Vilnius was overcast and cold, but still beautiful. There is an old church on every single street, and the old cobble-stoned streets made for a great day of exploration. Then we headed west to the coast, to the Curonian Spit. A spit is like a peninsula, but skinnier. Once there we stayed in the small town of Nida, surrounded by pine forest and large sand dunes. We rented bikes for the day and rode out to the beach (much too cold to swim), the sand dunes, and around the forest. From Nida we went to central Lithuania to visit the Hill of Crosses, near Siuiliai.
On Obama's inauguration day, January 20, 2009, we boarded a one-way flight from New York City to Casablanca, Morocco. Over the next 11 months, we journeyed through West Africa, Europe, the Middle East, East Africa, Nepal and India, and Tokyo. We met people from exotic cultures, climbed the Himalayas, trekked through the Sahara, meandered through Arabian souqs, and dined like ancient emperors.
Riga, Latvia
Riga was to be the last stop on our circuit through the Baltics. We had visited a few small towns in Latvia before heading up to Estonia, but saved Riga for last since we had plane tickets departing from Riga to Istanbul. Riga is a bustling city with a fairly expansive city center and lots of history. We found a cheap place to stay at the "Riga Student Hostel" which seemed to have more older people than students, but it was very clean and modern.
Around Estonia
I have to admit, I would have had trouble finding Estonia on a map before we found the cheap Baltic Air tickets through Riga, Latvia. However, once we started to do a little research on Estonia and the Baltics, we became very excited. Estonia is a small and mostly rural country, with only about 1.5 million people.
Turkey Has Everything
Turkey has so much to offer that we highly recommend that everyone should look into a very long extended vacation here. Turkey has history that dates back thousands of years, a fascinating Middle Eastern and European culture, and spectacular and unique landscapes that can only be found in this region of the world. Oh, and there's the stunning Mediterranean coast, too.
Syria: The Friendliest Nation on Earth
During our time in Turkey we ran into a number of travelers that had recently come out of Syria, and they had only good things to say. In America, we hear about the governmental policies of Syria, but nothing about what it's like to actually live in or visit the country. We decided to venture south from Turkey with a little bit of trepidation and caution. However, once we arrived in Syria we were just plain blown away by the absolute friendliness of the local people.
Mali: Into the Sahara
For four weeks we traveled through Mali, and it has made our list of one of the best countries we've ever been to. The people are friendly, the landscapes are beautiful, and the food is good. We were able to immerse ourselves into the Malian culture and see the country in ways that we never would have imagined.
Egypt: Pyramids and Heat
We deboarded our cruise through the Med in Alexandria, Egypt, and made our way to Cairo where we met Laurie's parents for a two week Nile adventure. I've always been fascinated with ancient Egyptian stuff, so it was a great experience for us to visit the Pyramids and other temples and tombs. We spent our first few days in Cairo where we wandered through the markets and mosques of the Islamic Quarter, ate some great meals at amazing restaurants on the Nile river, and played chicken with oncoming traffic.
A Journey Through Israel
From Egypt we crossed the border into Israel by land after taking a bus north from Dahab. We were temporarily held up at the border because we had Syrian stamps in our passport. We were told to wait in a special area until we could see the head guy in his intimidating uniform. We had heard this might happen, but the rumored "interrogation" never occurred. They just wanted some extra biographical information such as our phone number and grandfathers' names.
Petra
We crossed the border from Israel into Jordan and split a taxi with an Israeli couple who were also headed to Petra. We arrived rather quickly because our taxi driver topped out at 120 miles per hour on the highway despite our constant pleading to slow down. We made our way to a guesthouse and found that they had an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner every night for five dollars! It was quite social and we met a lot of other travelers, including a couple from Ireland who is traveling the world for two years. They made us look like wimps!
Senegal: Sunrises Over the Atlantic
We flew into Dakar, Senegal's huge capital, late on a Monday night. We had arranged for a hotel with transportation from the airport ahead of time so that we would have a smooth transition. The next day we headed to the city center to catch a long distance bus. From our hotel we opted to take the local Dakar city bus to get to the long distance bus station. The bus that came was an Ndiaga Ndiaye, basically an over sized van or small bus.
Into the Medinas of Morocco
Morocco quickly made our list of favorite countries in the world. Our initial experience in Casablanca was amazing. We had read that the city was not typical of Morocco, but instead it was large, busy, and chaotic. We had low expectations, but the city really surprised us. The medina (the old part of the city, surrounded by walls and made up of a maze of small streets) at first was very touristy. There were a lot of vendors selling things from their stalls that only tourists would want - European clothes, shoes, suitcases, and yummy cookies and pastries.
Ethiopia
To get to Ethiopia, we flew from Amman, the capital of Jordan, to Addis Ababa via Bahrain and Kuwait City. It felt like a whirlwind all night tour of Middle Eastern cities. The Bahrain airport was quite modern, and even had a Chili's. We watched two old men in white robes and turbans eat chicken wings at 2 a.m.
