Author: Conrad Ottenfeld
Mt. Kilimanjaro December 2018

Mt. Kilimanjaro December 2018

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“The memories of a man in his old age

Are the deeds of a man in his prime”

  • Pink Floyd

Taking a summit hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro was nowhere on my radar when I came to the United Arab Emirates, but the opportunity came up, the timing was good, and the price was right, so off I went.  Lynn considered.  Is hiking Kilimanjaro hard?  The hike to Kilimanjaro is a popular hike in part because it is not a technical hike. Anyone of reasonable fitness has a good chance to succeed.  Overall, the hike is just a pleasant walk in the east Africa plains, but the summit day is anything but trivial, and she deferred.

This trip was organized by Trekkup Dubai, one of two Meetups I belong to here that I have taken trips with. I signed up to hike with complete strangers. I have done this several times and have always had splendid adventures with new friends from all over the globe.  Eleven folks made this trip, nine men and two women, ranging from late 20’s to late 50’s. Two from USA, 2 Polish, 2 Indian, and 1 each from Oman, UAE, Greece, Indonesia, and UK. But even that doesn’t paint a true picture. For example, the lady from Oman was born in Zanzibar and attended college in Australia. The lady with the UK passport was born in Dubai, has lived in Lebanon, Cyprus, the US, the UK, and currently lives in Oman.  One of the Indians has lived in Dubai for 36 years and owns his own company.  This was a truly international experience.

First, a few details about Mount Kilimanjaro and the surrounding area:

  • Mount Kilimanjaro is about 3° south of the equator, in northeast Tanzania just south of the Kenyan border. At the summit of 5895 meters (19,314 feet), snow is present year-round – for now.  About 85% of a once continuous ice cap has disappeared in the last 100 years; 40% of that since 2000.
  • By elevation, Mount Kilimanjaro is a distant runner up for highest peak – well over 200 are higher. By “Prominence” (a measure of the elevation relative to surrounding area) however, Kilimanjaro ranks 4th, rising solitary from the east African plain.  It is the highest point on the African continent.
  • The mountain is comprised of 3 volcanic cones.  Mawenzi and Shira are extinct; Kibo, the highest, is dormant and could erupt again. The last volcanic activity was 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.
  • Kilimanjaro generates around $50 million dollars a year from about 16,000 hikers. I expected a higher figure for the revenue.
  • Studies have shown about a 60% success rate for summit attempts (trekking groups advertise much higher rates), with 75% of those experiencing acute mountain sickness (headaches, nausea, vomiting,diarrhea, etc.). More severe forms can be fatal. Sources indicate about 10 people per year die, most from altitude sickness, lesser numbers from trauma, heart failure, pneumonia. The same source indicates about 1000 evacuations each year, but there don’t appear to be good records for any of these numbers. Seven out of 11 of our group hit the highest summit (63%), and one of the seven was evacuated on the return hike.
  • Uhuru summit (meaning ‘freedom’ in Swahili) is the highest peak at 5895 meters.

There were several pre-hike preparations to take care of.  First was the trip cost.  I thought this was quite a bargain for 7900 dirham ($2150).  That included round-trip airfare from the UAE, 5-hour bus shuttle from and returning to the Nairobi airport in Kenya, two nights hotel in Arusha, lodging, meals, and guide/porter service on the mountain.  All payments were made to Trekkup Dubai by bank transfer. That is a simple matter of entering their bank account details into my bank website as an authorized payee. Next, I applied for a Kenya visa on-line.  For US citizens (and most others I am aware of), this is a simple process that delivered a visa to the Kenya website within a few days at a cost of $52.39.  It is more complex for some nationalities, and we lost one Syrian lady who had signed up due to visa difficulties. A second visa was necessary to enter Tanzania.This was paid for ($100 for a 12-month visa) at the border crossing. The border crossing also required a yellow fever vaccine. I had taken care of this in Abu Dhabi a few weeks before. I’m not sure why, but neither the doctor visit nor the vaccine cost me anything.  I suffered no ill effects from the vaccine and was told these are now good for life. No other vaccines were required, but I considered two anti-malarial drugs based on CDC recommendations for the area.  I ultimately decided against taking both of them based on potentially significant effects for a hike that already is physically challenging and has limited mosquito exposure after the first day. I decided to just use a 30% DEET spray for the first day.

Next was the matter of packing.  An avid hiker co-worker was a big help on this one (big shout out to Mark Sharp), loaning me well over half of what I needed. I have all the gear – on the wrong side of the Atlantic.  Trekkup Dubai provided a nice preparation checklist with clothing, personal first aid items, and gear recommendations.  They provided briefing sessions that I couldn’t attend, but this wasn’t my first rodeo and I didn’t suffer from missing those. Trekkup Dubai also provided rental sleeping bags I took advantage of for $68 that included a cleaning fee (that seems more expensive converting it to dollars instead of dirhams 😊).  The bag was rated for 20°F and was just fine for the trip.  Most of the hike is at comfortable temperatures except the summit day which is well below freezing and can include brisk winds, so most folks bring lots of layers for that.  For me a wool base layer, light overshirt, fleece jacket, and a light down jacket were just fine. I had gloves but didn’t wear them, I was a definite outlier on that one.  We were limited to a 15 kg pack for the porters (mine was 12 kg), plus carried our own day packs with water, snacks, raincoat, etc.  One key to light packing for me is merino wool.  Just a few shirts and socks you can wear over and over without stink, wash in a sink, dry in no time.  I consider everything from the point of “do I have to have that?” instead of “I might need that.”  I also look at everything I didn’t use on a trip when I get back, then consider that on the next trip.

Training “hike” in Building 183, Adnoc Family Housing, Ruwais, UAE

Finally – physical preparation. By far the hardest aspect of this hike is the steep climb to a high elevation on summit day. At the summit, the thin air has less than half the oxygen content it does at sea level.  There is no way to know if you are prepared, and each person is different.  I have been an avid hiker in the past, but not for the last year – and – I have spent most of that year at sea level. Plus, I am now 58, not getting younger. So, what to do?  I am not a gym rat, I look at most of the machines in there and just scratch my head. I took a decidedly low-tech approach. I rode my bike for 20-25 km rides, did push-ups, sit-ups,and walked the treadmill for 60 minutes at a shot in hill climber mode.  My pace on the treadmill is 5.8 kph, enough for a fast walk without running.  My joints don’t need that impact.  If the pool was relatively kid-free, I would swim laps. For the last six weeks or so, I also climbed stairs in our apartment. I think that piece was as productive as anything else.  In the end, my efforts proved to be enough.

On November 30, the other US expat (Mike Hamer) picked me up in Abu Dhabi for a carpool ride to Sharjah airport. We met the rest of the group except for two that were arranging their own transportation from Oman and had an event free trip to Nairobi, Kenya. We met our trekking group lead (you can only climb Kilimanjaro with a registered agency, ours was “Top of Africa”), and loaded onto our 18-passenger bus for the trip to Tanzania.  We drove through the outskirts of town into the countryside. It wasn’t a prosperous landscape but there were several small businesses that seemed to be doing okay – lumberyards, grocery stores, electronics shops.  Hair salons seemed completely in unnecessary supply. There were also many roadside stands of people selling anything and everything. The largest enterprises I noticed were several cement factories.  I also noticed an Arab influence – a few small mosques, signs in Arabic, women in abayas/hajibs, and heard a call to prayers at least once.  Another statistic I always look for is the price of gas, equivalent to $4.34/gallon. Expensive by UAE and US standards, but quite a bit cheaper than we saw in Europe.  Rooftop cisterns were everywhere, I wondered about the public water supply.  Later research indicates water supply and quality is a major concern in Kenya and Tanzania.  We were warned not to use the tap water for anything.

We continued through the country side, passing small herds of cattle and goats along the way, with the constant buzz of small motorcycles zipping in and out of traffic. The border crossing at Tanzania went smoothly enough, and we had our first introduction to the crush of helpers looking for handouts.  We moved on to the town of Arusha, a town of 416,000 just south of Kilimanjaro National Park. This was a rough looking town with lots of street vendors, pedestrians milling about, and the ever-present little motorcycles. They rolled back a massive security gate for us to access our hotel, the three-star Merves Hotel. These were small, simple rooms with no amenities, but they met our needs (read: bed, shower, toilet). After dinner, we met at the lounge for a pre-hike beer and our briefing from our chief guide, Antold.  This rather stern fellow went over the hike details with us, including the directions for our altitude sickness medicine, acetazolamide (Diamox). We took a full 250 mg tablet the day before the hike, then a half tablet each day thereafter.  At the advice of a doctor hiking buddy in the US (Dr. Bill Ramsey), I also took a 4 mg dexamethasone at breakfast and dinner each day we were hiking.  I don’t know if that pill was what made the difference, but I was the only one to summit with no altitude sickness symptoms.  I would recommend anyone trying a similar hike to consult with their physician on that as well.

A typical roadside scene driving through the African landscape.

We had breakfast the next morning then boarded our bus for the drive to the park. I watched the people along the road.  Lots of people walking, including ladies clad in the brightly colored local garb balancing loads on their heads. Bikes, cars, and motorcycles urgently pushing from one spot to the next. People pushing wagons and wheelbarrows. Some people just sit and stare.  Hard life for these people. I am struck by the wealth and waste of my homeland when I see these sights.

After picking up our last two trekkers from Oman, we pressed on and arrived at Kilimanjaro National Park shortly after noon. We were greeted in the parking lot by desperate locals trying to sell you anything they can. You feel sorry for them and may make a small purchase or two, but its hard to believe you are changing their lives much. We met our guides and porters for the trip (a whopping 3 porters per person for dragging all our personal gear, cooking supplies and food, and that heaviest of all packing supplies – bulk water), registered at the visitor center and officially started our hike.  There are six routes you can choose from to summit Kilimanjaro. Each offer pros and cons. We hiked the Marangu Route, the only route to offer huts instead of tents (pro), but you hike up and down the same trail (con).  The trek for this route is 34 km one way, or about 42 miles round trip. 

Our lead guide for most of the hike. James was a mild mannered, steady hiker. A member of the local Chugga tribe, he has climbed to the summit over 150 times.

We headed off to our first destination, Mandara Hut, 8 km away and 835 meters higher (2720 meters). This was a hike through lush Montane forest with Yellow wood, Junipers, Olives, Figs, and Macaranga; ferns, streams and waterfalls.  Our lead guide, James, set the pace we would all become accustomed to, the “Pole – Pole” pace (slow – slow in Swahili).  James is a member of the local Chugga tribe. My age, he was a calm, mild mannered hiker that has summited Kilimanjaro 150 times. A slow pace is a critical aspect to conquer the altitude, and as James informed me, “The mountain likes slow steps”. The slow pace would have been unsettling to me in most other hikes, but I deferred completely to their expertise for this adventure. We arrived at Mandura Hut about 3 hours later.  Oxygen here is about ~71% of sea level, no ill effects on any of the team members so far.  The hut complex was much larger than I expected, with accommodations for 100 hikers and 200 porters. The simple huts with a small solar panel for lighting were first opened in 1942. The small A-frames had accommodations for four on each end of the hut.  After a dinner of fried fish, potatoes, mixed vegetables, and the first of many outstanding soups (lentil on this night), we called it a day.  The night was filled with all sorts of bizarre noises that I tried to assign to an animal. The next morning, we saw several large monkeys (30 pounds maybe?) at the fringe of the camp that must have been the noise.  We cleaned up just a bit with the jugs of hot water and soap they left by our door about 6:30 in the morning.  After a breakfast of porridge, fruit, toast, and eggs, we packed up and headed off to our next destination.  I have not the foggiest notion what the porridge was made of.

Sunset at Horombo Hut

Our destination for the second day of the hike was Horombo Hut, 11 km away and another 1000 meters higher (3720 meters). We slowly left the montane forest and entered a vegetation zone known as Moorland. The large trees disappeared, replaced by grasses, shrubs, and flowers.  A tree known as the Giant Senecio was present near water sources in this zone, an odd-looking tree that made us think of the Lorax in Dr. Seuss’s books.  The landscape opened, and we had our first clear look at the extinct Mawenzi cone. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife from here on but did see a nice-looking chameleon. We stopped after a few hours and enjoyed lunch of chicken, sandwiches, bananas, hard boiled eggs, cookies, with the highlight being an absolutely amazing hot cucumber soup. Much of the food on the trip was ordinary at best but they definitely served up some delicious soups!  Clouds moved in on us as we hiked on towards Horombo Hut.  This collection of huts was similar to Mandura.  Upgrades are in progress with some new buildings.  A large solar panel array in the center of the complex provided power for the administrative buildings and a small kitchen.  Oxygen concentration is at 63% of sea level at this elevation, still no ill effects on our group. We rested a bit before dinner (the porters arrived late with the food).  Popcorn and peanuts were served up as an afternoon snack each day when we arrived.  The popcorn was an unexpected treat.  A few of our folks and one of the porters showed off their dancing moves on the deck of the dining room for some fun entertainment.  After admiring a beautiful sunset, dinner finally arrived, including some Tanzanian dishes at the request of one of our team members. This included a ‘porridge’ that seemed to me like a very stiff mashed potato (I was told a very thinned version of this was the porridge we had at breakfast), some cooked greens that looked like minced collard greens that were intended to be spooned over the porridge, a mincemeat sauce, vegetables, papaya, and another outstanding soup. Antold came to brief us on the next day’s hike and lectured us on eating more.  I had a little trouble sleeping that night and went out to gaze at the stars around midnight. There was no moon and all the camp lights were off, so I was treated to a truly dazzling high mountain galactic display.  Even old familiar Orion seemed a bit crowded with a few extra stars packed in.  Moments like this are the payoff for all the work, preparation, and expenses. The unexpected, unadvertised ones like this are my favorite.

Giant Senecio trees on the trail to Kibo Hut. The snow cap at the left of the summit is our destination.

We woke up to a beautiful morning, a bit cooler than previous by maybe 5°C. From here we gazed down on the top of the clouds in the valleys below. After a breakfast of porridge (seriously, what is this stuff?), sausages, watermelon, toast, and tomatoes, we packed up and moved on towards our last hut, Kibo, 9 km away and another 980 meters higher (4700 m).  The trees were mostly gone now except for a few of the Giant Senecio along water runoffs, but there was still a lot of green vegetation. The Kilimanjaro summit is in clear view now, with the remnants of the snow cap. Around 4000 meters we left the Moorland behind and entered the Alpine Desert vegetation zone. Very little vegetation existed here, only the occasional tuft of grass and stray flower.  Still, this lunar landscape is beautiful.  We stopped for a lunch of fried vegetable pies, chicken, boiled eggs, vegetable soup, cookies,and fruit juice. A few people were starting to show symptoms of altitude sickness – nausea and vomiting.  We are at less than 60% of the oxygen at sea level. We continued towards Kibo Hut. Although we can clearly see it on the side of the mountain, it is still a couple of hours away.  We arrive about 3:30. Other routes meet here, and there are several tents around the complex from other tour groups.  Our Kibo hut accommodations have all 11 of us in a summer camp type room with bunk beds. Just one big happy family piled in on each other for a brief stay.

