by the end of dinner (it was about 18C outside). There were a few heat lamps, but none near us. Dinner was pretty good. Made our way back home, turned on the heat in our room for a bit, and went to bed.
Monday, April 22, 2019
Istanbul, Turkey
Checking out of the Lotte Hotel was very efficient. We got our boxed breakfasts, they called a taxi for the 10 minute drive to the airport, and we were at the check in counter, all in less than an hour after waking up. The boxed breakfasts were mostly packaged goods, except for an orange, which I ate. Luckily, we were still full from our late post-opera dinner.
There were actually two flights leaving the Tashkent airport for Istanbul at roughly the same time, one a Uzbek Airlines with code share with Turkish Airlines, and the other the exact opposite. We got bounced around three times from counter to counter trying to find the correct one for our flight.
We eventually checked in and got our exit stamp from the immigration folks. All our careful organizing of registration stamps and slips from each hotel was for naught. They just saw the cover of our passports and stamped us for exit. So, all the guide books and any travel blogs written before the mid-2018 aren’t valid anymore. The country’s really opened up to tourism.
It was a long 5+ hour flight back to Istanbul. We originally flew east to Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) to start the journey, and then drove further east to each city along the way in Uzbekistan. We were about as far east as India by the end of it!
On arrival in Istanbul, our baggage carousel was the farthest one (yet again), about 500m there and 500m back. It’s a large airport. At least we figured out the system of how to pay and get a cart. Given how much thought has been put into the UX of the rest of the airport, the poor design of the cart system sticks out.
Got in line for a metered taxi. The traffic was much better today, and we were at our hotel in just under 45 minutes.
Our room wasn’t yet ready, so we dropped off our bags at the hotel (the same one we’ve been using as our base in Istanbul, the Hamamhane in Beyoğlu) and went out for lunch at a restaurant a few steps away. Sat on the terrace and enjoyed the afternoon weather. It was a beautiful day, we hadn’t seen the sun for the past few days. Lunch was excellent!
After lunch, we did a whole bunch of laundry, washing about half the clothes in our packs. It’s very handy having a washer and dryer in the room. (We didn’t realize when we booked that our room was set up as a studio apartment - there are maybe 16 rooms in the whole place, and we’ve loved each of the rooms we’ve stayed in so far).
After lunch, we booked a visit to the 100-year old restored hamam literally next door to the hotel. We booked our appointments before we had lunch.
It was a new experience for both of us. First, we changed (the hamam provided disposable shorts and bikinis). Then, we sat in a marble steam room for about 20 minutes. After, our hamam attendants brought us into the next room, where they scrubbed us with a loofah mitt and rinsed us off. Next, we lay down on the hot marble stone and were covered with soap bubbles and massaged. Another rinse, then our hair was shampooed. The bathing part was now complete. Next, the towelling down with soft Turkish towels, and, finally, off to a dry room where we were provided cold sweet tea and dried fruits. There was also a scented face towel, which we later figured out was to place over our face and relax (aromatherapy). All this takes place in common rooms. The appointments at our hamam, however, are staggered, so there was just one other couple at each step. The whole process took about two hours.
It was interesting to try, although I don’t think hamams are my thing. Heather, though, enjoyed the experience.
Heather was feeling a bit tired from the early wake up and the two hour time change, and she was still full from lunch, so she crashed for the night. I was hungry, so went back to the lunch place next door for a quick bite. Overall, it nice relaxing day and a good start to the next leg of our trip!
There were actually two flights leaving the Tashkent airport for Istanbul at roughly the same time, one a Uzbek Airlines with code share with Turkish Airlines, and the other the exact opposite. We got bounced around three times from counter to counter trying to find the correct one for our flight.
We eventually checked in and got our exit stamp from the immigration folks. All our careful organizing of registration stamps and slips from each hotel was for naught. They just saw the cover of our passports and stamped us for exit. So, all the guide books and any travel blogs written before the mid-2018 aren’t valid anymore. The country’s really opened up to tourism.
It was a long 5+ hour flight back to Istanbul. We originally flew east to Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) to start the journey, and then drove further east to each city along the way in Uzbekistan. We were about as far east as India by the end of it!
On arrival in Istanbul, our baggage carousel was the farthest one (yet again), about 500m there and 500m back. It’s a large airport. At least we figured out the system of how to pay and get a cart. Given how much thought has been put into the UX of the rest of the airport, the poor design of the cart system sticks out.
Got in line for a metered taxi. The traffic was much better today, and we were at our hotel in just under 45 minutes.
Our room wasn’t yet ready, so we dropped off our bags at the hotel (the same one we’ve been using as our base in Istanbul, the Hamamhane in Beyoğlu) and went out for lunch at a restaurant a few steps away. Sat on the terrace and enjoyed the afternoon weather. It was a beautiful day, we hadn’t seen the sun for the past few days. Lunch was excellent!
After lunch, we did a whole bunch of laundry, washing about half the clothes in our packs. It’s very handy having a washer and dryer in the room. (We didn’t realize when we booked that our room was set up as a studio apartment - there are maybe 16 rooms in the whole place, and we’ve loved each of the rooms we’ve stayed in so far).
After lunch, we booked a visit to the 100-year old restored hamam literally next door to the hotel. We booked our appointments before we had lunch.
It was a new experience for both of us. First, we changed (the hamam provided disposable shorts and bikinis). Then, we sat in a marble steam room for about 20 minutes. After, our hamam attendants brought us into the next room, where they scrubbed us with a loofah mitt and rinsed us off. Next, we lay down on the hot marble stone and were covered with soap bubbles and massaged. Another rinse, then our hair was shampooed. The bathing part was now complete. Next, the towelling down with soft Turkish towels, and, finally, off to a dry room where we were provided cold sweet tea and dried fruits. There was also a scented face towel, which we later figured out was to place over our face and relax (aromatherapy). All this takes place in common rooms. The appointments at our hamam, however, are staggered, so there was just one other couple at each step. The whole process took about two hours.
It was interesting to try, although I don’t think hamams are my thing. Heather, though, enjoyed the experience.
Heather was feeling a bit tired from the early wake up and the two hour time change, and she was still full from lunch, so she crashed for the night. I was hungry, so went back to the lunch place next door for a quick bite. Overall, it nice relaxing day and a good start to the next leg of our trip!
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
We had a fun day in Tashkent, doing some urban stuff for a change.
First off was breakfast, and one of the better buffets on this trip. Checked with the front desk about whether we should carry our passports around town, but they almost laughed and said we wouldn’t need them.
We took the subway to Chorsu Market. According to the Lonely Planet, the subways are also vestiges of the bureaucratic past, but that’s no longer the case. There are plenty of police around, but they were all very helpful once they determined we were tourists. They didn’t even care if we took pictures!
The subway stations that we saw were all works of art. The system is also well signed and easy to get around. We had no issues getting to Chorsu Market, even with transferring lines.
Chorsu Market was cool to see. The vendors didn’t mind tourists taking pics, and offered us samples of unusual items that we asked about. Tried a hard crystal-like rock that turned out to be sugar.
The best area of the market was the bakery, although at 11am we caught the tail end of it. Who doesn’t like the smell of freshly baked bread? There was still some bread-making in action, and the bakers invited me for a close-up pic.
Next on our tour was the Central Asian Plov Market. Plov is a local favourite, fried rice with raisins and nuts and other stuff, topped with meat (usually beef or lamb). At this market, the rice is cooked in giant kazans about 10’ in diameter. The plov is good, but really it’s the giant kazans that are the attraction.
We took the subway back towards our hotel and saw a few more beautiful stations.
The History Museum was also on our list for today, conveniently located beside our hotel. It’s pretty good, and the quality of some of the ancient pieces dating from as old as 1 AD was astounding. It was also helpful that we had already seen parts of Uzbekistan, having gone west to east (it’s more usual the other direction).
After the museum, we stopped at a cafe for a Turkish coffee and sweet. Got back to our hotel and got ready for the opera. There’s a good number of tourists that attend who don’t have formal attire, so I wasn’t out of place in my jeans and running shoes.
We were lucky to have bought our tickets for Aida the day before - our seats were excellent, 5th row centre. We really enjoyed the performance!
We had a late dinner at the hotel lobby bar to wrap up our Uzbekistan leg of the trip.
Overall, we really liked Uzbekistan. It’s very easy to travel independently now, all the old bureaucracy has gone away. I’m glad we went from west to east through the tourist towns. The Silk Road cities themselves are really impressive, and different from anything else I’ve seen so far.
Next stop: Beirut
First off was breakfast, and one of the better buffets on this trip. Checked with the front desk about whether we should carry our passports around town, but they almost laughed and said we wouldn’t need them.
We took the subway to Chorsu Market. According to the Lonely Planet, the subways are also vestiges of the bureaucratic past, but that’s no longer the case. There are plenty of police around, but they were all very helpful once they determined we were tourists. They didn’t even care if we took pictures!
The subway stations that we saw were all works of art. The system is also well signed and easy to get around. We had no issues getting to Chorsu Market, even with transferring lines.
Chorsu Market was cool to see. The vendors didn’t mind tourists taking pics, and offered us samples of unusual items that we asked about. Tried a hard crystal-like rock that turned out to be sugar.
The best area of the market was the bakery, although at 11am we caught the tail end of it. Who doesn’t like the smell of freshly baked bread? There was still some bread-making in action, and the bakers invited me for a close-up pic.
Next on our tour was the Central Asian Plov Market. Plov is a local favourite, fried rice with raisins and nuts and other stuff, topped with meat (usually beef or lamb). At this market, the rice is cooked in giant kazans about 10’ in diameter. The plov is good, but really it’s the giant kazans that are the attraction.
We took the subway back towards our hotel and saw a few more beautiful stations.
The History Museum was also on our list for today, conveniently located beside our hotel. It’s pretty good, and the quality of some of the ancient pieces dating from as old as 1 AD was astounding. It was also helpful that we had already seen parts of Uzbekistan, having gone west to east (it’s more usual the other direction).
After the museum, we stopped at a cafe for a Turkish coffee and sweet. Got back to our hotel and got ready for the opera. There’s a good number of tourists that attend who don’t have formal attire, so I wasn’t out of place in my jeans and running shoes.
We were lucky to have bought our tickets for Aida the day before - our seats were excellent, 5th row centre. We really enjoyed the performance!
We had a late dinner at the hotel lobby bar to wrap up our Uzbekistan leg of the trip.
Overall, we really liked Uzbekistan. It’s very easy to travel independently now, all the old bureaucracy has gone away. I’m glad we went from west to east through the tourist towns. The Silk Road cities themselves are really impressive, and different from anything else I’ve seen so far.
Next stop: Beirut
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Our driver from Samarkand to Tashkent was ten minutes late because he got caught up in all the road closures with the South Korean president’s visit. But no worries. Said our goodbyes to Vlad and Firdavs and we were off.
Our driver was good, didn’t try to upsell us on anything, and got us to Tashkent just after 1pm. We stopped for gas along the way. In Uzbekistan, the passengers have to get out before the car enters the fuel pump, which we’ve experienced a few times now. I’m not sure the logic behind this.
In Tashkent, we stayed at the Lotte City Hotel. I think it was originally a palace. The staff were very professional, but also very bureaucratic. Their procedures still call for all the old paperwork that has been done away with recently by the Uzbek government. Our papers were in order, so no problem. It was the only trace of the old bureaucracy that we experienced in Uzbekistan.
We were hungry, so dropped off our bags and headed out for food. Heather had noticed a döner place across the street when we drove in, so we headed there. It was excellent, the pita was freshly baked and the toppings were fresh.
We thought about touristing for the afternoon, but decided to relax and plan out tomorrow instead. The city’s opera house was literally right across the road from us, so we bought tickets for tomorrow night’s performance of Verdi’s Aida . Had dinner at the hotel since it was raining out. It was okay; their draft beers were good.
Our driver was good, didn’t try to upsell us on anything, and got us to Tashkent just after 1pm. We stopped for gas along the way. In Uzbekistan, the passengers have to get out before the car enters the fuel pump, which we’ve experienced a few times now. I’m not sure the logic behind this.
In Tashkent, we stayed at the Lotte City Hotel. I think it was originally a palace. The staff were very professional, but also very bureaucratic. Their procedures still call for all the old paperwork that has been done away with recently by the Uzbek government. Our papers were in order, so no problem. It was the only trace of the old bureaucracy that we experienced in Uzbekistan.
We were hungry, so dropped off our bags and headed out for food. Heather had noticed a döner place across the street when we drove in, so we headed there. It was excellent, the pita was freshly baked and the toppings were fresh.
We thought about touristing for the afternoon, but decided to relax and plan out tomorrow instead. The city’s opera house was literally right across the road from us, so we bought tickets for tomorrow night’s performance of Verdi’s Aida . Had dinner at the hotel since it was raining out. It was okay; their draft beers were good.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
We were in better shape than I expected in the morning, what with all the vodka toasts the previous night. It was excellent quality vodka, which helped.
Filled up at breakfast and then headed out in the drizzle. First, we walked back to Shah-i-Zinda. The mausoleums mostly face east, and my pics from yesterday had poor lighting. The wet ground and umbrellas added to the scene this morning. My iPhone was better than my camera for the lighting, with the bonus that it’s also waterproof. We were asked to be in a few pics, although this time by a group of older local women (otherwise it’s been kids asking).
Walked back along the pedestrian path (becoming familiar to us with the number of times we’ve walked back and forth). We were getting peckish, so stopped at a touristy restaurant near the Registan. We should have gone back to the same place as yesterday, as we were really just paying for the atmosphere (the food wasn’t very good).
After lunch, we walked down to the Gur-e Amir complex. By this point, we were getting out-mausoleum’ed, and it was just another (beautiful) blue-tiled big building. So, that was it for touristing for us in Samarkand. Really you just need a full day for the highlights. But if you want different lighting for pics, it’s best with an extra half day or so.
We napped for a couple hours after we got back to the hotel; yesterday was finally catching up with us.
For dinner, we went to the restaurant near Bibi-Khanym (I think that’s also the name of the restaurant). It’s frequently recommended by b&b’s, and there were a few independent travelers there. The food was pretty good, but their beers weren’t completely cold.
Walked over to the Registan for some night pics. The last ticketed entrance to the madrassas is at 7pm, then they allow an hour for the stragglers to leave the plaza. So, between 7pm and 8pm, it’s possible to enter the plaza for 270* pics.
Along the way to the Registan, we ran into a couple from our hotel in Khiva. We had bumped into them a few times in Uzbekistan, and we wondered why we hadn’t seen them recently. They had just arrived in Samarkand, and, unfortunately for them, the Korean president was visiting the next day and the sites would be all closed. They had plans for a couple day trips and were okay. We had noticed the preparations for what we assumed was a high-ranking Korean contingent, but hadn’t realized it was the president. I guess we could have googled instead of waiting to bump into someone who had the news.
We got back to our hotel, packed up most of our packs for our departure tomorrow morning to Tashkent, and went to bed.
Filled up at breakfast and then headed out in the drizzle. First, we walked back to Shah-i-Zinda. The mausoleums mostly face east, and my pics from yesterday had poor lighting. The wet ground and umbrellas added to the scene this morning. My iPhone was better than my camera for the lighting, with the bonus that it’s also waterproof. We were asked to be in a few pics, although this time by a group of older local women (otherwise it’s been kids asking).
Walked back along the pedestrian path (becoming familiar to us with the number of times we’ve walked back and forth). We were getting peckish, so stopped at a touristy restaurant near the Registan. We should have gone back to the same place as yesterday, as we were really just paying for the atmosphere (the food wasn’t very good).
After lunch, we walked down to the Gur-e Amir complex. By this point, we were getting out-mausoleum’ed, and it was just another (beautiful) blue-tiled big building. So, that was it for touristing for us in Samarkand. Really you just need a full day for the highlights. But if you want different lighting for pics, it’s best with an extra half day or so.
We napped for a couple hours after we got back to the hotel; yesterday was finally catching up with us.
For dinner, we went to the restaurant near Bibi-Khanym (I think that’s also the name of the restaurant). It’s frequently recommended by b&b’s, and there were a few independent travelers there. The food was pretty good, but their beers weren’t completely cold.
Walked over to the Registan for some night pics. The last ticketed entrance to the madrassas is at 7pm, then they allow an hour for the stragglers to leave the plaza. So, between 7pm and 8pm, it’s possible to enter the plaza for 270* pics.
Along the way to the Registan, we ran into a couple from our hotel in Khiva. We had bumped into them a few times in Uzbekistan, and we wondered why we hadn’t seen them recently. They had just arrived in Samarkand, and, unfortunately for them, the Korean president was visiting the next day and the sites would be all closed. They had plans for a couple day trips and were okay. We had noticed the preparations for what we assumed was a high-ranking Korean contingent, but hadn’t realized it was the president. I guess we could have googled instead of waiting to bump into someone who had the news.
We got back to our hotel, packed up most of our packs for our departure tomorrow morning to Tashkent, and went to bed.
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
We were up at 6:30am, had breakfast by 7am, finished packing up, and were on the road by 8am. Next destination: Samarkand!
Our driver ran a bit of a milk run before leaving town, dropping of packages along the way. We still made good time, though. There were a couple of smaller ruins right beside the road, about an hour out of Bukhara, but we declined as our main goal was to get in as much touristing in Samarkand today with the sunny skies.
We switched drivers about halfway, which was a convenient pit stop. Our next driver was already there waiting for us.
We arrived in the outskirts of Samarkand just after noon. Our route took us past a couple of the main sites, including the Registan, which looked ginormous from the car.
