Tunis, Tunisia, Northern Africa

May 29th, 2010

Our greeting from the dock

As we exited the Disney Magic for our second tour, we stepped onto our second continent in a few days. Africa. Northern Africa to be exact. We were to take a half day tour of Medina and Carthage in the country of Tunisia. Tunisia is a third world Arabic country. Medina is a hustling bustling city while Carthage is an ancient ruins city.

Carthage

Alex demonstrating where the toilets used to be

My shoes with the pretty mosaic floors of the old potty

Carthage was our first stop. While we got off the boat we were greeted by a row of saddled Camels, a typical Tunisian band and some guys who were walking around with baskets of flowers handing them to people. These guys would then ask you for five Euros in return for these almost dead flowers. If you did not have the money(or in our case we had the money we just refused to pay for crap)then proceeded to rudely rip the flowers out of your hands and pass them on to another unaware group of people who thought this was a warm welcome(like being "lei-ed" in Hawaii).

After this unsettling welcome, we moved on to the customs desk. We showed our passports along with our identification cards and then entered Tunisia. We were shuffled to our appropriate tour buses depending on what number we had sticker-ed to our shirt. Ex: number 10 sticker went to number 10 bus etc. After we got onto the bus and were situated we began our tour. I was awe struck to think I was in another country again. Let alone a country in Africa. I sat there busy looking out the window checking out the cars, license plates, buildings, water ways, and new construction. Which actually looked like old construction being renovated. It was odd.

We arrived in Carthage which was surrounded by what seemed to be the wealthier side of Tunis. Which homes that had their own security walls and courtyards which beautiful gardens. It was quite a sight. Especially considering we were a good 5 minutes drive from the Mediterranean.

We filed out of the buses and began our tour of the ruins of Carthage. The grounds were beautiful with beautiful Geraniums and Hibiscus planted everywhere. We got to take a walking tour of a used-to-be toilet house. It was a high end one at that, where servants would come in a sit on the toilet seats to keep them warm and where woman would come and dance for men while they did their business. Really awkward and strange if you ask me. Boy how our choices in entertainment have changed.

Alex messing around in Carthage

We continued out tour by walking through more of the ruins. We got to tour the old basement or "servants quarters" of Carthage. They looked really pretty while we wandered through. It was hard to think that such a pretty and tranquil place could have been so dark, dank and morbid. Apparently the servants(slaves) quarters weren't the best place to be back then, if you catch my drift...it was a public toilet after all...

Peek-a-boo

We then stopped off at a really pretty temple-type building. But, since we were in Tunisia it was probably a Mosque. There were a slough of white busts where we were walking. And, as it started to drizzle(it had been over cast all day) we decided to take some goofy touristy pictures with them :) We then pilled back into the tourist buses and moved on to the next stop.

Alex and I in front of the Mosque

Hibiscus :)

Oh Alex!

Basket-O-Fruit?

Our next stop happened to be Medina. I'm sure Medina is a nice place; at least the sights that we DIDN"T see in Medina. I'm sure those places were nice. The place that we visited was an indoor market. And when I say indoor I mean walls made out of anything to their disposal and no floor. We were instructed to walk with our hands held together and with our belongings around our front.

Blue Door :)

As we walked in we were bombarded with shop owners and frequent invites to come check out their overpriced junk! It was a little scary. We were guided to a shop with a rug store on the second floor. And when I say rug store, I mean Tunisian rugs. I haven't heard of them either but apparently they are really popular. They wanted $1000 for a 3 by 5 rug! Holy fabric! They showed us around 40 rugs...It was fun for the first 6...Then we got bored. After this rug torture, we were allowed to roam back down stairs...To the shop were they wanted us to buy just about everything for over $60! And it wasn't even nice stuff, it was cheap crap.

I paid extra for the goofy hat lol

Hookah anyone?

Rugs galore!