Our room at Kibo Hut, 4750 meters

At 4700 meters this was a new altitude record for me by nearly 1000 feet, and a few members are showing clear signs of altitude sickness.  We have only the afternoon to acclimatize before beginning our serious summit attempt. Our goal for the afternoon is to check all our gear for the summit attempt, eat early and get as much rest as we can before beginning our climb around midnight.  Dinner was pasta, vegetables, and fruit.  Antold lectured us again about eating more.  This time I think he was right.  About 12 hours later I was wishing I had taken another few forkfuls of the pasta.  This is the time of the hike when you should eat when you are not hungry and drink when you are not thirsty. We went to bed around 6, with plans to be up at 11 to prepare for a midnight departure.

I set my alarm for 10:45. I was awake shortly before that and got dressed. A thick pair of long johns under my hiking pants, a smartwool base layer under my normal hiking shirt, a fleece jacket, a down jacket, a nice warm cap – I was ready to go.  I had rain pants and raincoat in my day pack for an additional layer and wind protection,and although the clear air outside was quite crisp – perhaps 20° F – I was confident I did not need them, at least to start.  You certainly don’t want to get cold, but you don’t want to sweat either.  A new method I tried this time was putting toe warmers between my socks and liners in the arches of my feet.  I had no difficulties with temperature.

Breakfast was advertised as biscuits. My hopes for a fluffy, bacon and egg stuffed biscuit were dashed when I came to the realization I was only getting the thin little cookies that are served with tea.  I blame the Brits for this gross misrepresentation.  I downed a few and made my thermos of coffee for the summit.

Climbing to Gilman Point.

We gathered with our headlamps. The guides carried even our day packs here to maximize our chance for success.  The sky was clear and the stars bright as we started. Pole-Pole took on a new meaning as we barely took half steps on our way up the mountain. The ascent is better than a 21°grade with just under a 1200-meter climb in 6 km, and the oxygen will be only 47% of that at sea level. Most people have no experience at this altitude and do not know how their bodies will react.  All this runs through your head as you climb.  After about an hour, the clouds moved in and the snow started. Also about this time we suffered our first casualty as our trip organizer started to suffer severe symptoms. The only smart move under these conditions is to turn back, and he did. Other members started to suffer as well but continued on at this point. The breeze started to frost us over with the falling snow, making quite a sight in the dawns early light. Our visibility was limited, all we could see was a continued steep incline over increasingly rocky terrain. Our guide Isaac sang us songs in Swahili, interspersed with the cry “Wayla!” Symptoms among the group began to increase, and we decided to split into two groups.  Seven continued on, with four others continuing at a slower pace with more frequent breaks.  Gilman Point is the first goal, on the rim of the crater (5685 meters).  The four members in the trailing group made the smart call to end there. Uhuru Peak is still 2 km away, 210 meters higher, and another hour of hiking away.  Symptoms will only get worse.  The remaining seven pressed on through the wind, snow, and clouds to a destination that never seemed to arrive.  Ultimately it did, and right on cue the clouds began to disperse, unveiling the crater around us and the African landscape below.  We took all the high-five climax photos we needed before finally beginning our blessed descent.  We still had another 15 km hike to our stay for the night at Horombo Hut.

The summit!

We cruised down the mountain at a much brisker pace, shedding layers as we went. We made it back to Kibo Hut where we took a much-needed break before eating lunch and packing up to continue on. The break helped but true relief was further down the hill. About three hours later we made it to Horombo Hut, relieved to find our organizer in much better shape.  Dinner was served an hour or two later, but most of us were in bed for the night after a 21 km day that included the highest peak on the  African continent.

We got up the next morning to leave the mountain, another 19 km hike.  Our Omani was still suffering from the day before and plans were made to evacuate her. So, the final number for our hike was 6 of 11 completing the entire hike. Not the result everyone was looking for, but I believe everyone was proud of the accomplishments made.

A memorial to hikers who perished on the mountain in the last month.

We headed down the mountain. As we passed a nondescript pile of brush shortly after leaving Horombo, our guide said that was a memorial to the seven porters and climbers who had died the month before on a summit attempt. He had no details but to say it was with another trekking group. Statistics like these are not heavily advertised.  We pushed on and said our goodbyes to the mountain. After some delays, we boarded our bus and returned to Merves Hotel in Arusha for a much-needed shower.  There was more fun planned for the next day but that is another story.

I made some good friends on this hike to share the experience.  We promise to meet again for another adventure.  This is a fine thought and although it will likely never happen, the memories from this week are planted, to be aroused in the future when we gaze out on some distant mountain.
Seychelles February 2018

Seychelles February 2018

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The time came for our second trip.  After considering the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Seychelles, we decided on Seychelles.  Etihad, the UAE national airline, advertised a holiday getaway including accommodations and airfare and that sealed the deal.  I was only vaguely aware of Seychelles before coming to the UAE, so I did a little homework to educate myself and prepare for the trip.  Here are a few of the basic details about the country, and a few other fun facts:

  • Seychelles is a republic comprised of 115 islands (mostly uninhabited) in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. It has been independent since 1976.  The total land area is only about 459 km2, or 177 square miles, but covers an enormous area of about 150,000 square miles.
  • Victoria on the island of Mahe is the capital and largest city (but the smallest capital in the world) at ~26,000 people. The total population of the islands is about 94,000.
  • The islands span a range between 4 and 10o south of the equator, about 1100 miles north-northeast of Madagascar and 900 miles east of the African continent.
  • There is no entry visa required to enter the country, but they don’t want vagrants. Immigration officials ask to see your return ticket, your hotel voucher, a statement of good health.
  • Bird Island is home to the heaviest land tortoise in the world, the Esmeralda, which can weigh up to 670 pounds.
  • The islands are the native home of the coco de mer tree, also known as the sea coconut. This tree produces the largest seed in the world, weighing up to 33 pounds. It is also displayed on the official passport stamp.
  • Seychelles has a per capita Gross Domestic Product of $30,486, making it the richest country in Africa on a per capita basis. Unemployment is 1%.  Still, wealth is not evenly distributed, and poverty is evident in many sections.
  • Seychelles has competed in the Olympics since 1980 but has never won a medal.
  • Almost half of the area in the islands is given over to national parks and reserves.
  • Round Island was once an isolated leper colony.
  • French, English, and Seychelles Creole are all considered official languages. 93% of the inhabitants are considered Creole.
  • Catholicism is the dominant religion, but there are also Anglican, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, and Bahai communities that live in harmony.
  • The islands are divided into two groups – 73 outer coralline islands and 42 inner granitic islands. The granite islands are remnants of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana and have a high elevation of 905 meters.  They are the only granite sea islands in the world, and the oldest islands in any ocean.
  • In 2014, Seychelles had the highest incarceration rate in the world at 779 per 100,000 people, Given the size of the country, this equaled out to 762 prisoners. 6% were female.

We headed out on the morning of February 23 to Abu Dhabi. We don’t fly out until tomorrow morning, but we don’t want to overly rely on the timeliness of Emirate transportation.  We have a rental car now but have so far still elected to take the bus to Abu Dhabi.  The ride costs us 35 dirhams each, about $9.50, for the 150-mile ride.  This frees us from urban driving in Abu Dhabi and having too make airport parking arrangements.  The bus ride is comfortable enough.  We read, sleep, and listen to podcasts.  I also do some of my trip research and writing on the trip.  A small can of lightly salted potato sticks at the Tarif bus station about half way to Aby Dhabi has become a staple.

We spent the night at the Premier Inn at the Abu Dhabi airport to make for an easy exit the next morning.  This was a good plan.  They have a nice rooftop pool we didn’t use on this trip, but it might be good in the future.  Cost about $90.

Flying into Seychelles

We had an easy flight to Seychelles – Etihad airline still gives you a hot meal included in the air fare – and arrived in Victoria in a light drizzle.  We were met at the airport by a shuttle service we had pre-arranged that took us straight to our hotel, Hilton Northolme Resort.  Before leaving the airport, I changed some money at the airport ATM.  I hadn’t done my homework and had no idea how much the local currency was worth.  When the machine queried me whether I wanted 500, 1000, 3000, 5000, etc. without even saying in what currency, I had no idea what I was getting and I deferred to the lowest amount  – 500.  Turns out this was in Seychelles rupees (SCR).  Each is worth about 7 cents, so I had only taken out about $40.  Oh well, it was a start.  We moved on to the hotel.  This 100-year-old resort is comprised of 40 quaint, wood sided villas.  Ian Fleming stayed at this hotel in 1958 while writing “For Your Eyes Only”.  The room had hardwood floors with a 4 poster bed and our own private infinity pool on the back porch, quite a luxurious stay, certainly not what we are accustomed to from years of travelling with the kids.  We relaxed a bit, then took a walk up the street to a local market to provision our refrigerator for the stay.  I bought a six pack of SeyBrew, the local island brew for 144 SCR (~$11), and Lynn picked up some of the local island rum, Takamaka.

Our back porch at the Hilton Northolme Resort

Lynn had studied the maps and it looked like most places were quite close and we would be able to walk.  That wasn’t quite right.  The distances and elevations weren’t bad, but the roads were a harrowing experience.  Narrow, twisting – usually with no shoulder, and cars blazing by. Still, we headed into town, looking for a break in the granite boulders to work our way down to the beach, Beau Vallon.  We made our way into town and enjoyed the sights for a bit before going to eat.  Preparations were underway for marathon the next morning, and street vendors sold all manner of grilled fish, sausages, coconut drinks etc.  We settled for dinner at the La Plage restaurant where I enjoyed a seafood linguine and Lynn had grilled snapper.  The total was 1010 SCR, I asked the waitress to add 150 for the tip.  She struggled with this, at first I thought it was the machine, but then I realized it was the math she was struggling with.  Bless her heart.  We had a lovely sunset, the best we were to have on a trip with frequent cloud cover.  It was the end of the rainy season for them.

The following morning, February 25, we had the first of three fantastic breakfasts at one of the hotel restaurants.  They had a wide variety of fruit, bread, cheese, eggs to order, a juicer, and local homemade yogurt.  We debated our plans for the day, and decided against a mountain hike for a shorter, low elevation hike – 1.5 km from Danzil to Anse Major, where there was a nice beach.  At the start of the hike, we passed “The Batman”, a local Creole who had a pet fruit bat.  He said he had had it for 22 years, and they can live for 40-45 years.  The bat was indeed well trained and quite peaceful.  Tapping a stick would prompt him to walk to it, where he was rewarded with a piece of fruit.  We each fed him a grape, paid Batman a 100 SCR for the opportunity, snapped a few pictures and were on our way.

We continued our hike.  Only 1.5 km, but with the slow rock picking took it still took us well over an hour.  We enjoyed a brief stay.  Our plan for returning to Beau Vallon by water taxi failed when we found he didn’t run on Sunday.  So we made our way back, making a little better time on the return.

We walked down the hill towards Danzil, hoping to catch a bus, but ready to get a cab.  Good fortune smiled on us, and we found a bus at the base of the hill just getting ready to start his route.  These buses are ancient Indian Tata buses. They are cheap – 7 SCR (~50 cents) will get you anywhere the bus goes. I told the bus driver where we wanted to go, but he didn’t speak English and we wound up in the Victoria Central Bus Station.  No matter, I needed to take out some more money from the ATM, and very shortly we were on the next bus that took us directly to our hotel.  And I had wanted to experience the loud, noisy Tata buses anyway.

We had another late lunch/early dinner at the Hotel.  It started raining, but no matter, at the equator it is always warm and we went for a delightful swim in a small cove adjacent to the hotel and horsed around making goofy selfies.  We retired to our room and watched a James Bond movie we got from the front desk, “Live and Let Die”.

We got up on the morning of February 26 and had another breakfast that couldn’t be beat.  I had heard of avocado toast but had never had it; topped with a poached egg, it was indeed mighty fine.  Our agenda for the day was a “Teddy’s Glass Bottom Boat” excursion, about a six-hour trip to and around some of the smaller islands off the northeast coast of Mahe in the Saint Anne Marine National Park.  We headed out to Moyenne Island first, stopping for a time to feed the fish.  When we landed on the island we were greeted by a group of Esmeralda tortoises, the largest at up to 670 pounds and among the oldest with some living more than 180 years.  They were friendly, looking for handouts from the tourists (the guides provided appropriate local vegetation for this).  A pen nearby contained a bunch of juveniles just a few months old – very neat!  We enjoyed a nice walk around the island learning some of its history and enjoying the scenery.  This island was bought by a Britain who maintained it wild during his life, and on his death deeded half the island to the government to maintain wild and the other half to the Rotary Club with the same directive.  As we enjoyed our walk around, Lynn stopped for a break at a bench.  A big tortoise came ambling up and proceeded to try and crawl under Lynn’s bench.  He was far to big to make it, but we had a good laugh watching him try.

From there we went back out on the boat to the coral reefs for a snorkeling session.  We spent about an hour and saw lots of colorful fish, but sadly, about 75% of their coral has died from increasing ocean temperatures.  We returned to shore and had a barbeque lunch of fish, chicken, and local side dishes.  Our last event of the day was a free swim period off Round Island before returning to Victoria.  The total cost for this trip was 3060 SCR, or $229 for both of us.  I felt we got our money’s worth.  We talked to Teddy on the drive home.  He had been in the business for 35 years, and had trained probably 20 guides over the years, only to lose them to visiting European sweethearts.

For our last night, we had pork dishes (ribs for me, crispy pork for Lynn) since we were heading back to the UAE.  We watched another James Bond DVD, “For Your Eyes Only” in honor of Ian Fleming writing it while staying at our hotel.

Our last morning, we enjoyed another great breakfast before checking out.  Our taxi back to the airport cost 800 SCR ($58).  Our cab driver was a friendly fellow and agreed to let us out at the Botanical Gardens for an hour.  We wanted to stop there and see the Coco de Mer.  The coconuts themselves are huge, up to 33 pounds, and the nut itself without the husk has a unique shape.  I was glad we got to see it.  From there we went on to the airport.   Although it is an international airport, it is quite small.  Only four outbound flights were scheduled that day.

Total costs for trip, including hotel in Abu Dhabi before and after leaving was $5275.
Greece – Our first trip – New Years 2018

Greece – Our first trip – New Years 2018

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The master plan for the move to the United Arab Emirates has two parts.  The first is to stash some bucks for retirement; the second, and just as important, is to travel this part of the world. Being located here reduces the travel time and costs and gives us the opportunity to visit some places that would likely not have happened starting from the US.  The master plan is off to a good start.

