asmirandaseesit

[asmirandaseesit]

Living La Pura Vida

Hola chicos!

Welcome back to my blog. It’s been almost a year since I’ve written on here, which is a good indication of how sedentary my life has been (actually, I’ve traveled quite a lot domestically since my Hawai’i trip last August, I just haven’t taken a trip substantial enough to write about.... UNTIL NOW!) I am writing this having just gotten back home from spending a week in Costa Rica with Joey.  THIS trip was my last hurrah before I leave to join the Navy (which is in 3 days, yikes).

Anyways, Costa Rica was awesome. If you know nothing about the country, you should know that it is located in Central America situated between Nicaragua and Panama, straddling the Pacific and Caribbean Sea. It doesn’t have a military, it has a lot of animals (think, like almost 10% of the biodiversity in the whole world) and it’s economy is fueled by tourism. It is beautiful, the people are all very friendly, and the food... oh, the food. Oh, it is so good.

Like, I know that most Central/South American food is somewhat related, as a lot of the ingredients carry over from country to country, but I also know that the region’s cuisine is entirely underrated. I haven’t been able to experience most of it, only having been to Colombia, Peru, and Puerto Rico, but all I can honestly say about the food is wow. Costa Rica’s main staple is a dish called a “Casado” which is generally comprised of a meat, a lettuce salad, rice and beans, and a piece of fried sweet plantain. Every place does it different, adding their own little twist of a stewed vegetable ranging from potatoes, carrots, lentils, or beets. Some places do gallo pinto instead of rice/beans separately, which is essentially rice and beans cooked and mixed together, but really it depends on where you go. Either way, it’s delicious. It’s filling, balanced, and a great way to taste a little bit of everything in a meal. Costa Rica also has a wide variety of places to eat, ranging from fancy candle-lit restaurants to smaller mom-and-pop establishments called “sodas.” These fluorescently-lit, fast-paced, and generally outdoor restaurants are a part of a class of dining that is definitely a grungier option than your average steakhouse, but after eating at a different one every day during the trip, I can safely say that they always deliver. Typical dishes on the menu include Costa Rican specialties like casados, plantains 100 different ways, rice dishes, or stews, but often times you could also find hamburgers or spaghetti (in what I imagine is in attempt to cater to tourists). Upon peering into the kitchen, you’ll find that usually there are around 10 cooks working constantly to pump out dishes and keep moving customers. If they’re really legit, those cooks are little old ladies wearing homemade aprons and scarves on their heads. Trust me, you don’t want to miss out on this food. Places I recommend: La Casona De Laly: San José, Raw Co. Juicery: San José (if you’re into health bs like me), La Posada de las Brujas: San José, Organico La Fortuna: La Fortuna, Marea Alta: Jacó.

Casado con lengua (tongue) and patacones con guacamole

Olla de Carne (shortrib stew with 100 different types of potatoes) the broth was SO rich, you could tell it had been boiled down from the bones for hours

Cafe chorreado: a Costa Rican drip method of brewing coffee. Due to the thicker material the filter is made from, it allows the coffee to steep slightly longer in the water, boasting a richer flavor. If you’re a coffee drinker: you probably know how important Central/South America are to coffee production. Coffee only grows between certain latitudes on the earth, and Costa Rica is in that production zone. So needless to say, we drank coffee every day and I brought home 2 bags for myself :)

Now that I’ve relayed the most important info to you, I can start talking about the rest of the trip. We started the trip by spending 4 days in San José, the capital of the country. If I’m going to be frank, the urban part of San José was not that nice. It was crowded, dirty, and lacked what I would consider “culture.” Everything was commercialized and bland. The only reason you go to the center of San José is to see the museums. We picked the National Museum and the Jade Museum, opting out of the Gold Museum since we’ve seen the one in Bogotá and felt that was sufficient. The National Museum was very informative, having exhibits on the entire history of Costa Rica on display in an old fort. Visiting the Jade Museum was also very educational, as it exhibits hundreds of Pre-Columbian jade artifacts excavated in Costa Rica.

Outside of San José are nice suburbs with more character and flair. We stayed in Escazú, which is probably one of the nicer suburbs of San José, located up on a hill overlooking the valley that the city is nestled in. Just outside of San José are a two volcanoes, and several nature reserves. We visited Volcán Irazú, which is the tallest active volcano in Costa Rica. You can drive to the peak, which sits at a height of 11,260 feet, to walk through and view its craters. We also decided to visit La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which is a nature reserve that is based around a series of waterfalls that exists on the La Paz River, and also functions as a sanctuary for wild indigenous animals that were confiscated as illegal pets. Think like jaguars and sloths- that sorta thing.

mi pequeño amigo

A waterfall

Another waterfall

On the drive back from La Paz Waterfall Gardens to San José. The countryside was so beautiful!

Crater Principal on Volcán Irazú (the lake is known to change color based on rainfall and what minerals get dissolved in the water)

The next stop on our trip was a 3 hour drive north west of San José to a place called La Fortuna. The drive there was beautiful; we went up through a cloud forest, down through pineapple plantations and nature reserves, and I even saw a toucan flying overhead! Looking back, this was probably my favorite part of the trip (despite the food poisoning I was still reeling from a bad lunch we got in San José). We weren’t in La Fortuna for more than two days, so we kept very busy while there. The first thing we did were a few hikes around Volcán Arenal, which is an active stratovolcano just outside of La Fortuna. There are two big nature reserves at the base of the volcano, one being the national park and the other being a privately owned reserve called “Arenal 1968,” which gets its name from the 1968 lava flow that it is situated on. Both reserves give great views of the volcano, however, unfortunately there was a dense cloud cover that masked the top half of the volcano from our view. The hikes themselves were still worth it, as we were able to see some interesting wildlife.

WOMP (still have no idea what the volcano looks like)

A Great Curassow! I had to google this guy, apparently he’s native to Central America

Still no idea what kind of snake this is... I almost stepped on him walking on the trail. Poisonous? Could be. Glad I didn’t step on him either way.

Near the volcano are two rivers that are heated by underground thermal springs, Rio Agua Caliente and Rio Arenal. Recently due to changes in volcanic activity, Rio Agua Caliente isn’t so caliente anymore- but Rio Arenal still runs quite hot. We visited Tabacón Hot Springs, which is a luxury resort that is built around and on top of the river for visitors to bathe in the water.

Still can’t tell if Joey is smiling or wincing here

The water was really warm, but not too hot like a jacuzzi. Despite the warm temperature outside, it was very nice to soak for a few hours in the natural pools.

After the hot springs, we went to Catarata La Fortuna, which is a 230 foot waterfall at the base of Cerro Chato, another volcano in the region. After a long hike down to the waterfall (approximately 20 flights of stairs) you are granted access to unobstructed views of the waterfall as well as the swimming pool that the waterfall leads into. The water is clear and blue, but icy cold (beware of this if you choose to go swimming). Joey and I did it for the picture.

After our mini photoshoot, we ran back up the 20 flights of stairs to rush home and shower before our ~sloth experience~ with Airbnb. This, was the experience of a lifetime.

The story goes that this woman, Lidiana, owns a sugarcane plantation in Alajuela, with several acres of farmland. A year ago on her farm, she came across a baby sloth on the ground, defenseless and alone. She decided to take this baby sloth in, and fed her and raised her until she grew big enough to go back out into the wild on her own. This sloth, that she named Bodoque, decided to stay on the farm and live freely on the land. So every night, Lidiana and her family go out and feed Bodoque flowers and leaves. The family created an event on Airbnb so that tourists can attend the nightly sloth feeding, and have the opportunity to observe Bodoque in her natural habitat.

A weird family portrait

She was pretty damn cute. I love sloths to begin with, but it was really special to be able to observe her while she groomed herself and ate. Overall, La Fortuna was probably my favorite place that we visited.

The next stop on our trip was Monteverde. Another 3 hour drive, by majority on dirt roads, and we arrived at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. A cloud forest is a special type of tropical forest that is characterized by low cloud cover, allowing for lush greenery to thrive. We did a couple of hikes in this forest, although we weren’t able to spot a ton of wildlife as it was raining (and I think the general consensus is that rain isn’t fun to be walking out and about in). Regardless, it was still cool to visit.

A 50 foot high suspension bridge on one of the trails

The next day, we headed to our final stop on our tour: Jacó. After another 3 hour drive on dirt roads, we got to what would be the most uncomfortably hot place we’ve ever been to. It was like 90 F every day with a humidity index of 70% every day, 24 hours a day, and our apartment did not have air conditioning. The brief moments we were able to spend in the car were pure bliss.

We didn’t do much in Jacó, other than go to the beach (since the main street is literally 2 blocks from the sand) and go souvenir shopping. We visited Playa Jacó, Playa Hermosa, Playa Mantas and Playa Blanca. Despite being next to each other, they were all vastly different: Playa Jacó was a surfing beach, so one morning I taught Joey how to surf. We forgot to take a picture with our boards, but rest assured we had a lot of fun, got our butts kicked by water and I still have bruises. It was a great way to end our trip, soaking up the sun (maybe a little too much, we got a little burnt), and relaxing on a beach while watching the red macaws fly by.

Truly, Costa Rica is a great place to visit. It’s family friendly, safe, and absolutely beautiful. Food is good, people are good, and the scenery is spectacular. 10/10, would recommend.

Anyway, I won’t be traveling again for a while now, as duty calls. Stay tuned for my next post, who knows where I might end up next.

Los amo a todos,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Hawai’i: The State America Doesn’t Deserve

Aloha friends,

Last week, in celebration of our anniversary AND my birthday this year, my boyfriend and I went to the island of Hawai’i. It was sort of our last “hurrah” before I peace out for the Navy (whenever the hell that happens), and I’d say it was a week well spent. I had been to Hawai’i before, and Maui once before, but the last time I had gone was over a decade ago. I had been dying to go back, and after getting there, I fully remembered why. 

Hawai’i is truly enchanting. The weather, the people, and the scenery come together to make what most would call “paradise.” (Also, the entire island smells like plumerias and barbecue). We stayed in Kona, but rented a car to explore other parts of the island which was a great way to get in some sight-seeing between relaxing on a beach. We stayed at an Airbnb, with a couple that rents out their guest room. The house was more like a complex of buildings, situated up on a hill that got beautiful sunsets every evening. It was a pretty perfect getaway, regardless of the fact I was actually getting away from nothing (unemployment SUCKSSSS).

Anyways, the first day we decided to go to Waikoloa. This is about 45 minutes north of Kona, and is where you can find a bunch of schmoozy resorts and condos. Amongst the rich people, you can actually find a couple really beautiful beaches- Hapuna Beach and Kauna’oa Beach are a mile away from each other, both long stretches of white sand and turquoise water spotted with coral reefs. We had to hike to Kauna’oa from Hapuna, which took about 15 minutes on rocky lava cliffs, where we went swimming, snorkeling, and had lunch. Unfortunately, my life-proof phone case turned out to be not-so-life-proof, so I didn’t any underwater photos of cute fishes :( After spending half a day at Kauna’oa, we headed back to Hapuna for a couple of hours before showering off and getting ready for dinner. 

Hapuna Beach (in the foreground are the coral reefs built right off the basalt rocks on the coastline)

That night, Joey took me to dinner to celebrate my 22nd birthday. We went to Napua, which is at the Mauna Lani Beach Club in Waikoloa Village. The food was good, except for the fact that I had to send back my fish twice because it was undercooked. That was annoying... But regardless, I still had a nice time sitting and talking while watching the sunset. 

Dinner=4/10, but a view=9/10

The next day, we went to ‘Akaka Falls and Hilo. ‘Akaka Falls is apparently featured in a couple of movies from the 30′s, according to the informational placard in the parking lot. So, that’s cool? It’s situated in a rainforest, not more than a 10 minute walk from the main parking lot in the state park. Pro-tip: park 20 feet away from the lot on the road, and you’ll save yourself $5 for parking.

Once we got to Hilo, it was time for lunch. As per my request, we went to a health-food cafe called Conscious Culture. It took a while to get our food, but it was worth it (in my opinion). I got seared ahi tacos with purple sweet potato salad, and ginger jün on tap. Jün, which I had never heard of before, is essentially another version of kombucha made with green tea and honey instead of black tea and sugar. To give you an idea of this place, it also had like 10 other fermented teas on tap, and our server had dreads. 

After lunch, we strolled around downtown Hilo, window shopping and eating even more food. Hilo has a very different vibe than Kona; it’s much older, more quaint, and much more in touch with it’s historical and cultural roots. After walking around for a bit, we went to Two Ladies Kitchen, which is a Japanese confectionery that specializes in mochi. When in Hawai’i, get butter mochi. I eat it about every 4 years and it’s something I look forward to every time I get the chance. It’s like a cross between a buttery pound cake and mochi, lightly sweet with an aroma of butterscotch. We also got a daifuku, kamato, strawberry shortcake and peanut butter filled one. (We ate all of them in the car ride home).

We have no self-control.

After that, we also went to a small chocolate maker (the farm was apparently right up the road) and I have now officially had chocolate from every country except for Vietnam. After that, we went to Big Island Candies, which is a bakery known for their macadamia nut shortbread. We each bought two boxes, and finally called it a day to head back to Kona.

The next day, we went to Volcanoes National Park to view the still active volcano, Kilauea. This volcano is the reason why Hawai’i is still growing, as it frequently pours lava into the ocean on the southern side of the island. We went on a short hike through an old caldera and rainforest, and went to the observation deck to see the active caldera that constantly emits volcanic gases.

The whitish line is the walking path

After seeing Kilauea, we hit up a few stops on the way back to Kona. We grabbed lunch nearby the park, and headed to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach.

Joey flexing for the camera^^ (jk love you)

The black sand is made from broken down basalt rock, it has a clean, glassy texture. The water isn’t super friendly, as there are many large rocks on the coastline and the surf was rough, but it is a nice beach to walk along and admire for its unique character. 

After the beach, we stopped by Punalu’u Bakery to pick up some Hawai’ian sweet bread and malasadas. This place is a must for sweet breads if you’re on the big island, and luckily if you go to the volcano it’s right off the main road to get there! Convenient, and delicious. We got a loaf of the guava-mango-taro sweet bread, and I made french toast with it every morning for the rest of our days there (topped with homegrown papaya, banana, and white pineapple of course). We also got malasadas, which are a Hawai’ian yeasted donut that is rolled in cinnamon-sugar. Joey ate two in one sitting, and then we went home for the day.

The next day (our last day with the rental car), we went to Kiholo Bay in hopes of seeing some sea turtles. Our wish was granted 20 xs over. We had to walk along rugged coastline for 20 minutes each way, but it was still worth the hundreds of rocks that penetrated my feet. From the beach, we could see at least 6 in our immediate view, and at one point I waded in and started taking pictures of the ones mere feet away from me in the water. Here’s one I got:

We kept walking to the bay, and eventually found the turtle jackpot. In a lagoon connected to the ocean by a 20 foot long canal, there were tens of them sunbathing, feeding, and swimming around in the shallow/still water. It was amazing to watch them, but finally we had to get back to Kona to return the rental car. 

We got poke for lunch, which was by far the best poke I’ve ever had in my life. If you go to Kona, hit up Da Poke Shack. It’s absolutely necessary. Honestly. Wow.

The couple of days after, we spent wandering around Kona. Our last day there we went to Kua Bay, which is actually about 20 minutes north of Kona. It was well worth it: it was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to. The water was the brightest hue of blue, and the sand was a fine white that was flanked with lava rocks and coral reefs. The water was warm, and calm enough to swim in and snorkel (we even saw a couple people spear fishing). It was unbelievably vibrant, and a wonderful place to spend our last day in Hawai’i together.

All together, Hawai’i was just as wonderful as I remembered it to be. Joey and I will definitely be back sooner or later (crossed fingers I get stationed there). Anyway, to all those on the fence about saving up to go to Hawai’i: do it. I promise you won’t regret it.

Aloha and mahalo for reading,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

A Basic Guide to Peru and Colombia

Hola chicos y chicas,

A couple weeks ago (apologies for the delay-- I’ve been trying to get my life otherwise together since being back stateside) Joey and I got back from South America. It was my graduation gift to myself (congrats me) and I was lucky enough to have Joey to con into taking off work and going on another trip with me. We have since been dealing with mild to severe intestinal discomfort, likely due to the different bacteria in the water there. It’s been fun to say the least. But here I am, in my pajamas on a Tuesday (thanks unemployment). So, here is my basic rundown on all things Peruvian and Colombian.

Overall, Peru was very cool. I really loved the uniqueness of the culture and the people. The only caveat to this country (like any predominantly Catholic country) was that everything is closed on Sundays- everything. We started off our trip in Cusco (elev. 11,152′), planning to spend a couple days to acclimate to the altitude before our trek to Machu Picchu. Cusco is a pretty small city, nestled high up in a valley in the Andes mountains. It was once capital of the Incan Empire, and it is now a main tourism hub for the several surrounding Incan ruins. Cusco is a place you can go to see ancient Peru, and the survival of centuries-old traditions beyond the Spanish conquest of Latin America. We spent most of our time relaxing here, dealing with weird altitude medication side effects (including our hands and feet periodically falling asleep, dizziness, and occasional nausea) and trying to see the city. We happened to be there the month of Cusco’s anniversary, so every day there were parades, celebrations, and other festivals going on across the city. Standout memories: trying alpaca steak and cuy (guinea pig), making chocolate at the ChocoMuseo, making a dog friend who followed us around for almost a mile through winding streets, and meeting a baby alpaca named Robert.

