From the land of the giant rock, to the city of excruciating heat, then back to Africa!!!

I've been slacking for the past few weeks.  Ever since my arrival in Spain my life got suddenly hectic.  I've basically been changing locations every two or three days since the second-to-last week in June.

I arrived in Sevilla, Spain on the evening of June 25.  But unfortunately, I had to leave the next morning on an early bus headed to Gibraltar.  It was a terrible 5 hour bus ride that felt like it lasted an entire day.  But the plus side is that I was able to see a lot of Spain's backcountry (which is vast, diverse, and beautiful, by the way).  I finally arrived at Spain's southern border, which is where the bus wouldn't go any further.  My next task was to walk one mile across the Spain-Gibraltar border, over an airport runway, and through a pointless passport check.  An airport runway??  Yeah, interestingly enough, an airport runway divides Spain from Gibraltar.  When a plane is about to land or take off, the police stop all cars and pedestrians for about twenty minutes.  During this time, the plane zooms down the runway (about 20 meters away from your face) and takes off.  Seems a little dangerous, huh?

Gibraltar and it's big big rock

Gibraltar is a very interesting place...it's basically a giant rock (or a small mountain) in the south of Spain. It's one of the many independent territories of Great Britain.  For years, Spain and the UK have been disputing rights over Gibraltar, while Gibraltar has been trying to get it's own independence from either of the two nations.  The people there are also fascinating.  Many of them are dark (like most southern Spaniards), yet they speak fluent English with a unique accent.  Most Gibraltarians are of a mixture of Spanish, Genoese, Moorish, Maltese, and British decent; yet, they claim their own unique identity.  So as you can tell, it's a very confused place where Spanglish is really a language that can be heard while walking down the road.  Half the restaurant and business signs are in Spanish while the other half are in English.  While walking through downtown, I heard many conversations that went something like this: "Buenas tardes. I'm good.  Y tu, how are you? How is your hermano doing?"  Well, I guess that's what makes it so unique!

While in Gibraltar, I met with two Gibraltarians who were able to assist me with my research as well as show me around the country quite a bit.  I even went back into southern Spain for an evening -- to Tarifa, which is Spain's closest point to Morocco.  Ferries leave from Tarifa to Morocco and vice versa several times a day.  That is basically the point where the Mediterranean Sea flows into the Atlantic Ocean.  Tarifa is a very relaxed town with a lot of hippies and kite surfers...it was a fun place to hang out for a night.

View the Strait of Gibraltar from Tarifa at sunset

After two and half days in Gibraltar, it was time to hike across the border (and runway) again...me, my large forty pound pack on my back, and my small backpack on my frontside.  It was a hot day and it seemed like I was walking way more than one mile.  But, I finally made it across (with some pictures as proof) and was soon on a bus back to Sevilla.

The airport runway between Gibraltar and Spain

Looking back at Gibraltar after crossing into Spain

Upon arriving in Sevilla for the second time -- but this time during the peak of the day -- I realized just how hot it was.  And of course, I had to walk about 1.5 miles to reach my hostel -- again just me, my large pack, my small backpack, and my two feet.  I don't remember the last time I was ever so drenched in sweat.  I think that day it was about 43 degrees celsius (about 109 degrees fahrenheit).  The hottest it got during my time there was about 45 degrees (113 fahrenheit).  Now I understand exactly why siestas are necessary: because you really can't survive in that sun between the hours of 12pm and 4pm.

I spent a total of three days there, but not alone.  I met up with two friends from UNC, Nina and Mindy.  Fortunately, we were all together in the same hostel, so we were able to enjoy each other's company for a couple of days.  Also in this hostel, I met a group of five Italian guys who I got to practice my Italian with.  While speaking with them, a group of four French-speaking Belgian girls walked into the lounge.  The next to follow were two French guys, one of which was actually Portuguese but born in France.  So we had a great mix of people and it really made our stay in the hostel a lot more fun.  Sevilla is a beautiful city with an awesome history, but unfortunately I didn't really see most of the city since it was so hot out.  I'll definitely have to go back one day, but maybe in the winter next time.

