Dublin

After Galway, we depart to head back to Dublin for the last leg of our journey and meet a few more friends.  Unfortunately, Katherine has picked up a bug and isn’t feeling very well but we still make the most of our time in Dublin.  We start with an exploration of the city which obviously starts with the Guinness factory where Chris learns how to pour his own beer.  The Guinness factory is at the edge of town but has a great bar at the top which has views of the entire city.

 

After the tour, we continue to the heart of Dubin taking in the architecture.

The required photo with Temple bar.  It looked like a great time inside but Katherine reminded Chris they had more to explore.

This is the lawn/quad of Trinity College which can be found in the middle of Dublin.  We look for the book of Kells.  Unfortunately because of the holidays, it was closed for viewing.  Our friends Ann and Shane went to Trinity College.  Again we are terrible with pictures and have no photos of them or their lovely kids although they were great hosts.

A picture of the Dublin castle in the center of town.

Katherine was so sick during our time in Dublin, she is in the pictures but here is her recap of Dublin:  a warm welcome by our lovely friends Ann and Shane, long nap, walk to the train station arrive shaking and head back to bed, wake up to some yummy cheese and then we order Indian, sleep.  Oatmeal breakfast, drive into the city and see the Guinness warehouse, Chris drinks a pint while I sit on one of the few chairs we could find, then for some reason I get a burst of energy and we walk through the city, seeing the Dublin castle and some bar Chris really wanted to go into, the highlight was Trinity college, head back to Ann and Shanes’ and take a nap.  Wake up and eat a tasty dinner of risotto.  Back to bed, Chris, Ann, and Shane go to the pub for a drink… I assume they left me (?) with the girls… no clue, wake up early and head to the airport.

Ann and Shane were amazing hosts, we owe them a re-do and a quality conversation.  No clue why we didn’t get a picture of our amazing hosts.  They are some of the most wonderful people you could ever meet in the world and we thank them for their generous hospitality.

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Ireland, we didn’t do you justice and will be back to see you again, specifically you Dublin, you got the short end of the stick.

Galway

We wake up early today and head to the Cliffs of Mohr, which from Lahinch is about a 30-minute drive.  When we get there, we speak to a guide that says we have gotten “lucky” today as the Cliffs were completely socked-in yesterday and you couldn’t see a thing.  In order to clear the clouds off the Cliffs the wind was blowing at a steady 40 miles an hour.  Katherine isn’t so convinced we got lucky.  But per the guide, you either get fog or wind, so wind it is.

Walking up to the cliffs. Our best wind-smacking selfie picture. 

After visiting the Cliffs we decide to take the scenic way to Galway exploring the Great Atlantic Way.  The Great Atlantic Way is a mapped path of scenic roads along the south-west coast of Ireland.  The name was invented five years ago to boost tourism.  It has been a very effective campaign, some locals aren’t in love with the success of the campaign as it has brought troves of people to Ireland (sorry, Ireland for adding to the tourist count).

We make a quick stop in Doolin on the water to take a picture back at the Cliffs.  The town is dead as it is winter but a number of ferries leave from here in the summer.

Famous Irish rock walls dividing property boundaries and keeping the cattle in-bounds. 

Due to the harsh weather conditions and the rocky terrain, not much grows on the West coast of Ireland.  The land is mostly used as cow pastures.

For lunch, we stop in a town called Kinvarra at a place right on the water.  Chris has mussels and chowder.  They have seafood chowder everywhere.  Similar to clam chowder except instead of clams it is a variety of white fish in the chowder.

We make it to Galway and find the town is still bustling with the holiday spirit.  We walk the town trying to get in as many of the sites before dinner time.

This is an old castle in the middle of town that is currently the home of AIB bank.

Katherine was the most excited to find the statue Estonia gifted Ireland when Ireland joined the EU.  She was specifically excited to find this statue because several years earlier Katherine and Chris visited Tartu, Estonia and have a picture with Chris sitting between Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde on the original statue.

Replica statue – Chris is looking older and wiser… Thanks Oscar and Eduard for keeping us company again in another foreign country and for the intellectual conversation.

We spent the night exploring the city finding an Irish craic.  A craic is generally a fiddle player, guitar player, and a singer.  They show up at a bar, set up and just start playing.

