Travel for Love

During the final few days of our Spain trip, Roberto and I managed to pry ourselves out of Cadiz to spend the last two nights in Sevilla before we had to catch our flights out of Madrid. Oh boy are we glad we did, this city is not to be missed!

We showed up at the train station and left our bags in the left luggage and walked in to the old town to find a place to stay for the night. As we walked, the streets got progressively narrower, the buildings older, and the scenery more and more unique. With every turn we came across a scene more beautiful than the last.

We wandered down the windy streets and found ourselves in the old Jewish quarter of Santa Cruz. Here, the streets are the most narrow and the buildings the oldest. Traditional white buildings with mustard yellow trim have geraniums and bouganvilla hanging from metal window boxes. This is where we needed to stay!

There are plenty of places to stay in this area, and to our delight most of them are little pensions, hostels, and little boutique hotels. We wandered in to a few places and got some quotes, and found a great little pension with a private room and WiFi for 35 Euros per night! The hostels and pensions in Andalusia often have very cute architecture: you walk in to a main common area (often open air like a little courtyard) with several floors and balconies overlooking the entrance. There are often beautiful tile work, potted plants and knick knacks, and even little water features.

Santa Cruz is the perfect base for seeing the sights of Sevilla. The barrio is full of cafes, one-of-a-kind restaurants, and little neighborhood bars full of old local men watching soccer games. The streets are alive with locals on scooters buzzing around and tourists getting lost in the maze of streets.

The neighborhood becomes truly magical at night. The streets are dimly lit and a warm breeze carries the fragrance of orange blossoms through the narrow corridors. At night the lively groups of tourists are replaced with couples from around the world slowly wandering the cobblestone streets together, discovering new magical spots around every turn.

The cathedral in Sevilla is magnificent, and reportedly the third largest in the world. Adjacent to the cathedral is Sevilla’s Real Alcazar, the city’s token Moorish palace, which is also beautiful. Popular things to do in the old town of Sevilla also include seeing a Flamenco show and attending a bull fight at the historic bullring. I also took a lovely Arab bath at the hammam right down the street from our Pension.

Sevilla is an incredible city with some very amazing influences. We had a very limited experience there and we didn’t venture out of the old town, but there are tons of other things to see and do throughout the city. Sevilla is a popular tourist destination, and was the first place on our trip through Andalusia where we saw significant numbers of Americans. I HIGHLY recommend a visit here and would definitely go back!

Our family and friends thought we were crazy. My dad said we would be attacked by terrorists. We invited a friend who would not go because it would flag him as a security breach at his job. Others never even heard of Istanbul.

But that’s where we were headed. My mom and I. For both of our first trip outside North America and for my mom’s first trip needing a passport, we were flying to Istanbul, Turkey.

My mom and I had decided to go on a Mediterranean cruise in April 2008. We had many to choose from, but for some reason we were drawn to the more “off the beaten path” itineraries instead of a typical Western European cruise. The one we chose on Norwegian cruise lines went from Istanbul to Athens, including stops on several of the Greek Islands and in Alexandria Egypt with an opportunity to get down to Cairo. It was a pretty good deal and we thought it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of these places in a relatively stress-free and comfortable way on a cruise.

But, cruise or no cruise, we still had to start of the trip on our own with two nights in Istanbul. I guess we could have arranged everything through the cruise, with airport transfers and hotel stay, but we decided to be a little more independent. We found a boutique hotel, Hotel Mena, in the historic Sultanahmet area of the city and took a taxi in from the airport after surviving our first long haul flight ever.

I remember the first few things that struck me after arriving in a bit of a daze after an all night flight. One was that it didn’t seem all that strange or different or far away. Sure, the architecture was different and people spoke Turkish, but the sky was blue and the grass was green, and I didn’t feel far from home like I expected I would.

Since I really didn’t know what to expect of Turkey, I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I felt there and about the lack of culture shock. Also, people had told us about how friendly and helpful the Turks were, but I was still surprised at how welcome I felt there.

