Perpetual Cankles

I love Turkey. I just love it and want to go back RIGHT NOW. It was absolutely perfect with only a few minimal dislikes. Everyone there was really friendly and nice, it smelled good (not like pee!!!), and it was just plain cool. Not temperature-wise (it was pretty dang humid and hot), but just like... cool! I don’t know how to explain it. It is one of those places everyone needs to go and spend like 3 weeks going everywhere. It is probably #3 on my list of places to go, right behind Cambodia and Uganda, it’s THAT amazing. I know I say that about every country, but for realz here. I want to skip the rest of school and just be a tour guide or something here! That would be the life…

So day one, two of the people I traveled with, Eric and Rachel, and I went to breakfast at 8:15 so we could get going as soon as the ship cleared. We ate on the deck and… the buildings we were parked next to were so pretty! Like cool tiles and colorful paint, I knew I was going to be in love. But, as everything never wants to work out, we didn’t clear until like 10:30. So immediately we got outta there and headed to Sultanamet Square, where a lot of historical stuff is. The Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque face each other, with the Basilica Cistern, Egyptian Obelisk, German Fountain, and the Hippodrome thrown all about in there. So we tried to walk, since you get a better taste of the city, and got lost. We had a pretty crappy map so it really wasn’t our fault. We walked across the bridge to the city area and everyone was fishing off of it! There were even little boys doing it, so cute. We saw a ton of the local’s city: markets, stores, hangouts, ect.

We ran into a huge mosque, the Eminönü, and decided to go in. So we put on our scarves and headed over. You are supposed to step on a certain cloth with your barefeet and not step on the ground to sully them up, but I failed and did it completely wrong. Ooops. But inside was awesome! It was built in 1597, so you’d think it would be a tad messed up, but it was perfect! All the murals and tiles were still vibrant and nothing was screwed up! Of course, I’m sure it’s been restored, but it was awesome. The domed roof was huge and so high up. It was crazy. They were going green too; they used the squiggly ecofriendly light bulbs in their chandeliers.

We got lost after that going to Sultanamet for like 45 minutes. We ended up stumbling upon it and were blown away at how huge they were! And we thought the Eminönü was huge… We got in line at the Hagia Sophia because the Blue Mosque was closed for prayer time since it a working mosque. Hagia was built in 537 as an Orthodox church. Then it turned into a Catholic church and then when the Ottomans invaded it was converted into a mosque. When Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, came into power in the ‘30s, he made it into a museum. Now it has been renovated to it’s former glory and it is awesome. The dome is massive, like 180 feet tall, and everything is either gold or blue. It is so pretty. It was cool because you could see the original frescos and mosaics in random places while the new stuff was clearly visible. You could even see a crack in the dome when the last earthquake hit Istanbul!

After that we went to the Basilica Cistern, which was where the city held all their water incase of a siege, built roughly in the same time as the Hagia. When I read about it, it seemed like a Blue Grotto-esque place: you get on a boat and they take you around while singing. Nope! We walk down the steps and there is “Get Low” playing hahaha. Cool. But inside was lighted with red and it looked cool. The water was only about 2 or 3 feet deep, but there were huge fish in there! We walked around a bit looking at the original columns before we hit the Medusa heads. There are two of them- one is right side up and the other is upside down. They support the columns, but rumor has it that they are there to negate the Gorgon’s gaze and protect the area from the bad guys. But, suppose we shall never know.

After that we got some street food and headed to the Grand Bazaar, a collection of 4,000 shops (OH MY!). On the way, we passed by Constantine’s Burnt Column, the only surviving monument from his time. Cool. So we walk into the Grand Bazaar and are immediately overwhelmed. It is literally MASSIVE. There are streets and side streets and side streets of the side streets… needless to say, we got lost in the maze. We had a blast bargaining though! I think we all have it down, we scammed so many people into cheaper prices by tag teaming them! So much fun. I had a mild lapse of judgment in the blanket area and accepted someone’s offer for tea while he showed me his selections, even though I had no intention of buying anything. I was just thirsty! So he showed us everything, asked what I liked (which I told him I wasn’t in love with any), and somehow he got me to name a price. I said 50 lira, thinking there was no way in hell he would go down from 320. But, as I was leaving, he did and I felt terrible saying I didn’t want it anymore. Oops! Oh well though.

