Santorini & Athens & Home

Wow. 

Santorini is just a magical place. 

I can't even estimate how many times we said "this is unbelievable" as we strolled past yet another stunning caldera view. 

Like Mykonos and Naxos, it had it's charming white washed walls and cobble stone streets, but completely different from them was the towns all sit on 300 meter high cliffs that plunge into the sea, looking like snow capped peaks that dot the rim of the almost completely circular land. The island is the remnants of an epic volcanic eruption in 1613 BC that changed what was then Strongili, meaning "Round One," into a hollowed out and ocean filled caldera. That destructive force left behind a scene of unimaginable beauty that I'd have to put on par with, if not even ahead of, Venice in terms of romantic ambience. 

I did almost zero research on this destination so I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but it surpassed whatever that was, and took this entire trip to another level. Rather than post a few photos, I've just uploaded a selection here instead:

https://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#album/105776517996378672019/6065474472155327329

We arrived in the evening and walked up from our disappointing "splurge" hotel to an anything-but-disappointing view as the buildings parted and our jaws slammed hard on the ground. Sunsets here are world famous, and the skies had just cleared up in time for our first punch-in-the-face view. I still can't really believe how incredible it was when I close my eyes and re-envision it. 

Day 1 we had super expensive tea overlooking the caldera, then began the hike along the rim from Fira to Oia, stopping along the way to enjoy lunch or drinks at various cafés, while continually shaking our heads as we took in the slowly changing views from gradually different angles. Once at the tip of Oia we took the bazillion steps down to and back up from Amoudi Bay, then splurged on a romantic meal from a fantastic spot that overlooked the most famous 3 blue church domes you see on virtually every postcard picture of santorini. Back to the tip of Oia to watch the sunset, then a local bus back to Fira for the night again. 

Day 2 we woke early and rode the cable car down to the old Thira port, where Jaimie made a firm and final decision she would never do a cruise. It's easily a 2 hour process to unload that many people and a shame to waste so much scarce port time just trying to get to the good stuff. We boarded a boat to sail out to the volcanic island in the middle of the caldera and hike around what turned out to be a surprisingly large lava field. I guess the last eruption was in 1956 so this is still very active and you see steam rising from spots near the middle. From there it was a short trip back on the boat to the natural hot springs. They're dark brown from the sulfur and iron in the water, which was interesting to swim through and can still be seen on the white liner of my swimmers regardless of how long I rinse them. They also don't tell you that you have to swim through cold water to get to them. Peice of cake for Jaimie, but this anchor weight was gasping by the time I could put a foot down at the springs. Worth it though. 

Once back at the port, we decided to take the donkey ride back to the top, which deserves a few words itself. First off, donkeys may be one of the earliest versions of autonomous driving, but one has to hope Google's version will be a lot smarter. They stop and start whenever they feel like it, bite at each other during passing attempts, rub your leg against the wall while contemplating if they'll still get fed if they launch you over the edge, and squish other poor sods who chose to walk the gauntlet. No amount of telling them you have no control helps, so you eventually just give up and laugh while trying to apologize for being the jack ass on a jack ass. The worst moment, other than the young girl crying and begging to get off, was when an older chap tumbled down the steps ahead of us, cracking his head so hard he was bleeding and unconscious, and all of us were powerless to keep the donkeys from continuing on despite the crowd gathering to help. My donkey in particular nearly stepped on his leg. 

I have no clue why the folks in charge are no where to be seen except at the start. Once they have your money, your on your own until the beast decides to stop permanently and you eventually figure out you are supposed to get off now. It was amusing and memorable, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it and am curious to google "santorini donkey accidents" now that it's over. As fun as it sounded when we first heard about it, it's a tourist attraction I think santorini could stand to phase out. 

Day 3 we rented an ATV, and although it was a hunk-of-junk with turn radius equal to a Winnebago, we had some semblance of control at least. After taking our luggage to the baggage "storage" at the bus station because our twice-the-price-half-the-service" hotel would be closed when we needed to get them, we headed south to the ancient ruins of Akrotiri, enjoying a new set of angles on the caldera view enroute. You can see the entire island from almost any high point and you'd have to try hard to get a view that doesn't knock your socks off.  Akrotiri was first settled in the mid-5th millennium BC, which is about when Catalhoyuk was abandoned after 2000 years of inhabitation, which means it's just a young whipper snapper relatively speaking. One interesting note though: excavations through the ash layers from the 1613 BC eruption have not found any human remains, so somehow those ancient Myceneans had a warning - unlike, say, Pompeii or Ontake, as a more recent example. 

From here we headed to Perisa Bay and enjoyed our first, true, great-weather, all-out beach day. A black sand beach that seemed to stretch for a mile either side, with course but perfectly rounded grains and warm, gentle water, backed by cafés and restaurants that brought you food and drink to your "free" lounge chair and splendid thatch roofed sun shade umbrella. I napped, waded, ate and drank. It was joyous, and made the trip complete. 

One last butt-clenching bus ride down the cliffs (you really gotta experience that yourself) to meet our overnight ferry, and we were off to our day in Athens. 

(Note: despite the unbeatable views, or perhaps because of them, the locals here didn't generally seem as friendly and hospitable. When you attract big tourist dollars year round, you can get away with that I guess. That said though, when the service was good, it was exceptional.)