Our driver had some difficulty finding our hotel, Rabat Boutique Hotel. We asked for directions in a couple places. We had the phone number for the place, but I had typo’d it, so the driver couldn’t get through. Heather looked up the number on our reservation and we realized the typo; the driver called and got through, and we finally found the place right where google maps said it was. (Later we saw the signage for the hotel on the 2nd floor level, just out of view from our car window.)
The owners, Firdavs and Vlad, were super friendly. The hotel itself is a lovingly restored hundred-year-old former Jewish merchant house. It had even more character than our hotel in Bukhara. Our room had a waiting room overlooking the common areas, and then a bedroom, both retaining much of the original build. The bathroom, however, was completely new.
We got some lunch recommendations and then rushed out.
Our hotel was less than a ten minute walk to the Registan, one the top highlights in Central Asia. The scale is enormous, three large madrassas surrounding a square. It’s the most impressive site I’ve seen so far on this trip.
Took some pics and then dropped into a local restaurant for lunch. Had the soup, which was really good, along with a salad and bread.
Then back to the Registan. Bought our tickets and entered the square. The centre madrassa has a mosque with blue and gold ceiling that’s pretty cool.
Most impressive, though, is the scale, which is best viewed from the viewing platform rather than up close.
Next, we walked over to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. The are 30-foot wide pedestrian walkways between the major attractions here, which are great. The path to Bibi-Khanyn reminded me of the walkway to the Colosseum in Rome, it has the same direction and feel. The walkway was filled with local and regional visitors.
Bibi-Khanym is big. The cupola of the mosque is 41m, which was the biggest mosque at the time it was built. (The highlights in Samarkand were built by Timur the Great starting in the 14th century. Timur’s empire ranged from Istanbul to Delhi). It was peaceful in the centre courtyard.
The last highlight of the day was also the reason why I originally wanted to see the Silk Route, the avenue of blue-tiled mausoleums of Shah-i-Zinda. We walked over and bought our tickets, including a camera pass (although unlike Egypt, no one asked to see the camera pass after).
The avenue is stunning, one of the top things to see in the world. The view from the innermost shrine, the entrance which frames the avenue, is amazing.
I took a million pics and then we headed back towards the hotel. Stopped by the Siob Bazaar, just behind Bibi-Khanym, got some pics of the mounds of sweets and nuts, chatted briefly with the friendly vendors.
Back at the hotel we cleaned up. We were planning to head out for dinner when Vlad kindly invited us to join them for dinner, as his mother was visiting from Tashkent and he was cooking a feast. We accepted and he said dinner would start in about 30 minutes. That gave us enough time to walk over to the Registan to get some sunset pics.
When we returned, there were a couple of other guests already seated around a square table. We joined them, along with Vlad, Firdavs, Vlad’s mother, and a couple other friends of the family. Vlad explained the different parts of the meal, and translated any questions for his mother.
Before we ate, we had a toast with vodka. Vlad gave the toast, and then we waited to see if this was a sipping drink or a shot. Vlad showed us how he drank - breathe out, drink the shot of vodka, a couple sips of a chaser, and then breathe in. The chaser was up to the individual, a choice between tomato juice, a yogurt-like drink, or apple juice. We stuck mostly with the tomato juice.
So far so good. Then Vlad said we would toast three times over the course of dinner. Again, not too bad, especially with all the food we’d be eating.
The appetizers included a tomato and cucumber salad, cauliflower lightly breaded and fried, a broth from the meat, Samarkand bread (a denser bread than we’ve had on the trip in Uzbekistan so far) and a few other things.
It turned out that we (us four tourists) each gave a toast. Vlad, Firdavs, and Vlad’s mother also toasted at separate points, too. A bit more vodka than we had planned...
The main course was a large platter of meat-stuffed peppers in a tomato sauce. It was excellent!
After dinner, Firdavs made us some herbal tea, and we chatted away the evening. It was really cool to have an authentic dinner experience. It was an amazing start to our stay in Samarkand!
Our driver ran a bit of a milk run before leaving town, dropping of packages along the way. We still made good time, though. There were a couple of smaller ruins right beside the road, about an hour out of Bukhara, but we declined as our main goal was to get in as much touristing in Samarkand today with the sunny skies.
We switched drivers about halfway, which was a convenient pit stop. Our next driver was already there waiting for us.
We arrived in the outskirts of Samarkand just after noon. Our route took us past a couple of the main sites, including the Registan, which looked ginormous from the car.
Our driver had some difficulty finding our hotel, Rabat Boutique Hotel. We asked for directions in a couple places. We had the phone number for the place, but I had typo’d it, so the driver couldn’t get through. Heather looked up the number on our reservation and we realized the typo; the driver called and got through, and we finally found the place right where google maps said it was. (Later we saw the signage for the hotel on the 2nd floor level, just out of view from our car window.)
The owners, Firdavs and Vlad, were super friendly. The hotel itself is a lovingly restored hundred-year-old former Jewish merchant house. It had even more character than our hotel in Bukhara. Our room had a waiting room overlooking the common areas, and then a bedroom, both retaining much of the original build. The bathroom, however, was completely new.
We got some lunch recommendations and then rushed out.
Our hotel was less than a ten minute walk to the Registan, one the top highlights in Central Asia. The scale is enormous, three large madrassas surrounding a square. It’s the most impressive site I’ve seen so far on this trip.
Took some pics and then dropped into a local restaurant for lunch. Had the soup, which was really good, along with a salad and bread.
Then back to the Registan. Bought our tickets and entered the square. The centre madrassa has a mosque with blue and gold ceiling that’s pretty cool.
Most impressive, though, is the scale, which is best viewed from the viewing platform rather than up close.
Next, we walked over to the Bibi-Khanym Mosque. The are 30-foot wide pedestrian walkways between the major attractions here, which are great. The path to Bibi-Khanyn reminded me of the walkway to the Colosseum in Rome, it has the same direction and feel. The walkway was filled with local and regional visitors.
Bibi-Khanym is big. The cupola of the mosque is 41m, which was the biggest mosque at the time it was built. (The highlights in Samarkand were built by Timur the Great starting in the 14th century. Timur’s empire ranged from Istanbul to Delhi). It was peaceful in the centre courtyard.
The last highlight of the day was also the reason why I originally wanted to see the Silk Route, the avenue of blue-tiled mausoleums of Shah-i-Zinda. We walked over and bought our tickets, including a camera pass (although unlike Egypt, no one asked to see the camera pass after).
The avenue is stunning, one of the top things to see in the world. The view from the innermost shrine, the entrance which frames the avenue, is amazing.
I took a million pics and then we headed back towards the hotel. Stopped by the Siob Bazaar, just behind Bibi-Khanym, got some pics of the mounds of sweets and nuts, chatted briefly with the friendly vendors.
Back at the hotel we cleaned up. We were planning to head out for dinner when Vlad kindly invited us to join them for dinner, as his mother was visiting from Tashkent and he was cooking a feast. We accepted and he said dinner would start in about 30 minutes. That gave us enough time to walk over to the Registan to get some sunset pics.
When we returned, there were a couple of other guests already seated around a square table. We joined them, along with Vlad, Firdavs, Vlad’s mother, and a couple other friends of the family. Vlad explained the different parts of the meal, and translated any questions for his mother.
Before we ate, we had a toast with vodka. Vlad gave the toast, and then we waited to see if this was a sipping drink or a shot. Vlad showed us how he drank - breathe out, drink the shot of vodka, a couple sips of a chaser, and then breathe in. The chaser was up to the individual, a choice between tomato juice, a yogurt-like drink, or apple juice. We stuck mostly with the tomato juice.
So far so good. Then Vlad said we would toast three times over the course of dinner. Again, not too bad, especially with all the food we’d be eating.
The appetizers included a tomato and cucumber salad, cauliflower lightly breaded and fried, a broth from the meat, Samarkand bread (a denser bread than we’ve had on the trip in Uzbekistan so far) and a few other things.
It turned out that we (us four tourists) each gave a toast. Vlad, Firdavs, and Vlad’s mother also toasted at separate points, too. A bit more vodka than we had planned...
The main course was a large platter of meat-stuffed peppers in a tomato sauce. It was excellent!
After dinner, Firdavs made us some herbal tea, and we chatted away the evening. It was really cool to have an authentic dinner experience. It was an amazing start to our stay in Samarkand!
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Bukhara, Uzbekistan
The Lonely Planet said you need two full days to see Bukhara, so we were excited about our second day, given that our first day was pretty cool.
First, though, we went back to our favourite viewing spot for pics of Kalon Minaret with the morning sun. Had a tea to justify going into the restaurant.
Chatted with a couple traveling with two young kids. They were going east to west through the Silk Road cities (the more common direction) and said that after seeing the Registan in Samarkand, the size of the structures in Bukhara was a little less impressive, although still cool to see. So, maybe it’s lucky that we’re going west to east (a result of us visiting Turkmenistan first).
Many of the tourists we’ve seen have been local or from the region. We haven’t seen too many foreign tourists, just a few groups from France, Germany, Spain, and Russia. Of the more independent foreign travellers, we’re starting to see the same people in town to town, which is also common in countries where there’s a gringo trail that everyone follows.
After our tea overlooking the Kalon, we walked to the sites just east of our hotel. We passed through the main square, Lyabi-Hauz, where most of the hotels are clustered. It’s accessible by bus which makes it easier for tour groups. The Amelia Boutique Hotel is in the middle of these hotels. It was our first choice when we booked back in December, but it was full. Based on the location, though, we’re glad we didn’t get in, and instead ended up at Komil’s.
The route to Char Minor, the main site on our list today, was through winding residential alleys. About five minutes in, we arrived at Char Minor and were surprised at how small it was. It had historical significance as a gatehouse to a former medressa (although compared with some of the other sites here, it wasn’t overly impressive). It was nice, but I wouldn’t rate it in the top four things not to miss in Bukhara, as the Lonely Planet does.
By now it was 11am, and we had seen all that we wanted to see in Bukhara. We still had the rest of the day and most of tomorrow to kill, as our train for Samarkand wasn’t out until late afternoon. Tomorrow’s forecast for Samarkand called for sun and then rain for the next few days. So, we decided to book a taxi for early morning the next day so that we’d have the afternoon of good weather in Samarkand.
Had lunch at a random place close to the second covered bazaar. It was one of the better restaurants we’ve eaten in Uzbekistan (and I don’t even know what it was called :( ).
Then, we did some souvenir shopping, grabbed a double espresso on a patio and people watched, and generally whiled away the afternoon. Made a reservation for 8pm at Minzifa (the place we couldn’t get into a couple nights ago).
Towards 7pm, walked by the clothing store to pick up Heather’s order, and then on to the Kalon Minaret for a beer and our last view of the square. It was busier this evening (a big tour group from Spain also discovered the spot!), but we got the last table on the top floor patio.
After sunset, walked over to Minfiza for dinner. It was still packed at 8pm. The food was pretty good.
Got back home and packed up as we were leaving early the next morning for Samarkand.
First, though, we went back to our favourite viewing spot for pics of Kalon Minaret with the morning sun. Had a tea to justify going into the restaurant.
Chatted with a couple traveling with two young kids. They were going east to west through the Silk Road cities (the more common direction) and said that after seeing the Registan in Samarkand, the size of the structures in Bukhara was a little less impressive, although still cool to see. So, maybe it’s lucky that we’re going west to east (a result of us visiting Turkmenistan first).
Many of the tourists we’ve seen have been local or from the region. We haven’t seen too many foreign tourists, just a few groups from France, Germany, Spain, and Russia. Of the more independent foreign travellers, we’re starting to see the same people in town to town, which is also common in countries where there’s a gringo trail that everyone follows.
After our tea overlooking the Kalon, we walked to the sites just east of our hotel. We passed through the main square, Lyabi-Hauz, where most of the hotels are clustered. It’s accessible by bus which makes it easier for tour groups. The Amelia Boutique Hotel is in the middle of these hotels. It was our first choice when we booked back in December, but it was full. Based on the location, though, we’re glad we didn’t get in, and instead ended up at Komil’s.
The route to Char Minor, the main site on our list today, was through winding residential alleys. About five minutes in, we arrived at Char Minor and were surprised at how small it was. It had historical significance as a gatehouse to a former medressa (although compared with some of the other sites here, it wasn’t overly impressive). It was nice, but I wouldn’t rate it in the top four things not to miss in Bukhara, as the Lonely Planet does.
By now it was 11am, and we had seen all that we wanted to see in Bukhara. We still had the rest of the day and most of tomorrow to kill, as our train for Samarkand wasn’t out until late afternoon. Tomorrow’s forecast for Samarkand called for sun and then rain for the next few days. So, we decided to book a taxi for early morning the next day so that we’d have the afternoon of good weather in Samarkand.
Had lunch at a random place close to the second covered bazaar. It was one of the better restaurants we’ve eaten in Uzbekistan (and I don’t even know what it was called :( ).
Then, we did some souvenir shopping, grabbed a double espresso on a patio and people watched, and generally whiled away the afternoon. Made a reservation for 8pm at Minzifa (the place we couldn’t get into a couple nights ago).
Towards 7pm, walked by the clothing store to pick up Heather’s order, and then on to the Kalon Minaret for a beer and our last view of the square. It was busier this evening (a big tour group from Spain also discovered the spot!), but we got the last table on the top floor patio.
After sunset, walked over to Minfiza for dinner. It was still packed at 8pm. The food was pretty good.
Got back home and packed up as we were leaving early the next morning for Samarkand.
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Bukhara, Uzbekistan
It was still drizzling when we woke up. The breakfast buffet was busy; I think there was a group eating at the same time.
It started to rain harder as we got ready to head out, so relaxed for a bit more in the room. Eventually, we headed out in the drizzle.
Got to the Kalon Minaret and then realized I forgot my camera in my big pack, so we went back to the hotel to grab it. Fortunately, it was only a ten minute walk.
Today, we went further west to the Ark. This is listed in the Lonely Planet as one of the top sites in Bukhara. It has historical significance, but we didn’t find it as interesting to see.
We wandered back through the pedestrian-only areas and through the souvenir shops. It’s a very low pressure sell here, which is nice.
Went for lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel that was so busy last night we couldn’t even get a table. The food here was much better than the place we went to last night for dinner, and the atmosphere was nice on the 2nd floor terrace. We weren’t in a rush after lunch, so had a Turkish coffee and an assortment of local sweets. It was way too much sugar, but we wanted to sample a bit of each. Our favourites were the ones that tasted similar to sesame snaps except way better.
We stopped in at a clothing store where Heather ordered a custom made silk dress and skirt. It’s commonly done here. You pick the fabric, they take your measurements, and the next day (or within hours, but then they’re rushing) your garment is ready.
I wanted to get some more pics of the Kalon Minaret, so we walked back. I was looking for a place with an elevated view of the square for better pics. There’s historical buildings on three sides of the square, and the fourth is boarded off for construction. Then, we noticed a few tourists on the 3rd floor of a building inside the construction site. I zoomed in with my camera, and it looked like a restaurant!
So, we walked towards the building, and, sure enough, there was a small door with signage for the restaurant! Time for a beer :) We walked up to the 3rd floor, where there was a great view of the square, ordered a beer each, and clicked away. It was a perfect place to relax and end the day. It’s almost felt like a secret place - there was only one other table of tourists. Our waiter suggested we get some nuts to go with the beer (‘pastiche’). He showed us how to open them using a half shell.
It was still cloudy and not much chance for sunset colours, so headed back to the hotel around 5ish.
We had booked dinner at our hotel for tonight, partially because of the great reviews of the century old dining room. The atmosphere was great, tall ceilings, the courtyard lit up, local music playing. We were the only ones dining (you have to give them notice and pre-order), but it was still cool. The food, however, was just average, a bit disappointing given the care they take for everything else. Anyway, I’d eat there once for the experience, but not twice.
It started to rain harder as we got ready to head out, so relaxed for a bit more in the room. Eventually, we headed out in the drizzle.
Got to the Kalon Minaret and then realized I forgot my camera in my big pack, so we went back to the hotel to grab it. Fortunately, it was only a ten minute walk.
Today, we went further west to the Ark. This is listed in the Lonely Planet as one of the top sites in Bukhara. It has historical significance, but we didn’t find it as interesting to see.
We wandered back through the pedestrian-only areas and through the souvenir shops. It’s a very low pressure sell here, which is nice.
Went for lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel that was so busy last night we couldn’t even get a table. The food here was much better than the place we went to last night for dinner, and the atmosphere was nice on the 2nd floor terrace. We weren’t in a rush after lunch, so had a Turkish coffee and an assortment of local sweets. It was way too much sugar, but we wanted to sample a bit of each. Our favourites were the ones that tasted similar to sesame snaps except way better.
We stopped in at a clothing store where Heather ordered a custom made silk dress and skirt. It’s commonly done here. You pick the fabric, they take your measurements, and the next day (or within hours, but then they’re rushing) your garment is ready.
I wanted to get some more pics of the Kalon Minaret, so we walked back. I was looking for a place with an elevated view of the square for better pics. There’s historical buildings on three sides of the square, and the fourth is boarded off for construction. Then, we noticed a few tourists on the 3rd floor of a building inside the construction site. I zoomed in with my camera, and it looked like a restaurant!
So, we walked towards the building, and, sure enough, there was a small door with signage for the restaurant! Time for a beer :) We walked up to the 3rd floor, where there was a great view of the square, ordered a beer each, and clicked away. It was a perfect place to relax and end the day. It’s almost felt like a secret place - there was only one other table of tourists. Our waiter suggested we get some nuts to go with the beer (‘pastiche’). He showed us how to open them using a half shell.
It was still cloudy and not much chance for sunset colours, so headed back to the hotel around 5ish.
