Day of Great Relaxation

It was a complete relaxing day today. I slept in until 7:30, I am still feeling ill but I'm also sick of being sick. So, I've started to take the Advil Cold and Flu I brough with me to Turkey... feels great to not be coughing up a storm or to be constantly blowing my nose. One of my tour-mates gave me a cold and flu to mix into hot water, I'm going to give that a go tonight.

After breakfast we headed out on a light hike through the hills of Cappadocia towards the little town where we had dinner with the local family. It was a light hike with some amazing views of where people lived in the mountains.

From there we headed to see the Fairy Chimneys created by the two densities of rock created be volcano eruptions millions of years ago. There are so many and so very beautiful, if not a bit phallic.

From there we headed for lunch where I had Lahmacun, which is another type of Turkish "pizza" where you added parsley, lemon, and onions. I held on the onions but it was delicious. You load it up and then roll it up and eat it a bit like a wrap. We they had the dessert speciality of this place which has thin strings of dough with a mild cheese in the middle with a syrup and pistachios sprinkled on top. Most desserts are painfully sweet here, but this one wasn't, it was really delicious!

From there we want to the pottery shop where we watch an expert potter in action. He made a perfect teapot in about 5 minutes. Amazing stuff as he cut the teapot in half and you can see how perfect the work was all the way through.

From there we headed back to the hotel and then on to a Hamman. So freakin' amazing! It starts with a mud face mask and then sitting in steam for 10 minutes then a shower followed by being completely scrubbed down by one lady then a 10 minute message with bubbles to be super clean. From there they dump bowls full of warm water and wrap you in fluffy towels and show you to a rest area for apple tea.

I paid extra for a 30 minute 'medical' massage which was so amazing even when she was pulling my arms behind my head... I felt a bit like a sail on a sailboat!

I skipped the Turkish night tonight that was planned. I need an early night to recoup and get better.

Time to down the New Zealand drink remedy and hope that I wake up well tomorrow!

** I had to remove all the photos because the internet connection is so slow it's failing to upload the photos. I will try and add them to the next post in two days as I will not have internet in our village stay tomorrow.**

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Phobia Day

Today was a very early morning start! I was up at 4:45 to be ready, dressed and in the lobby for our transfer for the hot air balloon ride. I didn't sleep overly well as I was completely paranoid about missing the flight!

Morning came and we were off for the balloon ride and I have to admit it easily ranks top as one of my best life experiences. The views were breathtaking and all the other balloons on the air made for some significantly awesome views.

We then came back to the hotel for breakfast and to change, we were off at 9am for the Göreme Open Air Museum or the Churches of Göreme. Many of the early Christians made their homes in the lava rocks because it was easy to carve out a home. They also created churches because they had to be able to hide quickly and remain unnoticed.

Some of the churches were primitive and others very detailed! Almost a progressive improvement of fresco paintings. They were all very beautiful. Unfortunately there were no photos allowed in the churches but I did spot some of the more primary stuff outside and snapped a pic.

What was not cool was the number of tourists at this museum. It was ridiculous, big bus loads of impatient and annoying tourists. I was very happy to be leaving when it was time to go.

We then headed to a carpet store and got the speech on Turkish carpets. It was interesting but I'm not quite at the point where I have $600 and nothing better to buy with it than a Turkish carpet... maybe next time I'm in Turkey. The free "while you buy" Turkish coffee was quite nice!

From there we headed to lunch and I had a Turkish pizza (for the life of me I can't remember the proper name for it) and it was super long and extremely delicious.

At this point I started to cough and cough and cough and cough. I have developed one of those nagging persistent coughs, so much so that I had to invest (and I mean invest, they cost a freakin' fortune) in Turkish cough drops. Not bad... Exactly the same in Canada.

But I wasn't going to miss anything! So I carried on and we visited the Underground City of Derinkuyu. It was an entire city underground. They raised livestock, made wine, even created a graveyard down there. There were tiny tiny passage ways where you had to almost crawl through. One of the over 6' guys actually crab-walked down the last bit of the narrowest cave.

