So i think this will be the last blog of our honeymoon! and what a honeymoon it has been! Josh and I cannot believe we are coming home tomorrow, not so much looking foward to the 10 hour flight, but cannot wait for the sushi that we will eat as our first meal back..
Our last day in Germany was spent in Cologne.. about 30 min. by train from Dusseldorf. It has an enormous, take your breath away, cathedral, right when you exit the train station, which Josh and i decided that climbing the 506 steps to the top would be a good idea.. not.. but hey, once in a lifetime right? Cologne is a pretty interesting city, lots of shopping, a great old town, bike lanes for as far as the eye can see, and a fairly liberal outlook on life- we just so happened to go during their Gay Pride Celebration! that was quite a shocker.. tons of people drinking and dancing in the streets- it reminded me of UBC´s Arts County Fair.. there were 3 stages, one was a booming techno stage, we actually saw a half naked man dancing on the stage??! Crazy things we have seen here i tell ya! We went to the Lindt chocolate museum and saw some really interesting, some might say geeky, mechanical machines and how chocolate is made. We strolled along the river and watched some strange folk dancing in the street.. so for the most part it was a super relaxing way to spend the day.
We leave tomorrow at 11 am.. only to get to Van at noon, same day.. gotta love the time difference!
what a trip this has been! cant wait to talk to you all about it, and reminice about the wedding.. which feels like 10 years ago!!
thanks for reading! we love you all!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Istanbul to Dusseldorf
So i think i last left you when Josh was getting a Turkish massage.. well he said it was quite an experience, apparently u sit in this 50 degree sauna for a while before they massage you.. as if it isn´t hot enough already?? and for some reason they gave him the real Turkish massage, not the "foreigner" one.. and a turkish man already in the hamman got offended? you gotta ask josh for the details.. all in know is that he sweat buckets.. hehe-
So our last day in Istanbul we headed to a district called Beyoglu - this is supposedly the place to go if u want to see a million Turks in a day.. and boy were they right! now this is what i thought Istanbul was going to be.. super busy, so many different stores lining the street, food vendors, buskers, basically your regular gong show.. We fought thru the crowds really loving every minute of it.. it was super interesting- in 1 km. we saw about 4 burger kings and about 4 starbucks.. we caved in and got a frappacino at starbucks.. and yep, it tastes the same!
So we took advice from a couple we met in Selcuk and made reservations at this seafood restaurant that had 36 different vegetarian appy´s.. this was going to be our last meal in Turkey, so we really did it up.. had wine and skewers of fish (black scorpian.. is that even a fish??)- this restuarant overlooked most of Istanbul and we watched the sun go down enjoying everz bit of our turkish white wine. After dinner we made our way to Nevizdade, a street lined with bars, and there was literally hundreds, possibly a thousand people drinking on these outdoor patios, just enjoying life.. it was a sight to see!
After our long walk home we again ended our last night with of courses, backgammon and a hookah.. although we were sad to leave turkey we were excited to go to germany and to experience that culture.. josh had been last summer, but i have never been, and being 1/4 German, i think it will be really interesting to "fit" in in a foreign place.. as for the most part i am easily pointed out as a "tourist" with my long blonde hair and all 6´1 of me.. and as i thought, i was right! Dusseldorf is really neat, and i don´t get stared at.. not in the slightest.. i have actually seen girls who could be my sister! Josh is relieved i think- now he can stop staring down the men who would oogle my legs and shoulders..
The down side is tho, is that it is about 12 degrees here.. and yes we complained about the heat.. i know, but we are not prepared to be in such cold weather.. i didnt bring pants. and my "jacket" is a light long sleeved shirt.. does that mean shopping??? haha- as it turns out, yes.. we actually had a fabulous first day wandering the streets of Dusseldorf and shopping! We also would pop in and out of these beer houses "sampling" the beer.. and are excited to go back tonight. I think we are going to catch a train to Cologne tomorrow as it is about 25 min. away, and explore this town.. so all in all- it´s crazy to think that yesterday we were in Turkey- we are really enjoying the "western" part of this trip.. eating familiar foods etc.
We will be home on Sunday.. i can´t believe that.. but we have such exciting things ahead.. 2 weeks till a fabulous wedding and then Josh and i head to Mexico to build a house- my dad used to do it every year, so we thought it very appropriate to both go this year as newlyweds!
