A Trip of Many Firsts (very detailed, Med Cruise)UPDATED 3/8

[Kaleigh]

Day 5- Traveling to Dougga. So, I am not one of those women that has to use the restroom all the time. I have known them, and I am not one. But, for some reason on this particular day, about 2 hours into the trip to Dougga, it hit me bad. I suffer in silence for awhile until I just have to ask the tour guide how much longer we have left. My answer: "oh we must be at least halfway by now"
I couldn't help it, I just started crying. I just kept thinking "I am stuck in this bus, with over an hour left to go to some ruin in the middle of Africa on my birthday and I have to pee worse than I ever have in my life." After 15 minutes or so of crying and James trying to comfort me, I am forced to explain my situation to the tour guide. Very kindly, he suggests that we stop at a cafe in a little town he knows nearby. I am so relieved, I cannot even tell you.
We finally get to the little town, which is really more like a village to you and me, and the younger of the tour guides walks me in and deals with the guy running the cafe so that I can find relief. I am pointed to this closet basically with a door that has no lock and barely shuts. The toilet has no seat, and there is no paper and it is really not clean at all. Do I care? Uh, uh. I have my trusty paper that I jacked from the ship As I leave, the other ladies have lined up at the door, with all their husbands behind them. Turns out, everyone needed the facilities, I was just the only one willing to speak up. Oh, and no one else thought to bring paper, so my roll made its way through the whole tour group and I was the hero. Of the restroom...
I was talking to the younger tour guide, and it turns out that cafes in this part of Tunisia do not allow women inside them. So, they were very kind in letting us enter etc. After we are all finished, the older tour guide decides that this is a great opportunity to show us what small town Tunisian life is like. Let me tell you, it is not like our life. Just walking down the street, the "stores" were just little alcoves in a brick wall with no electricity or running water. We passed a "barber shop" which was just a barber's chair in the alcove and a bowl of water on a table. Next was a clothing store, which was just robes hung all over the alcove walls and a table of shoes. There was a fruit stand and a drug store which just had toiletry type stuff. Many of the women were wearing the full burka, and some of the people would try to turn away to make sure we couldn't take a picture of them. It was such an interesting experience. Here are some photos.

That last photo is the government building of this city, which is probably why it is so nice. I really loved all the blue and white and hope to see Sidi Bou Said next time which is a city all painted in the blue and white. The reason for the colors is that the white is cooler and the blue is to turn away the mosquitos. We finally leave our unscheduled detour, and head out to Dougga!

 

[KenShyGuy]

Really enjoying your re-cap. We're taking this cruise in May of next year and I'm enjoying getting everyone's perspective. Thanks for taking the time!

 

[Kaleigh]

Really enjoying your re-cap. We're taking this cruise in May of next year and I'm enjoying getting everyone's perspective. Thanks for taking the time!

Thank you for reading! Sometimes I feel like I am talking to myself over here.
If you have any questions about the cruise, feel free to ask!

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

I'm still reading, too! Keep it comin'!

 

[Kaleigh]

Thanks guys! I am currently spending my last week with my husband before he leaves for Iraq. I will be back in earnest next week.

 

[kcooley]

Take your time - that is SOOO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT! Tell him thank you for us.

Thanks for the tips prior to our cruise - we'll post a TR to compare notes.

 

[disneylove69]

Just finished and can't wait for more. I didn't know the cruise went to Africa. I have a friend who know every bathroom in town so I don't think this would be her type of trip

 

[Nikki'sMommy]

Great TR!!! Enjoy this time with dh and thank him for his service..Godspeed...

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Hi Kaleigh! Just hopped over here from Hallie's trip report...
Very interesting reading on a Sunday afternoon.
Beautiful pictures too!

Safe and speedy return to your husband!