ATHENS

Not a whole to say about Athens. We were up at 4AM to get ready to disembark at 5:15, tiredly found the well hidden metro station, dropped our bags at our hotel, then headed to the Acropolis. Pretty neat to be there before it even opened - watching the guards raise the Greek flag and sing the anthem, plus getting to take pictures of the Parthenon with almost no one else around. 

Jaimie so happy to beat the lines

We continued on to walk through the main highlights of Athens, including:

- Hadrian's gate and the Temple of Zeus

- Panathenaic Staduim, where the modern Olympics (among other things) were born

- the Ancient Agora

- Ministriki and the central Flea Market

- Anafiotika, for more windy, white washed streets, except this time I literally got stuck in one of the alleys. I saw my reflection in a window today and was mortified and immediately bought more frozen greek yogurt to make myself feel better. I have some sins to pay for when I get back. 

In the end, Athens was never really high on my bucket list, but I'm glad I saw it. I'd heard it was dirty and gross but it's actually really nice and green. It has a ways to go to match Rome's draw (the acropolis doesn't have that much too it really, although it is being restored, including the Parthenon itself, unfortunately for our viewing), but it is pretty neat seeing the birthplace of western civilization, and my personal highlight was seeing the stoia where Socrates often expounded his philosophies (and was apparently was indicted for impiety - I didn't realize that kind of suppression of progressive "scientific" ideas preceded Roman Catholic times but I guess it's universal, pardon the pun). 

HOMEWARD BOUND

We crashed back at the hotel late in the afternoon, feeling like we should head back out but honestly just too tired from our long travels to take in any more. We'll pass the evening on the terrace of our hotel cause the view is pretty awesome, and then all that is left is the flight home. 

View from outside our hotel

And the view from inside. Poor Jaimie. 

I'll leave you with that image. Thanks for following. 

Samos, Mykonos, and Naxos

A taxi from selcuk to kusadasi. A ferry to Vathi. Rent a car and drive the long way around the island to the airport in pythagori. Board a plane and fly to Athens. Hop on a bus to the port of Rafina. 

It was a real planes, trains and automobiles kind of day. Long, entertaining, and tiring; a good way to see a fair bit while in transit. Here's what we've done since then:

SAMOS

One of the larger islands of Greece, it's remote and little visited except for day trippers from Turkey (we only came through here as it was substantially cheaper and faster than booking flights back through istanbul). It's also most famous as the home of Pythagoris (the guy responsible for why you know how to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle) and Epicurus. 

It's funny that I said I had zero culture shock in turkey - sometimes it's not until you leave a place that you realize how much culture you were actually immersed in. The contrast between turkey and samos was stark and surprising given it's not even fully beyond the peninsula from kusadasi. The mosques and crescents are replaced with abundant churches and crosses, blue flags replace red, the ambiance feels immediately more liberal and European, and the tea cups regain a proper size. The prices also push you hard and square in the groin. Same number amounts, but the currency is 3 times more valuable. It quickly broke my addiction to Magnum ice cream bars, although that's since been firmly replaced by frozen greek yogurt. Oh my goodness! How did I not know about that before?!?!

We had a few hours to kill here so decided to rent a car and explore. Not until after I paid did we remember that almost every car in Europe is a standard. Opened the door... Oh... Riiiiight. 

I had forgotten both (a) how much fun that is to drive and (b) how to do it. Comes back quick though and I'm proud to say I never stalled her once. I disavow all knowledge of frequently squealing tires. 

We dipped our feet in at a smooth, stony beach, hiked along a babbling brook, and dodged buses on narrow, windy, mountainous roads across to the south side, then left the car in the airport parking lot unlocked with keys in for the rental guy to find later. Seemed weird, but I guess car theft from an island isn't a straightforward or common proposition. 

MYKONOS

After overnighting in Athens, we caught a bright-and-early ferry for our cut-too-short trip to Mykonos. It was good enough for a sampling though. The town is easy to walk through and beyond gorgeous: thin cobble stone foot paths meander directionless through spotless whitewashed buildings with bright blue and red windows and doors; cliffs were spotted with both new and ancient windmills. We spent the afternoon strolling here before catching a bus to lounge at one of the "beautiful" beaches. It was nice, but thailand's beaches have ruined my frame of reference. It was here the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in and put a damper on our "beach vacation". Apparently the first rain they've had since April according to our hotel driver. 

I should add at this point that the Greek hospitality has been incredible. By far the best I've experienced anywhere in the world. Not sure if it's just the little family run places Jaimie found, but it's felt like we were welcomed into the family and our every need was anticipated and attended too, with the hotel owners even driving us from and to the ferries themselves and rejecting tips as unnecessary. 

NAXOS

Naxos was recommended as a quieter, more authentic greek experience. It did seem to be that, but it was hard to fully appreciate it as we were literally blown away here. 70-80 Km/h winds required a stiff lean in just to stay upright, sea mist occasionally felt like accupuncture, and watching the ferries come in practically on their sides made me a bit nervous for our ride out. I've found it amusing, although admittedly it's made it hard to really get outside and fully enjoy the island. I think Jaimie in particular was disappointed as it hasn't nearly lived up to her expectations. It seems she was really looking forward to scootering around, lounging on beaches, and ogling six packs. Mine was gonna dissapoint her there regardless... Fat Greg is making a comeback. 