Sevilla's river

A garden in Sevilla (forgot the name)

After my three day vacation in Sevilla, I was back on plane on my way to Italy again.  I spent the next few days in Italy, continuing my research.  Not much excitement there.  Oh, actually, while in Rome for one night I got gelato from Italy's oldest gelateria...pretty cool!  And it was surprisingly really cheap.  Well, that concludes my 37 days around the Mediterranean.

Just kidding!  Even though I had finished my 37 days of research, I wasn't quite yet sick of that part of the world.  So, I made my way over to Tunisia to visit some friends for a couple of days.  I had no idea what to expect, but what I found was a beautiful country with a lot of hidden secrets.  I was there at a crucial time -- the country is currently in the midst of determining its new government, so all is chaos at the moment.  But it was great!  Tunisia (specifically Tunis, the capital) is a hidden treasure in the Mediterranean.  It was of course discovered by the Phoenicians though ;)  I had a great time there with my two friends from back home.  I miss the sunshine and moderate temperatures over there.  Now, all I get is constant cloud coverage and hours of non-stop rain!  (I'm in Guatemala, by the way).

Well, goodbye dear Mediterranean.  I'll miss you lots.  Until we meet again!  We had fun together.

Tunisia's blue and white buildings

One of Tunis's bay

Sidi Bou Said

Sidi Bou Said

View of the older part of Tunis

Cool Moorish streets

White beaches, blue water, sunny days, and a terrible cold!

Eight days ago I arrived in Sardinia feeling very tired, hot, and uncomfortably sweaty.  Now, I'm about to leave Sardinia, again feeling tired, hot, uncomfortably sweaty, and this time sick with a cold.  I have no idea what happened to me, but right now I'm congested with a runny nose, a sore throat, and an achey body.  Fortunately this sickness just started yesterday, so I was actually able to enjoy my stay in Sardinia while it lasted.

I really love it here; it's a beautiful island with a lot of colorful buildings, amazing beaches, happy people (happier than the rest of Italy), and good weather.  When I first arrived it reminded me of Nice, except in Italy, with Italians walking around instead of Frenchies.  I could tell as soon as I got here that Sardinians are much much nicer than Florentines -- they actually look at you when you ask a question.  But what you should know is that Sardinians are very very different than other Italians, which is why they don't like to say that they're Italians.  Their language is a mixture of French, Spanish, Catalan, and Italian and it's very difficult for non-Sardinians to understand them when they're not speaking proper Italian.  Physically, a majority of the people are very dark with black hair all around and very tan skin -- especially since summer has started.  So I guess I blended in well, haha.  The reason I came to Sardinia is of course because of the Phoenicians; they were the first people to really colonize this island, so there are a lot of Phoenician buildings/ruins that still remain, although many of them were built on top of later on by the Romans.  Also, I noticed many signs of restaurants, shops, roads, and towns that are a reference to the Phoenicians.  Unfortunately though, unlike Malta, the Sardinian language did not really retain any of the Phoenician language due to linguistic influences from the Roman Empire.  However, Sardinia has had a history completely different from that of Italy.

View of Cagliari

While in Cagliari (the capital city of the island), I visited three of the most breathtaking beaches I have every seen in my life.  One of them was probably just as beautiful as the Bahamas...but I've never been to the Bahamas so I'll have to wait and see before confirming that.  The water is as clear as bottled water for meters into the sea.  Then, as it gets less clear it becomes the color of the sky, but still 99% transparent.  It's really unbelievable.  This very beautiful beach - called Baia Chia - has fine sand that's  nearly white.  What made it even better was that there was almost no one at this beach, so it was very natural and peaceful.  On the other hand, the other two beaches were still beautiful, but were kind of packed with people.

Baia Chia's clear water

Baia Chia

Baia Chia

The hostel that I stayed at was located right in the middle of Cagliari, which was convenient.  It was a very clean, fancy hostel that almost resembled a hotel.  It's one of the only cheap forms of accommodation that exists in Calgiari, so there were a few families and old people also staying in this hostel.  During my eight days, I met a lot of interesting people from all over the world including a guy from Scotland, another guy from Poland, a woman from England, another woman from France, a Brazilian guy, two Brazilian girls, an Australian, a very nice Italian man, two old Italian women, and plenty of Sardinians.  (Thanks to the three Brazilians, I've started learning some Portuguese...of course I'm excited about that.)  A lot of these people were lone travelers, so I was able to make friends easily and I really enjoyed the company while I was there.  And the two bar tenders/bar owners in the hostel were very young, cool Sardinian guys who have traveled quite a bit...I became good friends with them too.  But the downside to all this was that my hostel had no internet, therefore it was really difficult for me to get internet all week. I finally found an internet café, but I tried to avoid going there since it costs money.  I also found out that the city of Cagliari provides free internet on the streets to those that have an Italian cellphone number.  That was really cool and convenient, but I could only use my iPhone, not my computer, and it was a limited amount of internet each day.  So I'm sorry, family, for not being able to talk to you :)

