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.)

Beautiful Rome

Rome, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. From the shutters on the windows, to the pizza shops on every corner, to the delicious gelato. 

When we got to Rome we went into our apartment. It was really nice but really small. We walked about 15km on the first day of being there, and it was only half a day! We walk everywhere. The first thing we walked to was the colosseum. It was hard to get in because the line was long, but we managed to do it. It was really giant. Gargantuan! There was a maze inside of it!

After that we walked around the city. It was amazing. My mum had to stop at every leather boot shop, and that was like every second shop so it was getting irritating. Then again, they had to stop for me at every sports store in Rome, so it evens out. 

There were people setting up Christmas lights and 
decorations on the streets. Every corner that we turned was like a museum. After walking around all day, we went back to our apartment. I cooked pasta that night and it was actually really delicious! 

The next morning, we walked to the colosseum again because the first day my brother and I saw this four person bike/car thing that looked really fun. We got there and hired it. It was 20€ for 1 hour, but my dad, being Egyptian, bargained it down to 15€!

It had a steering wheel and was more like a car than a bike... but you have to pedal. My dad was driving it on the road like a real car. I felt like such a tourist! We were peddling up a big hill. I asked my dad if I could have a go and he said, “Yes, but don't kill us." I'm actually a really great driver, which is surprising because I'm Egyptian!!! After the hour was up we took it back to the guy. 

After that we were walking and walking... and walking! We started to get peckish so decided to get a pizza. But then we were really starving so we got a pizza each... mmm!

The next morning was our last one in Rome. We walked around the city for an hour and then came back to the house to get our luggage. We were off to Florence! In Rome, the people are so relaxed! We caught a taxi to the train station and here I am right now writing this on the the train.
  

Cairo tower is a lotus flower

Today was a great day. The first thing I did was get on the bus. I sat in the window seat, hanging half out of the window. The bus was heading downtown.

When we got there we went looking for the Cairo Tower. We could see the giant thing over our heads but we took the wrong street and couldn't get up. When we finally found the correct street to get to the tower we went up in the elevator. It took three minutes because the building has sixty-eight floors! The tower is 187 metres high. What a random number. 

When we got to the top we looked down from the circular balcony, which goes around the whole tower. It was so high! The view is amazing because you can see across all of the beautiful city, including the Pyramids and the River Nile, with the sun shimmering on the water. I wasn’t worried about falling down because the bars are really high. I felt like a bee on a giant flower because the tower is designed in the shape of a lotus flower, which is Egypt’s national flower. People were blowing up balloons, throwing them off the tower and watching them float down. We took a few photos and kept going. 

We walked back downtown over Qasr el Nil bridge. The bridge is where the first protest was in the 2011 Revolution as people walked across it towards Tahrir Square. 

We were feeling a little bit peckish so we started looking for a shop called Felfella. This man said he would take us to the shop and even though we didn’t need his help we started following him so he could feel helpful. But instead of taking us to Felfella, he took us to his own shop. He was scamming us! We walked into his shop. It was a perfume shop. He told us a story about Mohamed Ali being in his shop. He even showed us a photo. He was trying to sell us a bottle of perfume essence. In the end we ended up with a bottle of perfume. And we call ourselves Egyptian! That's the oldest trick in the book. 

When we finally got to Felfella, I ate falafel sandwiches with hot chips. In Egypt, falafel is called taamiyya. My stomach was full after this meal. It was delicious.

My first few days back in Egypt

My first day back in Egypt was extraordinary! My brother and I ran over to our mate Mohamed’s house (or should I say garage) so we could play on the streets with him. He was over the moon with delight to see us. It had been almost two years since we last saw him. I ran up the stairs to get the soccer ball. We kicked the ball around the dusty streets to a little corner shop called a kushk. I asked the shop owner in Arabic how much the chips were… he told me that they were one pound. Then the three of us leant on an old Mercedes and talked about school in Australia.

The next day Mohamed was at school until two o’clock so my brother and I had a little roam around the streets. My brother spotted something in the distance. He said it looked like a dog. We immediately followed it.

When we got to the black figure, we saw that it was indeed a dog. My brother was a little bit scared of the dog at first, but I told him to let it sniff his hand to get to know it. We patted the skinny dog for a while and I could tell that it was starving,  so I ran back to the flat and brought him some lamb bones from the dinner that we had last night. He ate two of the bones and buried the other three in different places so that if another dog finds the hole he doesn’t take all his bones; he only loses one. At two o’clock I saw Mohamed walking back from school.

