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Remainder of Israel

The rest of our trip in Israel was a lot fun and these are some of the highlights:

Family - Sid and I met a lot of family members that we had never met before on my mom's side of the family. My grandpa came to the US after the Holocaust, but he had one brother, Max, who went to Israel. Max had three daughters and each of those three daughters now all have their own families. It was extremely special for Sid and me to meet them. We had several family get togethers. Including a delicious and special Shabbat dinner hosted by my cousin Aviva. This was the first meal where we got to meet  a lot of the family and we spent time getting to know each other. We also spent several days at the home of my cousin Noy and her husband Sachar. That was a lot of fun because it felt like we were the best of college roommates living together and going out together.

^ Big family sushi dinner

^ Sid, me, Sachar & Noy

Shannah & Gil's Wedding - We're so happy that we were able to be a part of Shannah and Gil's wedding. It was truly a special time. Before the wedding, we partook in a Chenna ceremony which was something new to both Sid and me. It took place a couple of days prior to the wedding and involved the couple receiving several blessings and then a dollop of Chenna on the palm of one of their hands. The Chenna is supposed to bring fertility and prosperity. Each guest then received the same Chenna on their hands. We also all shook our bellies to Israeli music with the belly dancer.

^Shannah & Gil during the chenna ceremony

^ me and my chenna dollop (covered by a flower so it didn’t smear)

During the several days of wedding festivities, we stayed with Gil's best friend Roee and his wife Tslil. They were an amazingly gracious couple. We had a really nice time with them and their baby Omer. One of our favorite memories was a home-cooked meal of shushuka. Which can roughly be equated to a vegetable ragu with over easy eggs.

The wedding itself was stunning. It was held at a garden which reminded me of a tropical forest. Complete with a waterfall, delicately strung lights and flowers everywhere. Shannah was a vision of beauty as always and Gil was dressed super sharp. When Shannah walked down the aisle I was a waterworks show. Sid choked up too! It was super emotional seeing my dear friend since high school walk down to the chuppah to marry. Seeing her walk down the aisle had me thinking "wow, it feels like yesterday that we were two teen girls in USY, where did the time go?" We all had a great time dancing the night away.

There are several interesting things about Israeli weddings is that is different than in the US:

*The chuppah ceremony is very short 10-20 min max

* After the ceremony all of the guests walk up to the chuppah to hug and congratulate the bride and groom

* Traditional Jewish music is not played and The horah is not danced. Chair-lifting is part of the dancing though.

Spending time with Yael - Another highlight of Israel was seeing my dear camp friend Yael. I hadn't seen her since 2008! We spent time at a unique and remote beach near Hetzaliyah and then had coffee with Sid on my birthday. We had lost touch over the last couple of years so rekindling our friendship and having her meet Sid was very special.

^ Yael & me

Birthday - Speaking of my birthday, I celebrated my 29th birthday in Israel. First Sid took me to a surprise breakfast at  a chique little hotel called Mendeli Street in Tel Aviv. It was a really nice treat! I tried white shushuka which was a mushroom and cream base with truffle oil. Yum. As mentioned we also saw Yael and then Jenna, a coworker from my time at MediaVest, happened to be in Israel too so I was able to see her. I hadn't seen her in over a year so that was a wonderful treat.

Sid's birthday is coming up on the 15th and we'll be celebrating in Japan!

^ Last family get together and pre-birthday dinner

Site seeing - Outside spending time with family and friends, we spent time walking around Tel Aviv. One of our favorite places was Shuk Carmel which is essentially an open air food and goods market. It was interesting exploring all the little stands and eating lunch in the market.

^ Candies at the shuk

^ Lunch at the shuk

Going to Israel as a couple was a great experience. Sid felt at home in Tel Aviv and could even see himself living there. He loves the culture and city vibe. While I liked it a lot there, I can't see myself living anywhere outside the US at this point in time. I really enjoy the US and it's where I feel most at home.

[sidandfaran-blog]

Japan

Today is our fourth day in Tokyo, Japan and so far we're really liking it. Japan has been a culture shock for us, but in a good way. The overarching difference from the US is how orderly and clean everything is and how polite people are.