Jaimie, regretting Greece amidst the rain storms. Same look when she sees my beach body. 

Nonetheless, one of the highlights of the trip for me at least was renting a car here and discovering that Naxos is apparently the world's most impossibly large and curvy go cart track. I feel bad for her that she can't drive stick cause it wouldn't be near as much fun riding shot gun, but it was a thrill to test my newly re-acquired skillz in such incredible beauty. 

We drove first to the cute little town of Halki, where the local 120 year old distillery still brews Kitron from citrus leaves, a delicious spirit unique to Naxos. We waited out a down pour in a great little cafe that seemed to act as a farmer's market store front for selling all the hand made goodies from the distillery, bakeries, and jammeries in the surrounding square. As the rain lifted we also walked a short trail to a 1200 year old byzatine church, then gassed up for what we assumed would be a little, hour long drive around the northern loop of the island. 

Commence go kart drive. 

Hair pin turns that somehow exceeded 180 degrees and often required dropping into 1st to climb up. Steep drops off every side, and guard rails that, if they existed at all, were placed at an effective height to flip your car on its roof for the ride down instead of trying to stop it. I wouldn't take a squeamish passenger here, but boy is it fun to drive. Made the highway to Hana on Maui seem like a joke. 

And the views... Oh the views! Even with the poor storm visibility, they were among the best I've ever experienced. The first part was otherworldly, climbing up rocky mountain peaks spotted with bits of greenery that I can't readily compare to anything else I've seen before. The backside was far wetter, greener, and equally majestic. Jaimie tells me it reminded her of Scottish highlands but larger and better. I'd always thought of Greek islands as small and dry, so really wasn't expecting anything like this. 

By the time we cut through the mountains and could see a coast line again, it was already getting dark. As much as I enjoyed it, my nerves were a bit frayed and I was not wanting to have anything to do with this road at night, so it became a race against the sun to see who would touch down in the old Chora town first. The roads "straightened" enough I could finally get up into 4th on occasion and we covered ground as rapidly as possible. We lost the race, but at least came close enough to feel the safety of some street lights before darkness set in. 

Complete success. Unless you were just the passenger (poor Jaimie). 

Ignoring the dirt path, this is all 1 road

The "straight" part of the highway 

Last night in Naxos, as the weather starts to turn for the better. 

ON TO SANTORINI

We've been surprised at the size of the islands and the distance between towns. What you'd assume is a 10 minute drive is often closer to an hour and crests a mountain or 2 along the way. The islands are also a lot closer together than we thought, and you almost always see at least 2 others from any seas side vantage point. Where I had pictured more isolated lands and open seas, I'd actually describe it more as if the Rocky Mountains had simply dropped chest deep in to the ocean, separating peaks by only short boat rides. 

We're pulling into Santorini now and it looks very, very different than the other islands. Should be a good few days here, then back to Athens for a day before we fly back to normal life. 

Apparently I don't get sea sick anymore. The winds are still 40km/h so we've been rocking a fair bit but I typed this all the way and feel fine. I still haven't gotten over this cold though. I don't feel awful, but I would really enjoy a day without a ton of coughing and sniffling. 

Gule Guke Turkey, Ya-Sas Greece

We're all done in the land of the tiny tea cups. Sitting at a cafe in beautiful Kusadasi waiting to board our ferry and begin our greek adventure. Couldn't ask for a better view to say farewell to Turkiye. Here's what went down on our final Turkish stretch. 

PAMUKKALE

The "cotton castle" was pretty neat. Huge white cliffs of hardened calcium and minerals from hot underground springs running down the mountain that can be seen from miles away. They've been used as a spa from ancient times, hosted the large roman city of heiropolis, and even today provide water to the modern town, who's plumbing is in a perennial state of repair due to the extremely hard water (our shower head was spitting water from everywhere but the holes that were actually designed to do that). 

We got dropped off at the top of the mountain to explore the ruins of heiropolis and I dragged Jaimie into her first ever Doctor Fish experience (she's easily the most ticklish person I've ever met so that was a must do for me). Then the real fun started as we embarked on a barefoot walk down calcified slopes as the sun set. Easily one of the most memorable strolls of my lifetime: beautiful and unique scenery; warm spring water rolling gently over your toes the entire way down; rock hard surfaces that had dried in a multitude of formations creating a variety of textures on the soles of your feet. Your senses keep suggesting it should be slimy and slippery, but, with rare exceptions, each step is greeted with a firm grip - although you can never quite shake of the fear of slipping enough to abondon a gingerly gait. The entire experience met my expectation, which was a pleasant surprise given how high I'd set the bar. 