 

[Kaleigh]

Still Day 5 At Dougga
So, we finally arrive at Dougga which is on a hilltop next to another tiny village. Apparantly there are some people who live near there (arabic people) who believe themselves to be descendents of the Roman people of Dougga. The tour guide seemed to treat this as a joke, insinuating that these people are crazy, but I wondered why else anyone would live out here.
One thing to know about museums etc in Europe: they have so many that they treat them VERY differently than we do in the US. For example, while we are touring the ruins, a man on his donkey comes down a hill in the middle of the ruins presumably to go get water or something. In the baths, there were ancient "pipes" that the water used to run through. We were encouraged to put our fingers up in them to see how they worked. In the US, the entire site would have been behind plexiglass. Seriously, I recently went to Mount Vernon, something about 1700 years younger than Dougga, and there was serious ropeage to keep us from breathing on anything, much less touching anything. Just interesting to me
I know you are dying to see what I am talking about, so I will show you our first view of Dougga.

This is entering the amphitheatre from behind.

This is backstage/wings. Notice the awesome half statue on the right.

Me, talking to my now friend and tour guide, Tarek on the stage. The acoustics were crazy amazing. I wanted to sing so badly.

Me on stage in front of the audience.

James onstage being silly.

More to come! I am going to split this up because it is so picture heavy.

 

[Kaleigh]

Still Dougga
After seeing that amazing amphitheatre, we walk to the top of it and turn a corner and see this.

Okay, we had to walk up to it to get that picture, but it is the Capitol of Dougga and it was amazing. It is kind of a combination of a temple and a government building. In the back, there was a little alcove where a statue of Zeus or someone would have been. The walls were all still very much in tact, but the roof was gone. Here is another view.

Let me tell you, I was more impressed by this than anything I saw in Pompeii, but that is just me and our experience in Pompeii was... less than perfect. But that is the next day, and I will get there eventually.
As we walked around Dougga, I talked to Tarek a good bit, asking him about their culture etc. It was very interesting and I feel like I got a better feel for Tunisia than most people. It just seems to me that you need to try to understand the people of a place a bit before you can judge it. I learned that men aren't expected to marry until they are at least 30, that their marriage celebration is the only big party of their life and it lasts 7 days. (I told him about my birthday and he wished me a happy one, but explained that they don't celebrate them so much, that the wedding is it.) He told me about how he was almost finished with college. You can major in being a tour guide there. And he knows 4 languages and is learning his fifth, Italian. Cool guy! And next time we go back, I am hiring Tarek to show us around privately!
Oh, and here is a great pic of James and I that looks like we took it infront of a fake background.

I love how there is NO ONE else in the picture. Try getting that clean a shot at Cinderella's Castle. Actually, there were a few school groups at the site that day which were interesting to watch. The teenagers were just like ours, texting while sitting on ruins and giggling. The younger kids were very intrigued by us and dying to practice their English. Apparantly, the more wealthy people of Tunisia send their children to private school where they begin to learn English in 1st grade. All Tunisians know French and Arabic. Tarek said that in public school, they don't learn English til 5th grade. But these kids were even learning Chinese! It seems like there is a great divide between the classes there. It was funny watching our group interact with them as most of our group were pretty old.
We toured the rest of the site, taking our time and hearing good stories from the guide. Then, we had a bathroom break that he warned would be our last (directed at me, I presume) and headed back.
One funny thing that I left out: On the way there, the guide opened the discussion up to questions. Anything we wanted to know about Tunisia. Well, you would have thought the rest of our tour group thought we were on the back side of the moon. Here are some examples
Q. (Looking at the farmland, one lady asks) How DO you get the water to farm all this land?
A. (Tour guide, straight faced without blinking) Rain
Q. How do people know where their land ends? I don't see any fences.
A. We have fences, but generally people do know which is their land. And some of it is owned by the government. (Kaleigh is thinking... "woman, have you ever driven through the US?)
And it continued. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we're idiots...

We get back to the boat and do a little shopping. On the way back, Tarek shows me a powerpoint presentation he put together about Tunisia Tourism. I really want to visit the Bardo Museum which has the world's largest collection of mosaics next time and Sidi Bou Said (the blue and white house place). I buy a tile to hang on my wall and as we are shopping, who do we see but.... Phil Keller and his lovely assistant. Actually, she is his wife and looks WAY different without the catsuit. Like a 40 year old soccer mom. I take the time to complement her on the show because she really did more than him, and we head onto the boat STARVING. It is almost 2 already and we have eaten nothing but room service breakfast all day. The tour went about an hour and a half too long, but we didn't mind. For 39 a piece, we felt like we got our money's worth. Unfortunately, they quit offering this tour later in the summer. Maybe because of the distance and the food thing. But, Dougga rocked!