So we left and went to the spice bazaar and sampled tea on our way back to the ship. We ate dinner on the ship and then Rachel and I immediately left to get a Turkish Bath, which was probably my favorite thing ever. Basically they scrub you really hard and get all the dead skin off, wash your hair, and then give you an oil massage… it was heaven. I was singing that Mulan song the whole entire time. The only bad thing was that they didn’t really tell you what to do, just a “go in there,” so I almost passed out in the Jacuzzi room because I didn’t know where to go next. But it was awesome and I recommend it to everyone. Then we got back to the ship, packed up, and went to bed.

We woke up the next morning and were supposed to meet up at 5:15 to get to the airport for our flight to Cappadocia, but some of the girls were late. So let’s just say I could’ve slept in for 45 more minutes. We got on the airplane and they gave you breakfast, perfect! We landed at like 8:30 in Nevsehir and it was like a foreign country… exactly how I imagined Turkey to be like. It was bare and full of dirt, with barely anything out there! The airport was like the only thing in the area, we are so lucky we had someone pick us up or else we would’ve been SOL. So we got picked up by this young tourguide named Zayneb who was super cool and really good! While the van was driving to Göreme, the center city of the Cappadocia region, we passed a car that was only a man and his wife, but the wife was in full garb and sitting in the backseat. I don’t know why, but that made me realize I was in a foreign country, something I hadn’t really experienced in any of the other ports. Everywhere else was pretty similar to the US, but Turkey… it is in a league of it’s own. It’s completely different than everything.

So we were all exhausted and Zayneb drug us around too all these places- the castle, the open air museum of Göreme, the Fairy Chimneys, and then lunch. The open air museum was basically a community of caves. There were homes, churches, kitchens, stables, basically everything you need. The churches were really old (like 11th-14th centuries) and they all had still surviving frescos, which was pretty nifty. There was one that was dedicated to St Barbara (patron saint of miners and soldiers), which was painted with stick figures and stuff. It looked like something I could do, so I was confused until Zayneb told us that the monks brought in soldiers to paint her church! How sweet.

After lunch we went to a pottery-making place where they showed us how to work a foot spinner thingy to shape pots and how they painted them. It was pretty cool, but it was super duper expensive haha. Didn’t get anything there! Then we went to “Fantasyland” where all the rock formations make shapes of things, like camels, hands, snakes, ect. After that we got dropped off at our hotel, which is AWESOME. It is a cave hotel, so we slept in the places where people slept back in the day, except way nicer. It was probably in the top places I’ve ever stayed at! Our rooms were super amazing. The walls were the soft chalky rock and you could see where the people dug out the walls! We thought our room was very nice until we looked at all the other ones. One of them had a Jacuzzi IN the room! It was nuts. So we all swam in the pool that overlooked the normal, rural town the hotel was in and ate dindin at the hotel restaurant (since there was no where else to go).

We were just laying down to sleep when I heard a cat howling… so naturally I went out to see if it was dying or something… like it was meowing THAT loud. Heard him through my second story window. So I went down and it was the cutest little orange baby kitty I’ve ever seen! He loved me and I fed him my leftover pizza. We took him up to the restaurant to get him more food, which he wolfed down. After like an hour of cuddling and playing with him, I decided to go to bed. So I put him down where I found him and started to go up, but he followed me. When I finally got away, he started howling again…. I begged Eric and Rachel to let him sleep in our room, but no :( so he either finally shut up or I passed out, we shall never know.

The next morning we woke up at 3:40am to go on the sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Rose Valley, one of the prettiest areas in the Cappadocia region. It was rough getting up, but we all did somehow. We got into the car with a bunch of other Americans who were vacationing as a family reunion in Turkey (hint hint??? hahah)  so we talked and played with their little kids, who were adorable. We got into the hot air balloon and I can’t even explain how awesome it was!! One of my favorite experiences on the trip for sure. I thought that the pictures about hot air ballooning in Cappadocia were doctored and not real, but now I have pics that look just as good if not better…. It was awesome. We even hit a tree!! It was great.