My pictures are a complete massacre of the spectacle... Just go here and enjoy the ones google's hive-mind thinks are the best instead:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=pamukkale&client=safari&sa=X&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=Q7QiVOquC9K0ggSfqYL4DA&ved=0CCIQsAQ

SELCUK AND EPHESUS

Spent an afternoon souvenir shopping in the little village of Selcuk, where we also ate the tastiest and cheapest lunch of our tour and strolled past the castle, mosque, and St. John's basilica (this region has a lot of legends of him writing his gospel account here). Late in the day we headed to Ephesus to see the ruins after the crowds died down. It's regarded as the largest (partially) restored roman city ruins. It definitely is large. Didn't quite live up to my sky-high expectations, although that was likely impossible. Highlights were: a backgammon board carved into marble in the government section where you can envision long ago politicians sitting and playing a game outside the "Parliament House"; the public toilet room (where you can also envision people sitting and talking together while they poo - no privacy here); a suspected "house if pleasure"; getting pictures of the library of Celsus with no one else around; enjoying another view while sitting in a 25,000 seater amphitheater. The scale of the place is definitely impressive, and as you take in all the marble, detailed carvings, advanced institutions, and contemplate how far all over the world these sites were built, you really start to realize just how impressive the Roman Empire was. 

One interesting tidbit our guide shared: the famed library of Celsus was the third largest in the world, behind Alexandria and Pergamum (also in Anatolia). The competition between the two bigger ones to build the largest led Egypt to stop selling papyrus to Anatolia, which in turn caused them to start writing on animal skins. Stack enough of those on top of each other and start binding one side, and eventually you move away from papyrus scrolls and into bound parchment books. The word "parchment"  derives from "Pergamum". Neato. 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

I always form a lot of opinions on things in case you couldn't tell. Here's my last ones on Turkey:

- Turkish people are wonderful. Polite, happy, friendly, intelligent, cultured and, in, what's the word for having good ethics and rule of law and social trust? Civilized? Whatever that word is, they are that too.  I think they've landed themselves squarely in my top 10 favourite peoples list on this trip. Germans on the other hand took another drop down the ladder - they seem to be universally regarded as the worst tourists: terrible tippers, pedantic nit pickers, and harsh critics - our guide said no one ever wants one in their group because you know immediately you will not get your usual good reviews or a decent tip. I need to travel back there again some day because they seemed great when I was in their country... Maybe they just need to be somewhere they can make everything "just so". 

- turkey itself is also a wonderful country: diverse landscapes, mountainous and ocean clad, abundant agriculture, magnificent history, well developed (I experienced zero culture shock here). Thoroughly enjoyed my time here... But you can also sense some of the problems just below the surface. Border tensions, the Kurdish problem, and financially... Well, the roads are good, health care is better than Canada, and university is cheap, but the economy and taxes are a lot lower. If you do the math, there's something not quite right on the financial horizons.

- Pollution also seems to be a problem. A lot of hazy smog in some regions and not unlike china and India in that regard, if an order of magnitude smaller. They are investing heavily in geothermal and nuclear, building 3 nuclear plants as we speak. People hear that and go, well, nuclear, especially in an earthquake prone region, but I've been sold on that as likely our best path forward. A lot of renewables have their own issues - solar, for instance, I was surprised to learn that when you add in the mining and manufacturing components, it's not that much better environmentally than natural gas. We had a chap in our group who's been a consultant with nuclear power plants his whole career, and in his opinion, we need to go almost 100% nuclear right now to avoid the worst of climate change. A movie I can't recommend enough if you haven't seen it yet is "Pandora's Box". Go watch it. I'll wait. :)

- I didn't talk much about whirling dervishes on this trip, even though the sect they belong to is 19% of Turkey's population and one of its most recognizable cultural icons. That's cause other than a stop at a museum in Konya, I didn't pay much attention to it. The one memory I have though was a sign at said museum that stated once a dervish in training completes 1001 days of suffering, he gets elevated to his own cell room. You'd think that's a great reward, but it continued to say he now begins his 3 months of "cell suffering". Just like the famous Simpson's stone cutters episode. "Remove the stone of Shame. Attach the stone of Triumph!" :) Religious traditions are funny. 

- in total, we drove well over 2500 kms the past 9 days. Not counting day trips, boat rides, and balloon floats. That's the equivalent of driving from Vancouver to Winnipeg, except you do it at 70-80 km/h instead of the usual 110+ in Canada. I can't believe I willingly paid money to spend that much time in a bus, but it was actually quite delightful. Great scenery, good company, a pleasant old Turkish driver Ali. Not saying I'd do it again, but I would recommend it. 

THE LAST SUPPER

Our group all went out for one last meal together last night before they continue on without us. Probably was my favourite night of the trip. Lamb stir fry, fried anchovies, and wine for dinner, then across the street to a sheesha bar for huka, backgammon, and raki (the Turkish spirit made from grapes with aniseed for a delicious liquorice flavour). And lots of laughs ("I don't think his mother's canal was quite big enough for him" was the best line of the night). That actually felt like the most authentic cultural experience we had on the trip. 

We're docking in samos now. Time to shut down the blogging for a few days and just kick it. Island style. 

Gule Gule. 

Konya and the coast

CATALHOYUK

Speaking of balancing trip research and leaving surprises, I totally hit the nail on the head on this one. Sheer dumb luck though. 

I'd never heard of this place before the trip at all TBH. My first encounter of it was a brief mention of "Catalhoyuk" on a sign in the archaeology museum in Istanbul stating that it was the oldest city ruins ever uncovered in the world. The history geek in me was instantly flustered to know I was so close to such a site and without plans to see it, but the seasoned traveller in me was resigned to the fact I'd miss it. Can't see everything anyway. 

