We arrived in lisbon after a 7hour night bus at 6:30 in the morning. Riding into the city on the metro, and then walking to the center of town, lisbonºs uncanny similarity to San Francisco shocked us. Lisbon contains a lovely "golden gate bridge," trolly cars and fun walking/shopping streets. We walked into the first open hostel we found, discovered a full capacity, then made our way to another hostel called "Yes." "Yes" awed us from the beginning. Clean, open, and jammed with people, the staff checked us in and invited us to have the breakfast all the travelers indulged themselves in.
  We took our time in lisbon cruising around and getting to know the city. compared to marakesch, we explored with ease, moving slow and taking in portuguese culture. Expericnes included: happening upon a mass in portugese in a beautiful church, witnessing the beautiful combination of the ocean running into the orange roof countryside, and eating dinner sitting on the dock of the bay. Not only did we spend all day getting to know the city, we also spent part of our night getting familiar with the unique lisbon night life. Our hostel took everyone out and introducded us to the city streets- packed with young people enjoying a drink and hanging out with friends.
 
Porto, like toledo, greeted us with rain. However, the rain did not stop us from taking our map in hand and doing our best to see some sights. Porto´s beauty rivals most of the cities rebekah and I recall. A walk across their daunting bridge allows a full view of colorful houses, a clear blue river and busy merchants. Everyone told us we must visit a wine cellar (where they store the port), so making our way to the tourist office we asked where we could get a free sample of the infamous port. Luckily, we ran into an english speaker on our way to a cellar, and she kindly let us know about a free tour and tasting happening in about a half an hour. I sipped my first glass of port, soon learning about the long and special process to produce the much sought after drink. the barrels of wine/port were HUGE- and some of them they store up to 30 or 40 years till they sell them. In my opinion, thatºs a long time to wait for a drink. To each their own. :)
  The restaraunt owned by Manel and his son Andre was our favorite part of porto. We enjoyed typical portugese food- something called Franchisia, a delicious portguese rendition of lasanga. The restauraunt overlooked the water, perfectly positioned for watching the sunset. After eating there for two nights in a row, we witnessed the locals rooting for a soccer team, learned some portugese words, and enjoyed being spoiled by andre with free samples of drink and food.

    Portugal leaves us hungry for more of its culture and people.

oh! i almost forgot- portugal produced some rebeliousness and adventure, leaving us with shining rings in our noses!

Morocco - a completely different culture and country than we`ve ever experienced. We stepped off the ferry in tanger and were immediately bombarded by men trying to get us to use their taxi to get into town. We gave in and accepted help from a very nice man, later to find out that paying 100 dirham for a taxi was 10 times the amount we should hae paid! Hindsights 20/20 ;) We were able to find a train to rabat, call katie and phil to let them know we were on our way and sat down to wait for our train. We begam quite hungry and thirsty, however we arrived on the second day on ramadan, in which muslims participate in a fast that lasts from sunrise to sunset. Nothing is allowed to pass their lips, not water, gum or even a cigarette. We quickly felt out of place drinking water in front of all the people who were fasting, and we refrained until we got onto our train. We arrived in rabat about 1 hr later than expected (the usuall time frame for moroccon travel we promtply realized) and we met katie and phil, which was an amazing feeling. Meeting a familiar face in a completely unfamiliar situation is like a drink of water in the desert.

We ended up staying like kings with Katie and Phil in Rabat for 3 nights. The day after we arrived we went around the city with katie and phil to explore. They live there, but have only been in their town of rabat for about 1 week, so we were exploring together, which was exciting for us all! We began by walking around the kasbah, which was a very quant area with white walls, painted blue in some spots, and reminded me a lot of greece (from the pictures i have seen). We stopped for a traditional sweets and tea in a cafe overlooking the water and then proceeded to a souk. A souk which is a market full of everything you could imagine from jewelry, to carpets, to antique doors, to camel meat, spices i`ve never heard of and merchants ready to hagel every price. After the souk we proceeded to a true cultural experience - the super market (marjan). Katie and Phil gave us a great intro into the country and helped us map out the rest of our time.

