Turkey

On April 8th we left for Turkey. When we arrived in Istanbul we took another plane to Izmir. After a long ride to our hotel we got settled in and then we visited the ruins of the church of St. John (Not the one that visited Malta.) It was really big.

Then we went to a small town nearby. The owner in one of the shops was really nice, mostly because she knew one of our guides and students from this program had visited her shop before. She gave us discounts on everything! Annika bought a very pretty lantern and I bought a journal which was surprisingly more expensive than Annika's lantern. She also gave each of us a really pretty pouch, and since Annika is collecting coins, one Lyra for free! Mostly because, like most people over here, the lady who owns the store is really fond of Annika. She was Queen in Egypt and now her nickname is princess. Next thing you know she'll be sitting on a throne! And no, I'm not jealous.

We also tried Turkish tea which is actually really good.

The next day we went to see the last standing pillar of the temple of Artemis.

Then we saw the Ephesus museum. Then we went back to the store that we went to the day before. We bought some bracelets for our friends and then we had lunch. We found out that Turkish pizza is really good.

Then we visited some Greek and roman ruins including two theaters and a library. They were really neat.

Then we visited another town which was on the top of one of the mountain/hills (The drive was not fun).We didn't stay long though because we had to fly back to Istanbul.

It was very late when we got there so after the long drive to the hotel we went straight to bed.

On April 10th we went to the spice market. It was really cool! We also found out that we like Turkish delight!

After looking around for a bit we went to the Grand Bazaar. Wow it was huge! Not only that, but it was a maze down there. There were shops everywhere. We spent forever down there. I bought a beautiful (Not to mention expensive) traditional Turkish dress and Annika bought a whole bunch of stuff with the evil eye on it.

The next day we went to the Blue Mosque. My it was grand. We also visited the Aya Sofia. It was cool, but not nearly as grand as the Blue Mosque.

For our last event we visited the Tokapi palace. It wasn't really what most people would envision as a palace, but I still liked it. We saw where the Sultan slept and his mother's quarters. We saw much of the treasury too.

On April 12 we returned to Malta.

A Holiday in Spain

On the 28th of March during spring break we left for Spain. We arrived in Madrid very late at night, though luckily not as late as we where in Egypt.

The next day we went downtown and saw a museum which held some of Monet's paintings. That was probably the most boring part of our trip.

Next we went to a humongous park. It was mostly trees and flowers (which smelled REALLY good) with a big lake at the center of it all but there were also at least three playgrounds. Annika and I also got the chance to row a boat on the lake. It was hard work but I think it was fun too. We spent the rest of the day downtown. I bought a really pretty shawl and a fan for souvenirs.

On March 30th we spent most of the morning in Puerta Del Sol. And guess who we saw? Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Pooh Bear! We also saw a couple other people dressed up in costumes but they weren't Disney characters. The people in Spain really seem to like to dress up because we saw Mickey at the park the day before. Later in the morning we had to leave so we could catch a train to Seville. It was a very long train ride so we only had time to have dinner and go to bed.

On the 31st we went downtown Seville. Yet again we saw more people in costumes. No Disney characters though. Then we saw the Cathedral of Seville. It looked more like a palace than a cathedral. It's the third largest church in the world! Now we've been to the largest and the 3rd largest and Mom has been to the top 3! Later we bought Annika a flamenco dress and a hair clip that matches it. In the evening we saw flamenco dancing! It looked really hard.

On April 1st we had a guided tour of Seville. We saw the cathedral again but we also saw another church and some other places I can't remember.

April 2nd was pretty much the same except later at night we saw a procession that was held because of holy week. They actually handed out candy! Though unfortunately since I'm 1/2 an inch shorter than Mom I look more like a grown up so I didn't get much. Luckily Annika shared some.

The next day we had to get up really early so we could catch the train to Madrid. We took a REALLY long nap when we arrived at our hotel. In the late afternoon we went downtown and bought two pairs of castanets. The next day we woke up at 3:15 so we could head back to Malta.