To the markets!

It is chaos.
It is beautiful.
It is fun.
This is Egypt!

We were going to the markets! 

The traffic was terrible. 

When we finally got to the markets it was overwhelming, as always, but in a good way. From the banter of the sellers to the prayer beads to the smell of Turkish coffee. This is the real Egypt. 

By the time we arrived, my brother was very hungry and starting to get moody, so my mum, brother and I sat on an old stone wall to wait while my dad went off to buy us some fuul and taamiya sandwiches (taamiya is another word for falafel). 

Across from the wall were shops selling sibha, which are prayer beads. They look really cool so I bargained with the guy and bought a few to hang in my room.

The markets are always raging with food and cultural sights. The carpet weavers hang their colourful rugs up and the smell of Turkish coffee and bread is very distinctive. 

We walked through the market, turning every corner to find a marvellous array of carpets, chickens, perfumes, rugs, guitars, ouds, souvenirs and lots of little nicknacks. 

When we walked into the perfume store (owned by my grandfather’s friend), the smell was overwhelming. It smelt like 4 litres of pure perfume was in that room. That was probably about right. Which is impressive, because the store is only 3 metres long! This is the real Egypt!

A great way to start the new year

 
It was a normal Friday morning. Every Friday morning, everybody goes to the mosque to pray. It was New Year's Day so the mosque was especially busy and very crowded. 

Normally my dad, brother and I pray outside but it was very wet because it had rained the night before so we decided to pray inside. To do so, we had to get there especially early to arrive before everyone else. Unfortunately everyone in Heliopolis had the same idea. Luckily, we still ended up inside. Our friend Mohamed followed us to the mosque and he sat with us.

We picked a good spot to pray. We did our first pray, which was only 2 verses long and was just in preparation for the actual pray, which was 4 verses long and was with the sheikh (the man who is reciting the Qur'an). 

During the pray everyone is lined up toe to toe. There are about 20 rows of 30 in the mosque. And that was just that particular day; most of the time on New Year's Day there are even more people, but it was too wet to pray outside. 

After the pray everyone was flooding out of the building. I was in a big rush to get out. 

In front of me was a very old blind man. I could see that he was having trouble getting out, so I held his hand and put his other arm around me and helped him out of the mosque. That was definitely a great way to start the year!!! 

Napoli, home of pizza and buskers and artists!

We spent a few days in Naples, home to Mt. Vesuvius and the birthplace of the world's first pizza. 


Napoli, as it's called in Italy, was nice, but it was very different from Florence and Rome. Napoli is where we did the most walking, I think. We walked to the sea almost every day. It was the Mediterranean Sea. This sea connects to the beach on the north coast of Egypt.

In Napoli, we went out a lot. Every day and every night. Then, we had one day left. At that point I had consumed about 12 pizzas. And even more gelatos. Sorry Hash (that's my uncle), but I evened it out with about 15-20 km walking a day.

There were buskers everywhere. Many of them were playing the violin, which I want to learn. There were artists painting on the cobblestone roads. That inspired me to get back into art, so my mum bought me a new sketch book.

Napoli looks and feels a lot like Cairo, with the chaotic vibe and the rubbish on the streets, but Egypt is obviously a lot more meaningful to me than Napoli.

It is a great city and I definitely recommend you go and visit Napoli!!! Home of Mt. Vesuvius and the world's first pizza!

Pompeii. Stepping into the past.

Pompeii. The ancient city. We walked through the gates of the city and it was like stepping into the past. I saw ruins and perfectly preserved dead people. 

We walked for a little bit longer, admiring the scene around us. It was amazing how preserved the city was. Archeologists and scientists have learnt a lot about Ancient Italian life from the Pompeiians.

We walked past lots of ruins of houses, kitchens, tombs, beds and battlegrounds; they were all made from cobblestone. Even the beds were cobblestone; all preserved. 

The next thing we wanted to see was the bodies of the dead people. In the year 79 a volcano called Mt Vesuvius erupted and covered the city of Pompeii in a 6 foot layer of ash. Years later, archeologists dug up the remaining things like cups, chairs, animals and humans!