I will write one last blog before we come home.. we are looking forward to coming home to vancouver and being able to catch up with u guys!
So our last day in Istanbul we headed to a district called Beyoglu - this is supposedly the place to go if u want to see a million Turks in a day.. and boy were they right! now this is what i thought Istanbul was going to be.. super busy, so many different stores lining the street, food vendors, buskers, basically your regular gong show.. We fought thru the crowds really loving every minute of it.. it was super interesting- in 1 km. we saw about 4 burger kings and about 4 starbucks.. we caved in and got a frappacino at starbucks.. and yep, it tastes the same!
So we took advice from a couple we met in Selcuk and made reservations at this seafood restaurant that had 36 different vegetarian appy´s.. this was going to be our last meal in Turkey, so we really did it up.. had wine and skewers of fish (black scorpian.. is that even a fish??)- this restuarant overlooked most of Istanbul and we watched the sun go down enjoying everz bit of our turkish white wine. After dinner we made our way to Nevizdade, a street lined with bars, and there was literally hundreds, possibly a thousand people drinking on these outdoor patios, just enjoying life.. it was a sight to see!
After our long walk home we again ended our last night with of courses, backgammon and a hookah.. although we were sad to leave turkey we were excited to go to germany and to experience that culture.. josh had been last summer, but i have never been, and being 1/4 German, i think it will be really interesting to "fit" in in a foreign place.. as for the most part i am easily pointed out as a "tourist" with my long blonde hair and all 6´1 of me.. and as i thought, i was right! Dusseldorf is really neat, and i don´t get stared at.. not in the slightest.. i have actually seen girls who could be my sister! Josh is relieved i think- now he can stop staring down the men who would oogle my legs and shoulders..
The down side is tho, is that it is about 12 degrees here.. and yes we complained about the heat.. i know, but we are not prepared to be in such cold weather.. i didnt bring pants. and my "jacket" is a light long sleeved shirt.. does that mean shopping??? haha- as it turns out, yes.. we actually had a fabulous first day wandering the streets of Dusseldorf and shopping! We also would pop in and out of these beer houses "sampling" the beer.. and are excited to go back tonight. I think we are going to catch a train to Cologne tomorrow as it is about 25 min. away, and explore this town.. so all in all- it´s crazy to think that yesterday we were in Turkey- we are really enjoying the "western" part of this trip.. eating familiar foods etc.
We will be home on Sunday.. i can´t believe that.. but we have such exciting things ahead.. 2 weeks till a fabulous wedding and then Josh and i head to Mexico to build a house- my dad used to do it every year, so we thought it very appropriate to both go this year as newlyweds!
I will write one last blog before we come home.. we are looking forward to coming home to vancouver and being able to catch up with u guys!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Balloon Ride and Istanbul
Well.... i don't even know where to start... the balloon ride was such an experience.. worth every penny, or lira i should say. It was as close to flying as i think u can get!! So we woke up at 4:30am for our 4:45am pickup.. that was a bit rough, but i kinda felt like i was in grade school again excited for the first day of school! So we got dropped off at Kapadokya balloons (the most reputable balloon company. we made sure of that!) and hung around for about 15 min. with about 50 other people before we got taken in about groups of 12 in large vans to the site- we were impressed with how professional it was.. they did loads of tests with small balloons to see were the wind was going and kept throwing up dust and sand- we drove to 3 different sites before they chose which one would be best with the current weather conditions. So we watched as they blew up the balloons and then all piled into the basket as the pilot explained to us what was going to happen... i was super nervous... what if it didn't get off the ground? what if the wind took us crazy places?? but as soon as we lifted off it was if we weren't even moving at all- it was the smoothest ride of my life! the views were magnificent and it was all just a surreal experience.. here I am in a hot air balloon in Turkey, flying over these crazy rock formations with my husband???!! it doesn't get any better/more surreal than that! So the flight lasted for about an hour and we ended up having the softest landing.. we made us practice our "fast landing" positions which was quite funny, but luckily we didn't have to use that. We met some neat people, one of which had extra batteries that he lent us because ours ran out!!! just our luck- we had 3 spares and none worked.. so that was a bit stressful! but luckily this man from the mid east USA had some to spare!