I had the end of January in mind for an initial trip, but late in December I realized I had an opportunity to take two days of vacation and get ten days off.  And so, on the spur of the moment, we decided to take off to Greece.  I had always been intrigued by Greek antiquities and liked the idea of seeing a Greek island without the crowds.  The plan was laid out.  The way these things with work us goes something like this:  I come up with some grandiose, idealized, loosely defined plan for some sort of adventure.  I have a basic framework but no details.  The whole affair is rife with opportunity for catastrophe.  Lynn steps in and puts meat on the bones.  She methodically researches the fine points, with highlights of specific places to see including all the logistics.  These are carefully noted in chronological order.  Plane arrives here at X time, metro takes us to Y at Z time, etc.  She doesn’t like to use something like Word or any sort of electronic documentation. Her preference is for ruled notebook paper. A pencil is preferred, a pen can be used in a pinch.  It’s her system. It works.

Our trip started with a night in Abu Dhabi to set the stage for an early flight to Athens. We left for the airport about 2.5 hours before departure, not being sure how long this process was going to take in a foreign land.  With a little help from a flight attendant, we ran through the whole security process and arrived at our departure gate in under an hour. We arrived in Athens on an overcast day and set out to figure out the metro process. It is really quite easy, I hope this is typical of other large cities we fly into.  Athens has red, green, and blue metro lines that crisscross the city.  You can buy a ticket for different options – 90 minute, 24 hour, 3 day, etc. You don’t really pay for destination to destination.  Get on, get off as you choose within that interval.  They were generally pretty cheap, just a few euro. Tickets that had the airport for starting or destination were a bit more – 10 euro.  Still, they were very punctual and as a rule very clean.  Some of the older cars were well decorated with graffiti.  It wasn’t graphic, but I had no idea what it said.

Our stay in Athens was at a private hotel (we didn’t stay at any chain hotels this trip) called the “Acropolis Stay”.  It had a tiny house feel to it. Very compact, but clean, new, and everything you needed was there.  Best of all, it was literally 120 paces from the metro exit for the Acropolis.  All the major highlights we wanted to see were within a 10 minute walk.  All of the rooms we stayed at were around $100 a night and nice restaurant meals were to be had for around $15-25.

Our hotel in Athens, “Acropolis Stay”

We asked the staff at the hotel for restaurant recommendations and were asked if we wanted tourist Greek food (what you might find at a Greek restaurant in the US) or local Greek food.  Of course, we asked for what the locals would have.  After a brief amble around town to stretch our legs and get our bearings, we found our way to one of the recommendations.  The first step in eating at a restaurant was working your way through the restaurant promoters that roamed the street promoting the benefits of their establishment. The first dinner was at the Arcadia Restaurant across the street from the Acropolis Museum. I had lamb souvlaki – lamb marinated in tsipouri (a Greek liquor made from distilled grape skins after the wine has been made) and fresh herbs along with roasted vegetables and feta cheese stuffed mushroom caps. After dinner we were brought a courtesy “digestive juice”, a mixture of table wine and cherry, pomegranate, and berry juice. We had been well advised!

Lamb souvlaki at Arcadia Restaurant

Our first morning in Athens was spent in the central district.  After breakfast at “Different Square” where I had my first pork bacon in three months along with “juicy” eggs (I didn’t know what this was going to be. I received eggs sunny side up, so I guess that’s what that means), we meandered about the Dimotiki Agora (Athens Public Market).  This market has been in business nonstop since 1886. The Meat Market was first. This was crowded, pushing, shoving mass with meat sellers yelling constantly at no one in particular. They slammed their cleavers into chopping blocks seemingly for the sound effect alone. The first section we went through had whole lamb, pigs, beef, and rabbits in various states of dismemberment.  Chicken, turkey, and duck hanging from lines with their heads in bags were available for customers, a mixture of private shoppers and restaurant owners.  Men operated sausage grinders on demand. It was all quite a spectacle.  Adjacent to the meat section we found seafood of all manner.  Fish of all types.  Squid, calamari, shrimp, octopus, eel, crabs – all fresh on ice.

Meat Market in the Dimotiki Agora (Athens Public Market)
Fresh eel in the seafood section of Dimotiki Agora
Local market with breads, cheese, wine.

We went next to the Fruit and Vegetable Market.  This was an equally impressive display but the vendors weren’t quite as vocal as the meat crowd was.  The displays of citrus, peppers, pomegranate, kiwi, apples, and bananas seemed to be arranged for the maximum kaleidoscopic effect.  And of course, olives took center stage.  Row upon row of bins of fresh olives of all sizes and colors. Olive oil, olive soap, olive lotion, utensils made olive wood, cutting boards of olive wood. If it can be made of olives it was there.

Produce at Dimotiki Agora
Olives at the market were like dates at the market in the UAE – lots to choose from

I had no knowledge of the Central Market offerings before this trip, but of course everyone knows of the Greek ruins.  We moved on from the markets to Hadrian’s Library, the Roman Agora, and the Ancient Agora (an agora is a public open space used for markets and assemblies).  Tickets were available for each individually; we opted for the 30 Euro pass that got us into all the major antiquities.

The Roman Agora

The highlight of the Ancient Agora was the Temple of Hephaistos, built 460-415 BC.  This was the best preserved of the many ruins we saw in Athens.  Built in honor of the god of the forge and fire, this temple was used as a Greek Orthodox church from the 7th century until 1834.

Temple of Hephaistos in the Ancient Agora.
Ripe lemons everywhere, why not harvested?

We headed through the Plaka district past citrus laden trees on our way back to “Gods’ Restaurant’ (I was a little slow to pick up on the plural possessive tense of God) for a lunch of traditional Greek gyros and a local brew.  The Plaka district lies at the foot of the Acropolis. This section of town is a narrow maze of crowded streets packed with small shops selling goods.  These are often poorly marked, one-way, single lane, or pedestrian use only (mopeds ignore that restriction).  Backing up to turn around appears hopeless. A kind of rental car hell if you think about it.  As we wandered through town, I thought back to my trips around Europe in the early 1980’s, when Coca-Cola and Kodak signs were at every turn.  Coca-Cola still has a big footprint, but I saw only a single Kodak sign on this trip.  In a town of the ageless, this was a poignant reminder of the impermanence of life. Penis shaped bottle openers and key chains for sale on the streets also reminded me we weren’t in the United Arab Emirates.

Ruins at the Acropolis Museum

We visited the Acropolis Museum after our late lunch.  Along with the Acropolis, this is a must-see if you visit Athens.  The three-level museum is just minutes from the Acropolis and was built to accommodate all the many relics collected on the Acropolis and surrounding slopes. The entrance has a glass walkway for viewing ruins the museum is built over.  These will eventually be incorporated into the tour.  The entire third floor is dedicated to the marble relief frieze from the top of the Parthenon made up of metopes depicting scenes from Greek mythology.  There is hope for the eventual return of the “Elgin Marbles” which made up a large portion of the frieze along the top of the Parthenon as well as other Acropolis ruins including one of the original Caryatid sculptures that are currently in the British Museum in London. These were removed from the Acropolis under dubious circumstances by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin, in the early 1800’s, when the Acropolis was being used as an Ottoman military fort.  Seems old Bruce had designs to decorate his estate with these, but a nasty divorce forced him to have to sell to the government at a loss. The Greeks have worked for the return of these treasures since gaining their independence from the Ottomans in 1832.

Models of the Elgin Marbles. Actual ones located at the British Museum in London.

On the last day of 2017 we got an early start on the Acropolis.  As usual, the streets were virtually empty before 8:00 AM.  The weather was again perfect for us – starting off in the upper 40’s, increasing to the low 60s through the day with clear blue skies.  We climbed the hill to the Acropolis and had a beautiful peaceful morning at one of the most recognizable spots on the planet.  The tourist population slowly swelled and the selfie sticks with it.  More than once I had the opportunity to consider alternative uses for these while waiting for a photo op. At one memorable spot I had the pleasure of watching a young man sitting on a rock artfully freehand sketch the Parthenon before him.  I wish I had that skill.

The Acropolis
Talented young artist sketching the Acropolis

We worked our way in the afternoon sun to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  The crowd was much smaller and the effect of the afternoon sun on the solitary columns was very peaceful. I noticed a fair number of beggars during our stay.  Some peddled trinkets for loose change.  Musicians, some quite skilled, had a tin can or blanket set in front.  Others were training their children at an early age and using the innocence of youth to encourage contributions.  Still others simply begged, or sat with a homeless sign in front of themselves.

Hadrian’s Arch

We had about 2 and a half days in the heart of Athens. They were full days.  We could have easily spent one more, perhaps more if we felt like spending some idle hours at a sidewalk café with a coffee, glass of wine, or a pint.  A friend many years ago told me when visiting Athens to hit the Acropolis for a day then head for the islands.  An island was indeed next on our agenda, but I disagree with the downtown assessment.

On January 1, 2018 we said our farewells to Athens.  As we left out hotel about 7:00, we passed a few last survivors of the New Years Eve celebration parties at a Tiki bar.  More people were there than in the metro station.  We took the metro to the port of Athens where we took the Flying Cat to Hydra for a three day stay on the island of Hydra.  The port was in a seedy, rough area.  We had a coffee while we waited on our ferry.  The coffee shop was full of smokers, several rolling their own.  We were happy to board the ship and get underway.  The hour and a half ride cost us 28 euros each, about 35 US dollars.

I think Lynn likes Hydra.

Hydra is a small, sparsely populated island, full of narrow winding streets with steep stairs leading to various buildings.  In the town center the streets are mostly marble, polished smooth form years of foot traffic.  Motor vehicles are not allowed except for a small dump truck.  Mules are available for transporting goods, and sea taxis are available for taking people around the island.  Almost all commercial businesses and residences are in a small area, so walking isn’t a problem.

The port of Hydra
The view from the hot tub for our Hydra rental.

The water in the port has stunning clarity that must make for fine snorkeling in warmer months.  We had temperatures in the low 60’s during the day and 40’s at night that were very comfortable.  Many of the shops were closed for the season, but enough shops and restaurants were open to meet our needs during our three day stay.  We stayed at the “Porta del Mare”, a quaint four room inn about as far from a hotel chain in appearance as you can get.  A climb up steep stairs was required for entry, with another climb up to the hillside jacuzzi above the inn which we enjoyed immensely.  Our first day was a casual day spent in the port, lounging in the jacuzzi and later enjoying a pizza.  We watched locals fishing after dark catching eel.

On January 2, our second day, we headed up for the summit of Mount Eros.  We worked our way up poorly marked train towards the summit, the high point on the island at 588 meters.  The Prophet Elias Monastery is along the route.  As we approached, we chanced upon one of the monks clipping greens on the hillside for a salad.  The small, well-kept monastery had several high-quality hand made goods for sale, but our cash was low and a bar of soap was all we bought.  Different sources said there were either two or four monks in residence, I saw two.

Lynn was comfortable at the monastery, so I headed on to the summit alone.  The trail is poorly marked but you can see the summit.  So you just pick your way. I didn’t expect much at the summit, but I was greeted by a stunning vista looking south across the Aegean Sea, and west towards other islands and the mainland.  A small wooden cross and concrete pillar marked the summit.

The view from the summit of Hydra

We enjoyed another portside dinner, and for a second time we saw a waiter dispatched to the local grocer immediately after we placed our order. The ever present feral cats on the island sat by waiting for scraps, but for the most part they are patient and do not make a pest of themselves.

We headed back to Athens on January 4th for our last day before heading back to Abu Dhabi.  We boarded the “Flying Dolphin” in a cold rain, our only bad weather for the trip.  We arrived for our pickup to the “Infinity White Complex”, a dated but very large room in Porto Rafti about 20 minutes from the airport with a beautiful view.  The most notable event during this stay was a wonderful dinner at “Prima Plora”, a local seaside restaurant we had to ourselves.  The waiter lavished us with fire grilled whole grouper that we selected and a huge Greek salad with roasted almonds and sun-dried tomatoes.  We declined desert but were treated to Pana Cotta, anyway, followed by a complimentary grappa.  What was missing in luxury was abundantly replaced with a thoughtfully prepared, tastefully presented dinner served by a gracious host in a charming setting.  We could not have chosen better.

We returned back to Abu Dhabi the next morning.  Our short notice first trip was a complete success.
Italy September 2018 – Tuscany and The Isle of Elba

Italy September 2018 – Tuscany and The Isle of Elba

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Trip number six from the UAE was once again to old Europe – the Tuscany region and the isle of Elba in Italy.  We made some effort on this trip to limit our lodging moves, settling for stays at two locations (plus a spontaneous last night stay at San Gimignano).  We delayed making our reservations for various reasons and did not have as many choices as we otherwise might have.  But we still found some fine spots.  In another mystery of airline travel, it was cheaper to fly round trip to Pisa with a Rome connection than it was to fly to Rome directly.  Our itinerary included three days outside of Pisa to explore a bit of Tuscany and Florence, then four days on the island of Elba just off the western coast. Thinking our agenda would be off the beaten path at times, we chose to get a rental car. Some facts and interesting trivia about Italy:

  • Most of the Italian peninsula unified into its current state in 1861.
  • Italy is the 8th largest country measured by nominal GDP with a 2017 GDP of 2.1 trillion US dollars. It is 23rd in population with 61 million (2017), and 71st in area (about the size of Arizona).
  • Italy is the 5th most visited country.
  • Paleolithic-era artifacts have been found on the peninsula dating back 850,000 years. Modern humans appeared about 40,000 years ago.
  • Almost 10 million Prosciutti di Parma hams are produced in Italy each year; approximately 70% of them are consumed in Italy.
  • The Renaissance, a period of vigorous revival of the arts and culture, originated in Italy due to a number of factors: the great wealth accumulated by merchant cities, the patronage of its dominant families, and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy following the Conquest of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
  • Italy is the world’s largest producer of wine, producing 3.3 million bottles (20% of global total). Italians consume an average of 54 liters per person each year.
  • Roman Catholicism is the leading religion at 74%.
  • In 1962, Italy passed a law banning names with superlatives (such as super-, and ultra-) for consumer products. Supercrema, invented by Italian Michele Ferrero, had to be renamed. And Nutella was born.
  • The top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is 17 feet off vertical.
  • There are over 450 pasta shapes in Italy.
  • The average person in Italy eats more than 51 pounds of pasta every year compared to about 15-1/2 pounds per year in North America.
  • Pizza as we know it today evolved in the 18th century when tomatoes were introduced to southern Italy.
  • Italy produces over 450 varieties of cheese, over 100 more than in France.
  • Italians invented the typewriter, optical eye glasses, piano, and espresso machine.
  • Italy is home to the only three active volcanos in Europe: Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius.
  • Italy is home to the oldest University in the world in continuous operation. The University of Bologna was founded in 1088 and has been open ever since.
  • Galileo Galilei was arrested nearly 400 years ago by the Roman Catholic Church for having proved the earth moves around the sun and not the other way around. The Church did not issue a formal apology until 1992.
  • Exchange rate at the time of this trip was 1€ = $1.16.