When we first got to our hotel, we looked out the window to find a minaret with it’s speaker pointed right at our window. We knew we wouldn’t have to go far to hear the call to prayer, which was just as exotic and haunting as it sounds on Youtube. Especially when it’s echoing from several different mosques all over the city!

We took a little nap and then decided we felt well enough to go out for the evening. We asked the front desk where we could see some belly dancing, and the next thing we knew, we were being whisked off in a van through the narrow winding Istanbul streets. We went to a pretty generic, touristy belly dancing dinner show, but we had a great time there!

The place asked everyone’s nationalities when they sat down, and put their country’s flag on their tables so we could see where everyone was from. My mom and I sat next two a chain smoking Swedish mother and daughter pair on one side, and a table of rowdy Iraqi businessmen on the other. It was definitely an interesting night when the Iraqis started getting drunk and asking us why we hated their country. It was a little awkward. Later they had quite a fun night of dancing!

The show and dancing were excellent, and we were very impressed with the skills of the ladies. They also had a great MC who spoke so many languages it made my head spin. It was alot of fun seeing other audience members from all over the world. Yes, it was a very touristy insulated experience, but it was perfect for our first night out in Istanbul.

The next day we wandered around Sultanahmet on a beautiful sunny spring day. We were lucky enough to be in Istanbul during the annual tulip festival, and there were millions of gorgeous tulips of all colors all over the city. Despite being warned by every person and guidebook, we let ourselves get latched on to by a carpet store representative. He did show us all around the historic district and take our pictures everywhere before taking us to his carpet store. It really wasn’t a bad experience and my mom wanted to buy a rug anyway (she did!) and we did enjoy ourselves in the shop drinking apple tea and watching the salesman throw the rugs around. They really are spectacular! We were fortunate to end up in a shop we’d heard of and knew as reputable.

That evening we ended up having a blast out in the Taksim area of Istanbul, where they have a pedestrian street full of shopping and lots of bars and restaurants. We enjoyed talking with the young owner of a bar down one of the side streets in Taksim and spent the rest of the night upstairs in the bar listening to a live two man band play traditional Turkish music. We were the only foreigners in the place and it was really a wonderful way to experience a night out in Turkey. We ended up staying out until 3 am drinking Raki and enjoying the music.

The next day, we had just enough time to wander around the spice market and snap a few final photos before our ship sailed. We had definitely fallen in love with Istanbul and were very sorry to have to leave. There are still so many things I want to do there that we didn’t get to: a Turkish bath, Topkapi palace, Hagia Sofia, and just spending more time wandering around this beautiful city.

I think I learned a lot from this trip. It certainly made me want to continue to travel and see places off the beaten path. I’m really glad we got out of our comfort zone and took a risk on a destination that was “questionable” to some. I really loved how friendly and fun the Turks we met were, and enjoyed their sense of humor. Also, I did learn the ropes of the squat toilet there – that’s definitely come in handy since!

For anyone thinking of visiting Istanbul, do not hesitate! I felt very safe there, and the city is perfectly modern and developed. Many things are still a good bargain since Turkey is not on the Euro, and there are endless things to see and do. The history of Istanbul and the surrounding region is just fascinating, and the different empires that Istanbul has been under have left their marks on the city.

Where was your first trip abroad? Which destinations weren’t what you expected?

I keep procrastinating on my follow up Buenos Aires posts, after writing a little about our lodging experiences there. I’m starting to realize I keep putting off writing the follow ups because I don’t really have that much to say.

I had a lot of fun in Buenos Aires, and I definitely enjoyed places in the city. But, I wasn’t crazy about it. To me, BsAs did not have the energy, vibe, or instant appeal that I have come to find in cities like NYC, Rio, Istanbul, or even Paris. Maybe to me BsAs was just lacking that special something, the same way I’ve found Miami, Chicago, Shanghai, and LA.

So rather than try to write up a half-hearted summary of our mediocre food experiences and decent but not remarkable activities there, I will leave you with my impressions of Recoleta Cemetary. This was one part of BsAs that I definitely loved.

Yes, the first thing that struck me was that you could see inside the tombs – see actual coffins!

Once I got over that, I spent most of my time in the cemetery taking pictures of the cats. There were kitties everywhere! I saw that people had left food and water around, so the cats must have a nice peaceful life there.