When we finally landed at like 7:30, we landed a bit off course in a field. And in that field was a legit shepherd herding his sheep! He had a walking stick and a cowboy hat… he was real cool and was very proud of his sheep. He was so nice that he showed us into his home… that was in a cave! It was very minimalistic- just bedrolls on the floor, a small stove, and a shelf for food. It was cool though! After we said bye to him, we went exploring in all the abandoned caves and saw an awesome view that went on for miles. Nothing compared to the balloon view, but pretty awesome for land! Then we got back to the hotel and me and a few little kids went on the prowl for the kitten. He was nowhere to be seen though! We could hear him perfectly (he has quite some lungs on him!) but he was hidden pretty well. So bummer. We gave up and I took a nap till 10 when Zayneb was supposed to pick us up. I was ready and out the door at 10, but the other room of girls was still asleep when I knocked on their door to see if they were ready. Ugh. So we were like 20 minutes late. But oh well!

Our first stop was the underground city of Kaymakli, which was massive. There were 7 (excavated) floors that could house over 10,000 people at a time. It was used back when the Ottoman Turks were invading and the Christians needed to hide, so it was very intricate. They had everything including a massive round rock used to block the entrance like in Indiana Jones. Pretty sweet! Then we went to Roman ruins of Sobesos that were built in the 4th century. There were baths and awesomely preserved tile floors! It was cool. We then went to this monastery (carved from the rock of course!) that had cool frescos. We then went to lunch in this really old house (called “Old Greek House” haha) and they served an awesome 19 course meal (for free!) and we got tea. ‘Twas tasty. Then we walked around the town while the tour guide told us info on Turkish history.

After that we went to an onyx jewelry store, where they showed us how they carved and polished the pieces. They made an egg looking piece that they let us hold and stuff. It was pretty lame until they asked a trivia question about Cappadocia. I answered it right (cause I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who actually paid attention to the guide hahah) so I got to keep the onyx piece! Favorite souvenir everrrr. I’ll never forget that Cappadocia means “land of horses” hahah. Sweet. Then we split up.

Rachel, Eric, and I went back to the hotel since we were staying for Ephesus while the rest went to the airport to go back to Istanbul. We got the sweet room with the Jacuzzi, so we ate and sat in that for awhile while we talked and listened to Turkish music videos on TV. It was awesome. Then we passed out and woke up early (AGAIN!) at like 4:30 to get in the car to drive to the airport that was 2 hours away. So, naturally, we all passed out on the ride. We took our 2 flights (to Istanbul and then to Izmir) and landed at 10.

We met our tour guide and hopped in the van to go to ancient city of Ephesus, one of the places I had been looking forward to the most. I knew something was wrong when the guide said “it will take about an hour to arrive,” turned around, and started babbling in Turkish to the driver. Usually, the guide will talk to you about the region or prep you with history, but she did not. So I knew she would be pretty crappy. I tried to get her talking by asking about the Izmir earthquake in 1999, but she didn’t take the bait. She basically said a sentence and turned right around. Ugh.

 We finally got there and it was beautiful. It was full to the brim of ancient Roman statues and columns and buildings and… it was perfection. I was in heaven…. Until the dang lady started speed walking through the city. So I got a bit of info (which I saw were basically written verbatim on the info signs) and saw probably like 60% of the city. It was a massive bummer. She would give us “free time” of like 5 minutes and tell us to meet her down the way. Except she would want to meet at a place like a 6 minute walk down the way! So we could barely take any pictures without her tapping her foot or looking impatient. UGH.