We started our trip in the usual manner, spending the night at the Park Inn on Yas Island ($91) to take advantage of free parking in a covered garage while on vacation.  Our flight the morning of September 6 to Pisa was uneventful, and we arrived in Pisa in the mid-afternoon. Our rental car was a 5-speed manual transmission Opel Corsa rented through Eurocar.  At $210 for 9 days, including the max insurance package, I thought this was a real bargain.  Getting the optional navigation system would have added another $14/day, so we opted to just use Google Map.  Except for a snafu trying to navigate on some minor roads in Elba, this worked quite well.  We were happy with Eurocar and have no reservation with using them again.

Our rental at Agriturismo La Volta.
Afternoon at the patio at the back of Agriturismo La Volta.

We moved on to our rental for the next three days, Agriturismo La Volta just outside Pisa (275€ for three nights, including cleaning fee). An ‘agriturismo’ is an Italian term formally regulated since 1985 where guests can stay at family owned farms. I figured this was to preserve some sort of farm-based tax benefits but I did not research it further.  Our residence was one of several in what seemed to be a larger estate.  A tour guide we used later speculated that it was formerly a residence of nobility, that seemed to fit.  It certainly was charming.  Large rooms, simply provisioned but comfortable and with a full kitchen, good Wi-Fi, and a dining table outside between wisteria cloaked walls.  There was a good-sized backyard with large oak, sycamore, cottonwood, and palm trees, and vineyards in the surrounding fields. This worked well for us as a home base for our Tuscany adventures.  Our hosts, an elderly couple with limited English, left us with a bottle of local wine.  Much of this trip was in areas with limited English speakers outside of the major tourist attractions. We got by as best we could.  Trying to read the menus may have been the biggest impact.  We ended our first day with a fun trip to a small local grocery where we set ourselves up for the next few days with yogurt, espresso coffee (the only type of coffee maker we had during our entire Italy stay), plums, eggs, bread, and beer.

Espresso coffee, the only coffee maker we had on this trip.

Our first full day in Italy, September 7, we planned to visit Florence.  They had an egg cup in our kitchen, so I tried my hand at soft boiled eggs for breakfast. I think I have this figured out.  Breakfast outdoors was pleasant.  We had a 10-minute drive to the train station.  We figured out the system without much problem and paid 7.8€ each for the train to downtown Florence. The train was punctual, clean, and comfortable, and electric, as they have been throughout Europe. There were lots of pickpocket warnings throughout this trip, but we never had any problems.

We arrived in downtown Florence after a pleasant train ride through the Italian country side of olive gardens, sunflower fields, houses, towns, wind turbines, and sorghum fields.  We bought a small city map, got our bearings, then headed to our first stop of the day, the Galleria degli Uffizi (24€ each).  We spent the morning here, admiring many classic paintings and sculptures from such masters as Botticelli, Raphael, da Vinci, Michelangelo, and many others. This really was an astounding collection of art. We kidded about it reminding us of playing the game Masterpiece with the kids growing up.  They used to make fun of it being a ‘pretentious’ game.

David at Galleria dell’ Accademia in Florence.

After visiting the Uffizi, we found a plaza with outdoor restaurants, and had a beer and monster calzone before moving on to the Central Market.  Several shops were closed for the day after lunch, but others were still open with lots of prosciutto, cheeses, sausages, fruits and vegetables.  We killed some time there before showing up for our appointed time at Galleria dell’ Accademia (12€ each).  There are many interesting art items here as well (including several incomplete Michelangelo sculptures) but certainly the primary draw here is Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. Completed in 1504, he carved this 17-foot statue from a single piece of marble. He was only 26 years old when he was commissioned for the work and spent over the next two years devoted to it.  The result was so fluent and graceful that contemporary Giorgio Vasari stated the statue so far surpassed any other work in beauty and technique, both ancient and modern, that one needn’t bother with seeing other sculptures. I admired the amazing difference between some partially completed works of his and the final product to see his ability to bring a piece of stone to life.

Amazing chalk street art in Florence. Apparently working for tips.

The next morning, September 8, was our food tour day.  What a fun day this turned out to be!  Seeing a Parmesan cheese factory was on my list of things to see, and Lynn found – somewhere – a full day tour that included a Parmesan cheese factory, a Prosciutto ham factory, and a balsamic vinegar producing vineyard.  This delightful tour was led by a native Tuscan, Angelo Fanzini. He personally designs and leads these tours and has one other business partner in England that handles the bookings.  His English was excellent, and he was extremely knowledgeable about everything we saw.  His knowledge was so complete and his access to operating spaces on the tours was so free that I at first assumed he must be an employee.  This wasn’t a cheap tour – 148€ ($171) – but for anyone interested in such a tour, it’s hard for me to believe there is a better choice out there.

Racks of Parmigiano Reggiano in Parma.

We left Pisa in our rental car and headed to Parma for the first stop in the food tour.  We were a little surprised by how close the Italian Alps were to the coast.  One notable landmark we passed on the way was the Carrera marble quarry, with huge blocks of marble visible in quarry yards on the left and right as we drove through.  Marble from these quarries was used by Michelangelo to carve David from. Our first stop for the day was “Consorzio Produttori Latte”, a Protected Destination of Origin Parmigiano Reggiano cheese producer.  We met Angelo at the factory and were joined by one other young couple from New York City.  It was a nice small tour group for the day.  We donned disposable lab coat, hair net, and booties and headed off for our tour.  Over the next hour and a half, he led us through the entire process of cheese production. He was a wealth of knowledge.  Some interesting statistics about the cheese:

  • About 3000 dairies provide milk to 340 Parmesan cheese factories that operate as co-operatives to share risks, liabilities, profits, labor, etc.
  • The milk is delivered as a priority – all is delivered from the dairy farms within two hours of milking, 365 days a year.
  • The Parmesan wheels seen in grocery stores start off around 50 kg, lowering to 36 kg on average after aging for 1 -3+ years. They cannot be sold as Parmigiano Reggiano without aging at least one year.
  • The wheels are routinely inspected and tested for quality during the aging process. About 93% pass through the aging process with the top grade. Lesser quality wheels can still be used, but with restrictions, including having the name Parmigiano Reggiano entirely removed for the lowest grade.
  • All the wheels in the factory – thousands of them stacked on racks to the ceiling – are inspected, cleaned, and turned over every week.
  • Nothing is wasted from the factory. The left-over whey is first centrifuged to remove remaining cream that is sold for various uses such as making gelato. The whey that is left is fed to pigs. Angelo said they had the fattest, happiest pigs around.
  • The first cheese producers were monks. Along with breads, wine, beer – society really owes monks a debt!

We ended the cheese part of our tour with a visit to the gift shop, and samples of 1, 2, and 3-year-old cheese and some beer from a local brewery that hires disadvantaged people and donates profits to charity.  We bought a block of 3-year-old cheese to bring home, cost about $9/lb.

Fresh prosciutto ham

From there, we got in our cars and took about a 20-minute drive to the prosciutto ham factory, Piazza Peppino.  None of the places we visited were large compared to other manufacturers, but Anthony felt they represented high quality, traditional enterprises, and we certainly saw nothing to make us disagree.  We arrived and met the owners, who chatted with us briefly (and with limited English), then they let Anthony take over.  He certainly seemed to have a friendly, trusting relationship with all the owners we met over the course of the day because he sure seemed to have free reign to walk around and look at anything of interest.  He walked us through the process from start to finish, from the salt rubbing process and aging rooms, to the final steps where the inspector inserts a sharpened horse bone tool into the ham at 5 locations. Horse bones are porous in such a way that they pick up smells but lose them within seconds. Some fun facts we learned from Angelo during this tour:

  • 4000 pig farmers provide 118 prosciutto curing houses in five Destination of Origin regions.
  • Only sea salt is used in curing. The hams are maintained refrigerated at 2-5° Centigrade for the first four months. In pre-refrigeration days, this was accomplished by starting the curing process in late fall/early winter.
  • Hams must be cured for a minimum of 12 months to earn the designation of Prosciutto.
  • Full hams are between 9-12 kg on average after losing about 30% of their weight in curing.

As with the cheese tour, this tour ended with generous samples of their final product.  As long as we were eating, they kept providing, along with some crackers and a local white wine to cleanse the pallet.

Angelo took us to lunch at a lovely hilltop restaurant, with a view spanning over Tuscany. We enjoyed a local Lambrusco with our meal.  The road leading to the restaurant was a two-lane road but seemed like little more than a glorified golf cart path.  We saw these many times during this tour. These would not work well with typical American automobiles.  We also observed far fewer red lights, replaced with rotaries.

Vineyard at Medici Ermete balsamic vinegar producer.

After lunch, we went to the last stop, a balsamic vinegar producer that is part of the Medici Ermete vineyard family. It’s not fair to call this a factory since the entire operation is on essentially a family farm that has been producing balsamic vinegar for five generations. The entire operation takes place in two small buildings.  Angelo again walked us through the entire process with complete authority.  Unlike wine where contact with oxygen is avoided, balsamic vinegar requires oxidation.  The barrels seem similar to wine barrels but are left open at top with an air space in the barrel to keep air in contact with the vinegar and to allow evaporation to occur which improves the flavor.  A simple sheet of cheesecloth is kept over the opening to keep dust and debris from getting in the barrels.  The process begins with a mother barrel, then using five barrels of decreasing size for ageing of the vinegar.  Evaporative losses are made up in series beginning with filling the smallest barrel from the next smallest, then continuing in sequence with the fifth barrel losses being made up from the mother barrel. The final product is the result of a twelve year minimum fermentation, up to 25 years.  We purchased a bottle for Lynn to celebrate her birthday.  This is not to be confused with most balsamic vinegars picked up at your local grocer.

Angelo describes the balsamic vinegar aging process. These small barrels range from 12 months to 25 years.
Lynn buying some 25 year old balsamic vinegar.

We said our goodbyes to the tour group and headed back to Pisa for our last night at the agriturisimo. We thought we would bypass the toll roads on the way back and take a separate road down through the mountains.  This has worked well before but this time it turned a two-hour trip into almost four as we snaked our way through narrow twisted mountain roads. We were treated to some beautiful scenery, but the delay pretty much took going out to dinner out of the picture, and we grabbed a few items at a grocery store to hold us over for the night.

On September 9, I had one last soft-boiled egg for breakfast at our outdoor table before we checked out. We had a few hours on our hands before the ferry to Elba and decided we couldn’t leave Pisa without taking a look at the famous tower.  We read lots more about pickpocket threats and shady parking arrangements, so we took no chances and paid 2€ to park in an official parking lot.  The lean on the tower really is a sight to see. Construction on the 190-foot tower began in 1173 and it started leaning almost immediately.  Various efforts helped over the centuries, but nothing halted the continued tipping until stabilizing anchors were successful in 2008.  So of course, we saw lots of tourists taking the photo shot of themselves appearing to hold the tower up. After an hour or so walking the grounds at the Leaning Tower, it was time to move on to our ferry ride to Elba at the small port town of Piombino.

The deck of our Airbnb overlooking the beaches of Marina di Campo.

Piombino is the main departure point for visitors to the island Elba.  The whole ferry operations are quite impressive. Massive ships from several companies run several times a day, carrying individuals, private cars, delivery trucks, tractor-trailers, and even tankers. The operation was really pretty smooth but a little overwhelming at first when you’ve never done it before and don’t speak the language. The one-hour ride, carrying our rental car, in a very comfortable cabin cost 174€ round trip.  We rolled off the ferry with plans for lunch on arrival, but we couldn’t figure out the parking meter, and found out quickly that the value of Google Maps was reduced on this little 16-mile-long island that once hosted Napolean as an exile.  We couldn’t find the place we wanted to go to and had to settle for something less, before heading off to our apartment for the next four days when we really had problems with navigation.  We lost cell signal at the spot where we thought we should be and had no email address or phone number at the spot where we could find signal. After an aggravating couple of hours, things were sorted out and we reached our Airbnb destination with the lofty title of “Appartamento 11 Paradiso splendida vista mare”.  We paid $449 for four nights here, somewhat over our normal rate.  The accommodations were simple but adequate (including a full stove which we used to full advantage), and the patio had a million-dollar view overlooking the beaches of Marina di Campo with the island high point of Mt. Capanne in the background.  We found a local grocery store and provisioned ourselves for the next few days with cheese, eggs, milk, bread, local grapes, apricot juice, and a razor thin Italian bacon known as Rigatino Tuscani.

We admired a beautiful sunrise over the beach with a patio breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast on the morning of September 10.  Our first activity of the day was intended to be a hike along the coast of the island that would later cut up to the summit.  The trail was rough, and it soon became apparent Lynn’s Tevas weren’t the right shoe for the trail.  No worries, we came back to a delightful little pebble beach that was a short walk from our apartment. We came back here several times over our stay. The water temperature was refreshing, just a few other swimmers there, and we really enjoyed it.  We swam for a time, before taking a drive around the west side of the island.  We stopped for lunch in Marina di Campo, where I had a fabulous snail/mushroom pasta and Lynn had a hummus ball salad that she really enjoyed.  This spot was right on the beach.  There weren’t a lot of sandy beaches on the island, and those tended to be more crowded, so while we were happy to have lunch here we enjoyed our little semi-private beach for swimming.  We continued on with our west coast drive, stopping to enjoy the vistas a few times, although the roads weren’t really built with that in mind.  We stopped for a swim on the way back before coming back to our apartment for the night.

Padulella beach on the Isle of Elba.

A perfume made on the island has a beautiful beach with a white cliff background as an advertisement.  I decided to find that beach, and that was our quest for September 11.  Google Maps got us close but couldn’t finish the deal, so we wandered around for a time before finding the right spot.  There were actually two nice beaches not too far apart and we spent time at each. Padulella was the one in the perfume ad, just around a rocky outcrop from a second beach, Capo Bianco.  We spend several hours visiting both before picking up some seafood, pasta, fresh bread, and some wine on the way home and having a home cooked dinner that we enjoyed on our patio.  I was beginning to notice that the island was quite clean overall, with abundant recycle opportunities. We were happy to support that effort.

We started our last full day on Elba with a leisurely light breakfast.  The nights on Elba were comfortable – low 60’s, with no dew. The days were still getting warm, mid 80’s, and could get hot hiking uphill in the sun.  Evening breezes cooled our apartment down nicely, we never turned on the available AC.  Our plan for the day was to take another stab at our hike we started a couple of days earlier.  This was a tough little hike of maybe 3 miles.  It followed the coast, though hardly level, before heading straight uphill about 1000 feet.  The reward at the top was a morning sun vista over the eastern slopes of Mt. Fonza.  The reward for the effort was another refreshing swim at our local beach.  We came back and cleaned up, then took an afternoon siesta.  It is common for restaurants in Italy to close for a few hours in the afternoon before reopening for dinner. For our last night on the island, we chose to revisit our beach restaurant that had served us such a nice lunch.  We splurged, getting a mixed seafood plate, and a whole sea bass, accompanied by a local bottle of white wine.  There were far fewer fast food restaurants in Italy than other places (certainly the US), but many protected Destination of Origin foods.  Seems the Italians are more concerned with quality over quantity.