A couple days later, I'm reading our itinerary for the upcoming days and lo-and-behold, it's on there after all! Apparently it was only added to the UNESCO world heritage list last year, and G Adventures just added it to this tour sometime between when I researched the trip and now. 

I have to admit, I was a bit giddy with anticipation leading up to that day, and nearly beside myself as we actually approached the site. It's definitely off the beaten path, and the drive in was interesting itself as we rolled along on rural roads through tiny farming villages and gypsy camps. As the only "bus" at the site, it was quiet, peaceful and even felt serene. When you consider the significance of such a sight in understanding our collective history - a snapshot of the transition point from nomadic hunter gatherers to settled agriculturists - walking up the tell in an open field felt almost like a religious experience. 

I could describe the site and experience for pages, but I'll try to shoot for a quick summary instead:

- first off, I was a bit confused as to the "oldest" city part. It dates back to over 7500 BC, and I was pretty sure something like Jericho, for instance, dated to almost 10K BC. I guess the distinguishing term is "city" where as other ruins were considered "settlements". I'm not sure what the defining difference is, although I'd suspect the Turkish tourism industry was part of the equation. 

- nonetheless, this be OLD, and from what I can tell with our spotty hotel internet, it is in fact generally regarded as the largest and best preserved Neolithic (aka stoneage, no metal here folks) settlement yet discovered. The "newest" layers on top date to ~5500BC, meaning that when it was abandoned, after already being inhabited for 2000 years, we still had several thousand years before we'd even conceive of, much less build, the pyramids. Like I said. O. L. D. In fact, there were no signs of ever having been attacked, so while there were some hunting spears kicking around, the bow and arrow, let alone the armies of even pre-historic city states, had yet to come into existence. 

- the general structure was mud brick walls where each house merged together with the next, no streets in between at all. Kind of like a condo. The "streets" were on the roofs, and the doors were a ladder down to the inside. They estimate the mud brick homes would last about 80 years, and as they inevitably begin to crumble, they'd just go ahead and knock the tops down until the rubble created a new foundation and you'd rebuild on top. Over a couple thousand years you can build a pretty decent size mound. 

- each layer going up would show signs of progression: brick making techniques improve, pottery becomes thinner and more sophisticated, paintings on the walls become more elaborate and expressive, bone and stone tools get better. At various points the types and amounts of bones even change leaving definitive signs of the transition from hunting to domestication of animals. It's an absolutely unreal time capsule, a physical documentary that left me plainly gobsmacked. All I remember of seeing Jericho was a wall and tower foundation which, while older, did nothing like this for me. Perhaps I was just too young to appreciate what I was looking at then as I was half my current age, but this felt far more incredible. It was almost like actually watching the moment in time where, after we'd long since left cave-type dwellings behind and figured out the very basics of brick making and clay backing and stone shaping and crop cultivating, we were now figuring out how apply these technologies into the earliest seeds of what would eventually become civilations. A sacred link between an almost traceless past, and our recorded histories. In case you can't tell, I'm still revelling in it. 

- one other interesting thing you see: As people died, they'd dig a hole in the main area of the house, place the body in, then cover it back up, presumably so you could continue to sleep next to your loved ones. This goes on at each layer, and you can actually get an eerily good sense of where folks were in the formation of afterlife concepts if you envision the process and laying down to sleep on that. Less of a stark and abrupt transition we experience... more of a "last night they slept here beside me, tonight they sleep here below me... I just can't talk to them anymore." Still kinda there, still kinda with you, until you more naturally move on. 

KONYA

Ok, time for some brevity. Stayed in a local family's home here. Gracious people, full of smiles and kind enough to make special dishes for me. Went for a brief walk of a small village, eating Russian olives and sunflowers from the fields, and saw the community preparing their "winter bread" rations. Also was the night I took 5 hours to fall asleep and went through an entire role of toilet paper blowing my poor nose. I've become a thief and had taken to stealing rolls at almost every stop by this point just to ensure an adequate tissue supply line at all times. 

ANTALYA

A very definite and sudden line marks the switch from cold and rainy Konya and the sunny and hot coastal side of the mountains. Our first stop was Antalya, a modern city with a quaint old town and beautiful harbour. Spent a delightful free afternoon here. Also had a late morning start and the extra rest finally put me back on the mend. 

Enroute to here we also saw the literal birth town of the literal jolly ol' St. Nicolas. Noel Baba they call him. 

KEKOVA

The partial return to health came just in time as I was able to board an overnight boat with the group. We floated past the sunken Lycian city of Kekova, swam in several spots, ate delicious meals of stuffed veggies and grilled sea bream, hiked up to an island castle (Kale in Turk), and spotted a surprising number of seas turtles. Surprisingly, this was actually the first time I'd ever swam in the Mediterranean. I had to think about that for a while cause I'd seen it a few times and couldn't believe I'd never actually dipped in yet. It's warm(ish) and very salty. 

Falling asleep to a gentle rocking, gazing at the stars and watching some shooting ones, then walking to the slightest sunrise with Orion staring back at you... Best sleep I've had on the trip, and it now feels like a true vacation. 