We did get to see the Library of Celsus though, which was borderline mindblowing. And then more Temples and Arches of Hadrian… what a popular fellow! We went into the Terrace Houses, which are homes of the millionaires of the time that are just now being excavated and have, as Zayneb said, “amazing tiles and frescos.” I was pretty impressed by how preserved the tile work was and how huge the homes were (the foyer had this huge domed ceiling that was probably 40 feet tall!!), but the frescos… I guess I was really impressed until I saw the paintbrushes and paint sitting out from retouching it… I know everything has to be redone like that, but still... it was slightly depressing. Then we went to the massive theater that was demolished back in the day. It has since been reconstructed and is HUGE. Then we left without even exploring the side streets or the less important place… ugh. I shall have to go back for sure and get a good guide.

Then she took us to the House of the Virgin Mary, which was really cool. It is on a hill that is above Ephesus where Mary supposable spent her last years with St John. It was this tiny, not too grand of a house (obviously reconstructed, they only found the foundation) with tons of tourists. So we walked inside, and though I’m not super religious, it was pretty powerful to see people from all parts of the world come there to pray. Then, outside was the holy spring (which Mary probably drank from) and the wishing wall (where people put wishes they hoped to get granted). Pretty cool… it was in this super serene, forested place that I can only imagine would be amazing if there were not 700 people crammed into the area.

Then we went to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was the biggest temple in the world with 109 columns each 19 meters tall… in like 300BC! Pretty crazy. Except... it is no longer standing. There is only 1 column left, which was constructed in the ‘70s by archeologists by putting random pieces together. But it was still really cool. We tried to waste time there, since it was not even 3 yet (and our flight was at 8!), so we took tons of pics standing on the column, goofing off on the column, sitting on old pieces that were on the ground…. Just a ton. We got back to the guide and asked if we could go to the Archeology Museum or St John’s Basilica or a mosque that was nearby, anything to keep us busy and out of the airport for a couple of hours. She said no. Ugh.

So she took us to this lame-o leather factory where they followed us around and tried to sell us 700 euro jackets. No thanks. Andddd we were at the airport by 4. Somehow we conned the ticket lady into getting us on the earlier flight, so we got back to Istanbul right as the SAS trip from Ephesus was flying in. So we hopped onto the bus and got a free ride to the ship! Perfect!

Rachel and I met up with Randy and Amanda and we went out to Sultanamet Square to see the Ramadan festivities, since it was August 1st (day one!). And it was a festival! Everyone of all ages was out in the square… eating, shopping, talking, listening to the music… they were doing everything. So we just meandered around and watched people. It was pretty fun. And we got the Turkish ice cream, which is like the consistency of gum. It was weird but kind of tasty! After a while, since Rachel and I had been up since 4, we got pooped so we went back and slept.

The next day we got up and were off the ship by 8:40. We headed to the Blue Mosque and… it wasn’t nearly as blue as I had expected. It was cool, but not totally blindingly blue like I had thought. Then we went to the Sultan’s Tomb, which could have been pretty creepy (since its basically 20 or so caskets covered in a green cloth) if the janitor wouldn’t have been vacuuming at the time. We had planned to hit up Topkapi Palace, but we learned at breakfast that it was closed on Tuesdays. So we hit up the bazaar, scammed a few people by tag teaming them, and got everything we missed. I got some awesome genie pants that I cannot wait to wear in Morocco!! Then we ate at a restaurant, which we haggled at and got cheaper food with free tea, before we headed back at 2:30. Then we passed out and I slept until Randall knocked on my door for dinner at 6! Yikes!

Since then, it’s been a mess. I have 2 tests tomorrow which I’ve been frantically studying for (how do you study for a test in 2 days that is over material since before Spain!??!!? Insanity.) and two papers (one of which somehow got deleted TWICE last night!!). So it’s been a mess. The ship is finally going faster than 2 mph, so we are getting some waves and it’s strange. We haven’t had waves since after Italy, so it’s pretty odd to be falling all over the hallways again! I think I forgot how to not hit the lamps hahah. But after tomorrow at noon I’ll be home free… until after Morocco when we will have finals and something else I don’t want to talk about. Sorry mom and dad, but my tears when I get back to the US won’t be of joy :(

Welp, I need to start cramming about Mehmet the Conqueror and Ataturk and the Serbian War and ancient Greek art and…. It’s gonna be a loooong night.