Weekend relaxing

Most of this weekend, I was sort of sick to my stomach.  It was also about 105 degrees and I had no motivation to go out and look around.  The end of the trip was kind of anticlimactic with just relaxation and watching the Olympics 

Friday, Istanbul

On Friday, I went for another adventure in Sultanamet by myself.  I was mostly looking for shopping opportunities and to do some people watching, and that's exactly what I found.

I started off going to the Grand Bazaar area and walked around a lot until a deluge of rain passed through the city.  I had to take shelter in a small shop for about a half hour while the rain subsided.

Then, I spent the afternoon visiting the New Mosque and doing some people watching.

That evening, Julie, Selin, and I went out for dinner and clubbing.  The club was pretty fun, however, I wasn't feeling quite up for clubbing.  I think I ate something bad over the last day or so and also the amount of smoke that people were producing was incredible, and really getting to me.  It was an early night when we came back at about 3 am.

Day 4, Maiden Tower

Today, I went off by myself, since Julie wanted to head to the mall.  I tried to go to Dolmabahce Palace, but it happened to be closed on Thursdays, so I just took some outdoor pictures of the garden.  

Then I went to Uskudur for some shopping of my own and also to see Maiden Tower on Leander's Island.  This little island acted as a gateway to Istanbul on the Bosphorus.  Apparently, there was a chain across the entire river to prevent people from crossing.

Day 3 in Istanbul

Wednesday, Julie and I visited Topkapi Palace.  It was pretty fun and we saw the Sultan's harem and a treasury of the Sultan's jewels. In that collection every piece seemed to be lavishly decorated with emeralds, rubies, and diamonds.  It was amazing.  There was one 86 carat diamond there that was originally found in a garbage heap.  In another exhibit, there was a collection of old weaponry including ornate rifles and pistols and this 8 foot long sword which I am sure nobody has ever used. 

In the evening, we went for a cruise on the Bosphorus and then did another long walk along the Bosphorus coast.  Overall, a fun pleasant day.

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul

On the second day, we went to the Grand Bazaar where we looked around a bit and tried some bargaining. 

Later, after meeting our Icelandic friends, we hit up the Hagia Sophia, which was very impressive inside.  It had painted walls, mosaic murals, and was filled with low hanging chandeliers.  

In the afternoon, we went to a show of the whirling dervishes.   This entailed 4 musicians playing traditional music while 4 dervishes spun in circles for minutes at a time.   Overall, I thought the show was quite a yawn.  It could have been that time of the afternoon, but seriously, it was plain boring.

During the evening, we met with Selin for a nice dinner overlooking the entire city.  She seems to know the best places to go to eat.

Istanbul - Sultanahmet

The first day in Istanbul was spent in Sultanahmet where we checked out the Blue Mosque and did a Lonely Planet walking tour like good little tourists.  Most of the museums are closed on Mondays so we just had to do a nice walk along the river front.  

The Blue Mosque was pretty impressive inside but not as colorful as I expected.  It's not really blue either.  I guess Julie had to cover herself with blue cloth to get into the place though.  That was pretty funny.

Last day in Cappadocia

We spent the last day in Cappadocia just relaxing at the hotel.   It was too hot to do much of anything else.   I got started on my next book and we hung out with our Iceland friends for most of the day.

Ballooning

Today, I got up super early (4:30am) for a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia.  Unfortunately, after waiting about an hour for the flight, they canceled the trip due to high wind conditions.  After going back to the hotel for a very short nap, I was awakened because the trip was back on.  This time, I made it into the air for a short ride over the region. 

Riding in the hot air balloon was amazingly low key, like going for a Sunday stroll in the park.  It's also surprising how much control over the balloon that the pilots have.  We started by going through a small valley and then rising out of it high in the sky and overlooking the entire area.  Then, we descended into another small valley and got within a few yards from the rocks.  I shared my flight with 6 other people plus the pilot. 

The compartment I shared had a couple that got engaged in flight.  There was a sign that some people spread open on the ground with the proposal.  I didn't exactly realize what was happening until I looked behind me and saw them hugging.  They were pretty quiet about the whole thing.

Ballooning tomorrow

I signed up for hot air ballooning tomorrow morning, which should be fun.  I have to get up at 4:30 in the morning and prepare for the trip.  I am looking forward to it.