KAS

A small resort town again on the coast. Took some strolls but mostly relaxed around the hotel to escape the heat and wash up from the boat... A good time for G to select accommodations with a pressure washer for a shower. Also had a delicious seafood meal of fresh calamari, whole shrimp, and very tasty swordfish skewer. Served of course with tomatoes, peppers, and French fries. Turks know what they like and they stick with it. 

Unfortunately, Jaimie's picked up my cold now, so she had to skip out on dinner. Poor gal, she doesn't know how bad it's gonna be tomorrow. A few others on the tour complained of the same itchy throat tonight so they are a day behind her. The inevitable pandemic is beginning. 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- I can confirm twitter uses your location to select which ads to display. Getting a lot of Turkish language in my feed here. 

- Also getting a lot of ISIS news. Along the border it's a serious problem - with some 120,000 Kurdish refugees fleeing here in the last 3 days alone. People here are obviously concerned with it, but they pretty much laugh at the thought of them actually trying to attack Turkey. It'll be a challenge to route them out of Iraq and Syria, but it's seen as a non-issue here at least in terms of keeping them out. 

- I've started getting creative to improve my meal variety and taken to "cooking" without any kitchen access. If you chop up tomatoes and cucumbers with a butter knife and add them and feta cheese to a package of oatmeal, you get a pretty creamy-crunchy gruel that's actually a pretty tasty breakfast treat. Oatmeal Salat I call it. 

- anytime I need a good laugh, I just ask Jaimie to say thank you. It's "te-she-kewer", which admittedly isn't as easy as saying something like "danke", but she's having just a dickens of a time trying to figure it out and usually ends up with something like tashukalaponderosa. Well not quite. But there's always a surprising amount of sounds and syllables in her version. 

- The general rhythm of mornings here goes something like this: the sun's rays lightly kiss the horizon and wake the roosters; the roosters crow and wake the imam: the imam hops on the horn and performs the call to prayer which wakes the tourists; the tourists start looking for places to spend their money which wakes the rest of the village. When you are laying awake in the cold breeze on top a boat deck at 5AM, it's kinda fun to wonder if one could break the entire chain were you to be in possession of a sniper rifle as the dang roosters start giving their positions away. 

Jaimie and her new twin Lisa. I keep telling them to stop wearing the same shirt so I don't accidentally put my arm around the wrong one. Could you really blame me if it happened???

Cappodacia

In a word, stunning. 

I'm not even going to try to describe it, because the best I can do is say it's like the drumheller badlands meets the Grand Canyon meets the smurf's village. I'll just scribe a few quick comments and then post a schwack of photos you can shift through yourself. Just keep in mind that pictures never come close to really capturing something and then go book your flights here :)

- when I last left you we were nearing the end of an 11-12 hour drive and just about to stop at derynkuru. I knew it was an underground city that went some 10 stories down, but it was way bigger than I expected. It apparently housed 3-4,000 people, and even had tunnels that extended 10 kms to other underground cities. It's an amazing amount of rock they carved through. 

- cappadocia's geology is apparently owed to volcanic activity several million years ago. Earlier deposits laid down volcanic ash that, once rockified (is that a word?), would erode faster than the basalt stone over top of it from later lava flows, leaving behind the world famous "fairy chimneys". More recently (as in thousands instead of millions of years ago) people would chisel their homes, churches, and pigeon holes (used to collect poop for fertilizer) into the soft rock as well. Far from the dark and tiny caves you'd expect, some more closely resemble massive and ornately adorned basilicas that surprise you with their size and grandeur. 

- our intinerary here included a hot air balloon ride (the undisputed highlight thus far), a hike through the beautiful rose valley where we also snatched a few delicious grapes from the wine yards as we passed by, a Turkish hammam (bath house with a bubble massage), and a trip to a Turkish rug workshop. I usually hate those types of things but I actually have a new found admiration for that handicraft and was more then slightly tempted to drop 4 figures on an authentic one. Must be another side effect of getting old. 

- ok, here's the pictures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105776517996378672019/Cappodacia?authkey=Gv1sRgCKjKna_uv8C9uwE

Or some of them anyway. I've been trying to upload this for 2 days now but the network at this hotel blows. Check it back in a while and there'll be more photos :)

MOVING ON

Today we are on the road again, heading to Konya, the modern agricultural Center and ancient home to the whirling dervishes. Enroute we intersected the impressive Silk Road caravanassi of Sultanhami, built in 1229 AD. Trip planning is a precarious balance of researching enough to know what you want to do, but not so much you leave no surprises because those are always the best parts. Sultanhami, albeit a small one, was 1 of those. Fortress, mosque and market all rolled into 1 building. 

Tonight we stay in the home of a local villager where I'll probably share a good chest cold with them because (a) I've caught a whopper and (b) you are supposed to bring a gift. Then tomorrow we head back south for some Mediterranean coast and beaches to start the second third of our trip. 

P. S. I keep hearing this Turkish song in the cafés that has the exact same melody as Rasputin. I thought it was an instrumental version but Ibrahim tells me it's an old Turkish song. Either way it's firmly stuck in my head. Poor Jaimie. 