The bar was packed, we squeezed in a tight corner.  A lively group of four joined us in the shuffle of bodies.  The group of four was made up of 4 Irish, three originally from Dublin and one from a small town in the middle of Ireland.  They were also there for the ‘trad’ music.  After Christmas, Galway is a popular town to visit for local Irish; as such, we were in good company.  They ordered us a round of shots called Baby Guinness.  The shot contains no Guinness beer but looks like a mini Guinness.  It is made up of Irish cream and coffee liquor.  It was yum, so we returned the favor a bought another round.  You would think the night would go on from there and would finish up stumbling home.  However, then you don’t know Katherine.  We quickly transitioned to water and headed home after we realized we could no longer hang.  But our good choices mean we will remember the music and experience.

The next morning, we walked the sleepy streets of Galway and hit the road to Dublin.  While walking the streets, there was one store that was open.  In the shop, Katherine found a very cool brass piece that said.  “Céad Míle Fáilte.” Its literal translation is “one hundred thousand welcomes”, or “you are welcome, a thousand times”.

Lahinch

After a wonderful stay with our friends for the Christmas holidays, we headed to Lahinch.  On the drive to Lahinch, there are so many sites to see and things to explore.  Although the distances between towns are not far, the roads are narrows and the speed is slow.

The first site we stop at is the Blarney Stone (we promised we would be back).  There is a beautiful view as you leave the city of Cork and head to the town of Blarney.

The Blarney Stone is at the top of the Blarney Castle.  Going in December has its advantages.  There were no lines and we virtually had the place to ourselves.  There was also no rain today which was lucky.

Chris below is with the Blarney stone.  Upon reflection, he thought of how many people kissed the stone a day and opted for the picture instead.   Generally, you lay on your back and lean backward to kiss the stone.  The other guy in the picture holds you and makes sure you don’t fall and hurt yourself.

Lunch break – the pub we ate at is in yellow with a castle we visited after lunch is in the background.

Same castle – different angle.

The castle’s dungeon and the stairs down into the dungeon.

Castle view.

The castle was part of this cute historic recreation of an old Irish village.  The castle was real, the village was outfitted to look like a village would have looked years ago.

Chris below with a typical house with a thatched roof.

After lunch, we continued our drive to the coast and stopped at this quaint town with an abandoned friary.

There are ruins all over Ireland very different than the Denver scenery; below is the abandoned friary.

The best part of the day for Katherine was that across the street from the abandoned friary was a cute tea shop.  It had homemade scones and cream.  According to Katherine, it was the best find of the trip.

After a day in the car, we arrive in Lahinch mid-afternoon.  A coastal town right on the water and a good jumping-off point for exploring the Cliffs of Mohr.  For dinner, we stop in a cute Irish pub and find mulled wine (which we have been searching for since arriving in Ireland).

Athens

We arrived in Athens and Katherine had yet to have any falafel so we were off to find the best falafel in the city.  We ended up at a hole-in-the-wall street vendor not far from the Acropolis.  Don’t judge a place by how it looks, but how it tastes and it tasted great.  After the falafel, we were on to Acropolis.

Acropolis blew us out of the water.  It sits atop this large plateau that can be seen from anywhere in the city.  How did they get all of their construction materials on top???

 Steps of the main entrance. Looking back over the city. Parthenon – frontside Parthenon – backside

From Acropolis, we meandered down to Roman Agora (ancient market place ruins) and the Tower of Winds.  From there we wandered through the Pandrossou street market.  The Pandrossou market is an eclectic mix of antique vendors, clothing and food stalls.  We didn’t buy anything and mostly enjoyed the shade.  Across from the market is the Ancient Agora of Athens.  The Ancient Agora of Athens houses the Ancient Agora Museum and the Temple of Hephaestus.

Our walking wasn’t done for the day as we ventured out to see the streets of Monastiraki, Syntagma and Planka neighborhoods.  We stumbled upon a Loukoumades shop and stopped for an afternoon treat.  The evening consisted of more falafel and vegetarian food, something which Chris compromised on and doesn’t remember the details.

View looking out from the Ancient Agora museum back to the Temple of Hephestus

Temple of Hephestus with Acropolis behind

Loukoumades – basically a Greek donut, we had the honey and cinnamon option.

