Ancient LEGOs and Sunken Cities

Hey everyone- this is my last post.  I got back to the US on Thursday and I hit the ground running moving into Tad's and my new apartment and job searching.  But I still need to catch you all up on my last week and a half in Turkey.

Dried up calcium pools

The last week and a half I traveled around and saw a lot.  The first stop was Pamukkale and Ephesus.  My friend Rachel from my Turkish class came with me for this portion of the trip.  We took a tour to Pamukkale since it would have been the same price to just go on our own, but it turned out to be a dud.  Our tour guide spoke terrible English and he was a little kooky…in fact he didn’t make much sense in Turkish either.  We had a good time making fun of him though and enjoyed the time that we got at Pamukkale, which is made up of warm water spring pools created from calcium buildup.  The landscape is beautiful with big mountains in the backdrop and these snowy-white pools going up the hillside with water spilling over their edges.

Pamukkale

The next day we took a much more professional and informative tour of the ancient city of Ephesus.  Amazingly, after 150 years of archeological digging, only 18% of this vast and long-lived city has been uncovered.  Once, the sea’s waters reached Ephesus and the city was a bustling commercial hub, but now it’s a dry valley full of history.  The massive and detailed marble statues and columns are impressive and the old library is a stunning and massive structure at the bottom of the hill.  I really was most impressed with the archeological skill that it has taken to dig up the city from 6 meters of dirt and put the pieces back together.  It’s like a giant box of LEGOS to be reconstructed into its old design.

The Library- Ephesus

Ancient law

An Ephesus LEGO ;)

From here, Rachel went back to Istanbul to prepare for the school semester and I continued southeast to the beach town Kaş (pronounced “cash” with a British accent).  The town looks much like Fethiye (I went there the beginning of my trip-see previous post) except with bigger mountains.  I stayed very active on this portion of the trip.  The first day I went on an hour and a half hike along a path from town to a cove down the way and saw ruins carved into the cliffs and crumbling stone structures.  I spent to rest of the day relaxing on a beach and swimming in the crystal clear water and took a boat back to town. 

View of Kaş from the sea

Hike to the port

The next day I went scuba diving.  I had heard such great things about diving in Kaş, but I was actually a bit disappointed because there really wasn’t much to see.  I did se an Octopus on my second dive, which was neat, and I got a good refresher since I haven’t dived in 3 years.  The next day I went on a kayaking trip to see the sunken city.  The sunken city was really more like cliff-side ruins, revealing the part of the city that hadn’t fallen into the encroaching water, not Atlantis but still very interesting.  The landscape and the ruins on the shores were incredibly beautiful.  The final day I just beached it, which was enjoyable and relaxing.  This was my first completely solo trip, and while I would rather travel with another person, it wasn’t too bad on my own.  I did have some trouble meeting people at my hostel because the remaining tourists this late in the season are mostly old European couples, but I managed to make friends with 3 young people from France, Spain, and Turkey.  I got a lot of Spanish practice with them seeing as our most shared language was Spanish.  It’s pretty cool to think that I was able to use my language skills to make friends with these people that I otherwise would not even be able to communicate with.  Hopefully I will reach such a point in Turkish too.

Castle near Kaş

Ruins of the rebuilt the Sunken City

Kayaking

From Kaş I took a night bus to Ankara.  I have to say that even though the roads are much better in Turkey, the night buses that I experienced in South America were way better than the ones here.  I didn’t sleep much because the guy behind me was blasting ACDC on his headphones so loud that I could hear the words and he kept resting on the back of my chair and elbowing me in the head, the woman next to me had a six year old on her lap who was, by default, also on my lap.  With that, and the screaming babies and people with terrible coughs all kept me up except for a couple precious hours of the 12 hour ride.  I survived though, and I was rewarded with a great visit with our family friends, the Smalls, who recently moved to Ankara.  I also visited an old family friend who I last saw when I was 7.  We mostly hung around and chatted, but one day we went to Ataturk’s Mausoleum.  Ataturk is the former prime minister and father of modern Turkey.  He is nearly a god in Turkey.  There are statues and pictures of him everywhere, children pray for him in school, and a criticism against him is extremely offensive to many Turks.  Of course, his Mausoleum was an extravagant sight.  We also went to the castle and did some shopping in the winding streets around it that look like they have stepped back in time.