Random Thoughts on the Road to Goreme

Yesterday's 6 hour drive is followed by another 4+ today. Anakara, despite being the capital, is really just a convenient stopover between turkey's 2 main tourist destinations of Istanbul and Cappodacia. So I've got more time to kill. May as well capture some of these pearls rolling around in my brain :)

- Ankara was made the capital of Turkey by Ataturk (or general mustafa, depending who's talking) after the war of independence in 1923. It had a population of 5,000 at the time but is now 5 million. Makes calgary's "booming" population growth seem laughable eh?

- speaking of Ataturk, he seems like quite a great guy. I don't know enough about him to say what's accurate and what's legend, but the gist of what I picked up is he (a) led the country in the war of independence against Britain and France and (b) is the single most important reason turkey is a secular, modern country today. Instead of trying to reinstate the ottoman sharia law, he established a secular republic and guided the country through several reforms that became the basis of the relatively open freedom and economic growth (which has matched China for some time now) enjoyed by the citizens (and tourists) today. His reforms ranged from promoting science and technology over religious education, converting the country to the Phoenician alphabet (think of how that eventually impacts something as simple a thing as the ease with which your society can start using keyboards), adopting surnames (imagine the confusion of 80 million people without one), and women's rights (women were running for office here about the same time they got to vote in Canada). 

- if you're as in-the-dark on Turkish history as I was, it goes roughly like this:

     1) pre-historic (Early settlements and cities with no written record)

     2) early vague history (Hittites, Greek, Persian, Sidionian, etc)

     3) eastern Roman Empire (~4th century AD, Christian Era)

     4) Ottoman Empire (1453, Islamic Era)

     5) WWI (sided with the Germans, oops. Last sultan booted by British and French)

     6) war of independence (1922/3, secular and democratic era)

- where yesterday we drove though the German Black Forest, today we drove through Saskatchewan. At least, you'd swear it was except that there's hills in the distance and the highways are in much better shape. Like WAY better. Makes you reconsider which country is actually more "developed". 

- that said, we've driven through a lot of outdated farming practices like burning fields and summer-follow. So we're still a little ahead there. 

- the language has been surprisingly unforeign. With the Phoenician alphabet, I've even been able to decipher most ingredient labels fairly confidentally (seker and askobrit akid are pretty easy guesses for example). It strikes me as half way between a Germanic and Arabic language, so you can pick up a bit of the meaning in signs and even sounds. 

- Al Jazeer is often the only English Channel we can find, but I've always been impressed with their coverage - seems way less biased than the stuff you get in the west or US in particular. The access they get is outstanding too. Try watching their "Orphans of the Sahara" series if you can - I couldn't turn that off the other night. 

- we just drove by Tuz Golu lake which is a huge salt flat. Didn't know it was here, but that was a fantastic surprise and saved me from having to go to the Bolivian ones. 

- the countryside is turning markedly more arid. Our next stop is Derynku (sp?) and then Cappodacia for several days. This will likely be my last post until we do the next long drive to Konya. I haven't been hating the road trips so far - is that a side effect of getting older? It doesn't offset all the other aspects of aging, but it's something at least. 

Istanbul

Tip: this is a bit long, so if you just want the funny parts, skim through to the food subsection. If you're planning to come here though, this should make a pretty good guide to a 2 day tour of istanbul. 

Smiling start... Before the x hours of flying

Istanbul

The covershot

I'm sitting on a bus, closing in on hour 6. Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be... Had some space at the front to stand and stretch a bit, and the time went quick as I read most of the lonely planet Turkey book, watched a couple sitcoms, and enjoyed some surprisingly nice scenery - much more like Germany's Black Forest than the arid Middle East I was for some reason expecting. And now of course, catching up on some blogging...

First of all, the drivers in this country could really use some lane assist technology, but otherwise it's fairly tame driving. I think that's because it's hard to do anything crazy when you are simply stuck in gridlock. Our ride from the airport to our hotel in old town took over an hour and a half for example, sans AC or openable windows. 

DAY 1

Day 1 in Istanbul was jam packed as we were out on the street before 9 am and didn't get back till well after dark. All that walking, more than 8 hours, was hard on my recently gimped foot, so I've taken to icing it every evening. But worth it. Our day included:

 - Hagia Sophia, which was probably the best display of Islamic and Christian art and architecture intermixing you can find. Partially restored golden Christian mosaics poking out under Islamic calligraphy and tiles gives you a real sense of the ancient roman history, the ottoman conquest, and the recent secular transitions over the past 1600 years. At times you can almost sense the moments where things shifted between them. I've been in old churches and mosques before, but never a church come mosque come museum, so that was quite a treat. 

- unexpectedly close by was the Blue Mosque, which for my money had the most impressive exterior in Istanbul. An hour long line to go inside though (which we skipped by paying a guide to take us to the front) wasn't particularly worth it. If I were doing it again I'd take the great outdoor shots and skip the interior. Drop by Sulyamane Mosque instead as it's larger, less visited, and generally a nicer experience. It also has terrace restaurants across the street with incredible views of the golden horn and Bosporus straight. 

Blue Mosque

Sulyamane Mosque

Views

- enroute to the Grand Bazaar we hit the Byzantine Cisterns. More than a CFL football field in size, it held water from aqueducts running 19km away and watered the eastern roman capital until the ottomans replaced it with running water, after which it was apparently forgotten by all except the carp that still live there. Definitely worth the visit. 