The poor things looked pretty ragged though.

But sweet.

Some like the kitties more than others.

What a life!

As I mentioned in my Buenos Aires post, Roberto and I took the overnight bus to Mendoza as a side trip from the capital city. Originally we planned on staying just one night – two full days – in the city. Upon seeing the incredible snow-capped mountains rising from the desert as we approached Mendoza, we decided to stay an extra day. We changed our bus reservation at the madhouse of a bus station, and set off to find a rental car.

Disclaimer: This was not a well-researched trip. As I mentioned here, we were hoping to visit Patagonia on this trip. Unfortunately, we found out the gringo prices on Argentinas Airlines were around twice as much as indicated on the website, and flights there would cost around $400 per person.

We found a campground in the San Martin park on the edge of central Mendoza. It seemed that the campground and some other amenities in this park were built in the 70s when Mendoza hosted the World Cup. The campground was very… concrete, with identical campsites. It was more than adequate though, and we enjoyed our night there. They even had wi-fi.

We enjoyed a nice dinner near the park, in a fairly touristy area. Roberto came back from the restaurant men’s room with this photo:

Right. So…

The next day we waned to drive to the mountains. The guy at the campground told us to take the road to Chile to see Aconcagua. I had never heard of this place but apparently it’s the tallest mountain in South America. And the Southern Hemisphere. And the Western Hemisphere. Actually, the tallest mountain outside of Asia! It’s 22840 feet, with Everest being 29002. Mount McKinley is 20,320. So yea, we had to check that out.

We set out on a beautiful dessert blue sky day, on a breathtaking drive into the mountains. First we climbed grassy foothills, which gradually gave way to rockier hills covered in cacti. As we climbed higher and higher, the mountains got more and more rugged. We marveled at how each one had a unique color, as we caught glimpses of snowy peaks beyond the hills. We couldn’t get enough of the beautiful scenery.

As we drove up into higher elevations, the scenery continued to be spectacular. We had a nice lunch at a mountain restaurant, and noticed a couple ski resorts (closed for the summer of course). We also noticed quite a few campgrounds, and decided to stay in the mountains that evening at one of them. We also saw countless groups of Argentines having picnics and cookouts.

We continued up the mountains to Puente de Inca, a strange rock formation and old building.

Just a couple miles up the road was Aconcagua national park. We parked and decided to hike the 3km loop trail in the beautiful valley below the peak. As we got a bit further up the trail we realized we could hike much further than the 3km loop, taking the mule path used by the mountain climbers. We did see several herds of mules, driven by Andean cowboys, carrying supplies to the base camp.

Interestingly when I got out of the car and started hiking, I felt kinda funny. As if I was coming down with something, or hungover… just off. Then, I realized it was due to the high elevation. It made the hike a little more difficult.

I thought the “mountain climbing” vibe was really cool. We talked with some of the climbers returning from summit attempts, which was interesting. I had not expected to see that sort of thing! We ended up hiking for most of the day, only turning back when we knew we’d run out of daylight. It was not a difficult hike, but between the elevation, the dust and rocks, and the hot sun yet cold wind, it was grueling.

Hiking in Aconcagua national park made me want to climb a mountain sometime. Not that one… too advanced for me! But I can definitely see the appeal. A mountain like that just inspires the urge to get closer and closer to the top. This was my first experience with really big mountains, and I definitely think I will seek more out in the future.

We finished the day off with a drive up a crazy road to Christo Redentor on the Chilean border.

It was COLD up there, but very pretty!

We crashed at a nice little campground in one of the gorgeous mountain valleys. It was only 10 pesos per person, less than $3! I was surprised at how many hiking backpackers and mountain bikers were camping there, but we didn’t really get to know anyone that night. We slept very well after our long day, and I have never seen so many stars.

And I thought Mendoza was all about wineries.

I’ve always wanted to check out Buenos Aires, and we found some decent flights on Gol so we booked a flight to spend a week there. We purposely only booked a place to stay for the first night only and traveled with backpacks to have the flexibility to travel to another part of Argentina as well. I’ll go more into that in another post. In this post I will focus on the places we stayed, cause we had some fairly unique lodging experiences. In later posts I’ll get into more about what we did and saw in BsAs.