Today, we spent the day at Joypolis an indoor amusement park. Think of an awesome arcade in addition to an indoor roller coasters, ride simulations and virtual reality; that's Joypolis. The experience at Joyopolis has been very similar to our experience in Japan so far.  

The facility is impressive. It's very clean, nothing is broken and all of the rides, games and activities move in a very organized fashion.

Things that stood out to us during the day were:

The staff - They all greet you warmly by smiling and welcoming you to each individual game/ride. They also clap for you when you finish playing a game/ride. After you finish a ride they go into the ride and they neatly rearrange the seat belts for the next person.

In the US, the only amusement park where I feel like the staff are mildly excited is in Disney World and sometimes it's not all the staff. Literally, ALL of the staff were smiling and excited.

The patrons - the patrons are respectful of the space and don't cut in the lines. We also, shockingly, didn't see a single kid have a meltdown. For me that was really surprising because at us arcades, parks, etc. I feel like I see kids throwing tantrums a lot.

Safety - Safety is taken very seriously at the park. Before each and every attraction the staff goes over all of the rules for at least 20-30 seconds with each and every person.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the facility, but here are two photos from our time there. #1) photo booth game #2) beautiful sunset.

[sidandfaran-blog]

Eilat Day 3

Today was nice and relaxing which was great after our long day yesterday. We slept in and then bought our bus tickets for tomorrow. Tomorrow we head to the area around Tel Aviv. I have family there and we'll be spending the weekend with them. I've very excited for this because I don't know them well.

After buying the bus tickets, Sid and I parted ways. He worked on stuff at the apartment and I went to the beach. I must say I LOVED the beach. The water was absolutely perfect. It was clean, clear, calm and so warm. I don't go in the ocean if it's cold and choppy, which is 95% of all ocean water I encounter, haha. So this was such a treat! I swam in the water for awhile and then basked in the sun until it was too hot.

Post beach, I went to the mall to refresh my clothes. At this point, I'm beyond sick of wearing the same few outfits from the last several months. They’re also turning weird shades of gray. We've actually been finding things in Israel to be quite expensive, but I hit a jackpot with the store I went to. It's like an Israeli Forever21. I bought a romper, a dress, a little wristlet and two cami bras for $27. I'm proud of myself, I like a good bargain, especially on a backpacking budget!

Sea glass! I love finding sea glass. It’s a hobby of mine.

[sidandfaran-blog]

Petra

Going to Petra yesterday was a great experience and luckily it was less hot than we originally anticipated that it would be. It turns out that Eliat is much hotter than Petra. 

Our day started out at 6:30am when the tour company picked us up at the apartment. These are all the supplies I brought with me for the day.

After the tour guide picked us up, we picked up three other girls from CA at their hostel. They were a nice bunch! One of the girls is doing an entire year of traveling/working. That sounded really unique. Another one of the girls is getting married in two weeks and the third girl travels all over the world for fun at every chance she get. She gets lots of vacations because she’s a teacher.

The total trip of getting to the Jordan border took five minutes. However, the process of crossing the border took a while. First the Israeli border control asked us a ton of questions and then once at the Jordan border control, they messed up the stamps on our passport and had to stamp them again.

Here is us about to cross into Jordan. You literally walk for three minutes and then you're in Jordan.

Once in Jordan, we met our tour guide Muhammad who would be taking us around for the day. He was a very friendly man. My biggest take away from the day was how bad off the people in Jordan have it right now. It seems that they are suffering a lot from the decline in tourism because of ISIS worries. Our tour guide told us he used to get 40 people on a bus to visit Petra a day and now the groups are tiny. Our group only had 6 people. (We picked up one more participant in Jordan.) Also, Muhammad mentioned something about 60 hotels being around Petra, but 30 went out of business. How sad :(

We were so thankful that the temperature at Petra was a lot cooler than Eilat. It was still very hot, but not an oven like Eilat. 