So after the balloon ride we visited the goreme open air museum which was a bunch of rock churches, with some of the most amazing frescoes we have ever seen- we paid a little bit extra to visit the "dark church" named for it's lack of light- but because of this lack of light has these preserved frescoes that literally took our breath away!! so worth the extra 10 lira. This was the end of our Cappadocia sight seeing and were then whisked off to the airport for Istanbul. The plane ride was a little rough but we made it into Istanbul, pretty exhausted from only getting 4 hours of sleep that night- luckily we had booked an airport pickup so we didn't have to worry about how we would get from the airport to the hotel.. that is soo the way to go! The hotel we are staying at in Istanbul was recommended from the hotel we were staying at in Cappadocia, and it is nice.. clean with air/con.. that is all that matters!
Our first night in Istanbul was a laid back dinner at an Indian food restaurant... just what we needed, a switch of cuisine! its not cheap.. but at this point we don't really care! it was a very early night, i think we fell asleep at 10? but we needed that, and knew we had 2 long days of sightseeing ahead of us!
The first day we went to Topkapi palace, where the Sultan rulers lived with all their concubines... what an interesting history there... the palace was massive and we spent about 3 hours exploring it! the ottoman architecture and tiling is really really interesting and we actually bought one of those audio guides to listen to more details about everything. After the palace we spent the rest of the day at the grand bazaar.. that was so much fun! i must say that my bartering skills have gotten so much better... i got a vendor down from his original offer of 250 lira to 50!! i was proud! josh and i bought well umm.. a lot.. haha.. we went a bit nuts, but had a lot of fun and were happy with our purchases! i ended up getting 2 necklaces, we bought a hookah, a scarf for my head in the mosques, and some other little trinkets.. it was an expensive afternoon, but a once in a lifetime experience! We ended our evening of course playing backgammon and drinking apple tea with a hookah...
The second day we went crazy with the sights, we needed to go hard if we wanted to see everything we wanted to see! we say the blue mosque, aya sofia, the basillica cistern, the spice bazaar, 2 other mosques all before 4 pm.. that was exhausting, but really worth it. We can't get over how massive these mosques are and what intricate detailing has gone into everything.. it was interesting wearing a scarf on my head, but i wanted to be really respectful. After 3 mosques though, we are mosqued-out... no more.. but it was worth it to see those 3! We spent the night taking a ferry to the Asian side and eating super cheap fish sandwiches near the pier... it was relaxing and a great way to end our night-
Istanbul is busy... noisy and a bit grimy... but overall we really like the city... today we will explore more over the bridge, and eat dinner at a restaurant with over 36 vegetarian appy's!! it was recommended by a couple we met! We leave tomorrow at 10 to go back to Athens which we will then catch a place to Munich, then Dusseldorf, and apparently stay 3 nights there??!! this is all news to us... that was fun learning that our paper tickets and our online itinerary dates were different... apparently flights have been cancelled etc..but no one bothered to inform us.. but oh well.. we get to have 3 nights in Germany!! so we are now going to be home on the 8th.
So as i write this josh is having a traditional Turkish bath-i think that basically means u get massaged by hairy men?? hehe.. but i look forward to his return to hear all about it!
our love to you all!
So after the balloon ride we visited the goreme open air museum which was a bunch of rock churches, with some of the most amazing frescoes we have ever seen- we paid a little bit extra to visit the "dark church" named for it's lack of light- but because of this lack of light has these preserved frescoes that literally took our breath away!! so worth the extra 10 lira. This was the end of our Cappadocia sight seeing and were then whisked off to the airport for Istanbul. The plane ride was a little rough but we made it into Istanbul, pretty exhausted from only getting 4 hours of sleep that night- luckily we had booked an airport pickup so we didn't have to worry about how we would get from the airport to the hotel.. that is soo the way to go! The hotel we are staying at in Istanbul was recommended from the hotel we were staying at in Cappadocia, and it is nice.. clean with air/con.. that is all that matters!
Our first night in Istanbul was a laid back dinner at an Indian food restaurant... just what we needed, a switch of cuisine! its not cheap.. but at this point we don't really care! it was a very early night, i think we fell asleep at 10? but we needed that, and knew we had 2 long days of sightseeing ahead of us!