 

[akluss]

Great report and pictures! Dougga looks incredible, so much better than Carthage, which was a big disappointment. You made the right choice. I'm a bit surprised it is not a more well known sight, maybe because of the distance from the port. Looking forward to reading about your experiences in Naples. Karyn

 

[living20057]

I'm enjoying your report. I look forward to hearing the rest.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Don't you wish you could hit a mute button when some people start talking? I wonder what or if people think about what they are asking?

 

[Kaleigh]

Great report and pictures! Dougga looks incredible, so much better than Carthage, which was a big disappointment. You made the right choice. I'm a bit surprised it is not a more well known sight, maybe because of the distance from the port. Looking forward to reading about your experiences in Naples. Karyn

Thanks Karyn! I hope that I will get back on the ball with this report and write Naples up soon. We did everything ourselves.

I'm enjoying your report. I look forward to hearing the rest.

Thank you for commenting and reading!

Don't you wish you could hit a mute button when some people start talking? I wonder what or if people think about what they are asking?

OMG, yes. I was truly embarrassed for them and Americans in general.

 

[Kaleigh]

A few more things about Tunisia in general:

We drove through Tunis and it was unlike anything I have seen before. There was a "park" that had trash just everywhere. We saw a guy walking down the road, eating something, and he just threw the remnants on the ground. People had trash in their yards and on the sidewalk. It makes you wonder about how many of our recycling/green efforts are being made null by other places in the world. Not saying we shouldn't try, but it is disheartening.

I felt completely welcome by the Tunisian people. Tarek told me how interested they are in American culture etc. He said that Michael Jackson once came there for a concert, and it was a HUGE deal. They think of themselves as very Western. There were a few women in full burka, but most women were not covered at all. Some young women wore the scarf, but with modern, stylish clothes.
Even saying all that, I wouldn't want to attempt to tour this country or city by myself. I am really glad that we will have Tarek showing us around when we go back!

That afternoon, we rested and prepared for my birthday dinner at Palo! But first, we watched the forgettable "Once Upon a Song". So, this show felt like they went
"Oh, no! We need another show. What can we do? Well, so and so can sing. But what can they sing? All of our good stuff is in other shows. Well, they can sing the other stuff that people haven't heard in awhile. You mean like "Candle on the Water" and "Feed the Birds"? No, those songs are actually good. Remember how there was a song in Brother Bear? Maybe that one. And a really melodramatic performance of "God Help the Outcasts". "
No costumes, no dancing unless you count swaying and moving forward dramatically. I knew most of the songs just because I am a Disney music nut, but was not especially pleased to hear them. The singers were okay, but I felt sorry for them for having to deliver that material. It felt like a bad revue. Worst show we saw that cruise.

Okay, enough of that. On to good things, like Palo. Now, James was not convinced we needed to spend 30 dollars to have a decent meal on board and was really worried that the food would be the same as the main dining room. He was a little cranky about having to wear a tie and a touch on edge. Let me tell you, this meal convinced him. (I needed no convincing) We started with antipasti
(must warn you. my food pictures suck. they looked so much better small, so I am just showing you the thumbnails)

Yum. This is where James discovered that he liked prosciutto. My appetizer was polenta with mushroom

We also got a prosciutto flatbread that I must have forgotten to take a picture of. For our meals, we split a lobster ravioli

I got the lamb

and James got the steak which he proclaimed better than any he had in the main dining room

We got a mint sherbet as a palate cleanser

And for dessert, the souffle and the panna cotta

The souffle was amazing, and the panna cotta a little bland. All in all, a great meal, although James said nothing about my birthday, due to the fact that he hates when people in restaurants make a fuss over him with a passion. Now, he knows better.
Next up, a "newlywed" game that I really wanted to be a part of.

 

[Kaleigh]

I know that no one is reading this anymore because I have taken so long to update, but my husband in Iraq wants me to finish, so I am getting back to it. I will write first, and then add pictures later because that is the part that takes me so long.

