Istanbul revisited

Spent another long 14 hour night on a bus back to Istanbul and managed to figure out the metro/tram back to Sultanahmet, despite the rain which seems to follow us wherever we go. (the metro people don't speak very good english and there were no maps up) Finally we experienced the joys of a well heated room,. The Sultan hostel had a bit of a makeover while we were gone and was painted all sorts of bright colors. Crashed for a few hours and went for another run along the shore and then hit up a local restaurant called Doy Doy which was very tasty. I had some sort of beef/tomato/potato/green pepper stew. I got some sweets afterwards (some kanaffa type stuff) and the guy also gave me a few pastry balls soaked in sweet syrup to try....unfortunately in the process I managed to lose 15 YTL which wasn't a big deal other than the fact that we only had one day left and I really didn't want to take more money out of the atm.

Back at the hostel we chatted for a bit with the guys working there and some other backpackers. Met a girl from Haiti who is studying at Haifa and wants to move to Turkey. She was pretty cool and it was interesting to hear her background.

Spent the next day wandering all around the city....took the ferry across the bosphorous to the asian side of istanbul, which was awesome and we absolutely fell in love with. Everyone plays it down and says the only reason to go is to see the european part better, but Louise and I both loved it better than the other parts. It felt like the real Istanbul...Sultanahmet (the old part of the city) is extremely touristy now, Taksim and Beyoglu area are very europeanized and feel like 5th ave or the Champs Elysee. But kadikoy and the asian side felt like Turkey. The locals were going about their business and we wandered the hilly streets and stopped in a few cute shops. Lots of charming streets with street vendors all around and lots of really good, cheap looking restaurants. Stopped in a pastry shop and tried to buy a few balls of the syrup dough, and the guy who didn't speak much english was trying to give me a huge box full;) after about 3 minutes of telling him no less, no less, no that's still way too much, he finally asked me how many I wanted and I ended up with 5 instead of 50;) Picked up a traditional Turkish cd which I'm pumped for...it was playing in the shop when we were there and sounded pretty sweet. It's crazy but Istanbul is a huge city...about 15 million people and even on a Tuesday afternoon, there were people EVERYWHERE. We were starting to wonder if they work at all;) Took the ferry over to Beyoglu (european side) and wandered along the streets eventually making our way up the hill towards Istiklal Caddesi and Taksim Sq. Had a nice detour through the hardware store part of town...one shop had all sorts of nuts and bolts prominently displayed in neatly organized glass bowls in the window.

Wandered along Istiklal for awhile, laughing at the exhorbitant price of coffee (around $5-6!). Not surprisingly, there was also a Starbucks every couple hundred meters. Managed to find a cute little coffee shop on a side street not 20 feet away from the main road, which had coffee and sahlep for only about $3. It was a cute place with comfy couches, and lots of locals playing cards and backgammon. Stayed there for awhile and then went next door to grab a bite to eat at local cafeteria style place which again had great cheap food...rice and stew for under $3. We then went to a nearby bar where they had live traditional Turkish music. It was a bit early still so we were pretty much the only ones there (there were the owner/workers and a few other men hanging around but we think they were somehow affiliated with the place). Had some wine/beer and some amazing pistachios. A young guy was playing the Soos (oud) and singing and it was rather beautiful. After about an hour and a half, he took a break and they all came and chatted (or rather, tried to chat) for awhile. The young musician was trying really hard to talk to us but was having difficulties as he didn't have the vocab and had to keep asking the 70 year old owner for words like married and such, which probably embarassed him a bit but mightily amused us. He kept getting frustrated and it was hilarious because he would throw his hands up in the air and say "Problem.....large" and then shrug, slap his leg and say "Sheeeet!" He did this over and over and it was probably one of the funniest things I've seen. After straightening out the bill (they overcharged us for the drinks and then tapped on 4 YTL for the pistachios) we headed back towards the hostel and rashly splurged on 3 YTL chocolate from a street stand. I say rashly, because after paying the hotel and airport transfer fee the next day (it was raining/snowing and we didn't want to get drenched on the way to the airport) we made it out barely, and by that I mean we didn't have a penny to spare.

Had an interesting bus trip to the airport...met a lot of fellow tourists including a Nebraskan cop spending some time in Kosovo who kept telling me if he ever caught me going through Nebraska without getting off the interstate, he would throw me in jail;) There were also some girls from England who were studying Arabic and English and there were some interesting political conversations going on. The van was packed and extremely stuffy but we managed to make it to the airport alright. Had a nice meal on Jordanian airlines and landed in Amman a-okay, and discovered, much to our dismay, that the rain had followed us yet again;)

Fethiye...and beyond!

