Day 1: Hiking the Amalfi Coast, Italy

Over the recent Eid el Ahdha holiday in Cairo, I tagged along on a family vacation with my running partner, her husband and their four sons to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We stayed in a large apartment in Maiori, Italy and got around by bus or on foot for the most part.

On our first morning Miles (4), Reece (6), Greyden (8) and I went down to the street to find breakfast. The boys scared some birds and we bought donuts and croissant, which the boys said were dessert. Then we found a fruit stand, but it wasn't open yet. So, we went to the sea and we saw fishermen and stinky, yucky water. When we turned around we saw "farmer steps" in the hillside (actually terraced gardens). We went back to the fruit stand and bought apples, pears and grapes to go with our dessert for breakfast. We brought the goodies back home and ate together.



We took the bus to Amalfi and switched to another bus to Positano. The views from the bus were remarkable. The bus wove around tight corners hugging the cliff face.  From there we bought bread, cheese, and chocolate cookies for lunch. We began an epic day of hiking by walking up many stairs in alleys between houses until we found our path. Our first destination was Santa Maria de Castello. It was a steep trail of switch backs winding up the cliff face from the coast. The boys moved lickity split to the top, pausing now and then to let the old folks close the gap. We were sweaty and chilled as we hiked up into the clouds to the top of this first leg. We ate our lunch at the church looking down at how far we had come. A little dog found us and was hoping the boys would drop their lunch, but no such luck.



Santa Maria de Castello Church

We continued on for the second leg of our hike, which turned from the main road and dropped onto a forest path. We continued to climb, but more gradually this time. A forest fire had clearly burned a portion of the woods. We looked back across the gorge to the church where we had just eaten lunch and were surprised to see how high it was above the coast road where we had begun. The boys were amazing hikers. Their energy knew no bounds, and they continued to have to stop periodically to wait for us to catch up.

Scrambling along the trail through the forest fire remains

In Nocelle we dropped back down to the main road and caught a town bus to the next town over. On our walk to the bus stop we passed grape vines, a fig tree, a persimmon tree, lettuce patches and gardens growing fennel, carrots, and tomatoes. At the bus stop we noticed 2 squash vines climbing up a stone wall with blossoms and young squash growing. It is quite impressive to see the local's use of this land for agriculture. All around the coast, terraced land can be seen for growing a variety of crops. We spotted lemon trees from the bus, but much to Holly's disappointment, have yet to walk through groves of them.

 

Getting off the bus we continued to feel our way to the start of our next hike: Foot path of the Gods. Jeff's hiking guide book never let us down, although we continued to double check with locals. I love the water fountains strewn about the city. Brass piped protruding from stuccoed walls with a small basin beneath, or small, unobtrusive spigots tucked away at the base of a stairway. While we stopped to refill our water bottles, we heard the clomp, clomp of horse hooves on concrete. Looking over our shoulders a young girl was climbing the stairs between two building on horseback, naturally. A concerned old man stopped and asked us if we were planning to hike the Foot path of the Gods with the boys. He urged us against it, saying that it would be too dangerous for them. Clearly he underestimated these hiking machines.

You no take children on Footpath of Gods!

How do the locals manage the endless stairs of Amalfi? On horseback, naturally!
  
Up we climbed, again. This trail hugged the coast almost exclusively, giving way to stunning views of the Mediteranean Sea and the towns below. W stopped to explore an old ruin along the way, but tried to keep our pace up as we were concerned about beating the sunset. After a small directional hiccup, due in part to a crucifix hidden in a garden behind a mesh fence, we were back on track as the dark clouds settled lower over head. Winding our way between terraced gardens and evergreen forests, we came out at a grotto where a couple of horses were stabled. This took us nearly to the end of our hike, with one short segment to find our way back to a town and the bus that would take us home. All in all, we managed to cover what, according to the guide book, should have been 8 hours of hiking in just under 6 hours, including a lunch break and exploring. And all that with 4 boys under 12!

Hiking the Aletsch Glacier

At the end of July we found ourselves, once again, in Davos, Switzerland for the Swiss Alpine Marathon. After the race, we had several days to spend in the country before heading separate ways. Seth & I decided to return to Fiesch, a small village in the Alps where we joined up with a Telemark Ski Company trip several winters ago. This time we would explore the region in the summer. The highlight of the trip was a 4.5 hour hike along the Aletsch Glacier.