Restaurants worth visiting: Pachapapa, Marcelo Batata, Carpe Diem

Plaza de Armas

Making chocolate truffles

Parade dancers near the historic center

RIP little dude (since you’re probably curious, it tasted like dark meat chicken and had about enough meat on it to feed half of a small child)

Here’s a map of our trek. We skipped some portions between Chaullay and Hidroelectrica, since we did the trek in 4 days and not 5.

The day of the trek dawned on us, and bright and by 4:30 am we were on the bus to Mollepata. This was the entry to the national park where Machu Picchu is located, where we grabbed breakfast at a local café and got back in the bus to Challacancha where we started our trek. After a short and steep incline, we made it to the Incan canal where it was a pretty flat walk to our campsite for the night. By the time we made it to our campsite, it was 1 pm and the chef was already preparing our lunch. This was our first experience with the trek’s meal situation, which we were blown away by-- we had a first course, and then multiple dishes to share (usually 4-5, which were rice/quinoa, a meat, vegetables, potatoes, and another mix of something previously listed). We rested for a bit after lunch, and had the option to hike up to Humantay Lake in the afternoon (a glacial lake about 1000 ft up from the campsite). We of course opted for this, not realizing the sheer difficulty of this additional adventure. This was our first real encounter with the lack of oxygen in the air- and although it was difficult, the hour and a half climb was well worth it.

Humantay Lake a glacial lake that sits just underneath its namesake, Humantay Mountain

The climb down only took about half an hour, since we practically ran (the sun was setting and I was cold) and we spent the night in a glass igloo. I was really excited for this, since the stars were supposed to be beautiful to watch at night. Unfortunately, it was so cold outside (around 20-30 F with windchill) and with two humans inside, it turned into a humid/drippy 40 F greenhouse and we couldn’t see the sky through the thick layer of condensation on the glass. We had an early morning the next day (like the rest of the trek), getting woken up at 5 am with a cup of coca tea in our wet igloo. After a hearty breakfast, we started the most difficult day of our trek.

Kinda looks like LOTR right?

The squad in front of Salkantay Mountain

It took about 5 hours to climb up to Salkantay pass, which was a 2,000′ elevation gain. Our group ended up taking it at completely different paces, except I am proud to say that Joey and I made it up to the top first. Our highest altitude we reached was a little over 15,000′- and boy could I feel it. I was literally wheezing when I reached the top, but I was so relieved by the view it didn’t matter I couldn’t breathe. Staggering at over 20,000′ in front of us was the summit of Salkantay Mountain, with unobstructed views to the north and south. It was one of the most breathtaking (literally lol) moments I have ever experienced in my life.

Joey and I at Abra Salkantay (elev. 15,190′)

The descent down was a long and treacherous one. Largely uneven rocky footing, our descent took close to another 5 hours through valleys and a high altitude rainforest. After everything, we hiked about 16 miles that day. I can’t even explain how much my legs/feet hurt afterwards.

The next day, we walked another 16 or so miles through low altitude rainforest, with rivers, fruit/coffee plantations, took a short bus ride in the middle of the day to speed up our progress, and then hiked all the way to Aguas Calientes where we spent the night in a hotel before Machu Picchu the next day. If you are going to Machu Picchu, you will likely stay the night in Aguas Calientes beforehand which explains why it is now relatively important. It has become a tourist hub for Machu Picchu, since it is a 20 minute walk from the gate at the entrance of the hiking trail/bus route up the hill where Machu Picchu is situated. We had the option of taking a bus up to the city, or hiking up steep stone stairs for about an hour and a half, and by this point we had no reason not to tolerate another painful climb up. 

So, just past 4:30 am, we started up to our final destination: at this point, my body was hurting. My legs were torn up, my feet bruised and swollen from my boots, and my allergies were proving nearly impossible to deal with (I was blowing my nose about every 30 minutes, and at this point it was peeling and had third degree burns from lack of sunscreen). We climbed up in the dark, reaching the top just before sunrise.

There were llamas grazing in an open grassy area in the middle of the city, which were apparently there just for tourists. They’re pretty vicious so don’t try to pull any snacks out near them- they’ll come right over to you and steal your food directly from your hands (I know this from experience)

We decided to do Montaña Machu Picchu as well, which if you’ve seen pictures of Machu Picchu is the ginormous mountain above the city. It’s about another 2,000′ up, and like the hike to Machu Picchu, it’s entirely stairs.

The ascent took us about another hour and a half, up the poorest excuse for stairs I had ever seen, but the view from the top was incredible.

Looking down from 10,111′. It was like having a bird’s nest view of the entire valley, since the summit could really only fit around 20-30 people crowded together at a time, and slope of the mountain is a nearly vertical drop downwards (the hike up is not for the faint of heart).

After taking as many pictures as we needed to around Machu Picchu, we decided to head back to Aguas Calientes for lunch. We took the bus down, which was probably the most well worth $12 I have ever spent. We hung out in Aguas Calientes for the rest of the afternoon, and then had to catch our 6 pm train back to Ollantaytambo where a bus was waiting for our trekking group. We got back to Cusco at about 10 pm, passed out, and geared up for our flight to Lima the next day.

The flight from Cusco to Lima is only about an hour, so we got into our Airbnb at a decent time. To my surprise, this was easily the nicest Airbnb I’ve ever stayed in. It was a beautiful seaside loft, newly furnished and overlooking the coast in Miraflores (aka the really nice neighborhood in Lima). Here’s a picture from the giant wall-to-wall window in our bedroom:

The pictures for this listing on Airbnb really DO NOT do this place justice.

Not having had lunch, and eager to explore our new city, we headed out for an early dinner in Miraflores. This is where I got to see Joey’s Español first in action- definitely useful, but nowhere near perfect. Luckily, it was just enough to get us to our dinner spot- La Mar Cevicheria. I got a maracuya sour (a delicious twist on the pisco sour, with passionfruit) and we both got catch of the day ceviche. It was perfect.

I think it was snapper? Not entirely sure though...

After dinner, we ran some errands in the area. By that point, I was half dead from my allergies, and after stopping at 3 different pharmacies in search of Benadryl (which they do not have in Peru) I ended up getting Zyrtec and Mucinex DM (except the Peruvian versions). We also went grocery shopping, and also to my surprise we found an organic grocery store that carried pressed juices, vegan/GF foods, and had a herbal apothecary inside (they even had my plant protein powder!!). I was in heaven. We then went back to crash for the night, looking to see more of the city the next day.

To sum up Lima, I’ll give you this: Miraflores/surrounding area (San Isidro, Barranco) is basically the only nice part in the city. The city center was filled with unbelievably beautiful architecture, but plagued with petty crime and dirty commercial areas that have taken over old historical buildings. It was sad. My main takeaways from this town were that: Miraflores is great and stay there, the food in Lima is incredible (and is mostly in Miraflores and surrounding area), and it has a very unique culture of diversity (lots of Asian influence). Standout memories: walking along the running/biking path on the coastline in Miraflores on a sunny afternoon, eating some of the best food in the world (casually), and getting stranded on the side of a dark freeway when every restaurant was closed (on a Sunday). 

To elaborate on the food, we were able to get reservations at Central Restaurante- aka the 5th best restaurant in the world, and the overall best in South America. The owner, Virgilio Martinez, showcases Peru’s biodiversity in his dishes, available through a 17-dish tasting menu and an 11-dish menu, as well as through optional beverage pairings with native wines and infusions. The menu is set up that each dish comes from a different elevation/ecosystem in Peru, ranging from the ocean, to the Andes, to high/low jungles in the Amazon. Each dish was presented on a small handcrafted dish, decorated with different ingredients both edible and inedible. 

This was the first dish, called “rock molluscs.” It included a wafer made of sargassum algae, which was topped with a spread made of sea snail, mussel, and limpet. I also got a pisco sour and Joey got a craft Peruvian beer made with quinoa.

This was one of our favorite dishes. It was called “forest cotton,” beginning with the small wrap made of a plantain leaf filled with Amazonian fish and snail, followed by a bite of a cotton-like fruit called pacae, and finished with a shot of leche de tigre (the marinade used to make ceviche). This took our tastebuds on a TRIP. 

That night, we tried Nikkei (a cuisine indigenous to Lima, which includes a mix of Japanese and Peruvian fusion) at Osaka restaurant. It was easily the best fusion sushi I’ve ever had- salmon sashimi with passionfruit sauce, seared scallops with truffle butter and lime, tuna with seared foie gras... *drools*

Here’s a plate of the chef’s choice for a tasting menu. Yuuuuuuum.

The next day, we headed to Cartagena. (Well, we had a layover in Bogotá first) It took us all day, but we got in that night and went to dinner at Carmen restaurant. It was a solid meal, (and air conditioned, thank God) and wandered around the city until it was time for bed.

Like all the cities we went to, we were in Cartagena for about 3 days. Cartagena might be my favorite city we went to. It’s on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and there was definitely a strong Caribbean flavor to it. The food, the architecture, the people; I felt like I was in another country frankly. I loved walking through the streets, smelling the fruit vendors on every corner, and eating fresh seafood for basically every meal. I also liked finally feeling warm (every place we had been to was between cold-freezing) and getting a little color on my skin. I also got the chance to vape alcohol (!!!!) which was an interesting experience. We went to El Arsenal, a bar in Getsemani that was featured on the Travel Channel show “Booze Traveler.” The owner was super friendly and taught us about some of the history of rum, and let us sample a rum that was supposedly made underground in gourds by indigenous people (it was really good too). The process included pouring a shot of rum into a thick glass bottle, pumping air into it, and releasing the pressure that allows the alcohol to vaporize. As soon as the pump is pulled off the neck of the bottle, this weird science happens and you stick your straw in to inhale the vapor. Because it bypasses your digestive system, it doesn’t give you a hangover but is absorbed into your blood stream through your lungs and basically goes straight to your head. It was only a shot, but I was a little giggly for 15 minutes until it wore off. Overall, Cartagena was beautiful. I would love to go back and vacation there someday.

Restaurants worth visiting: La Cevicheria, La Mulata, Beiyu café, Café del Mural

Off the coast of Cartagena are a group of islands that people can travel to by boat for a day. The best way to do this would be to rent a private yacht and chef with a group of friends and do a “booze cruise” per say for the day. Since Joey and I couldn’t afford a whole yacht, we went with a tour group to an island resort on Isla Grande. We spent the day unbothered on a relatively empty beach, floating around in crystal blue water. We also got to go snorkeling, which I love to do pretty much anywhere I can. Overall, 10/10 worth the boat ticket.

Before we knew it, our time in Cartagena was up, and I had to say goodbye to my Caribbean paradise. We then headed to our last leg of the trip- Bogotá. 

Bogotá is just as insane as Narcos cracked it up to be (maybe minus most of the violence though). Bogotá is massive, and pretty unlike any city I had ever been to. We stayed in a nice area called Zona T, which was filled with a lot of nightlife, shopping and dining. 

Bogotá is where we got to experience traditional Colombian cuisine, which I can describe in one word: cheese. Everything was cheese. They even sold cheese in the airport, in multiple kiosks! Arepas, empanadas, breads, desserts... you name it, it probably had cheese in it or was made almost entirely of cheese. I had no idea that Colombians loved cheese so damn much. Who knew? Not me. Otherwise, Colombian food was pretty decent. I really love arepas, and those are basically a staple you can find anywhere, so I was set. I was also able to find “health” food at Suna Restaurante, where I got me a bowl of grilled tofu, kale, cucumbers/carrots, and red pepper hummus and a matcha latte on the side (this was the most relieved I had ever felt after a meal). We also ate at Andrés Carne de Res, which was one of the most unique dining experiences I had ever had. First of all, you have to pay cover here. Secondly, as soon as you walk through the front door, a lady dressed in what I would describe as a Día de los Muertos costume greets you with a shot of tequila inside a lime rind. Then, it takes you about 5 minutes to attempt to follow the hostess and weave through the restaurant to be sat at a table- in other words, the restaurant is the size of a warehouse. There’s salsa music blasting, several dance floors located throughout the space, large monitors playing a livestream of the dance floors mounted around the restaurant, and literally what seemed like at least one hundred other patrons heavily intoxicated and dancing around the tables. The menu is like 30 pages long, and you can basically pick exactly what you want to eat since there’s a gillion different options. It’s a steak restaurant, so we both got steaks and shared a roasted plantain with guava jam. Pretty decent food, but I don’t think this is really a place you go for the food- it’s really for the atmosphere.

We did a lot of touristy things in Bogotá, including going to Monserrate (a mountain with a Catholic church on top), the fruit and flower market, the Gold Museum, and the Salt Cathedral out in Zipaquirá (a town about an hour north of Bogotá). The Salt Cathedral turned out to be a 7-hour trip and basically a nightmare, which really capped off our whole vacation nicely. There was terrible traffic going there, and after discovering we couldn’t get an Uber back to Bogotá that night, had to wander the dark streets of this nearly abandoned town to get on a bus that sat in even worse traffic going back south. Worth it? I don’t really know. But at least I got a cool picture.

Restaurants worth visiting: La Puerta Falsa, Suna, Osaka (yes, the same restaurant in Lima. We ate there twice. I need them to open up a location in the U.S.)

View of Bogotá from Monserrate (elev. 10,341′)

Capitolio Nacional (I fangirled seeing this because Narcos lol)

Paloquemao (fruit and flower market) I went ham on trying different tropical fruits, including lulo (a VERY sour passionfruit-like textured fruit), guanabana (I had tried the juice before but not the actual fruit by itself), mangosteen (10/10 delicious), and tree tomato (had tried it before, this one was not very good though :( ). I also got a mango and an avocado, because when in Rome Bogotá right?

Museo de Oro. Did you know metallurgy was invented in South America?

Zipaquirá

El Catedral de Sal. This picture cost me 7 hours of my life. Starting out as a small shrine to the patron saint of miners, in the 50′s they decided to build a Catholic cathedral inside this salt mine that dates back to the 1800′s. The salt in this mountain has been a precious resource for the region and has been exploited by people for thousands of years, and it is even still being mined today.

All in all, this trip was totally unforgettable. I would 110% recommend anyone to go to either Colombia or Peru. Both are relatively cheap, safe, and easy enough to navigate with the help of international data and Uber. They’re also pretty close (if you count 7-10 hours of travel ��close”). The people are friendly, the food is great, and I guarantee you’ll find something unexpected along the way. 

NO idea when my next trip will happen, but stay tuned- I’m bound to end up somewhere soon.

Mucho amor por ustedes,

Miranda  

[asmirandaseesit]

O, CANADA

Hello friends,

So a couple weeks ago, I graduated (WOOO) so as a last hurrah, my roommates and I fled the country. We figured since none of us will ever be that far north again, we should scope out the area while we still had the chance (minus Lily, RIP in Syracuse for another 3 years). Over the course of the week, we went to Toronto, Montréal, and Québec City. All in all, it was a great time: we ate a lot, we drove a lot, and we laughed a lot. Unfortunately, we didn’t see Drake or Trudeau (obviously two people of equal importance) but we did manage to spend a lot of quality time with each other and I got to reconnect with my big who I hadn’t seen in nearly a year and a half. Ultimately, it was a worthwhile trip.

To give you an idea of Canada, I’ll use a list I found on my phone called “Drunk Observations with Bella and Randy.” Apparently, Bella and I decided to sum up Canada in a short list of common themes we had observed over the course of the week. It goes:

1. Good soap

2. Baked goods

3. Some people are really nice, some people are f*cking crazy

4. Chocolate

5. Moose

So, there you have it. Canada summed up in 5 simple ideas. Moving onto a more lucid analysis of the country, here’s how our week in Canada went.

After moving out of our house and getting everything packed up, we hit the road for Toronto. It only took about 4.5 hours, there was some traffic but it wasn’t too bad. At the border, we were immediately greeted by a border control officer with a “so what are you going to do in Canada, eh?” which was pretty hilarious since the stereotypes proved to be correct. We got to our lodging for the next couple of days, which was at my big’s house. She lives with her grandmother, who is probably the most talkative 93 year old I’ve ever met. 

After getting settled, we went to Indian for dinner. Jen, being half Indian, we trusted with taking us to a killer Indian spot in Toronto’s Little India (she did not disappoint). We went to Udupi Palace, where I got aloo saag and we split a dosa (large, crispy crepe-like thing filled with lentil dal) which was great. We then headed back for the night, in desperate need of some rest for the next day. 

The next morning, we went to CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium. It was raining, and both were relatively underwhelming. We then went to Kensington Market for lunch, where Bella and I got poké (which was delicious) and Lily got a sandwich from a torteria next door (which was also apparently delicious). We then split a slice of matcha crepe cake from a place called Millie Creperie, which was creamy, matcha-y, lightly sweet and completely satisfying. To top it all off, I got a matcha latte from Little Pebbles across the street, which was unsweetened, creamy, and exactly what I needed. After feasting for approximately an hour and a half, we decided to check out the nearby area of Chinatown on Spadina Ave. Toronto’s Chinatown is pretty much exactly like any other city’s Chinatown, so there were no surprises there. We got a couple of mangoes on sale, and then headed back to Jen’s place to hang out for a bit before dinner.