We had booked dinner at our hotel for tonight, partially because of the great reviews of the century old dining room. The atmosphere was great, tall ceilings, the courtyard lit up, local music playing. We were the only ones dining (you have to give them notice and pre-order), but it was still cool. The food, however, was just average, a bit disappointing given the care they take for everything else. Anyway, I’d eat there once for the experience, but not twice.
Monday, April 15, 2019
Bukhara, Uzbekistan
We had arranged for a private car and driver through our hotel in Khiva to take us to Bukhara, about six hours away. I booked a car with a/c even though it was only a high of 22C (figured a/c was a proxy for overall car quality).
Our driver was ready and waiting for us at 9am. Shortly after getting on our way, our driver tried to upsell us on side excursions. We didn’t really have any plans for the afternoon in Bukhara, so agreed to visit one of the old adobe qalas (forts) northeast of Urgench. There’s about twenty or so qalas in the surrounding area, being restored with help from UNESCO.
So we drove to Ayaz-Qala. The rain has eroded most of the fort, and you need some imagination to see what it would have looked like back in the 7th century when it was built. It was a good way to get some exercise (it took us about an hour to walk up and around), and only added 1.5h to the drive, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.
The road from Khiva to Bukhara is in amazing shape, a divided highway with two lanes in each direction, except for the last 100km, which is a potholed dirt road.
We stopped at a packed roadside restaurant for lunch. All the locals were having a stew-like meal, so that’s what we ordered (based on menus we read after, I think it’s called shourpa). It was very tasty and filling.
We arrived in Bukhara just as it started drizzling. At least our driver was familiar with our hotel, Komil Boutique Hotel, as it’s down narrow alleys and hard to find.
The reception couldn’t find our reservation at first, and we briefly had bad memories of our excursion in Tigray, Ethiopia, but then they found it.
The hotel is a renovated former merchant’s house in the old Jewish quarter with lots of character. The ceiling in our room is at least 13’ with massive wooden beams. A maze of hallways and small courtyards lead to our room from the lobby.
We would have preferred dinner in the hotel so not to have headed out in the rain and muddy alleys after the long drive, but they needed advance notice to prepare. The wifi in our room was spotty, so we used the LP for restaurant recommendations *gasp*.
We ended up at Saroy in the main square (Lyabi-Hauz). Our apprehensions about LP recommendations proved valid yet again. The food was at best average, and most tables questioned the bill totals, including us. Anyway, it was food.
After dinner, we went for a short walk. The centre is all paved / cobblestones. We ended up walking by many of the sites we wanted to see, including the Kalon Minaret, the main highlight of Bukhara. There was a small group of 12 people taking pics, but once they left, we had the whole square to ourselves. It was pretty cool to see in the rain, as the minaret was fully lit and reflected by the wet ground.
Walked back to the hotel through the rain, and without slipping in the mud (for the last 200m or so).
Our driver was ready and waiting for us at 9am. Shortly after getting on our way, our driver tried to upsell us on side excursions. We didn’t really have any plans for the afternoon in Bukhara, so agreed to visit one of the old adobe qalas (forts) northeast of Urgench. There’s about twenty or so qalas in the surrounding area, being restored with help from UNESCO.
So we drove to Ayaz-Qala. The rain has eroded most of the fort, and you need some imagination to see what it would have looked like back in the 7th century when it was built. It was a good way to get some exercise (it took us about an hour to walk up and around), and only added 1.5h to the drive, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.
The road from Khiva to Bukhara is in amazing shape, a divided highway with two lanes in each direction, except for the last 100km, which is a potholed dirt road.
We stopped at a packed roadside restaurant for lunch. All the locals were having a stew-like meal, so that’s what we ordered (based on menus we read after, I think it’s called shourpa). It was very tasty and filling.
We arrived in Bukhara just as it started drizzling. At least our driver was familiar with our hotel, Komil Boutique Hotel, as it’s down narrow alleys and hard to find.
The reception couldn’t find our reservation at first, and we briefly had bad memories of our excursion in Tigray, Ethiopia, but then they found it.
The hotel is a renovated former merchant’s house in the old Jewish quarter with lots of character. The ceiling in our room is at least 13’ with massive wooden beams. A maze of hallways and small courtyards lead to our room from the lobby.
We would have preferred dinner in the hotel so not to have headed out in the rain and muddy alleys after the long drive, but they needed advance notice to prepare. The wifi in our room was spotty, so we used the LP for restaurant recommendations *gasp*.
We ended up at Saroy in the main square (Lyabi-Hauz). Our apprehensions about LP recommendations proved valid yet again. The food was at best average, and most tables questioned the bill totals, including us. Anyway, it was food.
After dinner, we went for a short walk. The centre is all paved / cobblestones. We ended up walking by many of the sites we wanted to see, including the Kalon Minaret, the main highlight of Bukhara. There was a small group of 12 people taking pics, but once they left, we had the whole square to ourselves. It was pretty cool to see in the rain, as the minaret was fully lit and reflected by the wet ground.
Walked back to the hotel through the rain, and without slipping in the mud (for the last 200m or so).
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Khiva, Uzbekistan
Today we had the full day to see Khiva. I got up at daybreak to get some pics of sunrise from our hotel’s rooftop terrace. There were clouds on the horizon, so there wasn’t much colour. A group of people were watching the sunrise from the West Tower, and a couple of other photographers were on other hotel rooftops.
Breakfast at the hotel was good, a sour yogurt, some fresh cheeses, and an omelette (including dill, which is a very popular herb in Uzbekistan and appears in almost everything). The tea was pretty good, too.
The chairs in the dining area were the largest I’ve ever used. They were like thrones.
We were out touristing shortly after 8am. Decided to randomly find things in the old quarter rather than follow a map, although we did start at the east end, so the sun would be in the right direction when we climbed the minarets (we had bought the VIP ticket which included these).
The actual sites in the old city are mostly various museums housed in former madrasas (schools). My favourites were the minarets because of the views from the top. The climbs are up steep spiral staircases, with people passing in both directions. The top of the minaret can get crowded. The first one we climbed in the morning was pretty empty; the second one, later in the afternoon, barely had any room at the top to stand.
Because it was Sunday, the old city was crowded with school kids from the city and surrounding areas. It’s free for kids on Sundays, and it’s great there are so many school trips here. We were asked to be in a lot of pics with kids from non-touristy places that don’t see many foreigners. Once one kid asked from a group, then all the rest would follow. Anyway, if you’re on Instagram, maybe you’ll see us! (Heather - for some of the kids, it was also a good way for them to practice their English with us. They were all really polite and nice kids :))
Our 2 day ticket for Old Khiva got us access to about 17 sites. We hit about 14 of them in our random touring, and didn’t bother trying to find the remaining ones.
The traveler we met at the gas crater in Turkmenistan (Judy) had recommended a vendor in Khiva that had quality fabrics. We actually found the vendor and ended up buying a couple silk/cotton scarves. I also picked up a silk cocoon as a souvenir.
We finally found the path to walk along the West Wall (it’s at the North Gate). The terrace from our hotel room faced the walkway, and, from our room, we saw people walking on the wall. The views on the wall itself, though, weren’t that great; there were lot of antennae in the way. We had better views from our hotel rooftop.
Tonight we had dinner at our hotel rooftop. It was much colder and windier than yesterday, but we stuck it out, and got some great pics as it got darker. Finished our drinks inside for the warmth and wifi.
Khiva has a compact old city centre which makes it easy to walk and see everything. It’s a little sterile, but it’s beautiful, especially wandering about at night.
Overall, one full day was about all the time we needed to see Khiva. If we had a second day, I’m not sure what we would do - probably just relax on a rooftop and catch up on reading or blogging.
Breakfast at the hotel was good, a sour yogurt, some fresh cheeses, and an omelette (including dill, which is a very popular herb in Uzbekistan and appears in almost everything). The tea was pretty good, too.
The chairs in the dining area were the largest I’ve ever used. They were like thrones.
We were out touristing shortly after 8am. Decided to randomly find things in the old quarter rather than follow a map, although we did start at the east end, so the sun would be in the right direction when we climbed the minarets (we had bought the VIP ticket which included these).
The actual sites in the old city are mostly various museums housed in former madrasas (schools). My favourites were the minarets because of the views from the top. The climbs are up steep spiral staircases, with people passing in both directions. The top of the minaret can get crowded. The first one we climbed in the morning was pretty empty; the second one, later in the afternoon, barely had any room at the top to stand.
Because it was Sunday, the old city was crowded with school kids from the city and surrounding areas. It’s free for kids on Sundays, and it’s great there are so many school trips here. We were asked to be in a lot of pics with kids from non-touristy places that don’t see many foreigners. Once one kid asked from a group, then all the rest would follow. Anyway, if you’re on Instagram, maybe you’ll see us! (Heather - for some of the kids, it was also a good way for them to practice their English with us. They were all really polite and nice kids :))
Our 2 day ticket for Old Khiva got us access to about 17 sites. We hit about 14 of them in our random touring, and didn’t bother trying to find the remaining ones.
The traveler we met at the gas crater in Turkmenistan (Judy) had recommended a vendor in Khiva that had quality fabrics. We actually found the vendor and ended up buying a couple silk/cotton scarves. I also picked up a silk cocoon as a souvenir.
We finally found the path to walk along the West Wall (it’s at the North Gate). The terrace from our hotel room faced the walkway, and, from our room, we saw people walking on the wall. The views on the wall itself, though, weren’t that great; there were lot of antennae in the way. We had better views from our hotel rooftop.
Tonight we had dinner at our hotel rooftop. It was much colder and windier than yesterday, but we stuck it out, and got some great pics as it got darker. Finished our drinks inside for the warmth and wifi.
Khiva has a compact old city centre which makes it easy to walk and see everything. It’s a little sterile, but it’s beautiful, especially wandering about at night.
Overall, one full day was about all the time we needed to see Khiva. If we had a second day, I’m not sure what we would do - probably just relax on a rooftop and catch up on reading or blogging.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Khiva, Uzbekistan
We managed to get a decent sleep in the tent. There was a lightning storm off in the distance and the light woke me up on occasion. I thought it was raining, but it was just the tent flapping in the wind. I had to use the bathroom around 3am and it was really pleasant out, with a half moon lighting the surroundings.
We set our alarms for 6am to catch the morning light, but I woke up a few minutes before. The sky was lightening, so we got up quickly and were at the crater by 6am. It was just me, Heather, and Judy up at this hour. The lighting for pics was amazing for about 15 minutes and then it was too bright for the crater to stand out. It was really cool to see!
Breakfast was good - yogurt, bread, apples, boiled eggs. We got ready and were on the road by 9am for the border of Uzbekistan.
The road was a bit bumpier north of the crater. It took us about three hours to reach the border town of Daşoguz. Said goodbyes to our driver and guide.
The exit from Turkmenistan and entry to Uzbekistan took about 45 minutes in total, with tourists waved to the front of the line everywhere. The whole process seemed to be more a formality with the main objective to get tourists through as quickly as possible.
First off was the customs exit from Turkmenistan. We had to fill out a form, including a declaration of all our currency. They didn’t even seem to read the form, just sent us to the next step (not before one official said that my curly hair looked ‘like lamb’, much to Heather’s amusement) (Heather - I’ve since taken to calling Eric “Lamb-Man”).
Our bags then were run through a scanner, although they didn’t really look at the screen. Next was the exit stamp, which was the longest step in the process. They took our pic and scanned our right thumb, presumably matching it up against our thumbprint from entry. This part of the exit was all digital and I think legit (i.e. I think they actually had our thumbprint in a database).
Then we waited for the van that shuttles back and forth over the 1.5km of no man’s land to get to the Uzbekistan border entry. We paid 1 USD per person for the shuttle.
On the Uzbek side, we had to get through the throngs of locals waiting to get through the gate to Uzbekistan. As soon as we were noticed, they motioned ‘tourists, tourists’ and we were let in.
First, there was a medical check, which consisted of the official / nurse writing down our passport details. In the next building, we presented our evisa and got our passports stamped for entry (no sticker :( ). Then, a cursory scan of our bags, and we were finally in Uzbekistan!
Taxis were lined up about 100m down the road from the exit. One drove out to meet us and we quickly bargained down to the going rate of 10 USD to get to Khiva.
It’s an hour drive to Khiva from the border. Our hotel (Meros Guesthouse) is inside the old city and unfortunately our driver didn’t know how to enter (vehicle traffic is restricted). So I ended up carrying our bags for about 15 minutes to get to the hotel :(
It was almost 2pm, and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we got a recommendation from the hotel and went out to eat. Lunch was excellent, meat dumplings and a coffee and local dessert.
On the way back, we bought our 2-day pass to all the sites in the old walled city and checked out the west tower for the view, supposedly the best for sunset. It was then that I realized that on the way in, I had walked right past some of the highlights and never noticed; I was too focused on carrying the bags to the hotel.
The view from the west tower was fantastic. It’s quite the sight to see the old city of Khiva.
Back to the hotel, showered, and got organized. Checked out the view from the hotel rooftop and realized it was just as good as the west tower (I think this is why we booked here months ago).
Went out for dinner a while later. Tried to find the other restaurant the hotel had suggested, but couldn’t find it, so picked a place that looked good. It was okay.
Back to the hotel and went to bed. It was nice to get a full night’s sleep in a bed.
We set our alarms for 6am to catch the morning light, but I woke up a few minutes before. The sky was lightening, so we got up quickly and were at the crater by 6am. It was just me, Heather, and Judy up at this hour. The lighting for pics was amazing for about 15 minutes and then it was too bright for the crater to stand out. It was really cool to see!
Breakfast was good - yogurt, bread, apples, boiled eggs. We got ready and were on the road by 9am for the border of Uzbekistan.
The road was a bit bumpier north of the crater. It took us about three hours to reach the border town of Daşoguz. Said goodbyes to our driver and guide.
The exit from Turkmenistan and entry to Uzbekistan took about 45 minutes in total, with tourists waved to the front of the line everywhere. The whole process seemed to be more a formality with the main objective to get tourists through as quickly as possible.
First off was the customs exit from Turkmenistan. We had to fill out a form, including a declaration of all our currency. They didn’t even seem to read the form, just sent us to the next step (not before one official said that my curly hair looked ‘like lamb’, much to Heather’s amusement) (Heather - I’ve since taken to calling Eric “Lamb-Man”).
Our bags then were run through a scanner, although they didn’t really look at the screen. Next was the exit stamp, which was the longest step in the process. They took our pic and scanned our right thumb, presumably matching it up against our thumbprint from entry. This part of the exit was all digital and I think legit (i.e. I think they actually had our thumbprint in a database).
Then we waited for the van that shuttles back and forth over the 1.5km of no man’s land to get to the Uzbekistan border entry. We paid 1 USD per person for the shuttle.
On the Uzbek side, we had to get through the throngs of locals waiting to get through the gate to Uzbekistan. As soon as we were noticed, they motioned ‘tourists, tourists’ and we were let in.
First, there was a medical check, which consisted of the official / nurse writing down our passport details. In the next building, we presented our evisa and got our passports stamped for entry (no sticker :( ). Then, a cursory scan of our bags, and we were finally in Uzbekistan!
Taxis were lined up about 100m down the road from the exit. One drove out to meet us and we quickly bargained down to the going rate of 10 USD to get to Khiva.
It’s an hour drive to Khiva from the border. Our hotel (Meros Guesthouse) is inside the old city and unfortunately our driver didn’t know how to enter (vehicle traffic is restricted). So I ended up carrying our bags for about 15 minutes to get to the hotel :(
It was almost 2pm, and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we got a recommendation from the hotel and went out to eat. Lunch was excellent, meat dumplings and a coffee and local dessert.
On the way back, we bought our 2-day pass to all the sites in the old walled city and checked out the west tower for the view, supposedly the best for sunset. It was then that I realized that on the way in, I had walked right past some of the highlights and never noticed; I was too focused on carrying the bags to the hotel.
The view from the west tower was fantastic. It’s quite the sight to see the old city of Khiva.
Back to the hotel, showered, and got organized. Checked out the view from the hotel rooftop and realized it was just as good as the west tower (I think this is why we booked here months ago).
Went out for dinner a while later. Tried to find the other restaurant the hotel had suggested, but couldn’t find it, so picked a place that looked good. It was okay.
Back to the hotel and went to bed. It was nice to get a full night’s sleep in a bed.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Darvaza gas crater, Turkmenistan
We landed at Ashgabat International Airport around 2:30am. We were some of the first passengers to disembark, to be front of line for immigration. There were plenty of officials at this early hour to direct us through the multiple steps to enter Turkmenistan. First, we lined up at the visa counter to get our visa (a couple months ago we received a Letter of Invitation from a local travel agency we contacted which allowed us to travel to Turkmenistan). We got a nice full page sticker for our visa! Next, we took our paperwork to the cashier and paid the visa and processing fees (99 USD each for Canadians). Back to the visa counter again to show proof of payment and get our passports back. Then, through immigration, which was an self-serve fingerprint, photo and passport scan (similar to Toronto, but much easier to use). After, we lined up to get an entry stamp.
Waited for our baggage at the carousel. My pack came out quickly; Heather’s came later and on a different conveyor (Heather: triggering some panicked memories of my pre-Eric days with lost luggage). We didn’t have any manat (Turkmen currency) for the luggage cart, so I just carried our bags.
At customs, they just waved tourists through a cursory luggage scan (locals mostly had their suitcases opened and inspected).
Finally we made it into Turkmenistan! A lot of steps to get here, but the whole process to enter only took about 45 minutes. The officials were very pleasant and welcoming throughout.
Our tour guide was waiting for us with both our names on a sign. Similar to Bhutan, you have a driver and guide with you for the entire visit. You have to prearrange a day-by-day itinerary to apply for the LOI (Letter of Invitation). There are ways to get around this with a transit visa, but the transit visa decline rate for Turkmenistan is over 50%, at least according to the internet.