Okay, so picking up after our dinner at Palo, we continue our tradition of going to Rockin Bar D's, this time for the Match your Mate game. I thought that it would be really fun to be a part of the game, especially with it being my birthday, but James was not as enthusiastic. So, they get a couple that is just married, a "wild and crazy" couple, and one who is old. The only chance we have is of being the "wild and crazy" couple. Dave asks all the couples who want to be this couple to do something crazy when the music starts. My idea is to have James pick me up since he is so tall and I am so short, I think it will be cute. When the music starts, I try to get James to do it and he hesitates. Meanwhile, another couple is simply dancing, and they get chosen. Dang! And that is about as "wild and crazy" as they get.
Just an example, when they answer the question about the most wild place they have ever "experienced the magic", their answer is... their living room. Yep. Even the old people had a better answer (their outdoor hot tub). Not divulging any personal secrets, but we would have had MUCH better answers. The best part of the game ended up being the newlywed couple who were actually on their honeymoon. The females had to describe their love life, choosing between movie titles "The Incredibles", "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Gone in 60 Seconds". The two older couples picked "The Incredibles", but the newlywed girl picks "Gone in 60 Seconds". And then, her new husband is forced to come back in and hear about it in front of a roomful of people. Now, these people were from Japan, and were obviously embarrassed to begin with. As the answers were revealed, the guy is blushing madly, while the girl is throwing back champagne, trying not to make eye contact and giggling. It made for a pretty funny scene. For the rest of the vacation, they will be known to James and I as "the sex couple". We actually saw them many times because they seemed as intent on making it to all the events as we were. We even took a picture of them without their knowing it, just to preserve the memories.
As far as birthdays go, I don't think I will forget it: Amazing food at Palo, Roman ruins and amazing scenery, and lots of laughs to end the day with.

Tomorrow is Naples!

 

[Elfinjojo]

Yay an update. I wondered where this TR had gone. Look forward to further updates.

 

[Kaleigh]

It's Mother's Day, and we are in Naples!

So, as specific as my plan is for Naples, it will not be good enough because nothing, and I mean NOTHING can prepare us for this city. That is not to say I didn't love it, but it was so overwhelming in almost every way. And, it was my first day in Italy which has since begun a passion for all things Italian resulting in another vacation to Italy for us this year, and I am learning the language. So, pronto? (Ready?) Here we go.

We get off the boat as early as possible. The plan is to walk to the train station (which is not particularly close) and ride the circumvesuviana (commuter train that circles vesuvius) to Pompeii. After Pompeii, we will go back to Naples and see the Archaeology Museum. We know we want to have pizza, then we have to see the Piazza del Plescibito. Why this particular piazza? Well, we have been watching Rudy Maxa's travel shows for years. During the opening titles of the show, it flashes through shots of famous places all over Europe. One of the more memorable shots is of a toddler running through a piazza, pigeons scatter amongst a backdrop of what looks like the Pantheon with arms like at St. Peters. We figured out that this place is in Naples, the aforementioned Piazza and decide that we have to visit it. (We have since decided that we want to visit all the places in the Rudy Maxa title sequence) The last place on our must-do list... the Galleria Umberto. It is a mall that was built around the same time as the Eiffel Tower and has similar ironwork (and we saw it on Samantha Brown's show).

We leave the boat and head toward the city, dodging taxi drivers and walk a couple of streets in. It is Sunday morning, Mother's Day, and the streets are pretty deserted. First impressions of Naples: Naples is dirty. There is a lot of grafitti and just trash in various places. I have spent a decent amount of time in New York, and this is much dirtier than New York. Now, it is not Tunisia, but it is slightly disconcerting.
As we walk toward the train station (or at least in the general direction), we pass an unassuming door which is open, and we notice mass times posted. It is Sunday, and we had hoped to make it to mass, so this works out perfectly. We slip inside and sit in the back row. It is only us, Italian grandmothers and maybe 2 single guys. There are possible 20 people there for mass, but it is an enjoyable experience. For the first time, I understand the purpose of the fabulous art in these churches. The people did not understand latin, which was spoken at masses, so they looked at the art and learned much of the church's teachings from the art. Yep, I stared at paintings for the entire mass, but even this small church must have been 500 years old and was beautifully decorated. I took comfort in the familiarity of the mass, even with these people from a country across the world from me. They were/are part of my church family, and I am reminded of them often at my own church back home.
With church done, we continue our trek toward the train station, crossing several streets in the process which, in Naples, is taking your life in your own hands.(or so it feels) Scooters, vespas, motorcycles and even cars zip by with little to no regard for traffic signs, lights, signals, nada. To cross a street, you must try to find a hole (unlikely since they go so fast), or just step off the curb and trust that they will not hit you. Apparently, they won't. We learned from our dinner mates, who spent a week in Rome, that the key is to just step out and to keep a steady pace, neither speeding up nor slowing down. The drivers then calculate how fast they need to go in order to miss you. Generally, we attempted to follow Italians across the street.

