Italy: Day 3: Heading towards Rome through San Gimignano

Some more scenery from our Tuscan home

We saw some stunning view on our way

I swear my parents don't like taking pics with me!

A family's own personal vineyard 

The town of San Gimignano (or San G. for short)

This town was known for its towers

We were fascinated by the man at the top of one of the towers

He wasn't real though...

The town had some old paintings in the walls

and a cool set of stairs.

A water well. I feel like I'm back in Morocco

Some cool roof tops

I was shocked that this man would walk around without his pants!

Some stoned men (made of stone)

A cute little restaurant we ate at on our way to Rome

On day 3 of our Italy trip, we sadly had to leave Tuscany, but we were making our way towards Rome, which would be "an adventure" as my dad quoted many times throughout the trip. On our way to Rome, we thought it would be nice to drive through some of the country side, and see some of the smaller towns. We wanted to stop in San Gimignano, since Antonella told us it was a lovely and worthwhile place to see. So, we stopped on the way in the town, and it was very lovely and picturesque. The town was full of cobblestone roads and sidewalks, and little corner cafes, very Italian in my opinion. 

We saw the towers, which apparently back in the day, people were racing to build these towers, so they were pretty cool. We saw some more scenery and views of the countryside, and random man sculptures places throughout the city. One sculpture had a man on top of a tower, another one was of a naked man, which was shocking after living in Bahrain, where you would even see something like that in a doctors office, let alone out in public. Then, we saw some men made of stone. So, man sculptures were quite popular. We heard church bells, and looked in some shops. Eventually, it was time for us to get back on the road, since we had to have our rental car back by about 6pm, and still had a few hours of driving to go. On our way to Rome, we stopped at yet another cute restaurant in Sienna and had some lunch.

Getting to Rome was fairly easy, but once we were actually in the city, it wasn't so easy anymore. The traffic was very bad and intense, and similar to Bahrain, the people don't seem to follow as many traffic rules as they do in the U.S. My dad was freaking out. We found the apartment and dropped the luggage outside to leave with my mom and Charmaine, while my dad and I looked for the car rental place where we were supposed to return our rental. What a mission that was. The rental place wasn't where it was said on the papers address, so we began asking and searching. We ended up turning into the bus lane and doing something else wrong, and the police make us pull over, and my dad feared he was going to get a ticket. Luckily, the cop was kind enough not to give a ticket, and attempted to guide us, although he spoke no English, and I have had no training in Italian. After asking a million people for directions and getting endlessly lost, we found the train station, where the car rental place was inside. The lady directed us to the garage where we had to drop off the car. Then, we had the mission of finding our way back to our apartment. Finally, hours later, we made it back, where my mom and Charmaine were still sitting outside with all the bags. They didn't think to look at the door and ring the bell, and Antonella had been waiting upstairs the whole time. We got moved in to our tiny Rome apartment. We were exhausted from all the travel, and decided to call it an early night and head to bed. The next day, we would start the big exploration of the city. How exciting it would be!

Italy: Days 1,2: Tuscany, Firenze

Fire place at our lovely Tuscan home

living room and kitchen

Some views from the window of our house

Santa Maria Novella church

The Florence Cathedral (the line was too long to go it)

There were lot's of people in the town square

Charmaine wanted some big wine bottles

A delicious salad I enjoyed

There were some kids singing church music

An awesome chalk artist

Presenting.....Firenze

An accordion-playing man (how Italian)

Some vendors selling their stuff

Shooting people!

A beautiful view

Some cute Asian's that just got married

Greek Orthodox church

I drank from the fountain

The beautiful sunset

Wow! I am once again so impressed. Italy is an absolutely stunning country. We arrived at the airport in Rome, and got through customs quicker than any other country I have ever been. We rented a car and began our 3-4 hour journey towards Tuscany. The car ride was good until my mom started freaking out. We were unable to get in contact with the lady we were renting a house from, and my mom was very concerned that we wouldn't have somewhere to stay. Finally, after some times and listening to my parents go nuts and ask a whole bunch of people to use their phone, we finally got hold of her, and would meet her at her place. The house was hidden away up a dirt road, but boy was it beautiful, and big. The house was so charming and had an amazing view, and, there were fresh grown peaches and plums. Delicious! We were exhausted from traveling all day, and had a goodnight sleep.