So what is Petra? From what I could gather from Muhammad, Petra served as an ancient burial ground. The entire complex was used to enshrine and protect the dead. One of the most impressive things, to me, was the water system the people who used the area built. It was extremely expansive from what we saw. The history of the area seems to be a bit hazy from what Muhammad said, but I’d like to see if there is a documentary to learn some more. 

On the way to Petra, we stopped at a rest stop that had a store. I was convinced by a shop employee to have him wrap a scarf around my head to look like a local. He also proceeded to give me a really ugly henna tattoo without my permission, but I let him, because why not. It supposedly had my name, his signature and a flower.

While at the store, there was this other employee (female this time). I told her I liked her ring and then two minutes later she walked over to me and insisted that I take the ring. It caught me so off guard. I kept insisting no, but she wouldn’t hear it. I felt so uncomfortable, but didn’t want to be rude. Now I have a little token of friendship.

Later Muhammad told me that in Jordan, if you tell someone you like something of theirs they offer it to you, it’s customary. However, usually people refuse to take the item and all is good. I told him I refused and he told me that in her case, it was really genuine that the woman wanted me to have the ring.

Here I am with the sweet lady :)

This is the ring. Don’t worry, it looks more expensive than it is. It’s all fake. The metal is peeling off the ring! I would have absolutely refused to take it, if it was real.

Sid ended up getting a freebie at the rest stop too. He wanted to buy coffee, but when they told him it was 4 dinars (about 6 USD) he decided not too. When the manager asked him why he chose to not buy the coffee he said he would, he explained that it was too expensive. Apparently, the lady downstairs was supposed to have charged 1 dinar for the coffee instead of the 4. So, as a result of the ‘misunderstanding’ the manager insisted to give the coffee for free.

After the rest stop it took another hour to get to Petra (two in total). It was worth every minute and penny we spent. Petra is stunning! You can’t believe the carvings into the mountains. I really wish I could go back in time and see what it was like there in the city’s hay day. It must have been out of this world. People only get to see some of the original carvings because a lot was eroded by time, wind and rain. If it is mind blowing now, I can only imagine then!

You can spend hours upon hours exploring the ruins. It’s quite an expansive area. Our tour included only the “highlights” so we spent 4 hours in a 2.5 mile radius. I’m glad it was only the highlights because we were all pooped from the heat and sun by the end of the tour. 

Here are some photos from the tour

Muhammad our tour guide

Post tour we had a lunch near Petra and then journeyed back to Israel. Everyone passed out on the car ride back. That’s a sign of a successful day in Petra I suppose.

[sidandfaran-blog]

Eilat

We made it to Eliat and oh my goodness, I have never felt heat like this in my life.

On our way to Eilat from Jerusalem we stopped at a rest stop and I thought my skin was going to burn off and my eyeballs were going to fall out. Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but my skin was scorching from how hot it was and my eyes extremely dry. It’s definitely sunny here, but it wasn’t even the sun that causes the scorching sensation, just pure heat. When I went to fill up my water bottle in the sink the water only came out HOT. So I went into a fast food joint and asked to use their tap. After futsing around for a good 20 seconds the guy behind the counter informed me that there would be no cold water for another 2 hours. Holy moly, that’s how hot it is here. The pipes are scorching!

I’ve been to Eliat before and I don’t remember it being so hot! I was actually here exactly 11 years ago! I found my Ramah Israel Seminar photos :)

See date on photo, Eliat in 2005!

And a camel throwback, just because

This morning we got coffee with Sid’s friend Elissa and it was so lovely! We went to a super cute juice stand and then checked out the ROI office where she works. ROI is a networking organization for Jewish professionals. Luckily we made it to coffee, Sid almost had a major migraine, but we were able to stop it with some medicine! 

After coffee, we headed back to the Airb&b and said our farewell our host and headed to lunch with Amy, another of Sid’s friends from ROI, and her husband David. That was really nice too. We talked about their life in Israel and our travels to-date.

Post lunch we boarded the bus to Eliat. The ride seemed pretty fast, it took 4 hours in total, but flew by. The bus driver drove like a maniac, but at least there weren’t too many curves. I seems to always get motion sickness on buses, but the less curves the better. So I didn’t get too sick this time.  