The airport is 6km from the city centre of Ashgabat, so it didn’t take long to drive over to the Grand Turkmen Hotel. We drove by building after building clad in white marble (all government buildings in Ashgabat are required to have white marble exteriors; other buildings must be white; and all cars have to be white or a light grey).
There was a full contingent of staff all awake at 3:30am to check us in. The whole process was very Soviet-like. We half expected the room to be bugged.
Our room was functional, including a balcony with a view of the centre. I took some pics and then later realized they were government buildings; picture-taking of these is frowned upon here. So, uploaded them to google photos and deleted from my SD card (the wifi was pretty good).
Breakfast was until 10am and our guide was picking us up at 1pm to start our excursion, so we figured on about five hours of sleep to catch the end of breakfast.
At 8am, however, the phone rang. It was the front desk reminding us of the breakfast hours (?) We were almost asleep again when there was a knock at the door. It was our guide with the manat (local currency) that he exchanged for us at the black market rate of about 10-1 (three times better than the official rate).
By now we had given up on trying to sleep, so went down for breakfast. It was more of a typical local breakfast. We had the crepes with a preserved jam (apricot, I think), some orange slices, and a tea. There was also some dry semi-firm cheese and squash, which I served hoping it might be papaya. I put that up to lack of sleep since there are no papaya trees here!
After, we went back up to our room and showered and got ourselves together. Tried to take a nap and were (again) woken by the front desk calling to find out what time we were checking out. It was getting kind of comical at this point.
So, we decided to pack up and go down to the lobby around 12:30. There were a couple of small gift shops that Heather browsed. The hotel room was included in our itinerary, so we only had to pay a tourist tax of 2 USD per person per day.
Our guide met us at the hotel and returned our passports. He had taken them to register us with the police, for which we got an official looking paper with our itinerary mapped out. We were never asked for them the rest of the trip, but our papers would have been in order.
We first stopped for lunch in town at a busy pilaf (called plov) restaurant. They made rice in giant pots about 4’ in diameter and 3’ deep. We had a meat plov (similar to Spanish, meat means beef), which was excellent.
Then we were on the road, headed three hours north to the Darvaza Gas Crater, and the main reason why I wanted to vist Turkmenistan. The road to the crater was in pretty good shape, with our driver reaching 130km in places. The landscape changed to desert as we climbed out of the valley and into the Karakum desert (which covers over 70 percent of Turkmenistan).
We reached a road that turned off the main road and went right on a dirt road for about 5km, and then we were at the crater! It wasn’t as spectacular during the day.
The driver dropped us off and drove a couple hundred metres away to set up camp and start on dinner.
We walked around the gas crater and took lots of pics. It’s natural gas, so there was no smell, but it does get very hot when the draft blows into your face.
Walked over to our camp and watched the dinner preparations. There were lamb skewers over coals and grilled vegetables (for us) and a pot of beef stew. For another group arriving later, they placed four legs of lamb and some lamb rack of ribs directly on a hot bed of coals and then covered with a lid and let sit for two hours.
We had way too much food for dinner. I focused on the lamb, which was some of the best I’ve had. The sun was going down and we started to see the red glow of the flames on the side of the crater.
We finished dinner and then walked back to the crater to get our sunset pics. The site was more popular than I expected - there were over 40 tourists on this night, mostly on group tours. There was one other independent traveler, Judy, who travelled extensively in the region and offered us some advice on the Uzbekistan part of our trip, which she had just completed.
We called it a night around 9pm and went to bed in our tent. The overnight low was about 15C, but we were toasty warm in our sleeping bags.
Waited for our baggage at the carousel. My pack came out quickly; Heather’s came later and on a different conveyor (Heather: triggering some panicked memories of my pre-Eric days with lost luggage). We didn’t have any manat (Turkmen currency) for the luggage cart, so I just carried our bags.
At customs, they just waved tourists through a cursory luggage scan (locals mostly had their suitcases opened and inspected).
Finally we made it into Turkmenistan! A lot of steps to get here, but the whole process to enter only took about 45 minutes. The officials were very pleasant and welcoming throughout.
Our tour guide was waiting for us with both our names on a sign. Similar to Bhutan, you have a driver and guide with you for the entire visit. You have to prearrange a day-by-day itinerary to apply for the LOI (Letter of Invitation). There are ways to get around this with a transit visa, but the transit visa decline rate for Turkmenistan is over 50%, at least according to the internet.
The airport is 6km from the city centre of Ashgabat, so it didn’t take long to drive over to the Grand Turkmen Hotel. We drove by building after building clad in white marble (all government buildings in Ashgabat are required to have white marble exteriors; other buildings must be white; and all cars have to be white or a light grey).
There was a full contingent of staff all awake at 3:30am to check us in. The whole process was very Soviet-like. We half expected the room to be bugged.
Our room was functional, including a balcony with a view of the centre. I took some pics and then later realized they were government buildings; picture-taking of these is frowned upon here. So, uploaded them to google photos and deleted from my SD card (the wifi was pretty good).
Breakfast was until 10am and our guide was picking us up at 1pm to start our excursion, so we figured on about five hours of sleep to catch the end of breakfast.
At 8am, however, the phone rang. It was the front desk reminding us of the breakfast hours (?) We were almost asleep again when there was a knock at the door. It was our guide with the manat (local currency) that he exchanged for us at the black market rate of about 10-1 (three times better than the official rate).
By now we had given up on trying to sleep, so went down for breakfast. It was more of a typical local breakfast. We had the crepes with a preserved jam (apricot, I think), some orange slices, and a tea. There was also some dry semi-firm cheese and squash, which I served hoping it might be papaya. I put that up to lack of sleep since there are no papaya trees here!
After, we went back up to our room and showered and got ourselves together. Tried to take a nap and were (again) woken by the front desk calling to find out what time we were checking out. It was getting kind of comical at this point.
So, we decided to pack up and go down to the lobby around 12:30. There were a couple of small gift shops that Heather browsed. The hotel room was included in our itinerary, so we only had to pay a tourist tax of 2 USD per person per day.
Our guide met us at the hotel and returned our passports. He had taken them to register us with the police, for which we got an official looking paper with our itinerary mapped out. We were never asked for them the rest of the trip, but our papers would have been in order.
We first stopped for lunch in town at a busy pilaf (called plov) restaurant. They made rice in giant pots about 4’ in diameter and 3’ deep. We had a meat plov (similar to Spanish, meat means beef), which was excellent.
Then we were on the road, headed three hours north to the Darvaza Gas Crater, and the main reason why I wanted to vist Turkmenistan. The road to the crater was in pretty good shape, with our driver reaching 130km in places. The landscape changed to desert as we climbed out of the valley and into the Karakum desert (which covers over 70 percent of Turkmenistan).
We reached a road that turned off the main road and went right on a dirt road for about 5km, and then we were at the crater! It wasn’t as spectacular during the day.
The driver dropped us off and drove a couple hundred metres away to set up camp and start on dinner.
We walked around the gas crater and took lots of pics. It’s natural gas, so there was no smell, but it does get very hot when the draft blows into your face.
Walked over to our camp and watched the dinner preparations. There were lamb skewers over coals and grilled vegetables (for us) and a pot of beef stew. For another group arriving later, they placed four legs of lamb and some lamb rack of ribs directly on a hot bed of coals and then covered with a lid and let sit for two hours.
We had way too much food for dinner. I focused on the lamb, which was some of the best I’ve had. The sun was going down and we started to see the red glow of the flames on the side of the crater.
We finished dinner and then walked back to the crater to get our sunset pics. The site was more popular than I expected - there were over 40 tourists on this night, mostly on group tours. There was one other independent traveler, Judy, who travelled extensively in the region and offered us some advice on the Uzbekistan part of our trip, which she had just completed.
We called it a night around 9pm and went to bed in our tent. The overnight low was about 15C, but we were toasty warm in our sleeping bags.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Today we’re off to the Stans! Not until 8:20pm, though, so we still had a full day in Istanbul.
Had breakfast (which wasn’t as good as we remembered...maybe it’s just average after all the great breakfasts at our hotel in Luxor). Then packed up for our next leg in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The weather forecast while we’re there ranges from highs of 27C and lows of 11C, so we had to pack most of our stuff.
The forecast today in Istanbul called for constant rain until 4pm, which was the time we had planned to leave for the airport, so decided to just explore our local neighbourhood (we’re staying in Beyoğlu). Walked around randomly, saw a busy little bakery with great looking sandwiches. Walked around some more and then tried to find the bakery again for lunch. Fortunately, Heather remembered where it was. We just had bagels and cheese, but they were delicious.
Picked an atmospheric coffee shop (there’s more here than in Leslieville) and had a Turkish coffee and a truffle. Both were excellent.
Wandered around some more. Walked by an art studio and loved the paintings in the window. While we were trying to drop a pin in Google maps so we could find it again, the artist opened the door and invited us in to look around. He was really nice (I think he liked that Heather made quick friends with one of his cats). We didn’t want to ask him about prices, but he gave us his card and suggested we visit his small gallery close by where he had additional paintings.
So we walked over to check out the gallery. The person working there seemed rather impressed that we had met the artist. At the risk of ‘if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it’, we asked about prices, and it’s within what we would want to spend. Phew. So we’ll drop by again on our last stay in Istanbul.
It was only 2pm, and too early to just go back to the hotel to hang out, plus it had stopped raining, so walked towards Taksim Square. It was very lively with hundreds of people out and about. The chestnut cart vendors are very artistic with their displays, with each roasted chestnut carefully propped up in a half-shell. Watched the shawarma folks slicing away with their long knives. I was still full from lunch but was getting hungry looking at all the food options.
There’s a very busy pedestrian street leading out from Taksim Square, so we walked down part of the way. Lots of brand names and many famous Turkish delight stores. The pedestrian area does about a 2km half-loop around our hotel. We tried to walk the full length but black clouds rolled in and it started raining again, so we took a short cut back to our hotel.
There was another person at our hotel waiting to go to the airport at about the same time as us, so we asked if she wanted to split a taxi. She was leaving at 3:30pm, and we were fine with leaving early and checking out the new airport. It turned out she was also Canadian (from Montreal) but was working in Dubai and just finished a 10 day stay in Istanbul. She and Heather had a great conversation; I was in the front passenger seat and couldn’t hear without my Whisper 2000.
An aside: Heather and I have an inside running joke about the Cobus 3000. That’s the most common brand of bus used at airports to take passengers between the plane and the airport. I just find it funny because the brand is so prominently displayed on the bus, which I don’t get. It’s not like there’s a bunch of procurement folk seeing the buses thinking, hey, that’s the bus I want to buy for my airport! The Cobus 3000. Watch for it next time you fly.
Anyways, arrived at the brand new airport. Got through the initial entry screening and into departures. Checked in. We had four hours until our flight, so started at one end and explored the airport. According to our iPhones we walked 2.2km seeing the place. Checked out the dinner places. Had chicken shawarma, which was the real thing! They had a real oven to roast the meat and a real kiln to make their breads fresh onsite (I’m sure I have all the terminology wrong, but you get the idea). They had all the traditional desserts available, too, again, all of them made fresh onsite. There were little placards with explanations of each of the foods and their historical and cultural significance, cool. It’s a great way to promote the country.
Bought 6 x 500ml water (we’re arriving at 2am and didn’t want to be short water overnight in Ashgabat) and headed over to our gate.
We boarded the plane and then realized there was a mix up with our assigned seats. The plane had been switched and my seat, 6A, no longer existed. Apparently, I had been reassigned to 10B or something, but my eticket hadn’t got the news. Anyway we ended up sitting together in row 7. The guys beside us said it’s key to be sitting up close to the front, to get to immigration first. We’ll see what happens!
Had breakfast (which wasn’t as good as we remembered...maybe it’s just average after all the great breakfasts at our hotel in Luxor). Then packed up for our next leg in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The weather forecast while we’re there ranges from highs of 27C and lows of 11C, so we had to pack most of our stuff.
The forecast today in Istanbul called for constant rain until 4pm, which was the time we had planned to leave for the airport, so decided to just explore our local neighbourhood (we’re staying in Beyoğlu). Walked around randomly, saw a busy little bakery with great looking sandwiches. Walked around some more and then tried to find the bakery again for lunch. Fortunately, Heather remembered where it was. We just had bagels and cheese, but they were delicious.
Picked an atmospheric coffee shop (there’s more here than in Leslieville) and had a Turkish coffee and a truffle. Both were excellent.
Wandered around some more. Walked by an art studio and loved the paintings in the window. While we were trying to drop a pin in Google maps so we could find it again, the artist opened the door and invited us in to look around. He was really nice (I think he liked that Heather made quick friends with one of his cats). We didn’t want to ask him about prices, but he gave us his card and suggested we visit his small gallery close by where he had additional paintings.
So we walked over to check out the gallery. The person working there seemed rather impressed that we had met the artist. At the risk of ‘if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it’, we asked about prices, and it’s within what we would want to spend. Phew. So we’ll drop by again on our last stay in Istanbul.
It was only 2pm, and too early to just go back to the hotel to hang out, plus it had stopped raining, so walked towards Taksim Square. It was very lively with hundreds of people out and about. The chestnut cart vendors are very artistic with their displays, with each roasted chestnut carefully propped up in a half-shell. Watched the shawarma folks slicing away with their long knives. I was still full from lunch but was getting hungry looking at all the food options.
There’s a very busy pedestrian street leading out from Taksim Square, so we walked down part of the way. Lots of brand names and many famous Turkish delight stores. The pedestrian area does about a 2km half-loop around our hotel. We tried to walk the full length but black clouds rolled in and it started raining again, so we took a short cut back to our hotel.
There was another person at our hotel waiting to go to the airport at about the same time as us, so we asked if she wanted to split a taxi. She was leaving at 3:30pm, and we were fine with leaving early and checking out the new airport. It turned out she was also Canadian (from Montreal) but was working in Dubai and just finished a 10 day stay in Istanbul. She and Heather had a great conversation; I was in the front passenger seat and couldn’t hear without my Whisper 2000.
An aside: Heather and I have an inside running joke about the Cobus 3000. That’s the most common brand of bus used at airports to take passengers between the plane and the airport. I just find it funny because the brand is so prominently displayed on the bus, which I don’t get. It’s not like there’s a bunch of procurement folk seeing the buses thinking, hey, that’s the bus I want to buy for my airport! The Cobus 3000. Watch for it next time you fly.
Anyways, arrived at the brand new airport. Got through the initial entry screening and into departures. Checked in. We had four hours until our flight, so started at one end and explored the airport. According to our iPhones we walked 2.2km seeing the place. Checked out the dinner places. Had chicken shawarma, which was the real thing! They had a real oven to roast the meat and a real kiln to make their breads fresh onsite (I’m sure I have all the terminology wrong, but you get the idea). They had all the traditional desserts available, too, again, all of them made fresh onsite. There were little placards with explanations of each of the foods and their historical and cultural significance, cool. It’s a great way to promote the country.
Bought 6 x 500ml water (we’re arriving at 2am and didn’t want to be short water overnight in Ashgabat) and headed over to our gate.
We boarded the plane and then realized there was a mix up with our assigned seats. The plane had been switched and my seat, 6A, no longer existed. Apparently, I had been reassigned to 10B or something, but my eticket hadn’t got the news. Anyway we ended up sitting together in row 7. The guys beside us said it’s key to be sitting up close to the front, to get to immigration first. We’ll see what happens!
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Istanbul, Turkey
Another day another flight. It seems like we’ve been flying half this trip. Oh well.
Our flight from Cairo back to Istanbul was in the morning, so we woke up early and got to the airport before traffic got heavy. There was no issue leaving Egypt. I half expected some attempts at bribes, but it was all good.
There were no money exchange places in departures (usually we see them everywhere in airports). I had originally planned to use up our remaining Egyptian pounds paying for the hotel, but we had prepaid the room and didn’t have any incidental charges. So we had 20 minutes to spend over $100 in duty free. Ended up getting a couple of things we had actually planned to buy in the markets (but hadn’t found the quality), but it was good here.
The excitement for today’s flight was the arrival at Istanbul’s brand new airport (opened on April 6). It still had that new airport smell :) The airport is huge, but doesn’t feel overwhelming. We still have a couple of flights left in and out of Istanbul, so will have more of a chance to explore, but so far it’s impressive.
There were over 100 immigration desks, a big improvement over the old airport where there was at least an hour wait. The whole immigration / luggage / customs took maybe 45 minutes. I had forgotten the hard copy of my multiple entry visa to Turkey, but the official was okay with looking at it on my phone.
We took a local taxi (which was clearly marked) into the city to our hotel. There were only a couple of unofficial taxi people. It was actually quite refreshing! Even in Toronto there’s more hassle for a fake taxi.
Our friendly taxi driver spoke as much English as we did Turkish, so it was a gesture filled drive. We had the business card from the hotel, which the driver used to call and get directions. Very handy. The new airport is 40km from the centre, and with traffic it took us over an hour. We went through a couple tunnels which popped us out very close to Taksim Square near our hotel.
Checked in. Our big task for the afternoon was getting our laundry done before we left for the Stans tomorrow. Our room had a combo washer / dryer, so we had been putting off washing our bigger items until we got back to Istanbul.
We were pretty hungry and it was only 5pm, then we realized we had only the hotel’s box breakfast and airplane food for lunch, neither of which were particularly filling.
We had a craving for pide or pizza, and our hotel recommended a place nearby. We walked over. The place had lots of character. There were other locals and even a few cats on the patio under the heat lamps (there is a big patio culture here). It was only about 15C, so we ate inside. Ordered a pizza each; we were about to order some appetizers, but the owner suggested that the pizzas might be enough food. Heather ordered a pizza with artichokes. On our way over, we had passed by a street vendor peeling fresh artichokes, so figured they were in season. Seeing the vendor reminded us a bit of Rome. I had a spicy pepperoni pizza - I wasn’t expecting pork on the menu, so went with it.