Took a very windy, stomach wrenching four hour bus ride to Fethiye along the coast. While it was beautiful scenery, we both felt a bit nauseated by the end. At one stop, I ran out to get us some fresh oranges (it's orange season here and you can see them everywhere) and the owner was super nice and gave me four oranges for free. The bus stopped in another town called Kas, a cute little town where a Turk told us St. Nicholas was born. They had a cute little statue of santa claus in the middle of a square, and since then Louise and I have seen about four men wandering the streets that resemble santa claus and it's been fun to discover them;) Fethiye is an awesome, laid back town, big into sailing and hiking and such, but disappointingly the crappy weather followed us, so we ended up staking out a good coffee shop and spent the better half of two days in it. It was good to get some reading and knitting done, although it was a bit frustrating to be in Turkey on the Mediterranean and stuck in a coffee shop. There was an awesome boardwalk along the shore with tons of restaurants and coffee shops and locals hanging about. People were very relaxed and you'd see them walking around in jeans/sweat shirts and workout clothes. Stayed in a crazy hostel called Farah's place, where the owners lived and had about 4 cats and a huge dog that wandered around the place. It was filled with plants and schtick everywhere. The oweners were nice though and pretty much kept to themselves.

The coffee shop we staked out had AMAZING coffee (probably even better due to the nescafes other places sold for exhorbitant prices that we avoided) and it was decently priced too (only $2-3). The place was packed with locals, either watching a football (soccer) match or playing backgammon. The never ending sound of dice hitting the board was omnipresent. It was fun and Louise and I played a bit....sadly we had both forgotten how to setup the board and had to ask the older waiter if it was right, and he happily confirmed it was right and proceeded to help us along a bit. Really nice guy and he kept coming back to check up on us and see how it was going. Grabbed a doner for dinner (hehe, that sounds wicked) in a wrap with french fries in the sandwhich, which was surprisingly tasty. Walked around town a bit and checked out the Carrefour, which was the largest grocery store in town. It was fun to check out the food.

The next day was again rainy and we headed straight away to our favorite coffee shop. Staked out a table right next to the huge open fire pit, and proceeded to drink some amazing Sahlep. It's sort of like a chai latte, and is milk with some sort of white root powder, topped with cinnamon....tastes a bit like rice pudding as its a bit thick. The waiter kept giving us supposedly free drinks throughout the day (they had the best apple tea there), which in the end we had to pay for;) He was constantly hanging around and asking if we wanted to smoke nargileh later or if we liked to drink and then wanted me to give him the scarf I was knitting in exchange for his heart...our numerous refusals apparently did not sink in. He then proceeded to tell us that we should be wary of Turkish men as they don't have good intentions and only want sex, which was funny because he was one of only a few Turks that we had run into that had acted this way. The rest have been extremely decent folks.

Olympos

After another all night bus ride and a few short bus rides, we finally arrived early in the morning in Olympos. It's a small and extremely touristy town, which was pretty much dead given its the low season. The "town" consisted of a bunch of treehouse hotels and a few restaurants which were pretty much all shut down. We stayed at the Turkemen Treehouse Pension, although we stayed in a bungalow aka small, dilapidated shack as the treehouses don't have heating. We walked along the beach which we had to pay for since its a national park with ancient Roman ruins. They were pretty dismal, but the beach and mediterranean were beautiful but the shore was fairly rocky. The landscape was fairly similar to Colorado with lots of pines, rivers and rocky cliffs but with the addition of the mediterranean. We ran along the beach for a bit, trying to avoid the incoming waves and jumping over the rocks in the sand.

On the plus side, breakfast and dinner were included in the rate, and we had an amazing dinner beside a huge fire. Dinner consisted of rice, chicken breast, a salad, and garbonzo bean/tomato soup. There were construction workers all over as they were building new luxory treehouses complete with jacuzzis...crazy eh? In the summer apparently, the place is a big party town...kinda glad we avoided that. Sadly we didn't go see what olympos is famous for...the chimeara, flames coming out of the side of the mountain. Everyone gave really vague directions and they wanted to charge us a fortune to bring us there, and so we decided to skip it. Probably would have been cool although I suspect it would have been one of those things that is cooler to say you did it, than actually seeing it;) Louise and I exchanged Arabic and Farsi lessons, which will hopefully come in handy later on. Talked for awhile with a German chap that I think owns the place. The only other tourists at the place was a Canadian girl that was dating a Turkish guy. Called it an early and turned the heater on full blast, hoping to finally get one warm nights sleep...after awhile 10' by 8' shack felt a bit warmer. There is something to be said for a good heater, and it's something they seem to be lacking in this part of the world, at least in the $20 hotels;)