Day 2 – We got up early to see more sites.  We ate breakfast at a restaurant near our Airbnb, then walked to the Olympic stadium.  The stadium is just outside the primary cluster of historical ruins on the other side of a park.  How cool would it be an Olympian in the place where it all started!  From there, we then ventured back through the park to see the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.  Up next was the Acropolis museum.  This museum was actually a highlight.  It was three levels, well designed and not too overwhelming.  There was a lot of information laid out in a logical flow and short need-to-know synopsizes.  The top floor of the museum is a replica of Acropolis with zoomed-in detail.  Each side of Acropolis tells a different story depicted in stone.  Greece is known for its Gods.  Chris determined that his favorite God is Dionysus.  Dionysus is the god of wine and theatre.  Basically, he likes to have fun, something which Chris could relate to.

 Olympic stadium Temple of Olympian Zeus Acropolis museum

Dionysus!  He likes to have fun and he is also jacked.

After the museum, we needed to get out of the heat.  Katherine was breaking out in a rash (not uncommon in hot weather after walking long distances), so we went back to the room for a nap and A/C.

The evening consisted of venturing out to find a watering hole and dinner.  Although very touristy, we decided to visit Brettos, one of the oldest bars in Athens.  It is known for its ouzeri and flavored spirits (infused berry rum, vodka, etc).  We passed on the ouzo and settled on two cocktails.  After walking the streets, we found a back-alley pasta place for dinner which was delicious.  There was a couple at the restaurant who were clearly regulars.  They knew everyone.   Their son came to join them who was about ~60, mom and dad being ~80 or 90.  It was lovely to be in a local spot (although not greek food).  Chris had the pavlova for dessert which made a great finish to a wonderful trip.

Acropolis at night from our Airbnb

 

Our general notes on Greece:

• Anti-smoking campaigns don’t seem to be working in Greece and there is lots of smoking.  It is everywhere.  The people we do see smoke puff on them one after another.
• Lingering for hours at restaurants is acceptable.  We sat at a restaurant for over an hour just watching the patrons.  We didn’t drink much, neither did the other customers and no one complained.  It was a very relaxed social atmosphere, where no one seemed to be in a hurry or have anywhere to go.
• SO SO SO much history.  We need to brush up on our Greek gods for future travels.

Santorini

Day 1 Santorini

We decided to hike from Fira to Oia.  This is a popular hike with numerous other tourists.  The hike takes about 2 hours.  It is lovely and reminds us of Cinque Terra.  You follow the sea and hike high above on the cliffs.  There are two stops at beautiful churches with lookouts.  We took a detour to Fiorstefani which is before you get to Oia for a bite to eat.  There are no “caldera” views which means most people turn their nose up but the restaurant had a beautiful view over the other side of the island and of the water.  We ate oven-roasted chickpeas and rice stuffed with bell pepper and tomato for lunch off the beaten path.  We finally made it to Oia after lunch – a little sweatier and smellier.  We spent the afternoon in Oia walking down the steps to the port and taking pictures of the cliff-side views.  Chris also stopped at the famous ice cream shop which was perfectly placed next to the bus stop as we waited for the bus back to Fira for a sunset dinner overlooking the Caldera.

A soon as the sun starts to go down around 7, anywhere along the caldera, became windy and quite cold.  We were happy to have our jacket and hoody as we watched the sunset.  A number of places have a glass barrier to help protect from the wind.  The restaurant we went to for dinner had an amazing view but the food left a little to be desired.  Although to make up for it they provided an after-dinner drink of Ouzo.  One sip of that was enough, a similar taste to black licorice was not something Chris fancied.

Day 2 Santorini >

The next day we took the 600 stair walk down to the port in the main town of Santorini.  There was also the option to take the cable car but you know how Katherine likes here workouts.  What we didn’t realize about the walk was it was also the donkey-freeway.  The locals would try to get the cruise ship passengers at the bottom to pay for a donkey up to the top.  We were literally trying to avoid donkeys the whole way up and down on this little rock walkway.  There wasn’t much to do at the bottom of the port but a good entry point to the city.  Both days there were 4-5 cruise ships that arrived and overran the town and infrastructure.  We found the town quite sleepy and much more enjoyable before the ships arrived and after they left at night.  Although as seems to be the case in most of the Mediterranean, the mornings were very sleepy with most places not opening before 9am.