So we looked around for lodging in BsAs and decided a hostel (with a private room) was the best option for us. There are tons of different hostels in Buenos Aires, many more than good, reasonably priced hotels. I found PAX hostel online and made a reservation which ended up being around $50 US for the night. Despite the great exchange rate with the dollar (almost 4 to 1), lodging in BsAs just wasn’t cheap.

Our flight arrived at around 9:30 at night, so we took a taxi for the 30-40 minute ride to downtown. We went through some really scummy looking areas on the outskirts of town and, while it looked a little nicer as we got further into town, we did not think the area around the hostel was that nice. Definitely not an area I would feel very comfortable walking around at night. For what it’s worth the hostel was advertised to be in the San Telmo area but it was definitely on the crummy edge of that neighborhood.

This was our first time staying in a hostel and we weren’t sure what to expect. We were greeted at the door by a cheerful English girl who ushered us around and made A LOT of small talk. It was a little much after a long night of travel but she was definitely very helpful. She showed us around and showed us to our room, which was a little disappointing. It was very very small, the bed was super hard, the pillows were just foam rubber, and it could have been quite a bit cleaner. We were also situated right in the lobby where everyone came and went, and our window was facing the noisy street below.

The hostel had a bar downstairs, which was nice. We went down to have a beer and order some takeout (Chinese food!!! After 2 weeks in Brazil I was sooooo excited for Chinese!). The place was pretty busy, with a table of rowdy Spaniards, 3 punky Brits who were intrigued by the prospect of trannys in the shady neighborhood close by, and a few other random people. It was definitely the stereotypical young backpacker crowd, and the hostel was set up for meeting people and participating in tons of activities. The hostel also had free wi-fi everywhere which was great.

The next day we had our included breakfast with two nice French girls who were starting a round the world trip in BsAs. The poor girls had spent the night at PAX after they showed up at a different hostel they had booked only to find no record of their reservation. The staff at the hostel was very very helpful. They sat us down with a map of the city and showed us all sorts of nice landmarks and restaurants. They also showed us areas to avoid at night, which included the area our cab had taken us through on the way to the hostel. They recommended we just turn left when exiting and avoid the area off to the right. The area to the left was definitely much nicer, but it makes me wonder if some other hostel a block to the left tells it’s guests to avoid the PAX area… Like I said, I didn’t think it was in the nicest neighborhood.

This is the only photo I have of the neighborhood cause we did not feel very comfortable taking out our cameras and snapping away. Roberto took this pic cause he was so disappointed in his first impression of the city after always hearing how BsAs was the Paris of South America.

We had to check out of PAX and they did not have any more vacancies for the next night, so I used some Marriott points to book the Plaza Hotel. I was planning to do this for one night and it seemed like the perfect chance. We then planned on taking our side trip the following day, after maximizing our time at the Plaza.

I am not sure how much the Plaza costs per night but it is definitely a great hotel in a beautiful part of town (no disappointment photos here). We saw more Americans in the lobby than anywhere else in BsAs. The Marriott Plaza Hotel is a historic building right across from a beautiful park and very close to a busy area tailored for tourists. The staff was a little snooty with us when we wandered in with our backpacks, but I requested an upgrade to a room with a park view and they gave us one. But we did have to wait for it – the lady said the room wasn’t ready and to sit down and she would bring us our key when it was. After about 20 minutes when I went and asked if it was almost ready she looked at some paper and said it was. I wonder how long it was ready before I had asked. Other than that we found the concierge to be very helpful and the rest of check in and check out smooth.

Our corner room was very big (many of the rooms are tiny in this old hotel, so it helps to request a bigger room if need be) and we had a great view of the park from one big window and of the outdoor pool terrace from the other. The hotel and amenities were completely up to the Marriott standards and the building was also quite charming. One thing I didn’t like was the wi-fi wasn’t free in the rooms, but it was in the lobby. This is typical of Marriotts, anyway. We definitely had a very comfortable night there and they were happy to hang onto our bags all day after we checked out.