The first day we went to Topkapi palace, where the Sultan rulers lived with all their concubines... what an interesting history there... the palace was massive and we spent about 3 hours exploring it! the ottoman architecture and tiling is really really interesting and we actually bought one of those audio guides to listen to more details about everything. After the palace we spent the rest of the day at the grand bazaar.. that was so much fun! i must say that my bartering skills have gotten so much better... i got a vendor down from his original offer of 250 lira to 50!! i was proud! josh and i bought well umm.. a lot.. haha.. we went a bit nuts, but had a lot of fun and were happy with our purchases! i ended up getting 2 necklaces, we bought a hookah, a scarf for my head in the mosques, and some other little trinkets.. it was an expensive afternoon, but a once in a lifetime experience! We ended our evening of course playing backgammon and drinking apple tea with a hookah...
The second day we went crazy with the sights, we needed to go hard if we wanted to see everything we wanted to see! we say the blue mosque, aya sofia, the basillica cistern, the spice bazaar, 2 other mosques all before 4 pm.. that was exhausting, but really worth it. We can't get over how massive these mosques are and what intricate detailing has gone into everything.. it was interesting wearing a scarf on my head, but i wanted to be really respectful. After 3 mosques though, we are mosqued-out... no more.. but it was worth it to see those 3! We spent the night taking a ferry to the Asian side and eating super cheap fish sandwiches near the pier... it was relaxing and a great way to end our night-
Istanbul is busy... noisy and a bit grimy... but overall we really like the city... today we will explore more over the bridge, and eat dinner at a restaurant with over 36 vegetarian appy's!! it was recommended by a couple we met! We leave tomorrow at 10 to go back to Athens which we will then catch a place to Munich, then Dusseldorf, and apparently stay 3 nights there??!! this is all news to us... that was fun learning that our paper tickets and our online itinerary dates were different... apparently flights have been cancelled etc..but no one bothered to inform us.. but oh well.. we get to have 3 nights in Germany!! so we are now going to be home on the 8th.
So as i write this josh is having a traditional Turkish bath-i think that basically means u get massaged by hairy men?? hehe.. but i look forward to his return to hear all about it!
our love to you all!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Cappadocia
Ok- so i don't even know where to start!! i think this is the longest we have went without using internet because we have had no time! there is so much to do.. we leave tomorrow.. and we still want to do soo much! But this is a magical place- i can only describe it as a mix between some weird star trek backdrop and a Doctor Seuss book! Josh and i have never seen anything like this and have been awe struck for the last 2 days!
This is gunna be a long one- cuz i have soo much to tell you, but hang in there, it's worth the read!
Our trip from Selcuk to Izmir consisted of a stuffy bus ride that dropped us off 1 km out of the airport. We had to cross a busy highway to get to the taxi's that were waiting on the other side to take us to the domestic gate. This older Turkish man was talking very excitedly in Turkish to Josh, and kept giving him presents, a paper towel to wipe his sweat, gum, a pin to put on my bag.. it's quite intimidating and funny having someone yammer off to you in a different language.. but we made it. got our tickets, and boarded the plane for Kayseri. The flight was good, we got emergency exit without even asking for it! we flew over multicoloured patches of land and these "co-op" housing communities... i must look into that when i have some time.. the planner in me is very intrigued. Luckily enough the people at our hotel in Selcuk called ahead to this awesome hotel here in Cappadocia and had someone at the airport with our names on a sign pick us up.. which was a good thing because Goreme (the city we were staying at) was about 90 km away.. we shared the cab with 2 people who funnily enough we spent yesterday hanging out with their friends- yet we never met these 2.. so hey, small world eh?? backpacking is so funny that way.. So the 4 of us set out with this driver who drove us to Goreme, as we got closer we were just stunned by the "fairy chimney's", tufa and basalt volcanic formations that are eroding into such interesting shapes. Apparently 3 volcanoes had their hands in shaping this landscape, we learned all about it on our tour today!.. but i'm getting ahead of myself. First off i must explain about the cave hotel we are staying in.. it just rocks! (haha.. literally).. we splurged and got the more expensive one with a super large bathtub, queen size bed, and cave like atmosphere.. it's really neat.. best place we have stayed at yet! So that night we went and explored the town, ended up eating in the courtyard under these crazy rock formations- excited to see what we could see the next day. Everyone has been super helpful and hospitable that we have dealt with- but i must say.. i have never gotten such intense stares- now we all know that i got stared at in japan.. and that was bad.. but here, it is like the men think that they have the right to stare, and it is an aggressive stare. If i have bare shoulders or am showing any leg above the knee men are just disgustingly ridiculous.. and the women! the traditional Turkish women are as bad as the men.. maybe not as aggressive, but definitely noticeable. if i am somewhere without Josh, i feel very self conscious.. luckily we haven't left each others side for very long!