For dinner, we went to one of Toronto’s best Thai restaurants: Pai, which usually has a wait of over an hour and reservations booked weeks in advance, luckily only had a 30 min wait on a Tuesday night. The vibe was cool, the drinks were creative, and the place had an overwhelmingly comfortable aroma of curry wafting through the air. I got the green curry with shrimp, served inside a coconut. Although it was some of the best curry I’ve had, I missed the presence of vegetables in my dinner. Regardless, I recommend this place 100%.

The next day, we explored downtown and Danforth Ave. in Greektown. I took this opportunity to finally introduce Bella to dim sum, although of course the dim sum was average. I appreciated that they made the har gow in house, though. After dim sum, we walked up and down Queen and King St. Along the way, we stopped at Soma Chocolatier and I bought an $18 bar of chocolate, got handed a free Malibu pocket shot on the street, saw a woman drinking a Four Loko in broad daylight, I got more matcha, and we went in at least 4 different health stores. So to say the least, it was an average day. 

Downtown Toronto (Yonge St.)

We went back to Greektown for dinner, going to Jen’s favorite Greek place called Pantheon. I got an octopus salad, which was simply grilled octopus, tomato, cucumber, red onion, capers, feta, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. It was pretty perfect.

The next day, we were off to Montréal. But first, I had to stop by the airport to do a Global Entry interview (for those who don’t know, it’s like TSA precheck for re-entering the U.S., and you ALSO get TSA precheck). For lunch, I picked up a wrap from Live Organic Food Bar, which was basically everything I could have asked for in a food establishment. Nearly 6 hours later, we ended up in Montréal. We went to a place called Robin des Bois for dinner, which is a non-profit restaurant run by volunteers. They are completely non-profit, and raise money for urban organizations such as a women’s shelter and a meals on wheels company. I got a spinach citrus salad with duck confit, which was easily the most satisfying meal experience I’ve had in months. After dinner, we went home and all conked out for the night.

The next day, we explored Old Montréal and Boul. St. Laurent, just north of Mont Royal. We got some maple products, hilarious matching booty shorts printed with “Canada, eh?” and managed to pet a few dogs. After, we went to lunch at Schwartz’s, which is supposedly the best smoked meat in town. After careful review, we agreed the sandwiches needed better bread and mustard, however the meat was delicious.

After lunch, we sought out sweet treats to finish off the savory flavors left in our mouths by meat grease and pickles. We walked into a small Jewish bakery down the street, with rugelach and poppyseed strudel that looked delicious. After asking the baker if it was cash only and how much everything cost, telling her we needed to find an ATM, but then being rushed to choose things we wanted, she quickly began yelling at us when we reminded her we needed an ATM to pay for the baked goods she hastily prepared for us in a bag. We left, confused and slightly distraught by this overly aggressive baker, and looked for a bakery that wouldn’t attack us for not having cash on hand. With the help of Yelp, we landed on Mamie Clafoutis, which was a 10 minute walk away. We got there, and after an embarrassing display of not knowing we had to take a number to get in line, we finally got the chocolate pistachio croissants we had been waiting for. Let me tell you- I wasn’t living before I had this croissant. Bella and I took a bite of it at the same time, stopped dead in our tracks, looked at each other, eyes widened, and simultaneously gasped “oh my god.” This was the best croissant I’ve ever had in my life. If you go to Montréal, GET THIS CROISSANT. I’ll even tell you how to ask for it:

“Je voudrais une chocolatine aux pistaches.” Go to Mamie Clafoutis (there are 2 locations that produce these croissants, the one on Saint-Denis and the one on Notre-Dame. I am so serious. Please get this croissant if you’re in town. (and get me one too)

Notre Dame Basilica

Inside

Good meat, weak sandwich. Pickle was good too though

We went to Québec City the next day, starting off with crepes and coffee. I got a duck confit crepe with spinach and onion jam at The Billig, and basically it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. We window shopped up and down Rue Saint-Jean, and then went over to the old center of the city to continue exploring. The buildings were all unique, with an air of European antiquity I had only seen before in places like Solvang, CA. There was a romantic feel about it, both quaint and admirable. We only spent a few hours there before we had to head back to Montréal for the night, but if you’re in the area I would absolutely recommend going there for a day or two. 

Old Québec

The boys and the St. Lawrence River

That night, we went to L’Orignal for dinner, eating some of the best Québecois fare we had ever had. Then again, how bad could poutine be? It’s like pizza. Even if it’s bad pizza, it’s still pizza. Fries, gravy and cheese. Come on.

The next day, we explored more around Montréal, going to Mont Royal (Montréal’s namesake, actually) and Marché Jean-Talon (one of Montréal’s largest farmer’s markets). Mont Royal has a beautiful park atop the hill, which was filled with families out having picnics and walking their dogs. 

After walking around the park for a bit, we went to the farmer’s market to explore the fresh produce and local products. Taking advantage of our last day, we got crepes (again) and smoothies. Oh how I do love a good buckwheat crepe.

View of downtown from Mont Royal

Smoked salmon crepe from a crepe stand in Marché Jean-Talon. It too, was perfect.

After the market, we went to downtown to walk around some more. It reminded me of any big metropolitan city I had been in before, with shops down the street and restaurants weaved in between them. We picked up salads for dinner (the kind you fill our a form with everything you want in them) and brought them home to enjoy while watching the Emperor’s New Groove. It really was a perfect last day with the boys. 

All in all, Canada was really like weird America except with a more noticeable colonial past (crossing over province lines and the language completely switching over to a different Western European tongue). The people are sometimes really nice, and sometimes frickin’ crazy, as they are anywhere. The food is good, you’ll never run out of maple products, and the prices are just the same as in the U.S. If you have a weekend, go spend some time with our Northern neighbors. You may be surprised by what you find.

P.S. Next blog post coming up soon!! I just got back from Peru/Colombia and will start uploading those pics shortly :)

Toodle-oo,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Vamos a la Playa

Hello again,

It’s been a while since we’ve last seen each other. As an update on my life, I’m a senior now, and after returning from Turkey I’ve spent the past calendar year basically doing nothing. I’ve been to a few new cities in the U.S., most notably Chicago, which I’ve been considering posting about solely to talk about the food. I’ll keep you posted as to what I decide to do.

Anyways, this time I decided to brush the dust off this blog to talk about my recent spring break trip to Puerto Rico. I apologize in advance for the low-quality photos, in a lapse of judgement I forgot to pack my camera... :(

So- to the fun stuff. Puerto Rico. Otherwise known as one of the random islands in the Caribbean that the U.S. for some unclear reason still has ownership over (we got Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and temporarily Cuba as part of the end of the Spanish-American War). If I were to summarize Puerto Rico in a few words, it would probably be: fun, and lawless. I can’t really think of anything else that would capture it as well as those two words. Popular would work too, since there were a lot of other tourists while we were there. It was like any Caribbean island I would have expected: an endless bounty of rum, fresh fruits, and sunshine, all topped with a Latin flair and failing economy (thanks for the tip, Disney). The people were all so kind and so interesting too! Basically all of our Uber drivers engaged us in a fully-fledged conversation and usually gave us recommendations on places to go/eat. The food was exactly what I would have wanted-- dishes emphasized seafood, plantains (served in any method possible), Spanish spices, and I never found myself in a shortage of avocados. What more could a girl ask for?

Needless to say, I’d give Puerto Rico a 9/10. I’m deducting a point off because this week cost me an arm and a leg. Restaurants were priced the same as places in Manhattan or LA, (understanding that I ate seafood practically every day) which was a rude awakening considering people had told me that Puerto Rico was relatively cheap. However, I don’t regret a single dollar I spent, I had a blast and that’s what matters... right?

To walk you through my experiences, I’ll go through the pictures first. We left Syracuse Thursday night for NYC, crashed at friends’ for the night to catch our 11 am flight Friday morning to San Juan. Shoutout to Kai for letting me sleep on his futon, again (you’re the best, and you always will be).

Funny enough, the day we left the entire Northeast was getting slammed with a snow storm-- I think there were a couple of inches in NYC. Man, never had I ever been more glad to be waiting in an airport, jetting off somewhere (literally anywhere) else. Cackling to ourselves at the blizzard outside, the squad and I boarded and took off on time for San Juan. Unscathed by the winter storm, we landed in San Juan around 4 pm that day-- I love when you fly somewhere and the second you walk out of the airport, your body is shocked by the temperature difference. Ahh, the sweet sensation of perspiration.

We quickly went back to our Airbnb, changed, and went out to dinner. Now maybe it was the travel- or the sangria- but this was one of the more euphoric meals I’ve ever had. We went to Casita Miramar, and all ordered the aguacates rellenos (stuffed avocados).

Yes, it was just as good as it looks. Better, actually. *drools* The shrimp was charred perfectly, served with a creamy red pepper sauce that was sweet, garlicky, buttery and just classically good. On the side were tostones (smashed fried plantains). UggGGHHHhh. We then split a guava panetela (divine buttery almost amaretto-y cake layered with guava jam) and were served complimentary shots at the end- called “chichaitos,” they’re traditional Puerto Rican rum shots with anise liquer and a few coffee beans added (usually three for money, love, and health). After slamming those down and being painfully reminded of my relationship with rakı, we went home to catch some z’s for the rest of our trip.

The next day, we rented a car to go to a beach about an hour out of San Juan. My roommate has a friend from San Juan, so we shaped a lot of our itinerary around his suggestions (turns out, the locals know what they’re talking about). So, we ventured out to Manatí, and visited the playa la Poza de las Mujeres.

The water was crystal blue, warm, and the beach wasn’t crowded at all. I had to stop for two iguanas to cross the road though, which was weird.

We then went out to dinner at a little place called Mere Pescao (where I got mahi mahi and plantain skewers) and then went out to drinks at La Coctelera on Calle Loiza. There, I got a rosemary and beet Tom Collins, which was OK but not my favorite. We also went to a Basque bakery and I got a guava pastelito (divine).

The next day, we went to probably the worst brunch we’ve ever had (DON’T go to Caficultura) in Old San Juan. The food was subpar and the service was horrendous. I would say the one saving grace was being able to try a Cortadito, a local favorite similar to a macchiato (the real kind, not the over-dressed crap you get at Starbucks). However, if you do want the real deal-artisanal Puerto Rican coffee, DO go to Cuatro Sombras. They roast all their beans in house (which are locally harvested from Yauco) and even offer special cupping demonstrations and tastings. We then walked around Old San Juan, which is absolutely adorable and reminiscent of Macau (or any other old Portuguese/Spanish town with cobblestone streets, brightly colored buildings and ornate white reliefs).

This is one of the castles in Old San Juan- nicknamed “El Morro” it served as a fort dating back to the 16th century and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The next day, we were on the road by 7 am to go horseback riding on the beach in Isabela (2.5 hours west of San Juan). We went with a small company called Tropical Trail Rides, which was a 2 hour trail ride on 3 different beaches/through coastal brush. Coincidentally, our horses all embodied us in their own ways; Taína was the dark, ethnically ambiguous one (me), Cristal was the crotchety standoffish one (Audrey), Canela didn’t give a flying f*** about the trail ride or her job (Bella), and Whiskey was fully erect the entire time (Lily). Classic.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse

It was a really nice ride, and honestly I could’ve done it all day. We even got to walk over old U.S. missile launchpads in the forest dating back to the Cuban Missile Crisis! Love me some history.

After getting back from horses, we got smoothies and lunch/dinner at La Casita Blanca, a small local place in Santurce. I got the pastelón, which is essentially a take on lasagna but instead of pasta its sweet plantains. I didn’t snag a picture because frankly it wasn’t pretty enough, but trust me- it was DELICIOUS. Like a Puerto Rican moussaka- all the things good in this world, really.

The next day, we left our house at 5:30 am to catch the 9 am ferry to the island of Culebra. (Yes, you did the math right, Fajardo ferry terminal is an hour away from San Juan, and the ferry was scheduled for 9) - It’s an island about equidistant from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, approximately an hour east of PR. I was nervous about this ferry since I had read online it could be rough seas, and with my seasickness, I knew it could get ugly. Luckily, I could recline my head back so I felt fine- but man, the seas were unkind to us that morning. At least 10 people in my immediate proximity were stumbling over to the trash can/bathroom. People were dropping like flies! Bags were being passed left and right, people were toppling over pale and drenched with sweat... it was atrocious. Like a cafeteria food fight, but not fun. After an hour or so of that torture, we landed on the island and decided to rent a golf cart to navigate to/from the beaches around the coastline.

Drinking a piña colada on the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world. My white privilege is checking in right about now.

Flamenco Beach was gorgeous. The sand was fine and white, the water was bright turquoise, and the coastline was curved perfectly like a horseshoe. It was well worth waking up at 5 am to see.

After our time at the beach, we decided to go snorkeling for a bit at Melones Point and try to find some turtles. No turtles unfortunately, but we saw some cool fish and got a lot of hilarious snorkel photos in the water.

After a full day without food, I decided to get some sustenance at Zaco’s Tacos while waiting for our 5 pm ferry back to the main island- would recommend if you’re on Culebra, it’s reasonably priced and the tortillas are definitely made in house (as a Southern Californian, you can tell).

The next day, we had our zip lining adventure in El Yunque National Rainforest. Fun fact, PR is home to the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Parks system. So, when in Rome.

The rainforest was beautiful. The park was a combination of 8 zip lines, mostly short, but the longest was about 2000 feet long over unobstructed tree tops with a view to the ocean. Simply incredible.

Jacked mushrooms go zip lining

After our boost of adrenaline, we ventured into the rainforest to check out a suggested trail to a swimming hole in the river. The “hike” was about 10-15 minutes, really a casual stroll, but the swimming hole was beautiful, and well worth the confusing drive/30 potholes I ruined our rental car with.

Like basically any other body of water in/near Puerto Rico, the river was clear and there were these cute fish swimming around us the whole time. They kept bumping into me though, which I didn’t know to find endearing or creepy.

After another long day, we got food at this restaurant on the beach called El Alambique, where we got buzzed off more piña coladas (an ongoing trend over spring break) and I ate a seafood salad the size of my torso. The Syracuse game was also on at the bar the whole time, funny enough.

The next few days were slightly uneventful, as we had to return our rental car (the crappy Hyundai Accent we became so attached to, listening to Puerto Rican radio and counting iguana roadkill on the highways... final number of 26 FYI) and we had already hit everything on our itinerary. We ended up spending a day the the Renaissance Hotel on the beach in Condado, which was great because we got all the perks of staying there without actually dishing out the $400 a night!

Sipping on prosecco like I’m actually worth something

For lunch, we walked to a nearby food truck called Kabanas for the best fish tacos I’ve had in my life.

You really can’t go wrong with fresh red snapper though, can you?

Afterwards, we went home to get ready for dinner and happy hour. We went to a rooftop restaurant called El Punto de Vista in Old San Juan, where they have 2 for 1 mojitos EVERY DAY until 5 pm. Need I say more?

This place is known for their mofongo, which is another Puerto Rican specialty. Take plantains, fry them, mash them, then top them with meat/seafood and a sauce. This is mofongo with shrimp and garlic sauce. Come on, forget about it.

The next day, I went on a run around Condado to get some exercise. After realizing I hadn’t been that warm in about 5-6 months, it made sense why about 2 miles in I was dripping sweat. I ran around the lagoon and back and managed to snap this photo:

Ah, what it would be like to run this every morning

The next day or so we pretty much screwed around San Juan and ate a lot more. Our last night, we went out to La Placita de Santurce and it would have been like 150% more fun if any of us were in the mood to binge drink. If you’ve been to Hong Kong, I would compare this to a Puerto Rican LKF: a concentrated network of bars and clubs and drunk pedestrians crowding the streets looking for the next place to go. Good vibes, readily available alcohol, and a crowd with people young and old... it was the place to be on a Friday night.

Unfortunately, the next day I woke up with a sore throat, and what viral infection I thought I fended off right before break finally caught up with me. I took it easy my last day there, and we finished off with dinner at one of the most renowned restaurants in San Juan- Jose Enrique. To preface, it’s got 680 reviews on yelp and 4.5 stars, and at opening at 6:30 pm there was a line to get in about 30 people long. Was it worth all that hype? Maybe- the food was incredible, I got the snapper which was fried and served with a sweet potato puree and a papaya avocado pico de gallo. It was, in all worlds, a very good meal. If you can swing the wait, I recommend going here.

I’m not going to talk about the 15.5 hour horror story that was our trip back to Syracuse, but to give you an idea, it lasted from 12 am to 3:30 pm the next day. So, I’ll leave you with my favorite song right now, that we heard about 3 times a day in PR. It’s a bop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!

