Istanbul, Turkey – by Anna

Istanbul was an unforgettable few days. Hagia Sofia was a church until 1453, when they changed it into a Mosque. Mosques cannot display any images of people on the walls so when they wanted to convert the church, they had to cover everything up. Hagia Sofia aka “Ayasofya” is now a museum where you can walk around and see some of the faces and people starting to show as the paint wears off. The Blue Mosque was beautiful with all the handmade tiles on the ceiling and the big pillars with blue designs. Istanbul is divided in two continents, Asia and Europe. We were staying on the European side so we had fun exploring the Asian side. We tried mussels with rice inside. They were actually pretty good. The Grand Bazaar is a huge market filled with clothes, spices, soaps, leather, traditional Turkish lamps and Turkish delights. We spent a whole day in the bazaar and eventually, we got a little overwhelmed. Turkish people are so lovely. They will invite you in for apple tea and ask you questions. The Hammam was so relaxing! A Hammam is a scrubbing spa. My parents did one in Morocco so we wanted to try it here. They started off by putting us in a salt room. It looked like Christmas! They then put us in the sauna, gave us a foam soap massage and gave us tea! It was great! Turkish delights are jelly candies with different nuts and spices in them. My favourite were the plain ones covered in icing sugar. In the Grand Bazaar, there would be tonnes of different delight stores with samples. Go to the Bazaar hungry! Another delicious snack that we tried when we were in Istanbul was the Turkish ice cream. This ice cream is different from all the others because it was thicker, strechier and takes longer to melt. They will serve you the ice cream once their done their mini show! I’m definitely coming back to Istanbul!

Cape Town, South Africa – by Anna

Cape Town is gorgeous! We had been looking forward to South Africa for a while so we were so excited when we finally landed in Cape Town. We stayed in a beautiful house with Emma,9, Sam,12 and their parents Sonia and Dirk. We had such an amazing week. We learned a lot about Nelson Mandela and other prisoners of Robben Island. We also learned about the apartheid. An apartheid is when black people don’t have the same rights as whites. For example, the blacks didn’t have a passport to visit other countries, the blacks lived in really poor conditions like slums and they had no way of finding medical help. Many blacks passed away back then, due to many different sicknesses. The waterfront in Cape Town is beautiful. We all had so much fun wandering around the waterfront, listening to local Africans playing music and visiting the Lindt factory. Cape Town is known for a mountain called ” Table Mountain”. It is a big mountain with a very flat top and it actually looks like a table. We did the Table Mountain hike and it was exhausting! It took us about an hour and a half to hike up then, a long time to climb back down. The gondola was closed for maintenance the one day we were there, so we had to hike back down after we’d reached the top. I’d say it was tougher to hike down than up because it was so steep. The view at the top was amazing and worth the hike. Another day, we did a hike called “Lion’s Head”. People in Cape Town think that a few mountains beside Table Mountain form the shape of a lion and the hike that we did was the head. We were in Cape Town for a week and I still couldn’t see the lion by the end. A few hours away, there is a little town called Montague. Montague is known for their lovely hot springs. On my mom’s birthday, we drove up to Montague and spent a night enjoying the hot springs. We stayed in fancy a chalet at the base of a cliff. It felt like we were cheating because when travelling, we’re always staying in rustic places like…hostels. After our amazing 16h getaway, we returned to Cape Town. Saturday, the parents went wine tasting so the kids went to the jump park. We really enjoyed it because we hadn’t gone jumping for so long. We left early for the airport to fly to Joburg.

Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania- by Anna

The Ngorogoro Crater was such a beautiful and unique experience. Our drive out to the crater took about three hours. When we entered the national park, we drove all the way up the sides of the crater. The road leading up was surrounded by forests and Baboons. The Baboons were crossing the road at randomly times so we stopped quite suddenly a couple times. The view from the top was beautiful even though there was fog. As we started our descent, we realized that it felt warmer inside the crater. Millions and millions of years ago, the crater was a volcano. The volcano collapsed and is now home to many different species of animals including the Big 5. The Big 5 are known as the five hardest animals to kill on foot. They are the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and the African elephant. It was an amazing day. We saw lions, buffalo, elephants, hippos, two white rhinos (from a far distance), tonnes of Impala (a type of deer) and lots of birds. At one point we watched an elephant walk up to a sleeping lion and the lion jumped up and ran away but the elephant charged after him. So much for the King of the jungle! After lunch, we kept driving around and finding more animals. The hippos were so fun to watch because every once in a while, a baby would try to climb on top of his mom. But the sad thing is that we found a dead baby hippo near the edge of the pond. A neat thing about the hippos is that they don’t swim they just walk through the water. At the end of the day we made our way back up to the top of the crater. The same question kept going through our heads. How did the animals get into the crater?