  

After the walk, we headed towards the bus stop to go visit Perissa beach.  The buses were by far the best way to get around the city and very nice.  They were large greyhound buses with an efficient process to get people on and off.  Out at Perissa beach, it was a nice cove with a huge rock jutting out of one end.  We were going to go for a walk along the black sand beach but quickly figured out the sand was HOTTT and Chris’ wimpy feet could not handle any walk along the beach. Instead, we opted for lunch in one of the restaurants that lined the beach and watched many people attempt to hop from one foot to another from the sand to the water.  We walked the length of the small city which was maybe half a mile.  In general, Santorini isn’t known for its beaches and we didn’t find many places where there was much sand.  However, the water and views from the caldera were to die for.

So after convincing Katherine, we headed to Santo Wineries which is the premier winery on the island.  It sits up on the hill and has a beautiful view of the whole island and the sunset.  The scenery was ideal.  The white wines were better than the red – all local grapes.  They are starting to develop a wine scene on the island.  After the winery, we headed back to town for dinner on the last night.

After dinner, we headed to Galini for one last coffee and view of the city.  This was our favorite spot, smaller up on a hill and again a beautiful view of the city.

 View from the coffee shop It’s cold!  

Ephesus

Izmir / Ephesus

We catch a bus from Avsallar to the Antalya airport and then fly to Izmir.  Unfortunately, after a 5-hour flight delay, we arrive significantly later than planned.  We eat dinner at the airport and head straight to the hotel.  Mehmet’s good friend Ali works at the Marriott Renaissance in Izmir and has so kindly upgraded us for the night.  We end up in a very pricey suite for 1/5^th of the listed price.  There is a welcome letter from the hotel head manager and a tray of tasty dessert morsels which Katherine thoroughly enjoys.  Despite going to bed in the wee hours of the morning, we wake up early-ish to make sure we fit in the free breakfast that Ali has also worked into our upgraded accommodation.  Do to the limited time in Izmir, we have no time to explore before our guided tour to Ephesus departs.

The tour in Ephesus includes:  the ‘home’ of Virgin Mary, walking through the historic city of Ephesus, lunch at a Rug Factory (trap), Temple of Artemis, visiting a Ceramic Factory (another trap) and a Leather Factory which we didn’t visit because the tour guides realized we weren’t going to purchase anything and thus decided to end the tour early > the tour was supposed to go until 5pm but due to our lack of shopping and our clear disinterest in the forced sales attempts, the tour finished early at 3pm.

 Virgin Mary’s house Water with special healing powers Prayer wall outside of Mary’ home

  Ephesus’ Amphitheater Chris at the top of the hill leading into the main streets of the town of Ephesus.  You can see the Library columns in the background.  We are currently standing near the hospital.  When you follow the path down, there is a bathhouse on the right (with toilets!) and houses on the left.

 Nailed it 

We enjoyed the extra time, our Airbnb host was lovely and made us feel at home.  He sat with us at his storefront shop to share tea and showed us around.  Our room had a direct view of the town’s historic ruins, including the remains of an aqueduct.

 Aqueduct  Aqueduct view from our Airbnb room

Our perspective on interesting things in Turkey:

• Katherine is a strong feminist hated that every evening upon walking the streets, you always saw the men drinking Turkish tea, smoking or playing games (Rummikub was common), but never the women.  For the most part, men ran the shops and restaurants, men socialized at the cafes, but very rarely did you see women walking alone or out and about.  Katherine found this strange and frustrating.
• The men in Turkey are very clean, always washing hands, face and upper body before meals.  We do wonder if they plan to eat with the upper body but we digress.

 

In the morning, we headed for Kasadasi a port city in Turkey to catch a ferry to Somos in Greece.  It is more difficult to travel between Turkey and Greece because Turkey is not part of the EU and lately there has been increased problems with refugees.

 Ferry station in Kasadasi.

 Chris loved the houses on the hill which are pained in a colorful rainbow scheme.

From Turkey, we were headed to the Greek island.  To our surprise, getting to the islands of Greece appeared easy / neighboring on the map, but traveling between the two was not as easy as planned.  Instead of traveling back to Izmir to catch a flight, we instead decided to catch a ferry to Somos and then a flight to Athens, then from Athens another flight to Santorini.  It was a long travel day from morning ferry & two-afternoon flights.  Travel time really wasn’t that bad:  ferry 1hr, 1^st flight 45 mins, 2^nd flight 35 mins.  Upon arriving in Somos, the customs line along took 30+ minutes.  Our first taste of Greece left us with the impression of inefficiencies.  Fortunately, our next imprecisions of Greece were much improved.  We had a wonderful lunch on the water.  The restaurant was run by a local family.  There were four children, 3 boys, and 1 girl.  The women assisted us and recommended the stuffed calamari.  It was caught fresh by her brother that morning (i.e. 1-2am).