Morning from the top of Mt. Fonza

September 13 was our last morning on the island. We cleaned out the refrigerator for breakfast, then took one last walk down to our little local beach.  Although we had walked this way several times, this was the first time we (Lynn) noticed that the whole side of the hill was covered in wild rosemary.  The smell must be a real treat when they are in bloom.  We really enjoyed our time in Elba.  Unlike the major tourist areas we have visited, Elba had very few English speakers.  A few waiters, our landlady – that was about it.  That presented a bit of a challenge, but we worked our way through.  The lack of English was especially noticeable as we were trying to get back on the ferry to return to the mainland.  Ferry deckhands yelled Italian at us then walked away. We looked at each other, then tried to follow the lead of others. It worked out.

Best ever gelato in San Gimignano.

Our last day in Italy had remained unplanned until the last 24 hours.  After considering a few options, we settled on San Gimignano.  This tiny dot on the map get a lot of tourist press, and for good reason.  We felt fortunate to get a lodging only 24 hours in advance that was in walking distance to the walled old city.  We drove through the Tuscan landscape from Piombino, arriving in San Gimignano in mid-afternoon.  We checked into the Hotel Da Graziano ($76), a clean simple room that included parking (valuable in this town), Wi-Fi, refrigerator, an outstanding breakfast, and walking distance to the town.  This ancient, walled city of towers is full of food shops – wine, cheese, candies, sausages, restaurants, and shops with crafts, beautiful paintings and photography, and clothes. And, of course, a torture museum. You don’t see those every day, and this one certainly highlighted the cruelty of man.  We spent a few hours that afternoon and again the next morning, taking in all the sights. We enjoyed it all, but especially the gelato from Gelateria Dondoli. I had a melon gelato that was without question the best I have ever had.

If you like torture museums, the one in San Gimignano might be the best (if that’s the right word).

We said our farewells to San Gimignano, and decided we had time to visit the homeplace of Leonardo da Vinci for lunch on our way back to the airport.  The town of Vinci was a pleasant little town, unfortunately we didn’t have time for the museum. We did enjoy a nice lunch before heading back to the airport, filling up the car on the way to the tune of a pricey equivalent of $7.86/gallon.  There were no problems dropping of the car or on the flight home.

We seemed to pay a high price for many individual items on this trip, but the total of $4329 for 8 nights in Italy, including flights, rental car, all tickets, meals, and the hotel in Abu Dhabi before departure and on arrival was well worth the experience.

San Gimignano
Germany and Switzerland, August 2018

Germany and Switzerland, August 2018

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Our fifth out of country trip during our United Arab Emirates adventure was also our furthest trip abroad so far.  Germany is a big country, so to be more specific this trip was to southern Germany with a foray into Switzerland.  We are counting countries – sort of – so we planned on a short stop in Lichtenstein, but that didn’t materialize when we decided it was too much rush.  We had a direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Munich, so the travel time wasn’t bad – about 6 hours.  And the two-hour time zone shift was painless as well.  That aspect is another big advantage of getting in some European travels while we are here compared to travelling from the US.  A big picture look at our itinerary:  Fly into Munich, visit the old city (including dinner at the Hofbrauhaus), take a day trip to the Neuschwanstein Castle, press on to the Black Forest for a couple of days, a couple of days in Lucerne and Zurich, Switzerland, before returning to Munich for the flight home.  We did not rent a car for this trip, relying instead on public transportation.  So far, we have not had any special visa requirements to deal with anywhere we have been.  I do a bit of research before starting vacation.  A few interesting nuggets for this trip:

  • Germany is one of 26 countries within the ‘Schengen Area’ that have agreed to allow free movement of their citizens within this area as if a single country. This covers most but not all of Europe and Scandinavia.
  • 81% of the country is ethnic Germans, ~12% other Europeans, and the rest scattered from around the globe.
  • The country is about 59% Christian, 34% not religious, and a little under 6% Muslim.
  • Germany has the world’s fourth largest economy by GDP and is both the world’s third largest importer and exporter. It is 16th largest country by population (83 million), and 62nd largest by area.
  • Germany took its current form as a nation when most of the German states unified in 1871.
  • Volkswagen is the largest company with 237 billion Euro in revenue and worldwide employment of 610,000.
  • Germany has one of the highest recycling rates in the world – about 65%. The USA recycles about 34%.
  • The German Beer Purity law, adopted in 1516, stipulated beer can only be brewed using water, malt, hops. The existence of yeast was not known at the time, it was added to the purity law in 1906.
  • You can drink a different German beer every day for 15 years.
  • Frederick the Great of Prussia banned coffee in 1777, insisting his subjects must drink beer.
  • There are over 1000 kinds of sausage in Germany.
  • The tradition of the Christmas tree originated in Germany.
  • Germany has over 400 zoos, the most in the world.
  • Drivers can have their licenses suspended for six months for running out of gas on the Autobahn.
  • Munich was founded in 1158, settled by Benedictine monks. The city derives its name from the medieval Munichen (monks).
  • The Romans were the first to use the name “Black Forest.” The Roman soldiers were walking through Germany and their path was blocked by a dark, dense forest. They called it “Silva Nigra”, which means “Black Forest” in Latin.
  • The forests in “Hansel and Gretel”, “Snow White”, and “Rapunzel” are based on the Black Forest. They are all German fairy tales.
  • With over 14,000 distilleries, Black Forest has the world’s highest density of spirit distilleries in the world.
  • Exchange rate at the time of this trip was 1 Euro (€) = $1.14
  • The 2013 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report showed that Switzerland was the country with the highest average wealth per adult in 2013. Switzerland has the world’s nineteenth largest economy by nominal
  • Switzerland produces half of the world’s watches based on value.
  • Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56% from hydroelectricity and 39% from nuclear power, resulting in a nearly CO2-free electricity-generating network.
  • Switzerland is heavily active in recycling and anti-littering regulations and is one of the top recyclers in the world, with 66% to 96% of recyclable materials being recycled, depending on the area of the country.
  • Swiss residents are universally required to buy health insurance from private insurance companies, which in turn are required to accept every applicant.
  • The Swiss are the world’s largest consumers of chocolate, 10 kg per year (~1/2 pound a week). Milton Hershey of Hershey chocolate was the descendant of Swiss Mennonites.
  • Switzerland has a population of 8.7 million. Zurich is the largest city with 430,000.  Bern is the capital.
  • There are four official Swiss languages: French, German, Italian, Romansh.
  • The currency is the Swiss franc, approximately equal to one US dollar.

This trip certainly got off on the right foot.  As we were getting our boarding passes checked to get on the plane, we received a surprise business class upgrade.  Sweet! We were wined and dined in comfort on one of the massive Airbus A380s in the Etihad fleet for our trip to Munich.  We arrived on schedule and moved smoothly through customs.  The S-Bahn (a combination subway/train) delivered us downtown in about 40 minutes for 23.2€. Public transportation (buses and trains) is convenient, frequent, clean, on-time, and relatively cheap from our experience.  We checked into Hotel Bayers in Munich ($127/night). A simple but adequate room and very convenient walking distance between the train/bus station and the old city center. After settling in, we headed into the old town square.  Marienplatz, the original city center when the city was founded in 1158, is a bustling square full of shops, restaurants, and street artists, and the Neues Rathaus (new town hall) with its Glockenspiel clock, a huge mechanical chiming clock with dancing figurines. The Glockenspiel clock is a comparatively recent addition, added in 1907. Our timing was good, and we were treated to the 5:00 chiming of the clock and the procession of the figurines replaying historical scenes from the city’s past.  From there we headed to Hofbrauhaus.  This brewery (founded 1589) and dining hall were on my bucket list.  We enjoyed a dunkel and dinner at the beer garden there and had a pleasant conversation with a young German, Japanese, and Romanian.  From there we meandered around town for a while before heading back to the hotel.

Marienplatz City Center
Glockenspiel Clock in Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall)
Schweinshaxe, slow-roasted pork knuckles, were a popular option.
Enjoying a dunkel at Hofbrau House.

The next morning, August 16, we headed out for our tour of Neuschwanstein Castle.  This tour cost us $115, plus $32 for actual castle entry.  We had originally planned to do this tour on our own but couldn’t get tickets (they are in high demand as this is one of the most visited spots in Germany). We were able to get tickets through Radius Tours and were quite content with the way things turned out – we recommend them.  The bus was very comfortable, drinks and snacks were available, and our guides were quite entertaining and educational.  This famous castle, built by King Ludwig II in 1886, was inspired by composer Richard Wagner and is in turn credited with inspiring Walt Disney to create the Magic Kingdom.  Much of the castle was never finished, but the architecture and the landscape are both stunning.  We were blessed with beautiful weather and spent several hours at the castle and hiking around the grounds before catching the bus back to Munich.

Neuschwanstein Castle
Landscape surrounding Neuschwanstein Castle

We tried the outdoor beer garden Augustine-Keller for dinner.  This enormous, tree-shaded facility seats 5,000 people. We were fortunate to get seating quickly in the portion with waiter service, as over half the facility is self-serve.  Lynn’s schnitzel was a bit dry, but I was pleased with my rotisserie chicken and we both enjoyed our liters of dunkel.  We were impressed with our waiter bringing 6 liters, 2 half liters, and a glass of wine in one shot.  A good meal including drinks and a small tip was around $50.  Tips in Germany, as in the UAE are more in the 5-10% range.  The US has differed from the places we have visited in that tips are typically much larger.  We were tired after a long day and headed back to Hotel Bayer.

Our third day, August 17, started off with a few hours in the Viktualienmarkt, a farmer’s market of sorts adjacent to Marienplatz.  These markets are among my favorite stops everywhere we have been. Fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese, olive oil, wines, sausages, jams, etc. from local vendors really give you a sense of what the locals favor in their cuisine.  We are always on the move, so we can’t load up but it sure is tempting.  We did buy a truffle infused brie and some fresh bread for the train ride later.  I had a couple of sausages and some potato salad (I was on a mission to try as many varieties as possible) and Lynn went with a yogurt with some fruit and muesli. We enjoyed our breakfast while watching the different folks walk by.  Some of the people in the eating area were having coffee or juice, but it seems a half liter or liter of the local brew in the morning is perfectly normal as well. We have also noted that pay toilets are the norm in Europe, even in many restaurants.  Not a strict admission ticket, but a small basket or cup for making a donation for the cleaners.

There was a maypole in the middle of the square at the Viktualienmarkt.  We noticed this in several towns and villages.  Our tour guide to the Neuschwanstein Castle told us an amusing story about the maypoles in Germany.  Maypoles are made of wood and must be replaced every few years. As our guide described it, it is perfectly legal to steal new maypoles before they are erected, so towns need to hide them before they put them up.  If they are stolen, the thieves can name their ransom.  Munich had theirs stolen a few years ago. The thieves who performed the deed were policemen, firemen, etc. from a local town.  Their cover was being drunk and rowdy in broad daylight.  The ransom demanded was favored seating for life at a popular spot during Oktoberfest, which was granted. True or not, it was a good story.

From there, we had our next train adventure, a three-leg journey from Munich to Baden-Baden.  Cost for the trip was expensive, $147 for the two of us for the 3½ hour trip. At least the trains are clean, fast, and punctual. We had an interesting conversation with a French woman who teaches French in German schools, and a Japanese study-abroad student.  On the ride across southern Germany, I noted many solar panels – on the roofs of houses, barns, warehouses, factories, as well as entire fields of them. A few wind turbines, but mostly just solar panels.  Germany is in the process of phasing out the remainder of their nuclear plants but want to reduce their carbon output.  The region is also very agricultural. We passed huge corn fields, and lesser amounts of vineyards, sunflowers, sugar beets, orchards, and personal vegetable gardens.

We arrived in Baden-Baden about 5:30. We checked in to Hotel Sophienpark, a pricey spot at $192, plus city tax, but that is the prevailing rate in this part of the country.  The room was very large and comfortable but not well provisioned (no hot water kettle, refrigerator, microwave, etc.) and again, typical of the region, no AC.  The windows were large, and lack of AC wasn’t a problem.  We took a walk through the town.  The restaurant we hoped to visit was full for the night, so we wound up at the Lowenbrau Beer Garden, with a lovely tree-shaded dining area and overflowing flower boxes.  I had a trout (the region is famous for them) that was just wonderful.

Lowenbrau Beer Garden, Baden-Baden

In German, the word ‘baden’ means bathing, and the town of Baden-Baden is a spa town at the edge of the Black Forest known for its mineral hot springs.  The town picked up the double name of Baden-Baden to distinguish it from numerous other Badens in the area.  There are 29 natural springs in the area, rich in minerals and ranging in temperature from 115 to 153° F.  Tourists today have the choice of two spas – the Friedrichsbad for those who choose to wallow in the springs sans clothing, or Caracalla Spa for those who aren’t up for quite that much adventure.  We went for the latter, and enjoyed the cluster of indoor and outdoor baths, hot and cold, pools and surge channels for a couple of hours for $42. This is a thoroughly modern facility with clean showers, change rooms, towels and any other amenity you might need.  Unfortunately, photography wasn’t allowed.

We enjoyed a fantastic breakfast at the hotel the next morning, then got on the bus and headed to the small Black Forest resort of Mummelsee.  A Black Forest hike was on my list of things to do, and although this wasn’t a long hike, maybe 5 km, it was enough to check the box.  Lynn and I both thought there was a lot of similarity with some of the trails in the Great Smokey Mountains.  We chatted with a couple of local ladies on the bus there. They asked where we were from – when we said Tennessee, they said everyone knows about Tennessee.  Once upon a time that meant Elvis Presley, now, Jack Daniels seems to be the major calling card for Tennessee (also, country music and Dolly Parton).

Hiking in the Black Forest

From Baden-Baden, we had the choice of a fast train (45 minutes non-stop) to Freiberg for 60€, or a slow train (90 minutes with a transfer) for 32€. We were in no hurry and took the slow, double decker electric train.  All the trains we rode were electric, quiet, and clean, sometimes not crowded at all, other times, standing room only.  I like them.  We enjoyed a fresh pretzel with some mustard as we did several times on the trip.

We arrived in Freiberg and checked into a Holiday Inn Express for our two-night stay.  This was a more reasonable $116/night with the provisions typical of a US chain, but minus the regional charm of many of the lodgings Lynn finds for us.  Convenient to the transportation is always the starting point, and this met that criteria.  We went out for dinner of more sausages and ham before turning in for the night.  We had had a long day.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel the next morning, August 19 before heading out.  The original plan was to go to the “Taudnauer Wasserfall” for a hike, but we changed our minds, thinking the drought in the area would take away from the luster of a waterfall hike.  We stayed local and spent the morning heading up Schlossberg Freiberg, a tree covered hill of about 1500 feet on the eastern edge of the city.  Church bells chimed away freely throughout the morning, without regard to time or duration.  Several vistas looked out over the vineyards cloaking the slopes to the city beyond.  Benches were set under shade trees at several of these for a relaxing moment.  The summit of the hill is topped with the Aussichtsturm lookout tower that offers a 360° panorama of the city below.