Hasta luego~

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Görüşürüz, İstanbul

Greetings from Istanbul Atatürk Airport,

The day has finally come. It’s weird to think that this semester has actually come to an end… Like every semester, it had its fair share of ups and downs, (maybe more downs than ups, or at least more noticeable/lasting downs and quick/fleeting ups) but like any semester, I can take a lot away from it. I learned so incredibly much about the world, my country, and myself in these past 5 months: I met people that changed my perception of success, career choice and life in general. I learned a pathetic amount of Turkish, traveled to a lot of different countries, and ate a butt load of food. Most importantly, I think, I took from this semester an experience that will forever shape my path. 

I learned that I can’t live anywhere in the world. I left Hong Kong with this romanticized idea of living abroad- trotting around the world with a backpack, returning to life in a futuristic megacity that was clean, easy to navigate, safe to walk at night, and packed with plenty to do. Being a diplomat would be EASY. Adapting to different cultures, learning different methods of communication, eating new foods; simple. No. Turns out, my experience was catered to the places I visited: all in Asia. I had never been to Europe, the Middle East, or Africa. I grew up in a semi-Asian culture; I’m sure being raised in a half-Chinese household inadvertently prepared me for my experiences in East/SE Asia. I didn’t know how the EU worked. I didn’t understand Islamic culture. I never knew to what extent “Beasts of No Nation” actually described the ex-colonial growing pains in Africa. I was in every sense ignorant. I thought anywhere outside of N America was super interesting, beautiful, and mysterious. I hadn’t been to a country/place I particularly disliked for any reason, so that’s what I assumed would apply to every place I would visit (minus places like, Syria or N Korea or something). I however, was wrong. I can’t even describe how wrong I was. 

Going to Istanbul, I thought it was this amazing blend of history and modernity that had influences from Europe and Asia- a “crossroad of civilizations,” I might call it (S/O to my SUI comrades who got that joke). And, turns out it is, but it’s like if you took historical infrastructure from like 2000 years ago and put 17 million people on top of that, that’s a more accurate image. It’s insane. Istanbul is by far the worst planned, most impossible to navigate city I have ever been to. It could take you 3 hours to drive 2 miles because of traffic (I can speak from experience). You could get off the bus any day, and there might be an entire fleet of police buses with riot police parked at the bus stop because either Erdogan or an important official might be in the area. Cars/taxis/buses will literally hit you if you don’t run across the street when it’s green to cross. There is construction constantly going on, to which you might wake up to the sound to every weekday or have to dodge on the street since awnings/protective measures for pedestrians don’t seem to exist. On top of that, add in political dissidence and the current conflict in Syria (both of which are completely unfortunate and not at the hands of the residents): If there’s a democratic protest, chances are it will be shut down and end in violence. A number of areas in the city are also suggested to not travel to/through due to terrorist threats, and are inhabited by “gypsies” who will beg for money and try biting you if you don’t pay attention to them (also speaking from experience). In short, Istanbul has no chill. It is thrilling, exhausting, amazing, and terrifying. And thanks to living here for 5 months, I’ve found that I can’t take that much disorder in the place I call home. 

Istanbul, however beautiful it may be, is pure, unadulterated chaos. I’ll always suggest people visit Istanbul, because I think it is such an important place to understand, or at least witness first-hand. But realistically, I don’t know how anyone could live there without being born/raised there and being completely numb to it all. Would I go back to Istanbul? Of course. I would love to see how the city changes and grows in the next 15-20 years, since it is so rapidly developing still and I am sure the new refugee deal will shape the city in interesting ways. However, for now I need a break from all its nonsense. Being constantly stressed in public about my surroundings and being hyperaware of the people around me/their intentions is pretty tiring, and for now, I am ready to go home. Sleeping in my room and not being woken up at 5 every morning to the müezzin, or not having to leave for somewhere 4 miles away an hour in advance, or walking on the street and not being self-conscious of drawing attention to myself because of others judgement or security interests. It’s time to finally take a deep breath, for the first time this semester. It’s time to go home.

Despite what you might take as my negative review of the city, here are some of my favorite places/foods/things here that I’ve tried to wrap up with in my past week here (warning: mostly food).

Last Ottoman meal @ Çiya Sofrası, Kadıköy, featuring: beet/rocket salad, parsley/rosemary salad, hummus, stuffed dried eggplant, eggplant kebab, lamb stew, and a spinach/egg pancake

Fatih Karadeniz Pidecisi, Rated No. 1 pide place in Turkey: and therefore WORLD

Kapalı kavurmalı (braised beef), kıymalı yumurtalı (ground beef w/ onion and egg), kuşbaşılı yumurtalı (cubed beef w/ tomatoes, peppers and egg), and ispanaklı yumurtalı (creamed spinach and egg)

Peynirli yumurtalı (cheese and egg)

Menemen, hamur kızartması (fried dough), and bal-kaymak (honey and cream) @ Ortaköy Cafe and Kahvaltı, Ortaköy

Bütme, a version of gözleme: we stuffed it with cheese, ground beef, spinach and mushroom. The restaurant is set up so theres two women in the front sitting in front of a griddle, constantly whipping these out for customers. Served with yogurt and pickles @ Bütme Evi, Kadıköy

Iced soy latte @ Walter’s Coffee Roastery, Kadıköy (it’s Breaking Bad themed, peep the tubs of coffee beans and the ventilation chamber behind my beakers of espresso)

Cheers to one last proper meze with the squad @ Sıdıka, Beşiktas

Best baklava I’ll ever eat in my life @ Kafadaroğlu, Beşiktaş Merkez

Here’s some touristy stuff I did:

Basilica Cistern in Sultanahmet, a Byzantine-era underground water source. Pretty cool

One last trip to the Blue Mosque

Istanbul will always have a special place in my memory: a place of growth, weathering, and wisdom. I will always admire the connection the city has to its past, the pride of the people living there, and its relevance to the rest of the world. Times were hard, but for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t change my experience for the world. It’s been real, Istanbul. 

Not sure when I’ll be traveling again, so unfortunately you can’t expect anything new for a little while. I think I have to start getting my life together for grad school/internships now… (yikes) 

So- until next time,

Miranda

(P.S. I have since returned home safely, as an update for my friends and family who read this. California has been treating me nicely :) )

[asmirandaseesit]

Yeah, We in Dubai

Hello friends,

Last week I made my last trip of the semester to the UAE. I would say I did the trip because I had a burning desire to go to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which is semi-accurate, but really the purpose was to meet up with my boyfriend before he embarked on his month-long backpacking trip across SE Asia. S/O to him for wearing 4 shirts for the next 4 weeks. Anyways, we had a lot of fun in Dubai regardless of the intention of the trip, so here’s a recount of what we did.

As a historical background (since I feel like not many are aware of Dubai’s beginnings, other than the surge of oil money in the last century) it was a sheikhdom than was established around the 1800’s as a fishing village. The sheikh, similar to a king or dynastic ruler, ruled over the area and competed with other sheikhdoms in the region (such as Abu Dhabi, another fishing settlement also settled by the Bani Yas tribe around the mid-1800s). It was very very different from any other city I had been to… Even other relatively newer cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, or LA have a unique flavor that’s at least somewhat in touch with the history of the region. Dubai literally felt like a bunch of rich people living in the desert. It is difficult to see or feel the Arab roots in the culture, maybe except for the gender separation which was obvious in the sense of “women and children” metro cars and the need for my boyfriend to sit on the bus with me, as the sanctity of marriage/relationships is absolutely observed in Islamic cultures. Also, PDA is a BIG no-no (to the point we couldn’t hold hands). So, in those senses there was a palpable connection between the city and its cultural roots. However, there were so many foreigners it’s like it didn’t matter. 50-70% of the people I saw were Caucasian or Asian- not Arab. It has a huge ex pat population, which explains the lack of availability of Emirati cultural influence. Almost every cuisine was available, every clothing designer, and did it have a brand for luxury… For example, Burj al Arab is a 7 star hotel. Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, is next to Dubai Mall, which is the biggest mall in the world. Driving on the streets on average was a BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, with frequent Maclarens, Lamborghinis and Rolls Royces passing. Seriously, it was insane. If you’re into luxury, have a shitload of money, and have no attachment to history or culture, you’d do well in Dubai.

Moving on, I got to the airport at 10 pm for my midnight flight. Unfortunately, I got a middle seat and the flight was from 12 am to 5 am, so finally landing in Dubai after 4 hrs of trying to distract myself from how tired I was was a relief. I called an über to get to my Airbnb, (fun fact, there’s an uber chopper option) and went to bed around 8 am. Woke up around 1 pm feeling mostly dead, but compelled to explore I figured out what I could do for the rest of the day until my boyfriend and his friends arrived. We stayed near the marina, so I decided to walk around Jumeriah Beach and the JBR area. It was at least 95 F at 4 pm, and being used to mid-70s in Istanbul I looked like a wet rat compared to everyone else I passed by, so that was nice. I went to Jumeriah beach and the boardwalk, walked along the promenade of the marina, and visited Dubai Marina Mall before grabbing a salad for dinner and heading back to the apartment to get ready for everyone’s arrival.

The Marina

Jumeriah Beach

From the metro station by Dubai Marina Mall

Once the boys landed, apparently the tram in the airport broke so it took them an extra two hours to get to the Airbnb. I felt really bad, as they had flown from JFK to Zurich, and then down to Dubai, so I made dinner waiting for them (they were beyond grateful, so that made me feel better). Before we knew it, it was 1 am so we all called it a night.

The next morning, we were up early for a full day in Dubai. We went to the Dubai Mall (دبي مول) first, I tried going to a café designed around camels milk (it was closed) went to the massive food court and got Indian, continued to walk around and then decided to go to the aquarium in the mall. It was a pretty nice aquarium, it had a 16 ft long crocodile from Australia so that was cool, and I’m always down for aquariums. We then continued walking around the mall, and went outside to get a look at Burj Khalifa. Btw, it’s 163 floors, and stands 830 m. It’s kinda tall.

This is just a section in the mall: modeled after a traditional Arab souk (market)

The Fountain (point of interest within Dubai Mall)

Burj Khalifa (برج خليفة)           

It was really hot outside

The group allowed me to pursue my camel milk café dream, which luckily was next to an area one of the guys wanted to visit so we tried that next. The cafe was supposedly in the Grand Jumeirah mosque, which is a point of interest, but not only was the cafe closed but the mosque was closed to visitors. So that was great. We grabbed Starbucks, and walked for about 3 miles through what was supposed to be a culturally rich area, but was unfortunately just a street of chain restaurants and cheap clothing stores. (That description makes it seem more interesting than it was) at this point I was feeling very drained, running on too little sleep, food, and decent temperature I went back to the apartment while the boys tried going to a bar. It ended up being too expensive so we basically all went back to unwind before dinner.

We ended up getting hotpot for dinner, which was surprisingly good for how stupidly hot it was outside and the fact that it was Chinese food in the Middle East, but hey. Whatever. Haha. We then went back, I practically went to bed and the guys planned the next few days. 

The next day, Joey and I took a day trip to Abu Dhabi. It’s only an hour and a half down the coast from Dubai, and buses leave approx. every 10 minutes so we had some flexibility in the morning. We grabbed breakfast from Carrefour (fruit salads and croissants) and headed to the bus station. Getting on the bus was when we had our first really weird experience: when there were 2 seats left on the bus that were not next to each other, the bus driver looked at us, looked back at the seats, scratched his chin, and told one of the men sitting next to an empty seat to move so that Joey and I could sit together. It was a nice gesture, but I know it comes from the cultural difference that married women (or at least women in the company of men) should be accompanied solely by the men they are already with. It’s the same in Turkey, except people don’t care nearly as much on public transportation as they do in restaurants or other social interactions for example. Weird but nice enough, we sat down for our hour bus ride and headed to Abu Dhabi.

Getting there around noon, we decided to head to the Emirates Palace first: not only because it’s a 5 star luxury hotel, but they had camelccinos. That’s right: camel milk cappuccinos. The thing I had been dying to try coming to the UAE. So, that’s what we got. And because WHY NOT, we got a camel burger. 

The milk was extremely mild and made for a quite delicious cappuccino. The foam was topped off with date syrup, and served alongside camel milk chocolates and a date. Not bad, actually. And it didn’t give me issues later on (being lactose intolerant, and all).

The camel burger was pretty gamey. It had a very distinct camel taste- like goat or elk, but different. Not fatty at all, which kind of made for a rubbery patty although it was done medium. Yes, those are gold flakes on top of the burger and potato croquette/fries. When in Abu Dhabi.

We then walked around the massive hotel for a little, (literally it took like 3 minutes to walk from the lobby to the closest bathroom, down a mile long stretch of marbled hallways) and then headed to Qasr al Hosn fort (قصر الحصن). It was the first permanent building in Abu Dhabi, unfortunately it was closed to the public but we went in the adjacent museum where we learned about the history of Abu Dhabi and its people. So, not worth nothing. We then went to a mall to grab drinks to hang out in A/C for a few hours until the Grand Mosque opened, and got really decent gin and tonics and made conversation for an hour or so. In the mall there was also a Magnolia Bakery (the chain in NYC) and I wanted to try something from there so I got a salted caramel cookie (which was delicious) and while trying to exit, successfully walked straight into a glass door. Guess the gin and tonic hit me a little harder than I thought it would. Oops.

Sacred gin w/ rosemary and orange peel @ Bentley Bistro and Bar

View from the mall, on the edge of Al Maryah Island (جزيرة الماريه)

Leaving the mall nearly in tears from laughing, we caught a cab and headed to Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque (جامع الشيخ زايد الكبير). There was a bus we wanted to catch so we didn’t have much time to see it, and since my outfit was haram (forbidden, aka not kosher) I would have had to wait in a line to get a cloak to enter the mosque. So instead, I waited outside as Joey ran in and got pics. I still managed to get this photo though:

We left for the bus station, screwed up and missed the bus by 5 minutes so we had to wait for the next bus a half hour later. 2 hours later, we were back in Dubai and had dinner at a restaurant in JBR right on the beach. It was one of the only Emirati places near our Airbnb, and as it was on the fancier side it was a little more expensive but it was totally worth it. I got the aishu laham (عيش ولحم) which is stewed lamb shank over saffron rice. Joey and I also split the shark sambousas, which came with a smokey/lime sauce. Mmmm.

It fell off the bone. Like some sort of beautiful sorcery. Ahh.

We finished up the night with an açai banana popsicle and shisha on the boardwalk. The next morning, we went to old town Dubai and the Deira Old Spice Souk by the creek. This market was where the original traders came to exchange and sell their goods, dating back to the mid 19th century. When we got off the abra (water taxi) at Deira, I couldn’t believe my eyes: camel milk GELATO.

I got date and saffron flavors. Perfect treat to cool down in the 100000* F or whatever it was.

The market was nice, there were a few other tourists there but a lot of it felt like a very locally-run-for-locals kind of place. In addition to the little tourist shops with tchotchkes and souvenirs, most of it was practical goods like clothes, baby stores, and cooking supplies. 

To be honest, it wasn’t unlike anything I had seen before

I liked this postcard

We walked around for a few hours, after drinking an inhuman amount of water I decided to stop at a juice stand and get something on the menu I had never heard of before (a real hit or miss, as I’ve found) so I decided on Iranian faloodeh. Its apparently a cold dessert made of stringy tapioca noodles on ice, topped with lime juice and rose syrup. Kinda felt like eating little cold strings of rubber eraser flavored with sugar. Not my favorite, tbh.

We soon decided to get lunch, after looking for nearby food we settled on a small Emirati place styled after a typical guest house. It was pretty good, we all split hummus, mottabal (babaganoush), and what Turks call “cacik” which is just yogurt with mint, garlic and cucumber. The bread was pretty fire. I then got the fish majboos, which was a pan fried fish filet (tasted something like sea bass) on top of saffron rice.

After lunch, we headed to the Mall of the Emirates to figure out our skiing trip. If you haven’t heard, there’s an indoor ski resort in Dubai- first in the Middle East actually. It’s attached to the side of the Mall of the Emirates (مول الإمارات) which is another one of the largest malls in the world. It is also very decently priced, for 2 hours on the lift and rentals it was only around $55. Granted, it is a tiny slope, the powder was only about 5″ thick, and we were some of the best people on the “mountain” but it was absolutely worth every penny. 

Everyone hates snowboarders @ سكي دبي

We spent about an hour and a half on the slope until it was reasonably time for dinner, changed back into our shorts and t-shirts and before going back to the airbnb I stopped in the ginormous Carrefour in the mall to pick up these beauties.

Assorted flavors of camel milk. Cardamom, chocolate, saffron, and date. All pretty good, until I figured out that camel milk actually has a degree of lactose in it… that hurt.

For dinner, Joey and I ordered in Sri Lankan and had a little date on the balcony. The next morning, we packed up I headed to the airport for my afternoon flight, and we said goodbye. Really, a pretty relaxed trip. I feel like we succeeded in getting a good feel for Dubai and Abu Dhabi, without spending an exorbitant amount of money and also getting some quality time together. Unfortunately, I failed in getting a tan… Guess I’ll have to wait until California to get that done.

I think this was a good last trip. Upon reflection, I feel like I got a really good feel for Europe and a pretty decent one for the Middle East. It has been beyond exhausting traveling almost non-stop for the past 2 months, but I wouldn’t have changed my experiences for the world. Every shitty flight, mile I walked, time I got lost, and dollar spent are all things I wouldn’t trade for anything. I may be in pretty bad shape from all the traveling I’ve put myself through these two months, but I can sleep it off at home. My experiences here in Europe and Asia are precious, and always will be.

