The next port, after a day at sea, was Khor Fakkan (population: 39,500), a city in the Emirate of Sharjah which is one of the seven emirates in U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates). Sharjah is mostly on the Persian Gulf, but it owns 3 towns on the Gulf of Oman including Khor Fakkan. The capital of the emirate is also named Sharjah to make things a bit complicated or simple depending on how you look at it.
Khor Fakkan is an important port and a popular beach town among locals. The area around the port was very quiet, not much activity at all except for a fish and vegetable market.
fish being salted & dried al frescofish cleaning service at the marketis the cabbage big enough?
Sharjah is supposed to be more conservative than Dubal or Abu Dhabi, and western style bathing suits are not allowed on the beach. It was too hot to be directly under the sun on the beach when we were there.
We wandered around looking for a cafe or restaurant with internet. We hoped to cancel the return flights we could no longer use and, perhaps, get at least a partial refund. All the places we came across were small and none had internet. We did come across a small museum, which we entered, but I can not remember anything about it. Overall, not much there.
Most historic stuff and markets are in the big city 90 minutes away on the other coast. We did not have much desire to make that trip, though. It would’ve been easier to get there from Dubai than from Khor Kakkan.
On the way back to the ship, we did find a restaurant with internet. We spent an hour or two online, but were not able to make any headway on airline websites and eventually went back to the ship.
We arrived in Vilnius (population: 544,000) from London’s Luton Airport on Ryan Air (under $50) late at night, and it was raining. We got on the first cab we saw outside the airport terminal and arrived at our Airbnb apartment 15 minutes later. We were happy with this 15 euro ride, but, later, we discovered that we paid a premium because it happened to be an airport taxi that usually cost 2-3 times more than a regular cab.
a coffee shop with sense of humor
Jet lagged, we were up early the next day and walked into town looking for some food, but everything was closed. We finally found an open coffee shop and breakfast of coffee and pastries.
a bakery finally opened up & we stocked up on pastries – so cheap & yummy!
We joined a free walking tour that started at the Town Hall at 10 AM every morning. Our guide was a student at Vilnius University, and she was quite knowledgeable and fun.
a view from the Town Hall Square
She told us how the Old Town was divided into ethnic areas of Jews, Poles, Slavs, and Germans due to the efforts of olden days when the government tried to increase the number of population by welcoming immigrants.
Old Jewish Ghetto area
The walking tour lasted about 2 hours and gave us a feel for the town.
In 1995 a group of artists raised a statue of Frank Zappa and declared the area across the Vilnia River from downtown the independent Republic of Uzupis. The republic still exists complete with a 7 man parliament, a 12 man army and a constitution of 41 articles.
It was a cold and damp day, and a break at a coffee house was most welcome.
The constitution is displayed in numerous languages. Article 13 says: A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help out in time of need.
We thought of going to the KGB Museum (Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights) by walking down on their main street, Gediminas Avenue, after lunch, but the rain kept pouring down. We got some rest in the comfy, cozy apartment & walked around the neighborhood before dinner.
Sv. Vito Cafe & Bar is a tiny place down the street from our apartment. What a gem! Great food, friendly service, eclectic setting – at a very reasonable price.
Once again, we woke up very early the next morning. We noticed light snow on the ground. We walked to the Gate of Dawn and saw the famous Blessed Virgin Mary painting.
On the way back, we found one of the best bakeries in town, Boulangerie, open for business. Their morning pastries were perfect.
Our flight to Dubai wasn’t until late so we took a bus to see Trakai Island Castle. We took a cab to the main bus station in Vilnius, left our luggage at the baggage service center, got the bus tickets, and off we went. The trip took only 30 minutes, but, once we were off at Trakai bus station, we had to walk another 30 minutes to get to the castle. There usually are taxis or buses available, I had read, but, it was off season and everything was quiet at the station. We walked through the town of Trakai, an old capital, which could have been more interesting with old wooden houses and such, but it was cold and nothing was open.
We walked around the castle and the surrounding area a bit, then we started looking for a restaurant to have lunch.
Luckily, this one was open & their food was great. We got to try the specialty of this area, kibinai, and dumplings. Their soups were spot on especially on a cold day.
When we returned to Vilnius, we took a cab from the bus station to a modern art museum, MO. It was not a big museum, but we could get a glimpse of an art scene in contemporary Vilnius.
We walked a few blocks to get an afternoon snack at Sugamore, a chocolate and pastry shop. Compared to other things in this town, prices here were on the high side, but, we still enjoyed the break.
I had a mild interest in Museum of Illusions a few blocks away, but, we were getting tired. So we took a cab back to the bus station, got our bags, and got on the bus to the airport (3 Euros). I had heard Uber worked well in Vilnius, but we did not have a local SIM card for our phone, thus, we could not try.