Once we arrived in Eliat we struggled to find the Airb&b, but with the help of some friendly Israelis we finally found it! I think I sweat a gallon by the time we made it to the apt. but only a few ounces showed up on my skin because it’s scorching here. Sid commented on how his eyes were so dry, too funny. This heat makes us really nervous for Petra tomorrow! You know what it feels like here, a giant sauna.

Unfortunately, I think I left my hat at a store yesterday so we went to the mall here and bought one. The only one that wasn’t super expensive  is a hat that says Tokyo (only $3). It’s super ugly, but puts us in the preparation state for the next leg of our trip to Japan, ha!

Photos to come of the super ugly hat and our trip to Petra. We’ll be waking up at 5am!

[sidandfaran-blog]

Jerusalem

Yesterday afternoon, Sunday, we arrived in Jerusalem after spending the previous night at London Heathrow Airport. We chose to spend the night at the airport so we didn't have to go into London and then pay for a hotel and then leave at 3:30am for the airport. Spending the night there wasn't too bad. We sat at a Costa (coffee shop) and watched a lot of Game of Thrones :) I also fell asleep on Sid for an hour and a half as he worked on emails.

Although most people advised us to rent a car in Israel we decided to use the bus to get from the airport in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was a little time consuming, but pretty seamless. Plus, the bus has cool name "Egged." All aboard the "Egg," haha.

Our Airb&b is amazing and so is our host. We're staying on Ben Yehudah Street with a college student and he's been really friendly an helpful. Last night he directed us to a great vegan shawarma and falafel spot and it was delicious. The spot is called The Vegetarian Shawarma and is located at Hillel 23, Jerusalem, Israel.

After eating a delicious dinner we fell asleep until 10:30am this morning.  Then we made oatmeal, instant coffee and headed out to the Old City in Jerusalem. We walked through the market where we were convinced to buy dried fruit. We picked ginger and melon.

Then we continued our trip to the Old City where had a falafel for lunch. Afterwards we finally made it to the Kotel. It was a very special trip together as a couple. We each said our prayers and put our notes in the wall.

Afterwards we walked around Jerusalem some more and then headed home where I made an Israeli salad for dinner. That was our first "home cooked meal" in months. Which is probably why I've gained 10 pounds, HA! You'd think with all the walking we've been doing it wouldn't be so much weight, but it is :) Tomorrow we head by bus to Eilat and Wednesday we'll be visiting Petra. We can’t wait!

[sidandfaran-blog]

Athens to Santorini

This morning Sid and I took separate runs in Athens as we begin preparing for the NYC marathon in November. Sid is currently in much better shape than I am so we prefer to run separately. Or else I start feeling inadequate and frustrated :)

If anyone ever needs some running inspiration, I recommend running with “Chubby Jones’“ Podcasts. I found out about her almost 7 years ago after googling running Podcasts. Her full time job involves music so she put’s together motivational and great running podcasts to help build your running skills. She has couch to 5 ks, couch to 10ks, etc. They are all for free too! (https://chubbyjones.com/)

I loved my run through the side streets of Athens. I ran through business and residential areas and finally through a farmer’s market that took me by surprise. Farmer’s markets and street fairs always make me so happy. I love their vibe.

Post-run we packed up at our airb&b and headed to the airport for our flight to Santorini. It was easy getting to the Athens airport using the subway. And our flight was quick (1 hr) and only had a little turbulence.

The view of all the islands from the plane were stunning!

Once we arrived to the island, we debated whether we should rent a car or not and decided not to. Although the bus isn’t as frequent, we figure we can take it as much as needed and rent a car for a day if we’d like.

Once we made it to our hotel, we couldn’t have asked for a better greeting. Two puppies and grown dog greeted us and Vicky, the owner of the hotel is unbelievably nice. She invited us to sit down and have a snack with her. We had her homemade black-eyed peas and local Santorini wine. It was such a lovely time. After we ate, she gave us all of her recommendations of things to see and do around the island.