The epic bike trip- by Anna

Our bike ride across 3 countries was a once in a lifetime experience. Throughout 4 days, we rode through Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. It was the most beautiful 4 days of my life. We rode through forests, mini towns, one big city and along the ocean. The first day was long. We started of the day with a very chaotic ride through Trieste, Italy, trying to get over the border into Slovenia. After entering Slovenia, the rest of the day went pretty smoothly besides a broken chain and finding out my mom had booked us a fancy hostel at the top of the mountain. What part of Hostel Panoramic View did she not understand? We started off the next morning with a nice ride down the mountain. It was beautiful day biking along the coast and crossing the border into beautiful Croatia. We ended the day with a huge downhill which was hard to enjoy because what comes down must come up. Once our huge hill was over with, Day 3 was ok. At one point I started to daydream on my bike and payed the price when I dove off the path on my bike and landed in a prickly bush. On the bright side, it was a soft landing considering we were riding along a cliff. I was covered in dots because of the swimmers itch I caught in France and now stripes because of the scratches. Just great. We ended the day climbing an actual mountain. The mountain on the first day almost seemed like a small hill compared to this monster. Our town was on the peak. It went well besides getting chased by mosquitoes. We will never forget that. On our final day, we climbed back down the mountain and then rode on a gravel path all the way to Porèc. At the end of our very tough bike ride, we were all so proud of each other. Finishing each day exhausted and dreading the next day, waking up early so we would be done before it got too hot, and each day the news of our accommodation being on the top of a mountain. Physically, it was the toughest thing I’d ever done. Besides it being tough, it was also one of the greatest things we’ve done. Altogether, the Parenzana trail was an amazing experience.

Paris part 2 – by Anna

Amelie bogged about our first two days in Paris and I’m blogging about the rest. Day 3 was spent at the Louvre Museum. It was so huge! We started off our visit at the Mona Lisa. On our way, we saw plenty of paintings from the French Revolution in 1789 and many religious paintings. When we entered the room with the Mona Lisa, we were all shocked because it was so small! When I thought of the Mona Lisa, I thought of it as a big painting but it was much smaller than I expected. It wasn’t very busy so we managed to get a selfie with her. After that, we walked down a very long hallway full of furniture from Louis XlV’s room. Don’t get me started on his bed, it was so luxurious. I thought that the kings looked quite funny in the paintings because of their wigs. When we were done with the French kings, we moved towards the Egyptian exhibition. We were all disappointed when we found out that section was closed for the day. On our way out, we stopped by the Venus de Milo. That night, we had a good dinner on the Champs D’Elysée, the most famous street in Paris. The next morning, we went to the Palais de Versailles. The palace was ruled by the King Louis’. We visited the palace and learned about the French Revolution. We did not end up visiting the beautiful gardens because they were closed. That night we went back to the Champs D’Elysée to do some shopping and to go up the Arc de Triomphe for a panoramic view of Paris. It really was spectacular. On father’s day, we visited the Picasso Museum. Picasso drew and sculpted some amazing things and some that seemed too simple to be famous. After the museum, we went for a walk to the Sainte-Chapelle church. It is well known in Paris because of its beautiful stained glass windows. It was one of the most beautiful churches I’d ever seen. There wasn’t a single window without stained glass. In the late afternoon, we went for a walk around a quaint neighbourhood and enjoyed ice cream. The weather was so hot! The next morning, we drove down to………..Provence!

