Why not now?

A

I think "why not now" might just be my new mantra...I saw it embedded in the stairs at a cool Istanbul shop called Mae Zae. They also had large pins with that saying, but they seemed a bit too bold. Of course I liked the name of the shop too, because my moms name was Mae, and Jim liked to call her Maezie. But I digress...

I just had to show you where I am blogging from, gentle reader, because right now I feel like one lucky girl! I could easily stay here for a week( or a month), but unfortunately tomorrow is another travel day. 

Isn't this a lovely view? And if you climb higher, there is surely a view of the harbor, but we can't do that because the penthouse with the sea view is occupied. But we are happy on our sunny terrace with a view of the orange and lemon trees- or is that one of the orange/ lemon trees we saw in Antalya? 

Any guesses where we are? No, not Turkey. We are hopscotching our way across the Mediterranean Sea to Itay, and this is a very brief stopover in Greece. 

Perhaps we should backtrack to our first days in Athens, though.

We arrived from Istanbul to gray skies over Greece. Hey, I thought it was always sunny here! It put a little damper on our mood, along with our spartan ( haha) hotel room. We decided to rent a car, since it would cost nearly 35$ each way to and from the airport, and we could get a car for 4 days for a little over $100. We just couldn't bear trying to schlepp our suitcase onto the metro, making two changes. Maybe when we were younger, but no more, because you arrive exhausted and cranky. 

So we navigated our way to our hotel, and only had to stop and ask directions 3 times before we found it. I wrote out directions from the hotel website, but am not so good at reading Greek , so that was a bit challenging. But I say that we each have half a brain, so together we figure things out!

Our goal that first day was to find a new SIM card, which we did, and then lunch. We found a great place nearby that was so new they didn't even have their lights put up, but the food was delicious and we think they'll be very successful. A lunch of lemony roast chicken over rice and a huge Greek salad cost $12. 

The next morning I tried the bougatsa(?) at our local coffeeshop. Flaky crust with a custard filing. Mmm. 

We hopped on the easy to navigate metro, which took us right to the Acropolis stop. This was not built when we were here 25 years ago, and much has changed. I'll not pretend that Athens doesn't look a little rough around the edges after years of austerity measures, and 25% unemployment. There is a LOT of not so attractive graffiti everywhere, which makes me think there are a lot of disaffected , angry youth with time on their hands. Maybe they need to put the spray paint under lock and key like they do in Oregon.

We decided to take a ride on the hokey little tourist train that drove past most of the highlights, allowing us to hop on and off all day for only $5. A bargain! 

This was our first view of the Acropolis, which brought back memories of our last trip over 25 years ago with three young boys. Sam was under 3 and the first thing that happened on our first day in a Greece was that he fell running down this hill and abraded his face rather badly, so he had a big scrape on his cute little face for much of the trip. 

There were lots of street performers plying their trade

It made for a lively atmosphere. We both agreed that our son Jacob would be quite entertaining on his stilts here, too. 

A typical Greek church

And an inspiring flower vendor.

More ruins in the city center

Where you can shop for your Greek goddess attire- the tiny child size ones were pretty adorable.

And handbags in every size and color...

Then we got to the part of town that really interested us, which was the flea market.

It was all here- from china, to old linens to books and jewelry. But the one thing I wanted, I couldn't buy. That was some old Greek letters and postage stamps. Yes, I could buy them-as a lot, but not just a few pieces. It was a HUGE stack, and the seller was asking $100. Maybe not a bad deal, but I couldn't carry half that many, and he just wouldn't budge! Ah, well...I thought of all my art friends and how they would have enjoyed the flea market browsing. 

All this shopping made us tired and hungry, so we sat across from the ruins with all the other Greeks enjoying a day out. I noticed that they were almost exclusively drinking coffee , or coffee drinks, but not consuming food . What's that about? Is it due to austerity, too? Maybe it is just too expensive to est out but a drink will suffice for hanging out in the sunshine on a Sunday afternoon. 