In the morning, we enjoyed those excellent peaches and plums and then went to the town of  Firenze. It was a charming Tuscan town. We went to the Santa Maria Novella church, which was very awesome and beautiful. We then basically walked around the town, looked at the vendors selling things along the streets and squares, and checked out the beautiful scenes. There were lots of things going on, from people singing in the streets, to doing art, or sitting out in cafe's, having a glass of wine. 

The town was lovely, and we did a lot of walking through it. I bought some scarves and an insanely cute pair of shoes. 

On our way back to the house, we stopped at the grocery store to get some meat, cheese, and wine to have a small dinner. We ate, talked, and watched the sun set. It was a beautiful first 2 days of Italy. It is just like the pictures and movies show it to be, and more. Pictures never do a place justice. You have to visit to truly understand the true beauty and charm of this amazing country. I am so in love!

Morocco: Days 6-8: Along the Atlantic Coast in Mirleft, Aglou, and Tiznit

The grand Atlantic Ocean, after traveling a rocky path

Presenting....the ocean!

Mom was about to eat this tasty little crab

but I decided to give him a little kiss instead. Maybe he will become a prince.

An old man who lived in a shack along the coast. He was excited to see some women

Abdel was taking it all in.

Our view from the Trois Chameaux guest house

Some nice piece of beach

Lot's of the locals fish

Beds at le Trois Chameaux

and me hanging out in the living room

Sun-setting view

I was trying to open my eyes, but they always end up closed

A man selling fruits in Tiznit

A women carrying a bag on her head. Again, the real Morocco.

Some other local street vendors selling produce

I can't believe  wore this, it was freezing on the beach.

So, this will conclude the Morocco trip. After leaving Fort Bou Jerif, we took yet another insanely rock path through the desert. It seemed as though we were going further and further into the desert, with no hopes of seeing the end. The path got extremely bumpy and we began to fear that we would blow out a tire again. The path got so bad and rugged that at one point my mom was screaming, "no! Stop!" in fear that our driver, Abdel, was going to drive of the side of a rocky cliff. This was one of those moments you had to be there to experience just how funny it was. Hysterical!

So, after a while, we came to a clearing, and a cliff, and there was the Atlantic Ocean. It was practically in our backyard the entire time, and just miles away from the area of the desert we stayed in. The ocean was rather grand and majestic, although very cold. A jacket or hoodie was for sure necessary. We met some locals who lived along the cliffs. They built their own shacks and fished for food. It seemed that there were only men, and they were pleasantly surprised to have some female visitors. The one gentlemen in the photo above even gave us his address in hopes that we could send him the photos we took. I have a hard time imagining mail being delivered to this location.We then had a kind man  on a motorcycle ride and direct us out of this desert and coastal trap that we were stuck in. He led us on a rocky road, but eventually we made it to a paved path and civilized road.

We continued on our way to Mirleft, where we would stay at another guest house, called le Trois Chameaux, which was lovely, and had an awesome view. We got to check out the ocean, but it was too cold to go in. We enjoyed a lovely fish dinner, and had a great night's sleep.

The next day, we headed to Aglou, and stayed at le Chant du Chameaux, which was also a guest house run by a French lady. This place also had an excellent view and easy access to the beach. We went down and checked out the beach, which it was still too cold to swim, but I did put my feet it, and posed on some rocks. We ended our evening with a delicious delicious meal cooked by our French lady host. It was so good. Yum! We slept and headed to the Agadir airport in the morning. We said our goodbyes to Abdel, and got ready for our flight to Italy.

Morocco was an incredible trip, and I would recommend this destination to anyone. The Morocco Travel Tour company did a great job of finding us awesome places to stay, and a great friend/driver, Abdel. Although Morocco is a poor country, it is rich in culture and full of friendly people. It is full of everything unexpected, but awesome and only for the real adventurer. It is for sure an amazing memory that I will never forget.