So in the end it really was Phobia day because in the morning we worked on fear of heights and in the afternoon we worked on fear of enclosed places.

From there we had some free time, my plan was to swim in the pool but the water was freakin' freezing! At 7pm we were then off to a birthday dinner! I wasn't very hungry so I had some soup. I seriously need to know how to make Göreme Wedding Soup, it's delicious!!

On the advice of one of my tour-mates I asked for some hot water, lemon, and honey in the hopes of lessen my cough. The waiters brought all three in separate glasses and watch as an mixed them all together. I think this may have been a first time for them too! It helped but once I start going, I hack and hack and hack. That didn't stop me from going our for a quick drink with the others going out after dinner. I let Mete, our tour leader, convince me that Jägermeister would help with my cough... ha ha. But it was nice to be out!

 

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Whirlingly Wicked Awesome Day

Today was a super long day but a great one! We started out early to see a bit of Ankara before we leave today for Cappadocia. First stop was an off the itinerary stop at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. Way back it won best museum in Europe and it's so clear why, particularly as they have just finished completely renovating it. What a stark contract between this and the archeological museum in Istanbul. Some really spectacular stuff. This topper of a staff used in worship was one of my favourite items in the museum.

There are two Geocachers on our tour and they came back saying they had found one right near the museum. We were all very curious so we all wanted to se where and what it is... so they gave us the coordinates and hint and we started looking. Dale found the tiny geocache. In the photo too is Mete our leader who signed the geocache saying the Absolute Turkey Tour had found it too.

From there we headed to Anitkabir the mausoleum for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Leader of the Turkish War of Independence, and Founder and First President of the Republic of Turkey. Really beautiful museum and all the work he did in such a short period of time. Really inspiring. It's much bigger than it looks in the photos!

Quick stop for lunch where a few of the tour members decided to go for a swing while we waited for our lunch!

We were then on the road for five hours heading for Cappadocia. We did stop briefly at a beautiful salt lake. Lots and lots of salt! Followed by another stop at for ice cream, yum!

We then headed to our hotel... Which well, it a bit of a reality check since the last one... besides the no A/C, The room is a bit bigger than a closet with two single beds almost mushed together... although the funniest thing is the TV remote is 1/3 the size of the TV screen. CRAZY! Not that we are going to be watching much TV. Certainly no tub!

After dropping all out stuff of we headed for dinner with a Turkish family. It was FREAKIN' delicious! We had great herb salad, traditional cheese pastries, tomato and wheat soup, eggplant stuffed with minced beef, and baklava. Food was so tasty and the family so welcoming. BEST dinner to date! First photo is the view from the room we ate dinner in.

After the dinner we headed to the Whirling Dervishes, it's a UNESCO Intangible Heritage. It was very beautiful both the singling and the whirling.

Now off to bed because I need to be up and ready for 5am start for the balloon ride.

 

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I think I may be allergic to Istanbul

Either that or I have the oddest cold ever. I seem to have been getting progressively worst since I got here, ending in waking up this morning at 4am feeling like totally crap. My head felt full of cotton, my throat felt like I'd run it through a cheese grater and my nose was starting to run. Total ick... I sucked it up and headed up for breakfast and then out for the Istanbul tour.

Thank heavens I had seen much of what was on the tour yesterday because I don't remember much.... I could probably tell you where we went but all those great stories and inside scoops that the tour guide tells you, I totally missed out on.

I do remember lunch because I thought I order beef and I got mutton... which resulted in a lunch of three pieces of bread and a orange juice. The orange juice was a small fortune but really good.

We then headed for turkish tea and turkish coffee and hooka. I was not feeling up for any of it so I watch as my tour mates coughed their way through the hooka and drank down their hot beverages.

We then headed through the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. We stopped briefly at the spice market for Turkish Delight which was really tasty! I didn't buy any because I didn't want to lug it around the rest of Turkey! I hope to pick some up right before I leave. I did spot out of the corner of my eye this uniquely named spice...