We came off the hill, stopping for a half liter and a pretzel on the way. Many of the shops we passed heading into town had old mosaics set into sidewalk stones indicating the type of establishment adjacent to them – library, seamstress, museum, jeweler, barber, etc. We headed into town to see the ancient Freiburger Munster, a massive cathedral built over a 400-year period beginning in 1140.  The cathedral features a soaring 116-meter-high spire, dazzling stain glassed windows, and some interesting trivia by the main entrance where medieval wall measurements are chiseled into the brick and used to ensure merchandise such as bread loaves were of the required size.  This cathedral allowed photography (no flash), out of trend from our experience in most churches and museums. I was discreet but happy to be able to capture the cathedral and some of the stained-glass windows.  Miraculously, the buildings escaped damage from the 1944 bombing campaign that destroyed much of the city.

Mosaic on the sidewalk in front of a seamstress in Freiberg.
Freiburger Munster
Freiberg Munster bread loaf size markers

After a disaster at lunch where Lynn ordered a sausage salad thinking she would get a vegetable salad with some sausage on top and instead got essentially a bologna noodle salad, we had a lovely dinner in a beautiful wisteria-cloaked restaurant called Engler’s Weinkrugle.  Lynn had a nice trout salad, and I had another wonderful whole trout.  We both had a dunkel, and I topped off the dinner with a grappa.

Sometimes there are menu translation errors when travelling. This was expected to be a chef salad with some sausage on top.

Next stop on the trip was Switzerland.  We checked out of the Holiday Inn and headed off to Zurich.  We picked up super saver tickets for 89€ that got us to Zurich in about 2½ hours, passing through several tunnels, some several miles long, at speeds up to 120 mph. We arrived in Zurich, checked out logistics for our Mount Pilatus trip the next day, then checked into our hotel, the Gasthaus 210. This was another expensive stay, $282 for 2 nights, but again, typical for the area.  This hotel was unconventional.  A small grocery store occupied the entire ground floor.  The stairwell (no elevator) went up to the fourth-floor past contemporary paintings scotch taped to the walls, on sale for 600-1200€.  The room was small, but fully adequate for our needs with a microwave, refrigerator, hot water kettle.  It was unseasonably warm (88°F) with no AC, so we had to leave the windows open at night.  This is usually just fine, but the busy street noises were a bit of distraction on this trip.  Another item we noticed was that Zurich was packed with bikes, the same as we saw in Germany.  There are of course plenty of cars, and a few motorcycles in the mix, but bikes are everywhere. You really must be alert for them when you cross the street or even just walk on the sidewalk.  There are large collections of them at public gathering spaces such as train and bus stations.

Zurich street art
Bike parking in Zurich. This is Switzerland, there must be a system, right?

We headed off to the bus station the next morning (August 21) after a breakfast of croissants, yogurt, and some spectacular figs in our room.  The trip for the day was an excursion to the summit of Mt. Pilatus. An expensive trip at $306 for the two of us, but this full day trip includes a comfortable bus ride from Zurich to Lucerne, some free time in Lucerne, a cable car ride up some 5000 feet to the summit, free time at the summit for lunch and sightseeing, a descent to the shore of Lake Lucerne down the worlds steepest cog-wheel railway (48°), a relaxing boat ride across Lake Lucerne, and a bus back to Zurich.  The weather was clear, and we had a great time, but a persistent haze took away from the view more than we expected.  We especially enjoyed seeing the Chapel Bridge over the River Reuss in Lucerne, the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, with construction dating back to 1333. We were still full from our lunch on the summit when we got back to the station in Zurich, but I was determined to try Rosti, a Swiss dish of fried potatoes.  So I had a side order of those at the Federal Brasserie restaurant in the train station, (featuring Swiss cuisine and over 100 Swiss beers) before we headed back to the Gasthaus.

Chapel Bridge, Lucerne
Chapel Bridge, Lucerne

For our last full day in country (August 22) we had planned to take a trek to Lichtenstein.  This was just going to be too much travelling for not enough of a visit, so we decided to catch the bus back to Munich.  The bus was faster than the train for a price of 19€ each instead of 60€, so off we went on the bus. We arrived in Munich and checked in to the Conrad Hotel deVille (of course Lynn had to get a picture of me in front of that), a comfortable room for $137.  We spent a wonderful afternoon at the English Gardens, enjoying the rivers, flowers, monuments, huge trees, and all sorts of activities folks were participating in.  This huge park (1.4 square miles – bigger than Central Park in New York) was created in 1789 and is one of the largest urban parks in the world. We marveled at the many attractions, but also that the water was clean enough that many people were swimming and floating down the streams in tubes in the middle of an urban setting.

English Gardens on the Isar River in Munich

For our last night, we had our sights set on a new restaurant but couldn’t find it.  We returned to Augustine-Keller Beer Garden, but this visit was much more chaotic than our earlier trip. We could only find seating in the self-serve section, where you press through the line with the menu in German and struggle to find seating.  Once we finally got to a spot, we did enjoy our meal.  Lynn had a currywurst that she liked, and I had the ubiquitous pig knuckle we had seen throughout the city.  I didn’t expect much but was pleasantly surprised by how tender and meaty it was.

On the morning of August 23, we checked out of Hotel Conrad, and did a little souvenir shopping before taking the train back to the airport.  Lynn bought a Victorinox tool kit the shape of a credit card and not much thicker. A nice little memento.  We had an uneventful return to the airport, and a pleasant flight back to Abu Dhabi.

This trip was certainly just a sample of each country.  There are many things we would like to add to a future trip.  Expenses were also higher here than our previous trips, something to factor in to future trips. Total all-inclusive expense for the nine-day trip: $4823.
Croatia – May 2018

Croatia – May 2018

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May 18 – 25, 2018

Our fourth trip abroad during the United Arab Emirate adventure was Croatia, and the third consecutive trip that wasn’t exactly on the short list when we came here.  I have a co-worker that told me about Dubrovnik, and I started doing more research and found out there were several beautiful parks in the country. Some of the fun facts I found as I started researching the country:

  • Croatia is an independent country of 4.3 million people in Southeast Europe.
  • Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, resulting in the Croatian War of Independence that lasted until 1995. This was one of a broader series of ethnic conflicts and wars of independence from 1991-2001 that ultimately resulted in six countries replacing the former Yugoslavia. Over 130,000 people were killed during these wars that included ethnic cleansing and genocide.
  • The ancient walled city of Dubrovnik was shelled over 2000 times in 1991/1992 during this conflict, with 68% of the old town buildings being struck. Traditional building materials and techniques were used to completely restore the city, which was originally walled in the 9th century AD.  The threat from Turks in the 15th century eventually lead to a 2-kilometer stone wall enclosing the city with a wall up to 25 meters high and 6 meters thick. It has been a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO World) Heritage site since 1979.
  • Croatia joined the European Union in 2013.
  • Zagreb in the north central section of the country is the capital and largest city at 810,000.
  • Catholicism is the dominant religion at 86%.
  • Early Croats arrived in the area of present day Croatia in the 7th century AD.
  • The currency is the kuna, in use since 1994. Originally pegged to the German mark, it is effectively pegged to the euro now. There are 7.43 kuna in a euro (6.11 to the US dollar at current exchange rates).
  • Dalmatia is a historical region along the Adriatic coast of Croatia including Dubrovnik. The Dalmatian dog breed originated here, and much of the HBO series Game of Thrones was filmed here.
  • 9% of the land in Croatia is made up of 8 national parks, 11 nature parks and two nature reserves.
  • Croatia invented the modern necktie. Croatian mercenaries who wore them as part of their uniform introduced them to Europe when they were summoned by King Louis XIV of France to fight in the Thirty Years War.  International Necktie Day is celebrated on October 18 in Croatia.
  • A ‘konoba’ is a traditional tavern or restaurant along the Adriatic coast, with tables and chairs typically made of wood and featuring Dalmatian specialties such fish, shellfish, ham, and homemade cheese, brandy, and wine.
  • Legendary Napa Valley winemaker Mike Grgich has a vineyard named Grgic Vina on the Peljesac peninsula. He is a native of Croatia and noted for being the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that bested several French wines in the 1976 ‘Judgement of Paris’ wine tasting competition, thrusting the California wine industry into international prominence. He was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintner’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
  • Pag Island cheese (Paski Sir) is a Croatian variety of hard, distinctively flavored sheep milk cheese originating from the Adriatic island of Pag. Island producers are pursuing Protected Designation of Origin status.
  • “Hrvatska” is Croatia in Croatian. I found this out when I Googled “Hrvatska” when I noticed it was on all the money.
  • Dubrovnik abolished slave trading in 1418.
  • Sales tax in Croatia is 25%.
  • Croatia has ten UNESCO sites, eight cultural and two natural.
  • In 1895, Sibenik became the world’s first city with AC powered street lights.

Since we have been in the UAE, we have always taken the bus to the Abu Dhabi airport. No hassle with airport parking and fees (the cheap lot is about $30/day), one less thing to worry about. This trip, however, started on the first day of Ramadan and the bus schedules had changed in ways we weren’t certain about.  Not wanting to risk not getting there on time, we paid a driver 400 dirham ($108) for the 2.5-hour trip to the airport from Ruwais.  This worked fine and is an option for the future.

Our flight left just after 2 AM and arrived in Belgrade, Serbia just after sunrise.  This is not a great time to start vacation.  Our flight didn’t leave Belgrade until 1335, so we had a lot of time on our hands.  Fortunately, we had access to the lounge through our credit card and spent the next several hours snoozing and snacking for free. Nice benefit on the credit card, we’ll use that again.

We arrived on schedule in Split, Croatia.  Lack of sleep and a medical emergency with the woman next to me on the plane contributed to helping me forget one of the bags on board when we got off.  This complicated arrival some, as Lynn waited at the lost and found while I went with the rental car company rep to pick up the car down the road. Everything was sorted out and we were on our way to Trogir soon after with a Garmin GPS stuck to the windshield.  I had never used one before.  I like them.

Trogir
Trogir Market

Trogir is a small historic, traditional town.  We checked into our accommodations at the Hotel Bellevue.  At $141, this was our most expensive lodging of the trip, but it was also right in the middle of town with a full kitchen, Wi-Fi, and free parking.  Lynn does a great job finding these places.  They gave us a complimentary beverage with a plate of prsut (prosciutto), cheese, and tomatoes that was a very hearty appetizer.  We walked around town, picking up some Pag Island cheese (more on that later), some local cherries, and some apricots for the next day.  We toured the waterfront, looking in vain for Konoba Trs.  We settled for Konoba Best.  The word KONOBA in Dalmatia traditionally means the room in the house where food was prepared and stored.  Today it is associated with restaurants that serve traditional meals in comfortable casual settings, often of rustic wood furniture and stone buildings.  I had sea bass and Lynn had calamari which were fine, but the ambiance was not as nice as we hoped for, especially the smokers next to us.  I noticed smoking is still common in Croatia, without restrictions now common in the USA.

Primosten roadside olive oil and wine stand.

We got up early the next morning to a beautiful clear blue sky with cool temperatures.  We had breakfast at the hotel before heading up the coast. Our hosts saw us off with a nice tray of fresh baked pasties, a nice touch.  We left in our manual transmission Suzuki Swift, a fun little car that was great on the small winding roads of this country.  We left on highway D8 towards Sibenik, a beautiful coastal drive.  We stopped at a vista overlooking the town of Primosten.  A local was setting up his stand of their own olive oil and wine.  We bought a two small bottles of wine for about $6. Shortly after we stopped for gas and picked up a loaf of fresh bread for about 50 cents at a bakery on the premises.  We were starting to like this country.

How can you not buy a loaf of bread from this sweet lady?
Early morning on the Croatian coast.

We arrived at Krka National Park around noon.  We paid our entry fee, about $35 for both of us, plus another $41 dollars for a 4 hour round trip boat ride to up the river.  We spent about an hour walking around and admiring the Skradinski Buk waterfall before heading off on our boat ride.  We enjoyed some of our wine, bread loaf, and pastries the hotel gave us on our ride.  We stopped at the Franciscan Mother of Mercy Monastery on a small island in the middle of Lake Visovac on the way. A picturesque monastery over 100 years old, it features many historic relics including the worlds smallest printed book, a mere 3.5 mm by 3.5 mm (about 1/10 inch).  We headed on to Roski Slap, another fantastic waterfall section.  This 23-meter-high broad swath of a waterfall is at the end of a long stretch of shallow step falls. We had about an hour and a half to ourselves to walk around and explore.

Krka National Park
Zadar sunset

From Krka we left for a leisurely coastal drive to the town of Zadar, once described by Alfred Hitchcock as having the prettiest sunsets in the world.  Our hotel room at “Bastian Moro Rooms” ($55) was a simple but comfortable room. Parking was provided, the bed was comfortable, the Wi-Fi was strong, a refrigerator and water kettle was provided, and the location was a short walk to everything we were interested in seeing during our stay.  Besides the typical coastal town boardwalk attractions of shops and restaurants, Zadar has two special attractions.  One is called the “Sea Organ”, designed by a local architect.  This is a system of pipes and whistles set into perforated stone steps at ocean edge that creates soulful tunes as the motion of the sea moves in and out.  We stayed and watched the sunset.  The second special feature was the “Sun Salutation”.  This is a 22-meter diameter circle of photovoltaic plates set into the sidewalk. These plates provide enough energy for the harbor front lighting system as well as providing a kaleidoscopic light show from sunset to sunrise.

Shrimp stuffed squid at Zadar.

For dinner we used a coupon from the hotel for the Konoba Martinac.  This was a relaxing dinner of shrimp stuffed squid for myself and bacon wrapped pork tenderloin for Lynn, with a couple of pints of a local brew.  We experienced the only downside to our hotel room on our return at about 10 PM.  A raucous party was going on in the next room that went well into the morning hours.  At least we were treated to some genuine Croatian folk singing.

Zadar Sea Organ

Zadar Sun Salutation
Zadar Sun Salutation by day.
Bridge to Pag Island

We started off the next morning with a tasty omelet at a sidewalk café on one of the narrow, marble paved streets of the old business district, followed by a stroll along the old city wall and a stop at the farmer’s market for some fresh strawberries before leaving town.  Weather wound up being accommodating for most of the week, but threat of rain was constant, and we adapted our schedule several times to make the best of it. We had planned to leave Zadar and head to Paklenica National Park for a hike.  A bit of research showed Pag Island was just a short way up the coast and we decided to go there based on the forecast at Paklenica. The Pag cheese we purchased for a driving snack in Trogir had impressed us.  A bit about Pag island and the cheese: Pag Island is barren and rocky with vast empty spaces, with an eastern landscape dominated by the Velebit mountain range. Strong winds come down the mountain range across the sea, picking up the salt air which is then distributed across the island. The hearty indigenous plant species, including the fragrant Pag’s sage, pick up the salt.  The native sheep graze on these plants, giving their milk the distinctive quality that contribute to the cheese known as Paski Sir.  I had never heard of it, but I won’t forget it.