Languedoc, France, part 1- by Anna

Languedoc was a nice break from travelling. One of the first things that we planned before starting our trip was our two weeks in Provence. At midnight, we arrived at La Grange, an old converted barn. The first two days were spent buying groceries and exploring the surrounding towns. We drove up to Reims on Friday to meet up with our friends, Mikaela,12, Emily,9, and their parents, Sara and Neils. We met up with them at the Canada vs Netherlands womens World Cup soccer game. We lost 1-2 but it was a really fun game. The next day, when we got back to our mini town called Vers Pont du Gard, we had a lovely dinner with our friends who were joining us for our time in Provence. Our town had less then 2000 people. There is a local bakery with delicious chocolate croissant that we would have for breakfast almost every day, a cute bar, a cafe, a magazine store, and a fresh produce market every two days. If we wanted something besides fruits and veggies, we would have to drive to the big supermarket 20 mins away. We were staying in a perfect location because we were about 45 min drive away from Avignon and 10 min drive away from Uzes. During our two weeks in Provence, it was record breaking hot! We spent lots of time cliff jumping in the river, surrounded by french teens toppless bathing. The frustrating thing about the river was that I got the swimmers itch. Now that sucked. While travelling, we eat out 90% of the time so it was nice to finally enjoy some homemade meals. We went on a bike ride one day but it was so hot that we decided not to do it again. Amelie is blogging about part 2.

Marrakesh and Sahara- by Anna

Here’s a summary of our three nights in Marrakesh. On the first night, we were surprised by our aunt and uncle. They were hiding behind their menus and sitting at the table of a fancy restaurant. It was such a lovely night to catch up on the past nine months. Day 1 in Marrakesh was spent at the botanical gardens and in the Souqs and ended with a good dinner of Tajines and donuts. A Tajine is stewed veggies or meat cooked in a cone shaped clay pot. On day 2, our uncle and aunt had Hammams, so we spent our day in the Souqs (again) and the stinky tannery. A Hammam is a scrubbing spa and yes, they scrub you everywhere. It is a very naked experience. A tannery is where they make leather from cow, goat or sheep skin. The night ended with meeting up with our aunt and uncle at a nice restaurant.

The Sahara had was on my bucket list for a long time. When we arrived after a long day of driving, we took off with our backpacks and we all hopped on our dromadaries. It was a fairly uncomfortable ride but well worth it. As we walked through the Sahara desert, we could see nothing but the little village behind us, sand dunes and others riding dromadaries. It was a nice relaxing walk to our campsite. When we arrived, we climbed to the top of a dune and we watched the sunset. Did you know that Sahara means desert in Arabic? So when you say “Sahara desert” you’re really saying “desert desert”. Dinner was salad, Tajines and fruit. The next morning, we woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful! After the sunrise, we rode back to the village on our dromadaries.

Luxor, Egypt – by Anna

Luxor was packed with amazing history. When we arrived in Luxor after our overnight train, our guide, Shaima, was waiting for us. We all got in the tour bus and we drove to our accommodation. When we got there, we had an amazing typical Egyptian breakfast of omlettes, yogurt, and bread with all sorts of jams and cheeses. After breakfast, we drove to the Valley of the Kings, a world heritage site. We checked out the tombs of Ramses the 2nd, Ramses the 4th and Ramses the 12th. It was so cool to see the the carvings on the walls of the tombs. Back in the Egyptian times, as soon as a Prince would become King, the workers would start to dig the tomb and when they died they’d stop digging. The Ramses ruled during the 19th and 20th dynasty. We took a picture infront of the tomb of King Tut, who has a smaller tomb because he ruled for only 10 years. He became King at the age of 9 and he is known as the youngest King. We had heard that there is nothing much to see in Tut’s tomb, so we didn’t visit it. We also saw all the tomb’s contents in the museum a few days ago. Next, we went to Hatshepsut’s temple. Hatshepsut ruled during the 18th dynasty. She decided to build her temple directly in line of the Karnak temple. Hatshepsut was the only female King. The reason of that is because the next King in line after Hatshepsut’s father was her half brother. At the time, he was too young to rule so Hatshepsut had to married him so she could become King. While she ruled, she didn’t pay attention to her brother, so when it was time for him to rule, he erased some of the carvings in her temple. We had a quick stop to check out the traditional pottery then another to check out the Colossi of Memnon. All that remains are two giant statues of Amenhotep the 3rd. The statues used to lead to a temple but it got distroyed over the years. Then it was time for lunch. We ate a delicious shawarma with a lot of different stews. We had a pretty chill evening.

