Hidden Gems from Our Travels Around the World

On February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Bulgaria, Egypt, Laos, TurkeyLeave a comment

We have had many memorable moments traveling in various parts of the world and we are always thrilled when we come across something that was completely unexpected or planned. Whenever we travel to a location, we research the top sites to visit as most people do, but we will also look for something interesting that might be located just outside of the city that we are visiting or perhaps something that isn’t on the typical tourist list. These hidden gems are just a few of the places that we have seen during our travels, but each of these should be on your list should you visit that particular city.

Getting a Sense of the Scale of Aphrodisias in Turkey

The Ruins at Aphrodisias near Kusadasi, Turkey – One of the day trips that we took from Kusadasi in western Turkey was to see the Greek ruins at Aphrodisias. Of all of the ruins that we visited, Aphrodisias was actually our favorite even though it is not as excavated as the ones at Ephesus. The cruise ships don’t typically do tours to Aphrodisias, so you will not be surrounded by crowds and will be able to get up close to all of the different sites within the area. The ancient city gets its name from the Temple of Aphrodite that is located at the site, but one of things that makes Aphrodisias so unique is that was the location of the school where artists learned to carve statues, so there is a museum featuring many statues that the students had created.

The Statues of Buddha Park near Vientiane, Laos – Located near Vientiane, Laos is a park that is filled with sculptures representing Buddhist and Hindu images. Built in 1958, the park is a popular tourist attraction for those who travel to Vientiane. Buddha Park is also called Xieng Kuan or Spirit City and has over 200 statues of various sizes. We visited the park with a guide who was able to explain the meaning behind many of the different statues, which made the experience even more interesting.

The Fascinating Rila Monastery near Sofia, Bulgaria – We took a day trip from Sofia to visit the Rila Monastery, which is located about two hours away in the Rila Mountains southwest of the capital of Bulgaria. The monastery was first founded in the 10th century and gets its name, as does the mountainous region, from the hermit Ivan of Rila who founded it. Although the monastery bears some resemblance to the fortified churches that we saw in Romania a few years back, it did not serve the same purpose as the mountains were fortification enough. Even though it takes a couple of hours to reach the monastery from Sofia, it is definitely worthwhile because of its historical significance as well as the beauty of the surrounding mountain range.

The Historic Ottoman House in Old Town Cairo, Egypt – If you are looking for something of a hidden gem while visiting Cairo, then we would suggest putting Bayt Al-Suhaymi, a historic Ottoman house, on your list of places to visit. On our final day in Cairo, we made a last-minute decision to book an “Islamic Cairo” tour through our hotel and we were certainly not disappointed. We saw several ancient mosques, but just as interesting was wandering the narrow streets of the Old City of Cairo. Just wandering the streets is quite exhilarating, but the highlight was taking a tour of an Ottoman era house that was built in 1648 and is in excellent condition as it was refurbished in 1997 as part of restoration project for the entire area. Since it is located near the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar, it would certainly be worth adding a visit to the house before or after doing shopping in the market.

Many Items for Sale and a Vendor Ready to Bargain in Khan el-Khalili Bazaar

It is often the case that these special excursions become some of your favorite memories as you share your adventures with friends and family upon you return home. If time allows, it is always a good idea to research locations that can be visited just by driving an hour or two outside of the city. It is often possible to hire a guide to take you so that you don’t have to rent a car, but if you are adventurous or already have a vehicle, then it is certainly worth the effort to visit them on your own.

Visiting the Busy Kimironko Market in Kigali, Rwanda

On January 30, 2024January 30, 2024 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Rwanda2 Comments

We spent about a day and half in Kigali during our trip to Rwanda to trek to see gorillas and chimpanzees. Of the things that we saw while we were in Kigali was the Kimironko Market, which is the busiest market in Kigali. Like many markets, the number of vendors and the variety of products available can sometimes be overwhelming. It is often a sensory overload with all of the fragrances, colors, and people bustling through the narrow walkways. We were there with a guide, but it could have easily been visited on our own, but you do have deal with many people coming up to you and trying to get you to spend money in their particular section of the market.

Fresh Vegetables and a Variety of Bottled Sauces

The bins of fruit and vegetables were so colorful and many of the items were very familiar like bananas, pineapples, mangos, and potatoes, but there were equally as many items that we were not familiar with and are local to that region of the world. In addition to all of the food, you can find all of your clothing needs from shirts to shoes to hats. There are even about a dozen people sewing clothes tailored specifically for you. Of course, there are many different arts and crafts for sale that make for wonderful items to take home from Rwanda that are unique to the local culture.

People come from all of the surrounding countries including Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to buy and sell goods, which definitely made the market insanely busy. Kimironko Market was certainly very interesting and markets in general are almost always on our itinerary when we travel. We especially like markets such as these that are more about supporting the local community than catering to tourists. You could certainly spend hours browsing through the market, but we were on a fairly tight schedule, so we only spent about an hour walking amongst the various vendors.

Hiking to See Chimpanzees in Nygugwe National Park in Rwanda

On January 12, 2024January 12, 2024 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Rwanda6 Comments

Having already spent a day trekking to spend time with the Gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park, we were excited for our next big adventure in Rwanda. It was possible to do our itinerary in reverse where we started with the Chimpanzee and ended with the Gorilla trek, but we’re happy that we ended up doing it in the order that we did. Trekking to visit with the Gorillas was extremely strenuous with most of the time spent going up and down the sides of steep hills where we had to hack our way through the thick jungle foliage. Trekking to see the chimpanzees was pretty much the complete opposite where we hiked on a trail through a forest, which is completely different than going off-trail through a jungle. Just like our trek to see the gorillas, though, we did luck out as the weather was concerned and the rain held off until after our trek was complete.

Our hike started early in the morning and our guides let us know that we needed to get to the location where the chimpanzees were sleeping before they woke or we might have to follow them or maybe not see them at all. Once they become active and start moving through the canopy, they can become difficult to see, but apparently our chimpanzee family had been fighting with baboons the night before and were extra tired. Once we arrived at the location where the chimpanzees were sleeping, we began the waiting game for them to climb down from the treetops to join us on the ground. Eventually they did climb down and they moved around us, which was not only exciting for us, but was equally exciting for our guides as they said this was one of the best encounters that they had experienced.

Walking Past Us

Time to Get Moving

The chimpanzees, however, were not particularly impressed with our presence and mostly ignored us and turned their backs towards us. Unlike the gorillas who were as fascinated with us as we were with them, the chimpanzees seemed to find us to be an annoyance that they needed to avoid before going about their daily activities. We were able to get some interesting videos and photographs before hiking back out of the forest and heading back to our lodge to enjoy lunch. From start to finish, the trek only took us about six hours and it was far less strenuous than the gorilla trekking, but that isn’t to say that it wasn’t strenuous at all as we were still hiking up and down the mountainside. Had this been our first adventure in Rwanda, it might have made our expectations for the gorilla trek slightly different, but as it was we were expecting it to be as difficult as the gorilla trek and it was quite the relief that it wasn’t.

Getting Out of Bed

Baby Jumping on Mom

Keeping an Eye on Us

Both of our trekking experiences in Rwanda were absolutely amazing and something that we will treasure forever. These animals are much larger than you realize until they are right next to you and to see them in the wild is truly fascinating. Knowing that very few people get the opportunity to do what we were able to do also adds to the uniqueness of the memory.