Anyways, getting back to Cappadoccia, so the next day we talked to our hotel about tours, and booking the hot air balloon ride etc, and found out that the tour we wanted to go on was actually happening that day as we were sitting there discussing what we wanted to do.. so it was too late.. but after some discussion on what we should do it was decided we would rent our own car and basically do that same tour but on our own.. is anyone laughing right now at us? i would be.. the car that they rented to us was a POS (stands for piece of ....)- the promised air conditioning didn't work, i couldn't control my window, josh had to do that. there was a huge crack in the windshield, the car was dirty (apparently he had no time to clean it?), and to top it off the reverse didn't work!! which we found out the hard way with josh having to push us out of the parking spot.. i laugh to myself now, but that was NOT a happy experience... so apparently there is a safety switch that u have to use, and of course he didn't tell us that- so we go back to the place, sweaty and angry and the guy is like, "it works" and looks at us like we are dumb.. but anyways, ok that got worked out and we were on our way exploring these valleys of these crazy rock formations, and made our way to the underground city of Kaymakli. But just to note, there are no street signs. everything is poorly marked and the roads are filled with potholes and cars coming at you 90km/hour.. maybe we should have listened to lonely planet and not rented one?? but we made it out alive.. So the underground city was something i can even explain to you.. 8 floors were carved out of the rock and served as a hiding places for early Christians- they stayed underground for up to 6 months during the war time months. So we hired a tour guide for this, he was awesome, and explored these cities.. we have some great videos which u must see! At times we were extremely claustrophobic and couldn't imagine spending 10 more minutes down there nonetheless 6 months- but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We then went to this "susnset" place where they actually charge 2 TL to go see the sunset at this point.. pathetic, but hey, u gotta get your money somehow right? it wasn't really worth it, but was a fitting end to a really up and down day. Returning the car was a major relief- i think this is when josh and i stopped fighting?? kidding.. but overall we were glad we did it!!
We have spent most of our nights being competitive at backgammon, lounging on these bean bag chairs, drinking beers and having a hookah.. it has been fabulous.
We went on a tour today of this valley, actually did a 7 km hike, it was really neat as well, but maybe all i'll say is that i never knew Turkey was so lush!!
So tomorrow we have a packed day- get up at 445 am to take a balloon ride over Goreme, and then go to this museum from about 9-11, catch the shuttle to the airport at 12:30, and fly out to Istanbul at 3:30!
We are excited, and slightly nervous about the balloon thing, but we are loving our Turkey experiences.
Hope you are all well!
This is gunna be a long one- cuz i have soo much to tell you, but hang in there, it's worth the read!
Our trip from Selcuk to Izmir consisted of a stuffy bus ride that dropped us off 1 km out of the airport. We had to cross a busy highway to get to the taxi's that were waiting on the other side to take us to the domestic gate. This older Turkish man was talking very excitedly in Turkish to Josh, and kept giving him presents, a paper towel to wipe his sweat, gum, a pin to put on my bag.. it's quite intimidating and funny having someone yammer off to you in a different language.. but we made it. got our tickets, and boarded the plane for Kayseri. The flight was good, we got emergency exit without even asking for it! we flew over multicoloured patches of land and these "co-op" housing communities... i must look into that when i have some time.. the planner in me is very intrigued. Luckily enough the people at our hotel in Selcuk called ahead to this awesome hotel here in Cappadocia and had someone at the airport with our names on a sign pick us up.. which was a good thing because Goreme (the city we were staying at) was about 90 km away.. we shared the cab with 2 people who funnily enough we spent yesterday hanging out with their friends- yet we never met these 2.. so hey, small world eh?? backpacking is so funny that way.. So the 4 of us set out with this driver who drove us to Goreme, as we got closer we were just stunned by the "fairy chimney's", tufa and basalt volcanic formations that are eroding into such interesting shapes. Apparently 3 volcanoes had their hands in shaping this landscape, we learned all about it on our tour today!.. but i'm getting ahead of myself. First off i must explain about the cave hotel we are staying in.. it just rocks! (haha.. literally).. we splurged and got the more expensive one with a super large bathtub, queen size bed, and cave like atmosphere.. it's really neat.. best place we have stayed at yet! So that night we went and explored the town, ended up eating in the courtyard under these crazy rock formations- excited to see what we could see the next day. Everyone has been super helpful and hospitable that we have dealt with- but i must say.. i have never gotten such intense stares- now we all know that i got stared at in japan.. and that was bad.. but here, it is like the men think that they have the right to stare, and it is an aggressive stare. If i have bare shoulders or am showing any leg above the knee men are just disgustingly ridiculous.. and the women! the traditional Turkish women are as bad as the men.. maybe not as aggressive, but definitely noticeable. if i am somewhere without Josh, i feel very self conscious.. luckily we haven't left each others side for very long!
