sisters

Sistories is a podcast about travel hosted by two sisters–Maryam and Nour! https://stonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Vassar-St.m4a NOUR and MARYAM: Hi, everyone!! Welcome to our podcast Sistories!  MARYAM: Hi! I’m Maryam, the Magnificent, and it’s incredible but this is our FOURTH podcast of Sistories! My sister and I LOVE to travel, and we want to inspire YOU to travel, too! So, get ready for a COOL trip to  ITALY! Amore Mia! NOUR: Last month’s episode was about COOL PLACES to VISIT. We talked about GRENADA.  Today, we are going to tell you all about Italy. I’ll start with some fun facts: The official name of Italy is the Italian Republic. That sounds a little formal, so I’m not surprised they just call it Italy. The name Italy comes from a GREEK word “Italos,” which is the name of a legendary king. There are a lot of Greek words used in Italy. The capital of Italy is Rome, which is also the biggest city in Italy and where my dad found his favorite gelato flavor, which is rice gelato (be sure to add cinnamon!!) Rome is nicknamed “the eternal city” and has many historic landmarks like the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. It was so crowded at the Spanish Steps. Everywhere you looked there was a mob of people coming towards you! Italy has a population of a little over 59 million people. It is about the same area as New Mexico! Italy’s official language is Italian. I learned a bunch of phrases in Italian like grazie and buongiorno. The money they use there is called Euros. It is very colorful. Italy’s major mountain ranges are the Alps and Apennines. Someday maybe I will get to ski on them! One of my favorite places I visited in Italy was the Colosseum. It is the world’s largest amphitheater. It is 157 feet tall and over 600 feet by 500 feet. It was built on an artificial lake and was destroyed by natural disasters. It is a symbol of Christianity. The Colosseum has 80 entrances and is in pretty good shape for its age. It is over 2,000 years old. It can hold up to 80,000 people.  Maryam: Hi, everyone it’s Maryam the Magnificent. My sister told you some facts about Italy, and I want to tell you some other facts and STORIES! First, do you know that Italy was established in 1861? That’s a long time ago. Another very important fact is that Italy invented PIZZA! I ordered that almost every single time I went to a restaurant!  Sadly, I had to try out some other foods like pasta and seafood and other fancy dishes.   Another interesting fact is that Italians invented glasses! If the Italians hadn’t invented them, we would all be walking around with blurry eyes! Another super super cool fact is that there are still active volcanoes in Italy. I didn’t know that when I was there but now I do. The first time I went to Italy I remember it was for a wedding. I was little. We visited many cities like Florence and Venice. We got to ride on little boats in Venice because the city is in between lots of rivers and water! The second time I went to Italy we went with another family. We rented a house in Florence. That’s the time that we lost our bags, and we had to buy lots of clothes from there. I still have Italian clothes in my drawers! The last few days, we finally got our luggage back, but it was no  use! Both times I went to Italy I ate lots and lots and LOTS of gelato. My dad likes rice gelato, and I like mango.   You know how my sister was talking about the Colosseum? I am going to be talking about the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Now, the leaning tower of Pisa is obviously leaning, but the surprise is how is it still standing? No one knows exactly. You can take lots of cool pictures there. Do you know that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is over 800 years old?! A pretty cool fact is that Pisa survived four earthquakes! Like isn’t that crazy?! NOUR and MARYAM: Thank you for listening to our podcast Sistories today!  MARYAM: Next time we are going to talk about another cool place to visit: Mexico! NOUR and MARYAM: Have a great trip! Ciao!

Sistories is a podcast about travel hosted by two sisters–Maryam and Nour! https://stonesoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Sistories-Ep3.m4a NOUR and MARYAM: Hi, everyone!! Welcome to our podcast Sistories! NOUR: Hi, I’m Nour, and it’s hard to believe, but this is our third episode of Sistories! My sister and I LOVE to travel, and we want to inspire YOU to travel, too! That’s why we host this podcast. MARYAM: Hi! I’m Maryam, the Magnificent! Last month’s episode was about how to pack for an AMAZING trip no matter WHERE you go! Today we want to talk about COOL PLACES TO VISIT! First, we want to tell you about our absolute FAVORITE place on earth to go! It has clear, beautiful blue water. Want to guess? Grenada! Our family goes there because it’s where our dad’s family is from. We’ve only been there once, but we want to go back! Here are some fun facts about Grenada: 1) It is a very small island that is only 21 miles long and 12 miles wide. 2) Another name for Grenada is the Island of Spice! 3) The flag has three colors! Yellow stands for the warmth of its people and also the warmth of its island weather Red symbolizes their bravery Green represents what grows on the island 4) Grenada is home to the first ever underwater garden! It even has sculptures! 5) Hurricane Ivan destroyed a lot of the island in *2004, but when we went, it seemed fine. 6) You can also go see Fort George. It is a place they used for battle, and it had a cannon. The fort was all rock and kind of broken down. It was so high that you could see the town down below. 7) The food is very good in Grenada. We ate roti which is seasoned chicken and potatoes. It’s really really really good. You should try it. 8) The ocean in Grenada is turquoise and the beaches have white sand. The water is so calm. There are no waves, just ripples. NOUR: Hi, it’s Nour. My sister told you some facts about Grenada, and I want to tell you a few more facts along with some stories! As my sister said, Grenada is the Island of Spice, but I’m going to tell you why. It grows the largest percentage of the world’s supply of nutmeg! We brought home a couple of nutmeg kernels. The outer skin is light brown, and when you crack it open, you can see the seeds and it smells really good. The island also supplies cinnamon, mace, cloves, and other spices. June in Grenada is beautiful so you might want to visit in summer. You will eat amazing mango. In the resort where we stayed there were mango trees everywhere! We just picked them off the tree, peeled them, and ate them like apples! There are lots of kinds of mangoes. The small ones are the sweetest; the bigger ones are good for cooking. You will also eat and drink yummy, fresh coconuts! What I mean by eat and drink, is you can drink the coconut water and then eat the meat inside of the coconut. What I like to do is to find a big rock and bang the coconut until it cracks open! Then drink! (You can also just find a guy with a machete to open it for you.) If you like snorkeling or scuba diving, Grenada is the place! You can explore the largest shipwreck in the Carribean, The Bianca C, or see the 65 sculptures in the underwater sculpture garden! We got to go on the underwater tour, and it was so cool! My dad went down and even touched a sculpture. Even if you don’t know how to swim, you can observe everything from the glass-bottomed boat! Grenada is one place favored by many people, including me! It’s truly unique! By the way, you don’t have to visit the places we go! Your family probably has some good ideas, too. You could visit Europe or Africa. You could visit places where your relatives live. Or, you could just look for new places that you haven’t been to before and try them! Where do YOU want to visit? NOUR and MARYAM: Thank you for listening to our podcast Sistories! MARYAM: Next time we are going to talk about another cool place to visit: ITALY! NOUR and MARYAM: Have a great trip!