Another visitor arrives! Lori, our fourth, and probably final visitor, met us in Madrid and we spent a few short days in Spain and Gibraltar. Even though we were only in the country for about three days, we did our best to see a few things as we passed through and still had time for tapas and three pitchers of sangria.
In Madrid, we walked around the city center area. Puerto del Sol, the Grand Via, Plaza Mayor, and the royal palace were all great to see. The royal palace was …

For the last five days, we got to catch up with a friend who volunteered for the Peace Corps and was placed in Albania. The high speed ferry from Corfu only takes thirty minutes and Lesley met us on the other side for lunch. The town where we landed, Sarande, is quite touristy, including a promenade along the water. After lunch and a 40 minute bus ride (20 kilometers) to Ksamil, we settled into her apartment and walked around town shopping for dinner. We were excited that we could cook …

The town of Hvar was a great place to relax for a few days. The tourist season was waning for the island, which made it a good time to come and enjoy the place with fewer crowds. Our apartment was conveniently located just off the main square, giving us easy access to the beach, coffee shops, the old fort, and the shops on the narrow streets of the old town.
After a bit of confusion finding our apartment, we got settled in and set out to explore the town. At …

What a difference a plane ride makes. Obviously, but we were now in Europe. Istanbul does a good job of looking and feeling like Europe. We were greeted with efficient public transportation, cute streets full of cafes, real coffee, and public green spaces. Despite the fact that we didn’t get to our hostel until 8pm, we were still able to enjoy the hustle and bustle of evening activity. This may have been enhanced with the evening Ramadan activities, but it was great to see people having a good time.
Istanbul also …

The trip from Amman to Jerusalem involved a land-border crossing. It was the third one of the trip and they are never quite as easy as entering the country through an airport. The two cities are only 50 miles apart, but the whole process took us almost eight hours; it involved three buses and four different taxis. Part of the problem was access to cash at the Israeli border station. We traded in the last of our Jordanian Dinars at the only currency exchange place available, which took an outrageous …

Two days before our second visitor arrived we landed in Amman. Luck would have it that we actually knew someone who lives there. Janelle, who graciously provided four college kids a free place to stay in Manhattan for New Years Eve ten years ago, invited us to stay in her upstairs studio apartment for as long as we could make use of it in Amman too! Janelle and Mark and their two cute kids, Alexandra and Paul were very helpful giving us the ins and outs of the city and …

An old capital of Egypt, the ancient city of Thebes is our next stop. These days the city is known by its Arabic name, Luxor, but it still holds some amazing ancient ruins. The 300 mile journey from Cairo gave us another chance to take an overnight train. This time we even had a dining car, but the outrageously priced cup of Nescafe kept us from getting too excited. The train arrived early in the morning, we found a hotel, and set out to see some temples right away.
The …

Only four months behind Mike, Heather can check off her seventh continent. We had to track down a cold beer to celebrate the occasion. Being in a predominantly Muslim country, we didn’t have a lot of choices. We found an “Irish Pub” located inside the Hilton. Heather actually had wine and Mike tried a Luxor beer.
Our first day out we took it slow and meandered around the Egyptian Museum. The place is huge, more like a warehouse than a museum. The impression we got was that the first archaeologists to …

Although Rajasthan is not home to the Taj Mahal, it does contain the Pink City, the Blue City, and numerous palaces and temples. We opted for a ten day private car tour of the area. Fittingly our driver’s name was Raj!
The first stop was Agra. We didn’t head to the main attraction right away but instead went to Agra Fort. From the outside it looked like we’d be there all day, it is massive. However, once inside we learned that it is still used by the military so we …

China is huge, so getting roughly to the middle takes a long time. High speed trains are reserved for the east coast so to get to Xi’an we split the trip into two overnight legs. Also, due to the Expo, tickets out of Shanghai are sold out quickly, unless of course you want to stand for 36 hours rather than getting a seat or bed on the train.
China has had multiple capitals and Kaifeng falls on the list of one of the Seven Ancient Capitals. But, like most other …