hello!

I plan on getting the rest of this vacation chronicled, but right now I have some exciting news.  Guess who's coming to our house tonight? 
The World-Cup-winning Indian Cricket Team?  No, sorry.
The World's Most Beautiful Woman, Aishwarya Rai?  No again.  I guess this news isn't really as exciting as I thought...
The packers are coming, that's who.  Not THE Packers, just the packers.  The ones who are taking are stuff and sending it to Iowa.  It's really happening, people!
WOOHOO!

Cappadocia Call to Prayer

We were eating a roof-top lunch when the midday call to prayer came.  I had the little camera ready, so thought I'd record it for you.  In most Muslim countries the call to prayer is 5 times a day: sunrise, midday, sunset, mid-morning and mid-afternoon. 

At least in Cappadocia the calls to prayer, or adhan, were recorded, not live.  The caller, or muezzin, says:
God is great
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah
I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Come to prayer
Come to salvation
God is great
There is no God but Allah

The call to prayer goes on longer than the video, but I figured that you all, like me, have short attention-spans. 

back and recap

In the last posts I left you with a snapshot of Greece and a butthead balloon driver.  Since those times, we've returned to India, and a hot house full of dust and cockroaches.  So, I am pleased to go back, mentally at least, to our great vacation. 

Let's start (again) with Cappadocia:
THE thing to do in Cappadocia is go on a hot air balloon ride.  So, that's what we did.  It cost a fortune, no joke, but we figured, what the hell.  I mean we're going to be absolutely broke anyway, so what's the harm?  In all, it was pretty worth the price, though my trip was nearly ruined by this jerk:

This picture was taken at the moment of the "captain" scolding me for taking pictures.  Apparently, I can't take pictures and listen at the same time.  I just don't have those capabilities.

Getting scolded on that morning confirmed what I've always known about myself: I hate getting in trouble.  Really, I do.  It gives me a kind of sinking feeling in the stomach and brain.  And I had a hard time getting over it.  So, I started rolling my eyes at everything the captain said.  Very mature, I know.  But he really was a jerk.  It made me feel better when he started being a jerk to other people too.  He was even a jerk to Brad and that just made me feel pissed off, which is better than feeling ashamed, so that was OK.     

Anyway, it's hard to stay mad or sad looking at all this:

We had a 45 minute ride over all sorts of funky rocks.  It was crazy to see all the other balloons zooming around us.  We bumped into one at one point and got really close to some rocks.  But altogether, it was not frightening.  We did almost have a bad landing, but the ground crew hooked us just before we all toppled over.  I guess it's pretty common for a balloon to take a spill on landing.  I knew this going in because once, when I was younger, my mom got off the phone and said, "Your grandma fell out of a hot air balloon."

And it was only after some major panic, picturing my poor grandma plummeting to the earth, that I found out she fell out of a basket ON THE GROUND.  I felt relieved then, but now I can see how that would have really hurt.

This is the guy who hooked us, looks the part, doesn't he?

So, despite the bad beginnings and a nearly bad ending, it was a good trip.  They promised a champagne toast on landing, which turned out to be a splash of champagne mixed with cherry juice.  They called it a "local custom".  I call it being cheap.  But once everyone started heading to the van, Brad and I found the remaining champagne and had a little toast to ourselves.  For being awesome.

Next up: Kos, Greece. 

Greece, so far

Woo!  We are having such a nice time here in Greece.  I know I'm being neglectful of my faithful reading public, but we rented an apartment here in Rhodes and found out on arrival that there was no internet there.  Getting to Rhodes was, on its own, an adventure; and since then we've been exploring with great success.  Wine tasting, turquoise beaches, old lades in black...everything I thought Greece would be.  We will probably fly back to Istanbul via Athens, or Marmaris in Turkey, either way, we have to be back in India soon.  So we're going to keep living it up till then, and from then!  Life is good.  Stay tuned.  

in Greece

On the boat ride here I was saying, "Greece! Greece! My whole life I've always wanted to go to Greece!"  And now we're here.  And it doesn't disappoint, even with such high expectations.  We're in Kos now, headed to Rhodes this afternoon.  In the meantime we're going to scoot around the island, take in the sights. 