 Samos town from the ferry Stuffed calamari

This town was charming.  It has a population of 2k in the winter and 5k in the summer months.  Most of the businesses only open for the summer months.  We thoroughly enjoyed this little sea-side town.

The flight to Athens and then on to Santorini were both non-events.  We eat dinner in Santorini consisting of mussel saganaki and beet salad.

 

Avsallar

We arrive mid-evening in Avsallar to the welcoming faces of Katherine’s childhood friend, Meghan, and her husband Mehmet.  Mehmet grew up in Ankara, but his parents have retired to the Mediterranean Seaside town of Avsallar.  They graciously welcome us into their home/apartment.  To our surprise, we realize that in order for us to have the guest bedroom, Meghan, Mehmet, and their two children must sleep in the living room.  Everyone kept saying it wasn’t an inconvenience, but we are sure it was, so we do thank them kindly for their graciousness.

Because we are in the middle of Ramadan, which encourages fasting between sunrise and sunset, Mehmet who is following the religious practice is starved upon arrival.  We promptly sit down to a lovely dinner of tomato soup, eggplant topped with beef, tomatoes and peppers, rice and bread.  Dinner was followed by tea on the balcony with baklava.  How could we forget the pictures, not sure but we did.

We start the next day, with breakfast of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese (which they just call white cheese), mozzarella type cheese, hard-boiled eggs, bread, and jam.  Because breakfast is after the sun has risen, we are not joined by the family which is fasting (Mehmet and his parents – they have already eaten breakfast at 3am before sunrise).

Mehmet and Meghan are wonderful hosts and take us out to see the sites.  First up is a beautiful waterfall.  We sit at a table near the waterfall and snack on the local fair:  flat tortilla-like bread with various cheeses and shepherd’s salad (tomato, cucumber, parley).

In the afternoon we ventured to the town of Side, which sits on a historic peninsula with ruins throughout from a Roman-era amphitheater, government building, waterfront mausoleum and a smattering of other buildings covering the peninsula, some excavated and some part of the local shops (i.e. they built on top of them or used the historic walls in the new architecture).  Not sure how UNESCO feels about this?  While in the town of Side, we enjoyed fresh strawberry smoothies and extra cold Turkish ice cream > both amazing.

Upon returning to the apartment, we assisted Mehmet’s parents in making homemade Turkish ravioli.  We had the ravioli for dinner.  It was tasty, although we are undecided if either Chris or Katherine wants their hot ravioli covered in warmish yogurt sauce.  Tidbit on Chris:  his mother serves everything piping hot and in general Chris prefers steaming hot dishes so cold or tepid dishes aren’t as desirable, so if we make this dish at home we might leave out the yogurt… which basically turns it into ravioli with red-sauce which is more Italian than Turkish.

Dinner again is followed by tea.  All meals are followed by tea.  Tea is severed in small sand-timer looking glasses, so servings are small but consumed throughout the day.

After tea, we went to town to benefit from Mehmet’s fathers’ community connections.  Chris fondly likes to call him the mayor of Avsallar.  Which in our case resulted in bargain shopping prices and expert Turkish haggling skills.  We purchased a Turkish lamp for half the price we would get as American tourists.  We are very happy with our purchase and excited to hang the lamp once we get home.  Chris also enjoyed how all haggling starts with a cup of tea.  The shop owner and Mehmets’ father walked out of the shop to sit under a tree.  We are not sure if they were haggling or talking about the weather but the price came back right.  Also in Turkish culture when greeting someone there are different levels.  If you are close friends, it is a kiss on either cheek.  If they are less close it is a forehead rub on either side.  If you are less than that it is a handshake.

We wake up to another breakfast of tomatoes, cucumber, cheese, and bread.  Katherine thoroughly enjoys the breakfast spreads.  Chris personally enjoy’s Mehmet the barista and the wonderful Turkish coffee he makes.