This was the " small" mixed grill plate we ordered and it was easily enough to feed 4! I told Jim this is why the Greeks are in financial trouble- they give such generous portions in the restaurants! We ate part, and gave some to the fellow who came by asking for money. He probably would have preferred money, but seemed ok with a chicken breast and some bread. 

Our tram was just passing by, so we hopped on and rode around the circuit again.

For one last view of the balloon lady

And the acropolis under a darkening sky... I thought to edit this photo, but realized that it's a classic Greek smoker photo ! Seems like about 50% of the population smokes- EVERYWHERE! Maybe they're driven to smoking by the austerity measures...

Return to Istanbul, part 2

I just lost  steam on that last post and had to close up shop for the night. We are experiencing the effects of a Daylight Savings now, which just took place here, and I'm kind of dragging...

I've been thinking of another one of my Travel Rules lately, which is Sometimes it is better to create new memories, than to try to relive old memories.

This is true of travel, especially when we are revisiting places we have been before. We had visited Turkey before, as I have mentioned, but we were on a tour and did not have much free time. This time we kind of skimmed over some of the familiar sights, or skipped them altogether. But a couple things we wanted  to do again were taking a boat trip on the Bosphorus and seeing a dervish ceremony. 

We had our hotel make reservations for the dervishes and we realized that it would probably be a very different experience from the first time we saw them. That had been held in an ancient caravanserai, or caravan rest stop along the Silk Road. The ceremony is really a religious practice whereby the dervishes come into a trance- like state through their spinning, and controlled movement,which helps them communicate with the divine. That first time seeing them was quite spiritual and moving and I have never forgotten it.

This time the ceremony, while good , felt a bit like a performance piece, with a kind of light show as a backdrop, which I felt detracted a bit from the experience. Also, if you were caught talking, the usher would shine her laser light at you! So this might have been one of those experiences that was better not repeated. That being said however, if you ever have a chance to see whirling dervishes, take it! 

It's really pretty incredible to watch them spin slowly, then faster and faster...

Now, as for the boat ride on the Bosphorus, the second time was every bit as great as the first time, and maybe better because it was sunny this time. 

We were trying to decide on whether to take the 11/2 hour ride or a shorter ferry ride, when a tout approached us about his bait trip that was leaving in 5 minutes. It was pretty good timing, and although the price was a little higher than advertised, it was a " bird in the hand" so to speak, so we payed him and took a short mini van ride to the dock. 

What a good value! For about 8$ we got a fabulous trip through a bustling and lively waterway for 11/2 hours, complete with dolphins swimming alongside the boat for a bit! Pretty cool.

Last time I think we paid about 4 times that amount,,because it was through the tour company. And no dolphins.

The Bosphorus is lined with wonderful buildings, fancy hotels, mosques and elegant structures from bygone eras. If I was rich, I would live there and watch the world go by ( for a few months).

Or maybe just stay in one of the upscale hotels we passed.

As we came back to the dock, I spotted the perfect craft for my Wilamette River ferry business that I've wanted to start for years now .

Oh, and did I mention that there were thousands of jellyfish in the water? 

It was while cruising by our hotel that we discovered that Istanbul Modern museum was practically right next door! 

This was my favorite piece from the museum that we went to the next day.And by turning a different way out the door , down the street behind the mosque, we discovered a whole new and wonderful neighborhood filled with small restaurants and delightful bakeries. Heaven! Don't you just love it when that happens? 

These folks know how to use lighting to liven up a dark alley. One if my favorite lantern photos of the trip. 

I'm so glad we didn't miss seeing this street.

And to cap off a good day, we ate at the cool restaurant, Naïf. It was obviously a very happening spot. I had spotted it from my hotel window, but didn't realize how great it was inside until I saw these lamps.

Chandelier made from rose buds and red peppers.

And I think the food was good, but I was so focused on the interior that I hardly noticed.

Here are a couple of parting shots from Turkey, ' cause tomorrow we're leaving on a jet plane....

The simit baker. He seemed quite pleased to have me taking his photo...

Still warm from the oven. Mmm.

A Classic Turkish plate. About $4.