Post-chatting we fell asleep for three hours and woke up at 9pm for dinner. Tomorrow our island explorations will begin!

[sidandfaran-blog]

Athens Day 2

Today in Athens was the real deal. Sid and I had SO much fun. We spent the day touring "actual Athens" not the "off-the-beaten-path-walk-along-the-highway-scenic-route," haha.

The first half of our day we spent touring the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum and the second half to the day with Anna. Meeting Anna in person was so wonderful. We couldn't have imagined a better day with her and her cousin Marina.

To begin our day we met the tour group at a Greek yogurt shop. This was my personal heaven, as you can see, because I adore Greek yogurt.

We loved, loved, loved our tour. Our guide Aristotle was great. I promise that was his real name. Here are some fascinating facts about the Acropolis he shared that really stood out (I took notes while on the tour ;)

- Ancient Ikea - I couldn't believe this, but one of the Acropolis buildings was pre-built in Turkey. The marble was completely cut and finished there, then the final product was numbered and shipped to Greece for assembly. We're talking about the 5th-ish Century BC! The people back then were way ahead of Ikea, right?

- Gilded Bronze & Glass Temple - The Erechteion Temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon was gilded in Bronze and had multicolored glass inlays so the entire building dazzled in the sunlight

- Buildings + Constellation - The buildings of the Acropolis were built to align with the constellations.

- One Ton of Gold - One ton of gold was used to make the gold Athena statue inside of the Parthenon.

Here are some of the highlights from our tour:

Post tour we met up with Anna and Marina and it was so lovely finally meeting in person. They're extremely friendly, warm and generous. We walked the side streets of the Acropolis and the neighborhood Plaka. We also stopped for a bite a great Greek tavern with a perfect sunset view.

However, the best part of it all, was getting to know Anna and Marina. We loved speaking with them and learning about their lives here and in Germany, that's where Marina lives. It was especially interesting because Marina lives in Hannover where Sid lived when he did his MBA. They had lots of notes to compare about their time living there.

Luckily we have 24 hours in Athens on our way back from island hopping and will get to meet up with Anna again. This time we will get to meet her husband Lefertis too.

So far we're loving Greece. Here are some of the reasons why:

* The food - it's delicious, really fresh and inexpensive as well. The feta cheese and yogurts taste truly different from what you can find in the US.

* The people - everyone here has been so friendly and warm. We strike up conversations easily.

* The land - the natural beauty is stunning and the ancient architecture is endless and everywhere

After our time with Anna we walked home and stopped by the Parliament. I feel bad for the guards. It seems like the worst job to have people taking pictures of you all the time as if you're a prop. Maybe they don't care?

[sidandfaran-blog]

Athens Day  One

We can officially say that day one in Athens was off the beaten path. I'll be honest, all of the touring around in the heat that we've been doing and all the trip planning is tiring. We ended up sleeping in until 11:30am and then worked on booking transportation tickets for the upcoming Greek Island hopping portion of our trip. We'll be in Greece for 11 days total. It look us 3 hours to figure out how to book our flights from Athens to Santorini and then another hour to book our ferry tickets. The websites were all super confusing and we had a lot of technical problems. Turns out half our technical problem was due to the fact that the Greek websites don't accept American Express, but this wasn't listed so we ended up spending a lot of time on customer service holds. Haha.

Our plan was then to walk around and explore Athens and we'll site see tomorrow. Woo hoo!

But, then... we had an unfortunate turn of events when I noticed that the tickets Sid booked for the ferries were all one day off. After another 45 minutes of Googling we realized there was no way to fix the tickets besides going to the Ferry office in person.

Luckily, the office was only a 20 minute walk away from our Airb&b. So we popped over to the office only to discover that the office moved. The sign was all in Greek, but a security guard for a building across the street helped us figure it out.

So we then said "hey, we'll walk another 2 miles to the new office." And so we did. It was along a not-so-pretty highway but we needed to get it solved. When we finally got to the office, the front desk guy tells us "Oh, we can't help you here. You have to go to the boat port office and they can do it there." Their website specifically says go to the office we were at, sigh.