Guard at Ataturk's Mausoleum

I finished up my last 2 days in Istanbul soaking up the city’s beautiful views, doing some final souvenir shopping, and spending some quality time with my uncle and my friends.  I had such a good trip, and so many people to thank for making it wonderful.  Thanks everyone for following along with me.  Tad and I are planning on writing a blog together starting soon. Check it out at http://yellowmonkeytales.blogspot.com/

Fairy Cimneys and Flying Balloons

 Ortaköy by the 1st bridge to Asia

 This week was a blast.  My parents were visiting and I had a really good time re-experiencing Istanbul with travel companions and acting as tour guide.  It really allowed me to see Istanbul with fresh eyes again and to comment on the things I saw (I don't get to do that when I'm touring around alone because I'd look like a nut talking to myself!).  They spent 5 days in Istanbul and since they had already seen all the touristy sights on their previous trips to Istanbul, we strolled around a lot, spent time with my uncle Mike, went to the spice market, bought souvenirs at the Grand Bazaar, and drank a lot of çay (tea) and ate a lot of Turkish food.  We also got to catch up with old friends who live in Turkey which was definitely a highlight.

Shopping in the Spice Market

 We took a 3 day side trip to Cappadocia.  Roles fully reversed from the last time we were together in Turkey (9 years ago) since I did all the planning and my parents were along for the ride.  Everything worked out really well so I guess I'll be allowed to do it again ;)  Cappadocia is sort of similar to Moab, Utah in the sense that it has really interesting rock formations, but it has the added element of ancient history because people hollowed out caves from the rock and lived (and still live) in them.  Cappadocia calls the tall spires of rock that formed from erosion of hundreds of meters of volcanic rock "fairy chimneys".  We saw this landscape from all angles.  First, we saw it from ground level as we admired the cave churches and the frescoes inside which were painted on plaster made from pigeon poop, sand and hay in the Göreme Open Air Museum.

Enjoying wine on the hotel terrace

Love Valley- it got its name because the rock spires look like...well you know

Göreme Open Air Museum

Cave chapel in Cappadocia that is also carved on the outside

Next we viewed them from above ground in a hot air balloon.  It was my first hot air balloon ride and I have to admit that as we reached almost 4,000 ft above ground level and I thought about the fact that I was literally in a basket being held up by a big piece of nylon filled with hot air, I got a little nervous and gripped the side too hard.  But after a while I felt fine and I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise and the above-ground view of the fairy chimneys.  Our pilot had amazing control and was able to drop us down into a canyon for a closer look and get close enough to a tree for us to pick apples! (I later learned that he was the first Turkish citizen to get a US pilot's license).

Getting ready for takeoff

More than 50 balloons were expected to fly that day...it felt like there were 200 to me

Lastly, we saw Cappadocia from underground in the Derinkuyu Underground City.  This city was built somewhere around 750 B.C. as a hiding place for when war broke out.  There are more than a hundred underground cities in Cappadocia and many of them were connected with very long tunnels and accessed by tunnels from private houses.  Derinkuyu is the biggest one with 11 floors including "kitchen" areas, chapels, a missionary school, a winery, a stable, water wells, and many other rooms.  Archeologists estimate that it took 2-3 generations to build just the first 2 floors- now that's what I call planning ahead!  The entrances to the underground city were sealed off by massive wheel-shaped stones that could only be moved from inside and which had holes in the center to be used for stabbing a spear at potential intruders.  It was a bit claustrophobic- I can't imagine living down there for months with only torchlight.

Some of the tunnels were quite tight!  I was glad I am short

I was sorry to see my parents go because I would have liked to travel with them more, but I'm so glad they came- Love you mom and dad.

