Posts Tagged Adventure
Venice, Italy
Posted by Christopher in Adventures, Europe 2010 on October 22, 2010
Venice!
There are so many overly hyped locations in the world. An example for me is Big Ben or most Caribbean islands. Venice is not one of them. Everything you heard about Venice is true and depending on when you go you can only experience the good stuff.
Our train left Slovenia at 2AM. The cold morning air kept us awake as we walked from our Hostel toward the train station. The roads were so quite and the sidewalk so deserted that at times we walked in the street to avoid any shadows and alleyways.
The Venice express, originally starting in Budapest was on it’s last leg. The green glow of the lights illuminated a few tourists sprawled out across their luggage. A few unshaven Eastern European men in thin leather jackets seemingly feed on cigarettes and leer at anything resembling a Female of the species.
Flash forward 6 hours and we arrived at the central train station of Venice, just as the sun was rising. It was such an amazing place that I stopped taking notes and so only have photos to show.
Sorry…but you’ll understand once you get there.
Croatia (part 1)
Posted by Christopher in Adventures, Europe 2010 on October 10, 2010
The train from Budapest to Croatia snaked along the shallow valleys and rich countryside. At some point the train stopped and a group of uniforms entered checking everyone’s papers. Four sets of differing uniforms looked at, stamped and examined our passports before the train continued on into Croatia.
I know next to nothing about Croatia or any of the Balkans. When I was in school, most of these places were part of a artificial state called Yugoslavia with a guy named Tito as the celebrity of state.
We found the Croatian people to be emotionally controlled people, maybe a bit stern and when dealing with them they didn’t seem to respond when I smiled. (Americans are have wide reputation of being overly smiley and friendly) Eventually, I found that if I winked or made a silly face, their shells would crack and they would be much more friendly and even helpful.
We picked up our rental car and it turned out to be a Fiat 500. It had enough room for our bags, both of us and a bottle of water. The 6 gears helped me control the massive 72 horsepower! The road signs were unreadable but the overly aggressive drivers gave us little time to ponder what they said. With the GPS we brought, it was quite easy to get around.
Croatia is a small country but 10% of it is national parks. One such park is Plitsvice and we have looked forward to visiting it for quite a while. The park is centered around a valley filled with waterfalls and pools flowing over white marble limestone. It has to be one of the prettiest places on earth.
We must have hiked for hours and hours along a wonderful trail that at times lead along the edges of waterfalls. If something like this was in the USA, it would be a major tourist attraction to rival Yosemite of Yellowstone. We really enjoyed our time hiking and exploring the park.
Zadar, Croatia was our first stop along the coast. Pushed right up on the Mediterranean, the road followed the shoreline until an ancient church or fort blocked the way. We saw many signs of the war that they had in the 1990’s, including homes damaged by machine gun fire, burned out or shot-up with mortars. More than once, in-between the road signs for cows, deer or wild boar, we saw bright red warning signs that told you (in 4 languages) not to leave the roadway because of the danger of land mines.
Being on the sea, the culture here has grown up on sea food and with so much to offer, we found a few dishes that left us wishing for Mexican food!
The city of Spilt was our next port of call and like most of towns in this area, has an old Roman ruin at its core. The difference with Split is that many of the towns inhabitants still live and work inside the ruins! In fact, one of the Pharmacies here has been in operation since 1320, one of the oldest in the world.
Usually, we try to self-cater (buy our own food from markets and stores) but this trip we tried to eat out a bit more and explore the culinary offerings. Below is a funny photo of me learning that olives in the Mediterranean…. come with pits!
Tamara enjoyed the truffle pasta dishes but mostly the gelato!
Fes, Morocco
Posted by Christopher in Adventures, Europe 2010 on September 20, 2010
Fes, Morocco
Our train pulled us deeper into the Atlas mountain range and seemingly back in time. The City of Fes is the third largest city in Morocco but that doesn’t quite give an accurate picture. Dating back to 790 AD, Fes has the largest car free urban area in the world. The ancient medina lays over a valley, up a hill and spills into the next valley. A million people live in Fes and while the homes may be hundreds of years old, as we look out across the city, it is punctuated with satellite dishes and low power florescent bulbs. We head into one of the seven gates that used to protect the city but now strangle the flow of people and supplies.
It is so easy to think of North Africa as a primitive and backwards place, stuck in the past but their past and those of the Muslims are rich with advances and educational leaps that pulled Europe out of the Dark Ages. One example here in Fes is the University of Al-Karaouine, founded in 859 AD is the oldest continuously functioning university in the world. Having taught mathematics, science and cartography literature during all that time, it as one of the most important reservoirs of knowledge anywhere on earth for hundreds of years. Next to the University, is the oldest and largest Mosque in Africa. Being of the wrong religion we were unable to enter the building but I was able to take a snap or two. While Europe spent 500 years living in squallier and cooking food with cow dung, this University taught advanced algebra, geometry and physics.
As we wandered around the city, listening to the haunting wail of the Muslim’s call to prayer, we begin to smell something so horrendous that we can only be in the world famous leather district of Fes. Here they have continuously been making leather items the old fashion way, with sweat, natural dyes and bird poop. The large vats have dyes, lime and other caustic concoctions somehow make amazingly wonderful leather goods. For the price of a dinner back home, Tamara bought an beautiful hand made leather jacket that feels as soft as cotton.
Another highlight of Fes is the ceramic district, where they make anything and everything from handmade, fired and painted ceramics. We watched men breakup the clay, others form the clay into tiles and some painting. The kilns looked very old and it seems like a neat thing to know how to do….turn mud into plates, fountains and tiles.
The more I learn about the city of Fes and see how people live, I wonder about the value the “skills” I am learning like Word Documents, online banking and navigating a Starbucks. I also wonder think of how little we miss the skills we have almost completely lost like making clothes, glass and the ability to do advanced math/geometry without a device. I have a foreboding resignation that at some point, I will regret or hold as of no value my ethereal skills that I live by.
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