We head out “early” which is mid-morning for the Ozcan family.  We venture to the town of Alara, which coincidentally is the name of their daughter.  The town of Alara was once a stopping point on the Silk Road.  The town has a castle and a ‘Han’ which during the days of the Silk Road was a place to sleep and rest along the journey.  We climb to the castle, which includes a few steps, dark tunnels and several bats.  After the morning walk, we ate at a floating restaurant on the river in town.  The kids jumped in the ice-cold river while the adults took pictures.  We ate rice, lamb, French fries (also popular on Turkish menus although not always served hot), chicken and salad.  Chris’ new favorite drink is lemon bitters Schweppes.

After lunch, we went back to town to utilized Mehmet’s fathers’ community connections and haggling skills (again) to purchase Turkish spices and a few other items to bring back as gifts.  It was very nice of Mehmet and his family to go out of their way to assist us in our shopping desires.

That afternoon, Mehmet’s sister, husband and two adorable children arrive.  At the end of Ramadan, it is common for people to take a Holiday.  The Holiday break is often shared with family over lots of food.  As such, the sister has come down from Kayseri to be with the family.  The apartment has grown smaller at this point, but we are still given the guest bedroom while the parents move upstairs to a friend’s unit.

Dinner is always timely once the sun goes down – everyone is very hungry from fasting.  Tonight’s dinner consists of soup (choice of Okra, tomato or yogurt), dolmas (smaller warm dolmas made of grape leaves stuffed with rice and larger cold dolmas made of bell pepper-like veggies stuffed with rice), bread (always bread) and borek (lasagna like pastry looking thing served hot with no red sauce or cheese).  Dinner was followed with watermelon and tea (always tea > caffeine after dinner… not in the US, but in Turkey you take seconds).

After dinner, we went for a night walk on the beach and Chris tried to capture one of the hotels lit up Las Vegas-style.

The next day we spend the morning on the beach, playing in the water, and lounging before our shuttle to Antalya and flight to Izmir.  We thoroughly enjoyed our authentic Turkish experience and time with friends.

Several items of note:  We couldn’t get enough of Mehmet’s father.  He knew everyone in town.  He was like the town mayor.  We couldn’t communicate a word with each other, so he would speak very slowly assuming that would help.  Despite the lack of understanding, he had a way of showing you things and smiling that made you feel welcome.

Mehmet’s mother’s cooking is wonderful.  We left very healthy, full, and happy after every meal > Thank you.

Meghan and Mehmet haven’t aged a bit… in case anyone was wondering.  They have a very happy family and are off to their next adventure moving to Rhode Island from London in a month’s time.  We wish them all the best.

Istanbul

We arrived at the new ‘state of the art’ airport in Istanbul that just opened in April 2019. Unfortunately, the new airport in Istanbul is not close to the city. We arranged a private car that drove us through very windy and twisty roads.  Initially, Katherine thought this driver was crazy, but little did she know he would be the conservative driver of the trip.  In general, drivers don’t stay in their lane but straddle the white line darting in and out.  They also constantly flash their lights at you if you are driving to slow telling you to move over.

Despite arriving late, the city was hustling and bustling. We booked a modest but clean hotel down an alley (typical Katherine and Chris accommodation… slightly nicer than a hostel, but not a classy hotel > hence the alley and 3 flights of stairs).

Staying in a very popular tourist party scene location, given it was late and we didn’t want to walk too far we settled on what we pre-judged to be a ‘C’ rated restaurant that to our surprise served up ‘B’-quality food.  We had a huge football looking piece of bread that was full of air.  The rest of the meal was uneventful and we decided to call it a night.
Only having a day and a half in Istanbul, we woke up on a mission. Unfortunately, the city does not wake up early so breakfast was replaced by a ‘D’ rated coffee before our first site of the day – the Blue Mosque. Coming prepared Katherine covered her head in a scarf and having already dressed appropriately, we didn’t have to spend any time purchasing appropriate coverings. To our disappointment, the mosque was under construction, so the famed Blue mosaic ceiling was partially covered. The mosque is only open to tourists when not being used for prayer.

We learned that every mosque has minarets.  The minarets are used to call people to prayer, which happens five times a day.  We aren’t sure why some mosques have one minaret and other mosques have several.  The famous Blue Mosque has four.

Crossing Sultanahmet Park which separates the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia, we made our way to the Hagia Sofia ticket line. The highlight of the Hagia Sofia (for us) was the Christian paintings of Jesus and Mary within the same building as Muslim adornments; as the building was reined over by both Christian and Muslim rulers throughout the centuries. Before the 15th century, if you donated enough money you could get your picture alongside Mary – clearly, money can buy everything.