And a typical street beggar. Sometimes morsels might just fall off our plates. Turkey is full of healthy looking , polite cats. 

Best graffiti. Bye bye Turkey! We'll be back.

Return to Istanbul

I'm sorry to say that I won't be showing you photos of any of the main attractions in Istanbul like Topkapi or The Blue Mosque or any of those important sites. Because we haven't gone to any of them. 

We hit 'em all on our last trip, and are just not as interested in seeing them again. So you'll just have to come to Istanbul to see them for yourself. It's totally worth it.

That being said, we have seen some other cool things, and I continue to love Istanbul, the more time I spend here. So I was happy to return for a few days, and discover a new neighborhood. 

We were lucky that Jim just happened to have another passport, his Irish one, that I helped him obtain years ago. Because he had to leave his US passport behind in Istanbul in order to get his Russian VISA. And without a passport we could not have taken our trip to Antalya. So that is why we are back in Istanbul to ( hopefully) retrieve  his passport with a new Russian VISA.

Success! 

So we had some time for fun! Our new neighborhood, Topani /Karakoy was just down the hill from our old neighborhood,and right near the sea . But they were worlds apart. 

Karakoy is a pretty hip place, probably too hip for the likes of us, but it was fun to see. 

Our hotel was in a great location, just steps away from a tram stop, and was beautifully appointed, if cozy. Pretty perfect in every way, and more upscale than most of the places we have stayed.

This was the view from our window. Perfect, as long as you don't mind hearing the very loud muezzin calling the faithful to prayer- beginning at 5 am. The first morning it startled me, but I guess I am becoming accustomed to Turkey because I slept through it the next couple of days. 

The second day back we walked up the steep hill to discover the Chainghir neighborhood, on a friends recommendation. While wandering around looking at cool coffee shops and thrift stores, we came upon a film crew, and Jim stopped to watch. After a few minutes, they came up to him and asked if he would mind being on the set as a man drinking tea , reading a newspaper. Well, heck yeah! 

The guy on the left us the actual actor, but Jim did a very good job sitting patiently pretending to read a Turkish newspaper for almost an hour as they did take after take...after they were done they shook his hand and whisked the newspaper away.

He's sure that somebody is gonna say " we need that guy who was reading the paper", and his career will be launched. 

We went around the corner and had a great Turkish breakfast.

One more day at the coast- eating.

We hated to see our time along the Turquoise Coast come to an end, but we decided it was worth a little more driving time to stay one last night near the water. The sky was gray as we headed south, and as it was getting on toward lunchtime, we looked at the map and saw that we had limited options for towns big enough for a lunch break. I really don't even remember where we pulled off, but it was a junction of two roads, one leading toward Antalya. There were a few restaurants, none too promising looking. But one seemed to have some people in it, so we did a u turn and stopped for an interesting lunch.

It was just us and a bunch of other guys, some of whom were dressed like après skiing...

There was no menu, but we saw a server go outside and cut some meat from the big animal leg turning slowly on a rotisserie outside. We pointed to it, and luckily he gave us a small portion, and the standard chopped salad. We ate a LOT of these.

We noticed that a lot( most)restaurants in this part of Turkey were basically outdoor restaurants, with plastic sides and a ( barely) adequate wood burning stove. They seem to burn everything in there, including plastic water bottles. 

The rotisserie shed

Well, I guess it wasn't just a leg, but the whole darn animal, which turned out to be lamb.

This was how it arrived at the table, with a little charcoal fire underneath keeping it warm.

The other thing I had seen advertised for a few days was gozleme, a kind of pancake.

That seemed to be another of their specialties, so we tried that, too. It was a delicious savory pancake which enclosed some kind of green vegetable and cheese. Yum. Glad we finally got a taste of another traditional food.

I know it seems kind of crazy to spend so much time describing our lunch, but it was one of our more interesting meals of the trip! 

We didn't know we'd have another unique experience at dinner...

We were intending to stay in Kas, where we had stopped for lunch on our second day , but we came upon Kalkan first and since we'd done enough driving for the day we decided to look for a place with a view of the water that was open. The Pirat Hotel fit the bill, and Jim got a low season discount so we happily parked our car and found our room.