Cappadocıa-Göreme

We stayed a few days ın Göreme whıch ıs a sweet town ın Cappadocıa where there are tons of caves carved out of the old volcano deposıts. We met a guy named Levı from Colorado and stayed ın the Kısmet Cave Hotel whıch a frıend of a frıend of louıses owns. It was an awesome place and we actually slept ın a cave. It was a bıt cold-freezıng ın fact but Faruk the owner was awesome. He gave us a lot of good tıps on thıngs to do and drove us around a bıt and then let us hang out ın hıs offıce and meet all hıs frıends that came by. It was a really fun couple of days. We explored a lot of caves and underground cıtıes where thousands of people lıved. They even had wınery and stable and schools underground. We also walked around the Göreme open aır museum whıch ıs a bunch of cave churches from as far back as 1 ad. They had some really cool frescoes paınted on the ceılıng and ıt was cool to see. We met a lot of nıce local kıds and got to talk to them a bıt...over many glasses of tea to keep warm at the local hang out a restaurant called the sılk road. Turkgeı ıs a young artıst who makes really cool ceramıcs and paınts them and he also does frescoes on the ceılıng of the local hammum. Hıs stuff ıs really ımpressıve. he had learned some phrases ın farsı and ıt was hılarıous bc he talked just lıke people from tabrız wıth such a strong turkısh accent...ı couldnt help but laugh. we also met a guy who was kıcked out of ıran bc of hıs polıtıcal wrıtıngs. he had some really crazy storıes to tell especıally one where he swam ın the medıteranean for a whole day as he was tryıng to escape the cops. he also told us thıs funny story of an amerıcan tourıst who went to ıran shortly after 9/11 and the guy grew a long beard for awhıle so he wouldnt stand out and when he got to the aırport he realızed no one had a beard so he quıckly ran to the aırport bathroom and shaved:)

Faruks wıfe made dınner for us one nıght and ıt was pretty good. we ate a lot of yummy tradıtıonal turkısh food. she made a garbonzo bean and tomato soup and some tortelını fılled meat dısh called mantı and a potato tomato and green pepper cooked dısh wıth some meat. ıt was all pretty good stuff. as good as the cheap street döners are you need some good hearty food every now and then. we are pretty much lıvıng off of way too much bread:) The nıghts ın Göreme were pretty much fılled wıth drınıkıng tea and learnıng turkısh around the stove and tryıng to stay warm. Faruk and hıs frıend had a backgammon match that got pretty ıntense. all ın all ıt was a great tıme but Im ready to move on to a warmer clımate.

Pamukkale and Mıchael

Today we headed out to Pamukkale a place that has amazıng calcıum bıcarbonate deposıts (travertınes. about 14000 years old?) and looks lıke ıcebergs but feels lıke sand wıth water flowıng all around and cool pools of water formıng. The Romans had buılt a cool cıty there a long tıme ago. It was a beautıful place especıally to watch the sunset however the adventure was gettıng there. Two guys named Danıelle and Mıchael at the bus statıon sold us the tıckets (ın Turkey there are tons of bus companıes and you have to talk to them all to fınd the best deal) and they were good bc they were the few people who spoke englısh. They explaıned that we would have to take a small bus from denızlı to pamukkale bc they dont go dırect. However what dıd happen was lookıng back on ıt slıghtly shady at fırst. the bus pulled over ın the mıddle of the hıghway and there was a plaın unmarked whıte van on the sıde wıth two guys and the bus boy told us ıt was our stop. so we got off and the guys ın the van told us they would take us to pamukkale. along the way we stopped some random guys house and he got ınto the van and the drıver handed hıs wıfe 100 lyra whıch was weırd. we then ended up ın pamukkale and much to our annoyance ın a tour offıce rather than at the sıte. we got the whole shpeal (?) about theır travel company but managed to get away wıthout spendıng any money. It was quıte an ordeal as they gave us tea and some gozleme (lıke a turkısh crepe) and turned the heater on just for us. They were a bıt bummed out. But we dıd talk to one of theır guys for awhıle who was pretty nıce. He told us that he loves motorcycles and when he was young he bought one. Hıs dad made hım sell ıt and told hım to get a tractor ınstead. Its hılarıous but you see lots of people around here drıvıng tractors and not just to work ın the fıelds. You see famılıes rıdıng around to go out to places and ıts quıte a common source of transport. So common ın fact that ın ıstanbul as you get on the hıghway you see a sıgn that says no tractors or wagons allowed:)