The Aletsch is the largest glacier in Eurasia and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001. Three smaller glaciers converge to create the Aletsch, resulting in the internal moraines you can see above (the dark stripes of debris typically seen along the outside edges of a glacier). In the photo above you can see another glacier up between the peaks to the left that is emptying into the Aletsch. I wish there was a way to capture the sounds the glacier was making and include them in this post. It was remarkable.

The village of Bettmeralp

The day began in the village of Bettmeralp. We took the train from Fiesch, followed by 2 gondola rides up the mountain to reach the beginning of the hike. From the gondola station we set out along a brief boardwalk to the Glacier overlook.

Once leaving the boardwalk the trail wrapped around the back side of the mountain following the glacier. At times we had to pick our way among rock fields, at others we walked smooth dirt trails.

Small wildflowers dotted the trail, doing their best to maintain a foothold above the tree line.

I can't see them in the photo below, but we took this shot because we spotted a line of hikers out on the glacier crossing it towards us. They looked like ants, and helped put the enormity of this ice flow in perspective.

At this point we turned away from the glacier and began wrapping our way around to the front side of the mountain, back toward Fiesch. We encountered a small alpine meadow and lake. There was also a restaurant with several rooms for overnight stays where many people had stopped for lunch.

As we continued along the trail we continued to see and hear flocks of sheep and goats grazing. In the photo below you can see several stone huts built on the left hand side. These are likely used as winter shelters for shepherds or hikers.

In the background, on the righthand side of the photo above you can see a second glacier, the Fiescher Glacier. As the trail continues to wrap around the front side this glacier comes in to better view.

The Fiescher Glacier

From here we leave the glaciers behind and head back into the top of the tree line on our trail with a spectacular view to the valley below.

I had to stop and snap the photo of Seth below, because this is probably (hopefully!) the only time we will ever be between two avalanche barriers. In the winter we stay well clear of places like this!

The trail ended in Fiescheralp where we took one more gondola to the top of Eggishorn for a final look out onto the Aletsch glacier. We had actually been to this same look out spot on our first trip to Fiescheralp in the winter of 2010. We tried to recreate a photos that was taken of us at the time on the same perch of rock:

Summer 2012 atop Eggishorn

Winter 2010 atop Eggishorn

We came close, but didn't quite match it up. This was a beautiful hike. We're lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it.

Nile Cruise: Day 2 Temple of Kom Ombo

The cruise we took had a nice balance of down time on the boat and site seeing on land. The boat moved lazily up the river, and we spent a fair amount of time each day under the sun canopy on the upper deck watching the banks roll by.

Camels grazing

Kids swimming in the Nile

A boat similar to this one lashed on to our boat at hitched a ride for awhile.

Kom Ombo

Our only stop on day 2 of the cruise was the Temple of Kom Ombo. This temple is unique in that it is a double temple for two different gods: Sobek-Re (the crocodile god) on the right side and Horus the Elder (the falcon god) on the left side. This temple is located on a prominent bend in the Nile, which was a favorite spot for the Nile crocodiles to hang out prior to the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Sobek-Re is associated with Seth, the enemy of Horus. In the myth of Horus and Osiris, Seth and his followers changed themselves into crocodiles to escape. The ancient Egyptians believed that by honoring the crocodile as a god, they would be safe from attacks. On the grounds of the temple is an area where the ancient Egyptians would keep a captured crocodile in a type of open tank. They made offerings to this crocodile in the attempt to appease it and protect themselves.

One of the notable features of this temple was the fact that the paintings on the ceiling still retained so much of their original color.

Mummified crocodile. One of those captured to make offerings to.

DIY Kitchen Plumbing

Last night after dinner Seth carried our plates into the kitchen then called out to me in the dining room, "Why is the floor all wet in here?"

I walked in to see a small puddle of water leading out from under the kitchen sink. We opened up the cupboard and pulled out the garbage can to have a look. Seth turned on the faucet and the sink immediately began to fill up. I went for the plunger.

Seth began to plunge the sink drain when we heard a wet "splat" from the cupboard below followed by water oozing across our toes. We both bent down to see a filthy, sopping wet rag on the floor beneath the sink drain.

DIY Plumbing Step 1: Remove old pipe stopper rag 

"Where did that come from?" I asked.
"From the pipe."
"What was it doing in there, and why is the end of the pipe just open like that?"
"I don't know."

Seth started to plunge the sink drain again, only this time water started to pour out from the now unblocked and open ended pipe.

"Stop!" I offered helpfully.
"Go get me another rag!"
"For what?"
"To stop up the pipe! What do you think?"

DIY Plumbing Step 2: Replace pipe stopper rag. A greasy bike cleaning rag should do the trick.