I've been re-visiting some of the sights on the historical peninsula including Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sofia, and The Basilica Cistern on my own.  I visited these places and got in-depth tours when I came 9 years ago, but it is nice to see them again and refresh my memory.  I have 3 weeks left now and right now I'm making plans to go to Ephesus, Pamukkale, Bodrum, and maybe even do a blue voyage.  Stay Tuned! 

As you all must have guessed by now, I've been very busy the past few weeks and have forgotten my blog! I went to Fethiye, I got to know Istanbul better, and I finished my Turkish class.

Fethiye is a beautiful place. I have never seen water so clear (you could see more than 20 feet down), so green-blue, and so easy to float in. You really don't even need to know how to swim to get in the water there because you are so buoyant. It felt like a mix between moon walking and swimming because you were so weightless and you could swim in slow motion. The landscape there is so beautiful with mountains that look much like Utah mountains surrounded by beautiful blue sea and nightly sunsets that take your breath away.

Max, Me, Mike and Niko arriving at Hillside

Enjoying the view from our room

We stayed at a nice resort called Hillside and Mike, Max, Niko and I spent the entire trip at the resort because we enjoyed it so much. My main activities were reading, eating, swimming, and generally lounging- in that order. The buffets that they had were huge and gourmet. I discovered figs there (I have never seen Fig without Newton) and it has become a new favorite fruit here.

Activity #1: Reading

On the boat to Serenity Beach...adequately named

One of many epic sunsets

At night there were Vegas style shows including lots of choreography, costume changes, and lip-syncing. One night there was a show that required audience participation, and after my whole row sacrificed me by pointing, the spotlight was on me I was pulled up on stage. I retaliated by picking Mike as my partner when we were asked to pick a man from the crowd. We had to compete against other pairs to see how many times the girls could jump through a hula hoop while the guys made an ahhhhh sound with one breath. We came in second place for this competition...but wait there's more. The girls were asked to stay on stage and the boys to go back stage. Then the girls were told we would have to sing. I HATE singing even in front of my closest friends, so singing on stage in front of a couple hundred people was a terrifying thought for me. The other two girls sang beautiful Turkish songs and when I was called up I was still drawing a blank, thinking, do I even know any songs? Seeing I was stumped, people started to yell out songs for me to sing and I ended up croaking out a few verses of Happy Birthday. Then we were told that for round 2 we would have to gargle water while singing our songs. This was much more up my alley. I watched the other girls sputter and laugh and accidentally swallow their water trying to gargle-sing. My gargling version, on the other hand, sounded even better than my singing version! I got the most applause from the audience and won a 30 minute massage which was awesome because I had never gotten a massage before and it was quite a nice place to have my first one. I also won a little bit of fame around the resort, which even prompted a 17 year old to hit on me. He was apparently impressed by my gargling skills. What can I say- I'm a wonderful gargler- no big deal. I have to say though, what I had to do wasn't as embarrassing as what Mike had to do when they called him back out onto the stage. Lets just sat it involved a very small tutu and Swan Lake music...and the poor guy didn't even win the massage even though his performance was the best of the 3.

I could have stayed in Fethiye much longer (Mike and the boys did actually extend their trip because they were having so much fun), but I had already missed 3 days of school and I certainly wasn't getting enough Turkish practice from ordering another beer and saying thank you for the cool towels they handed to us during hard days of lounging.

School finished well. I passed the level 2 final exam and I feel like I learned a lot. Now the trick is thinking on my feet and trying to use what I learned while talking outside of class.