After Hagia Sofia, we took a break from sightseeing to grab a drink at a panoramic restaurant that boasted a view of the Istanbul skyline. The additional beverage expense was worth the charge as the view was spectacular.

After a packed morning, we are in search of a recommended restaurant. We were excited when we found it, but upon sitting down something felt odd. We aren’t sure what, so we double-checked the restaurants’ name and proceed to eat. After lunch of zucchini fritters and lamb kebab, we walk around the block only to realize the real restaurant we wanted to eat at was around the alley corner. The restaurant’s names were identical. We were so furious at this clearly designed scam. The real restaurant was packed with people with significantly cheaper prices. Grrrrrrrr, Katherine was not happy.  Note to self:  all good restaurants in foreign countries are down back allies.

Up next was the Basilica Cistern. This was the highlight of the day for Katherine. The Cistern was just that, an old Cistern for the city. It provided water to the city during the 15th century. Can you imagine, clean piped water in the 15th century? That is a feat within itself. Sadly the cistern was forgotten about and used as a dumping ground for years until cleaned and opened to tourists only in the 1980’s

Cistern column with Medusa’s head at the bottom.

From the Cistern we walked to the river, meandering our way through the busy streets and shops. We lucked out and caught a Bosporus boat cruise 5 minutes before departure; the last boat cruise for the day. The boat trip is a two-hour round trip tour of the Bosporus river. On the East is Asia and on the West in Europe. Both sides of the river were built up. As you traveled further away from the city, smaller fishing villages could be identified along with other famous historic sites. Without a tour guide, we took our best guess of the buildings based on visual cues.

Running out of time in the day, we departed the boat and rushed to the spice market. This grand building was filled with stalls of colorful spices, baklava, and Turkish delight. From the Spice Market, we meandered our way to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar sells gold, clothing, antiquities, and other eclectic items. We enjoyed the sites but didn’t get our shop-on.

Dried fruits and spices sold at the Spice market.  This market also sold baklava and lokum, what we know as Turkish Delight.

Chris in the Grand Bazaar.  We expected stalls similar to a farmers market, but everyone had permanent storefronts off the main ally ways.  It was a large windy building that wasn’t symmetrical in shape (we assume additions had been made over the years).

We went to a recommended pide place for dinner. After pides, we went to a classy dessert shop to eat baklava and Turkish cake (no context that turkey was known or had a cake, but it was scrumptious so we approve).  With our tummies full, we tucked in for the night.

Pide – similar to pizza, cheap and cheerful.

Our 2nd day in Istanbul was also an early start trying to beat the crowds to Topaki Palace. Having no previous knowledge of the Palace, it was a big adventure and learning experience. The Palace was used by various rulers throughout the centuries. Several highlights of the Palace are the Harem – the ‘apartment’ location for sinful activity including pipe smoking and concubines, the kitchen – where at times up to ~1,000 staff worked to serve food, the apartment for the eunuchs, and the library. The Palace is grand and took all morning to cover the vast grounds.  Chris requested a picture with the Harem entrance but was unfortunately unable to find any concubines that day.

The Place sits at the edge of the Europe-side of Istanbul overlooking Asia.  It was a picturesque setting.

After touring, we decided to re-try our previously failed scam restaurant experience to eat the ‘real’ original named restaurant. The staff was delightful, the food good, and cheap.

We then departed for the airport.

Airport note: as Chris and Katherine wait for their flight to Gazipasa, we critique the new Istanbul airport and have a list of improvements in case the airport manager would like to contact us for consultation recommendations.

General observations:

Turkish people are very clean.  After every meal, they give you a wet wipe.  They also seem very advanced in their water access and resources.  They built a cistern for access to clean water in the 6th century.  The Topkapi Palace also had toilets.  On the flip side, you still can’t flush your toilet paper.  Can’t we make those pipes a little bigger?

 

Cappadocia

Chris and Katherine headed out for another adventure.  It started with a journey to Turkey and specifically Cappadocia, the city of caves.  So why not stay in a Cave?  As you can tell Chris is enjoying our Cave room.  The great news is the caves are great for sleeping as they are cool and very dark but the bad news is we are next to a mosque during Ramadan and call to prayer was at 3:30am.  We did get the wake-up call which lasted about 5 minutes but passed on the prayer and went back to sleep.