In other news, it hit me this morning...we will be home in exactly two months!  That's something I can't quite wrap my brain around.  But still, exciting!  See you soon!

Cappadocia

Earlier, I told you that Cappadocia was neat. And now I intend to prove it. Imagine a place filled with alien rock formations and grapevines. We’ve spent our days here mountain biking, hiking, and exploring. The caves surrounding the town of Gormeme, where we’re staying, have all been carved out as pigeon-poop storage units, used as fertilizer for the wine. But Brad and I didn’t do our research before getting here, so we thought the caves were old homes, and thought the holes in the wall were wine storage units! Shows where our priorities lie. But really, we weren’t so crazy to think that. Here, where there are not rocks, there are vines.

We’ve continued to enjoy the greatness of Turkish hospitality. Great people (except the hot-air balloon pilot/butthead, I’ll tell you more about him later) great food, great wine and kindness and helpfulness everywhere. When you walk into a restaurant here you see the entire family. When the sardine seller walks through the streets he gets swarmed by the neighborhood cats. When we (or I) accidentally leave an umbrella someplace, it’s in the exact same spot the next day.

Plus, we've had this amazing scenery and great weather.

The above is a special picture of Brad.  I don't think he could look dweebier if he tried.

Yesterday we survived a hot-air balloon ride.  Today we're going to a museum, something I normally try to avoid, but I hear this one's good.  Tonight we fly to back to Bodrum, then we're off to Greece.  

Selcuk to Cappadocia

Before coming to Turkey, I was worried about two things: one, that every place would be really smoky and two, that we would get stabbed.  I heard about a guy that got stabbed here once.  But, the minute we arrived, my worries were put to rest.  Turkish people are so warm and friendly.  They are always welcoming and have a wonderful sense of hospitality.  So, I’ve felt really safe and comfortable here.  That is until last night.  Last night was a horror movie.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  I’ll start this back where I left off: Ephesus.

Ephesus

If you ever go to Ephesus, you should try to go when it’s raining.  The rain, you see, just adds to the experience.  At least that’s what Brad and I told ourselves as we were slugging along with drenched feet and pants, thankful, at least for the two dollar Istanbul umbrellas that were keeping our heads dry.   Rain has been the scourge of this trip.  But it didn’t ruin Ephesus, it couldn’t.  Ephesus is awesome.  I know I kind of got down on old rocks earlier, but I take it all back now.   It was so cool to be there, pretending to be a Roman, walking to the library in the rain.  In my imagination I am always a rich Roman, but Brad says I would have been a slave.  

Anyway, I can’t tell you much about Ephesus except it used to be Greek, then it was Roman, it’s really, really old, has a huge, enormous theater and a beautiful library façade.  If you’re really interested, you should read more about it here.  For the rest of you, I have pictures:

Bodrum

We didn’t mind the rain too much, because we were headed to the sunny southern coast, but there too was rain.  But once again, circumstances saved themselves with awesomeness.   We had been set up with a place on the coast by Selin, a lady we met in Istanbul.  She gets her own separate post later.  We thought we were going to a hotel, but it turned out we had a whole little house for a few days.  And! When we walked into the house there was a famous chef cooking dinner in the kitchen.  I know that he’s famous because I asked him if he was and he said yes.  But also, it turns out he’s written tons of books and was the personal chef to Mick Jagger and Robert DeNiro.  So yeah, famous, and a great cook!  His was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  Really, really tasty.  We also had great company at the meal, and learned a lot about Turkey.  It was a special evening that set the tone for the rest of our time in Bodrum, which was all about relaxing and eating fancy food.  Also waiting for the sun to come out, which it did, on the day we left.   

our Turkish home 

Byron, the chef, cooked in the house then brought the food to the main kitchen, where there was a dinner for about 30

Byron Ayanoglu

We were accidentally an hour late for dinner, but got to sit with the owners, who were a great source of information and really nice people

sun on the terrace.  finally.