2 more days in Istanbul…

Until next time~

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Karadeniz Hoş Geldiniz

İyi günler,

So last last weekend I actually spent in Turkey (what a concept) and went on a field trip to the Black Sea region with my program. It was technically for academic purposes, but it was probably the most relaxing weekend I’ve had in a while. You could say it was kind of a last hurrah for my Turkish experience, since I have finals coming up, having left for Dubai, more finals and then the program is over- so it was nice being able to get one last good trip within Turkey before I head back to the U.S. in now just 6 days. Overall, it was a nice weekend with my SUI comrades. Here’s a recount of our 5 days in northern Turkey.

Saturday morning, I’m up at 5 to get to the airport for our flight. Although waking up early sucks, I’ve found that early flights are an absolute blessing for one reason (and one reason only): traffic. There’s never traffic at 6 am. I’d say the only hours you’re safe from the hell that is Istanbul traffic is between the hours of 3-7 am. And even then, you’re still not safe. But anyways, we made it to the airport in no time and sat around forever until our flight to Sinop.

Arriving in Sinop, we get on our tour bus and start driving around town. Sinop is a small town on the coast of the Black Sea, that is famous for it’s strategic location as a port in Greek/Roman times. It’s built on a natural harbor, which ships could dock at to find refuge from the strong currents that basically make the rest of the sea difficult to dock in. 

Frankly, I can’t even remember what we saw other than a nice lookout point of the isthmus, a prison where famous political prisoners were held (operated back when Turkey was not-so-nice, or even mores to political dissidents), a statue of Diogenes the Cynic (famous philosopher of Alexander the Great’s time, known for his critiques of the hypocrisy of society) and there was something about lunch at a meze restaurant where I got grilled sea bass (perfect as always) and we all got mantı afterwards (yes, we had two lunches. and it was the right choice). Sinop is a region famous for its mantı, which is a small meat-filled dumpling served with garlic oil and yogurt. The Sinop mantı is bigger than the typical Kayseri version, which are about the size of peas and barely have any filling, and topped with yogurt, garlic oil, and fried walnuts.

Fucking FIRE. Honestly, It will probably be the best mantı I’ll ever have (unless I go back and get it again of course)

We then headed to our hotel, which was a small boutique hotel right on the beach. Many of us decided to go swimming in the Black Sea (which is supposedly very cold) but I was perfectly content lounging on the beach with a stray dog that befriended me.

Buds 4 life

We had grilled salmon for dinner on the patio, overlooking the sea at dusk. It was a perfect moment. We then indulged in drunken story time performed by the adults (who all had a little bit of rakı to drink), which was absolutely hysterical. Afterwards I went to bed, falling asleep to the sound of the waves outside our room.

Next morning, 3 hour bus ride to Samsun. Samsun is the first spot where Atatürk (the father of the Turkish Republic, pretty much worshipped in Turkey today) docked in 1919 when he began the Republican revolution. Also, they have really good pide (Turkish equivalent of pizza). Other than that, I don’t know the significance of the city. But, they do have very good pide.

Pure artistry

This was apparently rated the 4th best pide in Turkey, (and therefore the world) and it was so good we ordered more. I got the cheese and egg, then Celina and I split a lamb and egg one. *Hallelujah chorus* However, the single best pide place is supposedly in Istanbul, so I’ll get back to you with my review of that. So far though— this is the best pide I’ve ever had. Even the Turks agreed.

Back on the bus for another 3 hours, and we arrived in Amasya. I unfortunately had a lot of back pain (most likely from sitting for like the entire week prior) so I went to bed when we got to the hotel. We spent the entire next day in Amasya, which is a small town built in a valley that was the city where Ottoman sultans went to receive royal education and training. 

The Red River (Kızılrmak) runs through it, which was historically the Western border of Hatti of the Hittite Empire. There, we visited rock-cut tombs, a museum with a bunch of prehistoric artifacts from the Neolithic ages up to the Ottoman Empire (including some super weird mummified babies from the Ottoman period), a lake, a mosque from the Seljuk period, a hamam, and some other stuff I’m probably forgetting. We ate some local food for lunch, including keşkek (veal stew with bulgur), and then got really good çig köfte dürüm for dinner. It had mint and greens and sauces and MMM. We then bought our weight in candied nuts. Because we love nuts. Who doesn’t love nuts?

Keşkek

Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) “dolma” means stuffed in Turkish fun fact

The Red River

Sultan Beyazit II Mosque

It was a very picturesque little town, most of the architecture was from Ottoman times and had been preserved by families living there/the city. I really enjoyed my time there, as I think we all did.

The next morning, another 3 hour drive to Alacahöyük, which is an ancient Hittite city dating back to 1300 BCE. Beforehand we stopped for leblebi, a Turkish snack made of baked chickpeas. I got a bag of the soy sauce flavored ones, which are pretty good I must say. Afterwards we stopped for lunch, got very good gözleme, and walked around the ancient site.

All the leblebi

Alacahöyük

Another hour or whatever drive (I honestly can’t even remember all of the driving we did because it was an absurd amount) and we got to the city of Hattuşaş where we spent the night. 3 of us got food poisoning from the dinner though (including me, as per usual) so sleep unfortunately wasn’t great that night. Next morning, we headed to the ancient city of Hattuşaş which was the capital city of the Hittite civilization. 

The Sphinx Gate

Remnants of a city wall

To be honest, it didn’t make that much sense to me to build a city of stone on so many hills. Why not pick the flat land right next to the hills? Maybe it was a strategic measure to ward off invaders. Idk. Either way, it was pretty awesome to see such an old pile of rocks (I say that endearingly). Afterwards, another 4 hour drive or something to Ankara to return to Istanbul.

All in all, I would say it was a great trip. Although our group isn’t as tightly knit as it could be, it was nice to be able to bond with these people one last time before the end of the semester, since some of us will most likely never be in contact again. The Black Sea was a great escape from the business and chaos of Istanbul (something that has consistently got on my nerves this semester), and I don’t have any complaints about the trip except for the inhumane amount of time we were in a car (to be fair, we drove about 700 km in 4 days). Overall, 9/10 trip, and would definitely go back given the chance.

One more post about Dubai, and less than 1 week left in Istanbul!

Görüşürüz,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)

Muraho,

Last-last weekend I traveled alllll the way down to Rwanda (haven’t been that far south in a while) to visit my cousin and see the country he’s called home for the past 6 or so years. Because, when a family member invites you to visit them in sub-Saharan Africa, and you have the means to do so, you take them up on that offer. Because, when else would you make that trip? Gotta break the ice somehow. So, that’s what I did. Here’s a recount of my 4 days in Eastern Africa.

Friday afternoon, headed to the airport. Stuck in the same damn gate that is the absolute farthest away from the rest of the terminal. Annoyed, and equipped with Starbucks, I hopped on my 6.5 hr direct flight to Kigali. Having successfully finished the Godfather trilogy, I landed around midnight in Kigali Int’l. Getting off the plane the humidity hit me like a wall-but I was glad to see my cousin waiting for me to take me back to his “compound” (as my entire family refers to his house as, complete with his own gate and security guard). I had only heard stories about how the other half lives, so I was very interested to see his setup for myself. And having stayed with him most of the weekend, all I can say is: Trevor, you’ve got your life figured out. Seriously, your life is my goals in 10 years. And your dogs are really cute. Back to the story, I went almost straight to bed that night to get up the next morning to leave for the national park.

Next morning, we grabbed coffee (from a Korean café??? Imagine something similar to 35* C. Kigali you’re full of surprises) and headed to his office to meet our driver/safari tour guide for the weekend. Again, a modern high-rise down a street of other high-rises and perfectly manicured islands and public spaces… Ok. Meeting the tour guide, we headed off to Akagera National Park.

On the way to Nasho

Beforehand, we had to stop at one of the project sites for my cousin’s construction company to check up on some things. This project is underway in the tiny rural village of Nasho in eastern Rwanda, think like a main street of little saloons and general stores and then the rest is scattered houses down dirt roads. We stopped on a main intersection to meet up with other partners/etc., and I sat in the passenger seat while my cousin got out to talk business and the driver got out to take a phone call. I sat looking down at my phone, and looked up for just a second to see a small child staring at me through the car window. I looked back and smiled, and continued to look down at my phone for another 15 or so seconds. I look up again to see if the child is still there, to find another 5 children staring at me through the window. Within 30 seconds or so, a small crowd of Rwandan children had formed outside the passenger’s side of the car, all motionless and staring at me through the window. Naturally, I felt like I had to greet these children or make some sort of gesture, so I got out of the car to say hi. Some of them flinched when I opened the door and stepped out, still keeping their eyes locked on mine. I couldn’t help but giggle to myself. Not knowing what to say, or how to communicate in any reasonable language other than English, I introduced myself, waving to everyone. They all waved back, and one jutted out and greeted me with a “good day!” and a handshake. Sensibly, the rest all followed suit, and I ended up one by one greeting every child with a “good day!” and a tiny handshake. (These children were between the ages of 3-10, and there were about 20 of them) It may have been the most precious moment I’ve ever shared with children, or humans for that matter. We made some small conversation, at one point I got a “how are you?” to which I replied “I’m good, how are you?” and the little girl replied with a “fine, thank you.” *heart melts* The driver came over and translated some of what they were saying about me and explained my situation to them. I may have been the first white female they’ve ever seen according to him, which explains why they were coming up to me and looking through my long golden hair, or inspecting my skin, or rubbing the hair on my arms (as they showed me they didn’t have any). When it was time to go and we had to part ways, I waved goodbye and was again approached by each child to one by one to say “bye bye!” and shake their hand again. I was giggling uncontrollably at this point. After we ended our interaction, I waved goodbye to my 20 new friends and we headed to the safari park.

A few hours of uneven dirt roads later, we arrived at Akagera National Park. After purchasing our entry tickets, we decided to go on a mini-safari until dusk where we checked into the lodge for the night. In a few hours, we saw zebras, baboons, warthogs, waterbucks, bushbucks, elands, topis, impalas, hippos, buffalo, and lots of varieties of birds.

Trevor and I in front of Lake Ihema (?)

You can guess what these are

Upon sunset, we headed to Ruzizi Tented Lodge. If you’ve ever heard of “glamping,” that’s essentially what this is. If you took a tent, made it bigger, added running hot water and electricity, and added all the other elements of a hotel room, but put inside a tent, that’s what I slept in. Here’s a few pics for proof:

For dinner, we had a 3 course meal including mozarella-chorizo croquettes, roasted pork chops, and white chocolate panna cotta. (Literally I am camping...) At night, there were approx. 5 geckos running around on the walls of my tent fighting eachother. I also had to kill a spider the size of a sand dollar. Africa is nuts.

This place also was entirely built on stilts too, since it was on the shore of Lake Ihema (and hippos are highkey dangerous). Basically I felt like I spent a night in the ewok village from Return of the Jedi. 

The next morning, we had a very bougie breakfast on the deck. I had a fruit salad with pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, and tomato, a juice blend of sorts, and some of the best coffee I’ve ever had. (My cousin said it’s likely they grow the coffee in/near the national park and grind/roast it in-house, hence it being ridiculously good) 

Don’t mind the black thing it’s an avocado

After breakfast, we set out for our safari. Another day of really bad excuses for roads, horseflies, and seeing some really awesome animals into the north end of the park. We even saw a hippo running on land. Here are some pics:

He was all on his own, unfortunately. Fun fact, he’s part of the largest land mammal species on earth.

Topis, one of the fastest/largest species of antelope in Africa (sidenote, that blue thing on the right is a horsefly trap. They need like 10000000 more of these tbh)

Impalas, another species of antelope. They also are nicknames McDonald’s for the black “M” shape on their tail/bum

African Fish Eagles

Hippos! (peep the baby on the very far right)

Masai giraffes, not indigenous to Rwanda but imported from Kenya in the 80′s. I liked the fact they were all standing around in this plain, facing different directions and completely stationary. Added a sort of endearing stupidity to their character. (Fun fact: tallest land mammal on earth)

The open plan of giraffes, buffalo, zebras, elephants, antelope and white cranes really felt like an episode of planet earth. It was surreal and beautiful, and I can’t imagine a better way to end the safari. After we exited the park, it was a 4 hour drive back to Kigali for the afternoon. 

The next morning, I had a full day of touring around in Kigali. I started off with the Kigali Genocide Memorial (which may or may not have been a good idea)- although it wasn’t the best way to start my day, learning about the horrors of colonialism and government propaganda, I believe it is extremely important to learn about in order to understand Rwanda’s history and progress as a nation. Just so you know, the country lost almost 25% of it’s population, as up to a million were killed and several million fled the country in only 100 days in 1994. The memorial was done very well, even including an area dedicated to education about other mass genocides such as the Holocaust or Armenian Genocide. (Or in Turkey, known as the Armenian Question) There is also a garden outside that contains the mass graves of over 250,000 people, where survivors can visit their lost family members today.

Moving on, I then went to Caplaki Craft Village to pick up all my souvenir needs. It’s like a little market that offers crafty-tchotchke stuff (yes I had to look up the spelling of that) from Rwanda and bordering countries. Everything was very cheap, and I think I got a pretty good haul.

My guide and I then went to lunch, a traditional East African buffet where I got (what I think was) goat stew, beans, potatoes, boiled bananas, chapati (a wheat-based flatbread) and topped with a peanut sauce. It was perfect.

After driving around the city for another hour or two, running errands and seeing the different infrastructure, I then headed to a flea market to get a pair of hiking boots for the gorilla trek the next day. It was multi-tiered built on a hill, and it reminded me of any swap-meet I had been to back in the states. My guide told me there was a wide selection of shoes, (in fact that’s where he gets his shoes) and lo and behold- an entire floor dedicated to mounds of shoes in all sizes. Literally, mounds. It was extremely intimidating at first, but luckily some vendors rushed over to help me find what I needed in my size. After getting 10+ shoes shoved in my direction, I found a pair of secondhand men’s Merrells that fit me well enough. I bought them for about 35 USD. No problem.

I got yelled at by the soldier standing right out of view for taking this picture. He didn’t want to be in it haha

We then set off to Musanze, the northern district nearby the Volanco National Park I was doing the gorilla hike in the next day. After only 5 more hours of dirt mountain roads in incredibly beautiful scenery, listening to my guide’s music which included Usher, Britney Spears, and Whitney, and getting “muzungu” (the local equivalent of “gringo”) shouted at me from every villager child we passed, (basically having the weirdest 5 hours of my life) we finally arrived at the hotel. Funny this was my first real access to wifi all weekend, in a 3-star hotel in the middle of literal nowhere. I then immediately went to bed, in preparation for the long day ahead of me.

Driving north. Side note, the entire country pretty much looks like this. It’s unbelievably awesome

That giant thing partially covered by clouds on the left side of the picture is Mount Muhabura, an extinct volcano in the National Park that I went to. The park lies on the border of Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo.

Next morning, up at 5 am for breakfast and checking into the national park. The hotel provided me with a yummy tropical fruit platter, with papaya, pineapple, banana, passion fruit and what they call a “tree tomato” which is the thing on the right. It looks and has the texture of tomato, but tastes sweet and tangy and has dark red seeds. Interesting, and I’d eat it again given the chance. This breakfast made me so happy.

Noms

Getting to the national park, we (the tourists) were each assigned to a gorilla family and a guide to lead us up the volcano. I was assigned to the Amahoro family, which means “peace” as the original silverback of the family was known to be a very peaceful and reserved. Given one last bathroom break, we headed off to the volcano. 

Another example of a poor excuse for a road, leading up to the volcano

Each family is assigned a team of trackers that work in the national park, who monitor their movements daily and report on any health issues or threats to the gorillas’ livelihood. They don’t tag the gorillas, which is why they need a team of people to supervise them (from a safe distance) at all times in efforts of conservation. We hiked Mount Bisoke where our family was seen last, with an armed tracker to ward off buffalo (who are notoriously aggressive), and our guide equipped with a radio connected to the trackers who were following the Amahoro family. 

If you could picture the rainforest from Tarzan, this was literally it. Stunningly beautiful, untouched nature. Through up to a foot of mud, bushes of stinging nettles and thistle, bamboo forests, clouds of mosquitos and other biting insects, we trekked up the mountain and into the jungle.

Off the side of the volcano

Peep the gorilla handprint in the middle (based on size it was a juvenile)

After 2.5 hours of weaving uphill through brush, we came to a spot to leave our bags and walking sticks- it was time to meet the gorillas.