The next morning, the Easter bunny came! Everyone was so excited, especially Elise. She wrote a pretty cute note. We did a fun little hunt in our hotel room and we even got to try some delicious Egyptian candies. After breakfast, we headed to Karnak Temple of Amun. There are over 25 different temples and chapels in the complex. Karnak covers an area of over 100 hectares and approximately 30 pharaohs contributed to building it. This temple was dedicated to the God Amun. Another cool thing about Karnak is that when Napoleon and his army came to Egypt, they carved their signatures in the entrance of the temple. The sand level back then was so high that they signed near the top of the pylon (aka wall). It is such a huge temple! In front of the temple lies an avenue of ram headed lions, which is a symbol of Amun. Karnak was such an amazing temple to walk through and neither my sisters nor I were ever bored. Next we visited Luxor Temple. Once again, just like Karnak, there lies an avenue of Ram headed Sphinx but this time much longer. In the entrance used to be two obelisks but now, only one. The other one is in Paris. Weird! Near the obelisks there are six statues of Ramses the 2nd. The temple was built not only by Ramses the 2nd but by Amenhotep the 3rd and King Necatnebo the 1st who built all the Sphinx at the entrance. We wandered through the rest of the temple listening to Shaima explain everything. Lunch was at a mud brick farm house near the Nile River. We ate solar bread which is like a dough that cooks in the sun, and we dipped it in something they called “black honey” but we were all convinced it was molasses. We also had boiled eggs and cheese. It was delicious! The houses in Luxor are built with mud bricks because it never rains and they say it keeps the houses cool. The next morning, we said goodbye to Shaima and we all got on the train to go to Aswan. Oh, I love Egyptian history.

Dead Sea, Jordan-by Anna

The Dead Sea was a very fun experience. The Dead Sea is situated in between Israel and Jordan. On our drive back from Jerusalem, our plan was to stop at the Dead Sea on the Jordanian side. When we got there, there were some people walking around covered in black mud. It is thought that Dead Sea mud is really good for your skin. We all decided that we wanted to try it out. When in Rome? At first the mud felt weird, but then I got used to it and it actually felt good. My mom, on the other hand, did not love the feeling, but thought it would make her look 20 again. My dad looked hilarious in the mud- he somehow got some on his teeth. I don’t even know how that happened. Once the mud dried, it felt like cement, so we all hopped in the cold Dead Sea. It was so salty that we could float! It was similar to the Laguna Cajar in Chile, but much saltier and much, much bigger. At one point, I decided it would be a good idea to hug my knees, but I by accident rolled over and dunked my face. Good one, Anna! It was stinging my eyes like crazy. The pictures were funny and so were we. Near the end, we got given newspapers so it looked like we were reading in the sea. Did you know that the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth? It is 450m below sea level. Swimming in the Dead Sea had been something I’d wanted to do for a long time.

Dubai, U.A.E – By Anna

Dubai was a quick but fun stop. When we arrived in Dubai, we were exhausted because we had woken up at 4:00am to catch the plane. We took our luggage to the Carlton. When we arrived, my mom seemed so excited about something so we followed her. She pointed across the street to….. Tim Horton’s!! We were all so excited because we hadn’t seen one for eight months. So that was were we ate lunch. I ordered a bagel and Timbits. It felt like home. After lunch, we made our way to the hop on hop off station. Dubai is such a nice city with the tallest building in the world and the largest shopping mall in the world. We got off at a Spice Souq which is an area with every spice you could imagine. There was: cinnamon, cloves, different salts, cardamin, lots of peppercorn, saje, turmeric and lavender. It was so busy but a great experience. After the Spice Souq, we went to the Gold Souq. There was a tonne of jewelry and gold statues. After the souq, we got back on the bus and we drove around the city. We saw the tallest building in the world called the “Burj Khalifa”. The Burj Khalifa is over 828 meters tall and has 163 stories. We also past the Dubai frame which is a huge frame that frames the city and lights up at night. As night fell, the bus dropped us off at the largest mall in the world with an indoor aquarium. The inside was beautiful there were more than 1200 stores and services. We fell in love with the massive bookstore. After the shops, we went down to the huge food court with every single food you could imagine. We had a delicious Indian dinner with butter chicken and mutter paneer. Then, we went back to our hotel for an early night before waking up at 4:00am again to go to Jordan! Dubai is a big city built in a desert with amazing archatecture.