Vilnius pops up on the list of “under the radar must visit city” all over the internet these days, and we wanted to check it out. It did live up to the reputation with the atmospheric old town, reasonable prices, and friendly people. We were not equipped to handle the cold weather (actually, it was not too severe for winter) since we were on our way to tropical weather, but, still we enjoyed our time there. We could imagine how nicer it would be in any other season!
Trip route: LAX -> Vilnius -> Dubai -> Abu Dhabi -> Khor Fakkan, U.A.E. -> Muscat, Oman -> “Almost India” -> Khasab, Oman -> Dubai -> LAX
YK had arranged for a 4 or 5 bedroom riad in the heart of the medina in Marrakesh (population: 928,000). A riad is a residence surrounding a large open air courtyard. Ours was located at the end of a narrow alley.
Our riad was located near the man on the bike on the map below.
The medina in Marrakesh felt larger and more complex than that in Fez, yet we managed to navigate it perfectly until the morning of our last day when we spent an hour hopelessly lost. Fortunately, we found our way back in time to catch our ride to Casablanca. If anyone wondered what the big deal was by looking at this blissfully simplified map above, the map below would show a more accurate picture.
On our first night in Marrakesh we went to a small shop, really just a counter onto the street, and, as I started to order in French, a young boy, maybe 10, came up to me and asked in perfect English what I wanted. He then conveyed the order to the shopkeeper. I asked how he learned to speak English so well and he smiled and said TV.
our dining room
[YK is adding some meat to Pat’s skeletal sketch of Marrakesh that ended above]
We were tired and a bit intimidated by the mazes in medina the first night, thus, we stayed home and had dinner at home with whatever we had accumulated thus far.
Next morning we successfully navigated ourselves through the mazes and arrived at Cafe France on Jamaa el-Fna, the main square in the medina to meet our guide, Abdul. He was an exceptional guide who seemed to know everybody in the medina, and he was eager to introduce us to his city and people. We found him on a free walking tour website, but, he actually had his own tour company.
“You need to taste a local breakfast,” he said and brought us to this lady who was making Moroccan pancakes. “Her pancakes are the best,” he said, and yes, he was right. We could never find the pancakes as good else where.
Compared to Fez, streets and alleys here were not as crammed or narrow.
In the middle of the medina was a souk (souq), a market, that spilled over every direction. Technically, the souk was divided into specialties – food, ceramics, clothing, jewelry etc., but the merchants seemed to carry whatever they wanted like the one above who mixed dried vegetables with little ceramic pieces on display.
Tajines (tagines), their earthenware pot that is used everyday by everyone, it seemed, were the most common items on display in the market.
Abdul wanted to show us high quality artisan stuff, and they were quite exquisite.
Lunch was at this BBQ place where the meat was cooked in an underground fire pit. Very tender and delicious. No, not expensive.
There was a lot of renovation work going on in medina, and Ben Yussef Mosque, considered to be one of the most beautiful mosques in Morocco, was one of them. Frankly, we were happy not “sight-seeing” and just wondering around.
After the tour, we came home and rested till dinner time. Let’s venture out tonight since we now can handle the medina, we had decided.
Jamaa el-Fna square was packed with people, and the whole area was now a giant outdoor restaurant.
our dinner
Our second full day in Marrakesh was to be a free day: no organized tour of any kind & just do whatever you feel like. Pat and I slept in and slowly ventured out to see the areas within the medina that we had not seen. I had to have a glass of fresh pomegranate juice to start the day officially.
Motor bikes were the preferred mode of transportation.
Locals were casually walking around the alleys lined with all kinds of stores: a guitar shop next to a scarf vendor next to … you get the picture.
This cafe was supposed to open at noon, but it wan’t. We finally succeeded getting in there after the third attempt.
here, I found my perfectly flaky Pastilla (bastilla), a Moroccan pie, and all the wait was worth it!
What are these? These were the visual clues to finding our riad. Don’t laugh. These saved so much potential agony.
Pat and I had a relaxing afternoon at home while others ventured further outside medina into the new section of the city with modern building and shopping centers.
Bill was going back to Spain next morning, thus, we said good bye to him by letting him buy us the most expensive dinner we ever had in Morocco at a fancy restaurant in the neighborhood. Great food, presentation, service, atmosphere – and the price to match.
We had found a transportation service through gettransfer.com and the service provider ended up being a Moroccan businessman who had worked in Korea for 12 years. I had fun exchanging emails with him because he missed Korea so much that he was happy to talk to someone who knew the Korean language. The 2.5 hour trip on a Mercedes Benz mini van big enough for 8 people and the luggage cost us about 120 euros. The driver was very professional and punctual.
Our second full day in Marrakesh was to be a free day: no organized tour of any kind & just do whatever you feel like. Pat and I slept in and slowly ventured out to see the areas within the medina that we had not seen. I had to have a glass of fresh pomegranate juice to start the day officially.
Small Wide World 