The Courtyard/Bar at my hostel in Cagliari

I was fortunate enough to have a nice friend here in Sardinia who was able to show me around and teach me a lot about Sardinia during the time of the Phoenicians.  There were a lot of important places for me to visit, including an island off of Sardinia called Sant'Antioco, where I'm sure that a majority of the population is of Phoenician descent.  The reason I don't mention much about my research on this blog is because it will all be available once I'm finished, but for now I don't really want to give anything away.

View from Nora, an ancient Phoenician site near Cagliari

So now, I'm spending my day like I usually spend most of them -- in an airport waiting to board a plane. I'm off again to a new place...this time Sevilla, Spain and Gibraltar!

Panorama of Cagliari

Arrivederci Malta, Buongiorno Sardegna!

My time in Malta is now over.  Tomorrow I'll be on my way to Cagliari, Sardegna where I'll be staying for about eight days...so that means I'm on my way back to Italy.  After Sardegna, I'll be flying over to Spain, but we'll get to that later.

It feels like I've been in Malta for such a short amount of time, but it's already been two weeks: the first week spent on Gozo and the second week on Malta.  There's a huge difference between the two.  Malta is a very packed and tourist filled island.  I wasn't expecting so much chaos from such a little place.  But even though it's so different from Gozo, it's still beautiful in it's own way.  While in Malta, I met some friends in my hostel -- two from Australia, one from California, one from Poland, and another from Brazil...so I definitely wasn't as lonely as last week.  

St. Julian's Bay -- the area that I was staying in

Another shot of St. Julian's Bay

I spent one day walking around the capital city (Valletta) and another day at a beautiful beach called Golden Bay where the water is literally crystal clear.  It's unbelievable that every time I go to a different beach around the Mediterranean the water is always a different rich and clear color.  Unfortunately though, during most of my stay the weather was overcast and very windy...not much sunshine.

The many harbors of Valletta

Golden Bay

After those two days of relaxation over the weekend, I got to work on Monday morning and met with my contact who lives in Malta.  We chatted, he showed me around a little bit, then he took me to some historic sites and a finally to a museum.  I spent the next few days going back and forth to the University of Malta where I met with three different professors who are all experts in Malta's history and/or Phoenician history.  They were all very excited about my research idea and were extremely helpful towards my project.  I had a long conversation with one of the professors (who is an expert on Hebrew, Maltese, and the Phoenician language) about the relation/similarities between Maltese and modern-day Lebanese.

Now, after all of my hard work and a lot of sunbathing I'm switching locations again...but guess where?  To another island surrounded with beaches!  Don't worry though, the Mediterranean Sea is great for the skin ;)

My red tongue after eating a strawberry granita (slushy)

I found a little place far far away.

About one week ago, I was sitting on a full plane (all alone) from Bologna, Italy to a tiny place in the Mediterranean -- that's often unheard of -- called Malta.

The Azura Window at Dwejra, Gozo

I've embarked on a journey around the Mediterranean for the next few weeks...every few days I'll be hopping from one place to another, from Italy, to Gozo and Malta, to Sardinia, then to Spain, and Gibraltar.  It might sound like I'm on a big vacation (which I guess I am), but I'm actually spending this time researching something that most people don't know about: the ancient Phoenicians.  These people were great seafarers -- the first colonizers of the Mediterranean, before even the Greeks set out to discover the seas.  These people were the first to invent a written alphabet, the first to discover purple dye, and even the first to invent the boat.  These people are the reason we speak the languages that we speak today and the reason that the Americas were eventually discovered by sea.  These people were the Phoenicians, who lived alongside (and before) the other two great classical civilizations: the Greeks and the Romans.  Ancient Phoenicia was located in modern day Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Israel; however, their colonies reached the ends of the Mediterranean, ranging from Cyprus to Sicily and Malta, Tunisia, Gibraltar, Morocco, Sardinia, and Spain.  So...why am I telling you all of this?  Because this is exactly what I'm doing right now -- spending time in these places to research the Phoenicians, their footprints, their cultures, and their modern-day descendants.