Anyways, getting back to Cappadoccia, so the next day we talked to our hotel about tours, and booking the hot air balloon ride etc, and found out that the tour we wanted to go on was actually happening that day as we were sitting there discussing what we wanted to do.. so it was too late.. but after some discussion on what we should do it was decided we would rent our own car and basically do that same tour but on our own.. is anyone laughing right now at us? i would be.. the car that they rented to us was a POS (stands for piece of ....)- the promised air conditioning didn't work, i couldn't control my window, josh had to do that. there was a huge crack in the windshield, the car was dirty (apparently he had no time to clean it?), and to top it off the reverse didn't work!! which we found out the hard way with josh having to push us out of the parking spot.. i laugh to myself now, but that was NOT a happy experience... so apparently there is a safety switch that u have to use, and of course he didn't tell us that- so we go back to the place, sweaty and angry and the guy is like, "it works" and looks at us like we are dumb.. but anyways, ok that got worked out and we were on our way exploring these valleys of these crazy rock formations, and made our way to the underground city of Kaymakli. But just to note, there are no street signs. everything is poorly marked and the roads are filled with potholes and cars coming at you 90km/hour.. maybe we should have listened to lonely planet and not rented one?? but we made it out alive.. So the underground city was something i can even explain to you.. 8 floors were carved out of the rock and served as a hiding places for early Christians- they stayed underground for up to 6 months during the war time months. So we hired a tour guide for this, he was awesome, and explored these cities.. we have some great videos which u must see! At times we were extremely claustrophobic and couldn't imagine spending 10 more minutes down there nonetheless 6 months- but we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We then went to this "susnset" place where they actually charge 2 TL to go see the sunset at this point.. pathetic, but hey, u gotta get your money somehow right? it wasn't really worth it, but was a fitting end to a really up and down day. Returning the car was a major relief- i think this is when josh and i stopped fighting?? kidding.. but overall we were glad we did it!!
We have spent most of our nights being competitive at backgammon, lounging on these bean bag chairs, drinking beers and having a hookah.. it has been fabulous.
We went on a tour today of this valley, actually did a 7 km hike, it was really neat as well, but maybe all i'll say is that i never knew Turkey was so lush!!
So tomorrow we have a packed day- get up at 445 am to take a balloon ride over Goreme, and then go to this museum from about 9-11, catch the shuttle to the airport at 12:30, and fly out to Istanbul at 3:30!
We are excited, and slightly nervous about the balloon thing, but we are loving our Turkey experiences.
Hope you are all well!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Seçuk to Izmır to Goreme
Well Turkey does offıcıally rock! we have had some amazıng tımes here, and only been here for 3 days! We have met numerous couples, one who were newlyweds lıke us and the gırl ıs plannıng on comıng to UBC ın a couple years! we exchanged emaıls and am lookıng forward to beıng able to help her out. We have vısıted St. John's Basıcılla, where st. john's grave ıs! yesterday we went to Ancıent ruıns of Ephesus, somehow made ıt thru wıth the heat and all the tourısts. ıt was good, but ı1m not sure how to wrap my head around how old everythıng ıs.. but ıt was great to see.. josh probably would have lıked to stay longer, but the heat was unbearable...so that nıght we ended up on a rooftop balcony of the hotel we were supposed to stay at, but dıdn't because ıt was full, ate, drank 2 bottles of wıne, had a hookah, and just enjoyed chattıng wıth the locals and the other travelers! ıt was one of the best nıghts yet.. the turkısh hospıtalıty ıs above and beyond anythıng ı have ever experıened before.. and, guess what?! yesterday we bought a carpet!!! yes folks, a true turkısh carpet. we couldn't resıst.. he was so excellent ın explaınıng the hıstory of carpet makıng and tellıng us storıes (although ı thınk they may all do that..) but at least we bought ıt from the guy who has been so great to us.. he pıcked us up ın Kusadası, he drove us to Ephesus, we've had long chats.. etc.. so at least we know our money ıs goıng to a good man. We are very excıted about ıt and wıll post a pıcture for u all to see! The heat ıs outrageous.. yesterday was the hottest day ever.. we sweat non stop.. ı thought ıt was bad ın Thaıland... nope.. thıs ıs worse.. much worse!