I told him to get out of his school uniform and follow us. We walked back to the dog but he wasn’t there. Five seconds later we saw his little figure scuffle out of the bushes. Mohamed was very scared. He is terrified of dogs because he is a small boy and the dog is giant to him. We told him to calm down! The dog sniffed his hand and they became friends. After sitting on some bricks and hanging out for a while, we went home. I yelled up to my other friend, Adham, to come down from his flat and we played in the street and kicked around the soccer ball until ten o’clock at night!

The next day I woke up and made a cup of tea and ate pate bi gibna (small bread-like pastry with white cheese inside). It was delicious. My mum, dad, brother and I went to Korba, which is the suburb where my mum used to live. We ate two of the nicest meat wraps ever. That day my brother and I got very snazzy Egyptian haircuts. On the way home, my family and I came across a corn cart. The corn is cooked over boiling hot coals. Just near the corn cart I could see a lady who was selling mint leaves. My brother and I begged our dad to let us give her some money, so he gave us four pounds. We gave her the money and she gave us three bunches of mint leaves. She was so grateful that she flooded my brother and me with kisses on the cheeks and blessings from God.

Then we looked for a taxi to ride home, which wasn’t very hard because there are taxis everywhere in Egypt. Almost every second car. When we got home I called Mohamed to help us check on the dog and give him some food. I went home at six o’clock and my grandma said that she would take me to the clothes store for my birthday.

When we got to the store I bought a pair a jeans, a leather belt and new shoes! I was so grateful. I woke up the next day and got dressed in my dirtiest clothes so I could run around and play in the dusty streets. I went again to feed the dog and found some boys playing with him. We asked their names… “Ahmed and Mahmoud,” they said. We put half the food for the big dog and then Ahmed and Mahmoud took us over to the other side of the park.

Eleven little puppies were running around. They were not the dog’s puppies; they were another dog’s puppies. They ate the other half of the food. We were playing with them for a while when I saw their mum. If you don’t know already, mother dogs are deadly if they are protecting their puppies. We ran as fast as we could over the bent metal fence. That was a close call!

After a few minutes, the mother was gone. So what did we do? Went in again, of course. I was patting one of the smaller ones when Ahmed told me to put it down and pat one of the bigger ones because the small one was still eating. I asked the boys if I could take one. They said, “Yeah of course; but one of the bigger ones.” They said I had to take two because otherwise it would be lonely. We took the nicest two back to the flat and showed them to our family.

We gave them some milk and potato. While my brother and I were patting our puppies, Mohamed was feeling jealous so I told him I would get him one. I was just about to grab it when I saw the mum.  I said, “RUN! RUN! RUN!” The streets were blocked by a massive mother dog and its friend.

We ran around the corner and saw the dog coming.  The other one was circling the park. When we got safely back to the house, Mohamed and I were breathing very heavily. I couldn’t believe what just happened. My brother said that a huge German shepherd was fighting the mother dog. He said that it looked like the German shepherd had saved my life. It was in that moment that I knew we had to take the puppies back.

We spent ten minutes coming up with a plan. One of us would grab one of the puppies while the other two stood on either side of the road on lookout for the dogs. We were about to start but then realised we hadn’t decided who would do what. Everyone was trying to come up with reasons why they couldn’t be the one to run across the road and deliver the puppies to the other side. Nazar and Mohamed were both looking at me and saying that I was the oldest so I should do it. Of course they pushed me into it.

I grabbed the smallest one by the chest and ran to the road. The coast seemed to be clear so I ran as fast as I could across the road and dropped the puppy, then ran like a puma back to the house while the puppy crept into the park. I grabbed the second puppy and did the same thing; but this time the mother was there! I put it down and then saw the mother dog out of the corner of my eye. I sprinted but then stopped. My brother was nowhere to be seen! My heart was beating 10000,000,000,000 miles an hour. I yelled out, “NAZAR!!! NAZAR!!! NAZAR!!!” Mohamed and I were worried.

Then we heard him yelling, “RUN! RUN!” I waited for my brother to appear before I started running. We got to the house safely. Adrenalin was pumping through my veins. After we caught our breath, my brother told me that my dog looked back and almost got hit by a car. I felt so bad for the little dogs, because I think they were starting to like us.