Unfortunately, the public transportation is on strike here so we decided to continue our walking journey for an additional 3 miles. Otherwise it'd be a hefty cab ride. On our walk we found interesting parking lots, lots of very cute stray cats, overgrown parks and a few pretty churches. It was pretty miserable and pretty hilarious at the same time. One of the walking highlights was that we stopped at a random cafe and the owner made us a Greek salad and a pasta salad. It was so fresh and delicious. We then communicated with his son using Google Translate.

We took a funny series of photos of me pretending to be really sad in all of the random places on our walk.

Finally, when we arrived to the ferry office it was thankfully seamless to exchange the incorrect tickets for the correct ones.

With the help of some friendly Greeks we managed to hitch a bus back to our airb&b. How lucky that the bus was working! We had no idea. Our friendly Greeks couldn't believe how far we walked to get there. That made us proud :)

After today, we should sleep well tonight and are excited to tour Athens tomorrow. We're also meeting Anna tomorrow evening! She helped us redecorate our room through an online service called Decorilla. We've only been in touch via email and are so excited to meet her in person. She lives here in Athens.

[sidandfaran-blog]

Pompeii

On Sunday the 26th Sid and I visited Pompeii. We were a little nervous about getting there because we read a lot websites saying that the transit system in Naples and the surrounding area is unreliable and extremely confusing. However, we were able to get on the train and to Pompeii without a hitch. We didn’t think it was terribly confusing. The only real downside was how extremely hot the train was. The cars don’t have air conditioning.

Once we got to Pompeii, we decided it was best to go with a guided tour and it turned out to be a fantastic idea. It really helps to have someone tell you the history, interesting facts and explain what the different ruins are.  For anyone going there, we highly recommend getting a tour guide or else you’re just staring at stone ruins. We also watched a good documentary on the BBC called the "Last Day," you can watch it for free on YouTube and it's only 45 minutes long. The acting is a little cheesy, but the overall information is generally good.

These were some fascinating facts I learned from the movie and tour:

* Most of the people of Pompeii did not die from molten lava, rather they died from the pyroclastic surges - superheated clouds of gas and ash.

* No one who lived there even knew what a volcano was, and they certainly didn’t suspect Vesuvius, which had not erupted for over 1800 years. On the scary side, some scientists suggest it’s overdue for another blast, and there are now 3 million people in the vicinity... so yeah, there was that.

* The curb sides of the roads have holes in them (see photo below). This was in order for people to tie their horses onto the sidewalk.

* People were paid to sell their pee. That's because clothing was washed with pee to get rid of stains.

* The roads have 3 round stones in them in order for people to cross the roads without stepping in bathroom “matter” and rain runoff.

This is the one photo we took of ourselves at Pompeii. After this one we decided it was too weird taking photos of ourselves among tragic ruins.

This was the gymnasium area were the gladiators practiced. The bronze statues aren’t original. There was an art exhibit going on at the time.

This is a photo of our awesome and saucy Italian tour guide and the Pompeian theater.

This is the men’s spa. It’s in incredible shape.

A tragic plaster of a victim :(

The center town of Pompeii

Remains of a fresco in one of the homes

That is the short and sweet of Pompeii. It was an incredible experience and really made us reflect on life and it’s frailty and beauty.

[sidandfaran-blog]

Naples Day 2

Today was so much fun. Sid and I parted ways the first half of the day because he had productive and decompressing time while I had the exploring bug. When I travel I have a hard time sitting still.

This morning I left the hotel on what turned out to be a 10 mile-ish trek. First I walked to the neighborhood of Mergellina and wow it’s just stunning. It’s a neighborhood along the bay of Naples. I scoped it out to make sure it was good for Sid and I to take an evening run. We need to start getting our act into gear to train for the NYC Marathon in November.

It was wonderful walking along the waterfront. I could see Mt. Vesuvius in the distance and all of the locals (and I assume tourists too) were sunning on the rocks and swimming in the ocean. It was such a site! 