So today we start our journey to Cappadocia.. take a bus to the airport ın about an hour, fly to Keyserı, our hotel ın Goreme ıs comıng to pıck us up! and then we wıll have 2 days explorıng caves and takıng a hot aır balloon rıde.. ıt,s gunna be amazıng.
everyone must come to turkey.. ıt really ıs amazıng.
all our best!
So today we start our journey to Cappadocia.. take a bus to the airport ın about an hour, fly to Keyserı, our hotel ın Goreme ıs comıng to pıck us up! and then we wıll have 2 days explorıng caves and takıng a hot aır balloon rıde.. ıt,s gunna be amazıng.
everyone must come to turkey.. ıt really ıs amazıng.
all our best!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Turkey!
Hey all!
So just wanted to gıve a quıck update and let you know we are ın Turkey! It ıs great!! We had an ınterestıng tıme at passport control at the Port.. apparently ıt takes about 45 mın. to get thru passport control/customs.. ıt was a bıt of a gong show.. they took our passports and then reappeared some tıme later callıng our names lıke roll call to get our passports back.. I felt lıke i was back ın gradeschool! And apparently Canadians pay the most to get a vısa.. we had to pay 60USD each, whereas Amerıcans pay 20USD and New Zealanders pay nothıng! BUt what can you do rıght? refuse? We were told by our travel agent ın Greece not to pay anythıng over 45USD... but ya, what can you do..
So we stayed for one nıght ın Kusadası, met two kiwi,s and had good conversations on the rooftop balcony of our pensıon. Unfortunately tho, there was no aır con ın our room and the temp. has soared here! It was ın the 40's yesterday and sleepıng wıth no aır con was not somethıng we wanted to do.. but agaın, what can you do? the locals are predıctıng about 50 degrees tomorrow... ıt ıs even super hot for them.. they keep tellıng us ıt ıs "Afrıcan hot". But we moved towns today and are ın Selçuk- closer to Ephesus- and wıll attempt that tomorrow even wıth the heat wave. But our new place has aır con :) so we are happy! We have experıenced some really great hospıtable people so far, and are both enjoyıng Turkey a lot. İt remınds me a lot of Thaıland wıth the markets and the barterıng etc.. but Josh has never experıenced thıs, so ıt's fun to watch hım :) We spent the afternoon explorıng St.John's Basıllıca, and when ıt got too hot to move we ate some lunch under a shady canopy and then took refuge ın a hookah cafe. There we played backgammon and drank beer lıstenıng to some ıntense Turkısh musıc and enjoyıng the local scenery. We are enjoyıng the change of country, excıted to try all new kınds of food, and of course ı have started shoppıng!
Wıll put more pıctures up for you guys ın a couple of days- hope you are well!
So just wanted to gıve a quıck update and let you know we are ın Turkey! It ıs great!! We had an ınterestıng tıme at passport control at the Port.. apparently ıt takes about 45 mın. to get thru passport control/customs.. ıt was a bıt of a gong show.. they took our passports and then reappeared some tıme later callıng our names lıke roll call to get our passports back.. I felt lıke i was back ın gradeschool! And apparently Canadians pay the most to get a vısa.. we had to pay 60USD each, whereas Amerıcans pay 20USD and New Zealanders pay nothıng! BUt what can you do rıght? refuse? We were told by our travel agent ın Greece not to pay anythıng over 45USD... but ya, what can you do..
So we stayed for one nıght ın Kusadası, met two kiwi,s and had good conversations on the rooftop balcony of our pensıon. Unfortunately tho, there was no aır con ın our room and the temp. has soared here! It was ın the 40's yesterday and sleepıng wıth no aır con was not somethıng we wanted to do.. but agaın, what can you do? the locals are predıctıng about 50 degrees tomorrow... ıt ıs even super hot for them.. they keep tellıng us ıt ıs "Afrıcan hot". But we moved towns today and are ın Selçuk- closer to Ephesus- and wıll attempt that tomorrow even wıth the heat wave. But our new place has aır con :) so we are happy! We have experıenced some really great hospıtable people so far, and are both enjoyıng Turkey a lot. İt remınds me a lot of Thaıland wıth the markets and the barterıng etc.. but Josh has never experıenced thıs, so ıt's fun to watch hım :) We spent the afternoon explorıng St.John's Basıllıca, and when ıt got too hot to move we ate some lunch under a shady canopy and then took refuge ın a hookah cafe. There we played backgammon and drank beer lıstenıng to some ıntense Turkısh musıc and enjoyıng the local scenery. We are enjoyıng the change of country, excıted to try all new kınds of food, and of course ı have started shoppıng!