Cappadocia via Ankara
This trip is kind of doing its own thing, like it has a mind of its own, we’re just trailing along.  We never made any solid plans, so while we had the company of Turkish people and world travelers we pestered them about where to go.  Everyone had the same answer: Cappadocia.  And though I’d read about its fairy chimneys and underground cities, it wasn’t really a place I thought we would get to.   But here we are, though, as I suspected, it wasn’t easy getting here.

Our travels to Cappadocia were troubled from the start.  First, our flight was late getting into Ankara, Turkey’s capitol.  Then, all but one tiny and kind of sketchy car rental company was closed.  The guy working was eager to help, but we had a feeling things weren’t going to go so great, and feelings were confirmed when we got into the rental car only to find an empty tank of gas and an already-on engine light.  But it was cheap, so we headed out, even though it was well after midnight.  After filling up at the closest gas station we found out that our credit cards weren’t working, and we didn’t have enough cash on us.  So, we went running around town with the gas station worker in the backseat looking for an ATM.  And it’s true that places always look creepy at night, but central Turkey is a little rough, and I was feeling kind of nervous and just a little scared.  After finally finding an ATM we checked into the hotel down the road, which was huge, elaborately decorated and entirely empty.  It was by far the weirdest hotel I’ve ever set foot in.  It was a strange night.  But we made it.  

Now we’re in Cappadocia, and it's...neat.  I think that's the best work for it.  I will post pictures, you'll see.  We spent this evening eating Turkish pizza and smoking a rose-scented water pipe.  Our credit cards are working again and we are snug and warm in our little hotel.   

Trail of Ruins

I still have a lot to share on Istanbul, but I want to get caught up on the trip so far.  Istanbul is easy to get back to because we're going to actually be back there at the end of the trip.  We're happy to return, it's a great city.  But we've had some great adventures since leaving.  Here's what we've been up to since Wednesday.

Istanbul to Bozcaada
Wednesday morning, if you had asked me about Bozcaada, I would have said, "Huh? What's that?"  But after a long string of unplanned events, that's where we ended up for the night.  It just goes to show that even the best plans sometimes, or in our case, rarely ever, work out.

Wednesday morning we woke up early to catch what we thought was a 7 am train to Izmir.  The man at the train station's ticket booth told us we would catch a local train at that time, then a ferry, then another train.  It didn't dawn on me until after we got off the first train that the 7 am departure was for the ferry.  This realization came at the same time as the first drop of a major downpour.  It was two minutes till 7, the ferry station was ahead, across four lanes of traffic and down one block.  We ran, yanking our luggage along behind, and missed the boat.

So, there we were, standing outside the ferry station, upset, soaking wet, and looking like goldmines to the lurking taxi drivers.  We asked them to take us to a car rental place and they literally fought over whose taxi we were to end up in.  If there is something every taxi driver in every country knows, it's how to take advantage of a desperate traveler.  The "winner"of the battle refused to turn on his meter, but backed down in the face of our wrath.  At this point, we were not to be messed with.  Luckily, we didn't have to deal with him long, there was a travel agency just a few streets over.

From there we took a shuttle to the airport, and left the airport in a shiny Ford Fiesta.  Brand new and in prime condition to cruise on down the west coast of Turkey.  With the car and the GPS we were ready to explore.  And so we did.

Our first stop was in Tekirdag for lunch.  The guidebook told us it was famous for its meatballs, and sure enough, there were about 300 meatball restaurants by the side of the road.  They were great, but abundant, so we wrapped up the rest for a picnic at the first of our historical stops: Troy.

Meatballs!

I actually had very little interest in stopping at Troy.  Brad was only slightly more interested, but we both knew one thing for sure: if we had just blown on past it, our fathers would have been disgusted.  Do you know that my dad used to read the Odyssey to me as a bedtime story?  Brad's dad is an even bigger history buff.  So, off to Troy we went.  Dads appeased and to be honest, it was on the way.

To me, Troy looked mostly like a bunch of old rocks.  But I can appreciate the awesomeness of that much history in one spot.  But the big hit of Troy was the Trojan horse replica at the entrance.  People were treating that thing like the real Trojan horse, examining the walls, taking their time going through it, yeesh people!  What the hell?  You really think a wooden horse would last thousands of years?  Good Lord.  Oh well.  I guess it's nice to feel smarter than the other tourists.