More to come, I don't want to accidentally lose what I have written.

 

[Kaleigh]

Naples-Continued!

After surviving multiple street crossings and consulting an older couple, also from the cruise, we find our way to the train station. Technically, the station is in Piazza Garibaldi, and as quaint as we will come to find many piazzas in Italy, this is not one of them. There is a large statue of Garibaldi in the center which is covered in graffiti and homeless people. The entire piazza feels dangerous with all the people hanging about and the buses barreling through. But, it is a necessity on this trip because it is where the train station is located.
We make our way into the train station and go about trying to find the "circumvesuviana". Now, if you haven't studied Italian at all, you may not know that "ci" is che. But, it makes sense if you think about "ciao". I did not realize this at the time and found myself asking security guards for directions and getting blank stares. Even the tourist information office was not helpful as her directions were about as vague as they could get. Finally, a nice man overheard me asking a security guard and pointed me in the correct direction. My suggestion to anyone following in my footsteps... mention Pompeii. You can't screw that up.
Buying tickets is no issue, and our train leaves almost immediately. On our way out of Naples we see graffiti, more graffiti and laundry hanging out of windows. Finally, we get to some scenery and see the lemon trees this area is so famous for. (Limoncello, anyone?) We finally arrive at Pompeii (Scavi, in case you are heading that way). It is a short walk through some vendors to the main gate, and we purchase our tickets and head up the hill to the site. By the way, toilets still do not have seats on them.
We begin by using Rick Steve's audio guide (and guide torn from his guidebook) and we hit a snag. We cannot find our way around. The directions are just not clear enough, and he keeps referencing a map that he says we should have picked up when we bought our tickets. So we head into the gift shop to pick up a guide book and they happen to be putting out fresh pizza right at that moment. It is practically empty in the food court area and we decide to grab a bite. Now, some may be critical of this being our only pizza from the area, but let me tell you... it was amazing. Thin crust that Naples is known for, easy to fold, cheese almost sliding off, yummy. Don't get me wrong, next time I plan to head to a true Neapolitin pizzaria, but this was good stuff.
We head back out with new energy and guidebook and tour the baths, but we are still getting lost. There is one particular house that we cannot seem to find and we walk all over that place searching for it. Which isn't easy because the stones are original and the walking is super hard on your feet. There are chariot grooves in the roads, which is neat, but makes for very unsteady walking. We attempt to follow around a disney tour group for a few minutes and meet up with... the older couple from the previous day. Yes, the people that we had rolled our eyes about asking silly questions saved our butts in Pompeii because they had a map to spare. Turns out we had actually walked by the house we were looking for, but it was closed for renovation.
We are fed up with Pompeii at this point. We have argued some, it is hot and there are tons of people milling around. Nothing we have seen has been as impressive as what we saw yesterday at Dougga, and we finally decide to leave. What we took away from Pompeii:
1. Get the map when you get your ticket.
2. We will not go back until Veronica wants to see it.
3. All of the original art from Pompeii is at the Naples Archaeology Museum. (where we are heading next)

Don't make Pompeii the only thing you see in the Naples area. You are missing out.
The train ride back is easy, and after searching(to no avail) for the metro which is supposedly in the train station, we set out on foot with a map from the tourist info for the museum which looks to be a couple miles away. Remember my previous description of Naples? It doesn't get better as we head to the museum. Plus, we get turned around at one point, but eventually get there. At least I wore comfortable shoes today. Next up: the museum!