This was the view from our room. The sky was still gray, but at least we were back at the coast.

We drove to the upper town to look for a place to eat dinner, and my only criteria was that there be other diners inside. 

There were only a few choices, but we picked well, as it was obviously a local favorite. They were most welcoming. Again, no menu, but we were invited into the kitchen (!) to choose our meal. Did I hear that right? Yes! 

We chose one chicken and one beef entree, and a side of spinach. I noticed that the fish rolls were not so popular. Each dish was served very attractively, and we congratulated the two cooks on a delicious meal.

The owner and his British born wife have big plans for the place, and soon will add a rooftop terrace and bar. I promised that I would write a nice review on Trip Advisor, and tell my friends. So if you find yourself in Kalkan, be sure to eat at Corriader Restaurant! 

Same view the next morning as the sun shone brightly for our drive back to Antalya. 

I just couldn't bear the thought of not putting my feet in that gorgeous water, so when we finally saw a spot to turn off, we tested the waters.  

Still too cold for swimming , and those pebbles are a little hard on the feet...but we were both glad we stopped there and said a fond farewell to the Mediterranean - for now. 

A magical place

We had our minds and GPS set for our next destination after our ( bad) lunch in Mugla. It was also very cheap, so we " dollar cost averaged" a special treat to make up for our disappointing lunch.

We discovered Magnum bars years ago on another European trip, long before they made it to the US. We would normally share one, but couldn't decide on chocolate or blackberry, so got one of each. Too much, but we managed.

This place we were going was someplace we had been before on our last trip to Turkey, but I always wanted to come back as I had unfinished business, you might say. 

It was a long, but easy flatish drive through valleys of beautiful pale pink blossomed almond trees, many of which also had big balls of lime green mistletoe clinging to them. You'll have imagine that combo, as a photo would not capture it.

As the day wore on, we were anxious to reach our destination while the light was still good and high in the sky. 

There are those ever present mountains.

We got a lot closer to them and were happy that we did not drive this road when chains might be required! 

Once we arrived, we gasped at the view from our hotel for a moment, then grabbed our swimsuits for a swim in a magical pool! 

Where else but at Pamukkale can you swim in an ancient hot springs pool where, so legend goes, Cleopatra bathed to keep her completion young? This was us, post swim, with the incredible ruins of Heiropolis in the background. One could easily spend the day here, but swimming was our first priority, because on our previous trip we had seen the pool but had no time to swim there, and I had wanted to return ever since. Or maybe I should say that I knew if I ever came back here, I would swim in that gorgeous pool.

I think you'll agree...

It is called the ancient pool, and it is indeed ancient. It is not too warm, more like bath water, but it is amazingly clear, except for the bits of algae that float on the surface. 

The bits and pieces of marble columns are not put here merely for the effect, but are actual columns from an ancient city from AD 600 that toppled into this pool centuries ago during an earthquake! Cool, huh? 

The bottom of the pool is covered in smoothe pebbles that catch reflections and shimmer blue at their edges. In fact all the marble slabs caught reflections of rainbow hues and I could barely tear myself away from the view. 

No, this is not us frolicking in the pool, but they look happy don't they? 

It was worth the trip, and the expense, to finally get to take a restorative dip in this beautiful place, and according to the literature, we should instantly look younger from the miraculous minerals! I think I'd need a few more sessions, at least.

But wait, that's not all, there's more magic at Pamukkale! 

These are the limestone travertines that look like snow but are really stone.

And, you can walk on them! 

It's a must do! We've done this before, but it was just as cool the second time.

And what are the odds of seeing a newly married couple out on the travertines?

They all seemed pretty fun, and what a memorable photo op!

Wish I could have fit this activity into the schedule, but it was fun just to watch them floating by...

The next morning we even took a spin around the small lake in a swan boat. Jim knows how much I like swan boats! 

Same color water that Jim swam in in a river in Laos. We saw lots of fish and ducks, too.

One last view of the mini travertines before we left this beautiful place.