I took a ridiculous amount of photos of them, so I’ll just show you these. I was max. 10 feet away from these animals, and it was amazing. They totally minded their own business eating their lunch, while our guides made gorilla noises at them to ensure we were friendly visitors. They replied back with content acknowledgement of our presence. We sat with them for over an hour, observing them up close while they munched on stocks of various plants. The babies were hilarious to watch, rolling around and wrestling with each other while the adults calmly monitored and ate their meal. At one point, a baby came over to one of the females “hip checked” him, with her arm swiftly uprooting him and causing him to tumble down the mountain for about 20 feet before he landed in a bush. Before we knew it, our time was up, and we said goodbye to the gorillas as they moved down the mountain to continue foraging. It only took 45 min to get down the mountain, and surprisingly none of us had to slide down on our backs. Here’s a picture of the aftermath:

All in all, a perfect last day in Rwanda. I headed back to Kigali to shower and get ready for my flight, then my cousin and I went to grab surprisingly decent Japanese food before heading to the airport. In retrospect, Rwanda was awesome. Africa is already totally underrated, but Rwanda is a really wonderful place to visit. It’s clean, it’s safe, the people are nice, the infrastructure is developed (enough) and the food and culture are both rich and dynamic. Also, Kigali is extremely cosmopolitan, I’d say more so than the megacity of Istanbul. Example: I had some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had in Kigali. In Istanbul, it’s majority Turkish- like the foreign influence and availability of non-Turkish things is minuscule compared to the Turkish presence I’ve noticed in most of the country. I’m not saying it’s bad to have a predominantly domestic influence, but it is comforting to see diversity coming from where/how I was raised.

As my cousin pointed out, Rwanda is nicer than many places in sub-Saharan Africa: places like the Congo are a corrupt mess, the ex-colonial governments in Western Africa are a sham, and places currently under civil war are extremely dangerous. Rwanda is a nice place to dip your toes into the Sub-Saharan African experience, before diving in head first into a lot of the surrounding countries. This trip really opened my eyes to all that the region has to offer: untouched raw beauty, vibrant culture, and a testament to how some things are still so misunderstood in this world. This was by far the most unforgettable trip of this semester, and maybe one of the most interesting trips I’ve done in all of my travels. As far as my personal favorite places I’ve been to, I think Rwanda ties with Thailand. 11/10 would go back. Also, s/o to my cousin for literally supporting me for a weekend. Rwanda, thanks for the memories. 

Only 2 more trips to post about! Stay tuned for my weekend in the Black Sea region and my future trip to Dubai! (I have finals starting Monday so I apologize in advance how delayed this is all going to be) Only 16 days until I’m back in America...

Until next time,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Foggy London Town

Hiya,

The weekend before last I ventured to the UK (the land of my namesake). I visited my friend Bella to spend her last weekend in London with her, and I think we definitely made it a successful 4 days. I had always wanted to go to London/the UK, (embarrassingly enough I had a phase in high school where I only listened to 1D and watched British YouTube bloggers in my free time) so I was really interested in seeing the city and country for myself, for the first time. Here’s a recount of my weekend.

Friday morning at an ungodly hour I left Istanbul and arrived at London Gatwick around 9 am. After spending over $30 on a train from the airport to Victoria station to take the tube, I spent another $45 on an Oyster card (London’s transportation card) to get to Bella’s flat and around for the rest of the weekend. It wasn’t even noon and I had spent over $70. (This will be an ongoing trend for the rest of the 4 days) Once I met up with Bella, we headed out for the rest of the day. We decided to get all the touristy crap over with first, so we went to Big Ben/Parliament/Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge

Gansta rap made me do it

The royal family

All very close together, and all luckily short enough trips to leave the tube station to see, walk around, and head onto the next attraction. However, the weather (because England) was not as kind. Whenever we would leave the tube station, approx. 2 min later it was slushing/windy/hailing/sleet/horizontally, to the point where Bella and I were struggling to see/keep our hoods on to cover our faces and heads. We would see the sight, take some photos despite the weather, and head back to the tube station, only for blue skies to be revealed 30 seconds before we entered the underground again. I don’t know if it was just bad timing or luck, but it was hilariously frustrating. We grabbed some fish and chips on the way home, turns out I don’t like fish and chips (too fried) and walked along Oxford Street to go window shopping.

After our tourist excursion, we headed to Cuban with Bella’s roommates where Bella and I each drank a pitcher of Cubana Refresca and headed back home to get ready for clubs that night.

Brilliant

Fast forward past walking through the tube station wearing coats longer than our dresses (and in turn looking naked) we got to the farbegé egg themed club, (I’m not kidding) were quickly denied (we suspect because of our college age and American accents) and headed home to sleep. (I was up for almost 24 hours that day, luckily I ended it at 23.5)

The next morning Bella, her roommate and I headed to Camden Market. Imagine a Reading Terminal Market/Pike Place Market but on steroids, multiple levels, and next to an entire area of Venice Beach-like shops. Camden was poppin’, I gotta say. The food was also INCREDIBLE. (Side note, I have spent the last 4 months in a country that isn’t nearly as obsessed with health foods as America is) and boy was I glad to be back. Vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, raw, soy-free, ANY dietary restrictions you might have, people in London have heard of them and will listen to you. You have OPTIONS. *hallelujah* So, for once, yay for Western culture. I missed you, options.

Although there were stalls for basically any cuisine in any way you’d like it, we decided on a stand called “Chia” (yes like my favorite seed) and we got pita wraps with slow-cooked chicken, halloumi, greens, tomatoes, avocado, mint yoghurt sauce, sunflower seeds, and pomegranate. They were perfect. We then also got custard donuts, vegan peanut butter/chocolate cookies, and banana/peanut butter/cacao/almond milk shakes. Basically, we ate really well.

Looking toward the market on the left

The happiest I’ve been in a while

Pictured left to right: Pop, Trash, and Candy

After eating everything ever, we went back to center city to explore more. Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Regents Street. Basically, the London equivalent of NY’s Times Square to 5th Ave.

Trafalgar Square (Down the street in the middle of the picture is Big Ben)

Piccadilly Circus. Just as tacky and crowded as Times Square.

Walking down Regents Street, lined with every designer and posh clothing store you could ever need- and it connects to Oxford Street so you can do even more shopping there.

After walking around, we grabbed a traditional English meal at a pub in Soho. I believe it was called the Cambridge? Or something like that- either way I had a great steak and ale pie and cider. English food gets a bad rap but I quite enjoyed this.

The cider was flavored with blackberries- produced right there in London too. 

We finished up dinner, and called it a night in prep for another long day. The next day, we got up early and headed to Victoria Station- but first stopping for breakfast. There’s a vegan place by Bella’s flat that I saw had baked goods, so trying that we got green tea-pumpkin seed muffins, which we both thought were a good idea, until we took our first bites and discovered they were rather unpleasant. You know that “as seen on TV” product called “moon sand?” It’s like a sand that clumps together and is almost taffy-like when you pull it apart. These muffins were essentially cups of green moon sand. I then quickly erased that experience with a Starbucks. 

After arriving at Victoria bus station, we caught a bus to Oxford, and then a train to the Cotswolds. Oxford, for the whole 40 minutes I was there, was really quite nice. I would compare it to a Princeton, NJ in the sense of college town/nicer college town/actually a decent amount to do off campus/really nice campus/middle of nowhere vibes. I would definitely consider Oxford for a place to get a graduate degree just by virtue of how nice the town and campus were.

Streets lined with cute little bookstores, cafes, restaurants of any cuisine you could desire, really anything you might need was here. I could dig it.

After running through Mark & Spencer Simply Food grabbing “lunch” and then making our train by about a whole minute, we were off to the Cotswolds. (I really wish we had M&S Simply Food in the US, it’s like a Wawa but even BETTER) To give you some background, the Cotswolds is a region in Central England and has many small towns (like Cappadocia in Turkey). We took the train to Moreton-in-Marsh (the most English name for a town maybe ever) and spent a few hours walking around and browsing the shops. Let me tell you- imagine the cutest/most quaint/delightful little English town and this was it. We went into a fudge shop (simply to browse) and made conversation with the owners and ended up buying a brick because the couple was just so darn nice to us. We got a fudge with marzipan flavored fudge on top, then chocolate and spiced fruits on the bottom. (It was actually quite good, but we literally only bought it because the man who made the fudge was adorable in every sense). We kept walking through the town, and with time to kill sat for afternoon tea. 

Looking down the main street

It us

Cream tea (I’d get this every day if I could tbh)

Time was up before we knew it, and we had to get back on the train to London. Getting on the train didn’t require buying a ticket, and as the two broke girls we were, decided to not look too far past this. Don’t get me wrong here, I like abiding by the law but I was broke 2 days into this trip and Bella and I felt that this was a victimless crime. So, upon arriving in London Paddington Station without tickets, we found we couldn’t exit the gates leaving the station. (They have machines that require you to insert a ticket to pass through the gate) So, like the smooth criminals we were, we decided we could push through behind people with tickets and follow them through the gates. We squeezed up to a pair of unsuspecting strangers, and as soon as they inserted their tickets, we pushed through the gates- a valiant effort- only to get crushed halfway through the gate and get stuck between two forceful plexiglass doors. Struggling, groaning, and making a complete scene, we were able to wiggle through the gates and briskly walk away like “how unusual that the gates closed on us!!??!” It was one of my less graceful moments, I’d say.

We got dinner in Soho again, at Bella’s favorite Indian restaurant (and apparently the first in London). I didn’t take a picture, but I got chicken makhani and saag aloo (two of my favorites). It was really good, but expensive, as per usual. After finishing up dinner, we headed back to her apartment to bed.

The next day, we had our entire schedule planned out around eating. (Would you expect any less from Bella and I) So in the morning, we headed to South Kensington to get açai bowls (a long lost love of mine). Walking up to the shop, we found it was closed for Labor Day, and sadly we got on our phones to look up the next place to get them. Standing outside the shop on our phones for no more than 2 minutes, a lady walked up and unlocked the shop and went inside. Bella and I looked curiously at her, she saw us and gestured us to come in. It turned out, she was only waiting for a friend to come repaint the windows and had come in to help her friend. When she found out we had come specifically for her açai bowls, she put on an apron and made us bowls on the spot with the fresh ingredients she had left. Our deity. I will never forget you Sha.

Açai 4 life @ Viva Açai

We walked through Kensington and headed over to Hyde Park. I would compare it to the Central Park of NYC, even with the posh housing that surrounded it (Upper East/West Side) it was definitely a nice park to walk around. Filled with joggers, dogs, and people just taking advantage of the abnormally nice weather, it was complete with open green spaces and ponds with swans and ducks. 

Not too shabby

After a few hours of walking around, people watching and pigeon watching, (and having Bella get shat on by a bird and me washing it out of her hair in the bathroom) we headed to high tea at the Ivy Kensington Brasserie, just a short walk from the western side of the park. 

South Kensington- lots of shopping and restaurants/cafés too

High tea was delicious. It was more on the expensive side (but still very cheap for afternoon tea) to split a cream tea and an afternoon tea it cost around 14 pounds for each of us. (Usually afternoon tea can cost anywhere between 20-30 pounds, and even more with the addition of champagne) This afternoon tea came complete with a chicken/truffle salad sandwich, a tuna/cucumber sandwich, a smoked salmon/cream cheese biscuit, 2 scones with clotted cream, strawberry preserves and fresh strawberries, fruit bread toast with cheese, a mini lemon meringue pie, a slice of tiramisu, and a lavender/vanilla macaron. Everything was smaller than the palm of my hand, but it was nice as a snack and everything was quite good. We also got the cream tea which came with 3 more scones, so yes that total means we split 5 scones. And yes, it was absolutely worth it.

The scones were buttery, soft on the inside, firm on the outside and were lightly sweetened by raisins. They were served warm too- and the clotted cream was to DIE for. To compliment the food (or rather the subject of compliment by the food) I got the classic afternoon tea blend. Free refills too, not bad.

We finished up our tea, and strolled around the area for shopping. We ended up going to TK Maxx (the UK equivalent of TJ Maxx, one of my favorite places to shop) and got some good finds on a discount. By the time we finished up shopping, it was time to head back to Soho for our ramen date. Oh, how I missed that salty/meaty/rich bowl of noodle-y goodness. I got the charsiu ramen, and of course added the hanjuku egg (one of my favorite things in the material world). Not the best ramen I’ve ever had, I’ll leave that ranking to OC, but it still satisfied every inch of me that desperately craved this Japanese treat. 

Ramen at Kanada-ya. Good atmosphere, clean, fast service, and good ramen. The noodles were perfect and the broth was thick and tasty. Major key for good ramen. 

After inhaling my bowl, we went to a small vegan ice cream place in Soho. I was amazed at the selection of vegan frozen treats- I got a bowl of green tea froyo and topped it with pomegranate seeds, chocolate chips, and blueberries. Sort of expensive (I think I paid like 7 pounds for this) but also satisfying. Truly, it was a perfect night to end my stay in London.

The next morning, I headed to the airport, succeeded in finally getting Nando’s (basically El Pollo Loco but more pricey/British influenced) and also tried Pret for the first time. They had a great selection of packaged health foods, I got an avocado quinoa bowl with greens and a red pepper sauce, and a soy latte. Not bad at all, which I guess explains why they’re on every block in London. Got on the plane, successfully avoided being vomited on by the woman next to me, and headed to class. Overall, I’d say it was a very successful weekend in London.

I may be biased toward this trip, since it was honestly the first time this semester I’ve felt accepted/completely comfortable in a place. I wasn’t scrutinized for speaking English, being a white female in her 20′s, or having dietary restrictions. It was the first time I’ve really been given options and chances to do/eat exactly what I wanted, which honestly felt so nice after being in a country/region relatively unfriendly to foreigners, especially foreign women. The major con was the high prices for everything, which can be a major issue to people, but for me the positives of feeling accepted in society outweighed the cost of the trip. I would definitely go back to London given the chance- I liked the vibe and the people I met were some of the most genuine and kind I’ve met in any country. (I understand language barriers generally prevent me from socializing with people in other countries, but almost everyone I met there were very nice to me, as opposed to Spaniards or Italians which generally make it seem like you’re bothering them when you ask for something) England, you were pretty lit. I’ll be back for you someday.

Ta ta for now,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Venezia: Italy Round II

Ciao (again),

Two weeks ago my parents made the trip out to visit me in Istanbul, and then together we traveled to Italy for the weekend. We first went to Venice, then continued onto Florence (yes, I went back to Florence, just can’t get enough of Firenze) where we split off and I went back to Istanbul for school and my parents continued onto Rome (I’m still jealous). You’ll have to excuse the brief recount of this weekend, my memory’s a little fuzzy from all that’s happened since I got back last week.

We landed in Venice’s Marco Polo airport around noon on Friday, and without a clue of how to get from the airport to the main island, we guessed taking a water bus would be a safe bet. This was false. 15 euros per ticket and over 2 hours later, we finally arrived at the San Marco dock with 2x 50 lb suitcases and 3 hand luggages. Side note, just so you know, Venice is a city almost completely built on man-made islands. It was built sometime 1500 years ago on wood planks driven into the silt of the swamp bottom in Laguna Veneta. The only modes of transportation around the islands are by foot and boat, and connecting the mainland and the main island there is a bridge that allows for train and automobile transport. Basically, It literally makes no sense as a functioning metropolitan city. Moving on, we lugged around our stuff across foot bridges, up and down stairs, and through busy streets until we found our hotel which happened to be tucked in a corner/down several narrow alleyways of one of the islands next to Piazza San Marco. If you’re going to Venice anytime soon, I suggest you pack light for this reason. (Or, you could ball out on a water taxi from the airport for approx. 120 Euros and stay in a hotel that has its own dock so you can just get dropped off there and have bellmen handle your luggage for you) Either way you wanna play it, it’s your call.

The airport and the main series of islands. We stayed near San Marco (pictured in the bottom left) and the water bus literally took 2 hours. We could’ve swam to our hotel faster. *ugh*

By the time we got to our hotel, it was dinner time. So, we headed out to a place I found on the internet (the hotel was useless in restaurant suggestions as they only suggested their own restaurant- thanks Westin) and it was delicious.

Left to right: baccalà over polenta, fennel and citrus salad, and grilled octopus

Left to right: squid ink spaghetti with cuttlefish ragù, quail egg spaghetti carbonara w/ asparagus, and tagliatelle with lamb ragù

Dad decided to order a bottle of wine for just the two of us (and proceeded to do that for every meal we ate that weekend, thanks dad) and after I struggled through half a bottle of wine, we topped off the night with gelato (because when in frickin’ Italy). We explored the city at night, and it really is beautiful to see at night. There really is a romantic air about Venice at night. These are both taken walking along the Grand Canal:

On Ponte dell’Accademia looking toward the southern outlet of the canal

Over the course of the next few days, we explored the city, ate a lot of food (specifically Venetian and/or gelato) and saw the Guggenheim, Palazzo Cini, Palazzo Ducale, Basilica di San Marco, and probably other stuff that I’m just forgetting.

Guggenheim: I personally don’t like modern art. And my parents learned that they don’t either. After walking around for 30 minutes and listening to my mom insult almost all of the art in the gallery, we left. Haha.

Palazzo Cini: small Renaissance palazzo that holds a lot of classic Italian paintings and sculptures. It was free entry with the ticket to the Guggenheim, so I’d say it was worth it.

Palazzo Ducale was FIRE. It was huge! I don’t know why I underestimated it. But we spent atleast 2 hours walking around the entire thing. There was so much to see- all of the administrative rooms, the armory, the prison, it was awesome. Here are some of my favorite photos of the décor:

It was actually too much to look at. The intricacy gave me anxiety. Could you imagine going to work as a public official in one of these rooms??