View of the Mediterranean from a hill in Gozo

I arrived at the Malta airport after a stressful adventure at the Bologna airport (as usual) and was picked up my a man that I had never met -- this man's name was Emmanuel.  He is a native Maltese who now lives on the sister island, Gozo.  I managed to get in contact with Emmanuel earlier this year as I was hunting for contacts in the Mediterranean that would be able to help me with my research.  Emmanuel was kind enough to offer his assistance and guidance, but on top of that, he went ahead and located a place for me to stay.  I was being treated so kindly by a man I didn't even know...but after spending the past week with him, I am now friends=s with the biggest-hearted, most down-to-earth man in Malta.  Unfortunately, I've just said goodbye as I'm now making my way over to the main island (Malta) by ferry.

View of the Azura Window from afar

My time in Gozo was well spent.  My "surprise" accommodation that Emmanuel found for me happened to be a Jesuit Retreat center, but during the time of my stay there were no retreats happening.  So it was just me, the Priest who directs the place, two Brothers who run daily operations, and the occasional Sister that would spend a night or two.  Haha, what an interesting experience...I never would've pictured myself in such a place.  But in the end, it all turned out well.  I made friends with a hand full of old Maltese people in order to keep myself entertained, and I learned a lot from them.  The Brothers would cook lunch and dinner and we would all eat together at set meal times.  Like I said...not the experience that I was expecting, but it was well worth it.

While in Gozo, I spent most of my days traveling around the island visiting various sites such as ancient ruins and temples, museums, churches, beaches, and random villages.  It's a small island, maybe about a 20 minute drive from one side to the other (lengthwise).  I also spent two nights hanging out in my neighboring village which was having it's annual "festa" -- the yearly feast day for the village patron saint.  These festas take place late at night on different dates in each village...during which the entire town comes out into the main plaza in front of the church (which are both decorated with lights) to celebrate, watch the procession, and admire the fireworks.  It's basically like a mini carnival for about 100 or 200 people.  Each village in Gozo is very small, about a 5 or 10 minute walk through the entire thing.  There are about 14 villages...I think.  And each village is centered around a large church which normally towers over the other buildings.  So as you look at Gozo from far away, you will notice about 14 churches randomly sticking up from different spots around the island.

St. Mary of Ta' Pinu (one of the churches in Gozo)

Festa at Munxar

Festa at Munxar

Another interesting thing about Malta is their language: Maltese (they say 'Malti').  This language is originally a Semitic language, meaning that it's origins come from the language of the Phoenicians.  Maltese, Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and Syriac are a few of the modern Semitic languages.  What's interesting about Maltese is that their language has a Semitic base but uses a lot of Italian and some Arabic vocabulary.  It's a big conglomeration of other languages, much like Lebanese.  What's even more interesting is that I can understand about 70-80% when they speak Malti, the reason being that Lebanese and Malti share the exact same Phoenician origins.  Thus, we have many verbs, nouns, etc. in common that no one else in the world uses.  This is living proof of the lasting mark that the Phoenicians left in each of our countries.  Malta was the perfect place for me to come and research the Phoenicians due to its location.  The fact that it's an island lends itself to the fact that the Phoenicians were able to settle here and remain relatively unchanged for so long.  Malta underwent so much imperialism, from the Romans, to the French, to the British, to the Arabs, and later the Italians; yet, they were adamant about retaining their culture and identity as Phoenicians.  And now, every time I meet a new Maltese and tell them I'm Lebanese, they react with, "Hey, we're distant cousins! And we can understand each other's languages!"  So I'll be here in my home-away-from-home for another seven days, then I'm off to Cagliari, Sardinia with a pitstop in Pisa for a night.

Me. By myself (typical). And some stones.

Maltese flowers.

I don't think I've ever seen any this colorful in the wild before.