Here are my favorite photos from that part of my walk. You can sort of see Mt. Vesuvius if you look hard at the clouds. It was a little hazy out today.

Everyone looks like they’re having so much fun. I wanted to hop on the boat because I was melting in the heat.

As I got closer to Castle dell’Ovo, which sits on the waterfront as well, I started seeing a TON of brides. I counted 20 within the hour that I visited the castle. The brides in Naples dress so differently than in the US. Most of them were wearing corset tops and had cutouts and slits all over. Very sexy, mama mia!

Here are photos of two brides.

Back to Castle dell'Ovo (castle of the egg). It's castle that was built in the12th century and got it's name because there is a legend that a magical egg was put inside the castle to support the structure. So great, right?

Castle photos

I met an Italian grandfather and granddaughter and we kindly took photos for each other. Here is yours truly cheesing.

After my castle visit it was time to climb to Castel Sant’Elmo. In the 4th photo above you can see the castle, it’s the beige complex in the distance. I read that this specific castle the most beautiful views of the city, so naturally I had to go. You can walk or take the funicular and since I love walking, I decided to walk. Oh man, I thought I was going to pass out. It was scorching out and there were so many steps. Fitbit says I did 121 flights of stairs today. That’s the most I’ve ever done.

Here are some photos of my journey there. It was such a peaceful and fun walk. The backstreets were beautiful and less crazy than the center city. 

When I was walking I accidentally trespassed into someone's private steps and property. It was so embarrassing! First the guy yelled at me and I apologized profusely and showed him where I was going. He kindly pointed me in the right direction in Italian and I managed to find my way. Amazing!

Then I finally made it to the top of the hill to the castle. It was such a beautiful view and worth the walk. Here are the views.

Then I made a frantic run back through the streets of Naples to meet Sid because on my way up I got lost. I was five minutes late, but made it safe and sound. I was worried I was going to be super late and he was going to be panicking. We only have wifi service on our phones so I wasn’t able to reach him.

Sid and I then headed out for a late pizza lunch. It was delicious. I don't think you can get gross pizza in Naples. It  seems impossible. Everywhere we've gone it has been so good.

After lunch, we went to the Naples archeological museum to see the Pompeii exhibit and it blew our mind. It's shocking to see how people almost 2,000 years ago lived. Their every day items were so advanced and beautiful. It was really quite humbling.

Look at this pan!!

This was a fresco from someone’s home!

Post museum, we went running on the path I scoped out in the morning. The vibe at night was insane! So many teenagers out on the town. Their fashion is awesome. Apparently "Boy" and "Pyrex" are really in right now. We saw tons of shirts with those two words. The last time I checked pyrex is a baking glass. I guess it’s really “hot” right now. Pun intended :)

[sidandfaran-blog]

Capri

Today Sid and I took a boat trip to Capri. The first 1.5 hrs was spent boating around the island and then we spent the next 5 hours walking around and seeing the sites of the island.

Sid in Sorrento waiting for the boat to Capri

For the initial boat portion of the trip, the tour guide let some of us sit on the nose of the boat. I always forget how much I love boats - the breeze, the sun, the splashing of the waves onto my skin. Something is so magical about open bodies of water. 

The guide was hilarious. He took his duty of explaining the sites very seriously and started every sentence with "hello, ok, this site blah blah blah." He reminded me of an Italian Borat. This is him and Sid.

We boated past/through a lot of sites and we didn't go to the famous blue grotto because the wait would have been two hours. We weren't sad, because we can just Google pics ;)

These are some of my favorite photos from the boat tour.

Once ashore, we walked from the port to the main shopping/dining area.There we had ourselves Caprese sandwiches. Very important when you're in Capri, right? Then we continued our tour by visiting the Augustus Garden.

Here are some fun photos. The garden is mostly beautiful for it's stunning view in my opinion.

Next we hiked our way down to the Maria Piccola beach where we sunbathed and had hot stone massages. Yes, we're very fancy.

By hot stone massage, I mean we laid on the beach consisting of stones. HAHA. See behind me? Very hot stones (not sand). The water was freeeezzzzinggg but so pretty and blue.