We then got on the ferry and headed over the the Asian side of Turkey. I decided to not take anti-nausea meds because 1) the ferry ride was only 10 minutes and 2) I was feeling so crappy I figured puking over the side was not that much of a step down. Sad, I know.

I arrive safely (and puke free) but my sunglasses spontaneously broke (seriously cruddy day today!) Luckily, the tour guide had some medical tape and they are "fixed", I look ridiculous but at least I can still use my (prescription) sunglasses for the rest of the vaca.

From there we got in a van and from from 3pm to 10pm we drove to Ankara. We stopped ever two hours and at the first stop I finally started to feel better, like a haze lifting (hence the reason I think I'm allergic to Istanbul! Maybe it's all the cats in the city, they are everywhere.) I'm still not 100% but I'm significantly better than this morning.

We then stopped at the sketchiest truck stop for dinner. Everything looked like it had been there for a looooong time. So in the hopes of starving off hunger until we got to Ankara, I split a meatball platter with one of my tour mates and agreed to grab some dinner when we got there. I didn't eat much because the meatballs were not cooked although way through.

So by the time I got to Ankara, I had basically had 6 pieces of white bread for lunch and dinner. The dinner bread had honey and butter. This seriously can't go on, I can not survive on bread alone.

I'm trying desperately to put a positive spin on the day and I have come up with two things... 1) Our hotel room has a bath tub!! and 2) Seriously, it can only go up from here.

 

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A Day fit for a Sultan!

I slept! 10 hours to be exact and if felt GREAT!

On an excellent recommendation, I headed to Topkapi Palace and partook in viewing the place where over four centuries of Ottoman sultans lived. The palace is both sprawling and beautiful. Did a bit of a self tour based on my guide book and took some amazing photos of the insides of the dome roofs and saw the biggest diamond I've ever seen. And then heard some rather rude tourist refer to it as "just another turban topper"... SERIOUSLY, that diamond was the size of my palm?!

I then headed for some lunch and stumbled upon a tiny little cafe and ordered Turkish ravioli. As it turns out it's exactly like the Turkish ravioli we had in Kingston... it thought it was jut a interpretation of Turkey in ravioli. Turns out it's a real think and it was pretty delicious!

From there I headed to the Blue Mosque. We will be going there again tomorrow as well but I thought it was worth seeing twice and I couldn't wait any longer :) To say it was a beautiful mosque that would be a bit of an understatement. So beautiful outside, inside, and at night.

From there I headed to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, not quite as exciting as I had hoped and I have to say the most exciting stuff came from Egypt... although I should mention that half of the museum of closed for renovations. Although I did see the another Medusa head hanging out... upside-right this time. At least, I think it's a Medusa head.

I then walked through the Gülhane Park. One thing I've noticed about this part is how beautifully groomed it is... the flower beds and flowers are amazing. At the end of the park there was a tiny cafe with a great view of the ships coming and going on the Bosphorus Strait. I enjoyed a great Turkish tea with an amazing view.

It was then time to head back to the hotel for the tour meeting and dinner. To my surprise the meeting took more than an hour... it looks like a great group... Fingers crossed!! We then headed to dinner at a place just down the road and we had dinner from a pot. We ordered spicy (which it really wasn't) but it was on fire. Little bit cheesie but I'm so okay with that when it tastes that great!

We take off tomorrow for Ankara!

 

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So clearly, I didn't pack enough deodorant...

It's hot here, far warmer than I expected. It's that sticky, humid hot. In the short time I've been here, this moment, with the A/C blasting on me, is the first moment I'm not swimming in a thin layer of sweat. Wait, that sounds like I'm complaining... not complaining, just after our summer, it just feels so odd to be warm.

I was getting a bit worried on the plane over here... Was I being too adventurous? Had all those trips to Hawaii turned me into a travel pansy? Could I make good decisions? Could I figure out where I was suppose to be? Would my time judgements work out? As it turns out, yes... maybe you never lose it?