The Marriott was a great place to stay, but it felt a bit sterile and isolated from the city. It was truly an opposite experience from PAX, where we were tossed right into the bustle of the city to fend for ourselves. We felt totally safe and comfortable at the Marriott, but at the same time we didn’t feel like we were in BsAs. While I don’t think we fit in at the youthful PAX hostel, I don’t think the Marriott was where we belonged either. Especially with the loud American guy talking to the concierge in 1st grader English, explaining that he and his wife had “5 suitcases, and need either two taxis or a van to go to the airport,” because the one taxi that brought them there was “just too small for us.” We did not have a conversation with a single fellow guest, despite spending plenty of time in the public areas.

After those two nights we decided we would fit in best with something in between those two extremes. Not a fancy stuffy hotel with stuck up guests and staff, but also not a party hostel with a bunch of European kids looking to get drunk and laid. I’m sure Buenos Aires has plenty of options that would better suit us. I did notice some cute boutique hotels for fairly reasonable prices on Tripadvisor prior to booking, but the hostels were just so much cheaper.

After the second night we didn’t stay in a hotel or hostel, but slept on a bus. This sounds awful but it was actually quite comfortable and convenient – we were travelling to Mendoza (more on that in another post) by overnight bus and had booked cama (bed) suites. The price was about what we’d pay for a hotel and included dinner, snacks, and drinks. The seats folded all the way down to horizontal and included a full-sized footrest that made the whole arrangement about the size of a single bed. The seats were very comfortable and the ride was great for lulling us to sleep. I even had an awesome view of the incredible starry night over the plains of Argentina as I fell asleep.

The meal and drinks were served to us like on an airplane and both ways the steward was excellent. We also had movies: on the way there we saw the latest James Bond movie, and on the way back there were 3 – some John Travolta terrorist action movie I didn’t watch, a really sad holocaust movie called The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and Righteous Kill. Oddly enough on the way back all three movies were in English with Spanish subtitles, while on the way there the movie was all Spanish. We were very pleasantly surprised with the bus trip and will definitely use this option more in the future.

Once we got back to BsAs we just had one more night. I found another hostel online, Telmotango, that was cheaper than PAX and in a nicer part of San Telmo. It appears many of the hostels are in this neighborhood; real estate is probably cheaper there. We showed up there in the morning after arriving at the bus station and taking the subway over. It took a little while to find and walk to, but when we got there we were impressed with how cute it was.

Telmotango hostel is built in a converted old mansion and has a stained glass solarium as the common area. There are some rooms indoors and the rest are on two floors of outdoor access surrounding the solarium. The decor was really cute, with potted plants and flower boxes all over the place, and the hostel had a nice big terrace on the top floor. I was pleased with the room and how comfortable the bed was, as well as the bathrooms and common areas. The hostel did have alot of backpackers but there was a wider variety of guests, including some older people. The crowd seemed a little more low key that the PAX guests. I liked this hostel a lot better.

Since we were also camping this trip, we were pretty prepared with just about everything we needed to stay somewhere. But, for those new to hostels, there seems to be a range of amenities offered. From what I’ve seen, nearly all hostels do not provide shampoo, soap, or any other toiletries. I would definitely bring shampoo, conditioner, and body wash or a bar of soap if you do not already travel with them. Additionally, some places do not provide towels (although both of our hostels did), and I have yet to find a wash cloth anywhere in South America. I just bring one along. Even cheaper hostels probably will not provide sheets, or just “rent” them out for extra. Definitely something to be prepared for if staying in hostels. Oh and you DEFINITELY want flip flops for dorm style showers.

Buenos Aires definitely has lots of lodging options. Another popular choice seems to be renting an apartment in the city, with prices as low as $35 per night for a week. I would have definitely looked into an apartment rental if we were planning to stay in BsAs for a solid week, especially since it seems like many of them are in Recoleta. We really wanted to stay in that neighborhood but couldn’t find any hostels there. We both agreed that the hostels were both good, comfortable, cheap options. We look forward to staying in more in the future, in other cities!