We now have an unusable kitchen sink and more than a few questions about the plumbing techniques used in this apartment and why these issues always seem to happen right before bedtime. It looks like I'll be washing dishes in the bathtub until someone can take a look at this.

Nile Cruise: Day 1 Aswan, Granite Quarry, High Dam, Temple of Philea

This past April 2012, my mom made the trip out to visit us during my Spring Break from school. We had ten days to experience as much of Egypt as we could. We did a community service project in the Wadi Nature Protectorate, visited the Khan el Khalili bazaar, had a felucca ride on the Nile and took in the Egyptian antiquities museum at Tahrir Square. The highlight of the trip, however, was our Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor.

Seth and I had been holding off on a Nile Cruise in anticipation of my mom's trip. This was one of the experiences we knew we must have before leaving Egypt, and it did not disappoint. After a "spring fling" party at our place to celebrate the end of school for awhile, we woke up bleary eyed for our early morning flight down to Aswan.

Day One

We checked in to our cabins on the Movenpick Royal Lily at 8:00 am, and headed up to the sun deck to take in the views of the Nile and Elephantine Island. For this first day of the 4 day, 3 night cruise the boat would remain docked in Aswan with a couple of excursions around the area.

Our first excursion took us to the Granite Quarry, where much of the pink granite that is seen in monuments around Cairo came from. On the bus ride to the quarry we passed lines of cars that stretched for over 1 mile pulled off to the side of the road waiting for gas. People had clearly slept in their cars in these lines to get fuel.

One of the remarkable features of the Granite Quarry is the "unfinished obelisk", which would have been the largest obelisk carved out of a single block of granite had it been finished. It was abandoned in the quarry when a crack appeared during it's carving.

Our next stop was the Aswan High Dam, which created Lake Nasser. On the upstream side, you can see the Temple of Philea, which had to be moved to higher ground when the island it was originally built on was flooded due to the damming of the Nile.

Following the dam, we headed for the felucca docks and piled in for our boat ride to the Temple of Philea. This temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis.

Most of temples we visited had a common design at their entrances: two tall tower-like structures separated by a gap directly above the main entrance. This is symbolic of the East and West banks of the Nile, separated by the river flowing in between.

At this temple our tour guide began to tell us the ancient myth of Isis and Osiris. He asked for 4 volunteers to pay the parts of the main players in this myth. My mom volunteer Seth and I, and another couple in our tour group came forward as well. As the guide began introducing the gods and goddesses in this myth he first explained Isis, and her brother, Osiris (who were also husband and wife). He then turned to us to introduce the next god and goddess: Seth & Nephthys. The guide points to Seth (my husband) and says, "This is Seth" (meaning Osiris' brother) and we start cracking up. We try to explain the coincidence that his name really is Seth, but we could not get anyone to believe us for quite awhile.

The day ended much as it began, as you will see from the photo below.

Hike 2 in the Dolly Sods

Today we headed up to the highlands. Seth wanted to show me a part of the race course that he ran last year in the Highlands Sky 40 miler. Our buddy, Eric, came out last night to join us for a long weekend. We set out this morning for 5 hours and a bit more than 11 miles of hiking.

The rhododendron were blooming

Eric & Seth crossing the highlands

Large weathered rock slabs: great for rock hopping

One of the remarkable features of this hike was the way that the terrain changed continuously. High alpine meadows, although we were neither "high" nor "alpine," were followed by a plunge into dark, wooded trails with pine needle beds, only to pop back out into a boulder field for some rock hopping. Eventually, our path looped back around and took us down into a valley. The effect of the rains we had on our first day here could still be felt in the muck and mud that was to be our route.

An active beaver dam

One always spends great care in keeping the feet dry, in the beginning, but even the most lightfooted among us would be taken down by this trail. Seth seemed to have radar that would lock in on the soft, deep, shoe sucking mud, while Eric told stories of the "Bog People" that were discovered preserved after falling in to the peat bogs of Ireland.

This is a baby puddle compared to the bogs we had to cross.

Eric was the master of stepping lightly and staying dry.

Seth, on the other hand, made tracks like this as he skidded through the mud.

Eventually, even Eric was conquered by Mud Foot.

On our way back home we made a pit stop at the Blackwater Brewing Company for some local micro brews. We picked up a growler to bring home, and while I made dinner the guys put together some sangria and read their books on the porch. The sangria, or "adult fruit cup" was dessert.

"Oh man, I love this fruit cup."

We are all hoping to stay awake at least until 9:00 pm tonight.