Well, if you're in the mood for 6-month old stories, great news: you've come to the right place. If you're not, you might want to move along now.
So, the big story of the summer was my trip to Turkey with my cousin Katia. "Why Turkey?" many people asked me. The honest answer: I really don't remember. When Katia lived with me for about 7-8 months before she started college, we decided that when she graduated, we would take a trip together. The chosen destination was Turkey. As the end of her college career drew near, we began making plans. Well, mostly I began making plans - Katia had some studying to attend to. Good thing we have similar taste in vacationing. We didn't rehash the reasons for choosing Turkey, we just went with it. A week after her graduation took place, we were on a plane to Istanbul. Can't say we aren't women of our word!
I won't give you the whole trip outline here - I would never get caught up with my blog if I did that! But I'll give you a brief outline. (Want to know all the details? Go to Turkey :))
Our arrival on Saturday evening was somewhat eventful. Some protesting had disrupted the normal public transportation, and traffic was not stellar. We took a crazy taxi ride through Istanbul (I don't know how they manage to have so much traffic and still drive so fast. Istanbul taxi rides are not for the faint of heart), got dropped off at the river, and took a ferry that was still in operation from the European side of the city to the Asian side of the city. There, we met up with T and D, a young couple from Canada/Romania who currently call Istanbul home. They generously provided us with a place to stay Saturday night. Sunday morning was pouring down rain, but we grabbed our umbrellas and set out. Our trip to meeting that morning consisted of a 20 minute walk (shower?) to the ferry station, a ferry ride back to the European side of the city, a short taxi ride to a hotel where we picked up a visiting Canadian couple, a 10 minute walk to the bus station, an hour long bus ride along the Bosphorous River to the area where meeting was, and then a short walk to our final destination. Total trip: approximately 2.5 hours. The hotel stop was out of the ordinary, so it slowed things down a bit, but 2 hours one way is a normal trip to meeting, and T&D make it twice a week... to meet with one other young woman who lives in Istanbul. This week, she had 2 American couples visiting, so there were 11 of us for large increase to their usual 3-person meeting. We had a wonderful meeting, stayed for lunch and a visit, and were on our way. We stayed with T&D again on Sunday night and then set out early Monday morning for our 2-week Turkish adventure. Highlights posted below:
The ruins at Ephasus: the theatre, library, community restroom (thank goodness for advances in that area..). Some areas were more highly excavated than others, but everywhere you turned, the detail was amazing and the skies were blue :)
Next stop: Pamukkale. The town is charming and colorful, but the main attraction is the hot springs with the weird formations from the high mineral content. From far away, it just looks like a big pile of dirty snow... but upon closer inspection, it's breathtaking. The trail is wet and looks like it should be slippery and cold, but it is neither. No shoes allowed!
Laodicea was our next stop. These ruins were significantly less rebuilt than the ruins at Ephasus, but also much less of a tourist attraction. We pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Next stop: Fethiye, a medium-size seaside village. We stayed here a couple of nights and used it as our base for a boat ride along the coast, exploring the Lycian tombs carved in the hillside above the town, and a couple of day trips. May I just say the Mediterranean Sea isn't warm at the beginning of June??
Side trip #1: Saklikent Gorge. The boardwalk path to the side of the gorge ends quickly, and if you want to hike any further, it means you're going to get wet. We hired a guide, which was a good thing as the depths varied wildly across the width of the canyon and it was very nice to have someone to hang onto in the swiftly moving current. I don't think I could feel my legs anymore by the time we got out, but it was pretty awesome!
Side trip #2: Rhodes, Greece. We took a hydrofoil ferry over... we found out that it's about 2 hours when the engines are both working, more like 4 when one of them stops working. But luckily, the breakdown was on the way back, not on the way there, so we still had several hours in this brightly-colored, charming town. The old town is a maze of archways and alleys, and we thoroughly enjoyed wandering around. A trip back to see more of Greece is definitely on my bucket list!
Side trip #3: hiking at Appolonia and Apperlai. This was an "off the beaten path" section of the Lycian Way trail, according to the guidebook. Way off the beaten path, apparently, as we never actually found it. But we got to see some Turkish countryside and do a little hiking through the middle of nowhere. We were just hoping nothing happened to Ramona, as we knew we'd never be found if she broke down...
From Fethiye, we ventured farther along the Mediterranean coast. Most of the coast in Southwestern Turkey drops to the sea in small cliffs, and the highway follows the tops of the cliffs. However, at a few spots, there are small beaches among the cliffs, and we pulled off at Kaputas Plaji for a brief swim. Absolutely stunning.
From there, we went to Cirali, a tiny, quaint seaside town. It looks like there's nothing there, but in among the trees there are little pensions tucked in everywhere, and on the other side of the trees is the sea. We hiked down the beach to see the ruins of Olympus, which were all overgrown but all the more fun to explore because of it.
Next stop, Cappadocia! This was one of the parts of the trip that I was most looking forward to, and I wasn't disappointed. We stayed in a cave hotel (4 Oda Cave Hotel, if you're ever going - I highly recommend it. It was gorgeous, and the proprietors were incredibly hospitable and helpful), went hiking, took a hot air balloon ride at sunrise, explored an underground city, and just enjoyed the truly weird landscape.
Last stop: back in Istanbul. We stayed with E for two nights, who lives in the apartment where we went to meeting on Sunday back at the beginning of our trip. She's a girl about my age from the US who has called many countries home in her life, but is currently staying in Istanbul. We had so much fun staying with her, and the city is amazing - my favorite part being the Spice Bazaar :) What a way to cap off an incredible trip.
After writing this blog, I'm ready to go back... hopefully it happens someday. In the meantime, I hope you're planning your trip. I truly fell in love with this country!