Gligora Shop, home of Pag cheese.
Paski Sur, voted World’s Best Sheep Cheese at the 2017 International Cheese Awards

The drive to the island was marked by a sharp transition in landscape as we entered the island.  The imposing Velebit Mountains dominated the east, and the deep blue water was a stark contrast to the rocky landscape of the island. We worked our way in the direction of the cheese producers, stopping for another outstanding traditional meal at Konoba Giardin.  I had lamb shanks in a sauce with handmade pasta while Lynn had a ham and cheese stuffed turkey breast.  Total cost including two pints of local brew, an espresso and tip was about $45.  I thought this was a good price for the amount of food we got.  We often skipped a meal because of this. We had planned to take a tour at the cheese shop based on our internet research, but when we arrived we found the tour guide had left for the day since there were no reservations (we hadn’t made one).  We still had a good time going through the cheese and wine shops and learned some history from the talkative cashier.

Lamb shanks with homemade pasta

Plitvice National Park (one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites) was next on the agenda.  We headed into the mountains, checking into our hotel “Plitvice Etno House” about 5 PM.  This was a charming pine paneled chalet type room.  We nosed about the area for a bit.  It had rained some, and the cool air and forest landscape was reminiscent of the Smokies.  After scouting out the landscape for the next morning, we came back to our room and enjoyed some Paski Sir cheese and crackers while making preps for the next day.

Lynn at our accommodations at Etno House

As was the case all week, our room had no coffee provided, and in this case had no hot water kettle either. That was the only downside to an otherwise great room, especially since I was not able to get any from the breakfast room before it opened for breakfast.  This was a bit of a disappointment for two dedicated coffee drinkers, but we made it through.  The breakfast itself was wonderful, with plenty to set us up for our 6-hour hike.  We bought our tickets ($35 total) and took the shuttle bus up to the trailhead.  We had a leisurely day enjoying some spectacular waterfalls and natural scenery, following a boardwalk for long sections over the water.  The waterfalls had the distinctive feature of almost being a broad collection of individual streams rather than a central channel.  The boardwalk was also distinctive, composed of small logs cut in half rather than smooth cut boards.  Interesting and attractive but they required you to pay attention to your step.  The crowds weren’t too bad, but it was also a weekday in the “shoulder” season.  The crowds at peak season must be terrible.

Plitvice National Park
Plitvice National Park
Plitvice National Park

We bid adieu to Plitvice and headed out to our next overnight spot at Sibenik.  This town of about 34,000 is the oldest Croation town on the coast, over 1000 years old.  After about a 2-hour drive, we checked in at “Shabby Chic” in downtown Sibenik.  This place was a steal at $53 – free parking, Wi-Fi, full kitchen, nice rooftop patio, and walking distance to everything.  We have not stayed in chain lodging anywhere, and I’ve been thrilled with where we’ve stayed.  The town center bell tower – something we enjoyed at every town we stayed at – was just across the street. We got settled, then headed out to explore. We bought a few groceries, including some items for breakfast since this was one of the few places we stayed that didn’t include breakfast.  I noted that everywhere we bought groceries asked if you wanted a bag – since you pay for them.  I like this.  One more step towards getting rid of all those plastic bags.  Dinner was at the Nostalgija Konoba – this place was wonderful.  It was on the old marble paved square in the town center with outdoor seating on a pleasant evening.  I had mussels with tomato sauce and squid ink polenta, Lynn had a sausage pasta with truffle sauce, and we shared a bottle of local wine.  Perfect.

Sibenik
Sibenik
Lynn peruses the menu.

We rearranged our plans – again – based on weather forecast. Plans for an early ferry to the Pelijesac Peninsula were scuttled to allow us to move on to Dubrovnik sooner based on rain being predicted there later when we had planned on going.   This resulted in us having a couple of free morning hours in Sibenik.  We thoroughly enjoyed spending a couple of leisurely hours walking on the seafront, having a cappuccino and some pastries, and strolling through some of the old business district shops and markets.  This town looks worthy of another trip.

We said our goodbyes to Sibenik, promising to return, and headed south towards Dubrovnik.  This was the first time for taking the toll road to speed up the transit a little since we weren’t going down the coast.  There must have been 20 tunnels we drove through, ranging from just a couple of hundred meters to some over a mile long. We filled up with gas – the equivalent of about $6.17/gallon.  We arrived in Dubrovnik, sorted things out and checked into our room at the Dubrovnik Victoria Guesthouse.  Lynn scored big again. A small simple room with a bathroom/shower in the hall, but with free parking, Wi-Fi, fridge in the room, a lovely porch overlooking town, hot water kettle in the room, and close access to the bus stop.  Dubrovnik is a busy tourist town, so at $50/night this was great.  This is the only place I believe I have ever paid to stay where the bath towels have been hung out to dry in the sun.

Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik inside the city walls.
Dubrovnik inside city walls

Lynn had arranged for two Dubrovnik cards for a total of $55.  These get you access to most of the public offerings and the transit system to get around for 24 hours from time of first use.  It didn’t take too long to figure it all out.

We walked into town partly because it was only supposed to be about 20 minutes and that would delay activating our cards and partly because, well, I’m that guy that walks around.  Lynn tolerates me fairly well.  We had some great pizza at a restaurant just outside the old town walls, sitting outside with a great vantage point of Bokar Tower and nearby Fort Lovrijenac.  We went into the old town and shopped around for an hour or two before having an ice cream and taking the bus back.  Croatians love their ice cream, we saw dozens of ice cream stores over the course of the week.  Dubrovnik is a very nice town, but it does have more of a tourist feel than most places we saw.

Dubrovnik ice cream shop

We got up the next morning and had coffee on the porch before heading into town for our guided tour of the 2-kilometer wall around the old city.  We paid an additional $43 for this tour.  There were only 5 of us for this very informative 2-hour tour.  Dubrovnik is an ancient city from the days of the old city-states.  It was considered a free state from 1358 until 1808, although it paid tributes to the Ottoman Sultan for centuries during that time.  Our guide explained that Dubrovnik has a long history of negotiating peace with skilled diplomats to avoid conflict.  He also told us that Dubrovnik is the last Christian city heading east until Goa, India.  An interesting fact that I didn’t try to confirm. The town is a tight maze of narrow marble streets polished shiny from centuries of foot traffic.  The streets are filled with shops, restaurants, and historical spots, including the third oldest continually operating pharmacy, in business since 1317.  All the buildings have red tile roofs, making a dramatic view overlooking the city from the towers.  I observed how roofs damaged during the 1991 shelling had been repaired (in some cases) using undamaged tiles in combination with new tiles to minimize the impact on the appearance.  We were hot after the tour and relaxed with an ice cream and iced tea.

After a bit of research, we decided on Bistro Glorijet for dinner. This small restaurant on the waterfront was originally built in 1527 as an arsenal for Dubrovnik aristocracy. The atmosphere was amazing, as was the catch of the day (Lynn) and the mixed shellfish (me). I topped off the meal with a grappa, an Italian liquor made discarded grape seeds, stalks and stems that are a by-product of the winemaking process.

Mixed shellfish at Bistro Glorijet

Our last full day in country was to be spent on the Peljesac Peninsula.  Rain the night before had moved out, leaving a glorious morning of clear blue sky and cool temperatures. We had coffee and yogurt on the patio and hit the road.  Ston is the first small community you drive through as you enter the peninsula and is known for its mussels and large flat oysters that have been farmed there since Roman times.  We had noted many black floats in the ocean as we drove to Dubrovnik a couple of days before and had confirmed these were part of the shellfish farming.  We stopped for a couple of photo opportunities of the harvesting activities, as well as a brief stop at a lovely family beach with stunning water clarity.

Oyster and mussel farms off the Peljesac Peninsula, farmed since Roman times.
Vineyard on Peljesac Peninsula
Vineyards with Peljesac Peninsula in the background,

Peljesac Peninsula is famous for its many vineyards, six in a mile at one stretch. We stopped at several, sampling the wines, olive oil, and touring the grounds. The most famous was Grgic Vina, a winery owned by Mike Grgich of California fame but a native Croation.  We purchased a bottle of Posip, a white wine made from an indigenous grape that populates the peninsula. We spent a few minutes walking around the small town and beach in the cove where his vineyard is located.  It suffered a fire a 2015 that killed most of the trees on the slopes in the cove but is still beautiful with crystal clear water.

Grgich Winery

Our time was up, and we headed up the coast to Split.  We chose to stick to the coast, which surely made for a slower trip. We passed many small towns, tucked away in coves with their own little parks and beaches.  The water was so blue and the mountains rise abruptly for several thousand feet – the impact is dramatic. We stopped at one small beach, turned out it was topless in a very nonchalant relaxed manner.  The water – again – was beautiful, but we didn’t have time for a swim.  We checked in to the Hotel Manufactura ($64) in Split, a dated but perfectly adequate hotel with a good restaurant just a few hundred yards from the rental car return and a 20-minute walk from the airport the next morning.  We spent the night and got up early and made our way to the airport, picking up a good size chunk of Paski Sir and a bottle of Posip wine in the duty-free store.

A local beach along the coastline, one of many.

Total cost for the trip, including all transportation (airfare, rental car, buses, trip from/to Ruwais in Abu Dhabi), lodging including hotel in Abu Dhabi on our return, meals, tourist attraction fees, and souvenirs was $3828.  Croatia is a vacation value in our minds.
Jordan – March 2018

Jordan – March 2018

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March 31 – April 4, 2018

The Monastery. Petra, Jordan.

For our third trip we decided on Jordan.  This wasn’t really on a short list when we arrived in the United Arab Emirates but after talking to several other people there we were, booking flights for Amman. We thought it was good to go before getting into the summer heat, since we planned to spend at least one night under the stars in a tent.  I thought I knew a lot more about Jordan than Seychelles, and I did – but not much.  These trips have been very educational as well as just plain fun.  Here a few fun facts and interesting details I researched before the trip.

  • Jordan is an Arab nation of about 10 million people in western Asia, bordered on the west by Israel, the north by Syria, Iraq to the northeast, and Saudi Arabia to the south and east. It is officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Hashemites being descended from Hashim, the great grandfather of the prophet Muhammad.
  • Amman, in the north of the country, is the capital and largest city at about four million people.
  • The country is relatively young, becoming an independent country in 1946 following a period as a British protectorate after France and Britain partitioned the Ottoman Empire following World War I. The country was a province of Syria during 400 years of Ottoman rule. The first recorded use of the name Jordan appeared in an Egyptian papyrus dated around 1000 BC.
  • Although young as an independent country, it is an ancient land. Evidence of human habitation dates back 250,000 years.
  • The country is stable compared to the turmoil in much of the region. A peace treaty was signed with Israel in 1994, one of only two Arab countries to do so (Egypt is the other).
  • In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jordan captured the West Bank and ruled it until 1967 (although never internationally recognized). The area was recaptured by Israel in 1967, and Jordan officially relinquished its claims in 1988, including stripping West Bank Palestinians of Jordanian citizenship.
  • Sunni Islam is practiced by about 95% of the population. They coexist peacefully with a small indigenous Christian population, and the country has accepted thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing persecution by ISIL.
  • The currency since 1949 has been the Jordanian dinar. The dinar is pegged to the US dollar at one US dollar = .709 dinar.
  • Petra, in the south of the country, is one of the popular tourist sites known for its rock-cut architecture. It was the capital of the independent Nabataean kingdom around 300 BC.  They were skilled at harvesting water using a series of dams, conduits, and cisterns.
  • Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
  • Wadi Rum is a valley cut into sandstone and granite rock and resembles the surface of Mars, making it a popular filming and tourist attraction, including scenes in The Martian (2015).
  • The Dead Sea is 9.6 times saltier than the ocean.
  • Jordan is the 7th largest producer of potash in the world.

We flew from Abu Dhabi to Amman on March 31.  Most people we talk to recommend just using bank ATMs to get local currency on arrival, and we probably would have been fine to do that.  We had to pay our local driver cash on arrival and I didn’t want to run into a snag right off the bat so I changed money before leaving Ruwais.  The markup at the local money store in the mall was about 2%, I felt that was okay.  I compared the rate at Abu Dhabi airport, it was about 6% markup.  I had noted at the Seychelles airport there was only a single ATM and wasn’t sure how big the airport in Jordan was.  I was satisfied with our decision, and that was one less thing to worry about.

We had a smooth 3-hour flight.  We are fine tuning our packing.  Each of us was able to pack everything we needed for a week in our day packs and stayed well under the 7 kg (about 15 pounds) limit. This frees us from having to mess with checked baggage and the additional opportunity for problems that presents.  An enthusiastic “George” (not his real name) met us at the airport and guided us quickly through customs.

Our driver for the first day was Mohammed, a third-generation Russian immigrant to Jordan.  He drove us from the airport to Jerash, our first stop. The city has been inhabited by humans for 6500 years, including periods of Christianity, Roman, Islamic, and Ottoman control.  The most prominent ruins are from the Roman period.  We had a local guide, Zaher Omar, that cost 30 Jordanian dinar. This was covered by our tour package costs, although we did tip an additional 20 dinar after a very thorough 2-hour tour.  Our tour package included a “Jordan Wanderer” pass that cost 70 dinar that got us access to all the state-owned attractions we went to (which was most of them) as well as the guide costs (minus tips) for guides we had at Jerash, Petra, and Wadi Rum.  We spent the night in Amman, finding out that the term cocktail (advertised as available in hotel literature) means something different in Islamic countries than in western ones.

Jerash, Jordon
Arch of Hadrian, Jerash

The next morning were met in the lobby of the hotel by our driver for the remainder of the week, a native Jordanian named Sulaiman.  He was a Muslim, like most in the country are. A very friendly fellow, his knowledge of the country and customs was a difference maker for the rest of the week. Having a private driver gave us a lot of flexibility with the itinerary.  Our first stop was at St. George Monastery in Madaba, known for having a mosaic map that accurately depicts the layout of the Middle East at the time. What we did fail to consider was that we had arrived on Easter Sunday, and services were taking place in the Greek Orthodox Church. So we didn’t get to see the mosaic map but we did step into the back of the church and admired the first of many fine mosaics we saw during the week.  We bought a fine little Tree of Life Mosaic in the shop.

Mount Nebo, where Moses was granted view of the Promised Land.

We left St. George’s and headed towards Mount Nebo.  Sulaiman asked if we would be interested in seeing The Church of Lot and Procopius.  It is locked and not open to the public, but he knew the man with the key and was able to get us access for a look.  I tipped the man 5 dinar in thanks.  The mosaic floor dates back the 5th century AD and was a nice bonus attraction for us that wasn’t on the agenda.