The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri). It connects the Palazzo Ducale and the prison, bet you don’t know how it got its name- the view from this bridge was the last sight of Venice that prisoners had before they were convicted.

Basilica di San Marco: really awesome inside. The entire interior is covered in gold mosaics, and it’s massive inside. One of the prettier churches I’ve been to (next to Hagia Sofia ofcourse).

Piazza San Marco + the basilica

Rainy day in Venice. Palazzo Ducale on the left looking out toward the lagoon.

We also managed to hit up some of the token/touristy food spots of Venice. Beware of places like these: they will charge you literally an arm and a leg for things. Like you will literally have to sell your organs on the black market to afford these places because they’re overpriced to an absurd degree.

First we ate at Harry’s Bar (pictured above) as per recommendation of Giada de Laurentiis. She reviewed their ham and cheese sandwich- now a beloved recipe of my family, we had to go to the original restaurant where we got the recipe from. Unfortunately, we were terribly disappointed. My mom and I got the bean soup (a local dish and supposedly specialty of this restaurant) and paid 12 Euros each for a bowl of watered-down refried beans with sheets of pasta thrown in it. The beef carpaccio was decent, but it turned out the ham and cheese sandwich wasn’t even as good as ours. My dad and I were so sad at this discovery: trust me, this isn’t a bias toward my family’s cooking. We genuinely wanted to find a better ham sandwich. This just wasn’t it.

We also got a snack at Caffè Florian, I got way overpriced espresso and a rather tasty apple tart. My dad got an Irish coffee and my mom got a bottled lemonade- really, you pay for the atmosphere here. The caffè was built in the late 1700′s, and still exists with its original decor and seating. It was nice to sit in, and the menu was rather impressive, but this isn’t suggested for those who don’t want to spend over $20 on coffee and a snack.

By our last day in Venice, we hadn’t gotten the chance to take an (80 Euro) gondola ride so we decided to take an hour tour on a water taxi. It was raining, hence the choice to sit in a covered taxi and ride around the canals for the afternoon. Here are the highlights of that:

On the Grand Canal

Ponte Rialto (the entire other side was covered in construction, like everything else cool I’ve seen in Europe o____o )

Piazza San Marco from the water

The next day, we took the train to Florence and I attempted to be my parents’ tour guide through a city I actually knew (what a concept) I took them to the Duomo, (through Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, etc.) grabbed pizza for lunch with the friend I visited the first time I went to Florence, and saw some sights I hadn’t actually seen yet. Palazzo Medici, Cappelle Medicee, and the Duomo from the ground. Last time, I had hiked through the dome of the Basilica, but didn’t actually get to walk around the church as it was closed.

Mom and I in front of the Duomo. It’s still one of my favorite buildings of all time

The squad. Taken from Ponte San Trinita facing Ponte Vecchio

We then met up with my other friend studying in Florence and her mom, (our families are friends, no thanks to my friend and I enduring all of middle/high school together) and grabbed dinner across the Arno. We got a FEAST. We all got our own dishes, and split a Florentine steak (which was literally just a thick cut T-Bone steak grilled on all sides) and two bottles of wine. I didn’t hate it.

All the glorious foods. My gnocchi tasted like love and dreams.

In the courtyard where the restaurant was located, there also coincidentally was some sort of anti-fascist/pro-socialist festival going on (not kidding, sickle and hammers EVERYWHERE) for Liberation Day. So naturally, we checked it out after our meal. Punk-rock, anti-fascist literature and clothing available. Empty beer bottles, puke, and trash littered the ground of the festival. There was even a toddler with a pink streak in her hair. It was the perfect way to conclude my time in Italy.

In summary, I would say I would go back to Venice. I would do it smarter next time, since I know how to not spend money on everything but also not spend unholy amounts of time traveling throughout the city. Venice is perfect, but only if you do it right. It’s a stunningly beautiful city, and very romantic. I could imagine spending a week there, relaxing, soaking in the atmosphere. I don’t know how anyone could hate Venice- that’s nearly impossible to imagine. I would have preferred less tourists, since a few cruise ships docked during our time there and basically flooded the Piazza for several hours until the ship left. In a perfect world: I would go back during the off-season for tourists, spend a week or two there with a loved one, and eat as much gelato and pasta as humanly possible. That, I would have no problems with.

Until the next post (only a few more trips to go!!!)

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

From Madrid to Marrakesh (and Back to Madrid)

Hello again,

Disclaimer: sorry for the delay (again) I have been literally swamped with all the travel I’ve been doing, so this post is a week late. Last weekend (April 14-19) I traveled to not one, but two countries: Spain and Morocco. I went with my roommate, with plans of meeting up with a friend of mine who studies in Madrid but was also traveling to Marrakesh that weekend. If I were to characterize this weekend into a single word, I would have to use nothing but: wild. This weekend was nothing short of a lot. I'm going to preface it with that- hopefully that should give you an preliminary understanding of these past 5 days. Here's a recount of my travels, buckle up.

After finishing 2 papers and my midterm Thursday, we were off to the airport. We landed around midnight, then got to our Airbnb around 2 am, and did the only plausible thing: changed, put makeup on and went clubbing. We got to Kapital around 2:45, got lost in its immensely diverse landscape, got down to the Blackeyed Peas, were invited to dance by Spaniards, Brits, Italians, and other ambiguously ethnic men, watched an aerobic yoga show, got blasted with air mixed with dry ice, and several failed attempts to get free drinks later we left close to 5 am. Fast forward past an inhuman amount of Spanish twinkies and a few hours of sleep later, we were back at the airport for our flight to Marrakesh. Btw, terminal 4 in Madrid Airport is LIT. We got green smoothies, seaweed salad and a bocadillo jamón ibérico (in an airport!!!) that food gave us life. It was great.

After landing in Marrakesh and getting desperately lost in tiny, cobweb-like alleyways in the medina trying to find our Airbnb, we finally stumbled upon it to find a room with a mattress on the floor, a bathroom without a working light/a shower nozzle loosely hanging from the wall, and a window without glass. Not sure what I was expecting, but when I stopped and thought to myself, "Africa" it all made sense. We then went out to explore for the rest of the day.

We got late lunch at Café des Épices, a terrace cafe overlooking some of the souks of the medina, and had a fantastic meal. That was arguably one of the happiest moments I've had this semester. The warm sun hang low in the sky as we sat on this rooftop terrace, leisurely eating our salad and tangines, sipping on mint tea and an avocado smoothie; completely and utterly carefree and in bliss. Good weather with good company and good food. What more could someone ask for?

dinner date ♡

view from the café

We then continued wandering around then souks and main square. The walkways were packed tourist crowds, vendors shouting at potential customers, and people with carts weaving in and out. Trying to go anywhere in a Marrakesh souk without getting followed by vendors soliciting their products is nearly impossible, I found, and they really don't take "no" for an answer. They also want you to pay for EVERYTHING (including taking photos). I admire their drive, but it was completely exhausting being constantly talked to when I wasn't interested in buying anything. Like getting spam email every 5 minutes or phone calls from scams you tried blocking but still can't. Ugh.

We were genuinely terrified posing for this picture

Pretty sure this one was borderline dead, or asleep because he was molting

Almost got charged for taking this picture of the performers- I pretended to delete it so he would leave me alone (jokes on him)

After hours of walking and weaving through the crowded markets, we went up to a café to sit for mint tea and wind down from the day. After tea, we decided to hit the hay as we had another long day ahead of us.

The next morning we did our camel tour. Riding a camel has always been on my bucket list, and although it was unfortunately gimmicky, I'm going to take it for what it was and enjoy the fact I got to ride a camel.

Nothing like some good ol’ cultural appropriation

Ayesha and I :)

The camels were cute. But mean. (One bit Celina as she was trying to pet it and it may have been the funniest thing that happened that weekend)

We got back from the camel tour in bad enough shape, and walked around Bahia Palace while trying to take pictures without herds of tourists obstructing the architecture. We then walked to the main square for lunch, and again were amazed by the quality and quantity of the food we got for such a low price.

Chez Chegrouni, run by a Michelin-starred chef is a terrace restaurant tucked into the side of the main market area facing the Koutoubia Mosque. I had tangine de viande, a lamb stew flavored with plums and carmelized onion. One of the best things I've probably ever tasted. (I think my eyes rolled back when I took a bite)

We continued exploring the area, including walking to Medersa Ben Youssef (مدرسة ابن يوسف) which is one of the oldest schools in the world as it dates back to the 16th century. The architecture is really amazing, by far one of the most beautiful buildings I've walked through.

I certainly got my Islamic architecture fix (something I was originally expecting to do in Istanbul)

Afterwards, we made our way to the Majorelle Gardens (Jardin Majorelle) and browsed the perfectly manicured landscape. They were beautiful, and one of the nicest places we could have picked to sit and rest at while still enjoying the scenery.

We then went back to the main square to grab dinner at the food stalls. We followed the one rule we know applies to traveling in any country: eat at the place crowded with locals. So, we did, and managed to get stewed snails, pastilla, cooked sausage, fried eggplant, an egg sandwich, and sellou (otherwise called sfouf, or سلو in Arabic). We finished our night up with more avocado and orange smoothies (because avocado) and went to bed.

Pastilla, sausages, fried eggplant, and some sort of salsa they served us with the bread (side note, you use bread in place of utensils here, not sure why but maybe because of hygiene? or the fact that it’s traditionally Muslim to eat with your hands? I couldn’t tell you)

Egg sandwich on steroids

Sellou stand (that brown pile on the right is the sellou)

Djemaa el-fnaa food stalls at night

The next day I headed to the airport, waited 2 hours for Ryanair to get their shit together, and finally made it back to Madrid in time for dinner. Juan and I had Valencian paella and sangria for dinner, both very good. Next thing I knew it was 11 pm, and we called it a night and headed back to our respective dwellings.

It wasn’t very pretty, but it sure was tasty

The next day I was primarily on my own, as Celina was still in Morocco and Juan was in class (lol, school). I started the day with the Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid) which was apparently supposed to rival the Palace at Versailles, information I got from the loud American tourists next to me in line for tickets (classic). I then met Juan for lunch at Mercado de San Miguel near Plaza Mayor, and went in on the tapas. I had a bocadillo jamón ibérico, a pork empanada, tortilla española, and this weird stringy fish toast which had too much mayonnaise on it. To finish it off I got white sangria, which of course was delicious.

The Royal Palace

Plaza Mayor

Ham for DAYSSSSSSS

Juan and I parted ways, and I went to spend my afternoon at the Prado. I didn't know much about Spanish painters, but I found a new interest in Goya and specifically his series of "black paintings" which the museum had on show in their own room. They earned their name by the blatant use of dark colors and tones as the major force in their character. They conveyed a number of different scenes and archetypes, such as a dog drowning or the Roman god Jupiter eating his son. Really dark, actually. But intriguing, nonetheless. (I would've taken pictures but the Prado doesn't allow that *eye roll*)

I grabbed Starbucks and then met up with Celina in front of Retiro pond for a romantic afternoon boat ride (emphasis on romantic). We floated around for a while, ran into several other boats, then decided to head to the Temple of Debod to catch the Egyptian temple at sunset. After hiking up the hill to see the temple, it was painfully underwhelming and we decided to leave shortly after getting there.

True art

Painfully underwhelming. But cool enough I guess

8 pm, and it's dinner time. We head out to tapas, ordered half as much as we intended to before the waiter actually stopped me mid-sentence to tell us we had enough food. Like, what do you mean 4 dishes is too much?? How dare you undermine my authority to eat as much as I desire?? Turns out, we had plenty of food and actually had trouble finishing the amount we ordered. Croquetas, tortilla española stuffed with ham and cheese, a salad, tomato toast, a pitcher of sangria and a flan to top it off.

Cheers to the freakin' weekend (even though it was Monday)

Juan met up with us after dinner and we went to the apparently "OG" churros place in Madrid to get churros and chocolate. They were light and crispy, not too sweet, and the chocolate was surprisingly light- almost like a thicker hot chocolate and less like straight fondue. It was a good night for eating.

We parted ways, got back to the Airbnb and hit the hay. The next morning we packed up and left for the airport, got on our plane and headed straight to class in Istanbul. All in all, I had a really wonderful weekend in Spain and Morocco. Busy but relaxing enough, I felt like I got a good enough grasp of both cities I went to and really enjoyed my time there. There were some bumps in the road, because there always are, but I still overall had a great weekend. I would absolutely go back to Morocco, and next time maybe do a camel caravan through the Sahara for a few days or go hiking in the Atlas mountains, maybe see Casablanca and the Western coast. Maybe even go back to Marrakesh, who knows. Morocco was also probably the cheapest country I’ve ever been to, so that’s a hidden bonus (we’re talking a cup of fresh squeezed juice for $1, a 3 course meal for <$10, etc.) I don’t think I would go back to Madrid, but I would certainly love to see Barcelona or Valencia or other parts throughout Catalonia. Someday, I’ll be back, and hopefully have a little more time to explore these places rather than an extended weekend (school really gets in the way sometimes *sigh*).

Au revoir, مع السلامه, and hasta luego~

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Ciao, Italia

Buon giorno,

This past weekend I traveled to Italy and met up with some of my friends. I would say Florence since that was my main destination, but I also saw Pisa and took a day trip to Cinque Terre so let's just call this a Tuscany/Coastal/Italy post. Italy was honestly everything I expected it to be. Nothing more, nothing less. The architecture, plethora of tourists, food, and natural sights were all literally what I pictured it to be before going there. Beautiful green hills marked with little terracotta villas and those trees that look like really tall/pointy bushes, the fantastic pizza/pasta/caffè/gelato/basically everything because I love Italian food, narrow stone-brick streets home to a million Vespas and Smart cars, and the absolute lawlessness/passion that Italians live by were all exactly how I predicted this country to be. Here's a recap of my weekend: Friday morning I got up at 5 am, traveled for 6 hours, found myself at the leaning tower of Pisa, met up with my friend Bella back at the airport, then took a train into Florence to meet up with two more friends.

I spy 5 people holding up the tower

I had to.

It was surprisingly diagonal, I had a little trouble understanding how the structure still stands but idk science is nuts. Fast forward to arrival in Florence, and Bella and I had both been traveling for nearly 11 hours. So, we're dead. And starving. Audrey took us to the Mercato Centrale in Florence and I got my first real Italian pizza, cannoli, and a side of fresh buffalo mozzarella and sundried tomatoes (for good measure, since we had waited several hours to eat lunch).

It was so good. I was so happy. *cries*

Also impeccable. Then we walked around central Florence, seeing the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore/the Piazza del Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, the Piazza della Signoria, the Piazza della Republica, Piazzale Michelangelo, and other stuff probably but I was too exhausted to remember.

Squad in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Il Duomo di Firenze)

Inside the duomo

Overlooking the Arno and Ponte Santa Trinita

Piazza della Signoria 

Ponte Vecchio

Then we all grabbed dinner at Zàzà, and a chicken cacciatora and pitcher of wine later, we went to get gelato and sit on the steps of the basilica in the Piazza del Duomo.

Truly a work of art. I think I got a flavor blended with hazelnut, pistachio and caramel? Then dark chocolate on the bottom. Ughhhhh Italy. The next day, we had another full itinerary ahead of us. We took the 8 am train into Vernazza, Cinque Terre. Arriving around 11 am, it was sunny, 70 degrees, and everything I could have asked for in a place. The water was blue, the cliffs overlooking the ocean were green and covered in wildflowers, and the houses that cascaded down the hills all pastel, bright and beautiful. We hiked the coastal path from Vernazza to Corniglia, another town down the coast. This is when it hit me that I really missed nature. I don't get that in Istanbul- grass, soil, trees, and the fresh smell of the ocean (not the one that smells like sewage and day-old fish).

Vernazza

During the hike from Vernazza to Corniglia

81 flights of stairs and 6 or something miles later, we arrived in Corniglia and found that it was just as cute as the last town. We got lunch, walked around the town and bought some candied almonds from a store stocked with all locally produced foods. Let me tell you... If you EVER go to Corniglia, BUY THESE ALMONDS. And please, ship me a bag. They were so good. We got the lemon and white chocolate flavor, the other two flavors were ricotta and pear/pistachio and white chocolate. I bet the other two are just as good. These almonds were FIRE. I'm going to be dreaming about these for the next few weeks. Holy hell. Yum.

After mistakenly not buying the entire of supply of candied almonds, we took the train to Manarola, the next town over which possesses one of the most photogenic facades I've ever seen.

DIS IT. When you google Cinque Terre, this comes up. (Basically you know you've made it when you see in person what you previously saw on Google). We sat down on a bench overlooking the town, and snacked on our raisin bread (something very similar to panettone) and delicious almonds. In efforts to kill more time, we then sat down at a restaurant and continued to eat. Because when in Italy, right?

yum.

Now that our train tickets were valid, we took the train back into Florence and grabbed a VERY late dinner. I got tagliolini with truffle, and we topped it off with gelato by the duomo again. Obviously.

All of the glorious truffle. *sighs*

The next day, we had a very "Italian" breakfast before heading to Boboli gardens.