Green Tour in Cappadocia

Today was pretty fun.  We just did a tour of the area south of Goreme and saw a variety of things:  We explored an underground village nearby, pigeon valley, Salim Monastery and a 4 km hike in Ihara Valley.  The trip was all day long and we met some fun Icelandic people who we are going out to dinner with tonight.  I took a ton of photos which I'll upload soon.

Cappadocia

Today was spent mostly in transport to Cappadocia.  When we finally did get here though, we checked out the open air museum, where there are these very pretty volcanic rock formations and cut out rooms, churches, and temples.  The open air museum was pretty, and I got a few good pictures.  The reading material for the place was rather sparse though, and since it is about 105 degrees here, it was rather tiring to walk around.  I didn't really realize that Turkey was going to be this hot.  It's crazy.

Bodrum

Fethiye was the busiest town we went to aside from Izmir.   Bodrum was a little quainter and we found a pension there for Wednesday and Thursday nights.  When we rolled in, we took a stroll on the marina and booked a boat cruise for Thursday.

Wednesday night was sort of fun, and while booking a boat for the following day, we found some Turkish boatmen who invited us on board for a beer and taught us a bit of Turkish.  They were pretty nice, and ended up showing us where all their friends went at night... some really loud dance club / bar, and we left shortly after that.

The boat cruise took us to 5 different swimming spots throughout the day but was mostly a let down because of the lack of any interesting things to see and do.   I got a lot of reading done though so that was relaxing.

Later, we did a bit of shopping and went out for drinks on the water.  

Fethiye Ghost Town

Wednesday, we started off driving to a ghost town near Fethiye which was abandoned in the 50s and remains ruins today.   There were a few people living there but most of the buildings looked like the picture.  

Later, we found a nearby beach and hung out for a couple hours before making the long drive to Fethiye.

Canoeing

On Tuesday, we headed on a canoeing trip.   For the whole day, we floated down a river headed towards the beach.   We stopped for lunch and also at this mud pool where people spread gray mud all over their bodies and let it dry before jumping in the river to wash off.   I didn't feel the least bit clean or refreshed after the treatment, but it was a good ice breaker for the group, and it was fun to talk to people after that. 

Patara Beach

After Pammukale, we headed to Patara Beach for the night.   The pension we found was definitely the best we stayed at so far, not for the amenities, but because of the nice staff and friendly atmosphere.   They booked us a canoeing trip the next day.   That evening we hit the beach and went in the water before getting yelled at to get out.   It seems like the beaches are tightly controlled around here, despite us being practically the only ones there.   Kind of lame.

Pammukale

Today was mostly spent at Pammukale where there are some beautiful calcite mountains.   We had spent the night in town and the walk up to the top of the site was awesome.  Water flowed down the path as we walked up bare footed.  I took many more pictures on my regular camera but this is the panorama from the top.

We spent time seeing the ruins at the top and visiting another huge theater undergoing restoration.  

We headed out after lunch to go to Patara Beach where we are spending the night.   It was a 3 hour drive filled with thunder and lightning, but all is back to normal now.

Ephesus

Today was spent visiting Ephesus, a very worth while journey even in the heat.   About a fifth of the city's ruins are excavated and many of those have been partially restored.   The theater was definitely the most impressive part, though the library was a close second.  After being there for a while and reading about all the different buildings, you could really understand what it was like to live in the city a long time ago. 

Alacati Beach Clubs

Saturday night after dinner,  we decided to find the beach clubs in Alacati.   Little did we know that the beach clubs aren't nighttime dance clubs, but rather parts of the beach sectioned off to lounge the day away overlooking the water.   Nevertheless, we found one and pulled out some chairs to enjoy the temperate night air.  

Izmir and Cesme

Saturday was a really long day.   We got up super early because of the jet lag and walked around the oceanfront boulevard for a while before finding the large Izmir bazaar, full of shops to buy anything you could want.   I am not a shopper but did enjoy taking pictures nearby at a plaza with a very nice minaret. 

The afternoon was spent in Cesme, a small beach town where we found our pension overlooking the bay and went to the beach.   The beach wasn't impressive but taking a dip in the cold water was a refreshing break from the heat.   The temperature around here must be 100 degrees or more.

Izmir

Our first night was spent in Izmir.   The flight was very smooth and quick and the trip to the hotel was easy.   I was thinking that Turkey would be a little more rustic but it definitely isn't.