The Church of Lot and Procopius. Dates to 557 AD.

Our next stop was The Mosaic House, a craft house supported by the queen to provide jobs to handicapped in Jordan. I don’t know if it is for women only by design, but all the craftspeople we saw were women.  The store manager (handicapped himself) showed us around.  We were told 60% of the sale goes directly to the artist, and 40% to the facility.  We paid 840 dinar ($1180) for a small table made with a black iris (the national flower of Jordan) that included shipping to the US.  We paid no sales tax (normally 16%) by buying it there. An expensive trip we hadn’t planned but we got an excellent souvenir and supported a good cause.

The Mosaic House

We continued to Mount Nebo and the Memorial of Moses.  This is a privately held site that contains the spot where Moses is believed to have looked down over the Promised Land.  A small church was built there in the late part of the 4th century AD that, again, contains fantastic mosaics on the floor.  A worker sat on the floor cleaning the tiles.  We spent an hour or so looking at the exhibits and taking pictures before continuing to the Dead Sea.  The road down was a curvy, steep road, dropping us down to the Dead Sea Spa Hotel where we swam in the Dead Sea, played in the mud, and had lunch.  The Dead Sea is both very low – at 1388 feet below sea level it is the lowest point on the surface of the earth – and deep – at 1237 feet deep, it is the deepest landlocked body of water in the world.  As we walked down to the shore, we noticed the signs indicating the level is dropping rapidly.  It looked like another 25 foot or so elevation drop since the turn of the century.  They had a box of mud they filled and mixed with the sea water for us to spread all over ourselves.  We had fun with that and floating in the water.  We had always heard about how buoyant it was due to the high salinity, but it was even more so than we expected.  The water was crystal clear.

Lynn floating in the Dead Sea
The restoring mud baths of the Dead Sea

We headed on south along the Dead Sea Coast for a time, with a couple of interesting stops along the way.  The first was a stop to see “Lot’s Wife”, a stone formation high on the bluff above us.  According to Sulaiman, the Dead Sea is also known as Lot’s Lake, a detail neither Lynn or I had ever heard of before, created when the Lord raised Sodom into the air and smashed it back to earth, creating the depression where the sea is now.  All very interesting.  Along the coast line, heavy salt deposits were evident, which include all the other trace minerals that go with it.  Sulaiman said there were several businesses further south where the minerals are harvested from the salt.  The second interesting stop was at Wadi al Mujib Nature Preserve, a slot canyon leading out to the Dead Sea. This is one of several nature preserves in the country and reminded me of Utah slot canyons.

Salt deposits on the shoreline of the Dead Sea

We continued our drive on down to Petra, the landscape shifting from the generally green landscape of olive orchards and agriculture in the north around Amman to the high desert in the south.  We passed occasional commercial operations such as cement manufacturing and potash (potassium) mining.  We had fun with Sulaiman comparing the landscape to various parts of the southwest US (“Now we are in Texas”….”Now we are in Utah”….etc etc).

Our last stop before checking in at the P Quattra Inn in Petra was the spring of Moses.  This was enclosed in a small, nondescript building.  A large rock is in the building, and a spring flows out next to it.  Moses in the Bible strikes the rock and a spring gushes forth to provide for his people, who are grumbling about being saved from Egypt only to die in the desert. He is shunned from entering the Promised Land for striking the rock rather than speaking to the rock as God commanded. It is interesting to note that Moses is mentioned in the Quran more than 120 times as a prophet and messenger, discussed in great detail.  We learned later that the Nabateans piped this spring water a couple of miles to Petra to provide their drinking water, using the water they harvested from the landscape there for washing, irrigating crops, and for stone carving (apparently soaked sandstone is easier to shape and carve).

The spring of Moses?

The next day, April 2, we got an early start at the ancient Arab Nabatean Kingdom city of Petra.  There is evidence Petra was settled as early as 9000 BC.  The nomadic Nabateans established Petra as a regional trading hub to take advantage of its location along ancient east-west trade routes.  Sulaiman took care of the entrance details, and we were left with a local guide for about the first 2 hours.  He led us down the entry canyon (a ‘Siq’ in Arabic) to “The Treasury” which is one of the two most famous structures in the park.  This structure is carved into the sandstone face, about 120 feet high. It is believed to have been carved in the first century AD, involving hired Greek architects. It became known as “The Treasury” only much later when area Bedouins came to believe that the giant urn at the top of the carving contained treasures from the Pharaohs of Egypt.

The Treasury. Petra, Jordan

From there we worked our way down the broad canyon, with tombs of the commoners on one side and for the elite on the other. The Nabateans believed in the afterlife, and tombs were an important feature to be provided for.  Tombs were established for entire families, not individuals.  Another feature described to us was the intricate water harvesting performed by the Nabateans to make life there possible. Terraces were cut into the tops of bluffs and the water channeled through troughs to a network of cisterns.

Tombs of the elite.
Tombs of the commoners

As we worked our way further into the park, we first passed the only ancient stadium that was carved directly into the rock, with seating for some 4000 people.  We then came upon the Roman ruins section of the city with a paved central street.  It seems the Romans took notice of the clever Nabateans, and Petra eventually fell to the Romans, although its importance declined with the development of sea trade. By the early Islamic period, the city became an abandoned place and remained so for several hundred years.

As we left the central Roman ruins, we bid our local guide adieu, and headed up the 960 steps to the second major structure, The Monastery.  Numerous locals tried to sell us the service of their donkeys to take us up, but we passed. It was a good hike, maybe a mile, lined with an almost constant stream of locals peddling all sorts of souvenirs.  Our guide said there was no licensing, people can set up wherever they want.  I bought a Jordanian keffiyeh for 5 JOD and put it on homdonie style.  After a while, we arrived at The Monastery, a stunning carving about 150 feet high and wide.  A small café was located there with comfortable couches with a great view of The Monastery under some trees.  I enjoyed a stout Turkish coffee, Lynn had a fresh squeezed juice, and we split a bag of chips for about $10.  There were a few other short trails that went still higher, advertising one of several “Best View in the World” we saw.  They were indeed very fine and gave you a nice vista. And they gave us the opportunity to observe that no landmarks are immune from graffiti. ☹

The Monastery

We came down from the Monastery and enjoyed a Jordanian beer before leaving the park.  Sulaiman recommended a location and dish and we were not disappointed. We had Mansaf, a Jordanian dish of lamb and rice with a cooked yogurt sauce, and Musakan, a spiced, grilled chicken Palestinian dish.  Each were 9 dinar, about $25 total.  We also decided to have another beer.  Because we were eating outside by the sidewalk, we had to pour the beer into coffee mugs so we wouldn’t have open beer cans visible in public. You have to do what you have to do……

We rested in the hotel for a couple of hours before returning for “Petra at Night’, interrupted only by the management stopping by to ask if they could borrow the mattress off our second bed (?).  “Sure, it’s all yours.”  Sulaiman picked us up and took us back to the park (have I said how great private drivers are?).  We walked back down to The Treasury by a candlelit trail.  We had a big crowd, maybe 1000, that sat by candlelight listening to Bedouin musicians play flute and rababh and tell stories invoking the mysteries of the ancients. At the very end, The Treasury was bathed in floodlights for a touching closure.  We walked back out and Sulaiman took us back to the hotel.  We were tired.

Spinning yarn from camel hair in Little Petra.

We slept in a bit the next morning and didn’t head out to Little Petra until about 9:30. Little Petra is 5 miles north of Petra. It is believed to have been built when Petra trading was at its peak (1st century AD) to house visiting Silk Road traders.  The nature of the structures is similar minus the grandeur of the Treasury and the Monastery, and with much fewer people.  There were several people selling goods but again much fewer.  I got some nice character shots.  One was a lady making yarn from camel hair, and one of some Bedouins I bought a cup of tea from.

A nice cup of tea in Little Petra.
Daily living in Little Petra

We left Little Petra and headed to Wadi Rum by way of the Kings Highway and partly on the Desert Highway.  The Kings Highway connected the Ammon, Moab and Edom kingdoms, and has been in use for over 5000 years.  It curves and meanders along the Dead Sea and isn’t used too much since the advent of the newer, faster Desert Highway for driving south from Amman.  We stopped at a truck stop for shawarma sandwiches, a popular dish in this part of the world.  Meat is shaved off a column of meat rotating by a heat lamp, then rolled up in a piece of flat bread and grilled.  Three of us ate, including fries, salad, and drink for 7.5 dinar – about $10.  He said that was because we were at a truck stop, not a tourist destination. I noticed again, as I have noticed before, it is common to not be given any utensils. People eat with their fingers, even rice dishes.

Wadi Rum

We checked into the Hassan Zawaideh Camp in Wadi Rum (Valley of the Moon) for our authentic Bedouin desert camping experience.  Not so much. The tents were actually simple wooden buildings covered in fabric, complete with front porch, running water, toilet, and shower. They didn’t have AC, so we were roughing it that much.  We rested for about an hour, then headed off for our desert jeep trip.  The sky was filled with hazy clouds but the temperature was pleasant.  Our driver looked like a very young teenager but seemed up to the task of driving us around the desert for several interesting stops.  One stop included a demonstration of using a native plant, Seidlitzia Rosmarinus, to make soap by crushing some of the stems and adding water.  We stopped by some petroglyphs and Siq Lawrence (Lawrence Canyon of Lawrence of Arabia fame) before heading to a rock outcrop to admire the sunset.  We returned to our camp to enjoy our Bedouin barbecue known as Zarb, a layered dish cooked in an underground pit for several hours.  I also relaxed watching some of the natives play the Rababh and drink tea by a fire.

Zarb for dinner

We headed out the next morning for our return to Amman after a breakfast of traditional foods.  We chatted with the driver on the way back and made some interesting observations and learned some facts about the country:

  • An hour north of Wadi Rum, we passed a joint venture Egyptian-Jordanian photovoltaic farm.
  • Random police stops around the country are frequent, checking IDs and registrations. Our driver handled all these smoothly.  The tourism trade is very important to the Jordanians and they take security seriously.
  • In addition to the solar farms, we noticed many wind turbines either already installed or being built.
  • The driver said the people are happy with the King and think he is good man.
  • There are speed cameras throughout the country. You only find out if you had violations when you renew your insurance. Your rates can go up or you can even be fined if you have too many.
  • If the police pull you over and give you a ticket, you must pay for it on the spot. If you can’t, they take your license and you have 30 days to pay.
  • I have seen okra many times in the Middle East. After a bit of research, it turns out it is originally from Ethiopia.

Our last tour stop was the Citadel in Amman, another historical spot with Roman ruins. Overlooking the city, you can see a Roman auditorium that is still in use.  When we visited the auditorium later, some local school girls came running up to us and wanted a selfie with us.  Funny, but we obliged.  From the opposite side looking over the city, Sulaiman said we were looking at a Palestinian refugee camp.  Jordan is a country of refugees from war plagued countries all over southwest Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa.

Sulaiman treated us to a fine lunch from a tiny local vendor before dropping us off at the airport.  This was another perfect vacation.  Total expense of $4460 inclusive of everything seemed like a good value.

The Beginning

The Beginning

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Having the opportunity to start a new adventure late in my career, I have decided to start this blog as a journal to record my thoughts and experiences while they are still fresh in my mind for myself as well as any family or friends that may have an interest.  I have named the title after a Mark Twain novel from 1869,”The Innocents Abroad”, a record of his travels through the Mediterranean and the Holy Lands.

So how, at age 57, did I find myself (along with my wife, who has always been a good sport about my adventures) selling our house, cars, and 90% of our worldly possessions and heading off to the Middle East?  It all started with a lawn treatment last spring that I didn’t ask for or want.  This led to a parking lot phone call at work that serendipously coincided with the arrival of a benchmarking team visit from the United Arab Emirates. I wound up getting involved in the meeting with them. They are in the process of building some nuclear plants and had an interest in the type of work I was involved in during the recent startup of Watts Bar Unit 2.  The timing was right, and after a bit of research about the area, we decided to make a go of it.  Flash forward six months and here we are.

I’ve been here a couple of months now and have learned a few interesting details about the country. These don’t hardly paint the picture with a full brush, but hey, it’s my blog.  Here ya go.

  • The United Arab Emirates is comprised of seven emirates. It became an independent country in 1971 after years as a British protectorate. It was previously known as the Trucial States
  • Abu Dhabi is by far the largest emirate (87% of the land mass) and the wealthiest, followed by Dubai, then five smaller emirates to the east near/on the Oman border.
  • The country has over 9 million residents, but only about 1.5 million emirates. About half of the large expat community is made up of Indian and Pakistanis. The government website has a goal of a more balanced demographic mix by 2021.
  • The currency is the dirham, which is pegged to the US dollar (3.67 dirham = $1). They operate a balanced budget, which for 2018 is 51.4 billion dirhams (about $14 billion).  General and higher education is the single largest expenditure at 17% of the budget.
  • The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest manmade structure in the world at 2,722 feet.
  • Pearl Oysters (Lulu) were a significant source of income in pre-oil days, dating back some 7,000 years. There are records of extensive pearl trading in Roman times. The industry reached a peak in the early 20th century when about 1200 pearling boats harvested some $2 million in pearls.  The industry fell in decline with the advent of cultivated pearls by the Japanese.
  • Women in the UAE account for 70% of university graduates and about 2/3 of the government workforce.
  • Following the devastating 2011 tornadoes that ripped through Joplin, Missouri, the UAE government donated over $500,000 dollars to provide a laptop computer for every high school senior.
  • ‘Ferrari World’ on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi is the world’s largest indoor theme park and has the world’s fastest roller coaster, 0-150 mph in 5 seconds.
  • When asked about the future of his emirate, the founding father of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid, replied that his grandfather and father rode camels, he drove a Mercedes, his son drives a Land Rover as will his grandson. But his great grandson will ride a camel.
  • In 2013, 40% of the worlds physical gold trade took place in Dubai.
  • According the World Economic Forum, the UAE is the second safest country in the world behind Finland. The US is 84th.
  • The UAE is the 6th largest producer of aluminum in the world.
  • There is no legal requirement to stop at stop signs in the UAE.
  • The first dog park in the UAE recently opened in Ras Al Khaimah.
  • The UAE is the largest marine terminal and port operator in the Middle East, operating 77 maritime ports around the world in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
  • Sand storms can happen a few times each year. They are typically no higher than 50 feet, but can be much higher (a mile or more) at high wind speeds. They can last from a few hours to a few days.
  • Your address isn’t nearly as important as your cell phone. You provide your cell number for everything.  There aren’t zip codes, and you only have mail delivery by paying for a PO Box.  Anything else you get is arranged for delivery by a courier.  Who, of course, calls your cell phone.
  • Although the UAE is very much dependent on the oil and gas industry for income, global warming is accepted as reality and a serious threat. They are building nuclear plants and incorporating natural gas buses into their public transportation to help reduce emissions.

That’s a start.  Lots more to learn and adventures to take.