My shoes in Medina

After we spent about an hour being bombarded with poorly made trinkets we walked through a beautiful alley way back to our tour bus, which held a bunch of beautiful blue doors that made me want to go back(but not really ;) ) Which took us back to our boat dock where we had the privilege of riding a camel.....Yup. That's right we road freaking camels! Alex was also able to hold a Falcon for 5 Euros :)

Holding the Falcon

Camel Camel

Life was grand! We had a great time....Next time we shall hear about Pompeii

La Valletta, Malta

May 28th, 2010

Me adorning the shoes that inspired this blog :)

This story starts out with a boat ride--a ship to be exact. The ship is named the Disney Magic. For good reason at that! This magical ship is what helped us navigate to Malta. Malta is a small island country stranded in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Tunisia(which is in northern Africa). It is a beautiful island with the even more beautiful Mediterranean lapping its sandy beaches.

Our amazing home away from home for 10 days

We were able to visit Malta because Alex's sister Jen invited us on a 10 day Mediterranean Sea cruise--the ship would port at La Spezia Italy, where we would take a tour of Piza where Alex's two sister Jennifer and Michelle were born. Malta was our first port stop after leaving harbor in Barcelona Spain.

Our visit in La Valletta started with an early morning porting of the ship on the beautiful stone building harbor coast line. We waited until around 11am to disembark the ship and explore our little port. We were with a group of 12 people on this voyage across the pond--however, on this outing it was just Alex, Jen, Robert, Michelle, Demetra, Joclyn, Kayla and I who got off the ship. We walked off the ship onto the Malta Customs pier where we were to show our passports and identification cards before we were allowed to go gallivanting through the streets. After we were all deemed entrance, we walked down the cobble stone street and admired our huge ship that we had lived on for two days already. As we walked down the pier we saw the little shops coming up on our left. We maneuvered towards them and entered one. This is where we would walk out with a shot glass, a magnet for a friend, a snow globe for my little sister,

and a Malta Knight candle

display. This is also where we received our first Euro via change. With a cashier who spoke English well, it was a little reminder that we were no longer in Kansas.

The beautiful pier that some of this entry took place at

After we all bought our little trinkets to remind us where we had been when we return to the States, we moved on to another more commercialized shop that sold everything from shampoo to letter openers, and cheese spreaders. We all bought post cards and addressed them to our loved ones; including sweet nothings explaining how we wished they were there with us.

After this short visit to the pier we worked our way back to the ship so that we could scarf down some food and make it to our Jeep Safari Tour of Malta.

When we were ready we made our way down to Diversions Lounge on the Disney Magic(This time with all 12 of us). We got all of tour tickets, ID cards, and Passports together while waiting for our groups turn to disembark the ship. When it was our turn we followed our group down to the disembarking ramp and filed into the Jeeps that would take us on our tour. To our surprise the steering wheels were on the right side of the vehicles. We later found out (thanks to our tour guide) that Malta had been a British Colonies for 160 year.

As our Jeep started up the ramp to get higher up to the cities level and not sea level, we were getting a little thrill with the driving in Malta. Speed limits are about the same as ours here in the States. However, they are not enforced as they are here and let me tell you...road rules...I'm pretty sure they don't exist in Malta. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It obviously works for them, but it sure scared the heck out of us! If there was any room that one of their small cars could fit, they went. As we drove to our first destination Alex was in charge of the camera. That boy and his photography abilities. At least he was able to get a fast, drive by picture of the US Embassy in Malta :)

The US Embassy in La Valletta, Malta

When we reached our destination I was a little concerned. We were driving up a pot-hole-riddled road with used to be castle type establishments on our right covered in graffiti. You always hear stories about how tourists go to places in small counties and never come back...So I was a little unsettled. However, when the Jeeps stopped, we got a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean off a gorgeous cliff side. We vacated the Jeeps and walked up to the cliffs edge. Which was gorgeous, but littered with broken glass. You could tell this was used as a "Lovers Leap" type place.