Cappadocia is known for its fairy chimneys.  One of the best ways to see the fairy chimneys is by hot air balloon.  Unfortunately, our fear of heights kept our feet squarely planted on the ground.  We were able to get these great pictures though at sunrise.  Note the minarets (used for the call to prayer) in the foreground.

The first day we set out on a tour of the city and surrounding sites.  It started with a scenic overlook and a selfie.

Chris also found a market with all of man’s needs.  We think the translation was just off as no one could point us to any male enhancing drugs.

In addition to the fairy chimneys, Turkey is known for its blue evil eyes, which are supposed to bring good luck and provide protection.  I think we found the luckiest tree in all of Turkey.

There were a number of cliff dwellings which had been carved out which people lived in a long time ago; we were told it was the hermits and ostracized people of the community.  It could also be people who were sick and sent away to keep the community safe.

When the Ottoman Empire tried to conquer the Christians in Cappadocia the Christians hid in these elaborate albeit claustrophobic caves.  The caves were eight stories deep underground and became progressively more narrow.  It would have been a good time to be short and nimble.

After the caves, we took a scenic hike through the valley.

The next day we headed out to explore the Goerme Outdoor Air Museum which was about a half-mile walk from the city center.  We left about 8am and felt like we had the entire city to ourselves.  Cappadocia was a very sleepy place in the morning with few things opening before 9am.

You thought we forgot about our signature Jetstar’s???? Not a chance.

Side note: Toyota sued Jetstar over the use of the pose asserting they had previously trademarked it.  So I guess it is a Toyota star.  Toyota if you are reading and need an ambassador feel free to give us a call.

The air museum was the best place to see the fairy Chimneys.  There were also a number of dwellings with Christian pictures.  It is interesting that before the Ottomans, when the country became mostly Muslim, there were a number of Christians residing in this part of the country.

After the air museum, we took a cooking school class.  It turned out not to be very busy that day, so we had a private tour.  The cooking school was in the country at a family’s house.  We were invited in and had Turkish tea and sweet cinnamon cookies. After the welcome, we explored the garden which we would use to make our Turkish cuisine.  Everything was organic and local.  They grew the vegetables, they made the butter, the yogurt, the sauces – virtually nothing was bought from the store.  We made a three-course feast.  Below is the first course.  In Turkey, it is disrespectful if you do not finish your plate or the food on the table.  As you can see below, there is no chance we could finish all this food.

We cooked with the mom and the wife.  It was also interesting to learn the husband and wife had been married through an arranged marriage.  Katherine’s favorite part was that the mother used no measuring cups she could just eyeball everything.  Another interesting fact was that they had a plug-in electrical oven with one temperature.  Unfortunately no picture but we found that fascinating.

After the tour, we were off to catch a flight and off to Istanbul.

Brandon

As our trip came to a close it was only fitting to end it with another friend visit.  This time we went to a town outside of London called Brandon where one of Katherine’s childhood friends Meghan and her family were living on tour with the airforce.  I am not sure if we are the luckiest people in the world or not but the UK was experiencing another heat wave and we enjoyed nothing but upper seventies and blue skies.  The first day we spent catching up with Meghan, her husband Mehmet and their children Emre and Alara.  We reminisced of memories from year’s past.  That night we headed down to the pub to enjoy watching England play in a world cup match.  The pub had great atmosphere and maybe even a little too much atmosphere for some.

The next day we woke up and enjoyed a leisurely morning, taking the kids to school followed by stroll through downtown Brandon.  It didn’t take long as the total downtown was a small square followed by one whole block.  After breakfast we went to Thetford Forest park.  There we met up with some other long lost friends Tom and Katie and their two kids we had never met before.  Tom and Katie are friends from our time in Melbourne.  They moved back to the UK, living outside London, to raise their family.

The following day it was off to explore Cambridge.  It was a beautiful campus at least on the sunny day we had.  It was also graduation day so the atmosphere was palpitating.  One of the common past times or current times is punting.  Punting gives the best views of the colleges as it lets you see inside from the water.  Note you can either be punted or rent your own boat and do the punting.  We decided to rent our own boat and do the punting.  The kids had a wonderful time and I am happy to report no one got wet.  To navigate the water you use a long pole.  The pole can touch the bottom and helps you navigate although different than a paddle.

Alas, our trip had come to and end and it was time to say goodbye.  What better way to end it than with some Jetstars.  Until we meet again.

 Katherine and Meghan