Morning Walks in Omis, Croatia

Derek and I walk or run every morning here in the gorgeous town of Omis. The old city, where our apartment is, is something out of a fairy tale. We wind through the old streets for a bit before walking along the river toward the Adriatic. Derek gives me a daily boat lesson as we pass the boats anchored near town.  The scenery is so dramatic with the rock cliffs hovering so close to the ocean. I think we are going to enjoy it here...

Dead Sea and Masada

After seeing the outrageous prices quoted for a tour to the Dead Sea and Masada, we decided to try and rent a car and get there ourselves .  After a little research, we found it would shave around $100 off the trip and, as it turns out, it was so easy!  Israel is a small country and there is only one main highway that leads you directly down the coast of the Dead Sea and straight to Masada- a bit over 1 hour.  So we packed a lunch, grabbed our swimsuits and set off....with Derek at the wheel, of course!  After a few wrong turns, we made it to Masada.  At Masada you can either take a tram to the top or hike for an hour.  We, in our money saving mindsets, figured we would make the hike.  It was an extremely hot that day and with Ashley not so used to the dryness/heat, we had to take it slowly.  But, we made it to the top and enjoyed the panoramic views of the Dead Sea and surrounding desert (only for a few minutes at a time, because then we needed shade!)  After hiking down, we made our way to the Dead Sea, had a picnic lunch, and then carefully waded into the water.  It was a pretty amazing experience...you won't sink even if you try!  But don't stay in too long....any tiny cuts or scrapes begin burning like crazy after a few minutes.  We drove back to Jerusalem just in time for rush hour, but returned the car with 5 minutes to spare!  All in all, a wonderful day. 

 We made it to the top...much to Ashley's relief!                  Derek seems to be fine......   

              Dead Sea in the distance and Roman sauna

                                                    Beautifully preserved mosaic floor

                                                                Wildlife! Notice the baby

                                                                         Dead Sea

                                                                     Just relaxing....

                                                                     And flying......

                                                           More relaxing......

                                                         And more flying....

The Holy Land

  Jerusalem is an amazing city full of history, history and more history.  While the surrounding area beyond the walls of the Old City are modern and full of restaurants and shops, the Old City itself takes you back in time.  The three quarters: Muslim, Christian and Jewish each have their own unique flair.  The most important sights of all three religions are located within steps of each other...The Dome of the Rock (Islamic)- where Mohammed heard the voice of God, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christian)- venerated as the location of Jesus' crucifixion and burial place, and The Western Wall (Jewish)-the last remnant of the Temple; the most sacred site in Judaism.  The melting pot of people and religions is an amazing experience and personally, puts a lot of things into perspective. If you ever get the chance, Jerusalem is a must see.  But, be prepared for the heat from this time of the year until the fall....we were fooled on our first day.  When we arrived it was raining and around 50 degrees.  That soon changed and a few days later it was well into the 90's and 100's with not a cloud in sight!  We beat the heat at the Dead Sea (photos to come), but Ashley almost passed out on the hike to Masada (story to come). All in all, we've had a great time.  The hummus and olives are to die for, the people are great and the sights are amazing!!
    

                                                    Jaffa Street-just a train, no cars allowed!!

                                                               Outside the Tower of David

                                                    Dome in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

                     Church of the Holy Sepulchre

                 At the right time, the light shines directly on the shrine where it is said Jesus was crucified

                                                           FALAFEL!!  Best food ever
                

                                                          The Western (Wailing) Wall

              Top of Dome of the Rock and roman cisterns (right)                        

                 Roman Cistern at the Basilica of St. Annes

                                    Great find- We are assuming it says Clemson Tigers in Hebrew!

Hello Jordan, Goodbye Jordan

We have made it safely into Israel and are enjoying the sites but before we made it here we spent a few days in Amman, Jordan. Sadly we were not able to spend much time there because the cost for travelers was much higher than we had expected!  We did not, however, leave the country without getting a few surprises. Overall we really enjoyed our short stay in Amman. It is a much calmer capital city than most of the others we have seen and is also very walkable. Even though it rained everyday we were there we still walked around and saw the Amman citadel, an old fort used throughout history by almost everyone that lived in this area, and a very nice archaeology museum. One of the most surprising things about Amman was the food. We ate some of the best hummus and chicken we have ever had! We also found out that drinking is not a big thing in Amman but tobacco bars are. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner and finished our meal with a tobacco shisha. What was interesting was the fact that EVERYONE (women and men alike) were smoking flavored tobacco out of these pipes. It was nice but not something I could get used to everyday. We did a little reading on shishas and found out that its like smoking 22 cigarettes in one sitting and is just as additive. Overall, we enjoyed our stay very much and are already planing another trip there in the future.

Turkish Delight Part 2

The Hagia Sophia is a beautiful building!  Originally a Byzantine Church (finished around 360 AD) and later converted into a mosque, it is now a great museum/monument that has been restored and maintained over the years.  Istanbul was such a wonderful place...the history literally surrounds you on all four sides!  We also visited the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern, built during the reign of Justinian in the 6th century. It was too dark to take any good photos, but is definitely worth a visit! Also worth noting is the Modern Art Museum and the Archaeological Museum near the Hagia Sophia.  It was one of the best museums we've seen yet!  We also took a ferry boat up the Bosphorus Strait and visited the Asian side of Istanbul (literally on the Asian Continent).  After walking for 2 hours we realized we were lost, but finally reached the market area that was our original destination....we were only a few kilometers off!  Overall, Istanbul was great. The food was to die for and we could have spent weeks seeing all of the sights!

                   The Blue Mosque Exterior and Interior

Turkish Delight!

Well we are headed to Jordan this evening and wanted to share a few more photos. We have a bunch on the camera, but those will be blogged tomorrow! Here's a peak at the Hagia Sophia....what a beautiful place! We also did a little shopping for some less traveled clothing ( see Ashley below), got some neat photos of the streets and antiques and celebrated 6 months of traveling and 2 years since we met! More to come later... Enjoy!!

Fun Day at the Market

Taj Mahal and Final Thoughts

India, we have found, is a land of contradictions.  The monuments, tombs, palaces and forts have been some of the best sites we've seen so far on our trip.  The cities, however, leave a lot to be desired.  It's a hectic country and the never ending sound of cars honking (WAY too loudly) will frustrate anyone.  Poverty is an ever present sight throughout the country and it's disheartening to see that in a country with one of the worlds largest economies (in the top 10 based on output) at least one third of it's people live on less than $1.25 per day.  P.s: India's population is now only130 million less than China's- not a lot when you consider each has over 1.2 billion people!
Here is an interesting page that highlights some statistics about India:
http://www.devinit.org/reports/indian-poverty-and-aid-briefing

Holi in Jaipur

We were lucky enough to experience Holi (India's famous color festival) in Jaipur.  The city is most famous for the elephant festival during Holi.  However.....thanks to a PETA related organization the festival was cancelled the day of.  Lucky us. But, we celebrated Holi in true Indian style: get covered from head to toe by perfumed powder!  We also visited the Amber Palace and Jaigarh (sp?) Fort, which were pretty amazing!  We then went to Pushkar, an all vegetarian town on a holy lake.  We only spent one day here, but managed to find time for a camel ride!  That sure was interesting...Chantal's saddle malfunctioned and she found herself hugging the camels neck!  Our camel decided to try and bite the guide and chased him (at a full run) around the dunes!  Camels are not the most stable animals when running....a very bumpy ride for passengers.  We also had some of the best food of the trip in Pushkar and have been missing it since we left.

                                                              In the Pink City (Jaipur)

                                    HAPPY HOLI!