Alex on the cliff side with the beautiful Mediterranean Sea in the foreground

Jen, Tanner, Cameron and Lewis in the back of their Jeep

After we were done taking pictures we all loaded back into our thrill seeking Jeeps and moved on to our next location. Which happened to be Popeye's Village. THE Popeye's Village built just for the live action movie filmed in 1980 staring none other then Robin Williams! Malta had decided to keep the Village and turn it into a tourist attraction. This was a pretty neat skeptical for me. Especially, since I remembered watching this movie when I was a little kid. I also remember refusing to take baths for a while because I was convinced that the octopus in the film was in my bath tub, and would try and drown me. What can I say...I was young :)

Popeye's Village

After our camera died from Alex taking so many drive by pictures of Malta, we loaded back into the Jeeps and went on to our next stop. Golden Bay. We arrived at Golden Bay with me being a little hesitant to swim in the Bay. I had never been swimming in the ocean before and the Mediterranean connects to the Atlantic Ocean. Which has sharks...So in my mind that means that the Mediterranean was loaded with them...Sharks I mean. So, after we had changed and ogled and the topless beach...What can I say...When you put them on display people will stare... I finally got into the Sea. Let me re-phrase this...I got into the Sea while attached to my beloved boyfriend Alex. Who, without him, I would NEVER have set foot into the "shark infested" waters. When we were done floating in the current for a total of 30 minutes(all of which I was suction-cupped to Alex, who was very polite in not letting go of me) we got out and watched a German men's club finish making boats out of cardboard boxes covered in plastic garbage bags and sealed shut with tape. It was extremely funny to watch them boat out to the buoy and come back as fast as they could. Needless to say, none of them sunk. But, one did take in quite a bit of sea water.

As we loaded up to head out to our last stop we enjoyed an incredibly bumpy roller coaster ride on the back city dirt roads of Malta, with the wind blowing in our faces. I basked in the glory that I was actually in a different country. In Europe of all places. It had been my dream since I could remember to visit Europe. I NEVER thought that I would make it there. With all the money and time it takes to plan such a lavish trip, I was truly surprised that I was being tossed around the back of a Jeep in Malta. I was in Heaven.

When we got to our last stop we were informed that we were to enjoy a fruit cocktail. I thought this was kind of funny. We were told not to eat or drink anything that didn't come from a bottle. So, I was a little hesitant. But, I was in Malta so I decided to enjoy my fruit cocktail in Orange Juice. Quite tasty I might add. As we ate our fruit we watched a poor little mother cat try and beg for scrapes of food for her two kittens in a nearby bush. It just about broke my heart and made me want to run back home and adopt all of the kittens/cats in the local animal shelters.

We then loaded back into the Jeep for our final bumpy ride back to the pier. We noticed that the time was getting late, and sure enough we were late getting back to our ship. We were the last tour to load onto ship. They literally closed the doors behind us and began to back up the ship to get on our way to Tunis Tunisia in northern Africa.

There you have it...my experience in La Valletta, Malta.

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome!

I have been trying to come up with a medium of how I wanted to write about my shoes. Why my shoes you ask? Well, these shoes are special. They are not some expensive sparkle-y heeled shoes from the department store. They are a pair of Champion tennies that I bought from Payless Shoe Stores back in my Junior year of High School in 2004. I bought them so that I could take my freshman PE class that I was suppose to have taken my freshman year. Makes sense right? But, I was delayed in taking said PE class due to a mandatory recovery that I was forced to take because of a shoulder surgery to remove a tumor the first day of my freshman year of High School. Lovely right? I know. It was this very conundrum in my life that led me to buying these shoes that have taken me all over (soon to be around the world). This brings me to what I have come to call these little lovelies I wear on my feet. They are called "My-around-the-world-shoes". I'm serious. If I cannot locate them in a panic I cry to Alex, "Where are my-around-the-world-shoes?!".

Well anyway, enough of my babble. I created this blog to share with all of you the stories that I have of these amazing places that these shoes have carried me to throughout our relationship together. Going on 6 years now.

So here we go.

Story number one to come shortly :)