Girls Trip to Morocco

Day 3
Atlas Mountains

Today is the first day of our trek into the Sahara, Jade’s most highly anticipated part of the whole trip. Our guides picked us up at our hotel and packed us into their 4x4 Toyota and we were off for the 10 hour journey!

We drove through an interesting and varied landscape, with cacti, olive trees, palm trees, desert, Berber villages, nomads moving their herd of camels, goat herders tending to their flock on the mountainside, rivers, mountains, forests, golf courses, donkeys carrying goods, mopeds puttering along, and so much more I’m forgetting.

It was a long journey, and I started to really long for our hotel the last hour. I didn’t know what to expect, we paid for the top tier (luxury) accommodations, but here in the mountains, who knows what that could mean. In Yellowstone, the fanciest place in the whole park was really probably 3 stars. Well, was I wrong! We showed up to this place and it’s amazing. It kind of reminds me of Gocek the first time we went there. Calming, beautiful, relaxed, elegant. I love it here. I would come back here and do lots of hiking and rock climbing, it's beautiful! I'll take pictures of the hotel tomorrow before we leave.

Oh! The candlelit 5 course dinner included in our trip was superb, too!

Tomorrow we head into the Sahara! Our first time in a legit desert (Las Vegas, Utah and Palm Springs don’t count).

Sailing Turkey

Day 4:  Today was incredible!

Ian and I decided to change up our itinerary this morning, we did some research and picked the next few spots for stopping and got right off to our first one before Leah even woke up!  Up first... we wanted to check out a bay with some snorkeling and ruins that were just south of us.

As soon as we arrived, we did some swimming and paddle boarding

Then went for an awesome hike around ruins and up jagged rocks to the flag.

Doesn't our boat look pretty?

It was some real rock climbing, but we made it!

When we got back from our hike/ climb we couldn't believe how many tourists were surrounding our boat, so we saved it from the noodle wielding, banana boat riding, water wing wearing, loud mouth tourists and got out to our next anchorage.  As you can see from the map, it was quite a distance to get to our next spot, but boy was it worth it!

We tucked our boat up to a private beach and decided to cook up some chicken for lunch.  Only we have no grill, so Ian and I had the same thought at the same time, let's make a fire on the beach!

It was so yummie!  We added some fresh olive oil and even some rosemary we scavenged from nearby.

With our bellies full, it was time to hike again.  There were the ruins of a castle that dated to over 2,500 BC.  We walked all along the perimeter of it.

That's our boat across the bay

We decided to head to one of the restaurants along the water for some mezze (tapas) and drinks, then back to bed.  What a day!

Tour of Turkey

Day 5:  Cappadocia

After yesterday's "worst vacation day ever," we couldn't have asked for a better follow up day.  To just wrap yesterday up, we wound up sleeping for about an hour on the airport seats, then sleeping the whole hour and 10 minutes on the plane to Cappadocia.  That's it.  But let me tell you something, when we got to Cappadocia, everything from yesterday felt like it was so far away.  This place, the people, the vibe here is just peaceful and calming.  If it weren't for the fact that I'm exhausted beyond words, this could be one of the best vacation days ever.

We picked up our rental car and got to the cave hotel where the staff couldn't have been kinder or more welcoming.  They showed us to our room and I can't even describe it to you.  when I say cave, I mean it's dug out from inside of the face of a mountain, with all of the walls from the different rooms, all of the nooks and crannies, all of the ceilings, are the mountain.  It's spectacular.  Easily the coolest place we ever slept in (and we've slept in a 5 story real log cabin, among other very cool places).  There is a hole in the ceiling where they would once use to ventilate the smoke from the fire pit.  Jade's bed is where they once made their wine.  The giant bathroom is where the animals were kept over the winter, it's just amazing.

Once we were settled in and had a cup of coffee, the owners gave us an itinerary to get us a few hours of sightseeing in and suggested we come back and finish the day with them.  Our journey started with a castle carved into the tallest peak in the area.  It was so cool, we wound up exploring and hiking all around this place and probably spent too much time here, but we just couldn't help ourselves.  I bought a few things from the local vendors, and the people here are seriously so nice.

Castle:  We need to get to that flag way up there!

What a journey

Made it!

We moved on and saw some amazing views and cool caves, had lunch and headed back to get some rest.

After I took a nap and we had some more coffee, the next part of our day was with Cem, the owner's son.  He took us to one of the oldest caves, a Hittite home carved into a mountain side, and then an ancient Roman Church carved into the same mountain.

Ancient church

Jade in front of the oldest house we ever saw.

Then we went to learn a bit about the millenniums old pottery making that is still happening using the same techniques and materials as in biblical times.  Jade event got to try!

We went to do some more sightseeing

until I finally broke.  We went home, and I uploaded pictures after a much needed shower while Jason and Jade had a little alone time walking the streets of this adorable town.  Afterwards, we went up to the terrace to have a beer and take in the town at night.

Tomorrow morning we are getting up super early (4:30am) for our hot air balloon ride.  It's going to be amazing to see this landscape from that vantage point.  I just cannot wait!