- the Bazaar definitely is Grand. Merchants have been hawking their wares here since 1461, and we spent most of the afternoon here getting lost trying to get in to, through, and out of it. There's the jewellery section, the leather section, the gold section, the carpet section, the belly dancer costumer section... Not sure how large it is but it's a pretty good stroll.  Also, apparently it played the "Iranian" bazaar in Argo recently, which was a very cool movie and I'm pretty sure I recognized it in hindsight. 

- for the evening we forded the golden horn by way of galata bridge, then walked way, way up to taksim square by way of Beyoğlu neighbourhood. Fantastic area and 1 of my favourite things we did there. The crowds are something else too... It was just a typically Saturday night but the 2km stretch would have easily surpassed a record crowd at the Calgary stampede. My foot was screaming bloody murder by the end of that so we figured out the local metro system and headed home to crash until the jet lag kicked in at precisely 3 am. You'd think if you're body was tired it'd be smart enough to just stay asleep. 

DAY 2

Day 2 was more relaxed, especially after Jaimie went for a long walk while I slept in. This is how I keep up with a younger women, I let her do a lot more work!

- we started off at the archeological museum, which bored her to tears, or rather I bored her to tears while soaking it all up. Ive seen old stuff before but I think that was the best museum I've ever seen for that. When you start reading things written by Sumerians, you're skipping way back past even the ancient Egyptians, which is the kind of thing that floors a guy like me. The world's oldest written peace treaty between said Egyptians and Hittites, a paltry 3200 years oldish, is also pretty cool. And I'd always thought the oldest cities in the world were in Iraq but apparently they are right here in ancient Anatolia. Mind boggling. 

Old stuff

Old writing

Ham sandwich

- the ottoman topkapi palace was next... Mostly forgettable IMHO. I much prefer empires and artifacts to kitchen cupboards and really really old chairs that people just sat in. The grounds were nice, the views from the terraces were great, and seeing my first Islamic holy relics (the sword of David and the staff of Moses for example) was pretty cool. But the crowds and lines were unbearable. 

The circumsion room, seriously

DAY 3

Day 3, as in, today, was a repeat of day 1 except with a guide adding some color commentary. The highlight was a ferry ride across the incredibly historic Bosporus straight. Of course, this was just a trap to get me inside a bus at the other side for this 6 hour ride. 

FOOD

Oh the other highlight today... People were wondering, myself included, what the heck I'd eat over here whilst needing to strictly avoid FODMAPS (google it). Well, the answer is grilled chicken breast, white rice, dry French fries, 2 slices of grilled tomatoes, and a cooked jalapeño. I had exactly that for 3 meals in a row. 4 is you count the one that was a chicken kebop (best cooked I've ever had) instead of a breast but otherwise identical. 5 if you count the donair meat with identical fixings. Every restaurant here, save the expensive ones, all serve the exact same things, plus a couple custom items, which I usually can't eat. The one that served garlic and onion free dolmas was a welcome treat. But unless you are ordering stews or salads (which I also can't do), you get <insert meat choice here> and white rice, dry French fries, 2 grilled tomato slices and a cooked jalapeño. Exactly. Every time. As near as I can figure, that must be enshrined in the constitution here, which they are currently rewriting and I really hope they allow themselves some carrots this time. 

The monotony is broken up only by breakfast, which is hard boiled eggs, cheese, deli meat, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and some other things I can't eat. Which I'm told is the exact same at every hotel so I guess that doesn't really break up the monotony after all. I planned ahead though so I can at least supplement that with gluten free oatmeal and/or "Holy Crap" cereal (TM). 

Anywho, the highlight was that today we stopped at a place that had honest to goodness garlic and onion free beef goulash!!! I nearly fell over myself running to a table so they could put a bowl of it in front of me and I wasn't the slightest bit ashamed to display my foodgasm consuming it in front of my new travel companions. Nor to order an entire second serving with a side of rice so I could soak up every last drop of the oily sauce. Or even to strut around with the resulting gargantuan food baby for the next several hours. I was simply over moon. 

All joking aside, it hasn't been bad at all. The meals have been tasty even if repetitive, and I feel a gabillion times better sticking to this diet so I'm perfectly content to eat whatever I can find. Plus I'm thoroughly enjoying my Turkish teas, daily dosage of ice cream, sneaking deserts like milk pudding sunken in chocolate sauce, sesame crusted sugared peanuts, and the endless free samples of Turkish delight you can eat without buying if, like me, you have no shame. 

Turkish delight "free" samples are awesome

Jaimie ordering a pocket full of ice cream to cool down

Ooh, and I found a new spice called zaater, which is described as a Turkish thyme spice but apparently has garlic, so today I got to watch a guy at the spice market hand make a special batch just for me without any garlic, then vaccuum pack it for my trip home. Could be the best souvenir I've ever bought myself. It'll be slathered all over some kind of meat when I get home. And of course, severed with white rice, dry French fries, 2 grilled tomatoes, and a cooked jalapeño. 

Anyway, I'm at the hotel in Ankara now and the young whipper snapper went out for drinks with the group, but this old guy is knackered so good night.