From Rabat Anna and I made our way to Fes to meet up with Abdul, a guide that katie and phil had met on a trip there before. As we began our tour we were winding around so many dark alleys that we quickly realized we would not be able to find our way out and we were very relieved to have a guide. We saw many mosques, which often second as schools/universities. We toured a tannery, and a carpet shop where we were served the tradition moroccan "schotch and whiskey" really meaning mint tea. We thought we had missed the downpour that had began as we were looking at the carpets, however  we ended up walking through most of the market in the downpour while the locals waited it out under the awnings, watching the crazy westerners walking in the rain. We sought some rest in cafe clock where we had came burgers. :) Quite the experience.

Next we took a night bus to the sahara desert for our next big adventure - a camel trek into the sahara for a night! We hung out in the desert for the day walking about the desert, our hotel and saw the camels that would be our trusty steads later that night. We made friends with a guy who worked at the hotel, Hammid who turned out to be our guide in the sahara. I was the first camel in our trek led by Hammid, followed by Anna, 4 italian guys and a french couple. We began our wonderful trek around 6 pm and were priviledged to see a saharan sunset that far surpassed any sunset iºve ever seen before. We were served the tradiational mint the, then a dinner that was in a tandori pot followed by a desert fruit platter. After dinner we walked over to the neighboring camp for some nomdic drum music and dancing. The night spent in the sahara was not as cold as aspected and the stars were more brilliant than imagined. We rose ery early the next day to rid eout of the sahara as the sun rose. Another amazing experience. After arriving back to the hotel we said goodbye to our friend hammid and took a 12 hour bus to marrakech.

As we stepped off the bus after sunset in marrakech we were overhwelmed by the complete lack of taxis. We made friends with an english spekaing couple and were pointed in the direction of some cheap hotels. The next day we woke early to arrive for out tour on time. We went to the medina (old town) to quickly find out that we had now idea where to find the travel agency and now one around seemed to have heard of it and one guy evern told it was a fake company and that we got scammed. After not being able to contact the company, we began to freak a little bit. We decided to call one last time and were able to reach someone, get directions and catch a taxi to the agency in just enough time to make our tour. Our group went all around marrakech and saw the main attractions. My favourite part was at the nd of the day when we were let out on out own to wonder the market. The market was full of snake charmers, monkeys, henna and fresh squeezed orange juice.

Overall our moroccan adventures were wonderfull!

Holy Toledo!

Walking into Toledo, ere como un sueno surreal. (granted it was partly because i was still partly asleep from napping on the train from Madrid) We walked out of the station and the sky started dropping little bits of water, we busted out the GPS hoping would be our "virgil" to guide us to the city. (exempting thoughs of hell) Covering the GPS and peaking at it periodically to aovid the rain, we started our ascent to the once-capital of espagna. The hike wound us around and took us over a stone bridge giving us a grande view of the river below and castles on the horizon. Teh beauty overwhelmed our feelings of anxiety over our unsure accomadations in Toledo. Walking up the hill in the slight drizzle, all we required was some epic music and we´d fit right into an adventure film.

Arriving at the first hostal we saw, after making our way through a quaint square, i asked (in broken spainish) the receptionist "¿cuanta cuesta por un habitacion por dos noches?"

We looked so pathetic - clothes and hair clinging to our bodies, red in the face - the man told us 40 euros per night and our eyes lite up as if we´d been told milka bars were being sold for one cent. :)

Rebekah and I are continually surprised at how inexpensive hotels are here. For 20 euros each a night, we enjoy our own bed, clean towels, a bathroom with hot water, and in toledo, a balcony overlooking the square.

Pleased to find toledo much cheaper than Madrid, we took full advantage of the grocery stores, eatin bread and cheese continuously. On one day the only satisfing treat was a cold nectarine bought at our favorite tienda!