The humans that were covered by the ash from the volcano were preserved for 100s of years; they were frozen in time from the ash like statues!!! Some people were kissing, some were sleeping, some were dancing, some were even fighting to the death! It was amazing how cool it was!!!

Climbing up an active volcano!

I was so excited. We were in Pompeii and we were going to Mt Vesuvius! The most dangerous volcano on earth. 

Every 20 years, Vesuvius erupts. It usually has an eruption cycle of 20 years, but has not erupted in 71 years, but scientists say that Vesuvius is still active and that it could erupt at any moment; that's what makes it so dangerous. 

A man drove us up the mountain with his taxi (his own car). Plus it was a better deal than the bus. When we got to the base of the climbing path he said we had 1 hour. We hiked up the mountain; about halfway up it started to get colder. We started to walk a bit slower. I was tired because Nazar and I ran the first part, until it got cold. Also, the high altitude makes the climbing a bit more difficult. That's why professional athletes often train in high altitude areas - when they return to a lower altitude, it seems much easier for them.

When we finally got to the top the view was extraordinary. You could see the whole city of Naples and the Bay of Naples. There was a small shop up there; my brother got his friend some rocks bcause he collects them. On the way down we were strolling down, pretty relaxed; but nahhh, I hurt my ankle, obviously. We finally got to the bottom; I was battling a war in my ankle. We got to the taxi just in time and the guy drove us back to Pompeii. 

The best pizza in Florence!

Today we hung out with our cousins at their home in Florence, Italy. When we got to their house, we played with them for a long time and had lunch. By the way, they are only six and three. After lunch we went to the park and designed obstacle courses for each other. We played in the leaves and it was really very fun.

After that my uncle (who is actually my dad's cousin, but like my uncle) took me on a ride on his mororcycle, which is called a scooter. He drove me around the area and then asked me if I wanted to drive. I obviously said yes straight away. I drove it around and he taught me how to slow down! I'm pretty much a professional now. 

We said goodbye, we went home on a bus. After a while, we got ready to go my uncle's restaurant. He is the best pizza maker in all of Florence!!! I mean he actually is, I'm not just exaggerating. He is well known in the local industry. When the taxi dropped us to his restaurant we said hello and then sat and ordered. Our waitress spoke to us in pretty good Arabic, even though she is Italian! Her Arabic was much better than our Italian. I ordered steak, chips and salad, and my family all ordered pizza and risotto. That steak was... the best steak I have ever had in my life!!!

My dad and I helped my brother and my mum finish off their pizza!!! That was actually the best pizza ever!!! Better than dominos pizza!!! After the meal we said goodbye because we were going to Naples, home of Mt Vesuvius, the next morning. My uncle is one of the kindest guys ever!!! 

Leaning Tower of Pisa

We were in a rush! We ran to the train station, jumped aboard and we were off to Pisa. 

The train ride was a little boring because I was thinking about the fact that I haven't touched a basketball in 8 days. When we finally got to Pisa we walked around the area for a while. The streets were beautiful, as are most of the streets I've been on in Italy. I love the cobblestones. We walked for a little bit longer and then decided to go to the leaning tower. 

I could see the top of the tower from the end of the street. It's actually an abandoned bell tower from the 1100s. Back then,  the soil around the tower was clay. They built the first three floors and then started noticing a lean in the tower. They left the soil for 100 years so it would harden. Exactly 100 years later, they started building again, up to the seventh floor. But the lean would always be there.

Embarrassingly, I bought a selfie stick. Okay, okay I know what you're going to say. “Why the hell did I buy a selfie stick?" It was only to capture the landscape; and to take some awesome selfies. Plus, I was curious because in Rome literally every second person had one. 24 selfies later, we walked around the market area. Everything was leaning. Even the cups that the people were selling. I wouldn recommend a selfie stick, they're really annoying after about half an hour. 

It was a great day!!! After walking so much our feet were sore, we took the train back to Florence, where my mm begged me for a foot massage. Of course I said yes (after bargaining for extra time on the iPad.)