We also saw some interesting creatures on our way back to Sorrento.

And here is a pic of the OOH advertising in Capri. Fancy taxi cabs, right?

[sidandfaran-blog]

Naples, Italy

We've made it to Naples! In the 18 hours we've been here, we've managed to eat Napoli pizza twice, sip on coffee with Nutella and a caffe’ del nonno, and enjoy banana, hazelnut and lemon gelato. I think we've started our Italy trip on the right palate.

I'm really liking Naples, the city has so much character. The endless winding streets with fascinating architecture, beautiful hidden courtyards on unsuspecting streets and the insane traffic where cars, scooters and motorcycles are constantly whizzing by you. Sid enjoys it less than I do. The combination of numerous pickpockets and dangerous traffic isn’t his favorite.

The one downside is how very alert you have to be. We've heard that pick-pocketing is rampant here. We're constantly scanning every area to make sure we're aware of the people and our surroundings. When we first left the b&b this morning, we had our backpacks on our backs. A lady passed by us, maybe 15 minutes later and in a friendly, but serious tone and said, "I'd keep your backpack in your front," and like that she was gone. Therefore we immediately changed our packs to our front. We've seen tourists and locals alike doing the same. So, when in Naples, right? (We can't wait to say when in Rome 24/7 when we're there, haha).

Pizza #1: Margarita & Cheese w/ Eggplant

* Eggplant was the winner

The streets of Naples

Galleria Umberto I is a public shopping center that is going under renovations. It’s so beautiful! It must have a fascinating history.

Left side is restored & right side is being restored

more restorations

We stumbled upon a really neat castle

One of the hidden courtyards we saw 

Eating/drinking a cafe’ del nonno (it tastes like a frappuchino, but with a cooler name) 

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Funny Incidents

Sid and I are going to start recording all of the hilarious incidents that happen over the next coming months. There are two things that happened that are just too good not to share.

Colombia

When Sid and I left Colombia the other day, heading for Italy, we went through security, Sid went through security without a breeze. He had his passport checked and a quick pat down. I was not as fortunate. The security lady, once I passed through the passport and ticket check, patted me down for an unnecessary amount of time. I think think the issue was that she got distracted half way through checking me. So I stood there for about 10-15 seconds too long while she was just rubbed my stomach absent mindedly. Literally rubbing my stomach in circular motions... Sid looked back to see what was going on and then we both cracked up after she stopped and let me go.

Dog Biscuit

The second hilarious incident that happened was our cousin ate a dog biscuit. I won't name names here ;), but it was HILARIOUS. I was sitting at a desk researching Naples and Sid, "cousin" and I were all chatting when "cousin" grabbed a "cracker" from the desk and popped it into his mouth. It was too quick for Sid or I to react. Then we were like "Nooooooo, it's for the dogs" and he spit it out, hahahahhaha. He said, "I thought it looked kind of strange, but if Faran's eating it then 'Hey why not'." For the record, I was not eating dog biscuits. They were sitting on the table at my mother-in-law's house. I think she likes to keep them handy when she's working at the computer to treat the pups!

These are the pups <3 can’t believe “cousin” ate their biscuit treats

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Vi & Guti’s Wedding

The beautiful couple

[sidandfaran-blog]

Website Change

Hello!

I’ve been doing a terrible job keeping an updated travel blog and decided to try a new website platform. The Wix site, while it was  pretty, was cumbersome with the back-end parts. I think Tumblr will be an easier more efficient way to post. Here goes nothing!

P.S. I’ve added the posts from the old Wix site and some new posts!! Everything is below :)

[sidandfaran-blog]

Porto, Portugal

We spent yesterday and last night in Porto, Portugal. We were very lucky to have Sid’s friend Pedro, from high school, and his girlfriend take us around the city for the day. Here are the photo highlights from our trip. We even got to watch Sid in a movie that him and his friend’s made in high school. The movie was super cute.

The group

The buildings in Porto are stunning with all of their colorful tiles.

I think this was the oldest rain station in Porto.

The actor’s and their DVD from high school

More Porto photos