My class including people from Germany, the US,
France, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Italy

My teacher, Meltem, and Me

I've made friends with several people from class and we have gone out recently to get lunch or smoke nargile (hooka) or go to a futbol game. This month it has been Ramazan (Ramadan in English). Here, Ramazan does not shut everything down, but there are a few restaurants that limit their lunch menus, some streets are decorated with lights, and the streets get very busy at night with people spending time with family and friends. There are many Muslim people fasting from sun up until sundown and at sunset, many people get together with their families at restaraunts or in their homes to break the fast. They call this meal Iftar. My Turkish teacher here, Meltem, is Muslim and has been fasting. She somehow managed to remain extremely cheerful and energetic every day in class and it didn't bother her if we ate in class. I am dangerous to be around if I miss a meal so I was quite impressed. She invited us to have Iftar with her one night and we all went to a restaurant and, after waiting to hear the call to prayer at 8:20 signifying that it is time to break the fast, we dug in and ate tons of kebap, köfte, and desert and drank Ayran, a salty yogurt drink that somehow complements the rich kebap meat really well.

Iftar

I'm loving my time here in Turkey. More to come- stay tuned!

Hoşgeldin~Welcome

I am now in phase 2 of my trip: learning Turkish and exploring Istanbul.

Istanbul is a big and beautiful city where ancient history lives next to chic modernity. I'm fortunate enough to be staying in a beautiful apartment with a view of it all. Also, there is plenty to keep me busy as there are tons of things to do in the city from touring historic mosques and palaces to enjoying restaurants and boat rides.

I arrived in Istanbul last Friday. I spent the weekend exploring the town on my own, sticking mostly to İstiklal Caddesi (independence street) which is a busy pedestrian street with lots of shopping. On that street I can walk straight from Galata Tower (where Mike's apartment is), to Taksim Square (the "heart of modern Istanbul) where my language school is. But I also took a Bosporus boat tour which was a nice way to see the whole city.

Celebrating my birthday in Istanbul

The food has been one of my favorite experiences so far. I have been enjoying döner kebab, fresh fish sandwiches on Galata Bridge, Turkish tea (çay), fresh squeezed orange juice, and waffles stuffed with nutella, fruits and nuts. I'm pretty sad knowing that it is not easy to find a Turkish restaurant in the US. I guess I'll just have to get my fill now and buy a cookbook so I can make my own Turkish food.

Fish Sandwiches (Balık ekmek) on Galata Bridge

On Monday I took a placement test for my language classes and was placed in the second level of begining Turkish. I had classes the rest of the week from 9am until 1pm and found that the next month is going to be a lot of work for me. Though I know a lot of grammar rules and was able to test into the second level, my speaking, listening, and vocabulary skills are really lacking. I spend a large percentage of class not knowing what people are talking about and spitting out painfully choppy sentences. I'm probably really in between levels 1 and 2 so class is very challenging and tiring, but I will probably be forced to learn a lot by challenging myself.

I'm getting extra speaking and listening practice outside of class. I made friends with an American girl (Rachel) who speaks Turkish very well because she has a Turkish boyfriend and a girl from Kazakhstan (Akmaral) who doesn't speak much English. This makes our common language Turkish. The other day I went to lunch with those two girls and two of Rachel's Turkish friends and afterwords we went to a beautiful place on the water called Ortaköy and smoked nargile (hooka) and drank çay (tea). A nice Turkish evening.

On Saturday we all went by ferry to Büyükada, the largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. The island has no cars (other than garbage trucks, ambulances etc.) which means that people use horses and bikes for transportation. A parking lot there looks like this...
Fortunately they use a contraption on the carriages to catch the horse poop so the streets are clean (although I can't say the same about the dumpsters). We had lunch and took a horse-drawn carriage ride to see more of the island. It is a beautiful setting with pine trees, water, and the mega-city Istanbul in the background.

Today has been nice and restful. Mike and I had a great lunch and a couple cold beers. I also got a quick tour of the spice bazaar. Calling it a "spice" bazaar is a little deceiving considering they not only sell tons of spices and teas, but also house pets, plants, fruits, nuts, meats, cheeses, scarfs, bowls etc. It really embodied what I think of when I think "Turkey": lots of people, lots of colors, lots of good smells.

Pictures from Ghana

Finally what you have all been waiting for- Pictures!

Click on the 1st picture to see them in full size on my Flikr page. You will see explanations below the pictures. Click the arrow buttons on the top right to flip through the pictures.

Ghana, a set on Flickr.