Wıll put more pıctures up for you guys ın a couple of days- hope you are well!
Monday, June 25, 2007
GREECE SUMMARY
So over breakfast Josh and I reminisced about the "best of'" in Greece, what surprised us and what we liked and didn't like about each island: We thought it would be interesting for you to read, but mostly it is so that we don't forget!!
Thing we weren't expecting:
1. The major army presence on every island- on average when we are driving around we will pass at least 3 army bases.
2. The "call-outs" from restaurant and bar owners- we learned to steer clear of these places, if it is as good as you say it is, why do you need to try so hard?
3. The loudness of Greek men- now this is probably a pretty big stereotype, but we have encountered some of the loudest men we have ever heard, example: our bus drivers, our guest house owner in Samos, he would yell (or talk, we thought yelling tho) at the cleaning girl every morning. And just in general on the street or in restaurants.
3. How people touch you when you talk to them- Josh has never been touched on the shoulder/back by so many random men! I think that is just what they do tho to show sincerity?
4. The extreme spectrum of indifference vs. hospitable people. We have met the most helpful hospitable people, and totally opposite, mean indifferent people.. i guess that is the same anywhere you go, but it was particularly evident to us here.
5. Did u know that Feta cheese can only be called "Feta" if it was actually produced here in Greece? We thought that was kinda neat.. (i figured we had to say something about the cheese since we have had soooooo much of it!)
Best and worst of the Islands:
1. Santorını:
Santorini had the best scenery from the guest house, the clıfs really were amazıng to see. Yet, ıt also had the worst mass tourısm ı have ever seen.
Our favorıte memory was the nıghts that we would get a bottle of wıne and sıt on our balcony chattıng about lıfe, past events and what ıs to come. Thıs was also the fırst place we drove a quad.
What we laugh about now (that wasn't so funny at the tıme) was El Greco hotel and how ıt totally wasn't what we expected, and also our experıence ın Oıa- apparently the most beatıful place to watch the sunset, but the one day we went ıt was cloudy and we fought thru crowds of tourısts to get there.. grr..
tbc...
Thing we weren't expecting:
1. The major army presence on every island- on average when we are driving around we will pass at least 3 army bases.
2. The "call-outs" from restaurant and bar owners- we learned to steer clear of these places, if it is as good as you say it is, why do you need to try so hard?
3. The loudness of Greek men- now this is probably a pretty big stereotype, but we have encountered some of the loudest men we have ever heard, example: our bus drivers, our guest house owner in Samos, he would yell (or talk, we thought yelling tho) at the cleaning girl every morning. And just in general on the street or in restaurants.
3. How people touch you when you talk to them- Josh has never been touched on the shoulder/back by so many random men! I think that is just what they do tho to show sincerity?
4. The extreme spectrum of indifference vs. hospitable people. We have met the most helpful hospitable people, and totally opposite, mean indifferent people.. i guess that is the same anywhere you go, but it was particularly evident to us here.
5. Did u know that Feta cheese can only be called "Feta" if it was actually produced here in Greece? We thought that was kinda neat.. (i figured we had to say something about the cheese since we have had soooooo much of it!)
Best and worst of the Islands:
1. Santorını:
Santorini had the best scenery from the guest house, the clıfs really were amazıng to see. Yet, ıt also had the worst mass tourısm ı have ever seen.
Our favorıte memory was the nıghts that we would get a bottle of wıne and sıt on our balcony chattıng about lıfe, past events and what ıs to come. Thıs was also the fırst place we drove a quad.
What we laugh about now (that wasn't so funny at the tıme) was El Greco hotel and how ıt totally wasn't what we expected, and also our experıence ın Oıa- apparently the most beatıful place to watch the sunset, but the one day we went ıt was cloudy and we fought thru crowds of tourısts to get there.. grr..
tbc...
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