 Toledo has definately been our favorite city so far. Tiny cobblesonte streets, old castle walls, and a feeling of smallness even among so much bigness. We spent plenty of time walking but also a lot of time just siiting and enjoying the luring beauty of the city.

el escorial and toledo

the hike to the monastey at el escorial

the view from our hostal in toledo!we were very excited to have juice and cheese

the city of toledo

Punting, Grease and Sangria!

after a night in salmanca with cassi raie, rebekah and i just had a siesta and are now trying to remember all that´s happened between the last time we wrote, and now.
  before we left england we visited Cambridge-a city filled with buildings older than the united states. one of my favorite moments was walking into the wren library and seeing on of shakespeares first folio´s! i had to stifle my scream when i saw it, we were in a library after all. the library also had an 8th century copy of paul´s epistles, a locke of newton´s hair (weird?), and the original manuscript to a.a.milines ¨winnie the pooh.¨ if that wasn´t enough, they also used that library in a couple of scenes in harry potter. bliss.
  one of rebekah´s favorite things from cambridge was the chance we had to go ¨¨punting.¨ punting is kinda like canoeing, except you have a guy on the back with a long pole who pushes you along. the rive we went on cruised right by all the old colleges in the town, and the sight was breathtaking. the guy pushing our boat wasn´t too bad looking either.
  (rebekah speaking) Our last day in England was packed full of qwonderful london sites. We we able to tour the London Tower, where we learned of all the brutal killings that were a part of daily living back then. he tower was originally build for the King and Queen to have a safe place to live admist all the wars, however it quickly turned into a fortress-like city, complete with a chapel, and a prison. The prison has seen many a prisoner ranging form your common traitor to some of henry VIII´s queens. Also, issac newton stayed at the tower as a helper for the mint. Other adventrues included imprompto piano concert at st. martins in the fields, trafalgar quare for a pick-me-up of coffee and tes, westminster abbey for an evensong and the show Grease! Very full and exciting day.

  Saying goodbye to england was a longer process then we thought-it took us about 12hours of traveling to finally arrive in salamanca. the little hotel we´re staying in here is as nice change from the hostel we stayed in in london, rather than the smell of urine and sketchy room mates, we have a beautfiully clean room with our own beds and a hot shower. Salmanca is beautiful.


  we´re off to madrid tomorrow for some more tapas, sangria and butchered spanish speaking skills.
  peace!

We have arrived!

    If you ever want to see Steeple Morden and the surrounding area, I suggest hiring Lynda and Felice Bragoli to help you tour the country side. Felice crosses between a doting grandpa and a mischievious school boy- he speaks slowyly with an italian accent and keeps an emmaculate garden , but is always in the mood for an ice cream and looks like he might play a trick on you should you give him the opportunity. Lynda, Felice's sweet wife from wales, offers a cup of tea/coffee in one hand and warm conversation in the other for the weary traveler. Rebekah and I could not avoid their audacious hospitality- we've been fed and watered (tea-d?) since the moment we stepped in the house. We reckon we'll gain a good amount of weight in the three days we're here.

  After a long plane ride, complete with movies, not much sleep, a honeymooning Irish couple and a few laughs later, Rebekah and I were ready to force our eyelids open with a tour of the English country side. Lynda and felice took us to a historic American air force memorial dropped in the middle of a wheat field-fulfilling all expectations of an English countryside.

We saw some alpaca’s cruising around and then enjoyed a “shandy bitter”, (half beer, half lemonade) at the quaintly named pub, “bushel and strike.” (don’t worry mom, it was only half ‘a pint).

Driving around the different small towns gave us a feel for English architecture. Despite the small populations, each town has its own ancient church. Lynda told us that there is one “vicar” for the area, who goes around on Sundays and performs a service for each congregation. Brilliant, eh?

Our cultural experience today happened to be a kite festival, which cost one pound and consisted of kites, carnival food and a silly announcer in striped pajama-ish trousers. ( a kite circus announcer?). Of course, Felice asked if we wanted ice cream, not caring about our protestations and quickly procured an ice cream that far surpassed any 2 dollar ice cream we’ve ever enjoyed in the states.

By the time four o clock rolled around, beck and I hit our “we’ve been awake for over 24hrs mark” and promptly fell asleep in the car, without noticing we were asleep until the car arrived and our next destination. A little disoriented we flopped out of the car, walked around some fun gift shops and were overjoyed to find felice napping in the drivers seat. Rebekah and I felt right at home.

We finished off the day with more unmet food protestations, and a nice dinner with Mariuccia and Neil’s family in Royston.
So far, so good.