Had a glass of house red - alcohol doesn’t appear on many menus here (although places that offer it let you know). Our wine was served in a ceramic mug. I switched to a beer later, which was served in a ceramic white beer glass.
The pizzas were large and quite tasty, I actually finished mine! The restaurant had a serious coffee machine, so we had a couple espressos to finish.
Then it was back home for more laundry and off to bed.
Our flight from Cairo back to Istanbul was in the morning, so we woke up early and got to the airport before traffic got heavy. There was no issue leaving Egypt. I half expected some attempts at bribes, but it was all good.
There were no money exchange places in departures (usually we see them everywhere in airports). I had originally planned to use up our remaining Egyptian pounds paying for the hotel, but we had prepaid the room and didn’t have any incidental charges. So we had 20 minutes to spend over $100 in duty free. Ended up getting a couple of things we had actually planned to buy in the markets (but hadn’t found the quality), but it was good here.
The excitement for today’s flight was the arrival at Istanbul’s brand new airport (opened on April 6). It still had that new airport smell :) The airport is huge, but doesn’t feel overwhelming. We still have a couple of flights left in and out of Istanbul, so will have more of a chance to explore, but so far it’s impressive.
There were over 100 immigration desks, a big improvement over the old airport where there was at least an hour wait. The whole immigration / luggage / customs took maybe 45 minutes. I had forgotten the hard copy of my multiple entry visa to Turkey, but the official was okay with looking at it on my phone.
We took a local taxi (which was clearly marked) into the city to our hotel. There were only a couple of unofficial taxi people. It was actually quite refreshing! Even in Toronto there’s more hassle for a fake taxi.
Our friendly taxi driver spoke as much English as we did Turkish, so it was a gesture filled drive. We had the business card from the hotel, which the driver used to call and get directions. Very handy. The new airport is 40km from the centre, and with traffic it took us over an hour. We went through a couple tunnels which popped us out very close to Taksim Square near our hotel.
Checked in. Our big task for the afternoon was getting our laundry done before we left for the Stans tomorrow. Our room had a combo washer / dryer, so we had been putting off washing our bigger items until we got back to Istanbul.
We were pretty hungry and it was only 5pm, then we realized we had only the hotel’s box breakfast and airplane food for lunch, neither of which were particularly filling.
We had a craving for pide or pizza, and our hotel recommended a place nearby. We walked over. The place had lots of character. There were other locals and even a few cats on the patio under the heat lamps (there is a big patio culture here). It was only about 15C, so we ate inside. Ordered a pizza each; we were about to order some appetizers, but the owner suggested that the pizzas might be enough food. Heather ordered a pizza with artichokes. On our way over, we had passed by a street vendor peeling fresh artichokes, so figured they were in season. Seeing the vendor reminded us a bit of Rome. I had a spicy pepperoni pizza - I wasn’t expecting pork on the menu, so went with it.
Had a glass of house red - alcohol doesn’t appear on many menus here (although places that offer it let you know). Our wine was served in a ceramic mug. I switched to a beer later, which was served in a ceramic white beer glass.
The pizzas were large and quite tasty, I actually finished mine! The restaurant had a serious coffee machine, so we had a couple espressos to finish.
Then it was back home for more laundry and off to bed.
Tuesday, April 09, 2019
Cairo, Egypt
I woke up with my cold feeling much better (although Heather might be coming down with it now). We had an early breakfast at the hotel, then walked out to the street and grabbed a local (metered) taxi to Khan Al Khalili, the historical Islamic Cairo area.
It was only 9am and still a bit early for the markets, so we wandered around and looked at the old architecture.
Visited the Mosque of Al Ghouri and climbed to the top of the minaret (for a fee). A lot of the rooftops have construction waste laying about; overall, the view wasn’t as picturesque as I had hoped.
Walked past the gold and silver markets and onto Al Muizz. There we purchased a multi-site ticket to the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Qalaun. The ticket gets you access to about six sites in the complex, although they’re not all clearly marked. We flashed our tickets and walked around the street and inside the sites; helpful locals motioned us in the right direction, just like in the movies. The sites were really cool, with no other tourists (maybe because of the early hour). We hardly saw any other tourists for the half day we spent in Islamic Cairo.
Retraced our steps back to the gold and silver markets. The stores were now open, spilling onto the old streets and making them even more narrow.
Ducked into the side alleys to see the spice market. The vendors were very low key, there’s not a lot of tourists that visit here. Spice dust filled the air. We walked down a back alley where the spices were being ground in barrel sized quantities. Our eyes were watering and we were starting to sneeze so headed back out to the main alley.
Looked around for a falafel spot for lunch (the falafel sandwiches we’ve had the last few days have been excellent). After lunch, we tried to grab a sit down coffee. Our request, however, got lost in translation, and we ended up with an equally satisfying Egyptian tea, served with a large bunch of mint that would cost $15 at Loblaws back home in Toronto.
Finally, we visited a couple more mosques. First off was the Al Azhar mosque, which is open to visitors. Heather was provided a scarf to cover her hair and a skirt to wear over her pants. We carried our shoes. It was very peaceful inside, and the white marble flooring was brilliant in the sun.
We also saw the Mosque of Sayyidna Al Hussein, but just from the outside.
Grabbed a metered taxi back to the hotel and called it a day. Relaxed in the lounge, had a few small bites, then packed up for our flight back to Istanbul the following morning.
Overall, the Egypt leg of our trip was very enjoyable. It would make a good standalone two or three week trip. Highlights included the Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens, Islamic Cairo, the many ruins (all equally impressive), the boat ride on the Nile, the National Museum in Cairo, the Luxor Museum, and the Nubia Museum in Aswan.
It was only 9am and still a bit early for the markets, so we wandered around and looked at the old architecture.
Visited the Mosque of Al Ghouri and climbed to the top of the minaret (for a fee). A lot of the rooftops have construction waste laying about; overall, the view wasn’t as picturesque as I had hoped.
Walked past the gold and silver markets and onto Al Muizz. There we purchased a multi-site ticket to the Madrassa and Mausoleum of Qalaun. The ticket gets you access to about six sites in the complex, although they’re not all clearly marked. We flashed our tickets and walked around the street and inside the sites; helpful locals motioned us in the right direction, just like in the movies. The sites were really cool, with no other tourists (maybe because of the early hour). We hardly saw any other tourists for the half day we spent in Islamic Cairo.
Retraced our steps back to the gold and silver markets. The stores were now open, spilling onto the old streets and making them even more narrow.
Ducked into the side alleys to see the spice market. The vendors were very low key, there’s not a lot of tourists that visit here. Spice dust filled the air. We walked down a back alley where the spices were being ground in barrel sized quantities. Our eyes were watering and we were starting to sneeze so headed back out to the main alley.
Looked around for a falafel spot for lunch (the falafel sandwiches we’ve had the last few days have been excellent). After lunch, we tried to grab a sit down coffee. Our request, however, got lost in translation, and we ended up with an equally satisfying Egyptian tea, served with a large bunch of mint that would cost $15 at Loblaws back home in Toronto.
Finally, we visited a couple more mosques. First off was the Al Azhar mosque, which is open to visitors. Heather was provided a scarf to cover her hair and a skirt to wear over her pants. We carried our shoes. It was very peaceful inside, and the white marble flooring was brilliant in the sun.
We also saw the Mosque of Sayyidna Al Hussein, but just from the outside.
Grabbed a metered taxi back to the hotel and called it a day. Relaxed in the lounge, had a few small bites, then packed up for our flight back to Istanbul the following morning.
Overall, the Egypt leg of our trip was very enjoyable. It would make a good standalone two or three week trip. Highlights included the Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens, Islamic Cairo, the many ruins (all equally impressive), the boat ride on the Nile, the National Museum in Cairo, the Luxor Museum, and the Nubia Museum in Aswan.
Monday, April 08, 2019
Cairo, Egypt
We flew back from Aswan to Cairo early this morning. We took the hotel ferry to the mainland and got a taxi at a reasonable rate to the airport. The Aswan airport is international, but still pretty small with only four gates.
In Cairo, we also took a local taxi from the airport, which was easy once we got through the unofficial taxi touts to the taxi stand. It was about $15 USD to get to our hotel on the Corniche.
We stayed at a different hotel in Cairo this time, the Conrad Hilton, for about the same price. It was way better than our first hotel, the Steigenberger.
We freshened up and found a falafel place literally one side street behind the hotel. The side street had a real neighbourly feel to it, with people going about their everyday lives. There was also no hassle at all, just people saying Welcome! as we walked by. The falafel place cleaned off a small table and served us our falafel, pitas, and accoutrements. It’s more typical to make your own sandwich if you’re sitting down (if you get a falafel sandwich to go, then they make it for you). They were super friendly at the restaurant, and also charged us local prices, 25 EGP, under $2 CAD.
My cold was progressing, so we took it easy the rest of the day. I took a nap in the afternoon and later we went up to the lounge and had some small bites. We were both still full from lunch!
In Cairo, we also took a local taxi from the airport, which was easy once we got through the unofficial taxi touts to the taxi stand. It was about $15 USD to get to our hotel on the Corniche.
We stayed at a different hotel in Cairo this time, the Conrad Hilton, for about the same price. It was way better than our first hotel, the Steigenberger.
We freshened up and found a falafel place literally one side street behind the hotel. The side street had a real neighbourly feel to it, with people going about their everyday lives. There was also no hassle at all, just people saying Welcome! as we walked by. The falafel place cleaned off a small table and served us our falafel, pitas, and accoutrements. It’s more typical to make your own sandwich if you’re sitting down (if you get a falafel sandwich to go, then they make it for you). They were super friendly at the restaurant, and also charged us local prices, 25 EGP, under $2 CAD.
My cold was progressing, so we took it easy the rest of the day. I took a nap in the afternoon and later we went up to the lounge and had some small bites. We were both still full from lunch!
Sunday, April 07, 2019
Aswan, Egypt
The forecast today called for a high of 39C, so we didn’t plan for much.
The top thing on our list was the Nubia Museum, about a 25 minute walk along the river from the ferry drop-off. It wasn’t too bad on the shady side of the street. Dropped into the Coptic orthodox cathedral of the Archangel Michael as it was on our way.
The Nubia Museum was empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up with school kids and a visiting delegation from Gabon (the sky view restaurant at our hotel was closed for a private event for a Gabonese delegation yesterday, so we think it was the same group). The museum gives a full history of the Nubia culture, ending with the building of the high dam near Aswan, which flooded most of their homes and displaced the local population. I also didn’t realize the international effort at the time (late 60’s) to rescue some of the ruins that would be flooded, most famously Abu Simbel. There’s also a separate Egyptian hall in the museum, which included four mummies that were as good or better than the museum in Cairo. Anyways it took us a couple hours to walk through.
We wanted to stop in at the Old Cataract hotel, now a Sofitel, for a drink just to see the hotel. But they charge a minimum of 300 EGP per person (can be used for drinks / food etc) which was way more than we wanted to spend. So I guess their objective to keep out the riff raff worked.
Instead we walked back to the centre, and found the souq. The first bit was touristy, but then changed to more local wares. Went into a pita bakery and took some pics, then found a little falafel place for sandwiches. After we stopped at a cafe with sidewalk seating inside the souq and had an Egyptian coffee. Very muddy and good. We knew the going prices for coffee by this time, so it was easier to pay.
It was only 2pm when we finished up, so we decided to take a boat cruise around the islands in the Nile close to our hotel. Arranged with a boat owner moored at the hotel, who gave us a decent price (very surprising as we were staying at the Mövenpick!)
Outside it was around 39C, but on the water it felt much cooler and was really pleasant. From the boat we saw a variety of birds, giant sand dunes, the Masoleum of Aga Khan and the family villa. There were also good pics of feluccas with their sails up.
We stopped briefly for a Nubia coffee; the process is very similar to Ethiopia. They add some spices (cardamom, ginger, ginseng and a local seed) which give it a distinctive smell and taste.
Got back to the hotel, cleaned up, and then to the sky view restaurant. The views are amazing here. We watched the sun go down (with the clouds on the horizon though there wasn’t much colour) and then had dinner facing the lights of Aswan. It’s a beautiful setting.
I was starting to come down with a cold and we had an early flight the next morning back to Cairo, so we didn’t stay up too late.
The top thing on our list was the Nubia Museum, about a 25 minute walk along the river from the ferry drop-off. It wasn’t too bad on the shady side of the street. Dropped into the Coptic orthodox cathedral of the Archangel Michael as it was on our way.
The Nubia Museum was empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up with school kids and a visiting delegation from Gabon (the sky view restaurant at our hotel was closed for a private event for a Gabonese delegation yesterday, so we think it was the same group). The museum gives a full history of the Nubia culture, ending with the building of the high dam near Aswan, which flooded most of their homes and displaced the local population. I also didn’t realize the international effort at the time (late 60’s) to rescue some of the ruins that would be flooded, most famously Abu Simbel. There’s also a separate Egyptian hall in the museum, which included four mummies that were as good or better than the museum in Cairo. Anyways it took us a couple hours to walk through.
We wanted to stop in at the Old Cataract hotel, now a Sofitel, for a drink just to see the hotel. But they charge a minimum of 300 EGP per person (can be used for drinks / food etc) which was way more than we wanted to spend. So I guess their objective to keep out the riff raff worked.
Instead we walked back to the centre, and found the souq. The first bit was touristy, but then changed to more local wares. Went into a pita bakery and took some pics, then found a little falafel place for sandwiches. After we stopped at a cafe with sidewalk seating inside the souq and had an Egyptian coffee. Very muddy and good. We knew the going prices for coffee by this time, so it was easier to pay.
It was only 2pm when we finished up, so we decided to take a boat cruise around the islands in the Nile close to our hotel. Arranged with a boat owner moored at the hotel, who gave us a decent price (very surprising as we were staying at the Mövenpick!)
Outside it was around 39C, but on the water it felt much cooler and was really pleasant. From the boat we saw a variety of birds, giant sand dunes, the Masoleum of Aga Khan and the family villa. There were also good pics of feluccas with their sails up.
We stopped briefly for a Nubia coffee; the process is very similar to Ethiopia. They add some spices (cardamom, ginger, ginseng and a local seed) which give it a distinctive smell and taste.
Got back to the hotel, cleaned up, and then to the sky view restaurant. The views are amazing here. We watched the sun go down (with the clouds on the horizon though there wasn’t much colour) and then had dinner facing the lights of Aswan. It’s a beautiful setting.
I was starting to come down with a cold and we had an early flight the next morning back to Cairo, so we didn’t stay up too late.
Saturday, April 06, 2019
Aswan, Egypt
Today we drove from Luxor to Aswan, stopping off at three ruins along the way. It’s more typical to do this by boat, but by car you can avoid the crowds from the boats, and take as much or as little time at each ruin.
We had another great breakfast at our hotel. Our driver met us at 8am and we were off. The temperature was still pleasant so we just had the windows down. The road is in good shape all the way to Aswan, although there are lots of speed bumps through the little towns.
First up was the Temple of Khnum in Esna. The temple is in the process of being restored, with the restorers working away high up in the interior on scaffolding. The before and after difference is astounding; the temple will look amazing when it’s fully restored.
The temple is very close to the Nile and easy access for the boats. There was just one temple to see, so it was only a ten minute stop for us.
Next we drove to Edfu for the Temple of Horus, about 90 minutes away. It was getting warmer (the high today was 36C), so we rolled up the windows and switched to a/c.
The Temple of Horus is further inland, likely an optional excursion for the boat folks since it required a taxi or horse and buggy, so the ruins were much less crowded. The ruins are also more extensive, dominated by the tallest wall ruin in Egypt.
Our last stop for the day was the Temple of Kom Ombo in the town of the same name. We stopped off first at a little place for some falafel sandwiches to go, and ate them on the walk from the car park to the ticket entrance. There were maybe five other people at Kom Ombo. The guards and ticket folks seemed impressed that we were eating local food. It took us about 15 minutes to tour around.
The last stretch of road to Aswan took us under an hour. Along the way we saw the brightly coloured and patterned houses of Nubians. Our driver also joked that in one view you could see all of Egypt - desert, Nile, road, desert.
We stayed at the Mövenpick in Aswan, on the northern tip of Elephantine Island. We said our goodbyes to our driver and took the hotel ferry across to the hotel.
It was already late in the afternoon, so we just had time to clean up and then head downstairs for a drink on their outdoor lounge overlooking the Nile. Had dinner in the Egyptian restaurant onsite restaurant which was okay, with an Egyptian Shiraz (I didn’t know they produced wine here).
We had another great breakfast at our hotel. Our driver met us at 8am and we were off. The temperature was still pleasant so we just had the windows down. The road is in good shape all the way to Aswan, although there are lots of speed bumps through the little towns.
First up was the Temple of Khnum in Esna. The temple is in the process of being restored, with the restorers working away high up in the interior on scaffolding. The before and after difference is astounding; the temple will look amazing when it’s fully restored.
The temple is very close to the Nile and easy access for the boats. There was just one temple to see, so it was only a ten minute stop for us.
Next we drove to Edfu for the Temple of Horus, about 90 minutes away. It was getting warmer (the high today was 36C), so we rolled up the windows and switched to a/c.
The Temple of Horus is further inland, likely an optional excursion for the boat folks since it required a taxi or horse and buggy, so the ruins were much less crowded. The ruins are also more extensive, dominated by the tallest wall ruin in Egypt.
