Last Ports!

I'm about out of internet time so I'm going to combine posts for Greece and Croatia.

Greece was fantastic, as expected, but I only got to explore two of the days because I was sick the other two. The first day we went to the acropolis and it was boiling hot but I loved getting to see the real Parthenon! It's fenced off and under construction of some sort, so I couldn't climb around like I wanted, but I suppose it's people like me that are the reason it's got a fence! I ran into a friend of a friend from Nashville (not on SAS) there as well; I thought the location was perfect since I often run into people at the Parthenon in Nashville! We also went to the original Olympic stadium and drove by a lot of other monuments.
That night a bunch of friends and I went to the beach to watch the sun set (except we were on the wrong side of the harbor!) and hung out there, ate pizza (as good in Greece as it was in Italy!) and then went home. Nothing too exciting!
The last day I was feeling better and went to a beach to just relax. They had lots of blow-up toys in the water, including a trampoline, see saw, and an "iceberg" to climb! Lots of fun ensued. Greece has wonderful shopping and I wish I could have spent more time doing that, but I suppose my credit card is glad I didn't!

There was only one day at sea, then Croatia. (Fun fact: The tie was invented in Croatia!) We spent most of the time in Old Town Dubrovnik, which is the medieval part of the city. All the buildings in the Old Town have red roofs! We walked the walls and it was one of the most photogenic places I've ever been. I've also never been so hot in my entire life. Who would have thought that Croatia would be hotter than Egypt? Inside the walls there's a lot of restaurants and shopping, so we spent the rest of the day there. There's also the third oldest pharmacy in the world and the oldest arboretum in the world, but somehow I missed going to both! I slept in the next day and then spent the afternoon at the beach, and went to bed early. (I think I was getting the beginnings of sun stroke again.) The last day we finished up shopping - although it was a Sunday and the one place I wanted to go was closed :( - and went to a cafe that's on the outside edge of the wall by the sea. We watched people jump from 15, 30, 45, and 90 foot cliffs! Occasionally boats would pass and the passengers would cheer on whomever was about to jump. People who were walking the wall did the same. I'm sure my parents will be glad to hear that I refrained from jumping at all! I figure after having done parabungy I don't need any more cool adrenaline stories from this trip! Plus, the lower jumps looked (although everyone insists they weren't) a little too close to the rocks below them and the 90 foot jump was, well, 90 feet high. The water knocked one girl unconscious, busted a few peoples' lips, and just about everyone who did it emerged with black and blue bruises on whichever part(s) of their bodies that hit the water first. I personally think that jumping 600 feet with all sorts of harnesses and falling into nothing is much less scary (and less painful) than cliff jumping! Still, the cafe was the prettiest one yet!

I can't believe we have 12 whole days at sea! In the next 3 days I have 3 papers and 6 field reports (short papers about my in-port experiences) and then after those are all done we have finals. The academic situation isn't the best organized, and it's especially difficult trying to work at sea since as soon as the boat starts moving I start feeling sick. Since I don't want to pay for more internet time this will be my last post, but I'll be home in less than 2 weeks and at school in less than 3! I can't wait to see everyone!

Egypt

Overall, Egypt was my least favorite port. The city was incredibly, incredibly dirty (we even saw a dead horse in the canal!) and having to to wear long pants and long sleeves in 120 degree heat is uncomfortable. The taxis were crazy and terrifying at first - I swear we almost killed dozens of people! - but I got used to them by the end. I did an SAS sponsored trip that took us to Cairo, but I didn't know anyone on my trip, so I think that influenced the fun-factor a bit. 

However, I got to go to the pyramids, the sphinx (which is considerably smaller than I expected), the ziggurat/mastaba (the 5000 year old one with hieroglyphs and paint still inside), the bazaar, and the library of Alexandria (which, despite being the "oldest" library in the world, is a a modern building that just sits on the site of the actual library of Alexandria. Disappointing!). The pyramids were pretty cool - I got to go in one and it was so scary! The steps going in are really steep and you have to bend over halfway to walk through the tunnel, then finally you hit a landing and have to do the same thing going up. Then you hit a big empty room with a stone tomb (no elaborate decorations) inside. I pretty much looked around, then booked it out of there! For some reason I seemed to develop a fear of small, enclosed, underground spaces. The temple with the hieroglyphs was cool, but Egyptian art ceased to really interest me after second grade. The SAS trip that I did also took us out south of Cairo and we had a jeep safari in the desert and then rode camels. I liked the camel ride, but felt bad since the guides whipped them. : ( From what I hear, everyone else had a pretty good time, so I guess this is just another country that I'll have to come back to.
Also, I either incurred the curse of the mummies, or I shouldn't have eaten the Egyptian pancakes (they were a bit like sweet pizza dough, fried, with nuts and honey and fruit in them). Either way, I got food poisoning (and sun stroke, but I doubt the pancakes caused that) that kept me inside for two days in Greece.