The Trojan horse

This is Troy.  See what I mean about old rocks?

With Troy checked off the list, and a long day behind us, we needed a place to stay.  The guidebook recommended the island of Bozcaada, calling it a sun-drenched island, known for its wine.  That's about all you have to say to convince me.  We were just in time to catch the ferry (our ferry luck had changed.  Earlier in the day we took another ferry, just over a small stretch of water, and saw dolphins!) so off to Bozcaada we went.

Bozcaada town

Bozcaada is not sun-drenched in April.  In fact, it was really rainy and cold.  But it didn't take us long to find the wine, and our hotel owner/Turkish grandma made us dinner in her cozy little kitchen, so we were snug and happy.

my Turkish grandma

In the morning we took the car around the island, which was in fact covered in vineyards.  There were some small beaches and little restaurants, but everything was closed for the season.  After a quick tour of the town's castle, we got back on the ferry and headed south to parts unknown.

jump shot!

While Brad and I were playing around in the castle (making shooting noises and pointing our gun-shaped fingers out of the windows) I saw the ferry pull up.  I was worried we would miss it.  

Bozcaada to Foca via Assos
this part of the post will be otherwise known as:
A Night at the Drunk Hotel

All along our plan was to get to Selcuk, the base for Ephesus, but we rented the car for five days, so we knew we could take our time getting here.  We thought we'd toot along the southern end of a peninsula to see Assos, the temple of Athena.  I don't know, I guess once you see one ancient ruin, you just gotta see more.  So, the guidebook said it'd be a quick drive there, but we might have taken the wrong route, because it took most of the day, winding through open countryside, watching the sheep and shepherds, stopping in tiny, tiny towns to ask for directions, which involved lots of hand signals and pointing.  Eventually we made it, but in this case, getting there was more than half the fun.  The drive was really beautiful, the temple, not so much, but it did have some good views, and a lot of old rocks.

Temple of Athena

pretty countryside

Brad in the rain

After the temple our goal was Foca: a little seaside town.  We didn't make it there, but we did get to Little Foca where we had a delicious dinner of fried sardines, salad, beets and a mysterious green.  The people who owned the restaurant were eager to help us find a place to sleep.  Most of the hotels are shut down this time of year, but they found one for 100 lira, about 60 dollars.  We thought we'd save money and checked into the pension around the corner for 50 lira.  Oh, boy.  What a decision.

Foca

fried sardines. yum. 

Does anybody know what this is?

The room was dirty, the bathroom already wet, but we realized just how bad things were going to be when a man with a lit cigarette stumbled into our room.  Apparently we'd checked into the drunk hotel, the place where all the town's derelicts stay the night.  You know that scene in Big where he checks into the crappy hotel and turns off the noise of the TV only to discover that the noise around him is worse?  Well, that was us.  The drunks in the street were loud, so we shut the window.  But the drunks in the hotel were louder and they were jiggling our door handle.

Yikes!

People were not abiding by the no-smoking rule, but the hotel did provid room sandals.  Isn't that nice?

We made it through that cold night with very little sleep.  Brad slept in all his clothes and we both used a t-shirt to cover our pillows.  I had a spring in my back no matter which way I turned, but must have eventually nodded off.  At 7 am, Brad shook me awake and said, "Let's go."  I didn't hesitate.  The water in the bathroom had been shut off sometime in the night.  We didn't even brush our teeth, just grabbed our bags and ran out the door.

Foca to Selcuk
Out in the safety of the street, with the sun shining, it was a new day.  Today.  We made the two hour drive to Selcuk where we checked into a much nicer, and not much more expensive hotel and promptly fell asleep.

We planned to see Ephesus today, but our little nap turned into a big one.  Our only two activities today have been eating a big lunch, with wine! we deserved it, and visiting St. John's Basilica, some more old rocks, but also holy.

Tomorrow, we'll do Ephesus: the pinnacle of old rock collections.  Then this tour of ruins is over.  We're heading to the beach.