Our last stop for the day was the Temple of Kom Ombo in the town of the same name. We stopped off first at a little place for some falafel sandwiches to go, and ate them on the walk from the car park to the ticket entrance. There were maybe five other people at Kom Ombo. The guards and ticket folks seemed impressed that we were eating local food. It took us about 15 minutes to tour around.
The last stretch of road to Aswan took us under an hour. Along the way we saw the brightly coloured and patterned houses of Nubians. Our driver also joked that in one view you could see all of Egypt - desert, Nile, road, desert.
We stayed at the Mövenpick in Aswan, on the northern tip of Elephantine Island. We said our goodbyes to our driver and took the hotel ferry across to the hotel.
It was already late in the afternoon, so we just had time to clean up and then head downstairs for a drink on their outdoor lounge overlooking the Nile. Had dinner in the Egyptian restaurant onsite restaurant which was okay, with an Egyptian Shiraz (I didn’t know they produced wine here).
Friday, April 05, 2019
Luxor, Egypt
We had planned to just do a half day of touristing today, all in town, so there was no rush to finish breakfast. We still wanted to get out earlier than later to beat the heat, but we weren’t on a clock.
So I had a 2nd cup of tea at breakfast and relaxed.
Caught the ferry across to the east bank. It’s only a 30 minute walk from the ferry to Karnak, on a beautiful boardwalk beside the Nile. The weather was nice so we decided to walk instead of taking a taxi.
Just as well because there was a kids running event along the boardwalk and the roads were closed. We saw the start of the run, although I think it was more a participation thing than an actual race. Half the kids stopped to say Hello! as they ran past.
Got to Karnak and through the stalls to the visitor centre. It was very easy to buy tickets, nowhere near as busy or complicated as the Valley of the Kings.
There were busloads of tourists already inside, but the ruins are so large that it wasn’t crowded.
We entered and then veered off to the right, following signs pointing to Temple of Khonsu, mostly because there was no one else going that way. (Yes, it was the path less tread).
The path led through ruin pieces carefully labelled for eventual reconstruction, to the Temple of Khonsu, about 300m from the main Karnak ruins of Temple of Amun-Ra.
Walked back to the Temple of Amun-Ra and wandered around. Most impressive was the Great Hypostyle Hall with a forest of giant pillars.
Next up for our day was the Luxor Museum. It’s about half way between the ferry and Karnak so we just walked over. The museum is easy to navigate and has really cool artefacts from the sites we had seen, with proper environment controls.
We walked down one of the main drags, Al Mahata, in search of a little lunch spot. Found a busy little place and had a some falafel sandwiches, which were really tasty.
Walked through the souq, bought some overpriced dried hibiscus for making tea, and then took the ferry back to the west bank.
We had booked dinner at our hotel again, this time a beef with okra and tomato tagen (similar style of cooking to a Moroccan tajine). It was excellent as usual.
The evening and night were warmer than when we first arrived, their cool spell seemed to be ending. We only really fell asleep once it cooled down around 2am.
So I had a 2nd cup of tea at breakfast and relaxed.
Caught the ferry across to the east bank. It’s only a 30 minute walk from the ferry to Karnak, on a beautiful boardwalk beside the Nile. The weather was nice so we decided to walk instead of taking a taxi.
Just as well because there was a kids running event along the boardwalk and the roads were closed. We saw the start of the run, although I think it was more a participation thing than an actual race. Half the kids stopped to say Hello! as they ran past.
Got to Karnak and through the stalls to the visitor centre. It was very easy to buy tickets, nowhere near as busy or complicated as the Valley of the Kings.
There were busloads of tourists already inside, but the ruins are so large that it wasn’t crowded.
We entered and then veered off to the right, following signs pointing to Temple of Khonsu, mostly because there was no one else going that way. (Yes, it was the path less tread).
The path led through ruin pieces carefully labelled for eventual reconstruction, to the Temple of Khonsu, about 300m from the main Karnak ruins of Temple of Amun-Ra.
Walked back to the Temple of Amun-Ra and wandered around. Most impressive was the Great Hypostyle Hall with a forest of giant pillars.
Next up for our day was the Luxor Museum. It’s about half way between the ferry and Karnak so we just walked over. The museum is easy to navigate and has really cool artefacts from the sites we had seen, with proper environment controls.
We walked down one of the main drags, Al Mahata, in search of a little lunch spot. Found a busy little place and had a some falafel sandwiches, which were really tasty.
Walked through the souq, bought some overpriced dried hibiscus for making tea, and then took the ferry back to the west bank.
We had booked dinner at our hotel again, this time a beef with okra and tomato tagen (similar style of cooking to a Moroccan tajine). It was excellent as usual.
The evening and night were warmer than when we first arrived, their cool spell seemed to be ending. We only really fell asleep once it cooled down around 2am.
Thursday, April 04, 2019
Luxor, Egypt
We woke up around 5:20am with call to prayers from the mosque next door. The muezzin was one of the better singers we’ve heard. I had slept really well up to that point, partially because I was catching up from the past couple days, and also the temperature fell to a very comfortable 16C at night.
Our hotel served the best breakfast we’ve had so far on this trip. Freshly squeezed orange juice, a soft cheese with a zataar-like spice sprinkled on top, crepes with honey, omelette, and Egyptian tea. Mmm good. I would have had more tea but we were starting our excursion to the west bank of Luxor at 8am to beat the crowds and the heat.
We had booked a driver for the day through the hotel, for about $40 CAD.
First up was the Valley of the Kings.
Buying tickets to Valley of the Kings is a bit confusing. Most of the folks at the ticket counter are guides buying tickets for their groups, and they know the drill.
For those interested in the logistics, the ticket counter is on the right, after you pass through the visitor center. Facing the ticket counter, there’s two wickets. First you go to the wicket on the right, where you buy the general admission ticket, as well as an optional camera pass. The general admission ticket gets you access to three of the tombs currently open. When we visited in April 2019 the selection included:
You can then purchase tickets to premium tombs from the wicket on the left:
The camera pass allows you to take pictures inside three tombs. You can choose from the regular tombs or premium tombs, with the exception of Seti.
Based on google, we chose KV2, KV6 and KV8 for our three general admission tombs, and then paid extra for KV9 and KV17. I used my camera in KV2, KV6 and KV9. You don’t need to choose the general admission tombs when you buy your ticket - every time you enter a tomb, the tomb guardian will punch your ticket. Same for the camera roll pass.
Finally you buy the tram ticket from a little booth just the left of the ticket windows.
First we went to KV2 and KV6. These tombs are the most commonly chosen tombs and the busiest. The tombs were impressive but you’re herded along the whole way.
Next we went to KV9. Most people buying a premium ticket choose this one. It was less crowded than the first two we visited and more enjoyable.
We then went to Seti. It’s expensive (1200 EGP when we visited, about 90 CAD) and so very few other people were in the tomb. It’s definitely worth it if it’s in your budget. The hieroglyphics are in relief rather than carved, the colours and contrast is amazing. We spent about 20 minutes here (the others we spent maybe 5 - 10 minutes each). Over that time there were less than ten other tourists.
We then chose the 3rd tomb for our general admission ticket, KV8. In my opinion, the lack of crowds made it more enjoyable than the other general admission tombs we visited, and the difference in quality to my untrained eye wasn’t that noticeable.
Took a couple minutes to find our driver in the parking lot, amongst all the buses and minivans that had accumulated since we arrived. (We took a pic of the car to remember). Our driver commented that the crowds were actually not too bad - sometimes there’s not even room for him in the parking lot! (The lot was over 50% full as we left).
Next up was Hatshepsut, the only Queen buried in the Valley of the Kings. It’s in a great setting, with high cliffs surrounding it.
We then drove to Valley of the Queens. The tickets are the same process, a general admission ticket valid for three tombs and a premium ticket for Nefertari. We hadn’t researched which tombs to visit in the Valley of the Queens, so asked the ticket guy. He recommended three and we have him a tip.
Turned out there were only three general tombs open, so there were no choices to be made. Oh well. The tombs here are virtually empty of tourists, and cool to see. We also bought the premium ticket to Nefertari, which some reviews had called the Sistine Chapel of Egypt. We actually weren’t that impressed with the Sistine Chapel so maybe the comparison wasn’t intended for us. In any case, Nefertari was amazing, the vibrancy of colour was the best of the day. It’s about equivalent to Seti as the top site of the day.
Our last big stop was at Medinat Habu. This is a ruin (as opposed to a tomb) and was really impressive in size. The pillars dwarf anything we’ve seen from the Romans.
We had a quick stop at Colossi of Memnon, and then back to our hotel by 1pm. It was a busy half-day of sightseeing. The tickets also add up if you do the premium tombs - make sure you have lots of cash as they don’t take credit card.
We had lunch at one of the tourist places near our hotel overlooking the Nile. They had a nice setting, but wouldn’t go there for the food.
Got back home and cleaned up, did some laundry, relaxed on the terrace, and then down for dinner at 7pm. Dinner was delicious, a chicken tajine, with rice, salad and other accouterments. Had a beer (Heather had some of her rosé, we just bought the bottle yesterday and kept it in our fridge). The weather was a perfect temperature and a nice way to end the day.
Our hotel served the best breakfast we’ve had so far on this trip. Freshly squeezed orange juice, a soft cheese with a zataar-like spice sprinkled on top, crepes with honey, omelette, and Egyptian tea. Mmm good. I would have had more tea but we were starting our excursion to the west bank of Luxor at 8am to beat the crowds and the heat.
We had booked a driver for the day through the hotel, for about $40 CAD.
First up was the Valley of the Kings.
Buying tickets to Valley of the Kings is a bit confusing. Most of the folks at the ticket counter are guides buying tickets for their groups, and they know the drill.
For those interested in the logistics, the ticket counter is on the right, after you pass through the visitor center. Facing the ticket counter, there’s two wickets. First you go to the wicket on the right, where you buy the general admission ticket, as well as an optional camera pass. The general admission ticket gets you access to three of the tombs currently open. When we visited in April 2019 the selection included:
- KV1 – Ramses VII
- KV2 – Ramses IV
- KV6 – Ramses IX
- KV8 – Merenptah
- KV11 – Ramses III
- KV14 – Tausert – Setnakht
- KV15 – Seti II
- KV47 – Siptah
You can then purchase tickets to premium tombs from the wicket on the left:
- KV9 – Ramses V & VI
- KV17 – Seti the First
- KV62 – King Tutankhamun
The camera pass allows you to take pictures inside three tombs. You can choose from the regular tombs or premium tombs, with the exception of Seti.
Based on google, we chose KV2, KV6 and KV8 for our three general admission tombs, and then paid extra for KV9 and KV17. I used my camera in KV2, KV6 and KV9. You don’t need to choose the general admission tombs when you buy your ticket - every time you enter a tomb, the tomb guardian will punch your ticket. Same for the camera roll pass.
Finally you buy the tram ticket from a little booth just the left of the ticket windows.
First we went to KV2 and KV6. These tombs are the most commonly chosen tombs and the busiest. The tombs were impressive but you’re herded along the whole way.
Next we went to KV9. Most people buying a premium ticket choose this one. It was less crowded than the first two we visited and more enjoyable.
We then went to Seti. It’s expensive (1200 EGP when we visited, about 90 CAD) and so very few other people were in the tomb. It’s definitely worth it if it’s in your budget. The hieroglyphics are in relief rather than carved, the colours and contrast is amazing. We spent about 20 minutes here (the others we spent maybe 5 - 10 minutes each). Over that time there were less than ten other tourists.
We then chose the 3rd tomb for our general admission ticket, KV8. In my opinion, the lack of crowds made it more enjoyable than the other general admission tombs we visited, and the difference in quality to my untrained eye wasn’t that noticeable.
Took a couple minutes to find our driver in the parking lot, amongst all the buses and minivans that had accumulated since we arrived. (We took a pic of the car to remember). Our driver commented that the crowds were actually not too bad - sometimes there’s not even room for him in the parking lot! (The lot was over 50% full as we left).
Next up was Hatshepsut, the only Queen buried in the Valley of the Kings. It’s in a great setting, with high cliffs surrounding it.
We then drove to Valley of the Queens. The tickets are the same process, a general admission ticket valid for three tombs and a premium ticket for Nefertari. We hadn’t researched which tombs to visit in the Valley of the Queens, so asked the ticket guy. He recommended three and we have him a tip.
Turned out there were only three general tombs open, so there were no choices to be made. Oh well. The tombs here are virtually empty of tourists, and cool to see. We also bought the premium ticket to Nefertari, which some reviews had called the Sistine Chapel of Egypt. We actually weren’t that impressed with the Sistine Chapel so maybe the comparison wasn’t intended for us. In any case, Nefertari was amazing, the vibrancy of colour was the best of the day. It’s about equivalent to Seti as the top site of the day.
Our last big stop was at Medinat Habu. This is a ruin (as opposed to a tomb) and was really impressive in size. The pillars dwarf anything we’ve seen from the Romans.
We had a quick stop at Colossi of Memnon, and then back to our hotel by 1pm. It was a busy half-day of sightseeing. The tickets also add up if you do the premium tombs - make sure you have lots of cash as they don’t take credit card.
We had lunch at one of the tourist places near our hotel overlooking the Nile. They had a nice setting, but wouldn’t go there for the food.
Got back home and cleaned up, did some laundry, relaxed on the terrace, and then down for dinner at 7pm. Dinner was delicious, a chicken tajine, with rice, salad and other accouterments. Had a beer (Heather had some of her rosé, we just bought the bottle yesterday and kept it in our fridge). The weather was a perfect temperature and a nice way to end the day.
Wednesday, April 03, 2019
Luxor, Egypt
Another transit day, from Cairo to Luxor. Our flight was at 7:30am so we booked a taxi for 5am. I woke up at 2am and then was worried about sleeping through my alarm so only had two hours sleep :(
We had a not-very-nutritious breakfast at the airport. It’s a short flight to Luxor, enough time to get a tea but not nearly enough time to drink it.
The airport folks were very efficient in Luxor. We were out of the airport in less than 30 minutes! The drive to our hotel was longer than to the city cause we’re staying at a B&B on the west bank and had to drive south some distance for a bridge.
The hotel was pretty quick too - we were able to get early check-in and so had pretty much the whole day!
We’re the only guests at the hotel, even though it’s getting into busy season, I think because it’s mostly tour groups which wouldn’t fit here. We’ve seen very few independent travelers.
Had a great lunch at the hotel and then took a five minute ferry ride to the east bank to see Luxor Temple. There are many people offering boat rides across, but the ferry is much more comfortable and only 5 EGP each (about 25c).
We walked almost 360* around Luxor Temple to find the entrance. Finally figured it out.
Luxor Temple was pretty amazing, and it’s not even a top attraction in Luxor according to the Lonely Planet. We both felt it was more impressive than the ruins we saw in Rome. It was getting later in the day and we had the ruins to ourselves.
We had an errand to get local cash, found ATMs near the big hotels in the Nile.
Took the ferry back to the west bank, and called it our sunset cruise on the Nile. There’s a huge difference in feel between the west and east banks. The west is way more laid back.
Earlier in the afternoon we had walked down to the main intersection in town (about five minutes) to get water. On the way back we passed by a restaurant with rotisserie chicken and a big grill on the front sidewalk. It looked tasty so we ordered pigeon and a half chicken for dinner (the restaurant needs lead time for both). Pigeon is popular here in Egypt, we’ve seen it on a few menus. Took some pics so we’d remember what the place looked like.
So after getting back from the east bank we washed up and headed back to the restaurant. I don’t think they get many tourists as they made a big splash for us. The food was all excellent. Pigeon tasted like chicken, it’s served like a stuffed Cornish hen.
I was starting to fade so we headed home and crashed.
We had a not-very-nutritious breakfast at the airport. It’s a short flight to Luxor, enough time to get a tea but not nearly enough time to drink it.
The airport folks were very efficient in Luxor. We were out of the airport in less than 30 minutes! The drive to our hotel was longer than to the city cause we’re staying at a B&B on the west bank and had to drive south some distance for a bridge.
The hotel was pretty quick too - we were able to get early check-in and so had pretty much the whole day!
We’re the only guests at the hotel, even though it’s getting into busy season, I think because it’s mostly tour groups which wouldn’t fit here. We’ve seen very few independent travelers.
Had a great lunch at the hotel and then took a five minute ferry ride to the east bank to see Luxor Temple. There are many people offering boat rides across, but the ferry is much more comfortable and only 5 EGP each (about 25c).
We walked almost 360* around Luxor Temple to find the entrance. Finally figured it out.
Luxor Temple was pretty amazing, and it’s not even a top attraction in Luxor according to the Lonely Planet. We both felt it was more impressive than the ruins we saw in Rome. It was getting later in the day and we had the ruins to ourselves.
We had an errand to get local cash, found ATMs near the big hotels in the Nile.
Took the ferry back to the west bank, and called it our sunset cruise on the Nile. There’s a huge difference in feel between the west and east banks. The west is way more laid back.
Earlier in the afternoon we had walked down to the main intersection in town (about five minutes) to get water. On the way back we passed by a restaurant with rotisserie chicken and a big grill on the front sidewalk. It looked tasty so we ordered pigeon and a half chicken for dinner (the restaurant needs lead time for both). Pigeon is popular here in Egypt, we’ve seen it on a few menus. Took some pics so we’d remember what the place looked like.
So after getting back from the east bank we washed up and headed back to the restaurant. I don’t think they get many tourists as they made a big splash for us. The food was all excellent. Pigeon tasted like chicken, it’s served like a stuffed Cornish hen.
I was starting to fade so we headed home and crashed.
Tuesday, April 02, 2019
Cairo, Egypt
We were up early to catch the start of breakfast at 6am and be on the way to the pyramids by 7:30am. We had booked a guide through the hotel cause we weren’t sure of how bad the hassling would be. (It wasn’t bad at all so it’ll be independent travel for the rest of Egypt).