What I did lose today was 2 hours waiting for my freakin' tour guide to show up! I arrived at the Istanbul airport at 9:40, about 15 minutes late, and was heading out the airport by 10:30 (wicked fast) which made my timing for the tour I booked at 1pm (with noon pick-up) absolutely perfect. I jumped in a cab and got totally ripped off (well, maybe you lose some of it ;) but arrive in plenty of time.

The hotel gave me a room right away (awesome), I dropped all my stuff off in the room, grabbed a bottle of water and arrived at the assigned hotel (it's too difficult to be picked up at my hotel) 20 minutes early. And so the waiting began... and I waited, and waited, and waited. It didn't help that the confirmation that the hotel had said I was going to be picked up at 3:55 (what?!) After waiting and hour and 20 minutes I get a call from the guide and they are stuck in traffic (arg!) and they will be there in 15 to 20 more minutes. Two hours after the original time, my guide showed up... without the van. WHAT?!

Apparently, that traffic was so bad they decided to abandon the driver and the truck and walk. Ah, not exactly the tour I signed up for. Being crazy jet-lagged I was hoping to get quick naps in between the sights. Instead, I was running after the fastest tour guide I've ever seen. On the upside the tour was pretty freakin' awesome (but it felt like we ran most of it.)

First up was the Aya Sophia, a previous basilica, then a mosque and now it's a museum. This museum has literal layers of history, under all the plaster is stunning gold mosaics that have been uncovered here and there. I particularly like this picture because it shows the Christian and the Islam elements together.

 

We then raced off to the Basilica Cistern, or I guess raced down. Which was interesting because it was a bit slippy. It was really beautiful down there but the Medusas are really amazing.

The tour guide explained the reasonings for the Medusas placements (upside down and sideways) for one of three reasons 1) Mythological - Medusa's stare makes people turn to stone, put the stare upside down and side ways, and bam, you are safe from the stone stare, 2) Political - Christians were in power, might as well, use the pagan stuff to prove a point and to hold up the new basilica, and 3) Practical - the columns were uneven, and wouldn't you know, the Medusas from the last thing we believed in were available and a perfect fit. I'm hedging my bets on #3.

We then had a quick stop at a carpet factory, I could have totally skipped that, while interesting, it was all about selling us very expensive carpets (they were beautiful though!)

From there we walked / ran to the Grand Bazaar where we had an hour to look around. I didn't buy anything mainly because I don't want to have to carry it around for the next three weeks. The aggressive sales tactics wore me out so I went to sit just outside the bazaar beside a mosque. I was there for the call to prayer, which I always find so beautiful.

 

Back from the tour, I was literally falling asleep standing up but I also had nothing but chocolate to eat today so I went to the restaurant down the way for an authentic turkish kebab dinner. Very yummy and my bill came with two pieces of baklava (although it may have a different name in Turkey) and Turkish tea.

Without a doubt, I am going to love this country, from my first breath of air outside of the airport (it had that warm embracing feel, so very oddly familiar) to the last sip of Turkey tea, it feels right and it feels good.

 

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Feeling the Resfeber

Resfeber, a new word I recently learn, "adopted" from Swedish that means "the restless race of the traveller's heart before the journey begins." So excited but also not sure what to expect!

While I'm so ready to travel, seriously, I've packed and re-packed several times, successfully getting down to two carry-ons and a purse. Awesome for travel... although, I'm really not sure about how I'm going to get the souvenirs home!

I decided that for the lack of time to plan this year's vacation, it would be best to sign on with a tour. Originally I was going to go with the tour company that I went with to visit Jordan and Israel but in the end the travel agent convinced me to go with a Canadian tour company, G Adventures. (Fingers cross it wasn't because he gets a bigger commission from them ;)

I'm going on the Absolute Turkey tour and right now I'm most looking forward to the hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia and the museums in Istanbul (not actually included in the tour but I have a few spare days). That and well, reviewing the guidebooks that I've pack so I get a better idea of where I'm actually going!

So up early an off tomorrow, on one of the best flight itineraries ever... Ottawa, Toronto, Istanbul! Even if it means a 10 hour flight... come on personal tvs!

Now just to pushing past the Resfeber and just into rest!

 

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