My jaw literally dropped when I saw the "di soya" option on the menu. I never thought I'd be able to get a cappuccino in Italy thanks to my stupid intolerance to lactose, but turns out there is a God-- and he is gracious. We went to the gardens, which had free admission since it was the first Sunday of the month (helpful tip if you plan to visit Florence on the weekend) and strolled the walkways through the hedges.

View of Florence from the top of the gardens

This is originally what I pictured Tuscany to look like-- and here it is

We went to get lunch at a famous sandwich shop, also delicious. Prosciutto crudo, goat cheese and arugula on a toasted bun. Afterwards, we went to get smoothies, dropped Bella off at the train station and Audrey and I continued our day in Florence. We went to the Uffizi (also free on first Sunday of the month, thanks Florence) and then went to grab espresso in the Piazza della Signoria.

“Doni Tondo” by Michelangelo. Doesn’t it look almost three-dimensional?

Honestly so unreal seeing this in person.

Truly an incredible art museum. I have to say I got a little tired of all of the Christian Renaissance artwork (there's only so many different ways you can paint baby Jesus before it gets repetitive) but seeing real life Botticelli, Donatello, Michelangelo, and da Vinci in person was truly incredible. I almost feel like a better person now being able to say I've seen the birth of Venus with my own two eyes. (Me, a hopeless mortal) it was awesome, to say the least. After espresso we went to get aperitivo at Zoe bar across the Arno, and to explain aperitivo, as Audrey put it, "it's food and drinks you have before dinner to prepare the stomach for more food." What the hell Italy. This is dangerous! How do people maintain looking so damn good there where they're eating pastries for breakfast and 2 dinners?? Maybe it's something in the water. Either way, sign me up.

Aperitivo was great. We both got vodka based cocktails because we're white college girls (even though it's more common to get a spritz at aperitivo) and snacked on a variety of things like fried polenta, eggs, mini ham sandwiches, bean salad, and something that resembled a Turkish börek. And mind you, aperitivo is bottomless fingerfood. You just pay for drinks and eat as much as you want. It's ridiculous. Without a doubt, I could easily spend all my money doing this if I studied abroad in Italy. So there's that. After our stomachs were prepped for dinner, we went to gusta pizza and got some of the best rated pizza in Florence. (There's even a picture of Guy Fieri on the wall, lol) needless to say, it met expectations. It was a great pizza. We then went to gelato (yes, to clarify I had gelato every day I was there) and I got a pistachio-ricotta creme mix and almond which was unforgettable. Then, we topped of our night at a bar nearby called Moyo, and I finally tried my Italian spritz.

It was really quite good, I had to look up what was in it but apparently it's made with prosecco, aperol and soda water. So in essence, it's a fruity/tart neon orange soda. Easy to sip on and pretty to look at. Not bad, Italy. Not bad. All in all, it was wonderful. I had a great time. I got to see some beautiful parts of Italy, including a city I had been waiting to see for years (Florence). I didn't eat a single bad meal, and I had a great time with good company. Italy,  you treated me right. Well, for the most part because you were kind of expensive and I'm spoiled with extremely cheap goods in Turkey. But, you were still worth the price-- and I couldn't have had a weekend better spent. Here are the rest of my pictures from my trip, enjoy ♡

There’s a street artist in Florence who recreates street signs with different images-- this guy looks like he’s getting crucified??

Juliette and I at Piazzale Michelangelo (excuse the fact that I look dead inside, at that point I had been awake for over 15 hours and felt like the human equivalent of a bowl of soup)

Character portrait of Bella and I

Another character portrait of Bella and I

Ciao amici, Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

A Weekend in Athens (and Nowhere Else)

Hi again,

So the weekend before last my boyfriend visited (pictured above) luckily he had a school break and was able to make a trip to visit me out of the week he had off. We decided to travel out of Istanbul and go to Greece, specifically Athens and then Santorini for the majority of the trip. However, our "layover" in Athens turned into a 3-day stay there... So here's a full run down of what happened.

After standing on a hot, crowded bus from the airport, eating a terrible lunch (I paid $15 for a skewer of chicken the size of my hand) and then unsuccessfully visiting the Acropolis during our original layover on Thursday (it closed at 2:30 on Independence Day eve, we got there at 3:15), we headed back to the airport to catch our 6 pm flight to Santorini. After being delayed an hour and a half, not being able to eat dinner waiting at the gate due to the lack of restaurants past security, our flight was then finally cancelled due to weather conditions. (It was apparently really windy in Santorini) Following the crowd, we immediately went to the ticketing office to attempt to get hotel vouchers for the night and rebook ourselves for the next flight out. After another hour and a half of confusion, we found out that Ryanair was not offering hotel vouchers or any other form of compensation, and the only flights for the next morning were fully booked. There were no ferries running, and no other plausible methods of getting to the island. So, we were stranded in Athens. Luckily, and I think this is the good karma that we built up after being literally shit on all day, we had befriended people in line and they offered us one of their hotel rooms that they were given from their airline. (Lesson learned, book Aegean Airlines when flying in Greece) So, we all piled in a cab and headed to the "Aquamarina Hotel," which was supposed to be 10-15 minutes from the airport and was actually closer to 45. If you know anything about mainland Greece's geography, you'd understand me when I said we were not in Athens, or at all close to the airport, but we were actually in Rafina.

Completely on the opposite end of the Greek peninsula.

But hey, beggars can't be choosers, and regardless we were infinitely grateful for a free hotel room and dinner. Shoutout to our new American friends Lindy and Amber for helping us out *peace, homies*. After walking around the city center aimlessly and pointlessly (with all of our luggage), being stuck at the airport for 5 hours, and awake for over 16, we arrived at our 3-star accommodation for the night and headed down to dinner buffet. (Thank God Greeks eat so late because dinner was still open at 11 pm). We stuffed ourselves, bought a $20 bottle of crappy table red, and crashed for the night.

The view from our hotel room, not too shabby

Waking up the next morning dazed and confused, we checked out of the hotel and made our way to Athens. We had little direction and way too much time, so we decided to check into our next hotel and then try to figure out what we were going to do. It was Greek Independence Day that day, March 25th, so to our luck everything was closed. Museums, shops, historical sites... Everything but restaurants. The Independence Day parade was even cancelled, so basically we had NOTHING to do. Athens isn't even supposed to be an interesting city past the Acropolis and museums, which we fully understood after spending a day there doing practically nothing. After getting settled in and getting a recommendation for lunch, we walked to Plaka and got a fantastic meal at Arcadia. I had moussaka, Joey had seafood pasta, and we split a Greek salad (when in Greece, amirite?) it was absolutely delicious. I recommend this place if you're planning on going to the Acropolis since it's a 15 minute walk from the entrance to the hill. We then walked around some more, I got an espresso freddo (I think it's a Greek thing since I haven't seen it anywhere else and practically every cafe/restaurant had it) which is straight espresso on ice. It's intense but it does the job. We walked around Plaka, the National Gardens, and before we could get to Lycabettus hill it started to pour. We then went back to our hotel and waited out the storm by taking a nap (because why not at this point). Woke up hours later, and then went to a fancy dinner at Orizontes, which is a restaurant on top of Lycabettus where you can see the entire city of Athens for miles. Its a beautiful view, no wonder this meal cost an arm and a leg, but it was completely worth it.

We then headed back to Plaka, got vegan gelato (!!!!!) and then walked north to Monastiraki Square. It's a pleasant walk from Plaka up to the square, lots of cute little alleyways and stores to go window shopping in. We headed up to 360 Bar in the square, and sat down for drinks with a beautiful view of the lit up Acropolis at night.

Joey got the fruity drink, lol

We then headed back to the hotel to go to bed, as we decidedly were going to try to wake up early to see the Acropolis (for the 3rd time) before we left Athens the next morning. We got up, headed to the hotel breakfast buffet and had arguably the best breakfast I've ever had in a hotel. I wish I took a picture of it, but they had perfectly cooked fried eggs, spanikopita, a variety of pastries and cereals, and this sort of whipped Greek yogurt with granola and rose jelly. It was completely indulgent and delicious. We then headed to the Acropolis, and FINALLY got to see what the buzz was about.

Parthenon was a 7/10 because the entire other face of it was covered in construction

View overlooking the Herodes Theatre and out to Piraeus Port

Can’t remember what this is called, haha

Finally, something really worth visiting this city for

9:30 am, time to leave for the airport. We grabbed our bags and hopped on the metro, returning to Athens airport (the new bane of my existence) and catching our flight to Istanbul.

All in all- we ate really well in Athens. Greece has great food. It was surprisingly authentic as well, I expected it to feel gimmicky and over-crowded, but neither Joey or I got that sense. The people were sort of nice but sort of trying to nickel and dime you, but surprisingly casual about the presence of tourists. It was sort of refreshing, but also depressing because the city didn't feel like it had a lot of life. It almost reminded me of Syracuse (ha!) old, beautiful buildings and ancient ruins amidst graffiti, homelessness and urban decay. Really a weird contrast, but all too familiar. It definitely wasn't a Hong Kong or a Singapore... Or even a Santorini *grumble grumble* but it was still a nice weekend as we made the best of it, and we got to spend time together which is what matters the most.

Here are the rest of the pictures from our weekend in Athens, I hope the city looks a little better in pictures. Enjoy.

The Acropolis

Temple of Jupiter

At the Acropolis

View from breakfast, the Temple of Jupiter again

Happy Monday,

Miranda

P.S. If I learned any Greek I would say bye in Greek but alas

ALSO shoutout to the boyfriend for bringing me my new camera from America (can you tell these pictures aren’t completely terrible?)

[asmirandaseesit]

An Update to My Friends and Family:

Hi all, Concerning the recent attacks in Istanbul and Brussels, you're all probably wondering to yourselves, "what the heck is going on in Europe right now??" And to be honest I'm wondering that too. I have no idea how the world has come to this. It saddens me, sickens me, and pains me to think that we live in a world so plagued by ignorance and hatred that over 50 people have died in the past 5 days because of bombings. Blaming a religion is not going to solve this, and neither is claiming that this is justified in the name of God. Killing innocent people for any cause is wrong, and should be punishable by any means possible. Although Istanbul has had two suicide bombings so far this year, my abroad program has continued to stay open for those who wish to finish the semester here in Istanbul. I, decidedly, am going to stay here for as long as I can. If I can still decrease my risk of being involved in an attack by choosing to avoid certain places or situations, I believe it is safe enough for me to continue on with the semester here. We are not at the point where walking the streets is unsafe, or living in our dorms could still result in an immediate evacuation. Yes, the city is scared. Yes, even the locals are shaken by what has happened here. Yes, the attacks in Istanbul this year have generally targeted foreigners. However, you should remember that we are taking every precaution living here and going about our business. We are well-equipped to survive and avoid potential threats to our safety. With that said, for the time being I will remain in this city and country for as long as it is plausible and possible to. I have learned so much about life, politics, religion and society in my time here and for that I am grateful. I cannot say I'm 100% comfortable living here, as reducing travel and limiting my time in relatively central areas to this city are unusual to me. But I will, for the name of safety and security. It sucks that this semester has to be this way. It sucks that this is all happening now, while I chose to spend a period of 5 months here. It sucks that my experience here has to be this way. I had been dreaming of traveling to this city for YEARS, and as soon as I get the chance to finally come here, attacks are happening almost every month (if you include Ankara). It sucks. It really, really, sucks. This is going in the history books as a bad time for Turkey and Europe. I'll be able to reflect on this and tell my kids about being here in Istanbul during a period plagued by one of the most horrifying displays of human nature. But truly, for now, I think we are ok. Anything is possible, so all we can do is wait and see what happens in the next 2 months that I'm supposed to spend here. Crossed fingers the violence comes to an end soon. Until next time, Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

My New Life in Istanbul

Hi all,

SO sorry for not posting in the past month. Now that life here has finally gained momentum, I find myself actually needing to look for time to do things. Last weekend I was supposed to go to Izmir, but decided to catch the stomach flu instead (it was terrible). But don’t fret, I am back to eating normally again and have returned to a healthy weight. 

This past weekend my friend from Syracuse came to Istanbul to visit for a few days, and to be fair I think I was a pretty good tour guide. We went to a handful of the top points of interest here, including Sultanahment (Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapı), my neighborhood of Beşiktaş, Beyoğlu (Taksim and Istiklal Street), Karaköy (Galata Tower), Eminönü (Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar), and Kadiköy. Another one of my friends is coming this weekend, and my boyfriend is coming in 2 weeks, so I get to do it all over again, twice, ha! Honestly, I like traveling around Istanbul so really I don’t mind. There’s a gratification that comes out of showing people around an area you call your home (even if it is temporary) although it is tiring, I find it satisfying. Also, can’t beat showing people that a city with a history of being bashed by the media isn’t so bad after all. THAT I do find satisfying.

Although, I do find myself currently in a bit of a rut. It’s that weird, unsettling stage of culture shock that comes right before “assimilation,” where you initially thought you’re in the clear and then it ACTUALLY hits you that you’re in a foreign country.  

You start missing life as you typically know it- your friends, your family, social interaction, foods you no longer have access to, even legal rights depending on where you are. The past starts separating from the present, and you start to realize that life a few months ago is not your life now. 

It is important to realize that everyone deals with culture shock differently. My typical coping method (as it has been in the past, both times I’ve spent extended periods of time abroad before) is to try to normalize my life by getting in touch with my hobbies, interests, and other familiarities. Being a control freak, it is personally hard for me to cope with the feeling that I have lost control of certain aspects of my life- aspects that I have forsaken by moving to a country so starkly different from home. Luckily, I am on the upswing of this emotional/mental conflict and should start feeling fully adjusted soon enough.

To anyone reading this: I highly encourage you to go abroad. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time, but I think it is worth every penny. I believe travel is the one thing in life that can really put perspective on who you are as a person. It makes you realize so many things about yourself, and helps you get in touch with everything that makes you, you. Not everyone is granted the opportunity to travel abroad, but even going elsewhere in your home state or country can change your mind on things. This is my only advice I can give, other than staying positive of course. And maybe a few other pieces of advice… But in my short amount of life experience I’ve been given, I will stand by the idea that travel is one of the most important things someone can do.

Moving on, here are some of the pictures I’ve taken around Istanbul in the past few weeks. Enjoy <3

Taken from the top of Galata Tower, just before sunset. Overlooking the Galata Bridge (Galata Köprüsü), the Golden Horn (Haliç) and the historic peninsula (the mosques to the left are Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque)

Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii) on a cloudy day

Inside the Blue Mosque- easily one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen anywhere in the world

Dolmabahçe Palace (Dolmabahçe Sayarı), if you ever come to Istanbul check out the abundance of palaces they have here. Think mini-Versailles, but scattered throughout a city with historically Islamic architecture. You can thank the Ottomans for most of these. (Dolmabahçe has a crystal staircase inside. It’s NUTS)

Topkapı Palace (Topkapı Sarayı), the original imperial palace of the Ottoman Empire. (Notice the traditional Islamic architecture, complete with domes and arches, built before the Ottomans tried being as European as possible in efforts to save the empire) Very nice to walk around on a sunny day.

All the best,

Miranda

[asmirandaseesit]

Day Trip: Adalar

Hi everyone,

Today, weather and school permitting, we took a day trip to Adalar (ada= “island” in Turkish) otherwise known as the Prince Islands. There are nine islands that make up the Adalar district of Istanbul, but we took the ferry over to Büyükada which is the biggest one with an area of 5 km^2. They gained prominence in the Byzantine empire when they were used to house exiled members of the royal family, and later on in the Ottoman empire when they were inhabited by some of Istanbul’s elite class. On the islands, many historical buildings have been preserved such as their courthouse, a Greek orphanage, and several of the Victorian mansions that belonged to the upper class. There are no vehicles allowed (except for police and ambulance) for the sake of preventing pollution, so the only modes of transport around the island are by foot, bikes, mopeds, and horse-drawn carriages.

SO Victorian. Oh, Ottomans. You tried so hard to be European. *sigh*

 It was almost like taking a step back into colonial America-- or at least that’s what I could compare it to. The revival of European architecture in a place that wasn’t characteristically or originally European was a familiar sight to me, something that reminded me of the plantations in the Caribbean or the southern US. It was unexpected-- but nevertheless fascinating to ride a bike around this perfectly picturesque island. 

A round-trip ferry cost 12 lira, bike rentals were super cheap (he gave us a discount, so we got 3 hours for 20 lira each), navigation around the island was easy enough, and I can recommend a great brunch spot if you find yourself traveling to Büyükada anytime soon (seriously, some of the best kahvaltı I’ve had here in Istanbul). 

The squad at brunch. “Ada Kahvaltı” on Zomato.com. I’m writing a review after this because *drools*. Check it out. 

Anyways, taking a day trip to the Prince Islands on a sunny day in the off season of February was a perfect way to spend my Monday. If you’re ever in Istanbul for more than a week, hop on the ferry and check ‘em out. I guarantee you will not regret it. 

Walking down a ginormous hill, one of the two on the island looking back at the rest of Istanbul.

Overlooking the Sea of Marmara. Couldn’t have asked for a better day here.

Bye bye Büyükada.

Happy Monday to all those freezing on the East Coast <3 

Miranda