We got our first view of the pyramids in the distance on the drive. The clean lines of the pyramids poke out of the jumble of the city buildings which makes a cool contrast.
We arrived at the entrance gates around 8:30. Our guide got our tickets and then we entered the grounds.
The whole Giza pyramid experience has been disneyfied since I first saw them almost 25 years ago. The pyramids sit on a plateau and there’s a set circuit that guides whisk their clients through. You get dropped off and picked up between the three main locations on the circuit (entrance, lookout point, Sphinx), ensuring everyone gets the exact same pictures. I went off-menu and walked around a bit to get better camera angles.
It was really cool to see the pyramids, but we would have been better off just getting a taxi to the entrance and then walking the whole circuit which would have taken maybe 90 minutes.
After the obligatory stop at a ‘papyrus museum’ and ‘perfume shop’ for tea or coffee, we were driven back to our hotel in time for lunch. We actually asked to get dropped off at a nearby restaurant, Felfela, which is a pretty good tourist option. Had a bunch of grilled meats and vegetables, and a artichoke filled with ground beef and topped with bechamel which was really tasty.
We went back to the hotel to wash up before walking down to the museum. We became pretty good at crossing the streets, five lanes of non-stop traffic. Otherwise it’s a bit difficult to walk to the museum even though it’s less than five minutes.
We navigated the unofficial tour guides and bought our tickets (it’s extra to see the mummies and cheaper if you buy the joint ticket up front).
We had timed our visit well, arriving at 1:30 when the tour bus folks are having lunch. Went straight to the 2nd floor where they have the key things we wanted to see.
I was amazed at the quality of the many sarcophagus (sarcophagi?) and other relics from the tombs, all thousands of years old. The sun was streaming through the museum windows onto the artefacts which I’m sure is not best practise for museums. They don’t allow flash photography, but direct sunlight is okay. There is a new museum building under construction close to the pyramids, hopefully it will be completed before everything fades away.
The mummies were really interesting to see, I had no idea how well the bodies were preserved, including hair, teeth and fingernails. The former royalty were also much taller and lived longer than I had thought. Some were almost 6’ tall and most lived to their 60’s.
There’s actually two rooms displaying mummies, on opposite sides of the 2nd floor beside identical staircases. That’s our excuse for not realizing there were two rooms until we got back to the hotel.
The biggest highlight is the room for King Tutankhamen. We saw this last, around 3:30pm, and had the whole room to ourselves. It was really amazing to see one of the most famous museum pieces in the world all on our ownsome.
Went down to the 1st floor but by this time we were out-sarcophagused, and so called it a day.
The weather was gorgeous - about 24C and sunny. If only it could stay like this but we’re in a cold snap here right now (it’s all relative) and it’s going to get stinking hot in a couple days.
Went back to the same restaurant as lunch. It was a dry day (no alcohol served) so went back to the hotel for a beer.
We got our first view of the pyramids in the distance on the drive. The clean lines of the pyramids poke out of the jumble of the city buildings which makes a cool contrast.
We arrived at the entrance gates around 8:30. Our guide got our tickets and then we entered the grounds.
The whole Giza pyramid experience has been disneyfied since I first saw them almost 25 years ago. The pyramids sit on a plateau and there’s a set circuit that guides whisk their clients through. You get dropped off and picked up between the three main locations on the circuit (entrance, lookout point, Sphinx), ensuring everyone gets the exact same pictures. I went off-menu and walked around a bit to get better camera angles.
It was really cool to see the pyramids, but we would have been better off just getting a taxi to the entrance and then walking the whole circuit which would have taken maybe 90 minutes.
After the obligatory stop at a ‘papyrus museum’ and ‘perfume shop’ for tea or coffee, we were driven back to our hotel in time for lunch. We actually asked to get dropped off at a nearby restaurant, Felfela, which is a pretty good tourist option. Had a bunch of grilled meats and vegetables, and a artichoke filled with ground beef and topped with bechamel which was really tasty.
We went back to the hotel to wash up before walking down to the museum. We became pretty good at crossing the streets, five lanes of non-stop traffic. Otherwise it’s a bit difficult to walk to the museum even though it’s less than five minutes.
We navigated the unofficial tour guides and bought our tickets (it’s extra to see the mummies and cheaper if you buy the joint ticket up front).
We had timed our visit well, arriving at 1:30 when the tour bus folks are having lunch. Went straight to the 2nd floor where they have the key things we wanted to see.
I was amazed at the quality of the many sarcophagus (sarcophagi?) and other relics from the tombs, all thousands of years old. The sun was streaming through the museum windows onto the artefacts which I’m sure is not best practise for museums. They don’t allow flash photography, but direct sunlight is okay. There is a new museum building under construction close to the pyramids, hopefully it will be completed before everything fades away.
The mummies were really interesting to see, I had no idea how well the bodies were preserved, including hair, teeth and fingernails. The former royalty were also much taller and lived longer than I had thought. Some were almost 6’ tall and most lived to their 60’s.
There’s actually two rooms displaying mummies, on opposite sides of the 2nd floor beside identical staircases. That’s our excuse for not realizing there were two rooms until we got back to the hotel.
The biggest highlight is the room for King Tutankhamen. We saw this last, around 3:30pm, and had the whole room to ourselves. It was really amazing to see one of the most famous museum pieces in the world all on our ownsome.
Went down to the 1st floor but by this time we were out-sarcophagused, and so called it a day.
The weather was gorgeous - about 24C and sunny. If only it could stay like this but we’re in a cold snap here right now (it’s all relative) and it’s going to get stinking hot in a couple days.
Went back to the same restaurant as lunch. It was a dry day (no alcohol served) so went back to the hotel for a beer.
Monday, April 01, 2019
Cairo, Egypt
I was up at 4am jetlagged so just worked on my lede for yesterday. We didn’t have much to do today - another transit day to get to Cairo.
Breakfast was pretty good, mostly traditional Turkish, including really fresh halloumi and bagels similar to Montreal bagels.
Cause we have Istanbul as a base, we only need to take whatever clothing is needed for each leg. However the forecast for Egypt over the ten days we’re there ranges from a high of 20C when we arrive in Cairo and then a high of 40C five days later in Aswan. So we don’t really know what to take to Egypt.
The flight from Istanbul to Cairo is just over two hours, but door to door it took us nine hours. Immigration was no problem leaving Turkey, although they stamped on my Observation page :( Heather also got pulled over for a random search going through security.
Our departure changed gates four times before we boarded and then our plane waited an hour in line to take off. Hopefully Istanbul will have more capacity at their new airport.
Cairo International was strangely empty, maybe all the big planes arrive at a different time of day. Also most of the gates were available but we still parked on the tarmac (maybe the airport fees for using a gate are too high?).
Egypt immigration was a bit confusing, but no issues. Got our luggage and looked around for our driver after exiting the luggage area. A few minutes later we figured out that the hotel drivers aren’t allowed to enter the terminal and so we had to meet them outside. The drive from the airport to downtown took about 90 minutes, which is about normal.
My credit card got flagged for a fraud alert cause I tried to pay for the hotel and then our excursion in quick succession, even though both were chip and PIN. CIBC really has to work on their fraud triggers. So had to call CIBC to un-hold.
We had no motivation to head out for food so just ate at the hotel restaurant. It was okay.
Two days in and I haven’t even taken out my camera yet! Anyways tomorrow we’re going to the pyramids so I’ll finally have pics to post :)
Breakfast was pretty good, mostly traditional Turkish, including really fresh halloumi and bagels similar to Montreal bagels.
Cause we have Istanbul as a base, we only need to take whatever clothing is needed for each leg. However the forecast for Egypt over the ten days we’re there ranges from a high of 20C when we arrive in Cairo and then a high of 40C five days later in Aswan. So we don’t really know what to take to Egypt.
The flight from Istanbul to Cairo is just over two hours, but door to door it took us nine hours. Immigration was no problem leaving Turkey, although they stamped on my Observation page :( Heather also got pulled over for a random search going through security.
Our departure changed gates four times before we boarded and then our plane waited an hour in line to take off. Hopefully Istanbul will have more capacity at their new airport.
Cairo International was strangely empty, maybe all the big planes arrive at a different time of day. Also most of the gates were available but we still parked on the tarmac (maybe the airport fees for using a gate are too high?).
Egypt immigration was a bit confusing, but no issues. Got our luggage and looked around for our driver after exiting the luggage area. A few minutes later we figured out that the hotel drivers aren’t allowed to enter the terminal and so we had to meet them outside. The drive from the airport to downtown took about 90 minutes, which is about normal.
My credit card got flagged for a fraud alert cause I tried to pay for the hotel and then our excursion in quick succession, even though both were chip and PIN. CIBC really has to work on their fraud triggers. So had to call CIBC to un-hold.
We had no motivation to head out for food so just ate at the hotel restaurant. It was okay.
Two days in and I haven’t even taken out my camera yet! Anyways tomorrow we’re going to the pyramids so I’ll finally have pics to post :)
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Istanbul, Turkey
It wasn’t until our taxi exited the highway into the organized maze of narrow one-way streets of central Istanbul that I started to feel like we were traveling again.
Before that it was the generic air travel that is the same for everywhere, although that does a disservice to Turkish Airlines, which was one of the best airlines we’ve flown.
Our flight was delayed a bit for de-icing (! - it’s almost April). We landed in Istanbul nine hours later and quickly got through passport control. They didn’t care to look at our evisa printout - they just scanned our passports and I’m assuming that looked up our visa info automatically. Going through Pearson seems so antiquated in comparison.
Istanbul’s new airport opens on Apr 6 and it was a bit sad to see the old airport in its last few days. Then I remembered the IKEA commercial about feeling sorry for the old lamp and was fine.
We always book airport pickup through the hotel when we first arrive in a new country. There were hundreds of names listed on signs for pickup - we actually split up to search for our names.
The drive into town was quick, following the coastline of the Sea of Marmara most of the way. We crossed over the bridge to Karaköy and then onto cobblestone streets approaching the hotel. There’s a cool vibe to the area we’re staying - lots of pedestrian traffic, people sitting in cafés spilling out the sidewalk, steep up and down winding roads.
We checked in at Hammamane, cleaned up and then headed out to explore the immediate neighbourhood before having dinner. There’s small barriers separating the road and sidewalk which makes it less stressful to walk on narrow streets.
We also saw lots of food and water set out for the street cats. We had read that locals love their cats here, but hadn’t realized how much until we saw the homemade cat shelters on every spare area of sidewalk, and healthy looking street cats everywhere.
We had dinner at No 19 at the recommendation of our hotel. It’s basically home cooked food that is now a restaurant. Very yummy and a great way to get into Turkish food.
Walked around some more after dinner, looking for a cool coffee shop. The cool ones looked like they just catered to tourists so ended up in a bright neon-lit place which was very local, made great coffee and tasty pastries. The locals were glued to their TVs watching the local election results.
It was a relaxing start to our trip. Istanbul is our hub, tomorrow we’re off to Egypt. We’ll have some time to see Istanbul at the end of this trip.
Before that it was the generic air travel that is the same for everywhere, although that does a disservice to Turkish Airlines, which was one of the best airlines we’ve flown.
Our flight was delayed a bit for de-icing (! - it’s almost April). We landed in Istanbul nine hours later and quickly got through passport control. They didn’t care to look at our evisa printout - they just scanned our passports and I’m assuming that looked up our visa info automatically. Going through Pearson seems so antiquated in comparison.
Istanbul’s new airport opens on Apr 6 and it was a bit sad to see the old airport in its last few days. Then I remembered the IKEA commercial about feeling sorry for the old lamp and was fine.
We always book airport pickup through the hotel when we first arrive in a new country. There were hundreds of names listed on signs for pickup - we actually split up to search for our names.
The drive into town was quick, following the coastline of the Sea of Marmara most of the way. We crossed over the bridge to Karaköy and then onto cobblestone streets approaching the hotel. There’s a cool vibe to the area we’re staying - lots of pedestrian traffic, people sitting in cafés spilling out the sidewalk, steep up and down winding roads.
We checked in at Hammamane, cleaned up and then headed out to explore the immediate neighbourhood before having dinner. There’s small barriers separating the road and sidewalk which makes it less stressful to walk on narrow streets.
We also saw lots of food and water set out for the street cats. We had read that locals love their cats here, but hadn’t realized how much until we saw the homemade cat shelters on every spare area of sidewalk, and healthy looking street cats everywhere.
We had dinner at No 19 at the recommendation of our hotel. It’s basically home cooked food that is now a restaurant. Very yummy and a great way to get into Turkish food.
Walked around some more after dinner, looking for a cool coffee shop. The cool ones looked like they just catered to tourists so ended up in a bright neon-lit place which was very local, made great coffee and tasty pastries. The locals were glued to their TVs watching the local election results.
It was a relaxing start to our trip. Istanbul is our hub, tomorrow we’re off to Egypt. We’ll have some time to see Istanbul at the end of this trip.
Saturday, January 05, 2019
Toronto, Canada
We were up early again today, this time to catch our flight back home. The hotel's checkout was very efficient, our taxi arrived at 6:45am just like we booked, and we were at FCO in less than 30 minutes.
Checked in and then had a croissant and tea. Went through security (we were flying via Amsterdam, so there's wasn't passport control here) and then waited in the lounge. Flew to Amsterdam, and then had only 50 minutes for our connection so rushed through the terminals and immigration to our gate, and boarded immediately.
The flight to Toronto was uneventful. Then we had to make it through Pearson. They've somewhat improved, but still rank near the bottom of airports in my opinion. Took us 80 minutes from landing to get into a taxi (about twice what it takes at the other end of the scale, e.g. in Singapore).
Overall I really enjoyed the trip. There's definitely more than enough to see and do in Rome over two weeks. We got a good sampling of Roman food, and saw the major sights (and lots of the lesser ones too).
My favourites, in no particular order, include:
We walked everywhere, averaging about 10-15km per day. We needed to walk that much, what with all the big meals we ate. We were very lucky with the weather. On average it rains about 50% of the days at this time of year; we did not get rained on at all. In fact, we only had a couple cloudy days. Rome is relatively crowded over Christmas, but it's easy to beat the crowds at major sights by going either first thing in the morning, or after 4pm.
And finally, for those counting (Gerry and Tanya), the Vatican is country #78 for me.
Checked in and then had a croissant and tea. Went through security (we were flying via Amsterdam, so there's wasn't passport control here) and then waited in the lounge. Flew to Amsterdam, and then had only 50 minutes for our connection so rushed through the terminals and immigration to our gate, and boarded immediately.
The flight to Toronto was uneventful. Then we had to make it through Pearson. They've somewhat improved, but still rank near the bottom of airports in my opinion. Took us 80 minutes from landing to get into a taxi (about twice what it takes at the other end of the scale, e.g. in Singapore).
Overall I really enjoyed the trip. There's definitely more than enough to see and do in Rome over two weeks. We got a good sampling of Roman food, and saw the major sights (and lots of the lesser ones too).
My favourites, in no particular order, include:
- Midnight Mass at St Peter's Basilica with the pope
- Climbing to the cupola at St Peter's
- Seeing the Roman Forum
- Tour of the Vatican Museums
- Borghese Museum
- Palazzo Barberini
- Capitoline Museums
- Castel Sant’Angelo
- Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno
We walked everywhere, averaging about 10-15km per day. We needed to walk that much, what with all the big meals we ate. We were very lucky with the weather. On average it rains about 50% of the days at this time of year; we did not get rained on at all. In fact, we only had a couple cloudy days. Rome is relatively crowded over Christmas, but it's easy to beat the crowds at major sights by going either first thing in the morning, or after 4pm.
And finally, for those counting (Gerry and Tanya), the Vatican is country #78 for me.
Friday, January 04, 2019
Rome, Italy — Vatican Museums
Our last full day in Rome started very early. We had booked the 'Waking up the Vatican Tour' of the Vatican Museums back in July, and even then were only able to get a booking on our last day here. It's limited to 20 people per day, starting at 6am and going through each room with the clavigero (key keeper) as the rooms are opened up for the day. As an added bonus, pictures are not only allowed, they're encouraged.
So we were up at 4:30am (!) to make sure we were there on time. The tickets said to be at the entrance to the Vatican Museums at 5:50am, even providing the exact latitude/longitude to make sure people went to the right spot. We got there around 5:45am, and were the second-last to arrive of our group. Looks like we weren't the only ones making sure we were there on time :) We waited eagerly for the key keeper to open the doors, saw the sliver of light under the door at 5:59, and at 6:00 he opened the door and welcomed us in.
During normal hours this is the exit to the Vatican Museum, at the bottom of the Bramante staircase. We took the old elevators up and started our tour! Our tour guide said that we would be going through most of the rooms with some pace, in order to maximize our time in the Sistine Chapel, so to please stay with the tour! First the key keeper picked up the giant 8-inch diameter key rings with dozens of keys on each. Then we went through the museums, at each door the key keeper gave one of us the key to open the door and then turn on the lights. Our guide had mentioned that the tour is more impressive in the winter, because it's still dark outside. The early summer sun ruins the impact of turning on the lights :)
Passed through the Egyptian and Etruscan museums, Octagonal court, Raphael's rooms, the Gallery of Maps and Tapestry Gallery, maybe not in that order. There were four of us in the tour who were keen on photography, lagging behind the group to get our tourist-less pictures. There was a lot to take in, and the time seemed to fly by. Heather felt it was similar to seeing the gorillas, it seems like you could blink and miss it all, even though it's a couple hours. Finally we were at the door to the Sistine Chapel, the grand finale of the tour. One of the tour participants unlocked the door, and we all entered by the key keeper's flashlight. Then, the lights came on and the full Sistine Chapel was before us! Everyone went camera-happy. Another couple took a timed selfie from their phone on the floor pointing at the ceiling, with their fingers lined up to touch Adam's and God's. It was silly enough that we took a similar pic.