Anyways we got back to Denızlı that nıght all rıght and had already bought a nıght tıcket for the bus to cappadoccıa from Mıchael. We got to the bus statıon and must have looked pretty helpless because ımmedıately thıs old man told a young boy to help us out. The boy grabbed our tıcket out of Louıses hand and took us down the back hallway to the bus companıes offıce. He just barged ın the back door and told Louıse to go ın. He then started talkıng to me and ıntroduced hımself and then gave me huge kısses on my cheek. awkward! anyways luckıly louıse came out then and she found out that ıt was the wrong bus company. the guy asked us ıf we got the tıcket from Mıchael and then he just shook hıs head. the boy then took us through the back door of four other companıes and fınally one told us that Mıchael sold us a tıcket for a non exıstıng bus. and they were gonna help us but they had to waıt tıll he forwarded them the money. fınally Mıchael saıd he would and ıt turns out he stole 20 lyra from us. From the men ın the bus company thıs seemed lıke a normal occurance. the sleazeball. anyways wasnt that bıg of a deal and we got a lotof orange tea out of the deal. we got up afterwards to grab some dınner and all the men ın the offıce were all concerned about us and were lıke where are you goıng and ar eyou goıng to be alrıght? ıt was pretty funny. apparently ıt dıdnt do much to ımprove our helplessness look. Through talkıng wıth a lot of people we have realızed that they all try to take care of us and help us out because they thınk we are so young....everyone thınks that we are about 15-18 years old:) at least they thınk ı am one year older than louıse who ıs actually two years older:)

Ephesus and Sirince

We found a cool hostel in Selcuk to stay at called Jimmy's, although they raved about their great heating and then purposely did not give us the remote to the strong heater and instead turned on a wimpy little radiator that failed to even noticeably heat the room after a full day. We befriended some fellow tourists from Utah (a grandma, aunt, and boy) who since obviously had more money than us, were getting the royal treatment. They used their remote to turn our heater on (take that Jimmy;) and then offered to drive us around to a bunch of ancient Roman sites in Pirene, Miletus, and Didymos. It was a long day, of seeing practically identical ruins, but it was cool nonetheless. Spent the next morning at Ephesus, supposedly the next best ruin to Pompei. Pretty sweet place, but I think we were pretty ruined out from the previous day:) In the afternoon, we went to a little village in the hills called Sirince which is known for their fruit wines that they make. We wandered around a bit and had some gozleme, a Turkish version of a crepe filled with veggies and cheese....it was delish. Also tried the Ephes Pilson beer, which wasn't bad either. We then wandered around and taste tested the various wines. They had everything including blackberry, pomegranate, kiwi, apple, peach, honeydew, cherry, blueberry, black mulberry and more. Wallked back to Selcuk and enjoyed the surrounding scenery...it's pretty green with lots of olive trees, stray dogs, and even some horses around.

Troy...or maybe Selcuk?

We left Istanbul via bus and headed towards a small town called Canukkale where we were planning on visiting Troy, yes, THE Troy. However, one bus and ferry ride later we arrived and found that all of the hostels were shut down since it's low season. We ended up taking off and two buses later we ended up late at night in Selcuk. It was an interesting whirlwind of a day. As soon as Louise and I got off the bus, tons of men around starting talking to us. Thinking they would be like Moroccans and try to get money off of us by taking us to a hotel, we avoided them but shortly realized that they were trying to help us. That's pretty much been the same experience everywhere we've been. We must look like two helpless little girls, as most think we are about 18 and they all come up to us genuinely trying to help. It's kinda fun, like we are their daughters or something;) The buses are hilarious. On one, there were four workers, one driving, one doing the bags and two serving tea and pastries. Yes, they serve tea/coffee/pop on the buses for free. And they have movies showing and even individual tvs for everyone. crazy eh? We watched part of one Turkish movie where they depicted Americans in a hilarious albeit embarassing way. The American army guys in charge of a missile launched it towards Iran by accident as they were making bets on a football game. To avoid catastrophe, they redirected the missile towards Turkey and then sent a group out to find it. The group consisted of two very sleazy girls wearing practically no clothes and very skinny with blonde hair, and some jock guys, along with a nerdy guy that spoke horrible Turish. They also swore constantly and goofed off a lot. Another interesting tidbit about the buses is they just seem to stop in the middle of nowhere and let people on. We can't tell if they are designated stops or not, but they'll just pull over on the highway and people get on.

Raki is a common favorite drink among the Turks and it's pretty hard liquor made out of anis seed and tastes like liquorice. Another interesting fact I've learned is that the term kangaroo comes from the aboriginals in Australia. When James Cook landed he asked them what it was and they replied "kangaroo" which in their language means "I don't understand" but apparently he took it as the name of the animal. That's about all for now, not too much to report yet.