The tour finished with a brunch. As we had read earlier in a review, you're not going on this tour because of the food.
Bought some souvenirs at the gift shop, and then took a whole lot of pictures of Heather walking down the spiral staircase. Luckily at this hour, there was no one else leaving (the early-access tours were just congregating in the lobbies to start their tours), and so we were able to get a few takes in without worry about other people on the staircase. It was one of the two pics I was looking forward to taking in the Vatican Museums (the other being God reaching out to Adam).
We were back at our hotel by 10am, in time to catch the tail end of breakfast. So had our 2nd breakfast of the day :)
We had originally thought we would spend more time at the Vatican Museums after our tour (the ticket allowed us to re-enter and wander at our own pace) but part of the magic was seeing the Museums tourist-free and that would have been ruined if we went back through.
So instead we took a taxi back to Via Appia Antica and to see the Catacombes that were closed a couple days earlier when we attempted to visit. Stopped in at Catacombe di San Callisto and bought our tickets. It's only possible by organized tour (our timing was good, we arrived at 11:20 and the next tour was at 11:30). I had hoped to not have to take a tour, but oh well. The mandatory tour made more sense when we we got down there -- it's a maze where one could easily get lost. Our guide was not the greatest, and it was cold and damp in the catacombs. We were shivering at the end. Also, pictures aren't allowed at all. The catacombs themselves were cool to see, but we didn't feel the need to see Catacombe di San Sebastiano just down the road. Even walking along Via Appia Antica wasn't the experience we had hoped, but that's because it was much colder today with a biting wind. At least we had brought our toques along.
Walked back into town and went to Vinando's for lunch. We had had lunch there last week and really enjoyed their artichoke and pecorino pizza the last time. So ordered it again, along with a charcuterie platter. They messed up the order and brought us lasagna instead of the charcuterie. The service went downhill from there so we just finished up and went back to our favourite cafe by the turtle fountain for dessert, and some craft beer.
I was starting to hit a wall, having woken up at 4am. Both of us took a short nap and then later went to Gino 51 for dinner. We had eaten there our first day in and enjoyed it. It was also one of the hotel manager's recommended restaurants. We discussed what we wanted, but then the restaurant person provided her suggestions for us (the benefit of name-dropping our hotel manager). Her suggestions were actually similar to what we had discussed, so that worked out well. Started with the zucchini flowers (stuffed with cheese and anchovies, battered and deep-fried, very yummy) and battered squid. We then had the zucchini and shrimp tonnarelli. For the main we had sea bass with sliced potatoes, and contorni of roman artichoke, and roman salad. We misunderstood the sea bass and potatoes -- when the dish arrived, we thought it was a plate full of scalloped potatoes. But the sea bass is actually baked in a pocket of sliced potatoes. Also very yummy. The roman salad had greens that we couldn't identify but were excellent, I think we had seen people prepping them in the market. We were stuffed so just had espressos. It was an excellent way to finish our tour of Roman food.
So we were up at 4:30am (!) to make sure we were there on time. The tickets said to be at the entrance to the Vatican Museums at 5:50am, even providing the exact latitude/longitude to make sure people went to the right spot. We got there around 5:45am, and were the second-last to arrive of our group. Looks like we weren't the only ones making sure we were there on time :) We waited eagerly for the key keeper to open the doors, saw the sliver of light under the door at 5:59, and at 6:00 he opened the door and welcomed us in.
During normal hours this is the exit to the Vatican Museum, at the bottom of the Bramante staircase. We took the old elevators up and started our tour! Our tour guide said that we would be going through most of the rooms with some pace, in order to maximize our time in the Sistine Chapel, so to please stay with the tour! First the key keeper picked up the giant 8-inch diameter key rings with dozens of keys on each. Then we went through the museums, at each door the key keeper gave one of us the key to open the door and then turn on the lights. Our guide had mentioned that the tour is more impressive in the winter, because it's still dark outside. The early summer sun ruins the impact of turning on the lights :)
Passed through the Egyptian and Etruscan museums, Octagonal court, Raphael's rooms, the Gallery of Maps and Tapestry Gallery, maybe not in that order. There were four of us in the tour who were keen on photography, lagging behind the group to get our tourist-less pictures. There was a lot to take in, and the time seemed to fly by. Heather felt it was similar to seeing the gorillas, it seems like you could blink and miss it all, even though it's a couple hours. Finally we were at the door to the Sistine Chapel, the grand finale of the tour. One of the tour participants unlocked the door, and we all entered by the key keeper's flashlight. Then, the lights came on and the full Sistine Chapel was before us! Everyone went camera-happy. Another couple took a timed selfie from their phone on the floor pointing at the ceiling, with their fingers lined up to touch Adam's and God's. It was silly enough that we took a similar pic.
The tour finished with a brunch. As we had read earlier in a review, you're not going on this tour because of the food.
Bought some souvenirs at the gift shop, and then took a whole lot of pictures of Heather walking down the spiral staircase. Luckily at this hour, there was no one else leaving (the early-access tours were just congregating in the lobbies to start their tours), and so we were able to get a few takes in without worry about other people on the staircase. It was one of the two pics I was looking forward to taking in the Vatican Museums (the other being God reaching out to Adam).
We were back at our hotel by 10am, in time to catch the tail end of breakfast. So had our 2nd breakfast of the day :)
We had originally thought we would spend more time at the Vatican Museums after our tour (the ticket allowed us to re-enter and wander at our own pace) but part of the magic was seeing the Museums tourist-free and that would have been ruined if we went back through.
So instead we took a taxi back to Via Appia Antica and to see the Catacombes that were closed a couple days earlier when we attempted to visit. Stopped in at Catacombe di San Callisto and bought our tickets. It's only possible by organized tour (our timing was good, we arrived at 11:20 and the next tour was at 11:30). I had hoped to not have to take a tour, but oh well. The mandatory tour made more sense when we we got down there -- it's a maze where one could easily get lost. Our guide was not the greatest, and it was cold and damp in the catacombs. We were shivering at the end. Also, pictures aren't allowed at all. The catacombs themselves were cool to see, but we didn't feel the need to see Catacombe di San Sebastiano just down the road. Even walking along Via Appia Antica wasn't the experience we had hoped, but that's because it was much colder today with a biting wind. At least we had brought our toques along.
Walked back into town and went to Vinando's for lunch. We had had lunch there last week and really enjoyed their artichoke and pecorino pizza the last time. So ordered it again, along with a charcuterie platter. They messed up the order and brought us lasagna instead of the charcuterie. The service went downhill from there so we just finished up and went back to our favourite cafe by the turtle fountain for dessert, and some craft beer.
I was starting to hit a wall, having woken up at 4am. Both of us took a short nap and then later went to Gino 51 for dinner. We had eaten there our first day in and enjoyed it. It was also one of the hotel manager's recommended restaurants. We discussed what we wanted, but then the restaurant person provided her suggestions for us (the benefit of name-dropping our hotel manager). Her suggestions were actually similar to what we had discussed, so that worked out well. Started with the zucchini flowers (stuffed with cheese and anchovies, battered and deep-fried, very yummy) and battered squid. We then had the zucchini and shrimp tonnarelli. For the main we had sea bass with sliced potatoes, and contorni of roman artichoke, and roman salad. We misunderstood the sea bass and potatoes -- when the dish arrived, we thought it was a plate full of scalloped potatoes. But the sea bass is actually baked in a pocket of sliced potatoes. Also very yummy. The roman salad had greens that we couldn't identify but were excellent, I think we had seen people prepping them in the market. We were stuffed so just had espressos. It was an excellent way to finish our tour of Roman food.
Thursday, January 03, 2019
Rome, Italy — Museo Borghese
We were up early because we had tickets to Museo e Galleria Borghese at 11:10am. The Borghese is one of the top-listed sites in Rome. You need to book about a week in advance, which wasn't really clear in the guide books or any websites / blogs we had read. We only found out when we tried to buy tickets last week and had to get a guided tour ticket because the regular tickets were sold out.
It's about an hour walk from our hotel. Followed google maps the whole way which took us through the heart of the city but down streets we hadn't seen before. Picked up our tickets, and then had about 20 minutes to kill so checked out the gift shop.
Our tour started at exactly 11:10am. Most organized tours nowadays have a earphone for each participant so the guide doesn't have to yell and disturb other visitors. It's the first time I've used one, but that's because mostly we just explore on our own.
Our guide was really good. He knew his art, and explained what made a piece baroque or other styles. He also had a good sense of humour. There's some really expensive art at the Borghese for a relatively small museum. Plus, right now they have a temporary exhibit of Picasso juxtaposed with the permanent collection. From the museum's website:
The guided tour was 90 minutes and then we had 30 minutes to wander on our own. The Borghese museum was one of our highlights. If you're going to Rome, I'd recommend it, but book in advance!
Had lunch at the museum cafe which was pretty good, then wandered back home. Along the way stopped into some stores but with exchange rates it was cheaper just to buy stuff back home.
We had dinner at Taverna Trilussa. Our hotel manager booked it for us, and as usual for all his recommended places, he wrote down the name of the owner with which he was friends with, to make sure we were well received and not getting a tourist experience. Trilussa was probably the most upscale place we ate at over the two weeks. They had several kinds of prosciutto on the menu, so tried a 36 month aged for the appetizer. I would have liked it if there was the equivalent of a flight of prosciutto, so that I had something to compare. It did taste good, but how much better, I'm not sure. Split the bucatini all'amatriciana for the pasta (for Heather it was served in the pot it was cooked in, which I think is in fashion right now). Had the grilled lamb for our main which had really nice flavour. We were too full for dessert so just had an espresso. Overall a very good meal.
It's about an hour walk from our hotel. Followed google maps the whole way which took us through the heart of the city but down streets we hadn't seen before. Picked up our tickets, and then had about 20 minutes to kill so checked out the gift shop.
Our tour started at exactly 11:10am. Most organized tours nowadays have a earphone for each participant so the guide doesn't have to yell and disturb other visitors. It's the first time I've used one, but that's because mostly we just explore on our own.
Our guide was really good. He knew his art, and explained what made a piece baroque or other styles. He also had a good sense of humour. There's some really expensive art at the Borghese for a relatively small museum. Plus, right now they have a temporary exhibit of Picasso juxtaposed with the permanent collection. From the museum's website:
The exhibition at the Galleria Borghese takes into account his experience of contact with Italian art to return to reflect on great themes related to painting and especially to sculpture from the Renaissance onwards.
The guided tour was 90 minutes and then we had 30 minutes to wander on our own. The Borghese museum was one of our highlights. If you're going to Rome, I'd recommend it, but book in advance!
Had lunch at the museum cafe which was pretty good, then wandered back home. Along the way stopped into some stores but with exchange rates it was cheaper just to buy stuff back home.
We had dinner at Taverna Trilussa. Our hotel manager booked it for us, and as usual for all his recommended places, he wrote down the name of the owner with which he was friends with, to make sure we were well received and not getting a tourist experience. Trilussa was probably the most upscale place we ate at over the two weeks. They had several kinds of prosciutto on the menu, so tried a 36 month aged for the appetizer. I would have liked it if there was the equivalent of a flight of prosciutto, so that I had something to compare. It did taste good, but how much better, I'm not sure. Split the bucatini all'amatriciana for the pasta (for Heather it was served in the pot it was cooked in, which I think is in fashion right now). Had the grilled lamb for our main which had really nice flavour. We were too full for dessert so just had an espresso. Overall a very good meal.
Wednesday, January 02, 2019
Rome, Italy — Via Appia Antica
We had big plans to walk along Via Appia Antica, which the Lonely Planet rates as one of the top highlights in Rome. There's a few catacomb sites to visit along the walk too. It's another nice break from the usual tourist sites. We debated taking transportation to the starting point, but ended up walking because it was through different areas of Rome that we hadn't seen yet.
It's about an hour to the starting point. Unfortunately the gates to the park were closed, so we had to take the road, where there's not much sidewalk. Finally we got to Catacombe di San Callisto, which is closed on Wednesdays :( So walked down to Basilica of Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, which also has some catacombs. They were closed on Jan 2 because of repairs to the electrical system :( we weren't having much luck today! (the name 'Outside the Walls' is a reference to the ancient Roman law forbidding burying of the dead inside the walls)
So we walked back into the city. We realized we had walked right past Terme di Caracalla on the way in, cause we saw it on our way back. Looked it up in the Lonely Planet but it didn't sound interesting enough and we were hungry and tired and cold so just continued on.
We went back to the cosy little place in the turtle fountain plaza. Same as last time, the lady was overwhelmed at times with customers. We had a soup and chicory torte with a red wine. It was still overly busy so went across the plaza to have dessert and an espresso. Realized they had craft beer (we had read that same as everywhere else now, there's quite the craft beer scene in Rome) so I tried a witbier (Seta, by Birrificio Rurale). It was pretty good.
They had wifi (pronounced 'wiffy' here too, maybe it's a European thing) at the bar so we searched around for a place for dinner. Made a reservation at DanEl Tavernae based on the tripadvisor rating.
DanEl was more experimental with food, and very big into instagrammable plates. Had the tuna tartare for the starter (the tuna, as with all the ingredients here, was excellent), carbonara for pasta (which turned out to be deconstructed), and almond-crusted veal tenderloin for the main (served with about 15 ingredients in the presentation, but really just needed the veal, crusted almonds, potato slices and greens). The espressos were good too.
It's about an hour to the starting point. Unfortunately the gates to the park were closed, so we had to take the road, where there's not much sidewalk. Finally we got to Catacombe di San Callisto, which is closed on Wednesdays :( So walked down to Basilica of Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, which also has some catacombs. They were closed on Jan 2 because of repairs to the electrical system :( we weren't having much luck today! (the name 'Outside the Walls' is a reference to the ancient Roman law forbidding burying of the dead inside the walls)
So we walked back into the city. We realized we had walked right past Terme di Caracalla on the way in, cause we saw it on our way back. Looked it up in the Lonely Planet but it didn't sound interesting enough and we were hungry and tired and cold so just continued on.
We went back to the cosy little place in the turtle fountain plaza. Same as last time, the lady was overwhelmed at times with customers. We had a soup and chicory torte with a red wine. It was still overly busy so went across the plaza to have dessert and an espresso. Realized they had craft beer (we had read that same as everywhere else now, there's quite the craft beer scene in Rome) so I tried a witbier (Seta, by Birrificio Rurale). It was pretty good.
They had wifi (pronounced 'wiffy' here too, maybe it's a European thing) at the bar so we searched around for a place for dinner. Made a reservation at DanEl Tavernae based on the tripadvisor rating.
DanEl was more experimental with food, and very big into instagrammable plates. Had the tuna tartare for the starter (the tuna, as with all the ingredients here, was excellent), carbonara for pasta (which turned out to be deconstructed), and almond-crusted veal tenderloin for the main (served with about 15 ingredients in the presentation, but really just needed the veal, crusted almonds, potato slices and greens). The espressos were good too.
Tuesday, January 01, 2019
Rome, Italy — MAXXI
The art galleries are some of the few attractions open in Rome on New Year's Day. We decided on MAXXI (Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo), in part because the building extension is designed by Zaha Hadid. We'll be seeing another of her buildings in Baku on our next trip.
So after breakfast we headed out. The walk there went through Piazza del Popolo, much less crowded in the early hours. They were taking down the NYE stuff in the square. Apparently, the Roman thing to do on NYE is to walk from Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo. This is normally crowded with tourists on an average day, I can't image it at NYE.
Heading north from Piazza del Popolo, we were in non-touristy areas, with just locals walking their dogs. It took about an hour to reach MAXXI from our hotel.
Took some pics of the Hadid extension, and then entered. I found the temporary exhibit, THE STREET. WHERE THE WORLD IS MADE, the most interesting. It was a nice break from all the historical stuff we've otherwise been seeing.
The museum restaurant was closed for renovations (or something). There was a street food truck just outside the entrance, serving freshly-cooked pastas. Ordered a couple different pastas, and while I waited for the order, Heather bought some red wine from the coffee shop inside the museum. Ate our lunch in the remaining sunshine in the modern plaza (it was about 2pm by now). Got a couple espressos and cookies for dessert. Not bad for a street food lunch.
We had dinner at Ai Bozzi yet again, this time with a reservation. (There's not much open on New Year's). Kept to their seafood specials which were excellent. Also had their homemade pistachio gelato again for dessert.
So after breakfast we headed out. The walk there went through Piazza del Popolo, much less crowded in the early hours. They were taking down the NYE stuff in the square. Apparently, the Roman thing to do on NYE is to walk from Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo. This is normally crowded with tourists on an average day, I can't image it at NYE.
Heading north from Piazza del Popolo, we were in non-touristy areas, with just locals walking their dogs. It took about an hour to reach MAXXI from our hotel.
Took some pics of the Hadid extension, and then entered. I found the temporary exhibit, THE STREET. WHERE THE WORLD IS MADE, the most interesting. It was a nice break from all the historical stuff we've otherwise been seeing.
The museum restaurant was closed for renovations (or something). There was a street food truck just outside the entrance, serving freshly-cooked pastas. Ordered a couple different pastas, and while I waited for the order, Heather bought some red wine from the coffee shop inside the museum. Ate our lunch in the remaining sunshine in the modern plaza (it was about 2pm by now). Got a couple espressos and cookies for dessert. Not bad for a street food lunch.
We had dinner at Ai Bozzi yet again, this time with a reservation. (There's not much open on New Year's). Kept to their seafood specials which were excellent. Also had their homemade pistachio gelato again for dessert.
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